The Road to Enduro

The Deal
It all started sometime in December last year when I decided I would take part in Enduro – an adventure race that involves over 100 Ks of biking, another 100Ks of Trekking, River-Crossing and Air-Rifle shooting. The place: The majestic Sahyadri Mountains and Panshet Backwaters.
I had teamed up with Sachin and Mamta.


The Kick-Off
We just had two months before the actual thing so there was not a lot of time left for the preparation, but still we had two months, and it was important to utilize them effectively.
I had already started playing basketball for some time, so my body was in good momentum, and I was working up on my stamina with some running too that I started few months back. I needed to start biking but I did not have one at that point. So till I got one I wanted to stick with basketball.

The Day "Pinky" got Injured

Everything was going well, till Christmas day last year. I was playing just another game of basketball, when the little finger of my right hand got injured while taking a rebound. It was a minor dislocation, and all I had in my mind was “Enduro”. I got a splint wrapped up on the finger and it was supposed to stay there for 3 weeks.

So till around 20th January I could not put any stress on my finger, and I was feeling bad. So basically no biking till it came off. In the mean time I had to arrange a bike for myself. No problem for Sachin as he already had a mountain bike, a “Hercules MTB”. Mamta had also arranged a “Thunder MTB” for herself. So every now and then we guys use to go for practice, with only me not doing any biking. So either we guys did some running together, or these guys use to bike and I use to run. Occasionally I was going to the gym to work-out my legs. We started with running a couple of rounds of Magarpatta, and on bike these guys were covering minimum 4 rounds.


Trek to Chavand Fort, Pune District
On 16th January the splint on my finger came off. Now we guys did not have much time for Enduro, and the truth was the preparation was still very naïve. Amdocs DVCI Trekking club had arranged a Trek to the Chavand Fort which is in Pune district itself. We guys decided to participate in the same, as it was suppose to be a good practice, as we hadn’t done any trekking for a long time. So we went to the trek on 18th January. The trek was graded – “A” i.e. simple for amateurs and it turned out to be exactly the same. So finishing it wasn’t a big deal, but sure it was a good hands-on.




The Bikes
Now, Monesh, a friend of mine decided to give his bike to me – a “Hero Octane”, another MTB. I got the bike on 25th January, so it was just 2 weeks for Enduro when I started riding the bike on the road. I was doing the biking in the gym, but the road is a whole new ball game. To my surprise I started doing well with the bike straight away. The first day, I remember I covered 4 rounds of Magarpatta, and it wasn’t that tough. I easily increased it to 8 in the next couple of days. In the mean time, Amar, two-time Enduro finisher, and of course my good friend was giving me the best advice on how to go about the whole thing. Every now and then me, Mamta and Sachin were doing the biking together, and around the end of January we were covering 12 rounds of Magarpatta.




Biking Trip to Sinhghad
On 1st February, we guys (me, Sachin and Mamta) and Amar’s team (that included Suraj and Deepika) decided to head for Sinhghad on our bikes. Sinhghad base was around 35Ks from Magarpatta. From the base to the Sinhghad top was another 10 Ks. So this journey was some 70Ks by bike and around 20Ks of trekking. Very frankly at the end of it we guys were exhausted, and that’s why I think this was a great dress rehearsal for the real thing. I was doing well with the bike, and Sachin and Mamta were pretty good with the trekking. So we guys complemented each other, and the whole thing turned out well. Moreover, it ended up being fairly smooth as there were no injuries. However, since Suraj had returned on 31st January itself, from Australia, he was totally out of practice. So he had to deal with a few cramps on the way. And we guys realized Deepika was a super girl… She never got tired, no matter what. Though Sachin fell from his bike on our way to Sinhghad, when he did not keep his eyes on the road. But it was nothing serious. So the whole trip turned out to be pretty cool.




Shopping
Now it was just 5 days to go for Enduro, and we guys decided we would not do any rigorous practice. We did not want any injuries and wanted to save as much energy as possible for the real test. Plus there was a lot to shop. We had prepared a whole list of things to buy: Cycling helmets, medication, first-aid, crepe bandages, Gatorades’, electrols’, glucose, food, energy bars, chocolates, flash lights and a lot more. Plus the whole puncture kit along with an air-pump too had to be bought. Along with that we guys had to get our bikes serviced, to make them all set. I remember the last 3 days we guys were doing just that.

The Night before the Dawn
There are all sorts of questions that swarm in your mind: “Would I be able to do it”, “Would we guys be able to work together as a team and finish it off”, “Would the stress or injuries take a toll on us”, “Would luck be on our side”, and “Would we be able to survive?”
The answers to all those questions were just a dawn away…

“The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences.”
--Christopher McCandless