Chennai, April 30, 2010: After grudgingly pulling ourselves out of bed, Abs (Abhay) and I headed out for an early morning ride. The usual; nothing special. Suhail was supposed to join us but couldn't make it because he had a late night. We left Abhay's at around 5:45 and headed towards Madhyakailash before starting the OMR stretch. What seemed like just another hot sunny day (It's the month of April, what else can we expect) turned out to be quite different. About 20 mins into the ride, we had covered a good 5-6 kms and I spotted a massive black cloud. I pointed to it and said "Abs do you think we'll get lucky today?". He was quick to dismiss it though and said, "It will probably just pass". 5 mins later - the first drop. And before we knew it, it all came down, almost like a blessing from heaven! The air circulated an uncharacteristic chill and it felt amazing. In the thick of the Chennai Summer, here was a spell of heavy rain albeit only for 10 mins or so. We continued to ride. The feeling was almost that of being liberated from the regular heat! We also caught a glimpse of a massive rainbow. Probably one of the biggest I have ever seen first hand. We had to stop to capture the moment on our cell phones. A little further down though, we realized that the rain had only come down on that one 3 km stretch. The rest of the place was as dry as usual. We attracted an array of weird looks as we approached Sholinganallur all drenched in the rain and muddy from all the soil and slush. All I can say, is the advantages of getting out of bed and riding early in the morning are plenty and hard to come by otherwise!
Actually sat down and penned a few lines. December was kicked off with my birthday! And this time round I've decided to celebrate it for a whole month cause this one's special - on the 3rd of December, I got nominated for 2 Grammys, thought my heart skipped a beat, and my first reaction was, "Are you kidding me?!". This ones for Jai ho and I'm nominated alongside A.R Rahman sir, Gulzar and the rest of the crew. Despite the barrage of phone calls from the relatives, friends and the media that followed, it took me almost 27 minutes to realize and I still can't believe it!
Din't have too much time to celebrate though, as I had to rush for rehearsals. This one being for a show at MOP Vaishnav College. A first for me, as I decided to add a lil something new to my act - a "lock and pop" dance sequence! After shaking a leg and singing Delhi 6, Mayya , and Jai ho, among others, I was exhausted! So how did it turn out? Well that's for you to decide - if i do muster up the courage i might even upload a video of it online :)
The month also kicked off our efforts for the Chain ReaXion ride on the 13th of December. This one's critical cause were finally kicking off our Bangalore chapter. First thing I did was to start work on the creatives and design which i thought came out pretty well. Let me know what you think.
Log onto the Chain ReaXion Group on Facebook to find out more
And that's my upcoming schedule - CRX on the 13th of December in Bangalore & Chennai and Bangalore is where I'm gonna be; making sure it goes off well!!
That's it for the moment. Just a few random thoughts..
It's been about a month since i actually came riding! The traveling and the concerts and work to top it all, has been really tiring. But then again, when i think about the event, i just get this sudden burst of energy and I'm all good to go and looking forward to riding or just working the safety car.(usually thats what happens!)
Saturday was quite a day since i left for work by about 9 am and had to get everything in order. My list of things to do were all checked; the phone calls were coming in and in between all of this, i got a call from Anna of News X who wanted to interview me after the BMI awards so guess what? I invited her to the ride!! Haha, cant help it if thats the only time i get! :)
Come Sunday morning, I was exhausted cause i fell asleep by 2:45 am and abruptly woke to the sounds of Fire Burning by Mr. Sean Kingston at 4 am! The weather was perfect but i was still a wee bit disappointed that we only had about 50-60 riders turn up this time round and even more so cause the people who din't turn up were worried it would rain! But hello! This was a rain or shine event after all and albeit a no show from Lakshman Sreedhar (he was supposed to be our karaoke entertainer for the morning!), for a moment there during breakfast, with the weather being so good outside , i did feel like breaking out into a song!
Some Great Coverage of the event by News X! Credit to Anna and crew for a splendid job!
The ride was phenomenal and I did eventually remain quiet at breakfast (incase you were wondering!) and watched everyone enjoying their meal. Was great to see a fresh bunch of faces glowing with a sense of accomplishment again! Another Sunday and another great ride! Kudos to all the riders for making it another successful event!
I cycled on my way back for about half an hour before succumbing to the strong wind and retiring to the comforts of my Safari (car). I was literally thrown off my bike and for the most part, felt that it was a smart move to call it quits!
Got home by about 1ish and it's back to the same ol' routine! Aight gonna sign off. Planning on watching 'Paranormal Activity' today! Heres to hoping I last past the first 15 mins of it!!
Later..
Tanvi Chain ReaXion
P.S: The split timings for the first 40 riders can be found here
Will also be putting up some pictures in a bit so check back soon!
Disclaimer - This post is probably too old to be up here. We've had like 2 more updated posts up, still I just want to do this. I've got vested interests. CHAM this one's for you!!!! :P
Its been a while since my last proper post! I'm not really sure if you guys are reading or not coz aside from the one comment, there's been nothing!!
So Ramadhan finished and the 21st was Eid. Eating lunch for the first time in 30 days certainly was an odd feeling!! The next couple of days were pretty quiet and uneventful despite all the excitement building up, I was headed to Singapore with some friends (As Shravan would say - Sing Sing Singaporeeeeee Baby!!) I was itching to get on the bike after not having been able to for soo long!
I called Rohit, Arif and Mopsy and we decided to ride 23rd morning. We met up with Rohan Ryan, Sawan and Chirag Gupta on the way to Marina Beach. We then rode upto war memorial and back. At the Gandhi statue we stopped for a bit. I had been feeling uneasy all morning, suddenly downing all that Chinese from the previous night was not such a hot idea after all! In a couple of mins all those guys saw exactly what I'd had for dinner the previous night!! :P
I felt like a new man after! Anyway, Rohit picked up some water and we headed home. Didn't want to overdo it. I had a flight to catch that night! The rest of the day was hectic with a lot of running around. Tanvi drove Zaid, Shravan, Abhay and I to the airport in double quick time only for us to find out our SQ flight had been delayed!
The in-flight entertainment was rather sad and the food was so-so. Whoever said this was better than Emirates was obviously either biased or he flew first class!!
On arrival in Singapore, we saw a couple of guys holding up a board that said "WELCOME MR.SEBASTIAN VETTEL"
We were soo kicked, coming to Singapore for the GP and meeting a driver on landing! Priceless!! We waited for a good 45 mins before even his manager started to get worried. His flight from Zurich had landed the same time as ours. The manager then got a call from Sebastian. Apparently he came out of a different exit, didn't see anyone waiting and went to the hotel by cab! So much for the dream beginning!!
We had no idea if our hotel was close to a MRT station or not, still we risked it! Turns out, it was right next door! Singapore was a blur! We barely slept and make the most of our time there! We even managed to spend an awesome half day in Sentosa, where we rented bikes and rode around. Two good friends from Singapore, Pragith and Anisha made our trip much better than it would've been!! =)
The race was awesome despite a poor showing from 'Kimi and Crew' and Abhay's skills with the camera really kicked ass! Here's an example!
We even managed to get on the track after!!!
On our way back we bumped into Abhishek at Changi airport, he mentioned a ride on 4th Oct. Both Abhay and I were puzzled to say the least. Rohit, Mopsy and Tanvi seemed to have everything handled! :)
We managed to fit in a ride in the Panasonic F1 simulator. Respect to Luca Badoer! Those cars are insanely hard to drive!
Landed in Chennai and the next couple of days went by quick. Mostly just recovering from Singapore! Abhay, Arif, Lakshman, Mospy, Rajesh, Rohit and I decided to ride on Gandhi Jayanti. About 15 kms into the ride, my legs started to give up on me, my breathing was heavy and laboured. I was sure that if I didn't turn back soon, I'd never make it back in 1 piece. So much for Lance Ahmed! :P
I turn back, head home and crash! I couldn't even get up in time to meet these guys for breakfast at Sandy's. Singapore was catching up!
01:45 am - 4/10/2009 Sunday Morning
Have to be up in an hour and a half and still no sleep! I'm quite anxious about the ride, firstly because of the mess on Friday and secondly because I really wanted to beat Mopsy's time from the previous ride (1 hr 59 mins) I had even gotten myself another bottle holder for the Camaleonte, so i wouldn't have to stop.
(phone rings - Kuttappa calling!)
These guys haven't slept either. Only Arif and I were riding this time, WE needed the sleep! Anyway, so Rohit tells me about this discussion they were having. They were betting on me!! Like i'm some racehorse or something! Abhay, Rohit and Arif thought that if i tried i could make the top 5, what with defending champion Sid Sharma not being there and all. Only Mopsy was betting against me! So much for our friendship! :P Honestly, after friday's ride, if i had to bet. I'd would've ended up betting the same way Mopsy did.
Managed to fall asleep by 3 am. Wasn't ideal, still some sleep is better than none. Mopsy came picked me up and we headed to Tiruvanmiyur with a quick stop on the way to pick up Amithu (our photographer for the day :D)
Once all the cyclists had gotten everything in order we were ready to head off. Today was my turn to experience the ride as a participant, except for the small safety briefing I gave!
And we were off! Stopped a bit to help people across the road then put my head down and began to pedal! I didn't want to lose sight of the group up front. After trying to get to the front unsuccessfully, I managed to find some company in Karun and Amritanshu (Dude, I'm sorry if I've spelled your name wrong) The 3 of us drafted for a while before Amrintanshu stopped to talk to a friend of his running on the ECR. At the first stop Karun stopped for water but I had to carry on if I wanted any chance of finishing in the top-5. Amritanshu somehow caught up with me somewhere between pit stops 1 and 2. Miraculously, my legs had held up so far. I was running on water, chocolate and adrenalin!
Again and the 2nd stop Amritanshu stopped and I carried on, till he caught back up to me. YES!! He was that good on a mach. Good work Veeresh!! :D As we passed the 3rd stop Abhay indicated to me that we were in 5th and 6th places. I had to do something!
Just as we approached Mahabalipuram, I made a break for it from behind. I had to do it! What surprised me was the freshness in my legs after nearly 50 kms of cycling. My A** on the other hand, whole different story! The Cannondale gel shorts helped quite a bit though. All in all, awesome ride. Yes! I did make 5th place in a time of an hour and 47 minutes The bikes ahead of me in order - Via Nirone (carbon), Via Nirone, LeMonde, Bianchi 928 Carbon MonoQ! Not bad for a Camaleonte. My next target, the 1 hour and 30 minute barrier. More from me when that happens. For now, I'm going to get one of the boys to post something besides the "duet" Tanvi and I have planned! :D
BRING YOUR OWN BIKES REGISTRATIONS ARE FREE OF COST
Go to any of the 5 Bsa Go stores that have been mentioned and register yourself for the ride . You will be given a chest number ,along with a flyer which will give you a detailed description of the ride (Route map , distance etc. ) .You can also register at http://www.ticyclesindia.com .
When to Register : Registrations open on 14th Sept (Monday) and close on 19th Sept (Saturday).
Details of the ride:
Flag off at 5:15 a.m at the BSA Adyar store on the 20th. Ambulance, safety car and police escort will be present at the venue . (Total distance : 32.2kms)
Checkpoint 1( Uthandi toll gate , ECR ), where participants will be given the first checkpoint tag in 'green'. Water will be provided at this point.
Check point 2 at The Thiruvanmiyur Bus Stand Turn where refreshments will be provided along with the second checkpoint tag in 'yellow ' . Finish Line (BSA Go Adyar ) where participants will get final positions and will submit the 2 checkpoint tags along with names.
The first 100 Cyclists to finish will be part of a lucky draw where 3 winners will avail a full expense paid trip for 2 days at the MTB Himachal Race (2009 ) . Winners will be announced at the finishing point.
The second lucky draw will be held for all the cyclists who have registered for the ride out of which 5 lucky winners can take home gift vouchers for cycling gear worth Rs.2,500/- each .Winners will be announced at the finishing point.
To be eligible for the above prizes , contestants must submit checkpoint tags at the finish line.
Participants to be given chest numbers and made to sign a disclaimer at the stores.
I spent all month waiting for the "long weekend" to arrive. When it did, it turned out to be my shortest one in a while. I worked right through Janmashtami and Independence Day, besides the fact that 14th August was my dad's birthday these days didn't really hold any real significance for me. I was robbed of some R&R but then again, it was for a good enough cause! I'm not going to drone on about work because if I were you, I wouldn't really care either.
After a late Saturday night, I was woken up by Chris Brown's 'Forever' (from the JK Wedding entrance video :D) at about 04:45 AM. Reluctantly I jumped into my cycling gear and headed out to meet Siddharth (whom I will hereafter refer to as 'Mopsy') at his place en route to Abhay's where we were to set up the cycles and head out, safety car in tow.
We left Kotturpuram and headed towards Tiruvanmiyur, where we usually start our ‘Chain Reaxion’ rides. We decided to make like professional riders and counter the wind by taking turns at the front end of our little "peloton". A couple of kilometers into the ride Mopsy had a close shave when he didn't notice an ambassador turning left at the RTO, quick reflexes from both driver and rider saved him a lot of pain. Anyway we managed to shrug that off, put our heads down and pedal. I had left my Camaleonte back at Abhay's and was riding Veeresh's Via Nirone with the carbon forks, the frame was way too small for me and I couldn't change ride height because my Allen key set was left behind in the ambulance at the last ride. Abhay was on his 'Celeste' beauty, Mopsy on the Spillo Quarzo and Tanvi in the Skoda keeping us all safe!
Along the way we saw a couple of groups riding, they were pretty much all youngsters and mostly on MTBs. It didn't really seem right to just fly right past on our Bianchis so we slowed down a bit, smiled, said "hey!" and took off! Literally!
We made quick time, heading down ECR towards the toll. Just as we were passing Basera, a bug managed to find its way into one of Abhay’s eyes. Once we had that sorted, we put on some protection and got back down to business. Once we got to the toll gate, we decided to hydrate and head to Abhay’s Uncle’s place in Panayur for some awesome breakfast. We also bumped into Sidharth and Rajesh, on their spanking new Bianchis, at the toll.
Once breakfast was out of the way, we chilled for a good half hour before saying our goodbyes and heading back. This time we decided on taking OMR to avoid the traffic on ECR. This was the long way around, still we were up for it. OMR is way more dangerous than ECR, you can’t look down without having some guy on a bike nearly hit you head on! Yes! They are all on the wrong side of the road. At the toll just as we were approaching Tidel Park, we met a boy that had cycled all the way from past Sholinganallur to meet a friend. Now THAT is awesome!
The ride from there till Abhay’s place was uneventful, except for an old man on a bike taunting me saying “Why you going so slow? Go faster!” Despite feeling like my legs were going to fall off, I showed him that the Bianchi could be quicker than his rusty old bike!
The ride pretty much sorted the men from the boys! I felt more like a Cavendish than an Armstrong by the end of it. There were clearly two classes of riders on the day. Abhay and the rest of us!
Its Ramadan now and I’m pretty much off cycling for a month. I’m currently working on getting through the month without losing any weight. So far, so good! I’d like some feedback on this post. What with this being my first blog post and all. We’re all going to be up here at some point. Watch this space for more!
Keep Riding!
Suhail Chain ReaXion
PS - We missed Rohit, who was away in Erode on some work! Veeresh thanks for your bike, too bad you couldn't make it.
A brief introduction to our group We started off with the primary objective to revive cycling as a sport, hobby and a way of life. We initiated this movement to create a platform through which we can raise awareness on relevant issues such as healthy living & global warming . We plan to use this network to organize rides for a cause , where a certain amount from the event will be donated to a ngo .
Ti cycles(Murugappa group ) have been supporting the group since it's inception . With T.I's strong presence across the country , Chain ReaXion will be able to take this movement pan India.
Sponsors for the events have been supportive by providing refreshments for the riders and value added products from their organization .
In our efforts to create a platform to spread awareness of alarming environmental issues, we hope to tap into, leverage and work closely with a support group of like minded individuals and companies with one common goal - to make the world a greener and better place to live in!
