We (Me and Nelly) were just waiting to get back at Nandi and start all over again. A week seemed like a month. This week the crowd was bigger we had Vasu and Sreenandan along with us.
Had the first flat of the day, before I could start riding. Changed the tube quickly and rode to Nupur's house, where we loaded our bikes onto the bike rack on her Car. Drove all the way to the jump point. Sree came in his car and picked up Vasu near the airport. Apparently Vasu hadn't slept the previous night and watched 3 movies back to back and started at 4am from his house towards Nandi. Had idly's at Nandi base. Nupur had planned to start her journey back from this point, but we convinced her to start from the place where we had built the jumps. Drove up and waited for the other car, while Nupur tested out a few trails.
When we reached the top, the ramp we had prepared last week was completely cleared off. so built a bigger and better one. It was at least 2.5 times the older one. After about an hour later by 10am started our speed jumps. The ramp was perfect and the feel was awesome, the distance we jumped was almost double and we also jumped higher. Nelly was our guru, watched him take the first jump, then I jumped, followed by Sree and then Vasu. After the first set of jumps Vasu quit as he developed back ache. Initially we were jumping one at a time, then started jumping in tandem......ooh god. On the first tandem jump, Sree jumped over, lost his footing and some how managed to control his bike to a great extent until he crashed at a very low speed. I was right behind him, had to brake hard and just avoided crashing into him.
Met Anand Mulky, Arjun, Shasank, jagannath and others. Anand was on his road bike climbing Nandi for the first time. He managed to climb till the Jump point and watched us jump a few times and after that headed back while we continued with our jumps.
Despite his injuries to the shin Sree continued jumping and after about 2/3 tandem jumps, it was my turn to crash.......Earlier, we used to carry the speed off the jump, pedal a little harder enter the trail below negotiating 2 curves and slow down some 500mtrs after the ramp. All the three (Nelly, Sree and Me) started off from the starting point pedaled hard, carried over the ramp and after landing I pedaled hard got into the first turn and just after the first turn realized that these 2 had slowed down, and I instinctively braked. My front wheel got stuck into one of the ruts and was thrown off the bike, landing head first into the mud. The helmet took all the impact and things went flying......First thing that raced through my mind was to figure out if I was blacking out.......got up, guys came running towards me, was on all 4 and realized I could not breathe.....took about 2mins to get back my normal breathing. Had a cut on my forehead and nose and as Vasu said.....I was a leaking boat :). Both my knees, left arm, hip, right shoulder, nose are bruised and forehead has a cut. Hope it heals fast.
Sree helped me out plaster the wounds....took rest for about a 45mins and decided not to jump any more for the day. while we were resting, saw Samim climbing Nandi for the second time in the day.
Then we decided to ride up the trails, which is about 1.5kms from the jump point and ride the downhill trails till the idly point. Started off, reached the top of the trail, and started rolling down, Vasu stopped midway due to back pain and he took rest near the car as we continued down. Reached the bottom in about 45mins, had lunch and started riding back to the top. This was the first time I was climbing Nandi hills and must say I totally enjoyed it. At the idly point the sign read 12kms Nandi. Then in about 10/15mins it read 7kms...from there on it was a killer, didn't have water to drink or the energy to pedal but somehow managed, after talking to myself not to quit.......
The downhill trail from the top till the idly point is about 5kms, this trail is seriously a hard one and it has all in one package. Be there next time around.....its fun!!
On our way down we saw Samim, coming back to Climb Nandi for the 3rd time in the day. Took a U-Turn, and followed Samim all the way to the top . By this time he had already completed 250Km for the day and had 50Km more to go. Shot a few videos and clicked a few pics.
In the end it was a very fulfilling day for all the riders. My injuries don't seem as bad as they looked yesterday. But hurt a little.
Today morning Nelly sent me a link, answering a few questions about the mind set riders should have while riding their MTB's : http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/fitness/article/technique-step-it-up--21014
Trail Ride : http://www.flickr.com/photos/modi-kumar/sets/72157616698855532/
Samim's Ride: http://www.flickr.com/photos/modi-kumar/sets/72157616701746280/
