Oxygen Overdose ride

Wow!! Wot a ride!! This is one of those rides I would love to do again...Let me turn the clock back and tell you about my experience of the ride…

I was in two minds to go for an Oxygen overdose or the Medak Century ride, I had two obstacles in front of me: I didn’t know the meetup place: Time of the ride was 05:30.  Krishna garu solved my 1st obstacle, he hooked me up with Satish who was coming from Kukatpally, to meet my 2nd obstacle, I got up at 03:30 in the morning and started pedalling at 04:30.

Satish and I started riding towards Bolaram and after some left and right turns managed to reach Secundrabad club. If you ask me to trace back the path, I’ll turn blank as most of this ride was in total darkness. Satish was riding as if he could see the road. Satish finally fell in the middle of the ride when we could finally see our road!! Amazing, he always manages to fall for every ride, I guess that’s his way to make it memorable :-)

When the sun finally showed up, I could see the beauty around and that’s when I got pumped up and started enjoying the ride…zooming across narrow lanes, into rough roads and out into the open fields…it was just beautiful…

Pradyumna, youngest rider in our group (he is 9 years old) is a real motivator for all riders. His enthusiasm and aggression is really commendable. Hats off to his dad GR for encouraging him and being his guide and trainer. I am sure this young lad will go places with his determination and commitment.

Shamirpet lake was always one place I wanted to go as I had seen many rides scheduled but never got a chance to attend those rides. Krishna garu and everyone happily obliged to extend the ride to Shamirpet lake!! and lo I finally touched the beautiful lake.

Veggie Delight!! well that’s not the subway menu I am talking about, its the farm from where we get to buy mint, coriander and other leafy vegetables for just 1Rs. Yes, bikers stop on the way back and visit the farm and stack their haversack with all the leafy vegetables and prepare some mouth watering dishes…what a way to GO GREEN!!

Wait!! There is one more surprise element in store!! A Chinese cemetery right in the middle of a remote village!! Well that was a interesting visit…

Final part of the ride was refill our fuel tanks with Dosas and idlis and after completing that ritual we parted ways, each rider following different routes to encounter new challenges that were awaiting them…but before that, they promised to meet again for another wonderful ride!!

Relive some of the moments here…

Just Ride!!

HBC

Sunil

Hyderabad 10K returns

Hyderabad 10K returned with a lot of enthusiasm and spirit. This time I followed Matt’s marathon workout schedule. Matt’s an inspiration to everyone. At 50 he is our symbol of IronMan. He keeps motivating everyone to give their best and is ready to help us out always.

On the eve of the marathon I went out to register separately just to get the RFID chip to time myself and the same evening I get a mail in my inbox that those registered for half marathon through corporate will also get RFID chips. I ended up with two chips, one on each foot!!

On the day of the marathon I got up at 03:00 and had a bowl of museli and milk to keep my energy levels up. I was surprised to find only one guy in the MS bus. A hot cup of tea at the MS booth woke me up and really warmed me up for the event. It was nice to see Ed too going for the half marathon.

When the event was flagged off, it was still dark, I found it difficult to view the road ahead. After 10k, there were lot of people on the road cheering us. Some even tried to break the traffic barricades to get to the other side of the road.

There were many familiar faces on the opposite way. I could spot Juli, Athanu, Mamtha, Sophie, Katie and many HBCians in the run. When I reached the finish spot, I felt I could run even more!! The moment I crossed the finish line I had a couple of runners telling me that I might be 1st in the corporate category. I rubbed it off as a compliment and moved on…

We had a nice time chatting and snacking at the MS booth. Shay and Rebecca treated everyone with ice creams, we tried (our legs were too tired by now) to dance to the music being played.

The spirit of marathon is to push yourself and discover the youthful spirit in you. I did not expect to win in the men’s corporate category. But any victory is sweet and I must thank Matt for his motivation and guidance. It really helped!!

Here is the timings of myself and Ed (did not get numbers of others). You can also find the result here.

Next year I plan to finish the half marathon under 1:30. Just trying to aim higher. I hope I am able to push myself and achieve this. For more pictures of this event, click here.

Keep running, keep riding!!

HBC

Sunil

Art of Living Bike Ride

Yes!! the members of HBC are getting spiritual these days. It was a day to connect your mind, body and soul, a search within to find peace and energize your body. 28 members rsvped of which 22 turned up early Sunday morning at around 06:30. I know getting up early on Sunday is a BIG ask…but search for the inner self temped many to get out of their beds and rally to a secret location!!

Our beloved Ed made all the arrangements for a perfect ride along with yoga asanas and ofcourse the mandatory chai. Juli told me that Ed woke up quite early to make sure its a perfect day for all of us and also prepared chai for all of us himself!! Hats of to the old man who is still much younger than most of us in the group in terms of energy, enthusiasm and fun loving.

We started off from our usual meeting place (Gachibowli) at around 06:45 and a few of them joined us from Hill Ridge. While Ed was leading the ride, Shay was riding back and forth to ensure all of us were following the right way. I was at the tail, just to make sure that there is help available in case someone needed it.

After a few stops we reached the secret location on the banks of the Himayat Sagar lake. It took some effort from us to persuade the security to allow us in the vicinity of the lake.

Siddharth our Yoga guru was waiting there for us with a big smile on his face. He looked very happy and eager to impart some yoga asanas to us. Just as we were about to start, we had a guest in the form of horse, greeting everyone. He was obviously excited to see us on our bikes.

The weather as just perfect, the clouds above shielded us from the sun. We started our yoya asana with Kapal Bhati and followed it up with head and hip rotation in the sitting posture. The cat posture asana made us feel really good. We then did some standing asanas for our back and joints.

In Yoga breathing is the most important part, ofcourse the posture should also be proper, else it may not be effective. We did a different type of Shava asana (Squeezing our body and freeing it). When we opened our eyes after the 10 minute meditation there was a feeling of happiness and well being within us. After all we hardly get to spend time with ourselves!!

Chai time!! Ed played the perfect host and gave everyone chai and some cookies. After mingling around we rode back to our respective homes.

Thanks to Ed for arranging this ride and yoga session. Thanks to our yoga guru Siddharth for his time and imparting this valuable knowledge to us. We all are an enlightened lot!!

Moments of this ride are captured here. Ah map to the secret place!! I will put it as soon as I get it :-) The secret it out!!

Just Ride folks!!

HBC

Sunil