Ski Trip To Snowy Mountains

Snowy mountains is one of the nearest places to Sydney to experience snowfall. In fact snowy mountains and its surroundings are the only places in mainland Australia to experience consistent snowfall, consistent enough to engage in winter sports like Skiing, snowboarding etc. Snowy mountains covers the states of NSW and Victoria, and there are various Ski resorts to engage in such activities. On the NSW side there are 3 major Ski resorts. Perisher, Thredbo and Selwyn. The initial 2 cater to more professional demographic, whereas the later caters to a more family oriented , learner/amateur population.
















We had been to Snowy mountains on 2 consecutive winters. The first one was to just experience snow, since my better half had never experienced it before. The second year we had timed it to experience snowfall and engage in some winter sports. As mentioned previously Perisher and Thredbo can get very crowded with people who are serious about skiing. So much that Perisher had run out of parking spots and the cops had setup a roadblock at the bottom of the mountain and asking people to take a U turn and go back and take the train. This was last year and we were not very specifically intending to visit Perisher, hence we went to the nearby Thredbo. This year based on that experience we decided to just visit Selwyn resort.

We had booked a cottage in the outskirts of Adaminaby. Though it rarely snows right up to this town, the night we stayed it snowed very heavily even in these regions. It was a scene straight out of a fairy tale, a wooden cottage in middle of nowhere and heavy snowfall outside. By morning everything was whitewashed, and we were still 35 kms away from the Selwyn Mountain Snow resort which is right up on a elevation. Hence we were expecting some good snow for skiing.

Reached the Snow resort driving through the snow filled roads and some scary 2 wheel drive moments. We had rented the ski equipment and also some lessons. The lessons were not at all helpful and the ski equipment weighed a ton, with very restricted movement possible. Not sure how people have them on and move for an entire day. And if you fall, its takes a great effort to get back to your feet, which believe me was more frequent than comfort for a newbie like me. At the end of the day, I didn't quite enjoy the concept of skiing, but I always wanted to try it atleast once. Will I ski again ??? Probably Not !!!!

Thumping Nice Road Half Marathon !!!!!

Having missed the Bengaluru Half Marathon in the month of October, thanks to a 104'er viral fever, I was raring to participate in a half marathon. And the next possible opportunity I got was in the form of the Ajmera Thump Bangalore Celebration marathon, conducted in a section of the NICE ring road after blocking vehicular traffic.I didn't register for this event until just 3 days leading to it, because I didn't want history to repeat and myself  getting disappointed again, sitting in the sidelines and unable to participate.

In comparison to the previous 2 half marathons which I have completed, this looked comparatively easier in terms of the elevation profile and the running surface and obviously the finishing time does conform with this. The half marathon was started early in the morning at 6 am and I was just in time to start the race. The initial section of the run was through the 2 lane concreted road and the early morning weather was favoring the runners to maintain a good pace. One thing I learned from this race is proper hydration and nutrition early in the race, goes a long way in helping to maintain the stamina in the later sections of the run. Hence at every aid station I would stop and have a mini refill of salts and glucose infused into my blood stream.

Thanks to the smooth road, I had finished half of this race within 1 hr clock time and  was raring to finish the other half. Never have I experienced such energy reserves in my previous long distance runs. Therefore I think it might be because of the physical shape and also the nutrient intake leading to the race. BTW I had a cheese filled pizza dinner the previous day :P.

Only when there was 5 km left to finish the race did the sun come out of the cloud cover, but thankfully by that time majority of our run was completed. As usual did a sprint to the finish line and finished off the race with a personal best time of 2 hrs, 7 mins, 39 secs. This is close to 11 mins better than my previous half marathon finish time. So end of the day was very happy for inching closer to my short term goal of a sub-2hr finish time.

Rank	BIB	Name	10.55K	Chip Time
145	1525	Nithin Uliyar	0:59:48	2:07:39

The Run Of Raramuri Tribe !!!!!!

"Raramuri !!!!" . This is one event where I got attracted to the very unique name and the finishers medal rather than the actual course. Even though this event is in its seventh edition I came to know about it quite recently from fellow runners. Raramuri refers to a tribe in North America who are renowed for their long distance running ability especially over mountains, canyons and so on. Hence inspired with the same spirit of long distance running, this event was organized on an overcast July morning (18th July), on a track which mimicks traversing through the hills and canyons which an actual member of the raramuri tribe would have endured.

That is how u look when u are eating banana and
suddenly a photographer clicks ur image :P

In this event I was all set to run my second half marathon that too after a huge gap of 3 years. The last half marathon I had participated was for KTM in the year 2012. And surprisingly both KTM and Raramuri runs are considered to be the toughest marathons in the vicinity of Bangalore.  Rough track with lots of stones and the sun had made KTM a worthy adversary, but on the other hand steep climbs and drops has made Raramuri to be in the same league of tough trails.

The run started at sharp 5.30 in the morning which was a big boon for all the runners since by the time the sun was out, most of the participants had completed their race. There were close to 500 odd half marathon participants, 50 odd full marathon participants and 200 odd 10k participants. With an initial warmup session near KSIT college , Kanakpura road we were let into the track which initially follows the pipeline road, which comprises of huge drops and climbs unlike any other topography one would find in the vicinity of Bangalore. Hence within the first 8 kms itself, I was huffing and panting and taking breaks, which would not have been the case if the trail was through flat terrain.

With Finishers Medals

After the initial 10k which follows the pipeline road, we where let into the BSK 6th stage main road which goes through the Turahalli forest, one of the green lungs of Southern Bangalore. The initial part of the race was like a lot of unceasing concentratic waves whereas the later part of the run was like a single big wave of going down and coming up. With all these elevation variations, my knee started to complain near the 14km mark and after that point it was just pushing towards the finish line enduring the pain. Since even the organizers were well aware of the difficulty level, they had provided well stocked watering stations every 1.6km and this did help a lot of runners and at the end of the day there was no major untoward incident. Even the race director was out there on the field providing medical aid to the runners !!!!.

I completed my run with a time of 2 hrs 18 mins 4 secs and surprisingly this was 14 secs quicker than my KTM timing !!!!. I presume I could have shaved close to 10 mins of that time if my knee was not giving any trouble. Overall a race which was satisfying, well organized and fun to complete.

Elevation Profile

Official Stats

Half Marathon
Finished- 02:18:04
Bib: 228

Rankings
Overall 132/270
Male     122/239

Splits
Start            5:32:21 AM
5K               6:00:46 AM  (00:28:26, 5:42 min/km)
14.5K          7:02:08 AM  (01:29:48, 6:12 min/km)
Finish          7:50:24 AM  (02:18:04, 6:33 min/km)

Encounters Of Duathlon Kind, Dwithiya !!!!!

I always get my best "in action" shots while participating in a duathlon, dont know the reason why !!!!. Probably all that cycling gear hides the fatigue and projects a cool looking demeanor. I took part in this event when it was introduced for the first time in year 2013 which comprised of cycling on top of the electronic city flyover which was a novel experience. Once that was done and dusted I was reluctant to take part in the same event being conducted in the same venue in year 2014. since it dint excite me enough. Now in year 2015 when they shifted the venue to Uttarahalli road , literally my backyard, it was too good for me to resist. Hence registered for the event, which by the way was free of cost for me, thanks to Bookmyshow and my wife for having accumulated all those points in my credit card :P !!!!!!.

So early morning of June 14,  dragged myself out of the bed and reached the venue (RNSIT, Uttarahalli Road) on my bike at around 6.15. As with the earlier editions, it had a 2.5km run followed by 18km of cycling and finally concluding with a 2.5km run. One thing I love about these lesser known events is that the crowd is very manageable and doesnt look very overwhelming. Ofcourse the quality of competition is still very good and one is always compelled to push and go that extra mile. Initially participants of the 10k were let into the circuit after a warm-up session. Then it was our turn and we were let into the circuit at around 6.45am. The initial run took us to a backroad flanking the institutes boundary wall. As expected the 2.5km run went like a breeze. This was followed by a quick changeover to cycling gear and then again back to the track. The cycling track took us to the wide and empty roads of BSK 6th stage where one has to constantly face the headwind. Even then, there are certain sections of the track where one could just vroom up and go, but while returning it would be the complete opposite with steep climb and headwind to bother. It was in the same section that I have recorded my top speed ever riding my bike at 54kmph a couple of years back.

Anyway returned back to the holding area and changed gears to running mode. Now this is the most painful transition in a duathlon, of getting back to running after a thrilling-adrenaline pumping cycle race. Initially the legs would not budge at all and it takes some time to get back to the rhythm. Anyhow completed the race with an overall timing of 1 hr 12 mins , but unfortunately 4 mins slower than my younger self. Probably the circuit was much tougher, but with such a small difference it is very hard to tell. Overall still a fun race.

Place	BIB	Name	Time	Category	Run 1	T1	Bike	T2	Run 2
28	232	Nithin Uliyar	1:12:24	Duathlon Individual Men	0:11:35	0:00:59	0:45:54	0:00:44	0:13:12

Ramanagara Marathon

It had been quite some time since I took part in a running event. One of the major reason being the winter season when I am usually too lazy to get up in the morning to train and hence results in periodic yearly weight gain around this time :P. Therefore with the signs of spring coming, I had to kick-start my training by participating in an event to gauge my present condition  and Ramanagara Marathon conducted on 1st Feb perfectly fit the bill. Decided to participate in the 11km run and not in the half marathon since for the past 2-3 months I had been running 6-7 kms and not more than that , and that too not regularly.

Before Race Selfie

Drone

This time I had Shashi for company and both of us registered for the 11km event. He was participating in the Auroville Marathon the coming week which I had missed to register by a couple of days in December, therefore this was like a preparatory run for him. Both of us left Bangalore in the wee hours of a very chilly Sunday morning on a bike. It was literally freezing while we were riding through Mysore road to reach the venue near Ramanagara. It was not overly crowded as some hi-profile events in Bangalore tend to become and had just the perfect number of around 500-600 runners. There was even a drone covering the event which caught everyones attention and imagination.

Post Race Selfie :P

The run started at 6.30 with the half marathon participants let off and then after a gap of 10 mins we were let off into the track. The route was quite picture some with it snaking through the boulders of Ramanagara which has made the town so famous since the days of Sholay. It was a majorly a trail run and there were a lot of obstacles such as sand, pebbles, stones, boulders enroute which had to be negotiated. Further the  weather was just perfect for the entire duration of the run. This trail reminded me a lot of Kaveri Trail Marathon. I maintained a good momentum,  running majority of the distance behind an IISc runner , making him my unofficial pacer :P. And when the end point came near I had the audacity of overtaking him and finishing ahead of him :D.  I completed the 11 km (actually it was 11.5km) in 1 hr 6 mins. Not a bad timing and I am happy that I would be bettering this time through this summer :). Since there was no chip for this race there was no ranking provided.

Were provided with finishers medal, certificate and followed by an okayish breakfast. Also met a long lost friend after a gap of nearly 12 years. It was so "long lost" that we instantly recognised each others faces but failed to recollect where had we actually met :P. After breakfast, left the venue and later-on came to know that a runner participating in the half marathon had collapsed and had died on the way to hospital. This further reinforces the fact that long distance running shouldnt be taken lightly and one should train and be in perfect condition while attempting such a distance. Hope that persons soul rest in peace.

Pushing My Boundaries: A Saga Of Cycling 210 kms !!!!!

"Why in the world do you want to cycle 200+ kms ????? "
"Because cycling 100kms is so ordinary and every tom, dick and harry can do it :P."

That pretty much is my cheesy answer whenever I encounter the above question, and believe me I encountered this question a lot, before the ride and during the ride especially from the villagers. This plan of riding 200km was in offing from a long time since I rode 150kms up and down to Nandi hills , way back in 2011. When I started cycling again in my adult life, 100km cycling seemed tough and 200km cycling seemed totally impossible, hence it was more of a psychological barrier. But instead of doing it solo I had come across this concept of randonneuring where a group of cyclists try to complete distances such as 200km, 300km, 400km, 600km, 1000km within a predetermined fixed time and with no external aid , hence forcing the riders to be totally self sufficient. Unfortunately from a long time I wasnt able to participate in this, since most of the brevet events would be conducted on Saturdays and with my Saturdays busy with my MBA classes, I had no option but to wait for the right time to attempt this.

A long Q of cyclists in front of an ATM in Hosur

Making Some New Friends

So fate had assigned March 8th 2014 as the day when I would be attempting my first brevet (a randonneuring event is called so). Initially me and Shashi were planning to do this together, but with an emergency at home, he had to drop out. The brevet was to begin at 6 am and everyone who wanted to qualify had to complete the 210 km of cycling in 13.5 hrs. The route was  Sarjapur Road(Bangalore)->  Bommasandra-> Hosur-> Malur-> Bangarpet ->Kolar ->Hoskote- >Chiktirupathi ->Sarjapur -> Sarajpur Road(Bangalore). Since I had never ridden such a distance , I was apprehensive as to whether I should ride my bike to the starting point and back, which would have increase the count to 240km !!!!!. Finally pessimism prevailed and I decided to take the bike in my brothers car to the starting point. The ride started exactly at 6 am with around 75 people attempting it. I arrived a bit late and by the time I finished the formalities it was already 6.15am, wasting 15 mins of precious time already. Anyway started the ride and caught up with my first fellow cyclist : Kumar from Chennai, who had specially come to Bangalore to ride in this brevet.

Some Bad Roads

Even though we were provided with the Que sheet, we missed the first ever turn towards Bommasandra and overshot it by around 2 km, before it actually dawned upon us that we might have missed it completely. Took a U turn and returned back to the cross. We knew that for every mistake we commit now, we would have to suffer its consequences in the latter part of the day. However this route was great, tree lined, very minimal traffic and I was riding at a good pace. There was a difference in the strategy I adopted on this day , wherein I cycled at a comfortable pace and not overexerting myself , which is what I usually do on my routine 40km weekend rides. Reached the national highway and for the first time I cycled out of Karnataka and into Tamil Nadu while I reached Hosur. In process got separated from Kumar and in Hosur we had to collect an ATM slip to show the organizers the proof of entering. After this rode solo for the remainder of the day, interacting with fellow cyclists every now and then.  Unfortunately there was a huge Q of cyclists in front of the ATM and by the time it was my turn the ATM crashed. Anyway took a selfie snap for proof and soon enough was back on the road. A lot of cyclists took a stop here to have their breakfast, but I was of the opinion that I should keep on cycling and cover good distance before the sun becomes too hot and for the other belief that having a heavy breakfast would just bloat me and slow me down. Hence for the entire day I survived on chikkies, snickers, electral water, biscuits, tender coconut which I used to have at regular intervals.  Even had a Thumbs Up for the sugar and caffeine content when I really needed it in the blazing afternoon heat !!!!!!

A First: A selfie while riding a bike

The route was actually great. It was filled with rolling ups and downs and was a great route for cycling. Reached Malur and then took a right towards Bangarpet. The route from Malur to Bangarpet was simply awesome , being newly paved and with minimal traffic. The advantages of attempting a brevet just a month before the Lok Sabha elections :P. Ofcourse there were some bad patches too. Reached Bangarpet exactly at noon , went to the ICICI bank for the proof of entering and while I was at it, had a chat with a lot of curious onlookers and answering their never-ending questions. Initially they would think that I might be some alien and start conversing in broken English, but when I reply back in Kannada they would be mildly surprised :P. One roadside mechanic even went to the extent of calling me "The next Armstrong !!!!!", and it was my turn to be mildly surprised with his knowledge, leaving alone the controversy surrounding him.

Kolar to Hoskote Highway

The afternoon ride was especially painful and once I hit the treeless Kolar to Hoskote route the going was tough and slow in the blazing heat. All the problems of long distance cycling started to creep in, saddle sores wherein I had to constantly adjust my bum on the seat. Sore neck because of my semi-aero position. In order to counter this sore neck problem I came up with a new but a much riskier type of riding. Since the Kolar to Hoskote highway was a National Highway with 4 lanes, it did have a continuous white line running along its shoulder. So my strategy was to scan the next 200m of the road and then put my face down and just cycle ensuring that I am cycling in parallel to this white line :P.  Hence this provided some respite from the pain. Reached Emerald Isle Resort and with a quick snap thanks to fellow randonneur Mohan, was back on the road towards Chikkatirupathi. At this point the odometer was showing 155km and this was the farthest I had ridden in a day beating my Nandi hills ride. The ride through this country road was pleasant with some cloud cover and tree line. Reached Chikkatirupathi at around 5pm and met the father-son-attempting-brevets-together duo of Sanath and Manoj. I still had 26km to go in around 2.5 hrs. It now looked just like a formality to be completed. Was just hoping that I wouldn't get a flat during the ride and thankfully didnt get any.

Odometer 155: The farthest I have traveled ever

But after this I took a lot of breaks because of exhaustion. The going was slow, but I was sure that I would be able to finish within the designated time. Hit the congested Sarjapur town and then final sprint towards the end point.  As soon as I entered the Bangalore city limits there was an another headache of weekend traffic waiting for me. The stop and go traffic was a bit irritating especially when you have ridden 200+ km since early morning. Reached the end point at 6.45 pm, taking 12.5 hrs for the ride , but officially 12 hrs 45 mins since the start time is taken as 6 am. Had a great sense of achievement, but with a very bad case of saddle sores :P. During the drive back home had a hard time of keeping my eyes open due to exhaustion and somehow reached home safe and without any incidents. Surprisingly the next day I didnt have any body aches even after my body endured such a feat, however I had got a really bad case of sore throat thanks to riding all day in the sun and gulping cold water at every possible instance.

Now the wait starts for my brevet medal to arrive from Paris which usually takes around 6-8 months. So with a 200+ under my belt, whats next ??? A 300 brevet probably, but again not immediately and definitely not in a MTB. Have to upgrade to a road bike which obviously would take some time :). But till then I would be satisfied with my new title.... "Hell Yeah, I am a Randonneur !!!!!!"

[Shaky Cam Video of the Ride]

Trip 'O' Meter : 210 + 3 (getting lost :P) = 213 km

Time Taken -> 12 hrs 35 mins

Career Stats:

200's------------------------------>1 (213)
100's ----------------------------->3 (107, 150, 104)
50's ------------------------------>7 (70,55,86,91,55,81,57)

"How to Piss off Cyclists ???" , Vodafone Cycling Marathon Style !!!!!!

Since I was recuperating from a running injury I couldn't attend the Auroville Marathon in Pondicherry which I had been planning from some time. Hence instead of staying at home, sulk over my bad luck and plan for next years marathon I came across this cycling marathon conducted in Bangalore itself. I registered myself at the last moment since I was not sure how this event would be in its first edition. Its usually the case that whenever an event is conducted for the very first time, it would be conducted in the worst possible manner. And I was not wrong with my prediction. Even though I enjoyed the actual event of cycling so called 40kms, but all the logistics accompanying it was poorly planned.

Registered just 5 days prior to the race. There were 4 categories, Passion Ride(40 km), Green Ride (20km) and Fun ride (10km) for amateurs and Champion ride (60km) for professionals who were registered with the Cycling Federation of India. Since the maximum distance I could take part was Passion ride I registered for it. Even before the race day there was a lot of confusion. First an announcement saying that Passion ride will have a cutoff of 90 mins. Now majority of those registered for Passion ride were flabbergasted, since riding at that speed was close to impossible for the majority ie 40 kms in 90 mins  with average of 27 km/hr.  After a lot of complains in FB they finally changed the cutoff to 105 mins. But the funny part was that the actual circuit was not 40kms as they had advertised, but around 35.5 kms. The next blunder was that they sent a mail to everyone saying that BIB distribution would start at the venue of Kanteerva stadium from 5th  Feb onwards, but when many people landed at the venue they started saying that it would begin from 6th Feb. And all attempts to contact they via email or phone for any queries were greeted with automated messages about a callback soon (which never came back) or the mail being replied 3 days after sending it, making it totally irrelevant. Some people who made it on the right day would be welcomed with a statement that they have run out of timing chips and they can collect it on the race day and when they show up on the race day to collect they were literally shooed away. Hence with this track record the Vodafone organizers managed to piss off a lot of cyclists including me. Luckily I didnt face any problems collecting my BIB and timing chip.

Our Passion ride was the first event on a clear blue Sunday morning of 9th Feb 2014. Hence had to report before the designated flag off time of 6.30 am. Landed at the venue at around 5.50 am and was greeted by huge cycling crowd at the venue. There were close to 1,300 people competing in the Passion ride. But another gross point was that the venue was void of any lighting at this early morning hours. Close to 2k people were struggling to move from place to place and all the lights were turned off... I was like WTF !!!!!... this was the height of incompetence. Anyway at around 6.40am we were let into the road via a very narrow gate. As the count down started everyone started to ring their cycle bell including me, which was music to the ears and sounded very beautiful. Soon enough we started the race. With the lap being around 4.5km, at any point during the race one would encounter crowd on the road and cannot expect a calm stretch at all. Even then the actual race was quite fun. Weaving in and out of cycle-traffic overtaking slower riders, competing with other riders who can challenge you was quite enjoyable. With this sort of an event one could easily imagine what would a vehicle free city look like, with only cyclists and pedestrians on the road.

The Pros: Best in the country

Since the elevation profile of this route (which starts from Kanteerva Stadium, to Kasturba road, to Chinnaswamy stadium and back to Vittal mallya road) was pretty flat, people were able to maintain good speed which was quite thrilling. And there were 3 very sharp turns in this circuit which people including me were belting with full speed. Ofcourse with this amount of crowd and speed , there were bound to be a lot of accidents happening. Especially with the newbies who had a hard time riding in a crowd. And even though there were lots of ambulances,  whenever a rider was injured they were nowhere to be seen even for the first aid. Anyway I finished my ride on a high with a final sprint, with an average of 31kmph which is my best for such a distance(this is after considering the actual distance measured with GPS and confirmed by other riders. If I take 40km distance average is 35kmph :P ) Soon after that the Champion ride with the professionals started and I didn't wait to see the results, but when I saw their videos they were just whooshing by.  Overall both the Passion and Champion riders had a decent experience. But participants from the Green Ride and Fun ride where really shortchanged. Instead of the promised 20km and 10 km respectively , they were made to go around the stadium even after paying the required fee. And to add salt to their wounds they even allowed vehicular traffic on the routes which were earlier blocked for the other 2 rides. Therefore these rides had even more accidents due to overcrowding. And to top it all there were no refreshments provided to the participants which is usually provided for such a sporting event.

Anyway as mentioned earlier all the logistics surrounding the event were pathetic, and with all probability I wouldn't compete again next year. And if it falls on the same weekend as the Auroville Marathon, then "No chance at all!!!!" :)

Statistics

Race Pos. TAG Lap1 Lap2 Lap3 Lap4 Lap5 Lap6 Lap7 Lap8 Net Time Passion Ride 143 1512 00:06:21 00:14:48 00:23:32 00:32:18 00:41:12 00:50:12 00:59:19 01:08:21 01:08:21 Official Distance : 40km Actual Distance : 35.4km Average Speed(with actual distance) :  31 km/hr Top Speed : 42 km/hr Lap Splits : Lap 1: 6.21 mins Lap 2: 8.27 mins Lap 3: 8.44 mins Lap 4: 8.46 mins Lap 5: 8.54 mins Lap 6: 9.00 mins Lap 7: 9.07 mins Lap 8: 9.02 mins Total Distance Travelled : 35.4 + 11* 2 (my ride to and from the venue)= 57.4 km 100's ----------------------------->3 (107, 150, 104) 50's ------------------------------>7 (70,55,86,91,55,81,57)

Images Courtesy : HighOnMarathon

Kickboxing 1.1

Appraisal time !!!!!!
Some improvements over the year.... :)...from the 2 videos it seems right now I am less of a loose cannonball and more of a restrained, longer enduring boxer :P. Further there are some extra weapons in my arsenal.But frankly speaking I haven't practiced this much over the year.... but nevertheless this is one of the most fun workouts around :).

Y do i kick-box ????
1. Primarily to induce variety in my fitness regime, and not because I am some sadistic, violence loving crackhead :)
2. In case I find myself in some dangerous situation (God forbid I dont encounter such situation), to protect and defend , if not kick their asses :).
3. Its a good stressbuster.

Hopefully my next video will be named as Kickboxing 2.0 and not Kickboxing 1.2 !!!!!

Dont watch this video if any of the following holds good:
1. If u r not comfortable with "extreme" violence, or have some weird soft corner for a punching bag (refers to u PPR :P) :D :D
2. If u r not comfortable with upper body male nudity :D :D :D

Older Video Link
http://nithinu.blogspot.in/2012/08/kickboxing-10.html

Background Music : Pacific Rim Theme

Encounters of the Duathlon Kind

Yours truly in Action :)

Duathlon = (++Running) + Cycling ;

Even after being involved in both these entities since quite some time , their paths had not really criss-crossed until now, when I was to take part in my first ever Duathlon. The event was the Ajmera Sponsored Duathlon organized by Life-is-Calling to be held in the wee hours of 7th July 2013 within the confines of Electronic City. With the run-cycle-run format, this was a completely new thing for me, and for a person who aims to become a triathlete this was the first step towards nirvana. The total distances were 2.5km run followed by 18km cycling(12km for ladies) and finishing it off with a 2.5 km run. Sounds easy for a marathoner doesn't it :).

Got my bro's Jazz to transport my dismantled Rockrider 5.1 to the venue. This was my first ever competitive ride on my trusted 4 year old bike (which nowadays cannot be trusted much :P.... ) and the organizers had touted this to be India's---first---duathlon---to---be---held---on---NH's---longest---flyover. Lot of technicalities you see, but end of the day it had some "India's first" tag :P. The things the organizers do to market their event ......

Landed up at the venue(NTTF grounds) with it totally engulfed in festive spirit, along with Shashi who had already given his bike to the organizers for transportation. There was music , drums being played in a trance by some spirited African drummers, a DJ as MC and booty shaking crowd doing a fun warm-up before the endurance race. There were close to 200 participants for the duathlon which included both the team event and individual events. Went and parked my bike at a designated spot inside the transition area, with the gloves, helmet etc placed at strategic places so as wear them in the shortest possible time after I complete my first lap of running. The event started at 6.45 am and off we were let into the streets of Electronic city to complete the first 2.5 km.


{ Video Compilation by Veloscope. I make an appearance from 0.16 to 0.20 }

This first part of the run was not at all challenging. By the time its starts to get tiring, I was back to the transition area to start the cycling leg. Putting on all the cycling gear in the shortest possible time and somehow this reminded me the kindergarten days where one used to have competitions like run-wear socks, run-wear shoes, run-wear sweater and so on. It was actually fun traversing through the transition area all geared up, running with your bike till the no biking zone and then all of a sudden mounting on the bike and cycling. The entrance to the ground was kinda narrow and the same was being used by bother bikers and runners for entry and exit during the run. This was kinda scary and a mess, with lot of blind corners and both the bikers and cyclists coming in with full speed. A potential disaster waiting to happen I thought, with me having a couple of close calls. But luckily nothing untoward happened.

For the cycling leg we were let into the Electronic City flyover and within no time we were bogged down with strong headwinds. Roadbikes with a better aerodynamics were able to negotiate this quite easily, but MTBer's like me had to endure the brunt. Cycling was where technology had a higher priority over endurance. This hard fact was illustrated to me when the guys whom I had overtaken during the 2.5km run, overtook me during the cycling leg in their carbon-fiberish road bikes and ultimately went on to finish 2nd and 3rd :P. I am not saying that I would have beaten them if I had a same bike, probably they are better cyclists than me (ofcourse they are, they represent a professional cycling team :D ), but I felt that with the distance for cycling and running set by the organizers, hardcore cyclists had a bigger edge over runners.

Once the excitement of riding on top of an endless flyover dies down, the ride becomes pretty much boring with the views being monotonous for the entire duration of the race. Unless u r overtaking someone or someone is trying to overtake you, all the adrenaline rush starts to kick in. All the road-bikes were pretty much untouchable and I focused my competition to just MTB's and Hybrids. I won some one-on-one battles and at the same time I lost some too. But it was fun. Drafting behind another cyclist to avoid a headwind and then suddenly overtaking that person and then a role reversal, with them chasing you , but at the same time enjoying the draft behind you :). I was even thanked by a biker for letting him draft behind me , when in fact I didnt even know he was doing tat :). We bikers are such gracious adrenaline junkies you know :P.

After the 18km bike ride, I was back to the transition area and I dumped all the cycling gear and got ready to run. Eventhough I was not tired beyond a level, my legs were kinda refusing to run !!!!!! I dont know what phenomenon is this... something new I was experiencing and maybe a common thing in cross-sports. Anyway after some time the legs were woken up and I got the regular run momentum. Finished my race strong with my usual sprint with a total time of around 1hr 8 mins . Shashi finished his race close to 18 minutes behind me. He was let down big time by his "chinese" bike. After the race it was back to the celebration-festive spirit with breakfast provided for the participants. Overall it was a fun experience.  

 (Both of us with the finishers medal :) )

Official Timing:

Place	BIB	Name	Time	Category	Run 1	T1	Bike	T2	Run 2
21	174	Nithin Uliyar	01:08:38	Individual	00:10:52	00:01:16	00:44:40	00:00:25	00:11:26

Pics and Videos Courtesy : ICycle.in, Chromoframes and veloscope.in

Marathon Mania : My 3rd Appearance @ World 10 K

My third appearance at the much popular marathon (technically this is not a marathon :P ) in the Southern part of India and I had some unrealistic aims set for this event. For starters I had an aim of finishing my 10k run within the 50 min mark. Why the 50 min mark ??!!! , you can blame that on the organizers. They have segregated the runners as Category A for those having a best time of within 50 mins, Category B for those having it between 50 mins and 1hr 20 mins and Category C for anything above it. Missing the Category A by just 2 mins and being officially classified as a second class runner got me raging mad :P. So decided that no matter what I would finish within 50 mins and calm myself down.

But with the total show of strength being close to 23,000 pair of legs and growing exponentially over the last few years, I somehow knew that this is going to be one tough job. For starters the initial pain of overtaking innumerable slow runners/walkers makes matters worse. There were a lot of slow runners/walkers since the corporate participants were let into the track before us. But on the other hand weather was superb thanks to heavy rains the previous day and the overcast sky. Were let into the track at around 7.20 am @ Kanteerva Stadium. The run again goes through the traditional route followed the previous years comprising of Kasturba Road, MG Road, Cubbon Road, Vidhana Soudha and finally Cubbon Park before ending back at Kanteerva Stadium. Maintained a constant pace of around 11.5 kmph and finished my race strong with a final sprint with a timing of 52:46 mins, 6s slower than my best :). Over the previous 3 editions my timing has improved from 59:57 mins(2010) to 55:40 mins(2011) to 52:46 mins(2013). Atleast was satisfied bettering my event record :P.

But one thing I learned was never to have a timing goals at this event. Just run for the love of running, enjoying the company of the fellow runners and absorbing the whole festive spirit. My overall ranking was 593 and surprisingly my gender ranking was 585. That means only 8 females in the whole of Bangalore have a better timing than myself ?????!!!!!!!....(out of that I saw 2 western ladies overtaking me :P ) This ratio is definitely skewed and I guess more females should be encouraged to take up running as a sport.

The organizers have announced that this year too the top 850 male runners would get the Nike Finishers T-shirt (THE t-shirt which cant be bought but earned ;) ), down from 1500 given the last few years. The number of participants are increasing, but these guys are reducing the number, looks like they need some basic lessons in ratios. Anyway, hopefully they are increasing the quality of the t-shirts. Still working hard for the coveted Category A :).

OFFICIAL STATS:
Name: Nithin Uliyar
Bib No : 1808
Net Time : 52:46 mins
Overall Rank : 593
Gender Rank : 585

Update (30 June 2013)
Got my finisher T-shirt :)

Run Fatboy Run !!!!!!

"Running is equivalent to meditation !!!!!"
Have any of you heard this above statement ??? This is in fact true in my case.

How do you define meditation?
According to me meditation is something where you live in the present moment, not worrying about the past or the future and simultaneously keeping your mind at peace. To achieve this concept of  living in the present, meditation involves concentrating on each and every breath inhaled and exhaled. And finally the awareness and feeling of each and every part of the body.

For me running is everything the above definition states and more. While running your whole concentration is on moving the body forward one step at a time, taking deep breaths of air in order to fuel that motion, feeling each and every part of the body, especially via the sensation of pain which makes you live at the present moment. This is of-course somewhat different from a traditional sense of meditation. Its like trying to find peace in midst of absolute chaos. There is literally no scope to get distracted with any other thoughts creeping regarding the past or the future. In other words the mind is totally void of any unnecessary thoughts, in short a calm and peaceful mind.

It has been nearly 5 years since I started running. So it was high time I ranted something in favor of it :P.  It was more of a necessity back then and this necessity was triggered by a lifestyle of just working for 7 months in the corporate world. 7 months of corporate world and my triglyceride level was 171 mg/dL, which exceeded the normal value in unison with its other cholesterol cousins. So what solution comes to my mind???? RUNNING OF-COURSE and in one of the most unlikely places to do it. Initially was running within my house, up-down in the terrace and so on. I was way too shy to run on the streets or scared of  being chased by dogs because I didn't want to end up as an object of ridicule to someone , since I couldn't run for more than a couple of minutes altogether.

The first month was the toughest. You could not run for more than 5 mins, hence the motivation was low , and on top of that there were pains at all the unimaginable places post the run. But something kept on inspiring me to keep on running and surprisingly I did. Gradually over a period of time I started to become better and better. And when someone starts to improve in something there is a constant urge to keep on bettering that. Finally I had a sustainable motivation which has been driving me for the past 5 years. It does surprise me when I reach a goal which I thought to be impossible a year back.... bringing out the fact that with necessary dedication anything is possible with the human body and more importantly the human mind.

The first official run I took part was in the Sunfeast Bangalore 10K 2010 , clocking a time of 59:57 mins. The subsequent year it was 55:40. Of late my official fastest time in 10K is 52:40 min and my BHAG for this year (Big-Hairy-Audacious-Goal!!!!) is a timing of under 45 mins. Hopefully would be able to do that in TCS Bangalore 10K on May 19. Keeping my fingers crossed. Apart from the countless 10K's I have run , I have run only 1 half-marathon (2:18:26 hrs) and 1 full-marathon(5:29:05 hrs). The later 2 were done in quick successions in order to strike out an entry in my bucket list :P. Moving on I plan to concentrate only on 10K's and half marathons, bettering my personal records. Eventhough I dont have plans of running full marathons frequently, considering that it takes a toll on the legs and the overall physical well being, pushing the body to the extremes, I do plan to run that distance for some special occasions like my bada-BHAG (Biggest-Hairiest-Audacious-Goal !!!!) of becoming an Ironman triathlete :) (3.9 km swim, 180 km cycling, 42.2 km run to be done within 17hrs ), hopefully would be one before I turn 40 :P.

Another reason for taking up running is that now I eat whatever I want -totally bindass. No Dieting, Not bothering abt calories-  running pretty much compensates everything. It might be because of the same reason that I have not lost weight in the past 3 years and have the perfect weight for my height. Neither less nor more :). And this is one the cheapest sports out there, just slip into your favorite sneakers and run your heart out on the endless roads, churning out mile after mile. If there is one sport which signifies freedom, running would surely be at the top of that list :). Freedom from capitalist society with minimal or no gear required, freedom from dependence on an other individual, freedom from time of the run, freedom from competing with other individual (everyone is running their own races) which leads to freedom from worries, strategy and probably backstabbing  and finally freedom from unnecessary thoughts.

But apart from the good side there is an ugly side to running too. Run very frequently without a break and you end up with a busted knee. So I do keep in mind not to run more than twice in a week. Further I plan to participate in just 2-3 events in a year so that they are distributed over the entire year and providing sufficient motivation to train in sun, rain or cold.  And in order to supplement my running i have taken up cycling, kickboxing and planning to be a regular swimmer too :). So in short I can be termed as a pakka fitness freak :P.

So end of the day what is my present triglyceride count? which started it all in the first place.... it has come down to 94 mg/dL :).

"Pain is just temporary, Victory is forever !!!!!"

P.S.-->The title is shamelessly hijacked from a movie of a same name starring Simon Pegg, where his character runs a full marathon. A rather hilarious take on it :).

Image Courtesy: Navy Running.

A Coastal Sojourn: Drive, Dive and Run !!!!!

"KKKKOOOFFFFFFF"(Darth Vader Style) "GURGGGGGLE"!!!!!
"KKKKOOOFFFFFFF" "GURGGGGGLE"  !!!!!
"KKKKOOOFFFFFFF" "GURGGGGGLE"  !!!!!

This is pretty much the only thing you hear while Scuba Diving.
 "हर एक सांस  का एहसास" (u get to feel every breath) gushes the beautiful Katrina Kaif in 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara'. And for once I do agree with what they say in movies. You become aware of every breath you take, sucking in air through a tube and releasing it in form of millions of bubbles, which is pretty much the only thing that is keeping you alive. And the views you get to see is just "WOAAAHHH!!!!", its much-much better experiencing it than what is shown in the idiot box by the channels like Discovery and NGC. A must-try for the adventure loving people. Became such a huge fan of this sport that even planning to become a certified diver sometime next year :).

Group Shot

With a free weekend and Raghu's marriage falling on the same we decided to go for a trip. Shashi had prior plans of running 10K @ Nitte-Mangalore Marathon, hence resulting in combining all the individual events into a grand plan of ours. First was to attend wedding @Sirsi, Second was to go for Scuba Diving @Netrani Island and third was to participate in the 10K run @ Mlore. Got myself registered for the 10K run, reason being to give company to Shashi in particular and for my love of running in general :). Contacted Dreamz Diving Centre  and booked our slots for Saturday (23 Feb 2012), with the fee being 4.5k/head. Since this island is a restricted island one has to get permission from the Navy beforehand itself which is part of the diving package.

5 of us(Vineeth, Manju,Harsha, Shashi and Myself) left Bangalore on 22 Feb @ an unearthly hour of 4.15 am in Shashi's brand new Chevy Sail hatchback. Since the car was new it couldn't be driven at speeds exceeding 90kmph and this tested our patience when driving in the 4 laned Pune highway.  So much so that I was eager to get off the Golden Quadrilateral and ride in the 2 laned state highways, which was much more fun at these speeds. We got into a State highway near Harihara and from there it was smooth drive till Sirsi. We reached just in time to attend the marriage, enjoyed a sumptuous lunch and it was time to drive all the way to Murudeshwara in a highway kissing the coastline. Reached the place by dusk booked a room in a secluded place called 'Sea Side View Resort'. Roamed around Murudehswar for the rest of evening, chilling out.

Netrani Island

Got up pretty late next day since we had to report to the dive centre only by 9am. After reaching the venue on time we got to know that "9am" was the time mentioned only so that people make an effort to come early. One by one everyone of the 19 people registered for the "Discover Scuba Diving" program showed up and we started to our destination only by 10.30 am. The 1.5 hrs boat ride to Netrani Island which is 18kms from the coast is pretty boring, with nothing much to do. But one of the Hungarian dive instructor gave an introductory talk about underwater sign languages, the gear, adjusting body to the depth etc during this time, but unfortunately that lasted only for about 30 mins. Reached the totally desolate Netrani Island , a small hillock in middle of nowhere. In fact this island is used by the Navy for target practice, and hence taking their permission is an absolute necessity. The sun was bright and up , the water was still,clear and dark aqua green, hence making it an ideal condition for diving. Eventhough the water was not totally transparent as in Lakshadweep (within the lagoons), this would do for our first diving session without having to travel great distances.

Plan was dive to a maximum depth of 12m(40ft) and the duration of the dive being around 40 mins. Each novice diver is accompanied by an expert diver and one doesn't need to know swimming for this program, with the buoyancy control inbuilt in the diver's jacket making one float effortlessly at a particular depth. For obvious reasons everyone cant dive at the same time since there are only around 5 expert divers, the others were left to do snorkeling which looks like a big joke after scuba diving :D. They called for the first 3 divers and it was vineeth, shashi and myself volunteering within no time. Then started the gearing up process. Couple of fins connected to the legs, a compressed air cylinder in the back with a nozzle to the mouth, a dive mask over the face and a 20kg lead weight belt to the waist. They asked me to get up and sit on the side platform of the boat and to my utter surprise I couldnt even stand up in my first attempt due to all that weight. Finally was able to and then comes the scary part, with the tank facing water and feet inside the boat, they flip the body upside down so that the tank enters the water first. Supposedly a standard diving procedure to avoid the tank weight falling on top of the diver.

The first few minutes my instructor tried to familiarize me with breathing, clearing the face mask, adjusting the ear pressure as we went down and so on. Once I understood everything it was time to dive. Was initially a bit scared and this resulted in some heavy breathing which snowballed into me thinking that enough air is not getting pumped through the pipe :P. Call it the paradox of fear :D. But after some time got to know the problem, tried to relax and after that it was a smooth ride. Every time we dived couple of meters the ear would pain and I would have to adjust the pressure by just popping the nose :P. Then the beauty of this place started to emerge. Thousands of the fishes swimming here and there , in so many bright colors.

I never expected to see such huge schools of fishes anywhere near to the mainland. Every now and then there would be fish floating just in front of my eyes, blue, green, orange with violet stripes, brown, translucent ....pretty much an endless list with sizes varying from minuscule 0.5 inch to around 3 feet. Felt altogether in a different world, where one is totally weightless and there is no effort to keep oneself afloat. And when one looks up towards the water surface, one is easily spellbound by the rays getting refracted through the water and giving various different light patterns . Was able to descend to the max possible depth of 40ft without any problems, giving a thumbs up for any future options :).

After scuba diving session tried to do some snorkeling and by then it was time to return back. This was followed by yet another boring ride. Reached the coast at around 5 pm and it was time to leave for Mangalore for the final leg. Reached Mangalore at around 8pm and went directly to Hotel Pentagon off Pumpwell circle to collect the BIB and timing chip. From here we went to have our dinner @ Mainland China nearby, thnks to a treat by Shashi. All of us were in shorts, especially me in extra short swim-shorts , attracting stares from a lot of beautiful girls :D. Kinda felt like a girl wearing a mini skirt and getting stares from guys :D :D.  Went to Hotel Woodside @ Balmatta Road and it was time to call it a day.

Me and Shashi got up early @ 5.45 am to reach the 10K run destination @ Mangala Stadium. We were just in time and sharp @ 6.40 we were flagged off. Majority of the route was through concrete roads which took bit of a toll on my legs. But the major turnoff running in this marathon is that traffic is not stopped enroute. So that leaves runners nowhere else to run but along with buses, 2 wheelers zig-zaging through traffic. I was like "WTF!!!!!" .Humidity was another factor which took some time getting used to. Apart from that the route had a lot of gradients to be negotiated, making it a pretty tough track. Finally when I was just 100 m from the finish like as per my norms I started sprinting really fast, and this was suddenly cheered by a huge crowd comprising majorly of pretty girls from some local engineering college and this further fueled my final push and I completed my run in 52 min 40 secs, my best 10k finish time. When I say my GPS reading I was really shocked seeing that the last 100m I had clocked a speed of 21.1 kmph :D, my fastest marathon finish ever and u know what some cheering from pretty girls can do :D.

Just before leaving M'lore we had a feast of sorts @ Pabba's supposedly the place for best ice-cream in Karnataka. The return drive was eventless and we reached Bangalore at around 5 pm. Looks like I have one more hobby to be interested in, but to become a certified diver I have to become an expert swimmer, which I am not at the present moment, therefore starting towards my new goal. So that I can dive at any location across the world, with the options being endless :).

Underwater Photo's Courtesy: Dreamz Diving


Official Run Timing:

Overall Rank	Bib	Name	Category	Category Rank	Split @6.5	Net Time / Gross Time
55/160	2052	NITHIN ULIYAR	OPEN	46/126	00:34:02	00:52:40 / 00:52:48

Route Map:


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