30 To 130 KM (Chennai To Pondicherry )

It is said that a journey of thousand miles begins with a single step and so was mine. 

Three years back i started to VOLUNTEER and from then things have changed a lot for me and also in one way or another i have been challenging myself to achieve a goal which i have been dreaming of.

31/03/2019 - 32 km ride

It all started with a 32km ride and since i don't own a cycle at that time, i took a rental cycle and participated in the event only to get cramps while climbing the bridge.......it was my first ride. Yes i did sign up for the ride with the only experience of my schooling days (where i used to pedal from home to school) and yes it was 8 years back. How clever I am....😅But somehow with the cramps I managed to finish the 32 km in 2 hours and 32 minutes(YEAH I still remember the Timing). Since it was my first ride after 8 years the timing was never a factor for me and i got my first medal in cycling event.

14/04/2019 - 65 for 45 

Wondering what is 65 for 45? Well that's nothing other than the distance we (me and my friend) pedalled...hahaha its funny right? Yes it is....we did sign up for 45 km category and started off well too but to the disappointment we never noticed the turn point at VGP and started pedalling till thiruvanmiyur bus stand to find that we were completely lost with the riders of the event. 

          

It's not that we were lost.....we just pedalled some extra miles.😎

16/04/2019 - Purchasing my First Gear Cycle

In a world where most people are crazy for 350, 450 CC motorcycle I just thought to purchase a cycle....a geared one, OKAY a gear cycle which means you need to shell at least 10k and thanks to my mother I got the cycle. Never did I know that I will pedal Chennai - Pondicherry in less than a year time. 

23/06/2019 - Signed up for my first 100km but didn't finish

After a month of pedalling the streets of OMR i decided to sign up for a 100km. It was my first 100km ride and i was excited too, but things got turned up after getting a severe cramp on my leg and i had to quit it half way.... but i still managed to pedal a total of 70 km on that day and thanks to the physiotherapist present on the event. 

July - September - Participating in various categories

July, August and September were the months were i started to participate in various categories of 40 - 65 km event and it made me to realize to go big. I must say that these were the foundation platform for my Chennai - Pondicherry ride, because i have been able to finish the ride with consistent timings.

October - December - Dream for a Chennai to Pondicherry ride

It had been October by now and there was a thirst within me to go for a 100 km ride and even signed up for a 125 km ride, but because of the monsoons i have to give it up. But after the monsoon by December end (this time i was serious in accomplishing 100 km ride) I had decided to pedal from Chennai to Pondicherry and i thought of making this event as a fundraiser too. So i was searching for ideas on how to plan and execute it and also watched some fundraiser's videos in YouTube.

January 2020 - 8 months since i bought the cycle

As always after taking it serious i did let myself down and had to question myself whether I will make it or not? These words were inside my mind all the time till i got to know about Team Everest "I am the Change Scholarship". I got to know about Team Everest through online. I did sign up for monthly donation(Rs.100) with Team Everest and since i did sign up i got introduced to Karthee Vidya Sir. He introduced me to "I am the Change Scholarship" and i felt that this is the right time to do it.

February 2020 - One month before the trip

Team Everest "I am the Change Scholarship" is an initiative through which single parented/parent less students receive Scholarship. And since Karthee Vidya Sir introduced me to this i definitely wanted to be a part of this and signed up for this. This was a normal fundraising event and when i was wondering how to raise more funds this plan took off and it worked well. So a time slot (March 13 - 15) was fixed and i approached Karthee Vidya Sir told about the plans, he immediately backed me up also got our ride covered....thanks to the cameraman from Team Everest.

March 13 2020 - Chennai to Pondicherry

It was Friday and we(me and my friend) started the ride at 5:30 in the morning and reached Mamallapuram by 8:45 am where we had breakfast and chat with cameraman of Team Everest. Once the breakfast was over we had few videos shot at different location in and around Mamallapuram and then we started the long journey of 100 km. It was around 11 when we crossed Kalpakkam and the scorching sun was above us making us to sip the water  at regular intervals(thank God we had our bottles filled and some peanut candy to munch😎) it was so hot that we were able to pedal only 8 - 9 kms per hour and this made us to realize that we won't be able to finish it on time(Our target time was 4-5 PM). So we decided to stop at shades and continue...also we took selfies..😎 When we reached Marakanam it was 3:30 in the afternoon where we decided to have our lunch and start over, once we reached Marakanam we felt some relief because we know we have covered three-fourth of the distance. After the lunch we had our strengths back and continued to pedal our last 40 km and reached the destination by 7 P.M 

That's how my journey of 130 km began with a 30 km ride.