Tough love

“How else would you celebrate your first anniversary with your special someone?” asks Venkatesh Khanna,when quizzed about his 24-hour bike riding marathon that saw him become only the third Puneite to receive the Sore Saddle certification,given by the 30,000-member strong Iron Butt Association,for completing 1000 miles in 24-hours. Khanna accomplished the feat on May 14 all through to May 15,applying an idea that had developed over the last three months. “I had bought my Royal Enfield Bullet 500cc bike last year on May 14. And as the first year anniversary was nearing,I was unsure how to celebrate it. First I decided to do a small round across the city,that grew to a bigger ride till the outskirts of the city and finally I hit upon the idea of covering 1000 miles. I wanted to spend the whole day with the bike,” he says.

Khanna began his ride at 3.41 am on May 14 and ended it at 3.21 am on May 15. “I took the Bavdhan road and hit the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway. My idea was to go to this place on the outskirts of Bengaluru called Nelemangala,a distance of 812 kms. A return-trip of 1630 kms odd would help me achieve my target comfortably.”

Riding at 80-90 kms on the highway was an enthusiastic ride. Fatigue hit on the return leg. Time stamps that were required for him to prove his ride were also proving to be a problem. “You get time stamps at fuel pumps,but a lot of the gas stations I encountered did not have ATM machines to get them from. In fact,near Dharwad,when I was running very low on fuel,I asked the fuel attendant to take a picture of me with the pump in the background and with a time tag on the picture,” Khanna recalls.

Khanna took 10 ten-minute breaks and stopped for fuel six times,but the last three hours from Kolhapur to Pune really tested his mettle. “Towards the end,the fatigue was hitting hard. When I reached Bavdhan again,I ran into an ATM to get my last stamp. I had covered around 1700 kilometers in 23 hours and 41 minutes. I finally understand what it feels like when you conquer Mount Everest. You know all the hard work,the trials and the tribulations. And it it was worth it!”