Jai Hind: Mission Paris-Brest-Paris begins

It was a wonderful Independence Day for the Indian contingent on the eve of the PBP 2015, which is the bike check day where riders' bikes are inspected as per the strict regulations. The bikes have to have no loose fitting parts and functioning front and rear lights that make the bike and the rider visible through tour the ride. The process of bike check through the serpentine queue requires everyone to have patience and no one minds it as the waiting time is a good opportunity to interact and make friends from various countries.READ ALSO: Paris-Brest-Paris: The challenge of 1200kmsThe bike check is followed by handing over of the frame numbers and tour jerseys to each rider. Though it's a time taking process but it was very festive and one could feel the excitement in the air with 6000 riders from 65 countries all collected at the National Velodrrome at Quentin-en-Yvelines a few miles from Paris.The Air was imbued with excitement and friendship with various groups from different countries cheering each other in their respective National Randonneuring Jerseys.As the participants rode in from hotels near by one could see all sorts of bikes on display from regular road bikes to special bikes like tri cycles, recumbent bikes and tandem bikes.It was wonderful meeting the other participants from all over India who all turned out in the Audax India Randonneur Jersey.The Delhi and NCR participants had a very proud Independence Day celebration at the Venue as we took out the Indian Flag and as it started to flutter there was a rush from all over with Chinese, French, Japanese, Americans and many others all wanting to be in the frame with Tricolor. The NCR contingent had a wonderful time clicking with the foreign riders. Bipin Kaul and Parikshit Mehra are here with their families and the fillies joined us in the Independence Day celebrations today. It was wonderful to see Gautam Verma all geared up and charged for the big ride tomorrow with other fellow riders.With less than 24 hours to start the 1200 Kms ride in PBP 2015, I can't contain the excitement and nervousness and the time before the ride begins will be spent preparing myself mentally for the ride, I will be starting at 1745 and the riders can be tracked on PBPs tracking page on the link - http://suivi.paris-brest-paris.org/ . I can be tracked with the Frame Number H268.Follow TOI Sports on Twitter >>> @TOISportsNews