I kept telling myself "stay calm"

Riding uphill, on a warm October afternoon at a slow and steady pace, I kept telling myself "stay calm, you have a long way to go". I had to preserve my energy for the final 3 kilometres to the peak. I was one of the 45 cyclists riding on the 4th day of Great Malnad Challenge - 2014. We had started off from Madikeri and had cycled to Chikmagalur covering 260km off road trails in 3 days on MTB.