Mangaluru : Donald alias Dony Menezes, a businessman from Mangaluru, on Wednesday proved he is the “beast” as fondly called by his “guru” Kishan Bangera when he completed 271.6 km non-stop cycling covering two major ghats and attaining 6,063 m elevation.

Pedalling long distance is not new for Mr. Dony as he had done 302 km with Mr. Bangera between Mangaluru and Shiroor in September last. However, the speciality of Wednesday’s ride was the 6,063 m elevation. Also, no one has so far completed the Mangaluru-Charmadi-Kudremukh-Moodabidri-Mangaluru loop in a single day.

Asked the reason behind this spectacular performance, Mr. Dony, a member of Mangaluru Bicycle Club, told that he had dreamt of crossing four ghats—Charmadi, Kelagur, Kalasa and Kudremukh—in a day. Starting at 4 a.m., he was seen off by Mr. Bangera at Punjalkatte near Belthangady and he rode solo till the end reaching home at around 10.30 p.m.

During the 18 hours 32 minutes elapsed time, he was on the saddle for 14 hours 42 minutes. While the average speed was 18.5 kmph, he clocked the maximum speed of 69.8 kmph downhill Kudremukh Ghat. Fortunately, his road bike did not give any trouble throughout, Mr. Dony said.

Mr. Bangera said it was the sheer willpower of Mr. Dony that made him to achieve it. “I just introduced him to cycling and then everything else is achieved by Mr. Dony.” During the Trek Mangaluru challenge last year, they had cycled 2,792 km and 2,391 km, respectively, during 30 days in September to be the winner and runner-up of the contest.

“It was B.R. Sadashiva Rao, another MBC member, who encouraged me to undertake Wednesday’s expedition,” Mr. Dony said.

Mr. Dony, now 49, took up cycling in March last to reduce his weight and become fit. With an entry-level mountain terrain bike for the first five months, he clocked about 7,000 km with 167 km being the longest ride.

After gaining confidence, Mr. Dony directly graduated to a road bike avoiding a hybrid from which point of time he is on a record-making and breaking spree. He had worked with the Emirates in Dubai for 21 years before coming home in 2012 and presently does real estate business.