Trail Tour (Mysore, KRS) - 01/03 & 02/03/2008

Shree, Mallik and Abhi where busy giving shape to the trail tour. The idea sounded interesting and I decided to join the trail riders. After giving the dogs a work out in the early morning and after scaring a few dogs by barking back at them, I was halted up a pack of dogs on an uphill. I better call up Shree and ask him to come and join me, said me conscience. A ring to shree, soon got me company and suddenly I realised Shree had a calming effect on the dogs. I dunno the peace treaty Shree has signed with dogs, amazingly they went mum after seeing him. Abhi had just picked up a flat tire somewhere else and I was pesimisstic in making to the Railway station on time. Shree had his own set of problems, with the wheel squealing all the way. He would get restless and check his wheel and kick himself for having not located the source of problem. We reach City railway station and make the count of trail raiders to 8. Hi...Hi...Hi... greetings exchanged and each other eyeing the bike of the other and after updating their shopping lists for the next buy for the bikes, we reach the luggage room only to be told that the room opens only after 6:00. We decided to take the Thanjavur - Mysore express at 7:30 a.m. I was happy that our bikes got a neat little place in the luggage compartment and so did we in sleeper class.
Idlis, Madur Vada, Coffee... find ways to our tummies and the payment time to the vendor gives me the opportunity to play the role of treasurer for the trip. Boys! Rs.500 for the kitty, calls out the treasurer in me and I get fresh minted notes which are yet to kiss the dirt.
Its 10:45 or so and we reach Mysore and unload our bikes. The RPF guy issues gate pass for the bikes. We dress up pushing the eyeing public to the obilivion and tight our bags to the carrier. Ready, set, go.... push...push..push... on the rail track a few metres and we meet a road which will take us to KRS dam.

Our first pit stop was a hotel which was 10 kms away. We did not waste time and mind counting the idlis and vada we ate...all I can say is... the shop had run of idlis and they had to make another set and give us fresh steaming idlis. I was amused like kid with the new accessories I had got this trip. A Garmin etrex HCx - GPS, a wonderful Camelbak and seat post rack. The bikers were impressed with seat post rack, probably they were with aching hearts after having seen their bikes getting rammed by hammers as they got their carriers fixed on their bikes.
Trail riding started in the backyards of KRS dam. The trail was inviting to the riders, the tyres were too inviting for the thorns.


[pic: Abhi @ blue lagoon, bikers raring to go]

Innumerous, I would say the no. of times, the thorns kissed the tyres and left a mark a hole on the tube. Raghu would beg to differ, as he painstakingly counted the no. of kisses. The meticulously marked the where,why,who and how. We ended with 24 flat tires...with the trail riders agreeing to gift Faiq a "metal" tube. Heee... my bike and raghu's were spared without the 'deadly' kisses (prickly should be the right word, I guess).


[pic: Raghu fixing punctures @ blue lagoon]

At times, I was wondering whether we were on a trail tour or puncture fixing tour. Infact, I have loads of puncture fixing photos and videos. At times the morale of the riders where so low, that Raghu had to pep up the scene with his idea of making a film titled "Pumping to Glory".



Here is Raghu's Gyan sharing video - Titled "Giyo-mini pump for Dummies"



All that stays in mind after the trip is the wonderful sunset, the lovely coleman dome tents, retreived venugopalsamy temple, Yummy MTR foods and the amazing speed we picked up from Srirangapatnam to Mysore. OK...OK... another scene that refuses to fade is that of almost getting conned by a shop keeper at Srirangapatna who wanted to Rs.15 more than the MRP printed on the bottle.

[pic: lining the bikes , hexagonal dome tent]

Well, one question is still unanswered? The one Faiq asked, why were we doing this?
Well, my friend Faiq, we did this trip to hone our puncture fixing skills and expand our skillset.

[pic: Paddy fields - Treat to eyes, Gautham n Mallik @ Blue Lagoon]

[pic: Trail riders - Raghu, Murali]


[pic: Mass puncture fixing exercise, Shree riding]


[pic: who moved my wheel, bikes in the back drop of paddy fields]

I look forward to another puncture fixing tour. So, guys... next time when you bored... ping me. Lets go on a puncture fixing tour.

Enduro3, 2008 - Pune (Race Report)

The race for Enduro started right away in Bangalore for us. We were racing against time to catch the flight with our bikes and marginally made it to the angry ground staff at the Indigo counter waiting for us. Paying Rs.500 for each bike as luggage fee (hmm.. damn the oversized baggage rule), we boarded the flight to Pune and found a nice little accomodation in Manjunath's friends house. We named ourselves as "Bosch Bikers" and participated in the "IT All Men Category". Our team code was ITM10. [pic: Sandeep, Gautham, Manjunath)

Feb 8th. It was the race day and waking up n after doing the morning routines, we reached the venue Police grounds, at 6:00 a.m. only to be shell shocked as the organisers had shifted the venue and did not bother to inform us. The flag off was at 6:30 a.m. and we had just 30 mins left and neither of us new Pune well. The few police in the campus asked to go to Kharve road which was a good 8 kms away. (Hey! Organisers, How on the earth can you shift the venue without informing the participants). Entering the new venue, Bharati Veediyapeeth, I got hold of a NEF guy (organiser) and let go my anger. The guy pacified me and said they informed many participants and a few were missed out. It seems Murphy was smiling on us and hence we did not get a call from the organisers. To add further to the agony, the celebrity-politician arrived late, by a oophing 1h 15 mins. The event which was supposed to be flagged off at 9:00 a.m. was flagged off at 10:15 a.m. Do not ask me who is that celebrity politician. He has got enough of the limelight in the last few days and has been making headlines after saying "Maharastra was only for Maharastrians". Interestingly, the politician was flagging off an event in which 200 participants out of 600 were North Indians. The partipants were riding all kinds of cycles from the conventional Atlas ones (fondly called as Dhoodhwalas), BSA SLR, Lady bird, Thunders, Firefox, Treks and Hero Hawks. People in all shapes slim, round, fat and puny were all riding and enjoying the 'un-timed section through the city roads to reach the NDA campus'. Gears or No gears.... It did not matter. This race was strongly advocating the point that its not about the bike, it was always the biker who mattered. Rightly so, I spotted many women in BSA SLR and men on Atlas Goldline ahead of me in the racing section. The unique thing about this race is not how strong you are, its about how strong your team is. My teammate Sandeep could not match the pace of me and Manjunath. We screamed our hearts out to encourage him... but we were n't sure whether it was encouragement or irritation from his point of view. Hmmmm enough, I rather go shooting pictures while I wait for sandeep. Here are they... I shot 200+ pics and a few are here.
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See the Nature around the racing track

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Press play above and you will see the glimpses of the cycling section. My camera let me down at after 200+ shots. The motor which drives the lens got stuck and I could not shoot more pictures. I missed to freeze the best moments of the event, the swimming and the trekking part.

We did cycling for 50 kms. (Road - 80%, Dirt - 20%), trekking for 50 kms (though the event was only for 40 kms, we got lost in the woods and covered a further 10 kms). Manjunath, my team mate braved the cold waters and swam 200 metres at 9:00 p.m. in the night. The event was paced with cycling, trekking, swimming - close of the day and again at early morning 3:00 a.m. we were flagged off for a night trek back to the place were our bikes were stationed at Panshet dam.

The timed section of the cycling race started from NDA campus. We started cycling at 11:20 a.m. and finished it at 3:31 p.m. at Panshet dam. We started to trek immediately and reached the river bank for the swimming leg at 7:57 p.m. The swimming leg started at 9:00 p.m. for us and it took 8 mins for Manju to swim the distance of 200m. The day closed for us and it was dead time.. means the clock does not tick any more for the participants. We slid ourselves in the sleeping bag and took a nap only to awakened by blaring megaphones asking us to get ready for night trek at 2:45 a.m. The knees were dancing, teeths were drumming and the body was shivering to the 3 or 4 deg cold temp. Braving the cold, the 600+ participants set out with their torch and head lamps in a quest to reach Panshet dam. We reached the Panshet dam TC (time counter) at 12:04. Interestingly, another team ITM12 was close on our heels and we had to sprint to the finish line after a good 13.5 hrs of trekking in the mountains. To delight both the teams, the organisers awarded the same timing of 12:04 p.m. I made the crime of loosing the time sheet just before the last passage counter. While crawling between the thickets, one of the shrubs had pulled of the time sheet tagged on my backpack. I did n't see it falling and was full josh to reach the finish line as early as possible. The ITM12 team said they saw a timesheet lying in a bush, but could not pick it as it was out of reach. The organisers said, sorry guys, we are happy that you finished, but you will not be ranked. :-(. Fine we said, we had a fantastic race and completing it gives us immense satisfaction and top-of-the-world feeling. If we are ranked, we would be finished 5th among the ITM participants. The event was over and it was time to hang up the shoes and chillax.

Now, How do we get back to Pune? ITM12 said guys let's pedal all the way back to Pune and we (ITM10) were game for it. After pedalling our way for 45 kms we settled on a cosy bed and got lost into the utopian world of post-event-dreams. :-)

We were happy to see that another team from Bangalore which consisted of Ravi ranjan, Donald and Sriram finished 3rd among the amateurs category (fiercely contested category, unlike IT)
We will be back next year. Now, we know the terrain, rules and tactics and also from seeing other teams we understood 'what it takes to be a winner'. Next year we will return with a plan and trained team to put a fight for top position in IT Category. Did any one think of participating in Open category? Save it for the superhumans...Open category needs a strong conviction to finish, and months of preparation, becoz you are gonna put twice the effort that of amateurs category.

My next race will be MTB Himachal, scheduled this Sept in the hills of Himachal. The 9 day event starts by Sept 26th and ends on Oct 5th. 258 days to go....

Tour 2 Chikmaggalur (5 days, ~650 km)

It was a long weekend as Christmas was around the corner. Cyclists from Bangalore were hitting the road with long tour plans. Shree had made us dream big by deciding to pedal all the way from India’s east to west. Yes, you read it right. Shree had started from Arunachal Pradesh and was heading towards Gujarat and was somewhere in West Bengal when we started the tour. Harsha, Manohar, Prashant were doing a 4 day Tour-de-Coorg which would measure up a 400km loop. Sandeep was doing a solo ride from Bangalore to Kanyakumari. With such an infectious environment, we decided to throw our hat in the ring. Me, Arun and Gaurav had planned for a Tour to Chikkamaggalur, which would span out for 5 days and we would end up wearing out the tires for 650 kms.

So this is how the tour went.
Day1: Bangalore–Nelamangala–Kunigal–Channarayapatna. Halt here.(166km)
Day2: C.R.patna–Hassan–Halebeedu–Belur–Chikkamaggalur. Halt here.(110km)
Day3: Chik'ur–Muliangiri–Kemmangundi & back to C'ggalur. Halt here.(108km)
Day4: Chikkamaggalur–Hassan–Channarayapatna–Bellur Cross. Halt Here(140km)
Day5: Bellur Cross–Kunigal–Nelamangala–Bangalore.(120km)

I and Gaurav had prepared well ahead of this tour. Both of us, had did a few 100 kms a day Cycling trip and a bit of cross-training too. Both of us had run 26 kms at the Bangalore’s first ultra marathon. Arun was doing his first mega-cycling tour with us. I and Gaurav rode Treks while Arun had a bike made by a company called “McKenzie”. We had never heard about this brand in our cycling forum. The Trek 4300s were designed for a killer up hill ride whereas the McKenzie would kill the rider if attempted to climb those lofty mountains. Arun made the wise decision of staying back at the low-land ghats and do some sight seeing, while me and Arun left to take on the highest peak of Karnataka – Mulliangiri – 1918 m (~6000 ft).

On the first day, we pulled of a ton. We were ecstatic when we crossed the 100 mile mark. We had done many 100 km single day distances, but to pull of the first 100 mile (160 km) was a truly a precious moment to treasure. We were happy that Arun had made it and it was a commendable feat for a guy doing his first tour. A 100 mile, on debut. (Arun, you are literally set to go miles!!). We cooled off our legs at Hotel Kiruba, Channarayapatna. For Rs.550, we got a neat accommodation for 3 people. Earlier, we had started at 7:15 a.m. at the Dairy Circle in Bangalore.

On the second day, Arun asked us to proceed further as he was tired and needed some more time to sleep and thereby gain strength. His plan was to start by 9:00 a.m. or so and visit Halebeedu and Belur temples. I and Gaurav, started at 7:15 a.m. towards Hassan. After some 10 kms, we stopped at Hotel Athithi for breakfast. Powered by Idli –Vada and Kesari bath we turned our pedals towards Hassan. After gulping a few tender coconuts at Hassan, we mounted ourselves on the saddle :-) and headed towards Halebeedu. The road to Halebeedu had sparse traffic and the road was all ours. We came across fields planted with cauliflower and to add to the scenery we had sunflowers at the road side. Who can resist a photo-shoot with the sunflowers :-) ? Beside the sunflower fields, we pulled out some awesome snaps. Given a chance and no duties to fulfill in life, I would camp for eternity beside the sunflower fields.


Halebeedu was calling and we had another 10 kms to cover. After having few bananas in a village shop we started turning our pedals to Halebeedu. Soon by noon, we were in Halebeedu. This temple was built somewhere in the 12th Century (Historians, correct me if I am wrong). It was a master piece of Hoysala Architecture. There was too much of a crowd and it was difficult to get a guide quickly who would tell us the “Halebeedu” story. Mindlessly we roamed around the park in Halebeedu and after 15 mins or so entered the temple and saw the sculptures. The sculptures were beautiful and each one was a master piece, strenuously carved on stone. I plan to come here some other day and leisurely explore the sculptures. Someone said, for the cyclists, it’s the journey which counts rather than the destination. It was right, we left temple premises quickly (not to mention the wonderful nap we had beneath a tree in Halebeedu).

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Belur was 17kms away from Halebeedu and under the scorching sun we were pedaling hard to Belur. Just before Belur, there were 3 speed breakers just waiting to pull Gaurav down. I had carefully reduced my speed to go over the speed breakers, and there was one stupid jay walker who crossed behind me and just in front of Gaurav. Gaurav braked hard and forgot to apply the rear brakes. Applying only the front brakes, brought down Gaurav. Thankfully, the fall was not major and he had few scratches on his arm and a cut on this Knee. As, he was wearing helmet there were no injuries to his head. We rushed to the nearby medical stores and bought stuff for a quick first-aid. This is my 3rd cycling tour, and all the three had some incident this like. A jinx that has to be broken next time. We lost time, because of the incident and we decided to give Belur temple a skip. We pedaled all the way to Chikmaggulur crossing all the wonderful water bodies’ enroute. The legend says that a king decided to donate lands to his daughters. Chikmaggulur means “little daughter’s land”. Hey! Anyone heard of “Doddamaggulur”? We got a nice accommodation for Rs.325 at Hotel Rajmahal. The hotel owner, Yosuf was kind enough to allow us to keep our bikes in the room :-).


On the 3rd day, we started at 6:45 a.m. towards Chikmaggalur. It was the 3rd day of Dattatreya Jeyanthi, a Hindu festival to honour Lord Brahma. The Dattatreya peak was on the Bababudangiri range which also housed many mosques. Needless to mention, fearing the communal clashes the Karnataka police outnumbered the pilgrims and were stationed every 2 kms enroute Muliangiri. Our plan was to climb Muliangiri, the highest peak of Karnataka in the morning and then descend down to the foot hills of Muliangiri by noon. Chikmaggalur was at an altitude of 1050m and Muliangiri had an altitude of 1918m. The last ~175 m was too tough to climb by bike. That meant a climb of around 750 to 800m. Most of the road to the summit was a dirt track and just a 2 kms of it was good tarmac. The higher and closer we went to the summit, the tougher it got and the inclines were so steep that I feared we would be booked for “attempt to suicide”.

Cycling sitting on the saddle was very difficult, because the front wheels where lifting while pedaling taking it close to a wheelie. We did not get down and push the bikes except for one last climb, were the velocity of wind was too heavy and the steep incline had only loose gravel. We lived up to the spirit of cyclists, ‘not to give up and get down to push the bike over the inclines’. As soon as we reached the summit, a stranger who had come to the summit on a car, shook hands with us and congratulated our effort. We parked our bikes and locked them safely. I wondered, whether locking the bikes was essential. Who would dare to take our bikes and maneuver those hair pin bends of Muliangiri? We had a photoshoot at the summit with the temple as the backdrop. We wanted to make sure that this moment remains frozen for eternity and wanted to boast to our friends, see that… we had been there and done it. After climbing some hundreds of steps to temple atop the hill, I literally got a feeling of being at the top of the world (or should I say Karnataka). I could see easily some 10 or 15 lakes from the top and many Blue Mountains dotting the horizon and not to mention the cool gusty wind. I sent out sms to my friends, parents and fellow cyclists. I was more than delighted to receive all those congratulatory messages. This is what they had to say about our feat.

My sms: This sms is sent to you from the highest peak of Karnataka, Muliangiri – 1918m. Believe it we cycled all the way up.

Replies:

· Great job! One more feather added 2 ur cap of achievement
· Great man. Congrats to you and your team :-)
· Great yaar. All the best. Continue
· Great! I’ll be climbing Darjeeling tomorrow. Currently somewhere near the base :-)
· Congrats! I’m missing it
· Congratulations! Wish u a safe descent
· Ooo congratulations Gautaman.B J once you come back you share your experience. All the best man
· Super, that’s great enjoy ur ride.
· All the best – dad n mum
· Hi. Gr8. All the best.
· Whats the degree of slope? :-)
· Wow! Brother you rock!

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We also went into the cave in the summit. The cave houses a Shiva lingam. I was ready to crawl into the cave, but all I could do was crawl into it for 20 metres. Gaurav was not willing to go further and asked me to retreat. Oneday, I would return here again and I am sure I will crawl upto the end to see the Shiva lingam. J. We met two guys from Bangalore at the entrance of the cave. They introduced themselves as Yogesh and Sudarshan. They appreciated the adventurous cycling tour we were pursuing and were also eager to know, How then can get into cycling. We shared our phone numbers and I also gave an intro of bikeszone & Bangalore bikers cycling forums. They were delighted and so were we. The thought of cycling downhill was scary. Instinct said, you better push the bicycle downhill for atleast 100 metres. That’s what we did. We pushed the bikes, till the time we felt it was safe for pedaling. In no time we were at the foothills of Muliangiri. After reaching the foothills of Muliangiri, we decided to head uphill towards Kemmangundi. The roads were pathetic, but interesting and challenging to bike around. The pounding our palms, hands and bums took enroute Kemmangundi is going to help us get stronger for the Himachal MTB race, slated in October 2008. The route to Kemmangundi was covered with wonderful grasslands which cannot be described by words. It’s a must visit for nature lovers. There is no particular monument or temple at Kemmangundi… its just the scenery enroute Kemmangundi.

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There were 2 falls – Hebbe and Kalhatti falls, but we decided to give them a skip. At Kemmangundi, we had a sumptuous lunch after a hard day’s climb. We filled tender coconut water in our bottles and decided to climb all those mountains once again to reach our base camp “Chikmaggalur’. We were racing against time…it was getting darker and we were pedaling hard to finish all the climbs before night. And we were pretty close, in finishing all the climbs except for one which we did with the help of bike light. Not to mention, the light thrown by all those police vans which were returning after the festival also helped us. At the top of the mountain, I pleaded Gaurav to give me a break. In the darkness, with the help of moonlight we devoured 7 packets of Lays chips and downed 2 bottles of coconut water. After, regaining strength, we started our descent and it was zero pedaling in moon light. All we had to do was dodge and maneuver the potholes in the road and we did them pretty skillfully. Gaurav, played the role of a torch bearer (literally) by holding the light in his hand as we had lost the screw to fix the light on the bike. He did a fantastic job of showing me the light to the hotel. Or would it be fitting to say, he was a guiding light :-) ? When we reached the Hotel it was exactly 8:00 a.m. and we had covered 108 kms will all those monsterous climbs. Effort wise, I would put the ride as a triple – Nandi climb.

Arun, called us to inform on the 3rd day evening that he has finished visiting Belur temple and was already near Channaraypatna. He wanted to ride till Bellur cross, 50 km after C’patna. His plan was to ride to Bangalore on the 4th day, so that he would get one full day to regain strength to spring back to work. It was fine with us and we asked him to carry on with his plan.

The 4th and 5th day was nothing but crazy riding with all the enthusiasm of home coming.

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We braved the gusty head winds and the scorching sun to reach Bellur cross on the 4th day. We stayed in Hotel Mayura for Rs.450. This time we were double lucky, we got to keep the bikes inside our room and also we got hot water to take bath. We started the 5th day at 6:45 a.m. and reached Bangalore by 2:30 p.m. As, I dropped on the bed, I was thinking…. Boy! It was a nice fairytale which had come true. Yes! I am ready for MTB Himachal 2008, just a few more training loops and I will put a good show at the race this year. :-)

Seeshya meets Guru(s)

I woke up with a jerk, fearing that I was late. But it was just 3:40 a.m. I laid back and the clock inside me was ticking as I cannot afford to miss the meeting with my Gurus. At 5:00 a.m. , I woke up and I hit the road at 5:20 a.m. My Gurus will be waiting at the Marathahalli bridge and we had fixed the meeting time as 6:00 a.m. I had my flashers on..and it blinked red..blue..red..blue.. and I received some space on the outer ring road. My observation has been that, if one wears cycling outfits, a helmet and puts some flashers on one's bike, people think that he's a pro cyclists and give some respectable space to pedal the way forward. I have been doing this for quite sometime and it works.

I reached the Marathahalli bridge, and I pulled out my mobile to call my Guru. Well, who are my Guru? My Guru is not one, but two. They helped me to complete the TourDeCoorg, a 5 day cycling trip. My first loooong ride which spanned 400 kms. If not for their help,guidance and tips.... I would have quit cycling succumbing to the excruciating pain that crept in on my first 78 km ride. They are KP and Shree. I learnt the right riding posture, sitting ride, adjusted my pedalling technique... boy! since then, I have literally gone miles.... :-) I have crossed 800 miles now, in 4 months.

"Dodda Blue Bus Kannastha?" - KP
"Haan" - me
"Alli naanu eruthene, illi bha." - KP
"Ok" - me

I met KP and Shree over the bridge. We shook hands... and KP said Shree "Noodu pa, eevanu oosa baate thogundathane..". KP and Shree, liked my cycling outfit and said it should cost 60 Euros. I sad, "My colleague got it for me, its 20 Euros". Soon KP, asked which store in Germnany. I said "Aldi". Next time, KP is going to loot the Aldi.

Soon my eyes rested on the Hero Thunder...Oops... Wonder.... Yes! Shree had turned the Thunder into a Wonder and it had a deadly look with the front shocks of Viper, Cassette from Shimano, Derailluers where Shimano Deore, it had new V-brakes, the crank was changed... only the Frame was that of Thunder. So! Now its a Wonder!!!
KP went all out and he was spitting out names of some 4 or 5 different component manufacturers. The components alone had costed a cool 12K.

KP wanted to ride my new Trek 4300D and I wanted to ride his Giant, road racer. We exchanged, and we set off. The road racer was flying and soon I was thinking, which shares to sell in Dalal street to buy me a new road racer. KP was justing a Giant OCR3 which costs around 650 USD. Hmmm not bad, One life live it, my inner voice said.

We were soon at the Whitefield Railway station and we took a detour and went into a sleeping village. Underneath a big tree which was overseeing the newly laid road, we had the photo shoot session for Shree. Shree was doing a ride from Assam to Gujarat, East2West tour. His plan was to start on Dec 9th, 2007 and finish on Jan 17th,2008. Thats 36 days...solo ride... and distance? Neither of us knew the distance. By crow's fly distance Assam to Gujarat (extreme points) measure up 2950 kms. If shree does 120 km, a day which is most likely, then he would be easily crossing 4000 kms. Reading 4000 kms.. leaves a mental shock in me, but here I stand in front of person who is going to pedal this way all the way ...solo.... Well, if Shree has a cadence of 70 and rides on a average 7 hours a day, then he would be rotating his knees 10,58,400. ( Yes you read the numbers right and I typed it right) Yes! Thats a million times rotation of the knees.

Shree is carrying a GPS, a Laptop, Nokia E series, Nikon SLR and he is gonna do live blogging during his ride. He has already did one during our TourDeCoorg trip. So, all we have to do in Bangalore is....read his blog www.shreekumar.in and post comments...which is gonna fuel him up and enjoy this tour. I have never read a fairytale...this time... I am gonna read one at http://www.shreekumar.in/

We finished the photoshoot for Shree. Shree is gonna put this photos on the frontpage of this blog. So, we spend extra time and care. It was getting late and we had to leave to office. We pedaled hard and reached Cable stayed bridge. KP,Shree and I dispersed, wishing all the best to Shree. I climbed the cable stayed bridge and took a detour towards the outer ring road. I was tired manuevering through the traffic. To make matters worse, It started drizzling...and it was worse suitation for me and my bike. Without fenders (mudgaurds), I was collecting tremendous amount of mud on my face and back. It was tooo much... the friction on the road was less and I was racing at 30+ kmph speed. Thats when I hit a speedbreaker, and the rain meant skidding and I did skid and fall down. This time, I did not fly... but my bike did. Thank god. There were no heavy vehicles behind me and thankfully, I was wearing the helmet and full sleeve cycling gear. With a few cuts and a bit of bleeding here and there... I got up.. pulled my bike aside...fixed the chain.. to 2 minutes by the roadside to recover mentally... and started pedalling at a slow speed of 15 kmph. The Trek is a sturdy bike, no damages...except for some scratches on the shifters. Thats ok.... That reminds me I got insure my bike against accident and theft.

When I reached home it was 8:50 a.m, the cyclo read 47 kms , 2 hrs:22 mins. Soon, I found myself, smsing my boss that I cannot come to office because of the small accident. I had to rest for a looong time, before my fingers can dance on the keyboard. Now, you can see after 2 days they are infact dancing. :-)

Bangalore - Kolar (Kurkki Mountains)

Ride Date:01.12.2007 ~ 02.12.2007
Route: Koramangala - Marathahalli - Whitefield Rly Station - Hosakote - Narsapura - Kurkki , and back.
Distance:140 kms

Myself,Chandru and Sandeep gathered on the Marathalli bridge at 4:00 p.m. I was curious to see the tent which Sandeep was carrying and I was expecting his backpack to be bulkier. Unusally, it was very very small. It could not see the tent. But Sandeep was swearing that he had the tent in his bag. Well, I would have to wait till night unfolds to see that ultra small, light 3 men tent. Our idea was to camp in the moutains of Kurkki near Kolar. We pedaled our way through the deafening traffic...particularly the traffic near ITPL was horrifying. Bangalore's tech zone, certainly deserves some broad roads. May be a 8 lane... for our population.

When we were near the Whitefield Railway station, the sun was setting and that meant we had to pedal for some time in the night. Soon at around 5:20 p.m. we reached the crossroads of NH4. We bought 1 kg of banana (hee hee), some oranges, chikkoos, berries all that would serve as dinner and breakfast. It was twilight and the dust was shining in the air. We were racing against time, trying to cover the maximum distance in dusk. All we could do is reach Hoskote before night engulfed NH4. My guess was that the Volvo plant was just 4 kms away from Hoskote and the Kurrki mountains may be another 4 kms from Volvo plant. But a passer-by dropped a bomb...shocking us that Volvo plant was 22kms away...and the Kurkki mountains some further 8 kms from Volvo plant. Oh... no... we yelled in unison... By the time it was pitch dark... and to ride on the NH4 alongside the speeding buses and truck was a challenge.

Sandeep pulled out his 10 rupees flashers which had a LED and star, and it started flashing in red and blue upon turning the pin. Great! Made in China...Sold in Majestic met our requirement for the night. The trucks and buses were keeping safe distance from us, because the light was very flashy. We felt safer riding in the night than in daylight on NH4.

We had dinner at a road side Dhabba and enquired 'How far the Volvo factory was'. The dhabba guy said he had come from Himachal pradesh and had no idea where it is. :-(. We set off after an hours break and we reached the village of Narasapura... none of us tracked the time...because it was immaterial to track it on a weekend....we asked for the directions to the Kurkki mountains and set-off.

Soon, we could see a Bajaj Chetak following us.... We stopped and gave way for it to pass.. But the rider stopped and enquired who we were and why we were going to Kurkki mountain at this weird hour. After a self-introduction, we asked for the stranger's name and he introduced himself as Poornachandra. "I am a sculptor" he added. Surprised, We asked what? Sculptor? He continued. "Yes! I make carvings on stones, I also make scultpures of Gods and Goddessess in Gold and Silver." We said.. WoW... and shook his hands... he was a humble person and felt shy... He showed us a few paper cuttings which were about his sculptures which had appeared in a newspaper.

He was very friendly and invited us home to stay in his house for the night. We were pleased by his kind gesture and told him that we had plans to camp in the mountains by erecting a tent. He laughed at it and said.. if required we can make the tent in a nearby temple which he had built. The idea sounded good and we soon headed towards the village. The villagers suggested us to camp in the village school instead of the temple. That was a fantastic suggestion and we were happy that everything was going our way...

We parked the bikes in the school and got ready to prepare the tent. Sandeep pulled out a sheet and said here it is.... he had a Orange colored Polythene sheet in one hand and a rope in another. All the adjectives he had used that morning to describe the tent were true. It was light,cheap, economical,superfast.. 3men tent. In the night, we had all the fruits and chit chatted till we fell asleep... in the night we were fighting for the woolen bedsheet ... and it was fun. Sometimes, the pull for the bedsheet was so intense... I thought one of us is going to bring the tent down. It was very windy night and we were happy that we and the tent had survived through the night.


[3-men tube tent, campin at night] [the village school... camping spot]

In the morning, we had a curious visitor at our tent. A kid who studies at the school had come to play in the school and was puzzled to see us camping there. With no words.. we smiled at each other. We packed the things and by 6:30 a.m. we were heading towards Kurkki mountains on our bike. A video shot enroute is here for you...




[boulders...at kurkki] [more...boulders...for..you]


The place was splendid with small rocks strewn all around the place. It would serve as an ideal place for BMX riders to demonstrate their stunts. We parked our bike near a pond and we started our trek uphill. At the top of a huge boulder, we had our breakfast... some cream buns...oranges..bananas..etc. It was a stunning view from the top to see the NH4 and the small mountains which surrounded the place. We basked on the morning sun for 1 hour or so. Vitamin D, huh?



[too inviting for off-road biking] [NH4, crawls as a snake ... as seen from top]



[I love to take..the pictures of this beauty... a bike that carries me... and one which I can carry]



[sandeep..up close.. on the mountain] [call it a silhoutte... boulders of kurkki]


[a perfect place....trees..grass..boulders] [boulders....they are everywhere]


As the sun became hotter, we started to descend the boulders. We were happy to see our bikes intact and the village junta had spared it. We started our journey back to Bangalore. Here is a video as we started leaving the Kurkki mountains



The return journey was much quicker and we had a stop at Hotel Athithi for Breakfast. This hotel is next to Volvo factory (on the side of Bangalore). We left the reastaurant at 10:50 a.m. and we were back at Marathalli by 1:00 a.m. After a lunch at Hotel Bagini, we dispersed and I had to pedal my way all through to Koramangala. When I set my eyes upon the time-piece in my home, it read 2:25 p.m. Another exciting weekend was crawling to its end.

[we n our bikes.. backdrop..volvo] [Hotel Attithi, 100m before Volvo]

Total Distance Bangalore to Kukki & back :- 140 kms.

p.s. :- Kurkki mountains is just 10 kms before Kolar and the local crowd said there are many more interesting rock-cladden mountains around. We did not have time to see them...may be next time.

Nandi Hills - Cycling

Ride date: 07.09.2007

After checking out the route tips from fellow riders in www.bikeszone.com, I set-off on my Hero Octane DTB at 5:25 a.m. This time it was a solo ride. I set-off to the tunes of “Beautiful dawn” from James Blunt singing into my ears. I had downloaded the satellite image of the Nandi hills from bikeszone and the challenge was inviting.

The ride on the NH7 was smooth and I had a complete lane for myself. I was surprised to see that Bangalore had extended this far till Devanahalli. It took me 2 hours to reach the board which read “Bangalore International Airport Limited” – Take Left 5 kms. Wondering whether it made sense to construct an Airport this far without a rail link or high speed special road, I kept pedaling my way ahead on NH7. Just before the Saibaba temple in Devanahalli, I decided to take a pit stop for refueling myself. The hotel man was puzzled to see me there and later was glad to accept me as his first customer for the day. “Oota sikatha”, I kept it short and sweet in Kannada. “Rice bath eethey”, he said smiling. Anything would do for me, hot rice bath turned out to be a blessing along with some “muruku”. I got the route to Nandi clarified with the Hotel man and kicked off again.

I took the left diversion from NH7 and my eyes were wide open and I was looking around for the mountains. I could see none, so I just stopped and enquired and the crowd screamed in unison, “Straightaa hogi”. After few kms, suddenly from nowhere I saw a huge monolith squatting at the far end of the road with clouds strewn allover it. Boy! It was a scene worth framing and so did I.

[Clouds strewn over Nandi Hills]

It was time for a second pit stop. It was a scary thought to me that I was going to scale this monster without food and water. I better get ready for the challenge. I bought 5 bananas and a 2 ltr bottle of water. The villagers welcomed me with a smile and some smiles meant, Boy you are going to get screwed. I was all alone to take this monster on. This time it was Bryan Adams singing into my ears “Its heaven” and I saw a companion ahead of me… my shadow. The scene was frozen for posterity.

The ascent started and I recalled Shree telling me that the last 8 kms is a descent outright climb. After recently doing a Talacauvery climb in Coorg with a team of spirited bikers, I felt I could climb this monster without stopping. For a change the milestones invited me with altitude info and they were spaced intelligently and they served as motivating factors. I was given thums-up by joggers coming downhill. Soon was I greeted by a military truck with jawans and in unison they cried “All the best” and waved hands at me. After reciprocating the encouragement, I kept pedaling.

The gradient was getting steeper and it was telling on my pace. I had to do a bit of talking and singing to keep me motivated to scale the heights. I took the curve 31 and the going got tougher, I was n’t still the tough one who can keep going. I shifted to grannie, but grannie could help me. The Curve 32 had the better of me and it was an inevitable pit stop at Curve 32. I could here abhi mocking at me (this is what I have been exactly saying in the forum…)

[Curve 32, I will back to take you on next time]

After this there were 10 & odd curves and I made to the summit easily, only to be stopped by gate keeper who denied me an entry into Nandi hills with my bicycle. I recalled Avinash telling this disgusting experience at the gate where they permit cars into Nandi hill but not the bicycles. Unfortunately, we are categorized as 2 – wheelers without any credits for running on a naturally aspirated zero emission human-powered engine (phew).

[Plan of places to see in Nandi Hills]

I felt immensely happy after reaching the summit and happy to know the fact that I was at 1492 m above sea level. It was time for some serious photography. After having mini meals for Lunch, I had a stroll in the park in solitude. Robert Frost’s words were fitting to this juncture, “Miles to go before, I sleep”, so I made my mind to reach home before dusk. What goes up, should come down and it did pretty fast. I was zipping past all the cars which were finding it hard to negotiate the hairpin bends. In just 20 mins, I was back at the foothills and took the road which connects to NH7. The way back home was easy except for the headwind and the merciless sun who kept doing what he does best, tan me from top to bottom.

After a couple of pit stops, my lungs started choking and that meant I was entering Bangalore City. After heeding to the greetings of the innumerable traffic signals, I reached home at 5:05 p.m. Having conquered myself, I switched on the TV only to see the men in blue reeling at 123/6 at the Lords. My legs were screaming, while my heart was singing n the brain was doing some number crunching after the trip… Here are numbers for the data hungry bikers n wannabes

Trip Stats:

Starting time: 5:25 a.m. , Finish time: 10:45 a.m.
First pit stop: 7:45 a.m. for 15 mins @ Hotel “unnamed” near Devanahalli – Saibaba temple Second pit stop: time unknown, foothills of Nandi. (10 mins)
Third pit stop: Curve 32, boy! It was too steep for me. (10 mins)
Bangalore Altitude: 960 m Nandi Altitude: 1492 m
Starting time: 1:00 p.m. , Finish time: 5:05 p.m @ Koramangala I Block
First pit stop: 10 kms before Yelahanka on NH7. (10 mins)
Second pit stop: Yelahanka (10 mins) (for 5 bananas great energy boosters )
Third pit stop: Kodigehalli (10 mins) (for 2 Maaza drink)
Total trip time: 11h 40m (cycling, photography, sightseeing all inclusive)

Total dist: 140 kms

[Thats the National Highway for you]

[How do I get down from 1462m]

[Wow! See the shadows casted by clouds]

[Stunning view]

[ Tipu's drop, from prisoners were furled down]

[me, basking in the sun]

[There is no short supply of lailas n majnus]

[Lotus pond blooming with algae]

[The pillar in temple]

[He accompanied throughout, my shadow]

[Who shaved the top of the mountain? Clouds?]



[Milestones, Nay...... I call them Altistones]

[Carvings on the temple wall]

[Inside Yoganandeeswara Temple]

[Count the monkeys, you get a different number each time]