This time BBC had organized its September month end long ride on Oct 3rd. Plan was to start from Merida junction and go till Muthathi, take a dip in river Kaveri and return back. The total round trip distance was around 180 km from Merida junction. Previously I had ridden a maximum of 67 km in a day so it seemed too much to me, so I decided to return from Kanakapura itself. Still the round trip distance for me was around 135 km from Marathalli bridge.
On Saturday evening, I was a bit excited for the ride and little nervous as well as in my last long ride I was totally drained out after 67km only. This time I had taken a challenge to double the distance.
On Sunday, woke up around 3:30, got fresh and started the ride at 4:30 am from Marathalli bridge with Vishy and Aditya. It started drizzling as soon as we started. Though it was a light drizzle but enough to drenched us and get mud from the road through rear wheel on our t-shirt. Still the drizzle felt very pleasant. Met Ravi and Aditya's friend on the way to Merida junction. Reached there at 5:45 am. There I met Manoj Verma and his son. There most of the riders had already reached by then, few even had started the ride.
We started our ride at exactly 6:00 am after a brief from Yogesh about direction. Riding till Kanakapura was very easy. It was all the way down, so rode at a very decent average speed of 20kmph. Reached Kanakapura at 8:30 am after riding 48 km from Merida junction without any break in between. Met Gunashekar and his wife on the way. His wife was riding on a single speed bike so they were riding slowly.
Had breakfast there, Now from there most of the people (including those who initially planned to return from Kanakapura) was going ahead. They also asked me to come and it was really tempting to go ahead as I was still feeling very fresh though I had started feeling a little pain in my shoulder and this was due to not having handle at the proper height even though I had raised it to the maximum. I had to lean against the handle and that way my upper body weight was on my shoulder. These are the small technical details in which our Indian companies are still lacking. I knew that going ahead is easy and optional but returning back is mandatory and it will be really tough as it is all the way uphill ride. Moreover I knew that my shoulder pain is going to get worse.
So decided to return from there itself. Got company of Anil and Sudarshan to return back. By that time Manoj and his son also reached there. Manoj told us to carry on as he wanted to take some more time there. Anil and Sudarshan had already started while I was talking to Manoj. I also started riding back, cached both of them very soon.
After only 8-10 km we started feeling the toughness of uphill ride. Took a small break of 5 min. Again we started from there but as we rode ahead riding was getting more and more tough. Also by this time I had started getting pain in my shoulders. Again took a small break and had coconut water there. We started again, Anil was riding ahead of us and I and Sudarshan were riding together. Only after 4-5 km from there my shoulders pain has increased so I stopped and lie down for some time there. Anil carried on as he was riding ahead of us. After 15 min again got up, did some stretching and started riding again. I told Sudarshan to carry on from my next break as I will take my time. Again stopped after half an hour, Sudarshan carried on from there. I kept taking breaks of 5 min after 3-4 km.
After harrohalli I met Badri, stopped there for some time. He was taking his friend on his car as it was the maiden ride for his friend and he was not able to paddle on the up hill. Asked if he has move spray, which he didn't had but he said he could give me some message on my shoulders. And that really helped a lot, I had move gel with me, asked him to apply it on my shoulder. That massage gave me a fresh energy. Badri asked if I would be able to complete the ride as it was still 10-12 km to Merida junction which I replied positively. Completed rest of the ride till Merida junction in next one hour, took 3-4 small breaks in between. My flat was still 18 km away from Merida junction but from there riding had become much easier as it was more or less plane road from there. On plane road I was still riding at 20-25kmph even after so much tiredness. Reached home at 2:45 pm. Fall on the bed and slept till evening.
After that talked to home and friends, no one could guess that I have ridden 132 km in a day. Few weeks ago even I would not have imagined myself riding more than 100 km in a day but now after this ride I feel very confident for a 100 km ride. After reading story of others, I think I did pretty well on my first 100+ km ride. Covered 132 km in 10:15 hrs including half an hour break for breakfast and all the small breaks in between. Even after 132 km my legs were not that much tired but it was the improper height of the handle which made the ride a bit painful. For that I will get an additional handle bar (which you see on any ranger cycle) to attach it to the handle to avoid shoulder pain on my next ride [Jugaad technology :)]. A big thanks to Anil, Sudarshan and Badri to help me complete the ride.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Mountain biking @ Western ghat of Sakleshpur
This is story of an actual mountain biking where you ride on rocks over the mountain. Harsha (A Bangalore Bikers Club (BBC) member, he belongs to Sakleshpur) organized the whole trip. He posted on BBC about the trip and invited people to join him on the ride, finally total 12 person went on this ride. He arranged a tempo travelers with bike carrier from Tandem Trails.
It was a totally new experience for me to go out on a trip with a group among whom I have not met anyone before. We decided to Start from Bangalore on 24 Sep night. It was raining very heavily that day since evening so our start got delayed by 3 hours. Finally we left Bangalore at 1:00 am. While boarding the bus I met Nishant, Ashish and Ravi. Ther are also from IITK. I already knew Nishat, so the group was not that unfamiliar after all. And after reaching Sakleshpur we all introduced ourselves and then the unfamiliarity went away. We reached at the coffee house (where Harsha had arranged stay for us in Sakleshpur) by 8:00am. It was basically a home which they rent out to tourist as well. We got fresh and had breakfast there. Breakfast was just awesome, I liked akki roti (made of rice floor) and brinjal curry with that.
Then after introduction round and group photo session, we started our ride to the Rotikallu hill. It was up and down all the way, at couple of inclined we even had to walk. On the downhill I even loosed control on a turn but managed to get back the control. On the way there was a water fall. We spent half an hour there and then rode ahead. After 13km we reached to resort kind of place. There we spent more than an hour. I enjoyed jhoola and rope walking over over the canal. Till now it was we had ridden on the road.
Now it was the time to ride off road on mountain trails. There were many (8-10) water streams on the way. And the path was full of rocks. At times we even had to carry our bike. But it was awesome feeling to ride on those trails. We finally reached the peak around 2:30 pm. Then it started raining heavily. That made the return really tough. The trail became very slippery. And breaks were not working. Then we started falling. Everyone fell down at least once. Ananya (The only girl in our group) fell 4 or 5 times on the way. We even got lost in the mountains on the way back, the entire group took the wrong route. Fortunately another local guy Ullas knew the way and he got us on the right trail. Finally we reached at a water fall. We got our lunch there itself. It was amazing to have bath and lunch at the water fall. One thing that I really liked about all the places was, there was no polythene, wrappers or any sort of litter there. From there I got into the jeep which carried our food there as my breaks was not working at all and it was not safe to ride on downhill without break.
After reaching back to the coffee house we had a lot of chit chat among us. Viewed pics that we took on the way, had dinner and that's the story of day 1. On day 2 we got fresh and went on a small ride in to a coffee estates. It was nice bhool bhulaiya kind of way. Then we had breakfast and now it was time for a mountain tracking to Ethi Bhuja hills. We reached to the base of the mountain by 11 am. It was a small temple at the base. We started tracking from here. First 200mtr it was a muddy path after that it was fine all the way but the actual challenge was leeches. They were all the way on the trails. If you stop to remove one from your shoe, 3-4 would get on to it in that time. I got a stick that not only helped me in walking on the rocks but it was more useful to remove leeches from my shoes. Somehow the group managed it to top. I stopped on the peak just before the Ethi Bhuja peak. Stayed there for some time. It was again amazing to see the clouds passing by me. It was a beautiful view of the mountains and clouds passing by them. On our way back we stopped at a water fall and took bath there. All the tiredness got washed by the water of the fall.
Then we reached back to the coffee estates, had lunch there and started our back journey to Bangalore. On the way back we watched two movies "Dabang" and "Arndhati" in the tempo traveler. We reached Bangalore by 11 pm.
In the beginning, it was a group of 12 people who didn't know each other, but now we share a good bond and we would smile laugh about everything we did in the last 48 hours. Harsha and Ullas were two great hosts and made sure that we don't miss any fun. It was one of the most memorable trip for me. We named it "Bindas Biking" but it was much more fun than that. In Ananya' words "We had off-roading like hell, ride through the Coffee Estate which reminded me of the Bhul Bhulaiya of the Harry Potter movie, cycling in the rains, swinging in the river, rope walking, trekking to the peak of the Ethi Bhuja hills, a big losing war with the leeches, sumptuos meals, ride on the roof of the tempo traveler and a whole day of cycling uphill and downhill and a cycle ride again in the morning".
You can see the pics here
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=495419&id=532930516&l=6f695e239e
It was a totally new experience for me to go out on a trip with a group among whom I have not met anyone before. We decided to Start from Bangalore on 24 Sep night. It was raining very heavily that day since evening so our start got delayed by 3 hours. Finally we left Bangalore at 1:00 am. While boarding the bus I met Nishant, Ashish and Ravi. Ther are also from IITK. I already knew Nishat, so the group was not that unfamiliar after all. And after reaching Sakleshpur we all introduced ourselves and then the unfamiliarity went away. We reached at the coffee house (where Harsha had arranged stay for us in Sakleshpur) by 8:00am. It was basically a home which they rent out to tourist as well. We got fresh and had breakfast there. Breakfast was just awesome, I liked akki roti (made of rice floor) and brinjal curry with that.
Then after introduction round and group photo session, we started our ride to the Rotikallu hill. It was up and down all the way, at couple of inclined we even had to walk. On the downhill I even loosed control on a turn but managed to get back the control. On the way there was a water fall. We spent half an hour there and then rode ahead. After 13km we reached to resort kind of place. There we spent more than an hour. I enjoyed jhoola and rope walking over over the canal. Till now it was we had ridden on the road.
Now it was the time to ride off road on mountain trails. There were many (8-10) water streams on the way. And the path was full of rocks. At times we even had to carry our bike. But it was awesome feeling to ride on those trails. We finally reached the peak around 2:30 pm. Then it started raining heavily. That made the return really tough. The trail became very slippery. And breaks were not working. Then we started falling. Everyone fell down at least once. Ananya (The only girl in our group) fell 4 or 5 times on the way. We even got lost in the mountains on the way back, the entire group took the wrong route. Fortunately another local guy Ullas knew the way and he got us on the right trail. Finally we reached at a water fall. We got our lunch there itself. It was amazing to have bath and lunch at the water fall. One thing that I really liked about all the places was, there was no polythene, wrappers or any sort of litter there. From there I got into the jeep which carried our food there as my breaks was not working at all and it was not safe to ride on downhill without break.
After reaching back to the coffee house we had a lot of chit chat among us. Viewed pics that we took on the way, had dinner and that's the story of day 1. On day 2 we got fresh and went on a small ride in to a coffee estates. It was nice bhool bhulaiya kind of way. Then we had breakfast and now it was time for a mountain tracking to Ethi Bhuja hills. We reached to the base of the mountain by 11 am. It was a small temple at the base. We started tracking from here. First 200mtr it was a muddy path after that it was fine all the way but the actual challenge was leeches. They were all the way on the trails. If you stop to remove one from your shoe, 3-4 would get on to it in that time. I got a stick that not only helped me in walking on the rocks but it was more useful to remove leeches from my shoes. Somehow the group managed it to top. I stopped on the peak just before the Ethi Bhuja peak. Stayed there for some time. It was again amazing to see the clouds passing by me. It was a beautiful view of the mountains and clouds passing by them. On our way back we stopped at a water fall and took bath there. All the tiredness got washed by the water of the fall.
Then we reached back to the coffee estates, had lunch there and started our back journey to Bangalore. On the way back we watched two movies "Dabang" and "Arndhati" in the tempo traveler. We reached Bangalore by 11 pm.
In the beginning, it was a group of 12 people who didn't know each other, but now we share a good bond and we would smile laugh about everything we did in the last 48 hours. Harsha and Ullas were two great hosts and made sure that we don't miss any fun. It was one of the most memorable trip for me. We named it "Bindas Biking" but it was much more fun than that. In Ananya' words "We had off-roading like hell, ride through the Coffee Estate which reminded me of the Bhul Bhulaiya of the Harry Potter movie, cycling in the rains, swinging in the river, rope walking, trekking to the peak of the Ethi Bhuja hills, a big losing war with the leeches, sumptuos meals, ride on the roof of the tempo traveler and a whole day of cycling uphill and downhill and a cycle ride again in the morning".
You can see the pics here
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=495419&id=532930516&l=6f695e239e
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