Nandi Hills Ride!

We just did a Nandi trip yesterday. Me, 2 colleagues and another friend. We did better this time learning from our experiences in Rangaswamy betta ride. Our bikes included two Trek 4300, one Trek 3700 (mine) and a Firefox Cosmic.

We started our ride at around 4.45am from Old Madras Road and reached base of nandi hills at 9.45am. We had taken good amount of breaks in between waiting for some of us to join at Hebbal flyover and at a place 21km from Nandi hills for having breakfast. The ride towards Nandi hills base was not much an effort. And it took us around 1 hour to climb up Nandi. The first 4-5 kilometers of climb were ok with just one break, but the climbs after them became very difficult. We had to take more breaks in between and I had to push my bike at two places around the turns. We spent around 2hours on top of Nandi doing photo session and taking in some fluids.

The ride down was like a dream, did not have to pedal except at a place connecting the two mountains that too only to keep the pace going. We came down in about 10-15minutes. While coming down we met two guys (Nelly and Modhi) who were fixing flat tyres after doing downhills. There was another gang doing the Nandi trip on same day. A group of lawyers starting from Hebbal flyover. They had bikes like Rockrider, firefox roadpro and few indian bikes. They were a bigger group and a lot slower because of the indian bikes. Most of them pushed their bikes to top of Nandi as they did not have gears.

We had started our return journey at 1pm. The ride back was hard due to the heat and sun. We took a different route which had lesser traffic and open fields on both sides. It connects to Yelehanka. The 'to' journey was along the route to new airport. We took breaks every half hour as the heat was unbearable. Reached Kommenehalli by 5.45pm and had idli + masala dosa + apple juice from Sukh Sagar. Enjoyed the meal so much, I always want to enjoy food like that!. I had limited my lunch to fruits considering the trouble MTR food had caused during my last ride . Reached home (Murugeshpalaya) by around 7pm, took a good bath in hot water and was in deep sleep by around 9.30pm. Got up at 3am in the morning thirsty and hungry, just to find the water can completely emptied by my loving roomates . Luckily I could find some green grapes and bananas in kitchen, ate them up and again slept off till 7am. Yes the green grapes did have lot of fluid to satisfy my thirst.

I am forced to repeat this after my second long ride --> I hate climbs that look never ending, but I love climbing the flyovers . I am waiting for the days when Nandi hills become as likable as Bangalore flyovers for me..hehe..

View Larger Map

Ride Statistics:

Start : 4.15am
End : 7pm
Total time riding (8+ hours)
Total distance : ~140Kms
Riders: Abhishek, Pratyush, Yogesh & Me

Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta Ride!

Ride Statistics:

Distance : ~120kms
Start :4.30am
End : 9pm
Riding : 8+ Hours
Hiking: 3+ Hours
On top of Hill: 3 Hours
Riders: Prathyush, Milind, Raghavendra and Me.

View Larger Map

Morning Ride to Majestic!

I was left with two options for this weekend ride, either a solo ride or a group ride with the whitefield riders. Last weekend I was at my parent's place (Kerala) and during my return journey I caught cold which has left me a little weak. This led me to cancel the lengthy group ride under the sun, and to plan a shorter solo ride to some place.

Whitefield was already explored in the previous ride. Now it was Majestic that I had in mind. Although I have travelled numerous times to Majestic by bus, the exact route to majestic is still confusing to me. Perhaps there are multiple routes from Airport Road to Majestic. I decided to ride to Majestic with a small thought hanging in my mind "I might take the wrong turns and miss the target"

I set the alarm for 6am in mobile phone and went to sleep. I slept late at night and was afraid of not getting up in morning, so kept the mobile phone closer to me. Unlike the last few weeks, I am having a busy schedule in office and have been returning home by 9pm-10pm most of the days. The work load has gifted me sound sleeps during the last week. Today was no different either. I couldn't hear the alarm ringing until my roomate tried waking me up. I got up from bed and ran to get teeth brushed as if I heard an emergency alarm. Got ready in almost 10 minutes and pushed by bike outside house, starting the ride by 6am or was it a 5minutes late, I did not pay attention.

I decided to ride slow today considering my condition. I could have studied the route to Majestic from map, but then I thought trying to reach there without any information other than the sign boards could be more fun. And even if I miss the target today, I can learn from my mistakes and do it the next time. I went past Domlur flyover and then started gaining moderate speeds. While riding I did make it a point to read the names of the places I passed by, from the name boards over various shops, just to trace the route on map and to figure out where I went wrong if I miss my target after all.

I was riding through well known routes when I suddenly reached a place with two roads in front of me, one to M.G Road and the other to City Market and Richmond Circle. Took the Richmond route and within a few minutes I was near the Richmond flyover. Here I ended up in doubt, I did not know whether I should be taking the flyover or the road beneath it. I made my first mistake here I guess, took the flyover and it finally took me to Lalbagh. Riding on this route I found the places unfamiliar and sensed of having taken the wrong route. I decided to continue riding little more forgetting my original target for no reason and to my happiness I find myself infront of Lalbagh gate. This place is known to me and it gave me small idea where in Bangalore I was.

Little ahead I find Wilson Garden written all over the boards. I thought that this route was taking me to Mysore Road. I have been once to Mysore road to visit a construction site. I decide to ride for some more time and start my journey back. At the same time the thought that most of the roads in Bangalore near this area are one way roads kept worrying me about my journey back! A few more minutes of ride and I found "Bangalore Diary" building. I had seen this building before, but couldn't recollect when. The familiarity with the place made me to ride ahead rather than return and to my surprise I found "The Forum". I couldn't believe my eyes, in my calculations I was near Mysore Road and here I find myself in front of "The Forum" at Koramangala. It took me a while to digest. I even started thinking if it was yet another "Forum Mall" near Mysore Road. I have already seen one more Forum mall in construction near Whitefield, in one of my previous rides. But the roads looked so familiar. Yes it was the road to Madiwala which I have travelled through numerous times.

I decided to take some rest near Madiwala, sipped some water from my new bottle. Spa lives near Madiwala at BTM. I make a quick call to Spa with the idea of enjoying breakfast with Spa, but Spa was enjoying a good sleep, it being early sunday morning. I notice that it is only 6.50 am and from Spa's feeble voice, I could make out Spa wants to sleep more! Giving up the thought of having breakfast from BTM, I rode back to Aiport road through the long and steady Inner ring road. I could find some guys jogging along the route and another guy meditating in between his bike ride on the concrete side walls of small bridge. I wonder if he was meditating or praying or performing Yoga, the sight of him sitting there in Yoga posture with his eyes closed and his bike by his side, made me laugh.

The rest of the ride was along a route I cover every weekend, but the roads were less busy. After touching Airport road, I had a tender coconut drink. It was just about 10 minutes ride from there to home. Reached home by 7.15 am. This ride covered around 20kms in 1hour and 15 minutes. Enjoyed the ride well although I missed the real target, but the surprises on the route together with the excitement of having learnt new places in Bangalore made it very interesting. So it is again another ride to Majestic next weekend!




View Larger Map

Plans for next weekend!

Coming weekend (Sunday), I am planning to ride with the "Whitefield Riders". They are a group that does not miss their rides on Sundays, atleast they did not miss from the time I have been following them on their yahoo group.

They ride in two groups, fast group which starts late and covers larger distance with fewer stops and the slow group which starts early, covering lesser distance with more stops and sight seeing. The slower group, most of the time go off-road and discover paths unknown to most of the bangloreans. It should be surprising to any non-biker that these riders carry everything from water to spare tire tubes and puncture kits. The number of punctures each group encounters everyday is dependent on the kind of ride they take, the worst the terrain is, the larger the number of punctures. Sometimes the same bikes happen to get multiple punctures during the ride and sometimes a group of guys find their bikes punctured at the same place, mostly from the thorns on plants and bushes. The group knows well how to fix the puncture and stops together everytime a bike gets punctured.

Their ride starts from Palm Meadows, Whitefield. I have to ride for 30minutes at good speed to reach the place. Being a beginner I will be riding only with the slow group initially. They start their ride by 6.30 am. So that means I have to get up atleast by 5.30 am :).  Have to carry lots of water as well as food since we might be riding through uninhabited places for hours. If everything goes as planned, we should be back by 10.30 am at Palm Meadows. Looking forward to have an adventurous first ride...

The very first planned ride!

Yesterday night i had decided that today being a holiday (shivarathri), I should get up early and go for a ride. I haven't traveled beyond Marthahalli much, had been to ITPL once but that was in bus and while in bus the only outside world that I see(notice) is the start and end points of journey, my mistake. So that was it, Whitefield was the place to go!

Went to sleep having asked 'someone' to wake me at 6.15am and with alarm set on my cell phone at 6.05am. I have not been able to enjoy good sleeps offlate, I keep getting up in between checking the clock what time it is!. This night I got up many times with my hands hitting on the under side of table (Bed has been shifted closer to the table to make space for my bike :)), but everytime I kept wondering if it was my bike or the table I hit :).

Finally after so many waking up and hitting on the table, alarm finally rang. I had little body pain from my previous rides ( I haven't mentioned them) and thought of lying in bed for somemore time. Finally got up by 6.10am, messaged the someone that I am already awake. By then the someone called me up and we had a chat for a few minutes and then I had to remind the someone that I am getting late for the ride..haha..the someone was also having trouble getting up from bed..poor someone ;)

I started getting ready for the ride..brushed teeth fast, took the helmet and gloves, put some money and key chain in the saddle bag and then started off. Yes in the same dress I was sleeping in..I am lazy..oh yeah, but did I have a cycling jersey..no I did not have..hehe..have to buy a pair atleast. And the ride started, the road had more vehicles than I had expected. I thought "where the hell are all these people going?"

Finally I touched the Airport Road (the traffic signals still blinking orange, meaning they are yet to become operational fully and hence we proceed with caution, pretty logical since there is not much traffic to manage at this time of day). I could see some people looking at me puzzled probably thinking "Who the hell is this guy?". Some might also think I am rich spoiled guy who has nothing else to worry about in life other than riding his bike early morning..haha..If you happen to be part of that crowd here is what I have to tell, It is better to forget your problems for a while and enjoy doing what you like :). And if you happen to be part of the crowd that thinks one should be rich to buy a 17k bike, then this is what I have to tell. At the end of one year I will be saving more than the amount spent on it, by riding it. It gives me something extra back too, good health :). For the curious lots, here are the statistics..my old bike cost me 5.5K inclusive of accessories and after 5months of usage I had saved around 8.5K. Healthwise my weight has come down and I am getting into better shape, I am waiting to have my next annual medical checkup for the actual reports, due in a few months.

I am riding along the Old Airport Road trying not to look at the 'surprised' people and trying to concentrate at the ride. If I was to see a guy riding the same way I will definitely not be able to stop looking, but I would be thinking a lot different in the following directions..what is his bike?..is he riding a bike better than mine?..what all accessories he has fitted on his bike?..how good is he riding?..is he really enjoying his ride or just out there to showoff?..where could he be staying, possibly near my house?..and so on..:)

As I moved around 1km ahead, the traffic started reducing and I started gaining speed. This new bike of mine can go lot faster than my old bike. I am still adjusting to the new sitting posture and gear shifters of this bike, so I never dared to take it to the maximum speed I could. All the way I rode at almost the same speed, slowing down a little at the climbs. It climbs better than the old bike too and the handling (road grip and brake) is perfect.

Finally I reach Varthur and find the lake on the other side of the lane I am traveling. I decide to stop by the lake side on my way back and enjoy its beauty. I could see from distance the mist over it almost covering the green foliage at the other bank of the lake. I riding towards Whitefield but everything looked boring, only concrete buildings. The fact that there was a beautiful lake behind me was pulling my thoughts back. So after a few kilometers of ride in thte direction of Whitefield, I gave up and traced back the route towards Varthur. It is visible in the map where the lake is at Varthur and the NH207 going besides the lake.

View Larger Map

So I take the NH 207 route, again the lake is on the other side of the lane. I traveled around 1 km on NH207 and stopped at the point where the lake was not visible. I ride back and then I could see clearly how beautiful the lake was because it was on side of my travel direction now. I stopped riding and then climbed on to the foothpath to get the best view possible. It looked really good. The water overflowing over the artificial dam like structure and then seeping through the bottom of the road ( a portion of the road is a small bridge) and then finally appearing at the other end of the bridge. Where was it flowing to, I had no visibility as lot of green trees and bushes covered my view in that direction. So I thought, my ride didn't go wasted, I had the opportunity to see a good slice of nature :). But I am not sure how beautiful the lake would look sometime later when the mist is gone.

I look at the watch and find time to be around 7.15am. I start riding back and decided to go slow as the traffic had increased and I did not want to put a lot of burden on my poor body. The ride back had lot more climbs including a big bridge (don't know the name, perhaps the bridge at Marthahalli). I reached near HAL (2km from HAL bustop) where I had a tender coconut (Rs.12) and then rode back home at average speed. The roads were full of people waiting for buses. In between the someone called and talked for sometime and I complained of being hungry. The someone was on way to office. I searched to see if there were any tea shops on the roadside, but couldn't find any. So I decided to park my bike safely at home and then take my old bike to the nearby hotel, to have breakfast. Had poori with some curry and tea, I wanted aaloo masala but they had some other bad tasting curry. Anyway ate whatever I got and returned home. Wanted to take a good shower, but I am lazy again.

Now as I type this blog lying on the bed, my bike is there by my side, on the floor leaning on to the wall ofcourse :). Altogether it was a good ride covering around 25Kms, my longest so far.

Trek has arrived!!

Hey..just last week I mentioned my intention of buying a new bike, it is already in my stable :)  Rode it from Jayanagar (bikeshop) to Airport Road under the sun, came back and slept for around 1 hour. Got up and again went for the short ride, 30 minutes. Just back from the ride, getting to know the new bike (or the beast?? first impression ;)).. Tired and so not much about the bike this time, just the pics..and yes the bike is really good..really happy with the purchase :)







This bike will receive special treatment compared to the older one..it has to stay inside house with me. It will be very sad if I find it missing from my parking slot one day..signing off..:)

Who is to be blamed?

Today I was travelling in bus along with a friend to meet a few other friends. The bus reached SilkBoard when we heard a lady crying aloud from the road. It took us some time to locate the lady and the reason for her being in that mood. She was walking along the road talking on her cell phone when a guy snatched her cell phone and ran off.

The lady was dark, little fat and wearing a saree. She looked poor, probably the cell phone would have cost her a few months of her savings atleast. The guy who snatched her cell phone looked lean, dressed in pants and shirts (did not look poor). He crossed the road, jumped across the footpath barrier and vanished into another lane. I sat in bus looking at the events that unfolded cursing the guy.

But why did I not react? Why did I not run behind the guy and get back the cell phone for the woman. Everyone in the bus did the same, just saw everything with great anxiety. One person on the road ran behind the guy for a while, but he was little old for the chase and hence gave up after a few metres. Had she been a beautiful young lady, there would have been lot of people to help her out. But she belonged to the other category.

I felt bad that I did not help the lady. We don't react or think about reacting unless such bad things happen to our own life. I finished my journey thinking we all have grown so selfish and cowardly. After sometime we reached our friend's house and got busy chatting and playing. Life goes on...