Ride report to Janapadaloka (organized by Anil) and beyond adventures - a 24 hr episode

[krishna chandu]

Hello riders,

This is my ride report for the ride to Janapadaloka (organized by Anil) and beyond adventures - a 24 hour episode, that we tried and explored till Mysore and back to Bangalore.

Firstly, I want to thank Anil and Venkatesh for organizing the ride to Janapadaloka on Saturday. It was a fantastic ride with wonderful arrangements and pleasure to ride with many cyclists. However, we extended our ride with many dynamic plans (made during the ride to janapadaloka) to Mysore; and been through a glimpse list of - day light ride in sun, encounters, surprises, the dancing guy, wonderful lunch at mandya, the tempo pick up till sri ranga patna, the pleasant evening at Balmur back waters, the fight and run at mysore railway station, the bargain with ksrtc bus drivers/conductors to load the cycles, the refusals from uber cab services, a midnight ride in moon light and a few hellos from dogs on the way, and a missing credit card. The detailed story as I remember is as follows:

So, it all started with a call on Saturday morning to Washim at 4:30 am to check if he was ready for the ride. Like a silent cat without making noise and without disturbing my neighborhood, I managed to come out of home and started my ride. I met Washim at domlur bridge and started off to wheel sports. On the way, we found no cyclists until we reached near KR market :) We were wondering if the ride was today or if we both were last cyclists to reach the venue.

While doing a live google for uma theatre by asking the crowd around KR market, we happened to finally meet bunch of cyclists who were heading to wheel sports and we got relieved that "yayy, the ride is today" :P It was great to see and meet many cyclists, from the legend cyclists Rohan and team, Anil of course, Rajesh and the Frozen highway team, my cyclists friends, to other fellow cyclists. The yummy Kesari bath and idli before the ride made the day and stomach very happy; a pleasure to have the early hot breakfast with many cyclists along added a different experience. Thanks to the team for organizing an amazing breakfast before the ride.

We kick started our ride and met many cyclists on the way, from newbies to experts. Washim, Shubhasree and I were riding together most of the time till Janapadaloka. On the way, Shubhasree casually mentioned that she had to go Mysore after the ride was over - as in, she had to ride back to Bangalore, take a bus and go Mysore. This made me think why not continue the ride till Mysore, as I never did this stretch (on highway) to Mysore before. Further, when I asked casually about recent kannada movies, she mentioned few, and this added more to my thinking - why not go Mysore, have a good lunch and have an experience of watching a locale language movie in a different town - this might be a memorable one to try out. As the thoughts were rolling, I realized we reached janapadaloka already. It was great to meet the team there again, photos, another yummy breakfast at kamath. It gave me an opportunity to try this 'jackfruit mulkha' - which I never heard of before. We had many photo sessions with Anil, Rajesh, group pics, scenic pics etc etc at kamath restaurant.

Iqbal joined us for breakfast at kamath restaurant, who continued to ride with us later. The thoughts rolled back to left/right of janapadaloka during the breakfast. It made me further think logically "the heat remains constant. Left of janapadaloka - around 50kms ride, uphill to Bangalore. Right of janapadaloka - around 80kms, mostly downhill and little uphill later to Mysore, catch a bus from Mysore to Bangalore, thus marking Mysore ride complete with this route (as I done kanakpura route last time already)". I proposed/convinced this plan to Shubha, Washim and Iqbal and pulled those guys for the ride to Mysore finally :) Iqbal further suggested we can also try back waters at balmuri and spend in water after the ride. Though it was not really a concrete 'yes' decision then, we thought we will think once we reach Mandya. Thanks to these wonderful guys who agreed immediately, despite the challenges Shubhasree had, and little knee pain Washim had, and of course to Iqbal, but it was pleasure and had fantastic ride with these guys.

I tried to market this above logic to other cyclists to pull more in the group, and finally Geetha, who is a newbie to cycling agreed to join us. So, we five started off to Mysore while other cyclists started going back to Bangalore. We had a fun ride, there were clouds too in between, which helped us ride better. We paced little slow for the newbie in the team, talked, had bananas, songs by Washim in between; and slowly it happened that, Shubhasree and Iqbal went much ahead, Washim and Geetha behind, and I was trying to mingle with all guys for a while. Later, Washim, Geetha and I rode together; though it was challenging as a newbie, she did a very good job and rode with us till Maddhur. She gave up the ride there as she found difficult to ride in sun, and said she want to return Bangalore. Mr. Luck appeared before us at Maddhur bus station and the conductor easily agreed to carry the bike and the biker in bus without any arguments. We bid her off and, Washim and I resumed our journey to catch up with Shubhasree and Iqbal.

As we both were riding, Washim paced little slow and I went a little ahead and waiting at orange juice shop for him. It was a downhill view, and I seen a tempo approaching me, with red colored shirt Washim behind. From the far distance, I felt he was behind the tempo, but only realized later that Washim actually boarded the tempo and bid bye bye when I was at juice point. The game of misunderstanding - Washim did not inform Shubhasree/Iqbal that he got into tempo, and missed to spot them when they were waiting at a coconut shop; nor Shubhasree/Iqbal spotted Washim on tempo when he was going.

Later when I met Iqbal and Shubhasree at coconut shop, I happened to meet an interesting cyclist - we all together named him as a dancing guy later. We started to ride again and decided to have lunch at Mandya. When we reached outskirts of Mandya, there were college people walking and this dancing guy overtook me and started to dance while riding - I wondered if he danced because of joy of overtaking me/or to impress the college girls walking on the footpath :D I ignored that and later Washim informed us that he is waiting at a restaurant in Mandya for lunch. When we were heading to the restaurant, the dancing guy again appeared with a new pose of titanic - his left hand was pointed straight, and his right leg pointed back and the posture was bending with different poses. Unfortunately, we had to take a u-turn to go to this restaurant and none of us had his number to contact him to come back to restaurant and the story with him ended there.

We headed to the restaurant and had special meals of Mandya there. Then the discussion of visiting balmuri turned up. With heavy special lunch, relaxed muscles, and air conditioned restaurant, and to save time to reach early to balmuri, we decided to take a tempo till sri ranga patna and then pedal from there to balmuri and spend in back waters. We filled our hydration bags/bottles and Mr.Luck appeared again by sending a tempo so quickly in no waiting time. We got onto tempo, had fun drive, estimated up/down hill roads, photos, bidding hi/bye to people going towards Mysore - should watch their different expressions.

Finally, we got down at sri ranga patna at around 4:20PM and started to pedal towards Balmuri and Iqbal was the lead for this - we thought to reach balmuri by 5:00PM, the distance being around 15kms. With little inquiry from people around, we figured out the route to Balmuri. While riding from Bangalore to Mandya and going till sri ranga patna on tempo is one experience, a ride from sri ranga patna to Balmuri backwaters was completely a wonderful different experience. The route was very scenic, green lush, trees, wonderful sun set scene, the locale villagers, and finally to the backwaters. We had a great time at backwaters, played little in water, Iqbal swimming, Shubhasree's temptations to get in water, the photos, the crowd around, the cool breeze, the fishermen, the sunset and the shades on water, all added a fantastic experience. 

We decided to try this train Kaveri express back to Banaglore which is scheduled at 8:30pm and we had around 3 hours to reach station from Balmuri- the idea was to put bikes in luggage coach and we travel in general compartment, as its hardly a 3 hour journey. With small inquiry again, we found a short route from Balmuri to pumphouse (a junction where it deviates to Mysore road). We started to ride towards Mysore; the dark roads and up hills added little challenge. Shubhasree went to her parent's home and we three boys set our route to the railway station - fun part is neither Washim nor I had Iqbal's number. Iqbal went to railway station first and took tickets already; with help of Shubhasree, we got Iqbal's number later and when inquired we found he was already on platform talking to TT. He got to know from Railway TT if we book for train luggage room, we have to collect the bikes only the next day morning on showing the receipt. We called off that idea, and we tried to board bikes in compartment directly and travel - however, Mr. Luck was far far behind and the TT immediately said, get off the compartment and we were not allowed to travel this way in train. Thanks to Indian Railways for offering a ride next day morning if we book via luggage coach; and who did not consider our request to travel with bikes.

So, what's next? We decided to travel back in bus (the convention way for cyclists) and headed to bus stand. Our stomachs were honking from inside, so we went to had dinner first; With the bargain with bus conductor later, we got into the bus finally. With no waiting time, I just went to sleep and woke up only with conductor's sound of 'kengeri stop', 'kengeri stop' at morning 1:30AM.

We got down from the bus at around 1:45am at satellite bus station. Last time when we went to Mysore ride via kanakpura, Yateesh helped to book uber cab for transport from bus station to home along with cycle. I was impressed with uber services then, and quickly installed the app, and tried to book it for this time. After booking a cab, the cab driver met us and refused to carry cycles in innova. Though I tried to convince, it was on vain. The auto guys asked high charges too. Finally, we three decided to pedal back home instead of wasting time (or) to catch up a tempo if we get near KR market. 

Lucky enough that there was heavy rain in Bangalore on Saturday, that the roads were completely wet, the breeze was super cool, the midnight half moon welcomed us, the dogs said hello on the way. For the first time, I happened to see early hours of KR market at around 2:45AM, where they were unloading vegetables, green leafy vegetables, lot of flowers, bokays etc. We bid bye to Iqbal near cubbon park, where he found a tempo luckily at that odd hour of time. Finally, Washim and I started to ride back towards Indiranagar, and bid bye to each other at domlur bridge. Finally like the silent cat act in the morning, I repeated the same to enter the house, without disturbing the neighborhood and was at home in morning around 3:30AM. Nothing is super heavenly than a fresh shower after this long ride and experiences, that too early hours of the day, and then to sleep :)

Later in the afternoon on Sunday, I realized that my credit card was missing - this might have happened when I was trying to feed in details for uber cab services on the app. I checked in and around all the accessories/bag, but of no use.

So, it was a 24hr episode ride as it started around 3:30AM on Saturday to start the ride and it ended up at 3:30AM next day morning with many different experiences and the fun.

This ends my lengthy ride report - marking it as an incomplete Mysore ride because of the tempo from Mandya to sri ranga patna. So, I have to plan this Bangalore-Mysore ride again in this route some time later :)

Thanks,

Krishna Chandu

[Rahul Raj Dusa]

That really seems like an adventure. Its fun to fight those contradicting thoughts (to go or not to go... to attempt or not to attempt... to ride further or to turn back... ) during such rides :)

Have many more great rides and yup ride safe 

Regards

----------------------------------------------------------

Rahul Raju Dusa

+91 9964234511

http://themeandthemine.wordpress.com/

--
biking conversations on the world famous "Bangalore Bikers Club" :)
 
are you a part of the bicycle racing scene?
Visit www.bangalorebicyclechampionships.com for more details
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Bangalore Bikers Club" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to bangalore-bike...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Prashanth Chengi]

Contradicting thoughts, huh? I face them every weekend.. to get out of bed or not!! Once I do get up and onto a bike and out, it's always super fun!

/Prashanth

[Arvind P]

Cracker of a ride report. Please share pics too. Dont be selfish :P

btw one curious question. after roaming around so much did you have battery on your cell phone to install Uber app? Or were you using a power bank? :D

[Opendro]

The line should have read : Don't be selfish, post the selfies :-P

On Monday, April 13, 2015 at 10:40:17 PM UTC+5:30, Arvind P wrote:

Dont be selfish :P

[krishna chandu]

@Rahul - yes, it was fun indeed to fight such thoughts, and also to convince and pull others into the idea :D

@Prashanth - +1 super, agree with you (y)

@Arvind -  Find few pics attached in the mail with my bike 'moksha' included :) I charged my phone to 100% before starting from home. By the time I downloaded uber app, the phone had around 40% charge left. Since, it was a dynamic unplanned ride, I did not carry power bank as backup :P

@Opendro - hehe... well said (y)

To add further, I am pleased to meet Opendro in person at Janapadaloka. Though I know many bikers by name in this group and by face when I go on rides, this mapping of "name<-->face" is always a challenge for me :D

[Rahul Raj Dusa]

"Moksha" You named ur bike ?? 

:)

----------------------------------------------------------

Rahul Raju Dusa

+91 9964234511

http://themeandthemine.wordpress.com/

[krishna chandu]

Oh yes, I named the bike on the day I bought :) or I guess even before buying itself :D

[O p e n d r o]

Hahaaa... you must also consult a numerologist and an astrologer for the future of your bike ;) LOL

[krishna chandu]

Oh no, I am not into all that :P its just the passion that made me name the bike :D

[Prashanth Chengi]

Lol..I have nicknames for all of my bikes too! Glad that I'm not the only one!

/Prashanth

[Rahul Raj Dusa]

exactly... M glad I'm not the only one in having a name for my bike :D

----------------------------------------------------------

Rahul Raju Dusa

+91 9964234511

http://themeandthemine.wordpress.com/

[krishna chandu]

Oh that's interesting. You guys can share your bikes names, if you are ok do so :-)

[Arvind P]

I have to think of a name for my bike too. :)
hmmm .... Tarzan may be :D

[Prashanth Chengi]

:) Here goes!

MTB (Specialized Hardrock SE 29er): 'The Beast' 

BSO (local supermarket bike of unknown age, bought used from a student): Rusty 

Road bike (Cube Agree SL): Speedy aka Speedbird

Fixie (Pure Fix Tango): Pixie

Here are some pics: 

Rusty (winter) https://flic.kr/p/qTUtsE

Rusty (summer) https://flic.kr/p/rNYd1n

The Beast: https://flic.kr/p/rQQJZ2

Pixie: https://flic.kr/p/qJrFoi

Speedy: https://flic.kr/p/nS8hkF

On an unrelated note, I must mention that I see many people talk insultingly about 'BSOs', but I feel they can be fantastic value for money bikes, provided they are only used for what is appropriate duty for them.  I'd never think of doing a century ride on Rusty, but it's a very reliable bike for short commutes and that is all that use it for, particularly in snowy winters.

/Prashanth

[Shubhashree N S]

Nicely put Krishna...
And yeah unplanned plans are always more fun! Thanks to you guys :)

[Shubhashree N S]

I call my bike as "Shwethashwa" :)

[RAHUL DUSA]

Ha ha...
My 2 MTBs then... "ATOM" (that robot from Real Steel movie) & "ARGO" ( Argo movie)
Named based on their characters and my experiences. 😊

---

From: Prashanth Chengi
Sent: ‎4/‎14/‎2015 22:07
To: krishna chandu
Cc: Rahul Raj Dusa; Bangalore Bikers Club; Opendro
Subject: Re: [BBC] Re: Ride report to Janapadaloka (organized by Anil) andbeyond adventures - a 24 hr episode

[krishna chandu]

oh wow, interesting names! so I am not the lone one who put a name to my bike :D

@Arvind - I only hope the bike won't make sounds of tarzan's yell :P jokes apart, Tarzan name is cool.

@Prashanth - wow, super bikes there! awesome! your pixie bike is too tempting for me to try out :D nice list and names there; agreed with you on BSOs - Rusty name sounds perfect for the bike.

@Shubhashree - thank u. u too can add your ride experiences :) Shwethashwa is a nice name - meaning a white horse.

On Wed, Apr 15, 2015 at 6:51 AM, RAHUL DUSA <rahulr...@gmail.com> wrote:

Ha ha...
My 2 MTBs then... "ATOM" (that robot from Real Steel movie) & "ARGO" ( Argo movie)

Named based on their characters and my experiences.

[Opendro]

Bikes in my house are named:

road bike,
single speed,
MTB,
merida hybrid,
Schwinn hybrid,
rockrider lady bike
and kids bike.

I just gave away the baby bike which is suitable only till 3.5 years because I don't plan to have another baby.

Car is named as car (I have only one :)) and motorcycles are named as pulsar and aviator ;) LOL

Yeah, I realize that we do use some or other name to identify the items at home uniquely.

[Chidambaran Subramanian]

Good report. Now I know what a tempo ride is.

[vivek]

I didn't realize this until this post but I too had named my bikes:

Bianchi Camaleonte I - black bike

Cannondale Trail 6 - white bike

BTwin Triban 3 - red bike

:-D

Regards,

Vivek

[Shubhashree N S]

Hahaha..... :P

[Hari Krishna]

My Triban 3's name is 'bike'.

[Opendro]

That is heights of color racism man :-P