Western Ghat Mountain Biking ride report(write-up)
santosh
Hi Folks,
Yet another time completed the misty western ghats mountain biking successfully. Enjoyed every moment of the ride. It was an amazing ride with sunrise, sunset, butter smooth roads, good roads, worst roads, beyond worst roads, no roads, hair pin bend curves, down hills, steep up hills, forest, scenic views, lakes, ponds, animals, birds, mountain peaks, rains, mist, temples, rivers, countless water streams, beach, eateries, drinks, food (All veggie), unlimited fun and last but not least my best cycling buddies (Prashanth and Manjunath). What not..? I cannot ask for more.
Read on for the detailed ride report (write-up).
The plan was like this:
Bangalore to Channarayapatna by boarding a bus, it was the KSTRC Raja Hamsa.
Cycling route: - Channarayapatna-Holenarasipura-Arkalgud-Shanivarsante-Bilse Ghat- Kukke Subrahmanya-Dharmasthala-Ujire-Karkala-Manipal-Malpe Beach-Udupi.
Udupi to Bangalore again by boarding a bus, it was the KSRTC Volvo Multi Axle.
Riders:
Santosh with Cannodale Trial SL5 29er.
Prashanth with a Btwin Rockrider 5.3.
Manjunath with a Cannondale Trial SIX.
Day 0: We had booked the bus tickets for 12th Sept night 11:30PM bus trip. I was working on a 9AM-6PM shift was easy to go home get ready and cycle to Majestic but for Prashanth and Manjunath it 1:30PM to 10:30PM and had to leave little early for the day. So they had to prepared with their stuff ready by a day before and cycle from office to Majestic directly. All reached by 10:45PM boarded the bus.
Day 1: About 3:15AM we were dropped in Channarayapatna. Prashanth suggested to take a nap and start by 6AM. Me and Manjunath wanted to start right away. So the majority wins. Checked the bikes and tied our bags to the carrier and started sharply by 4AM. It was dark and pleasant morning, roads were good, and were cruising at a speed of 25KMPH. Stopped at the river bridge for a couple of minutes and headed towards Holenarasipura. Had a bun each and coffee. Continued towards Arkalgud, quickly stopped to check the sunrise with greenery all over. Spent over half an hour and guys had a power nap. The road was really in a very good condition but the head winds were against us. In Arkalgud had a break for badam milk and biscuits, continued towards Shanivarsante on the way we spotted malliptna lake. It was amazingly awesome, can check in the pics link below. By 10:30AM were in Shanivarsante and had breakfast. Then started the ghat section. It was tough and challenging with lot of up hills climb and the rains started from here nonstop. We had rain gears with us. Then reached the view point of Bisle ghat post noon. I don’t have words to express the beauty of it (better go and experience). We spent more than an hour at view point. Last 25KM was the steep downhills to Kukke Shree Subrahmanya temle. The roads are in pathetic condition from the past 12 years or so. Still opted this route only for the beauty of Bisle ghat. Took 2 hours on the downhill(due to worst or no roads) and reached by 5:30PM at the temple premises. Checked into a lodge lodge. We had dinner at temple went for sound sleep till next morning up to 7AM.
Day 2: Woke up by 7AM and by 8AM all 3 were ready for the darshan for lord Subrahmanya. Time taken 1 hour for darshan, 1 hour for breakfast and another 50 mins for checking out. Started by 10:50 AM to Dharmasthala. I suggested not to take the main road, went through kabada and ichilampady and reached the Mangalore-Bangalore highway. The last 22KM to dharmasthala was a bit difficult as it was raining heavily. Reached temple by 4PM at the gate of the temple. All the KSRTC bus drivers and conductors were on a strike sitting there. They all were surprised to see us and rounded up asking questions on the ride. No work and they wanted to do time pass, we got irritated and escaped from them. Checked in to a lodge immediately. Cycled to netravathi river, 3 of us had lot of fun playing in water. While playing in water there was a surprise guest, a young water snake (over 3 feet) just a couple inches close to Manjunath and Prashanth, I was out of water that time. It did no harm to anyone; it was trying going by its way. Then we went for the darshan of Lord Manjunatha swamy. Settled for the day. We were a bit worried about the next day’s udupi to Bangalore travel as I had booked the KSRTC bus tickets in advance due to the KRSRTC worker’s strike.
Day 3: Woke up by 6:30AM and started by 7:50AM. Reached Ujire by 8:30AM and had the breakfast. Then we enquired the local people about the route via Karkala and the conditions of the road. Got a good feedback on the road conditions. It started to rain and with gears on we cruised towards Karkala with the awesome scenic view of kudremukh ghat peak covered with clouds right next to us. Then we surpassed Karkala. This stretch for cycling is most ideal with ups and downs. By 4:30PM we reached Manipal city. The city is so beautiful and high-class; it’s not any less than Bangalore. We surpassed the Udupi city and were reaching the beautiful west coast Malpe beach. On our bikes, cycling on the sea shore, we were like unstoppable. Most of the people on the beach we were looking at us and the center of attraction. Without wasting any time we got address and ran into waves of the beach. Then a quick call to the KSRTC call center regarding the bus schedule, they assured all the busses are operating as usual, sigh of relief. Then we cycled back to city for Lord Sri krishna’s darshan. At the temple premises took room for a couple of hours to get refreshed. At 09:45PM moved out of the temple to the bus stand. Bus arrived by 11:50PM loaded the bikes and comfort level in the bus was very good.
This is one of the best rides in rain, real adventure mountain biking. Planned and executed well. If you ask me to do it again, yes I may do it again. The total cost incurred for each was about Rs.1960 which includes stay, food, transport and unlimited fun:P:P. Total distance covered was 320KM read the odo.
Below is the link of the mobile phone camera pics:
https://picasaweb.google.com/105662490580305445485/WesternGhatBicycleRide
Ram
Thanks for sharing.
Ram
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murali hr
U should write in more detail
murali
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Ravishankar Balasubramanya
Ravi
Cheers,
Ravi
NFL-Newfoundlove
Ajith and Shankar. Gear up buddies.. Lets go for a ride while the monsoons are still on..
