31-Jul-2010 Mysore trip
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Shashi
Aug 2, 2010, 3:42:15 AM8/2/10
to Bangalore Bikers Club
Hi Folks,
I missed the awesome Nandi ride many-many folks did on Sunday -
it sure would have been a carnival like atmosphere. Hope to be a part
of next such event. Now that the Nandi ride festivities have calmed
down a bit I figured send in the report for our Mysore trip while it
is still fresh in the mind.
Six of us had decided to go on the Mysore trip instead and so our
trip began a day early on Saturday, 31-July-2010. The riders were -
Shashi & Ranjan on hybrid bikes and Naveen, Haresh, Sriharsha &
Prakash on MTBs. The route taken was Kanakapura road. Started from
Gubbalalla gate and followed the route - Harohalli, Kanakapura,
Halaguru, Malavalli, Bannur, Mysore. We had planned to leave at 5.30
AM but instead started a little late at around 6.00 AM. Our plan was
simple - ride together to the extent possible but in case we do get
separated, leave together from the next meeting point.
Bangalore to Kanakapura:
Right after the NICE interchange met up with the Samsung team of
racers who were also getting ready for the trip to Mysore. Chatted for
a bit and then started off. Quite an uneventful ride till outskirts of
Harohalli where we stopped for a quick chai. Left from here around
7.15 AM and four of us reached outskirts of Kanakapura around 8.10 AM.
Talked to few of the locals and answered their queries about the
cycles and our trip to Mysore. Got a call from Ranjan that they are a
couple of Kilometres from Kanakapura and his bike had a flat and we
should go on for breakfast. I assumed they are fixing the flat and we
went on to the restaurant for a nice breakfast of idli-wada-dosa.
Around the time we were finishing our breakfast Sriharsha and Ranjan
walk in saying they walked the last 4-5 Km looking for a place to fix
the puncture!! I cursed myself for not having checked whether they are
in fact fixing the puncture as I had a puncture kit and hand pump too.
Anyway we finished breakfast, filled air into the tire to enable him
to ride till the puncture shop and left looking for a puncture shop.
Found a place, fixed the flat and left Kanakapura around 9.30 AM.
Kanakapura to Bannur:
The ride from Kanakapura to our next stop was quite uneventful
except for the fact that we found out Sriharsha was straining on his
heavy Hero Octane. Ranjan and Prakash helped him hour during the rest
of the ride by swapping bikes for parts of the journey. Reached
Halaguru around 11.15 AM. Left Halaguru at 12.07 PM to reach Malavalli
at 1.08 PM. Waited a long time for Sriharsha and Ranjan to turn up.
Here we debated whether to have lunch here or go further down. We
decided Bannur would be too far to wait for lunch and hence stopped
for lunch. Post lunch started at 3.00 PM for our next stop Bannur.
Shortly after Malavalli we completed 100 Km of riding and stopped to
take some group pictures. Prakash and I broke ahead and reached
outskirts of Bannur (2-3 Km before Bannur) when it started raining
rather heavily. We took shelter in a tea shop and waited for the rest
of the folks to join. Here we decided that Prakash and I should go
ahead as we wanted to climb up Chamundi while the rest of them did not
want to. Consulted with the rest of the team when they showed up and
we agreed that two of us would go ahead while the remaining folks
would go straight to the Mysore bus stand.
Bannur to Chamundi Hills, Mysore:
Prakash and I left Bannur around 4.30 PM to reach base of Chamundi
hills around 6.30 PM. We were tired, hungry and the daylight was
running out. Called up my wife Shobha and she said why do you want to
climb up in the dark and I decided not to climb up. Prakash too
agreed. I had a few chocolates and dates remaining and we devoured
them down with water. We were ready to start the ride to the bus stand
when Prakash again had a thought - "itna door ake try bhi nahin kiya
to kaisa chalega" in english: "if we came this far and didn't even
attempt to climb, it's not good". So we decided to attempt the climb
and if at any point we felt we can not do it, we will start going
back. We started the climb at 7.00 PM and I decided to go on 1 x 1
gear combination right from the start. Fortunately the incline did not
seem too bad compared to the Nandi climb. Shortly I saw the 5 Km mark.
From then on it was only pedalling and looking for the Kilometre
markers. 4, 3, 2 and finally 1. Did not stop for rest and did not even
have a sip of water for fear of losing momentum. Fortunately the
weather was conducive for this - foggy and cool - in fact we were
riding in a cloud as the top of the mountain was covered in clouds.
Reached the top to see Prakash waiting for me. Quick hug and cheering
each other to have accomplished this followed by a drink of cool
water. Had covered the entire climb in 30 minutes to reach at 7.30 PM.
Right around this time got a call from Ranjan that they are at the bus
stand and leaving for Bangalore.
Chamundi Hills to Home:
After visiting the chaotic temple (God only knows why as there were
not so many devotees - we need to learn from the folks who run the
Tirupathi Balaji and Madurai Meenakshi temples) we took some pictures
in front of Mahishasura and started our ride back down the hill around
9.00 PM. Got caught in the rain while going down and spent some 30
minutes waiting at a temple shelter. Finally reached the bus stand
around 10.15 PM and found a Volvo bus waiting to depart for Bangalore.
Driver said 10 minutes to leave. Found that neither of us had cash so
I went in search of an ATM while Prakash got the bikes loaded.
Fortunately found an ATM close by and we got our tickets and were
about to get in when Prakash asked the driver if he would stop for
dinner. He said "non stop Bangalore" and asked me to get some food
packed. I ran for the food while Prakash waited. Got back just in time
to see the bus pulling out of the stand. Got settled in our seats, had
our dinner, talked for a bit and went to sleep. The next I knew
Prakash was waking me up saying we are in Bangalore. It was around
1.00 AM. Mysore to Bangalore in less than 2 hours - we had taken a
cool 12 hours for the same distance in the morning :-). Got down at
satellite bus stand and we rode together till Prakash's home in
Hanumanthnagar. Bid adieu to Prakash and started my solo ride back
home. I think I tool a really long route from Hanumanthnagar as I
reached the outer ring road right where it cuts the NICE link road.
The ride along the outer ring road was pretty uneventful but things
started getting interesting as I entered Padmanabhnagar to get to
Mantri Tranquil from the Uttarahalli road side. Encountered a couple
of dog gangs whose members just seemed to be coming from all sides. It
literally tool me 5-10 minutes to pass thru this mean set of dogs.
Some choice words and small rocks I had collected earlier for this
eventuality helped me finally get thru. Finally reached home at 2.00
AM culminating a 20 hour adventure.
Thanks to Naveen, Haresh, Sriharsha, Ranjan and Prakash for great
company along the way.
Some lessons & questions:
1. Sriharsha has promised to get a new bike for himself and keep the
Octane only for local rides.
2. Both my cell iPone and Garmin forerunner 305 batteries got drained
by the time we reached Mysore - need to figure out how to keep these
charged for long rides.
3. How do we ensure we ride together in a manner that we don't spend
lot of time waiting for fellow riders while at the same time enjoy
going at your capacity? Logically this is not possible but still...
Regards,
Shashi
I missed the awesome Nandi ride many-many folks did on Sunday -
it sure would have been a carnival like atmosphere. Hope to be a part
of next such event. Now that the Nandi ride festivities have calmed
down a bit I figured send in the report for our Mysore trip while it
is still fresh in the mind.
Six of us had decided to go on the Mysore trip instead and so our
trip began a day early on Saturday, 31-July-2010. The riders were -
Shashi & Ranjan on hybrid bikes and Naveen, Haresh, Sriharsha &
Prakash on MTBs. The route taken was Kanakapura road. Started from
Gubbalalla gate and followed the route - Harohalli, Kanakapura,
Halaguru, Malavalli, Bannur, Mysore. We had planned to leave at 5.30
AM but instead started a little late at around 6.00 AM. Our plan was
simple - ride together to the extent possible but in case we do get
separated, leave together from the next meeting point.
Bangalore to Kanakapura:
Right after the NICE interchange met up with the Samsung team of
racers who were also getting ready for the trip to Mysore. Chatted for
a bit and then started off. Quite an uneventful ride till outskirts of
Harohalli where we stopped for a quick chai. Left from here around
7.15 AM and four of us reached outskirts of Kanakapura around 8.10 AM.
Talked to few of the locals and answered their queries about the
cycles and our trip to Mysore. Got a call from Ranjan that they are a
couple of Kilometres from Kanakapura and his bike had a flat and we
should go on for breakfast. I assumed they are fixing the flat and we
went on to the restaurant for a nice breakfast of idli-wada-dosa.
Around the time we were finishing our breakfast Sriharsha and Ranjan
walk in saying they walked the last 4-5 Km looking for a place to fix
the puncture!! I cursed myself for not having checked whether they are
in fact fixing the puncture as I had a puncture kit and hand pump too.
Anyway we finished breakfast, filled air into the tire to enable him
to ride till the puncture shop and left looking for a puncture shop.
Found a place, fixed the flat and left Kanakapura around 9.30 AM.
Kanakapura to Bannur:
The ride from Kanakapura to our next stop was quite uneventful
except for the fact that we found out Sriharsha was straining on his
heavy Hero Octane. Ranjan and Prakash helped him hour during the rest
of the ride by swapping bikes for parts of the journey. Reached
Halaguru around 11.15 AM. Left Halaguru at 12.07 PM to reach Malavalli
at 1.08 PM. Waited a long time for Sriharsha and Ranjan to turn up.
Here we debated whether to have lunch here or go further down. We
decided Bannur would be too far to wait for lunch and hence stopped
for lunch. Post lunch started at 3.00 PM for our next stop Bannur.
Shortly after Malavalli we completed 100 Km of riding and stopped to
take some group pictures. Prakash and I broke ahead and reached
outskirts of Bannur (2-3 Km before Bannur) when it started raining
rather heavily. We took shelter in a tea shop and waited for the rest
of the folks to join. Here we decided that Prakash and I should go
ahead as we wanted to climb up Chamundi while the rest of them did not
want to. Consulted with the rest of the team when they showed up and
we agreed that two of us would go ahead while the remaining folks
would go straight to the Mysore bus stand.
Bannur to Chamundi Hills, Mysore:
Prakash and I left Bannur around 4.30 PM to reach base of Chamundi
hills around 6.30 PM. We were tired, hungry and the daylight was
running out. Called up my wife Shobha and she said why do you want to
climb up in the dark and I decided not to climb up. Prakash too
agreed. I had a few chocolates and dates remaining and we devoured
them down with water. We were ready to start the ride to the bus stand
when Prakash again had a thought - "itna door ake try bhi nahin kiya
to kaisa chalega" in english: "if we came this far and didn't even
attempt to climb, it's not good". So we decided to attempt the climb
and if at any point we felt we can not do it, we will start going
back. We started the climb at 7.00 PM and I decided to go on 1 x 1
gear combination right from the start. Fortunately the incline did not
seem too bad compared to the Nandi climb. Shortly I saw the 5 Km mark.
From then on it was only pedalling and looking for the Kilometre
markers. 4, 3, 2 and finally 1. Did not stop for rest and did not even
have a sip of water for fear of losing momentum. Fortunately the
weather was conducive for this - foggy and cool - in fact we were
riding in a cloud as the top of the mountain was covered in clouds.
Reached the top to see Prakash waiting for me. Quick hug and cheering
each other to have accomplished this followed by a drink of cool
water. Had covered the entire climb in 30 minutes to reach at 7.30 PM.
Right around this time got a call from Ranjan that they are at the bus
stand and leaving for Bangalore.
Chamundi Hills to Home:
After visiting the chaotic temple (God only knows why as there were
not so many devotees - we need to learn from the folks who run the
Tirupathi Balaji and Madurai Meenakshi temples) we took some pictures
in front of Mahishasura and started our ride back down the hill around
9.00 PM. Got caught in the rain while going down and spent some 30
minutes waiting at a temple shelter. Finally reached the bus stand
around 10.15 PM and found a Volvo bus waiting to depart for Bangalore.
Driver said 10 minutes to leave. Found that neither of us had cash so
I went in search of an ATM while Prakash got the bikes loaded.
Fortunately found an ATM close by and we got our tickets and were
about to get in when Prakash asked the driver if he would stop for
dinner. He said "non stop Bangalore" and asked me to get some food
packed. I ran for the food while Prakash waited. Got back just in time
to see the bus pulling out of the stand. Got settled in our seats, had
our dinner, talked for a bit and went to sleep. The next I knew
Prakash was waking me up saying we are in Bangalore. It was around
1.00 AM. Mysore to Bangalore in less than 2 hours - we had taken a
cool 12 hours for the same distance in the morning :-). Got down at
satellite bus stand and we rode together till Prakash's home in
Hanumanthnagar. Bid adieu to Prakash and started my solo ride back
home. I think I tool a really long route from Hanumanthnagar as I
reached the outer ring road right where it cuts the NICE link road.
The ride along the outer ring road was pretty uneventful but things
started getting interesting as I entered Padmanabhnagar to get to
Mantri Tranquil from the Uttarahalli road side. Encountered a couple
of dog gangs whose members just seemed to be coming from all sides. It
literally tool me 5-10 minutes to pass thru this mean set of dogs.
Some choice words and small rocks I had collected earlier for this
eventuality helped me finally get thru. Finally reached home at 2.00
AM culminating a 20 hour adventure.
Thanks to Naveen, Haresh, Sriharsha, Ranjan and Prakash for great
company along the way.
Some lessons & questions:
1. Sriharsha has promised to get a new bike for himself and keep the
Octane only for local rides.
2. Both my cell iPone and Garmin forerunner 305 batteries got drained
by the time we reached Mysore - need to figure out how to keep these
charged for long rides.
3. How do we ensure we ride together in a manner that we don't spend
lot of time waiting for fellow riders while at the same time enjoy
going at your capacity? Logically this is not possible but still...
Regards,
Shashi
Yogesh N. Rao
Aug 2, 2010, 4:08:14 AM8/2/10
to Shashi, Bangalore Bikers Club
Shashi, Nice write-up. Actually, yesterday's Nandi ride was not as hard as bicycling back on airport road. The headwinds were TERRIBLE in upper-case. I normally average 22 to 26kmph on the way back. It was in fact easier riding uphill because the winds die down as go up a hill (Leeward side) and come back in full blow as you come down (Windward side).
It looks like you guys lost a lot of time waiting. In any long ride, the most precious commodity is the usage of time. If you are mindful of time, distances can be easily beaten. There is a great trip being planned to Mysore....hoping it pans out.
How were the roads? Pot-holes? Smooth? Especially between Malavalli and Bannur?
It looks like you guys lost a lot of time waiting. In any long ride, the most precious commodity is the usage of time. If you are mindful of time, distances can be easily beaten. There is a great trip being planned to Mysore....hoping it pans out.
How were the roads? Pot-holes? Smooth? Especially between Malavalli and Bannur?
--
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
Shashidhar Gurumurthy
Aug 2, 2010, 4:11:13 AM8/2/10
to yna...@gmail.com, Bangalore Bikers Club
Thanks Yogesh. The roads are good all the way. Malavalli to Bannur is
not bad from what I recall. There are a bit of bad patches between
Bannur and Mysore but not so bad.
not bad from what I recall. There are a bit of bad patches between
Bannur and Mysore but not so bad.
Regards,
Shashi
Shankar
Aug 2, 2010, 4:13:24 AM8/2/10
to yna...@gmail.com, Shashidhar Gurumurthy, Bangalore Bikers Club
Wow this actually happened. Loved the last part about your climb :) congrats on the new achievement.
Regards,
Shankar
Sent from my Nokia N85
Basker Ramachandran
Aug 2, 2010, 4:35:22 AM8/2/10
to shan...@gmail.com, yna...@gmail.com, Shashidhar Gurumurthy, Bangalore Bikers Club
One of the secret that Shilpa shared with us during the Decathlon workshop is to use a whistle whenever you encounter dogs.. It seems dogs go away when they hear you whistling.. :)) None of us were aware but Shilpa sounded pretty confident. It seems to be working with the dogs near her house :))
Basker
(Basker Ramachandran)
rba...@gmail.com,
+91 9945602485
Basker
(Basker Ramachandran)
rba...@gmail.com,
+91 9945602485
shilpa
Aug 2, 2010, 4:39:45 AM8/2/10
to Bangalore Bikers Club
simply gr8 . esp the chamundi climb part almost in dark is surely no
joke....... but equally crazy...
but well done.....
Cheers
Shilpa
joke....... but equally crazy...
but well done.....
Cheers
Shilpa
Balu
Aug 2, 2010, 4:49:19 AM8/2/10
to Bangalore Bikers Club
Congratulation guys :)
Yogesh : so, as promised last time this monthend long ride will be
mysore.
Regards,
Balu
> > On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 1:12 PM, Shashi <shashidhar.gurumur...@gmail.com>
> >> Visitwww.bangalorebicyclechampionships.comfor more details
>
> - Show quoted text -
Yogesh : so, as promised last time this monthend long ride will be
mysore.
Regards,
Balu
>
> --
> biking conversations on the world famous "Bangalore Bikers Club" :)
>
> are you a part of the bicycle racing scene?
> Visitwww.bangalorebicyclechampionships.comfor more details- Hide quoted text -
> --
> biking conversations on the world famous "Bangalore Bikers Club" :)
>
> are you a part of the bicycle racing scene?
>
> - Show quoted text -
deepakvrao
Aug 2, 2010, 5:05:57 AM8/2/10
to Bangalore Bikers Club
Interesting ride. Congrats guys.
Couple of points, and hope its taken in the right spirit as
constructive criticism:
Riding in the dark without lights is really really unsafe
Not having enough cash - poor planning
Each rider should be self sufficient. You can relax this if its
understood as to who is carrying what
Couple of points, and hope its taken in the right spirit as
constructive criticism:
Riding in the dark without lights is really really unsafe
Not having enough cash - poor planning
Each rider should be self sufficient. You can relax this if its
understood as to who is carrying what
Vijay Ramesh
Aug 2, 2010, 8:56:55 AM8/2/10
to deepakvrao, Bangalore Bikers Club
congrats guys!!
would love to be a part of the next long ride. Am really disappointed that i missed out on both nandi and mysore due to a catch.
cheers,
vijay
--
biking conversations on the world famous "Bangalore Bikers Club" :)
are you a part of the bicycle racing scene?
Ranjan Kulkarni
Aug 2, 2010, 9:15:34 AM8/2/10
to Vijay Ramesh, deepakvrao, Bangalore Bikers Club
Thanks Shashidhar for the write up, although I disagree in parts where you bring me and Sriharsha down by constantly mentioning "Waiting for them" :P
Nah.., you are right and I am grateful that you stood by us throughout the trip and I, for one really appreciate it.
Cheers--
Gillett and Hicks, Get OUT OF OUR CLUB!
If you care about LFC, you shoud join SOS if you haven't yet. http://www.spiritofshankly.com
Nah.., you are right and I am grateful that you stood by us throughout the trip and I, for one really appreciate it.
Cheers
Gillett and Hicks, Get OUT OF OUR CLUB!
If you care about LFC, you shoud join SOS if you haven't yet. http://www.spiritofshankly.com
Rajesh
Aug 2, 2010, 11:54:28 AM8/2/10
to Bangalore Bikers Club
Congrats guys for making it !!!
Ranjan, sorry to hear a puncture on Schwinn Sporterra ;)
I think we will try Mysore soon !! Learned few lessons yesterday... I
shouldnt have taken that many stops in between.
Congrats again for riding from One City to Another !!
Regards
Rajesh
On Aug 2, 6:15 pm, Ranjan Kulkarni <ranjankulka...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Thanks Shashidhar for the write up, although I disagree in parts where you
> bring me and Sriharsha down by constantly mentioning "Waiting for them" :P
>
> Nah.., you are right and I am grateful that you stood by us throughout the
> trip and I, for one really appreciate it.
>
> Cheers
>
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 1:56 PM, Vijay Ramesh <vjja...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > congrats guys!!
>
> > would love to be a part of the next long ride. Am really disappointed that
> > i missed out on both nandi and mysore due to a catch.
>
> > cheers,
> > vijay
>
> >> Visitwww.bangalorebicyclechampionships.comfor more details
Ranjan, sorry to hear a puncture on Schwinn Sporterra ;)
I think we will try Mysore soon !! Learned few lessons yesterday... I
shouldnt have taken that many stops in between.
Congrats again for riding from One City to Another !!
Regards
Rajesh
On Aug 2, 6:15 pm, Ranjan Kulkarni <ranjankulka...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Thanks Shashidhar for the write up, although I disagree in parts where you
> bring me and Sriharsha down by constantly mentioning "Waiting for them" :P
>
> Nah.., you are right and I am grateful that you stood by us throughout the
> trip and I, for one really appreciate it.
>
> Cheers
>
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 1:56 PM, Vijay Ramesh <vjja...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > congrats guys!!
>
> > would love to be a part of the next long ride. Am really disappointed that
> > i missed out on both nandi and mysore due to a catch.
>
> > cheers,
> > vijay
>
>
> > --
> > biking conversations on the world famous "Bangalore Bikers Club" :)
>
> > are you a part of the bicycle racing scene?
> > Visitwww.bangalorebicyclechampionships.comfor more details
> > --
> > biking conversations on the world famous "Bangalore Bikers Club" :)
>
> > are you a part of the bicycle racing scene?
Ranjan Kulkarni
Aug 2, 2010, 12:38:39 PM8/2/10
to Rajesh, Bangalore Bikers Club
Hey Rajesh,
Glad you did Nandi mate.Once you do a longish distance you'll get that confidence to go out there and try new ventures.
The flat I suffered was only the second in the 1200 odd kilometres I've managed to cover so far, so can't really complain in that sense..
Hope to see you on sunday for the GGI ride.
Glad you did Nandi mate.Once you do a longish distance you'll get that confidence to go out there and try new ventures.
The flat I suffered was only the second in the 1200 odd kilometres I've managed to cover so far, so can't really complain in that sense..
Hope to see you on sunday for the GGI ride.
Visit www.bangalorebicyclechampionships.com for more details
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