CAM : Bike-N-Hike : Mandal Patti conquered!

[Manohar D C]

Hello bikers!

CAM (cyclingandmore.com) had organized a two day weekend Bike-N-Hike in Coorg (Madikeri - Koti Abbi falls - Mandal Patti peak- Kalur - GaaliBeedu - Nishane motte). This was the 4th bike ride organized by CAM.


Riders before the ride began..

The first day itinerary included a mostly downhill ride from Madikeri to HattiHole. From HattiHole to Koti Abby falls with lots of small uphill and downhill trails. This part of the ride was almost like off roading. The trail ran along the stream like snake, with many hanging bridges across the stream.


An hanging bridge...

Harsha and I were the last to leave Madikeri, 45 minutes later than other riders. By the time we caught up with them, they were almost near the Koti Abby falls. And Nitin was returning from the falls and went on to climb the MadanPatti peak alone, that being part of the expert ride. Rest of the gang carried on towards the falls. This part of the ride was filled with lot of fun, falls (nasty fall from the bike) due to loose gravel and etc,.


Harsha seems to enjoy a downhill ride..


By the side of stream, near to KotiAbby falls.
Spent some near the water falls and then started towards Lunch point. By the time we reached the Lunch point, it was 2pm.



Nitin came back from the Mandal Patti climb and according to him its a double hardcore climb!


Arvind and Asim cycle along the paddy fields...


Lunch point by the stream...

From lunch point, Mandal Patti peak is a continuous 14k climb with the beginning 3-4km being very steep. Shree, Satish and I were the only other who attempted this climb. Except for the small stretch of the road which had huge potholes and gravel, we were able to climb, very slowly. View from the top was very scenic. Kotte Betta was visible towards north.


Kotte Betta in the background...


Satish and Shree cycle to MandalPatti..

Journey down through a complete off road trail was damn fun!

The off road trail which we took on the way back to camp site near Kalur..

We reached the camp site by 7. By then tents were pitched. Then we had to hurry to prepare the food. Shree was our head cook for the day, with Satish, Shilpa and I assisting him! While food cooked, a beautiful campfire was set by the side of the stream. And Nitin played nice tunes with his Guitar! and I could hear someone singing as well.

Nitin plays guitar and Juzer hums a song...


Boyz enjoy the campfire!


 And the food cooks!

Boyz managed to get beer and non veg from a local supplier. Had nice dinner by the camp fire. And then off to sleep at 11.

The next day morning was misty and beautiful. Took bath in cold water, sipped hot coffee prepared by Shree , ate the delicious upma as well.


Our camp site at Kalur...


Boyz cross the stream...

Second itinerary was cycle till Gaalibeedu, about 12km from the camp site. Then hike to Nishane Motte.
Harsha crosses the stream with his bike. Second day began with a steep climb...


Riding to Gaalibeedu from Kalur...

The second day ride was for a small distance and we were at Gaalibeedu by 11. After helping finish all the buttermilk pockets in a small shop, we headed to Nishane Motte peak.


Gang takes a break from the trek...

 Trek was pretty easy and we were at the top by 12.30pm. As usual posed for lot of photos. I tried some 'jumping' photos as well :).

On top of Nishane Motte. (Motte in Kodava language means a hill)


Chiradeep jumps..!


Hungry and trekking back to Gaalibeedu...

Returned to Appanna's house to have a nice meal. Payasa was really yummy! Then boarded the bus and started back towards Bangalore at 3pm. Every seemed to be missing the bike ride already :). I heard few even mentioning about the climbs daunting them in the dreams :).


And the last photo with all the bikers posing..

--
Cheers!
-Manohar
----------------------------------------------
http://www.cyclingandmore.com/
http://dcmanohar.blogspot.com/

[Sagar]

Nice write up bro.. Feels so good to just read through it... and need
I say how good it should have been to be part of the ride ?? Shree is
in to cooking too? He warns the readers of his blog saying he's
always looking at diversifying further. Now, I wonder if there is
anything left for him to do so :P I'm not sure when will I be able to
join such rides, however I would love to join sometime and get company
of such amazing riders.

With all regards to CAM and the riders,

Sagar T U

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[SreeHarsha .H .Srinivas]

@Sagar, Thanks and looking forward to ride with you (either CAM or non-CAM :) )

Shree is a good cook, his speciality is Pumpkin-Halwa (Dumrot).

This time it was a complete different experience and more challenging for the riders and for the organizers.

But thanks to some of the experienced riders, my work was made easy :).

Thanks to Shilpa for acting as a first-aid specialist and doubling up as support team.

Juzer and Nithin kept us entertained with their jokes and songs around the campfire.

I must mention Dr Tejaswi's name who completed this challenging trail with a fold-able bike (BSA).

Satheesh achar, who helped in cooking and packing inspite of getting tired after riding up to mandalpatti.

Akash and Arvind, who inspite of falls, kept their spirit up and continued riding. Hats off to you guys.

Pragdev and gang for setting up the tents :)

I guess it was a team effort, and one of the fun filled weekends i had.

Thanks again

-Harsha

Next is Agumbe-Thirthalli-Kuppalli (March)

 

--
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

[VISHY]

You lit me up Harsha "Next is Agumbe-Thirthalli-Kuppalli (March)" :)

 

Cheers!!

--
Biker by choice, trekker by nature

[SreeHarsha .H .Srinivas]

Glad to know that Vishy.

Working on some finer details.

Registration page should be up by tomorrow.

-Harsha

[Sudhir P]

awesome report and pics.... felt like i was on the journey with u...

I'm extremely tempted to join one of the CAM rides shortly

-sud

--
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

--
================================
Sudhir.P
Blog : http://roastedneutrons.blogspot.com
Photoblog : http://roastedphotons.blogspot.com
Comic strip: http://ktpdq.blogspot.com

I do not suffer from insanity......
I enjoy it!
================================

[satheesh achar]

guys, 

first of all, thnx a ton to CAM for choosing such a challenging location. 

i thought i had to mention this........this is my third ride with this group, and there are few things which makes me{and i hope most of other bikers} to come back over and over again....

regarding food.....you could have brought some ready to eat products{like most of the other organizers} but you chose to cook at the camp site. this not only helped few of us to learn how to cook but also gave the real camping experience. 

Sree, Harsha, Manohar, Nithin ...it was a great experience working with you n looking forward for more.....

Akash n Aravind.......kudos for continuing the tour despite of injuries... i think all of us have learnt something from your spirit.  

Tejas...... thnx for showing us that the size/brand of the cycle has very less to do when we are determined to complete what we have started......

though i was so tired, i seriously don't wanted it to end...... now, eagerly waiting for the next one n hope to see most of you again....

see you soon n take care...

satheesha... 

On Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 7:45 PM, Shree Kumar <shree...@gmail.com> wrote:

Folks,

+1 - special mention to Satheesh, for actually climbing Mandalpatti, getting down without problems (most of you didn't get a taste of how difficult that was!)  and then helping us with cooking.

Speaking of cooking, I should thank the participants for eating stuff cooked by us! Cooking for so many people in difficult conditions was an experience by itself...

Also, a special mention for Dr. Tejaswi's brand of humour.

Cheers
-- Harsha

--
http://www.shreekumar.in/