Ju Leh Ji

(All of one year has gone by since Shreya and I made this trip in July 2012. Nevertheless, hope you have a nice read)

Ju le (n) pronounced joo-lay meaning hello, goodbye, please, thank you

It’s been 4 glorious years since my first trip to Leh Ladakh. A lot has transcribed, but somethings - friends, runs, have stood, much like the mountains of Ladakh, unchanged and unchallenged.

The motivation for this trip was probably a desire to re-live with Shreya, all the fun that I had in the previous visit.

One of the first things that struck me when the taxi drove us from the Rimpochee airport to Changspa was, how little the town had changed – like it was in a time capsule. Vijay-ji from Infinite Adventure had taken care of the logistics for this trip. We were booked at Sheldon Holiday Home – a quiet home stay in the heart of Changspa. As is typical of home stays in Leh, the home had it’s own vegetable garden, cozy rooms and warm congenial family, kids, grand parents and all.

Day 1 was largely spent in lying around and breathing hard – getting acclimatized to the 11500ft altitude of the quaint town. We walked up to Shanti stupa for a bird’s eye view of the landscape in the evening.

Day 2 & 3

Riding snow, riding rains

Up Khardung La, the elevation gains

Dub dub dub dub to the bullet’s tunes

To the warmth of the sand dunes

We checked out the following morning and packed a little bag for a bullet trip to Nubra Valley. The bullet was an almost new Standard 350 which was yet to receive a registration number. Yes, it was as if I was cheating on my Thunderbird, but I have begged for forgiveness, my bullet needs a full body massage actually. In contrast, the Standard 350 was in top shape. A gentle kick and it roared into life. The town was more than one petrol bunk and ATM now, we topped up both before riding under the arch that said – Khardung la 40kms

Riding snow, riding rains

Up Khardung La, the elevation gains

Good roads, great views warmed us up till South Pullu at 4800m. Warmed up, because, for the next 50km till North Pullu, we were chilled to the bone. We were warned at the check post of the rough terrain ahead. Riding this up to Kardung La was an experience. With the melting snow forming small rivulets taking down lots of tarmac with them. In other places, the Border Roads Organization was clearing away one of the frequent landslides off the road. We stopped only for a couple of quick photographs at Khardung La, arguably the highest mortorable pass.

To make matters worse, there was mild snowfall as we made our way down to North Pullu. I slowed down at every army shack hoping to find some warmth from the rain which was now a cold heavy drizzle. The halt only came at North Pullu, where we savored some hot Maggi and tea. Shreya contemplated heading back – the proposal was quickly dismissed.

We pushed through despite the drizzle. And as a reward for this, the rains stopped, the road got better, with no climbing to do, we cruised down towards the valley.

Dub dub dub dub to the bullet’s tunes

To the warmth of the sand dunes

As we neared Diskit valley, the vistas changed from the snow lined mountain path to arid lake bed and sand dunes. Although the rain had stopped, our bones were still cold. We made some quick basic enquiries and slipped under blankets in the cozy room at the first home stay we came to – Olgok guest house.

Late evening, we strolled down to the sand dunes (not wise, it was a 45min stroll!!) and rode on the Bactrian double humped camel. A good Samaritan offered us a lift to our home stay on the way back coz it had started to rain too. We had a breakfast of Ladaki bread (barley?), apricot jam, omlette and tea.

I took off early in the morning, running on the empty highway towards Pakistan, towards the town of Turtok. The complete silence was broken by the rivulets running alongside, running to join the Shylok river. The road curved up towards a bridge across the river in a bit. The altitude of 3100m did it’s bit too, running uphill I was easily out of breadth. I made up some pace on the return to finish a 10km in about 58mins. Details here.

We visited the Diskit monastery enroute, where a Kannada speaking monk explained to us the meaning of Maitreya and the fierce deities in the temple. We made a quick stop at the Diskit town to shop for much needed gloves and dry socks. The prayers and woolens helped, we totally enjoyed the return trip.

Back in Leh, we had enough fuel in our tanks to pay a visit to Spituk monastery. The Buddha overlooking the valley from atop the monastery is one of the lasting images of Leh.

Day 4 & 5

Only 2 in a car for eight

Passing Chang la at its height

Down treacherous roads we went

To Pangong Tso, to a cold windy tent

Only 2 in a car for eight

Passing Chang la at its height

Although we had a great time with the return leg from Nubra, the rains were still on our minds. So for the trip to Pangong Tso, we decided to get into a car and be caged! With no luck with accommodating any other tourists with us, it was just Shreya and I in the Innova. As luck would have it, it was a glorious day… to ride a bike!

Down treacherous roads we went

To Pangong Tso, to a cold windy tent

As we climbed up towards Chang la, the roads began to deteriorate and with it, Shreya’s car sickness. We stopped for a short break at the café on Chang La. It must have been a combination of cold, altitude, claustral conditions, Shreya was a wreck by the time we reached our camp site on the banks of Pangong lake. It was almost 2pm or so when we got ourselves some lunch. We spent the rest of the day inside the tent. There was a heavy gale during the night, but thanks to some hot water packs, we managed to sleep well. A 5k jog the next morning, left me breathless within minutes. The next morning, we headed back to Leh after breakfast, thinking more than once that we would have perhaps loved this more on the bullet.

From a cool town called Chilling

Past chocolate rocks, whirlpools, rapids swirling

Life jackets, wet suits, our rafts we oared

Up and down white waters, while Zanskar soared

The last day was perhaps the best of the trip. We finished off with a fantastic 2 hour white water rafting in Zanskar from Chilling to Nimmu. We were driven from Leh, some 50kms to Chilling, where we were joined by about 30 other tourists from all across Europe and the US. We got into the gear – wet suits, life jackets and shoes. After a briefing by our coach, we set off. It was a 20km ride, took us about 2 hours. The river was wild, scary, intense, mild and calm all at once! The Class III & Class IV rapids kept us engaged through out. There were 2 other dinghies like ours, one folded up, spilling all its crew into the icy cold waters. There was then a bit of rescue operation!

When Nimmo was in sight, I jumped off the raft to drift the last few hundred meters home!

I got this on my GPS, take a look here.

It was a great holiday, one year on, the good memories still linger on...

Two Hills - What thrills!!

When I started off to Sabine's Birthday 'party', I thought I would simply have to ditto the previous Nandi Ride/Run, how mistaken I was.
With the International Airport opening that 24th morning, I was ready for some ill treatment on the Highway to Nandi. Ananth and I started off a 4:45 am from Hebbal Flyover and very closely followed my earlier timings to Nandi Hills.
Madhu had promised to take us on a virgin trail provided "as long as you keep the trail details only between people who respect the sanctity and cleanliness of the outdoors."

Ananth and I took the exact 2:02 hours or so to ride to the Nandi Base camp and as usual waited agonisingly for the others in their cars to turn up.

The run up the Nandi Hill twin, BrahmaGiri (according to a foundation stone on the top) was more like a power walk for the last couple of kms. Just standing there totally exposed to the strong, crisp morning breeze was refreshing. There is a temple with a pushkarni filled with croakers on top. Sabine couldn't have asked for a better birthday celebration as she cut lots of FitKit Biscuits (like 10 of them) and passed it around the 20 odd runners!!

Ananth and I left the group and made our way back to the parked bicycles. With the usual Ghanne ka Ras break at Chikkajala we reached Hebbal in a good 2.5hrs.

Camp Gee Dee

BH3 Run No. 468

Sunita describes the camp in her blog here.

“Tucked away, next to the Banerghatta Wildlife Sanctuary, far far from the madding crowd, is a small slice of heaven called Camp GeeDee. The topography is excellent and of course the human hand has helped to add a lake or two, making it one of the most exciting place to be, especially for the nature/bird loving brigade and solitude seekers.” – Sunita Raghu

What a place this one was, I was quite unprepared for it, the intention lost in all the Hash Humor. My already battered bullet took a serious beating on the rough roads leading to the place. When my mood is exuberant, I imagine my bullet to have wings or something... I had wings for sure, borrowed from my angels who are around me these days ;)

The ride took me right around Bannerghatta forest to the camp site. Pradeep, Athreya and I were the FRBs huffing and puffing on the false trails and uphill trails. The Beer flowing, the breeze cooling our soaked bodies, the sun going down under the dense forest, the Hashers playing to the Swing low hymn - What a thrill, I say

Check these links for more on Camp Gee Dee

http://www.wildventures.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=2089

http://www.getoffurass.com/trip_geedee.htm

Photo courtesy: Sabine, Sunita Raghu and Barbara

Non-Stop Nandi

3:30am hit snooze button, 4am on saddle, 6am Non-stop to Nandi, 45mins frustrating wait at the Nandi base camp, long convoy of cars at last, 6:45am start, picture-postcard scenery, 26 freakin runners, spectacular cloud covered peaks, easy-first-4-tough-last-3kms, U-turn, 53kms milestone to Bangalore – some day all the way, club talk – couch surfing and wwoofing gyan from Anupam, pass bird-watchers with bazooka lens, hi-hellos to Madhu, Rekha and others from BBC who were biking up Nandi, foreign bikes – treks / Merdias have taken over the base camp, hydrate and moov, steal biscuits from Leona, on saddle for return leg at 9, sugarcane juice at Chikkajala, tender-coconut at Jakkur, home by 1130.
95kms of cycling in 4.5hours, 15kms Nandi run in 1:50 hours – ‘die’athlon?

Time-Table!
Date: 26/04/2008

Full album here

Bala's narration and fotos hyperlinked.

Kra...zzy Five on Kalhatti

Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.
Eddie Cantor

I almost knew none of them when I started off on this epic tour. But by the end of four days and some 300+ kms, we had competed, laughed, laughed our guts out, disagreed, experimented, hypothesized, quarreled, sweated, Beered and ‘paddled’ up more than just the Kalhatti peak… together.
Personally, it was my maiden long ride on a bicycle, made unforgettable by these specimens (Ravi, Pocha, Gaurav, Sriram) I found enroute!
Inspiring stuff… read on…

Beware: Long slow ride produces long slow rite-up only!

Pre-Tour:
The chief had it all planned, or so we thought. The check list had on it items ranging from ‘bike’ (don’t forget that when you go for a bike ride, eh) to ‘cotton sling’ (were we expecting Mr. Goliath!!) Check the full list here.

Rekha and Donald pulled out of the trip owing to work-pressures and Madhu preferred to do the ride when things were quieter across the border.

So it left us 5 that Friday morning, the 4th April, to board the Volvo Airavata bus at 5:15 to Mysore. Ashish and I were on Firefox – Viper and Target (both borrowed) and the others were on Trek 4300. All, but mine, were 24 speed – which I noticed only when we started climbing…

Day 1:
With the bikes stowed away in the boot of the Volvo, I caught up with some more sleep. After a quick Mysore Mallige Idly breakfast break, we were off from Mysore at 8:30.

First stop was just after the Kabini river at Nanjangud. We had averaged a cool 28kmph for the distance of 21kms. We continued the good work and were at Gundlupet by 10:05 – 50kms in 90mins of riding. We passed some 20 odd Brits riding from through the western ghats on variety of Bullets (a pink bullet n all!) shepherded by Thunder Trails. And when they stopped for a break, kids flocked around these firangs begging for pencils and pens!
It was now about 3hours into our ride, and I started showing signs of inexperience. While on a long run, I would never miss my electral / salt / water intake, I totally missed it on the ride. It was a hot and humid day and I must have lost a lot of salt. My quads started to act up a bit. Sriram rode alongside me for this short stretch and exchanged my backpack with his own lighter one. It helped! But I was still looking forward for a longish break.
Our next stop was at Pugmark, a couple of kms before entering the Bandipur forest. We reached Pugmark at 1230 and rested our bums on cushioned seats (how would ye cagers know the pleasure!) We treated ourselves to fluids (salted!) and lunch till 2:00.

Rains!
We entered the Bandipur reserve forest with dark clouds threatening to open. Sriram and I did some water-proofing with plastic bags, my own windcheater and Sriram’s rain coat! We caught up with Ashish and Gaurav and we continued in pouring rains and gale. I was more worried for Ravi who had taken off on his own - lone tuskers may not fancy lone bikers!
By the time we reached Teppakadu at 2:35, Ravi had the feeling that a few seasons had passed. Apparently he had reached there during the rains and it seemed peak summer when we got there!
With only 7-10kms left to cover before we would reach Masanagudi, I began to relax. Sriram was getting into the groove with the “British-style bridge” and “listen-to-that-elephant-da-we-are-all-going-to-get-killed”.

Just as we approached Masanagudi, the forest cleared up offering an overwhelming view of the Blue Mountains. Our overnight stay was at this place called Quiet Corner at Mavanahalla, 3kms from Masanagudi.
Ravi and I left soon after to get some 2T Oil for the bike chain lubrication and some Amber fluid to lube our own joints.

Profiling Ravi the Ranjan Kumar
And sitting there in that dimly lit bar at Masanagudi, I heard Ravi’s inspiring story. A couch potato and a huge TV addict not more than 6months ago, saw his 2yr old son following him into the couch. I truly admire parents who teach their kids by example. He sold his TV, jumped out of home and in 6 months is a transformed man, leading a new life.
Since then, he bikes everyday to work, about 20kms one-way and he went on to wind the Enduro3, the triathlon race in Pune this year.
While he contrasted the two lifestyles, we argued on either side and it was not merely the Beer that made me heady that evening.
Such an inspiration, “Be the change you want the world to be.” No prizes for guessing who said that one!

We returned to Quiet Corner by ‘public’ transport – a M&M jeep, it was ‘public’ coz half of Masanagudi public seemed to be packed into the front seat alone.
That night, after dinner, Joy, a faculty at the missionary took us on a night safari. We spotted some sambar, bison (600kg of muscle, Sriram had found his match) and a lone elephant.

Day 2
Ravi, who had a room for himself, shared with us results of an overnight experiment. Good news, guys!
We lubed the chains and eased the idlys and boiled eggs in, ensuring that we gave time to even the last of the ‘early elephants’ to finish off. It’s their mating season apparently, and we didn’t want to be in a bad elephant joke, that goes “What’s got a trunk and does a doggy-doggy?”

Hatti Kalhatti
(Hatti: Kannada verb pl. meaning climb)
We were able to start the marathon climb only by 9. There was no time for warm-up and the ascent began within 15-20mins of the start. 36 hairpin bends over a distance of 20kms, climbing 1500mts in altitude. Kalhatti is one of the steepest climbs in the western ghats – 1.5kms ascent across 36hairpins.

Granny Gears to Granny Gait:
I was quickly onto granny gears 1-1, my 21 shimano gears seemed inadequate. The backpack and the heat weighed all of us down. I was able to last only 2-3 hairpin bends before I moved from granny gears to granny gait – bent almost perpendicular and struggling at the bends.

Gaurav fell behind from the start, he was troubled by a loose pedal. I didn’t see him till the very end of the climb.

It was truly fantastic, the attention we were getting. Many passing cars gave us a thumbs up, as did some workers patching up the road. We didn’t miss any of the vagina falls, bison crossing or the naked chick(en)s! And when we stopped for a break at the 19th hairpin Nagarathina Tea Stall at 11 for ‘pure salt’ biscuits, we were the cynosure of the tourists.

I left the others waiting for Gaurav, to continue my walk-jog-crawl-bike up the remaining distance. As I approached the top, I was accompanied some distance by Vincent, a sweet little girl studying 7th in a local school and then Siva who was pushing up his Hero Atlas cycle and was surprised to find me do the same to my phoren cycle.

I reached the check-post in Ooty at 12:35 and waited till the others caught up by 1:15 or so. It had taken us about 4.5 hours to navigate the distance and even Sriram admitted, “it is easily the toughest ride he had ever done, da!”

The proverbial last mile to the Lakeview restaurant was the toughest. But the inflated prices on the menu matched our inflated egos as we argued over the choice of restaurants.

We left to complete the 20 odd kms left for the day to Coonoor. We passed my personal landmark at Ooty, a wine shop on the Coonoor route, bringing back some memories. We breezed past the Lovedale valley downhill for about 15km. There was so much traffic on that route, when I was not looking ahead, I was looking behind my back.

Srinath Rajam was kind enough to offer us his house, “Anito” while we were at Coonoor. It was taking incongruity to new heights, when 5 sweaty, scantily clad guys walked into the aromatic palatial bunglow complete with trophies, exhibits, chandelier, piano and wall paintings. The bed rooms looked so inviting that Pocha immediately dozed off.

Day 2 ended with all 5 of us clinking Beer mugs at Blue Diamond Bar.

Profiling Pocha and Gaurav:
Pocha aka Ashish is this short guy with long hair, who had finished graduation from Chennai (humble even to admit it was IITM!) Pocha and I shared rooms, and we started to talk about work, entrepreneurship, and love! (ah love!) We both shared a deep sense of understanding (or the lack of it) of the fairer sex. Despite the general fatigue from the ride, we continued to chat on till well past midnight. The depth of his character surfaced when we refused to bribe the KSRTC driver on day5. The halo around his balls (read padded cycling shorts) should spread around the head too one of these days!

Gaurav was the other placid one, not being drawn into anything frivolous. He remained true to biking and I saw him relax only after we had reached Coonoor. He had vast biking experience, had biked up the highest peak of Mullanyangiri amongst others. He had miled more on his bicycle than most people would on motorbikes.

Day 3 and Birthday!

I would have sulked the whole day about a phone call that didn’t come, had it not been for Sriram. I haven’t laughed that much in a long time - best gift I could have got.
We spent a lazy Sunday morning, breakfast of idlys and egg-dosa by 11, deciding on the POA for the return journey all along. We considered and dropped options of riding to Coimbatore, catching a bus from Gudulpet, Ooty or even Coonoor.
Sriram, Pocha and I decided to visit lamb’s rock and Dolphin’s nose more so because of Sriram’s insistence.

We took a bus to Dolphin’s nose and ended up walking back nearly 5kms to Lamb’s rock, with Sriram providing non-stop entertainment. From pissing off the tea stall owner cum guide at Dolphin’s nose to missing the bus because Pocha and I were busy posing for a photo, to spotting a snake (viper!!) it was memorable.

We hitched our way back, a kind Army Major Subramanian gave us a lift.

Profiling Sriram
Aayyoo, it’s the Nilgiris Squirrel da… this is the perfect habitat for it da.
Guys, you missed it.
This is heaven for snakes.
Chee Kheek Kheek Kheek Kheek …and then wait for the ‘almost extinct’ Nilgiri squirrel to give us that ‘rare sighting’. Only while he did that, there was this loud horn blaring Maruti van that zooms by, bringing us back from National Geographic. Btw, there is no Nilgiri squirrel, it is the Malabar Squirrel!!
I told you then only da…
Hey, you guys are very slow.
Salt biscuit iddya?? I love salt biscuit… have some… Its ‘direct salt’ dude.

This non-stop banterer had biked non-stop from Mysore to Kanyakumari in 6 days early this year. I also know him to run long distances really strong, he was the youngest in the group!

Day 4
At 7, we bid farewell to Francis and ‘Anito’, piled up the bikes into a mini-carrier and reached Talakundi on the outskirts of Ooty to begin the descent at 9.
I simply loved the downhill ride – the pace is heady, the focus is sharp and a right hairpin bend appears at a distance, first the right knee would open, then the weight of the body would shift, the bike would magically tilt as it navigated the curve, the knee would close and straighten, and then the left hairpin bend comes around!

This alternate knee-dance brought us down in no time. We sped past Masanagudi, Teppakadu and Bandipur; Ravi and I clocking 67kmph on his speedometer at one point. A puncture on Ravi’s bike and Guarav’s nagging pedal problem notwithstanding, we reached PugMark outside Bandipur by 1130.

Bandipur was a lovely stretch to ride, we stuck together as a group and returned many greetings from passing cagers.

At PugMark, we met this young wildlife enthusiast who has taken a sabbatical to play guide to tourists at Jungle lodges. The world is full of insane people.

We stopped at Pathans at Gundlupet for full meals. Ravi and Gaurav had to be in Bangalore early and decided to break away from the group. Pocha and I were determined to do the full distance to Mysore. We split up and took off, leaving Sriram, Ravi and Gaurav trying to thumb down a truck or something.

But within the 10mins, we saw Ravi ride past us in flourish. Just when Pocha began to feel like Hrithik of Lakshya, where he manages to motivate his team mates into going after the goal… enters the mallu truck driver who offered to drop them wonlee till Maisore, wokay.

Sriram, Pocha and I continued on good scenic roads to reach Nanjangud by 4 and Mysore by 5.

High-o-high
About 10kms before Nanjangud, a motorbike draws up alongside and the rider apprises me about my speed and my team mates. Dairy Chandru from Nanjangud, stuck with me alongside, discussing the un-seasonal rains, the changing lifestyles of Bangalore, Yugadi festival, his own ‘Hero Atlas’ long rides, his sons education. He ended up inviting me over to his place at Nanjangud. See, I am likable!

The ride finished off with our own Rang-De fight with the Volvo Airavata Bus driver as we refused to pay a bribe for unloading our bikes!
Many thanks to Navdeep who was so very willing to lend me his bike, this wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for you. Thanks!!
Photos Galore here.

Stalking Shimoga

How close you are to someone is not a function of distance…
…and if you really think there is distance, put a bullet right through it!

In a spur of a moment decision, I decided to do just that. I will refrain from revealing what transcribed on the Friday evening that snowballed into taking the decision – we can think it as an Euphoria from a good morning run, even better interview and a sooper prank.

So, on 22nd morning I fuelled up, paid a quick visit to MTech, more to ease my guilt of not servicing my bullet for 5000kms now. At 1pm, I was off, on the highway headed towards Tumkur and Tiptur towards Shimoga.

Riding Alone?
Technically, yes, I had more than one person’s share of emotions, thoughts and enthu to make up for it. Riding alone comes with a lot of positives – you are your own boss, one less pair of sore buttocks to worry about and hey, you can fantasize about the n-no. of possibilities of filling the pillion seat (the grapes are sour, eh).

The ride

Day 1 – Bridging Gaps, real and virtual
Reached Shimoga in about 5hours after negotiating some 300kms of road, to the nearest (only!) internet café. Pillion rider or not, I still had to make some plans for the following 2 days. I stayed over at Shyla aunty’s place at Shimoga and her tenant helped me finalize a tight plan for the next 3 days covering a lot including Yana.

Day 2 – Of a stubborn Goddess and Kaptivating Kodachadri
I finished my 12km jog in the morning, yes, Mumbai marathon is just around the corner. The plan was to cover Kollur and Kodachadri and head back to Shimoga for the night. I only managed to reach Kollur only by noon. Long Qs for darshan and lunch ensured that I was way off my plan. It’s only about 30kms from Kollur to Kodachadri.

"Good things come slow - especially in distance running." Bill Dellinger

Even as I navigated thru the worst stretch of road to Kodachadri, I had a premonition of what was in store. The last 3kms is the killer. The steep uphill dirt/rocky track was uneven, slippery and very tricky to ride. Most people trek or take jeeps that ferry people to the Inspection Bunglow and Bhatta’s place on top. No second thoughts, if I endured an Ultra last week, it was the turn of my bullet now. I reached the top at 430ish. The view of the hills was so enchanting, I simply had to change my plans for the night. The IB was already full of trekkers. I parked my stuff with a group of trekkers, changed into my running shoes and headed off to the top to catch the sunset, doing my spread-thy-wings on the edge of a cliff!

Running shoes, an extra pair of socks, sunscreen, goggles were the contents of my tank bag. My leather jacket was the only protection against the howling breeze. Luck surely favors the brave, I met a long lost friend Sharath and his cousins who were carrying extra sheets.

Mythology has it that, goddess Mookambika killed Mookasura in tearing fury here. The goddess was so fierce that Shankaracharya meditated at Kodachadri, invoked and pacified the goddess. Though the goddess now-a-days are less furious, winning them over is no less penance. (ask me how I know!)

Day 3 – One moves the soul, the other stops the heart!

Day 3 was when it all rose in a crescendo. It started at 5AM on top of the gusty Kodachadri. I trekked up alone in the twilight to catch the first rays of the sun. A group of trekkers who had camped overnight were stirring at a distance. I perched on the edge of a cliff to watch the spectacle. The night was cold and cloudless; I identified the moon, the North star, the Ursa Major and minor, while I thought of a lot other celestial bodies. (tooo much no!). The sun took it time coming up. But thanks to the 360° panorama, I was witness to the battle of light and darkness. No words can explain it – the intensity and spread of the orange and blue takes over from the shades of black. What bliss, but it took its time, alright!

After breakfast at Bhatta’s place and bone-breaking ride we headed towards Singandoor. It was Sharath who suggested I visit Singandoor temple and ride to Sagar. We bathed in waist-deep rivulet, something I hadn’t done in a long time now.
The deity at Singandoor, Chowdeshwari is believed to be very powerful by the locals, I passed in my own chota ‘list’ at the temple.

The Launch

The Sharawati backwaters separate Singandoor from Sagar, but everyone makes way for a Bullet. The Dept of Ports runs a Launch to ferry people, bikes, cars, vans and buses across the river. It was yet another first time for me, the 20min ride was fantastic – the ride only costing 1Re per head and 5Rs for the Bullet! Those denominations don’t seem to exist in Bangalore no more.

At Sagar, I was reunited with the net, I had important mails to reply to. I made a quick pit stop at a Bullet Mechanic for some chain tightening. The ‘pro’ quickly rattled off a series of repairs that were due and remarked how I had managed to ride all the Bangalore on this one. That is the beauty that my bullet is! Its almost a compliment when someone says that, like someone said I was looking fresh after having run 6hrs on the Ultra day!

Next quick visit was to Honnemaralu (Honnu = pearl, maralu = sand) near Sagar. Honnemaralu is a camping site, a nature camp, located on the banks of Sharawati backwaters. I went on a short row-boat ride, while the boatman Ganesh explained the purpose and concept of the NGO that runs the place. It offers boating, camping, swimming and trekking facilities, perfect for a 3days holiday. I promised myself I would be back there sometime soon.

Promise or no promise, I was surely back at the internet café at Sagar soon enough. All the praying seemed to have worked, I was almost riding-in-the-air on my way back to Shimoga, that’s how you ride when you are on cloud 9!

The day had begun with the sunrise-treat to the eyes, the day ended with a treat to the ears – if it was the soul that was touched in the morning; it was the turn of the heart in the evening! What a day, I say!

Day 4 – Curtains!

As I rode back, singing along the song Anisutide from Mungaru malé, one thing was certain, what I had seen, experienced and left behind was a lot of unfinished business. Shimoga will have to be stalked yet again, albeit better planned and less hurriedly…

Ride Plan
Day1: Bangalore/1300 – Tumkur – Tiptur – Arsikere – Tarikere – Bhadravati – Shimoga/1800 (300kms)
Day2: Shimoga/0900 – Ayanur – Hosanagara – Nagara – Kollur/1215 (120km)
Kollur/1430 – Nagodi - Nittur - Kodachadri/1630 (40kms)
Day3: Kodachadri/0830 – Sigandur/1200 (70kms) - - - Sagar/1600(30kms) – Tagupa (50kms) – Honnemaralu/1700 (8kms) – Sagar - Shimoga

What I missed:
Sagar – Varadapeeta Moola(1km) – Keladi (8km) – Ikkeri (4kms) – Jog (40kms) – SahasraLinga/Marikamba temple – Siddapura – Sirsi/Sonde (50kms) – Yana (40kms)

Selected fotos at here/c1441307.html

Paapa Vinasam run at Tirumala

My childhood pal, Vijay married Kalpana in Tirumala on 28th Nov. There was no way I could have missed the wedding and the opportunity to ride the good roads to Tirumala. I added a cherry on top – a 16km run on Tirumala to Papavinasam.



BubbleShare: Share photos - Delicious Christmas Recipes.




Head out on Old Madras Road via Kolar, bear left at Chitoor, the bypass is potholed and very avoidable. I reached Tirupati at 6 in the evening, after 4hours of riding. There’s a through security check before you begin the 20-24km ascent of Tirumala hill. It was pitch dark when I started the climb. The well-lit, well-marked, one-way curvy section, is a treat to any biker. The brightly lit tilak, padma and chakra of the Lord visible almost right through the uphill ride plus the steady traffic on road ensures that the throttle is on leash.

I walked into the wedding ceremony - leathers, boots, helmet and tank bag in tow. The vara pooja and reception was held on Tuesday. I stayed with Vijay and Centhil in one of the guest houses at Tirumala.

The next morning, I pulled out my dri-fit tee, shorts and running shoes. I stated off towards Papavinasam about 8km from Tirumala. It is a very scenic ghat route that cuts across lush vegetation, offering multiple view points of the Tirumala hills.
Upon ‘wiking’ I find, Tirupati has seven hills representing the seven heads of a huge serpent.

The fist thoughts that come to mind when you think of Tirupati is the endless queues, the melee at the temple complex. The only pleasant thought is that of the laddoo you ‘earn’ after the darshan. The temple failed to touch my spiritual side on my previous two visits.

But this time, as I jogged through the hills, I saw why Tirumala invoked so much spirituality. The rocky hills all around, the dense vegetation, the lakes and streams – so divine that you connect with your inner self.
There is God in those hills, guys, so next time you plan one of those TTD darshans spare a couple of hours to explore the beauty that really is Tirumala.

I would have missed all of this if it were not for the running. After having run about 5kms I spotted a dam at a distance off the road. There was a path taking to that one, the gates to the dam were locked, but there was a gap to squeeze through. The view was simply out of the world – there were all possible hues of green, reflecting off still water of the reservoir- all packed in one picture perfect postcard.

Papavinasam – is the place where you are supposed to wash off all your sins. And like most tourist-thronged places, it was disappointing. Water flows down some pipes and devotees take bath underneath, if any, one could pick up a few sins there…
I let the water wash off my hair. The sins of the head, I washed off… the sins of the heart are only meant to scar.
I ran off-road on the way back to check out a very beautiful lake, fantastic stuff really.

I got back to Vijay wedding feeling so refreshed. The wedding itself was grand, almost to a point where it got bigger than the bride and the groom! I hit the highway immediately after lunch.

The ride down the hill was also great – the challenging curves and the view of the hills for all of the 20odd kms ride.
At 6, the weekday evening traffic chaos at KR Puram brought me straight back to the ground with a thud.

The Hills Trilogy - Last leg - Yelagiri Hills

Aug 18th - 19th
Wrapping up that one helluva week of Bulleting, biking and running was the Hash outstation run at Yelagiri.

Yelagiri
Yelagiri is a hill station about 170kms from Bangalore. The place is a RTMC favorite for the delicious Biryani at the town in the foot of the hill, Vaniyumbadi. The Bangalore Hash once every year runs at locations outside Bangalore. With good highway from Bangalore, Yelagiri’s got those ingredients for a good weekend trip. The hill kinda rises abruptly in an otherwise flat landscape. The ride off the highway to the foot of the hill offers a daunting view of the hill, all with the zig-zagging ghat road that leads to the top.

There was one lal dabba, KSRTC van that was arranged to transport a majority of the 40 odd Hashers. I decided to ride down instead wanting to replace my earlier tragic memories of the ride to Yelagiri (Read the story). We stopped for breakfast buffet at Hotel Shivaranjini, near Titan at Hosur and from then on all the way to the top.

Chalk De, Yelagiri!!
Abnash (pervert producer), Sunil (not yet) and I were to Hare (mark the trail with chalk for the others to find/lose) this run. Ha, which also means you get some free Beer at the end of run at the circle. So, soon after reaching the Hotel Hills at Yelagiri where we were booked, we headed off towards the general direction of the lake and the hills, with bags-full of chalk. The next 3 hours went into throwing chalk around lake (the typical “couples in a pedal boat” lake), fields, village roads (no bio-terrorism threat here!) and the Nilgiri forest area. The Hash finished off its quota of Corporate Social Responsibility when the hares cleared off the undergrowth in the forest with Abnash’s gardening cutter!

The forest full of Eucalyptus tress and as silent as the Bacchan family on the all new Jr. (or maybe I should use it as a simile for fast, as in as fast as Abishek or something) Well, anyways, the point is, it was as forest as a forest can be. The trail was fantastic, going around the lake, into the fields and then into the forest area leading into a view point offering the panoramic view of the landscape and then the circle around a mini-pond.

Got back from the run to a few rounds of Table Tennis (how can I ever say no to that one), some malt beverage fermented with sugar and yeast, desserts and dance.

Steep Sunday
About 10-15 of us had made plans to run down and up Yelagiri hills in the morning. My fatigued legs managed about 20kms in all in not so good time, climbing up the last 12kms.
The recovery run was a very very short one, the partying had vanquished the Hashers’ running problem to an extent. There was little you could do, esp after the sumptuous breakfast. There was some fresh pomegranate juice that was simply out of the world.

I left there at noon, the Indian flag and the military cargo n all and was back home early evening with just the one tea stop at Hosur.
Pheww, what a week I say!!

The Hills Trilogy - Part II - Chamundi Hills

Cauvery Calling
It is a feeling that you kinda get addicted to - the good-pain in your hamstrings, calves and quads and it lasts for a couple of days. Last week I had just enough time to restore harmony with my Quads, ankles and lower back after the Nandi Hill ride.



The gear I packed on Tuesday was a rather unusual mix of leather jacket to dry fit apparel, ankle boots to new shooz, spare tube to Polar HRM. For, what I had in mind was a ride to Srirangapatana, run, ride to Mysore and run up the Chamundi Hills the next morning.

It is the season of patriotism, of ChakDe India, of a test victory over the British, of a strengthening rupee. I bought myself a Tricolor to celebrate the spirit of Independence. For the first time, I stitched the Saffron, white and green stripes to size, biting my tongue at those anxious moments when the crucial stitch had to come right while pedaling the Merit sewing machine delicately. After an hour’s battle the Flag adorned the rear view mirror of the Bullet quite smartly, my Laksh was achieved!!

The Forrest of RFL, Dr. Rajat came up with this idea of running up the Chamundi Hills on 15th Aug. Sunil and Jugy added the Hash angle to it, by planning a run near Srirangapatana on 14th, stay over at Mysore and then scale up the hill in the morning. And the plan came with the hash promise of serene landscape along the Cauvery river.

Just before the Rangantittu bird sanctuary there is a kachha road that runs along a Cauvery canal. As Sunil & I took this route to chalk the trail, the landscape opened up to some wonderful imagery of paddy and sugarcane fields along the canal. About 5-6kms on this route and then we took a road to an Ashram and a village. Beyond the village, was the river flowing close to its brink, thanks to the good monsoons this year.

By 4 in the evening the critical mass had gathered for the run – Sunil2, Dave, Mike, Leona, Uttam, Sindoor had joined us. Later Abnash and family and Nischal caught up with us. The run was fantastic, about 7.5kms of bliss. We chilled out at the river for sometime, soaking the sore feet in the cold waters and headed back before sundown. Dave shot some excellent pictures of my bullet on his Canon SLR, see if I can get my hands on those. I wish I could put up some of the pristine country air for you to sample or better still save some for myself.

I was booked at Dasaprakash at Mysore for the night. We treated ourselves to a finger-licking buffet and Beer at The Metropole.
The RFL team from Bangalore joined us during the night – Doc, Bhasker, Satsang, et al. At 6am we were about 18 of us running up the Chamundi Hills.

Chamundi Hills





The Chamundi hills 3490ft high aberration in the center of the city of Mysore, boasts of rich historical significance and the famous Chamundi temple.


The uphill climb is 6km around the winding road to the top. Most of us managed a good timing of 39-42mins on the first lap (yes, we ran it up twice!!) and 22mins on the downhill. It was the second lap that was the push. I did an additional 3kms when I accompanied Nischal on her second lap. I still have the can’t-say-no-to-beautiful-girls disorder. Bhasker kept us company as well on the way down sharing his marathon experiences.

Breakfast served after a 27km run will generally taste good anyways, only Sandesh Prince made sure they didn’t screw up. They have a breakfast buffet which is value for money really… I am not sure, thou, that they continue to offer that after the RFL Raid on Independence Day!!
I was spared the traffic on the ride back to Bangalore and made it non-stop in 2hours 15mins.

The Hills Trilogy - Part I - Nandi Hills

Nandi Hills

As a boy I always fancied looking down, perched on the petrol tank of my dad’s Jawa and watch the road blur under me. I am growing up to be that boy again!
For a brief moment, it took me away from the sore lower back, the headwind and the afternoon sun; I was translocated. Every shiny dot on the tarmac stretched to form a line, joining the hundreds moving under me. As I bend down to dwell upon my shadow, the knees incessantly move in tandem, the white lines on tarmac paused and went… the hot, dry air made way into and out of the bellows. I craned my neck briefly to sample the uphill left to climb and the childhood fantasy was snapped.

Last Saturday, 11th Aug, Ananth and I cycled up to Nandi Hills and back.

5:20AM Hebbal Flyover - the start
7:00AM First Break just off the Highway, after about 35kms
7:38AM Stop at the ruins just as we begin the ascent
8:15AM Stop at the 4km mark
8:27AM 5.5km mark, disembark from the saddle.
9:00AM Reached the top, park and scout for tea!!
(45kms+8kms uphill in 3hours 40mins)

The onward ride was not as difficult; we rode up 5.5 kms uphill as well, before we got off the saddle. The temperature dropped quite a bit as we approached the top, 4850ft high. At 8:30AM, we were literally walking on the clouds. The roads were wet and the sun was waging a condensation battle with the fog and the cloud. One of my favorites is that moment as the sun clears up the hazy obscurity.

Nandi hills is ‘the’ favorite among the coo chi-cooing couples and dare devil bikers. The 90acre area attracts more than a 1000 motorists on any given weekend and could turn into a disaster if you think you were leaving the crowds behind in Bangalore. It is highly recommended to leave Bangalore early to catch the sunrise and then head back.

We stayed on top for about 30mins or so, searching for a tea kadai and filling up our water reserves. My chocolate bars and biscuits came to the rescue of the empty stomachs. What muscles are worked while you ride downhill?? The Forearm! I had to work hard with the brakes to keep myself from falling off, new brake shoes really help.

I love it when you can exchange ta-tas from kids on my bullet rides. When you are on a cycle, you can also hear them scream and they can see you grin. At one stretch near Devanahalli we were welcomed by drum beats by a school band practicing for the upcoming 60th Independence Day celebration. The Blow of the trumpet grew louder as we passed. I was wondering what independence we were celebrating if kids had to rehearse for the march on Service roads in blazing sun.

And then there were children near the hills who were collecting Ganesha Festival Funds!! Their WMD was a length of rope tied around two trees on either side of the road. After our break near Chikkajala junction around 1130, a motorcycle slowed down to my pace and the pillion shook hands with me. The guy was himself a long distance biker and was happy to see like-minded insanity on the highway.

Ananth is a fellow Hasher and rides a Firefox. His pace was perfect for me, chatting when I was bored and egging me on when I needed it. The fact that we took only 3stops on the onward journey was largely because of his girt. Thanks mate!

The last stop was after Jakkur for tender coconuts, it was 1230 and I had one last uphill to climb before the flat home stretch. I reached home at 1pm in time for a warm bath and delicious Pulav… thanks mom!!

I was happy to finish the 110kms in good shape in stark contrast to the previous Nandi Hills ride. It did get Ananth and I accustomed to the crosswinds to expect on the longer Pondi ride…

Checklist for long rides:
Check for appropriate tire pressure, pedals in order, good brake shoes.
Carry plenty of water, glucose, biscuits, chocolate bars.
Carry a tool kit, puncture kit, spare pedals.
Stow these on a carrier, securely fastened with bungee cords, keeping the shoulders free.
Rub Vaseline on crotch, underarm to help reduce friction.
Use sun block, sun glasses, cap/helmet to keep the sun out.

The fotos are here.

Savandurga, The fort of Death

Wikipedia says Robert Home in his Select views from Mysore referred this hill as Savinadurga, or the Fort of Death. On Saturday, 23rd July, some 15 Runners for Life conquered this Fort of Death. (I knew I have the talent for theatre)

Savandurga is the largest monolith hill around Bangalore (one of the largest in the world!!), standing some 400mts tall, offering a fantastic view of Arkavathi river flowing into Manchinbele reservoir (more here).

Route:
From Bangalore you could either take Magadi road, and turn left at the Savandurga Billboard, some 5kms before Magadi or take Mysore road to Ramanagara and turn right to get on Magadi road to the Billboard. Magadi road is getting its fresh layer of asphalt and about 80% done, the curvaceous route is a pleasurable 60km ride to Savandurga. The Mysore road is about 20kms longer, and much more of the get-away-from-the-city traffic on weekends.

Ride and Run:
It was a simply irresistible combination that Madhu Avasarala (check this) stirred up - a 60km ride on a monsoon morning and a power walk up and down the monolith.
I took the Magadi road and reached the base at 7, we started the climb at 7:45. The way uphill is well marked, an in some steep inclines, with foot holds. It is a good 4km climb up from behind the hill. The steepest part of the climb is the first half reaching up first to some fort walls, and then to a small rain water pool. As I huffed and puffed up to this spot, I caught up with Nitin and his friend, Navendu who is a regular on this hill!! Biscuits and water went around at the top even as we took in most of the panoramic view.

Down and Up again:
The second lap was the real push and I had to make an effort to be slow to save my knees on the downhill. It was such a delight to see Madhu’s son, Sanjay make it up to the peak, twice and Noel’s 7yr old daughter do her bit of rock climbing with daddy.
We came down to some delicious Daliya upma, made of half wheat and lots of vegetables. I did about 5 rounds of that beating all the others, phew, exhausting, I say.

Leona did great work with the camera as well. For all the fotos follow here… courtesy Leona.

At Rs. 150 for fuel, Rs. 4.50 for Parle G biscuits and Rs. 2 for Bananas, it sure felt like one of those treks from my engineering days.

And Coming up in August…
Biking trip to Pondicherry and Hash out at Yelagiri…

One night on SkandaGiri

All week long I tread the customary life… I crib, I swear, I binge, I ogle, I flare and during this weekend, I FORGOT.
At 2:30am, as my feet firmly perched the loose mud and rock, even as the backpack slipped down to the ground, I forgot my mediocre life, some 800ft below me. My limbs forgot the strain of the 3 hour trek to the top. I forgot my orientation as my eyes closed, leaving my bare chest to brave the gust of wind, threatening to blow me off the cliff. I forgot time, I forgot pain, I forgot myself and I, was at peace.

Back to Basics is the informal group of ‘Mafoi’tes, ex-Mafoites and friends who attempt to get back to basics over weekends. As a friend of a ex-Mafoite (read Raghu), I got invited (I have this feeling thou, that it was my bullet that got invited, Raghu needed the ride more than the rider).
At ground zero, confusion was rampant. The meeting time changes from 6pm to 6:30, the meeting point changes from opp Columbia Asia hospital to Sanjay Dhaba, the no. of trekkers go up to 22. And with a group as large as 22, even a dinner stop at Sangeeta dhaba meant crisscross of calls among the 2 bullets, 3 bikes and 3 cars, stoppages and more stoppages. Roti, daal, egg burgi and fried rice were served in buckets at Sangeeta dhaba.
To reach Skandagiri, proceed on NH7 towards Devanahalli and Chikballapur, take a left turn (at the Vishveshwaraih statue) towards the Town Police station. About 1-1.5 km take a right turn at the municipal hall, another 5-6kms will take you to Om Kara Jyothi Ashram, in all about 60 odd kms from Bangalore.
We reached the ashram at 11pm. Bhaskar struck a deal with a localite Govinda to guide us to the top. The group was an unusual mix of fit and not-so-fit guys and gals. We were trekking in the night with torches and moonlight. A small sub-team of Bhasker and others lost their way and could only join us because of the mobile network.
The trek itself involved climbing up mud and loose rock and some serious steep rock climbing too.
I was kinda irritated with the behavior of the larger group, chattering loudly and polluting the soothing silence the hills have to offer. In stark contrast to my previous trek to KP, where we made it a point not so much as to even speak, the campfire was not considered at all.
I took off ahead with the ol’ guide for a brief stretch and fell back sometimes all in an effort to find the silence back. As the night grew on, an ancient fort came into view. We trekked around the fort to the top, to a temple, the breeze welcomed us. I stood for what seemed like a infinite length of time taking in as much as I could. My shirt was off by now, with my arms outstretched, I only needed a pair of wings (or better still, a Kate to complete the scene a la The Titanic).
Leaving the others to fight out a campfire, Raghu and I settled into our sleeping bags to make most of the couple of hours left for sun up. (I like the sound of ‘sun up’).
I woke up at 530 hoping for a cloudy sunrise. With my chotu tripod and the Nikon S10, I captured some good pics of the sunrise. Cameras snapped to frame the spectacular landscape; we started the descent at 7am.
We descended following a steeper, shorter route. Raghu, Divya, Ssomething (right, I forgot her name too) and I were together for most of the climb down. We managed to find our way down, amidst shrubs, thorns, dead ends, strained calf muscles and broken toe nails.
Raghu and I had a quick breakfast of bread dipped in jam and took off quickly to cover the 70kms home. My butt settling on the leather of the bullet’s saddle was the most pleasurable feeling in all morning.

Fotos are available at: http://pics-by-manoj.fotopic.net/c1269363.html

Devarayana Durga

Butt..er (that’s me at RTMC, click here to see why) figured 25th in the unending list for the Devarayandurga ride. Factoring in the RST (RTMC stretchable time), I reached Mekhri circle at 6:45, just as Tiger was setting the rules for the ride.
We were 41 bullets that thumped the roads as we headed on NH-4 towards Hosur. What was surprising was the turn out of the regulars, easily out-stripping the newbies. As the first lot arrived at Pavithra Hotel, just after the second toll gate, looking for yummy tatte idli, we were welcomed by drawn shutters.

We had to settle for the regular idly, vada, dosa breakfast at one Kamath Hotel opposite to SIT college. One thing when you are being ‘led’ in a group ride, you don’t seem to remember the route too well. We took a right at Tumkur, the road that leads to Mahugiri. It was a spectacle to see the trucks and cars wait for the train of Bulls to pass. The next regroup point, albeit unplanned, was when Kripa (now chota KS) punctured the rear wheel. We took a right turn off that road and yet another right turn at the dead end. I can’t remember too well but there was a sign board that then led us to climb up to the temple atop DevarayanaDurga.
A few others had found other shorter route to the top. It was blazing hot by the time we got there. We stuffed our riding gear into Rakshas’ car and climbed upto the temple. The view from the top is awesome, but the heat made enjoying the view, impossible.
Close to noon time, we headed back. While the group stopped over at Namada Chilume Park for the RTMC circle and introduction rounds, I headed straight back alone, riding via Kyathasandra and NH4.

There are a lot of places to visit in this zone. This map displayed near Namada Chilume is very useful.

Date: 24 March 2007
Total Distance: 150kms
Route: Various (look at the map alongside).

Bangalore-Yercaud-Salem-Yercaud-Salem-Bangalore

It was yet another long weekend. My plan for the weekend was swinging widely between a 500km ride to Munnar to playing couch potato. Inertia was taking over, as I prepared myself for a quiet weekend at home.
The tipping point:
I was watching with awe the kindergarten kids perform at Bishop Cottons Annual school day (my nephew, Rishabh received a prize for academic excellence n all).
All was well until my brother-in-law threw a casual, “Hey, how far is Yercaud from here?”
It was only at 4 in the evening, it seemed possible to join them, I left at 4:30. There was also a new silencer and carburetor to put to the highway test. Yercaud is about 250kms and for most part on the 6-lane NH7, perfect for the testing.
It took me an hour of restrained navigation in the traffic before I could open up. On an empty stretch of Hosur Road, I opened throttle, there was a definite missed beat. For a moment I thought I was imagining things. Robert Pirsig talks about one having to be at peace with himself if he expects the same from the bike. I attributed what I thought was a missed beat, to my conflict of my perceived self and actual self; one ordering me to turn back and conjuring these cheap tricks (while the other made this theory up!).
The theory fell apart as quickly as it came up. The next open stretch and this time, I was looking for it, it was there, a series of missed responses. There was a problem with the new carburetor, the floats that moderate the supply of fuel into the engine was not working in the mid-range. It would work well on full throttle. (I promise I will spruce up the technical section of this blog). It meant I had a situation like in the movie Speed – you can ride only if you are over 100kmph. Just what the doc prescribed, I chucked all plans to abort. At every stop, I spilt some 50ml of petrol from the overflow outlet, I wanted to keep those to a min.
Hosur at 6, Krishnagiri as the twilight faded, another 130 odd kilometers via not so good roads to Dindugal and Salem. Rides in the night are a mental drain for the amount of concentration to keep yourself on road, alive, multiplied manyfold, in this case, by the ‘speed’ constraint. I reached Salem at 9, tired slightly, not particularly happy with my decision to ride in the night.
There is sheer Magic in the cool, crisp, pristine breeze that welcomes you at the ghats. And in the night, it offered an unparalleled spectacle of sparkling diamonds which transforms into Salem city under the sun. The climb of 28kms took me an unforgettable 60mins, rejuvenating me, simply sooper it was.
My sis, bil, and nephews – Rishabh and Aryan were booked at Sterling Resorts, perched right on the hill overlooking Salem. However, this competitive advantage of the location, makes up a bit for the lethargic service.
Any hill station worth its salt must have a lake, a few viewpoints, a waterfall and, of course, all those honeymooning couples. After pedaling the full family across the lake, we left the top by 1pm. At the bottom, I bid goodbye to sis, they had plans of visiting Tirupur about 140kms from Salem before heading back. I decided to carry on, my carb still generously donating petrol to the tarmac. Struck a conversation with an old man on a Luna Super, “All the way to Bangalore! don’t feel tired? etc, etc”.
Yercaud-Salem-Yercaud-Salem
I was well on target to be back home by 5-6. On the outskirts of Salem, I realized I probably forgot the novel “A Suitable Boy” back at the resort. One quick dive into the tank bag confirmed it. Is it true for everyone or is it only me, I do have these strong premonitions or do I simply call it a ‘premonition’ only if in fact it turns into one! That is how weird you think when you have to navigate 20 hairpin bends up and down in 2 hours. But fortunately, the Yercaud ghats are very precise, one right hand bend, a few smaller ones and invariably a left hand turn follows. Left-right-left-right right-left-right-left and I get back to the Salem Airport deviation, exact 2hrs after, A Suitable Boy stowed up safely. But honestly, it was more than pleasurable to take those curves, twice over!
(There is a mischievous plot brewing up with the suitable boy, the fantastic curves, the coming twice, etc, I leave it you to sew it up.)
Salem, Dindugal, Krishnagiri and Hosur came and went in one hour intervals and I was back home by 730.Pleasant ride, a treat to the eyes and lungs and a leaky BS29, that was the ride for me.
Total Distance covered: 540ms
Route: Bangalore-Krishnagiri-Salem-Yercaud.

One thousand steps to Chamundi Hills

Its 10am on 23rd Saturday morning. I call up Tima, and excitedly ask him, “hey, tima, where are you?”. “At home”, comes the reply.
In the next 15 minutes, we convinced ourselves it was indeed Tima on the phone and he was nowhere near Mysore Zoo. Standing in front of the chimpanzee’s cage in Mysore zoo, what we were seeing in front of us had so much resemblance, we had to call to confirm. With the faith in evolution reaffirmed, we continued to see the rest of the Mysore Zoo. The first time I saw a peacock with the feathers fully open. The African elephant had 5 legs (!), and a mother was going red trying to explain to her kid why it was so. An area to keep away from, if you are on your honeymoon to keep the expectations under check.
For Tima, the question “but why Mysore Zoo of all the places, da”, occupied his curious (and fairly large) head for the rest of the day, that had just started.
But for buckeet and I, the day was already about 200kms old. We had started, after an sms goof-up at 7 from corporation at Bangalore. A very expensive (12bucks) coffee served in plastic cup at Kamat Lokaruchi woke us up fully. At Ramanagara, we were in the middle of an accident involving a Tata Indica and an Activa, never seen one from so close.
We had breakfast at Gayatri Tiffin room (finding it was like looking for the needle…) in Chamundipuram. Belted yummy masala dosa, plain dosa and idlis at very economical prices.
The plan was to set momentum to our newly launched Single serving project. And climbing the 1000 steps up Chamundi hills, was the alibi. Buckeet’s got some smart friends in Mysore (read, Deepa) who joined us at the Zoo.
We started the climb close to noon. Buckeet had to take loads of stops, before we reached the top, it must have taken us close to 90 mins. Fluids like tender coconuts and butter milk flowed in without any resistance.
I had no room for lunch when we got back, but would not let go the chance to lunch with Deepa. The next thing I remember is Kengeri junction which we had reached non-stop from Mysore.
“but why Mysore of all the places, da?”, wish I knew.

Nandi Betta and Nidhi Bete - Part I

Date: 9th Sep, 2006
To: Nandi Hills
Route: Hebbal > Devanahalli > Nandi Hills
Distance: 100kms
Mode: The ‘other’ Bike – Hero Hawk





As a part of the cross training in the run up to the marathon, I decided to ride up to Nandi Hills on my other bike – a Hero Hawk. Ever since my friend Sathish mentioned this to me, it had caught on my fancy.
I sold this idea to Raghu and he was willing to join me, till on Friday he decided that the 100+ km ride would be too much for his stamina. I decided to go ahead and do it alone.

I was on my cycle at 630 on 9th Saturday morning. Nandi hills is about 50kms from Hebbal, 2kms after you pass Devanahalli (27kms), take a left at the Nandi cross and ride another 22kms to the top of Nandi hills. The climb to the top of hill is 8kms.
I met up Shashi and Varun a lil after Hebbal, who were on their way to Doddaballapur. They took cycled for 10hrs that Saturday, varun told me later. I have company next time I plan such crazy stunts.
I reached the bottom of the hills about 40 odd kms by 845, but the ride to the top the next 8kms took me a full hour and half. I rode up the ghats 3kms and then gave up, walked along the cycle for the next agonizing 5kms. It was comforting all the while to think you don’t have to do this when on the return.
I spent about 15mins enjoying the landscape view mostly. There is nothing much to do in Nandi if you don’t have a partner. And as evidence, there were many ‘early birds’ already up there.
The ride downhill only exercises your forearms, when you have to squeeze the brakes all the way down. Before I reached Devanahalli, my thighs had started to lock, this is the first time I have exp this. The quadriceps of the thigh lock and begin to hurt. Everytime this happens I had to jump off the cycle and walk a bit before it recovers like it was never there in the first place. Reached home at 215, a grueling 3.5 hours later. It sure was not pleasant, a good preparation for the marathon, however.

Nandi Betta and Nidhi Bete - Part II

Ok…after a lot of prodding from my good friend Manoj, I’ am finally writing my first ever-blog entry…as a guest-writer on Manoj’s visorview (road conquests??) blogsite!

The event: Nidhi Bete 2
Date: 10th Sep 06
Organizers: RTMC
Participants: 22 teams (solo or with pillion)

As a precursor to the events to follow, the first task was difficult enough….meet at 7.30 am at Sarovar, Lavalle Road. Now, for heaven’s sake, this was supposed to be a Sunday, ain’t it meant for catching up on lost sleep???!! Anyways, I was determined not to ditch my dear friend Manoj (ask him for my track record on this one!!)...so woke up by 6.45 am, quick shower and after a lot of searching & directions on the phone, finally reached Sarovar at 7.45am. I thought I was late, since the flag-off was scheduled for 8 am, but I should have known better!!

After a quick round of introductions to the other participants, my ‘pilot’ (read: Manoj= Kuruda) and I broke our fast on a helping of 2 idlis and a vada each.
I changed over to the t-shirt (covered in the 300 bucks as entry fee), a couple of quick smokes, and bingo…we were ready to zoom….it was 8.40am…

Oh, btw Aetos (the eagle!!)..gave a brief on what we were to expect and he did mention that he wanted to see our butts when we got back after the ‘grueling’ ride….should have paid heed to that a little more seriously, but what the heck…aren’t we the daring sorts, come what may kinds… so bring it on!!!

After a series of bikes were flagged off…our time came and my pilot and I were on our way! The first clue was easy, because it was a part of Bangalore I know well ( Jayanagar ) ….but there was a hitch…Though we were bang on the right track, we happened to ask a person for re-confirmation. In his eagerness to be helpful (??), he confidently veered us back to a place we had already passed by….there goes 5-7 minutes!! Anyways, we recovered, rather realized our folly quickly enough and I was very soon dashing into the Royal Enfield showroom where we were supposed to pick up the visiting card of the store-manager…The guy actually stood up from his seat, handed over the card without even asking a word, realizing that I meant business and didn’t have time for small-talk.. And yes, I did take down the reg. number of the bullet from the poster there (I realized it should have be the reg. no. of the bullet with the side-car only later!)

Now, we were well and truly on our way…the next clue was to take the Hosur Road and get to the road to the place which means ‘Elephant Stone’ in Kannada…Bingo, my Kannada is good enough to decipher that as ‘ANEKAL’…but found that in the next clue the same was mentioned (was that a mistake on the organizers’ part??) Anyways, once on that road we were supposed to take the deviation to the place, the clue for which was an anagram – ‘INJAGI’. That’s an easy one…of course it has to be JIGANI (thanks to one of my many initial jobs, I had been to that place and knew it existed!)… Got the deviation easily enough (when in doubt-ASK…and that’s precisely what we did..ask an auto-rickshaw guy to reconfirm),noted down the name of the hotel there, picked up a red-looking stone and proceeded to our next set of clues, which included getting the name of a school (Royal School- at some injalwadi pass on the way), a charitable trust (forgot the name) & an organic products plant ( Kumar Organic Products, whose byline is ‘a positive chemical reaction’….good, na??!!) ….all pretty much sequentially on the way.

Next up was to find a school which resembled Hogwarts (Harry-da-puttar, anyone??!) on the Bannerghatta Road, just some 10 kms from the Zoo (All cats here, what r u doing here, u dog??).The school turned out to be ‘Savodaya Birla International School’ and thankfully we were not too far when we stopped by to ask, only to realize we had passed it! Anyways, these things do happen, don’t they?? Of course, the symbol on the board of the school resembled a Sun (that was a question in the clue-sheet) and I got down from the bike momentarily to look for a ‘white cock feather’ in the grass around...but could not spot one. Not wanting to waste too much time, my pilot said ‘yeno ondu white irodu yettko maga’..meaning ‘pick-up something that is white man’…I did as ‘boss’ said (anything that would save me some trouble!!)…hopped on as pillion and off we were again. Manoj happened to know exactly the destinations of the next few clues since he had done this route before, so I was like..’Ok, cool…we’r almost there’…only to realize that the tough part (read: bad roads) had just begun!!

Of course, the only respite was the NICE road…on which my pilot was in fullu josh..ripping at 120kms/hr (he thinks we did a max of 115kms/hr, but I was watching the Speedo all the while).The good part over, took the deviation to the “Big Banyan Tree “ ( ‘brother to the underwear’ , or so the clue said!!). I took a much needed pee-break while Manoj a.k.a Kuruda took down the landline number of the studio there and picked up a dry leaf….I thought I could have a smoke in peace, being stationary(after all, we had made it until here in good time, hadn’t we??), but I was wrong L The ‘boss’ was like let’s go, let’s go…so off we were again ( BTW, did I mention I also bought 2 beedis at the shop there, much to the bewilderment of the shopkeeper??!!)

Next up was Manchinbele post-office (we had to count how many pillars it stood on, and the answer was 4, but alas, we forgot to mention that on the clue-sheet!!), we noticed it, thanks to ‘Bamboo’ and pillion standing right in front of it….it was also a sort-of re-affirmation that we were indeed on the right track! We were running out of gas, but thankfully found a shop which sold petrol, filled 2 litres which cost us Rs. 130 ( who said fuel was expensive only in Bangalore??!!) and off we went to our next destination…the Deer Park at Savandurga. Got my ass off the bike (was that a relief or what, albeit for only 2-3 minutes!!), to enquire with the shopkeeper there about the number of Deers in the park. Once we had the answer (none), and after having noted the ‘who’ in the statue, we were gleefully on our road back to Bangalore…

Before I proceed to the last stretch, lemme take a minute to mention here that the stretch mentioned in the last para (Big Banyan Tree – Manchinbele – Savandurga) was probably the ‘super specialty stretch’ that Aetos mentioned in his intro before we left Sarovar…and boy, was it special??!! You could hardly call them roads, let alone good or bad….we were constantly in and out of ditches, going left and right to avoid some, and then in cases where it was inevitable to avoid one, my pilot and I used to just let out a shout in the anticipation of the pain it would cause our backside!! Whew, Manoj/Kuruda must’ve cursed the organizers for this, and what’s more, they even had the cheekiness to collect Rs. 300 as entry fees!!

Anyways, glad with the anticipation of the last stretch and lunch, we zipped back to Magadi, took a right turn…and hurray, we were on our way back to namma Bengalooru!! But, well, all good feelings must end, ‘coz just then we noticed a milestone saying “Bangalore – 48 kms” …48kms….crazy or what??? Haven’t we already endured enough??? And by this time, my ass as burning….and my pilot didn’t help (!!) by not being co-operative enough to stop for 5-10 minutes and recuperate…It came down to me almost begging him to stop for 10 seconds, which he did, only once!! He just kept saying “ let’s finish it off “…..well, I knew he was right, but when ur ass is literally on fire, does reasoning ever help??!!! But still, I braved myself to endure the pain (btw, I think I heard Manoj say something like iron-ass….hmm…!), no matter what and ended up trying to find various postures (given the limitations) that would help my backside, even just a little bit!

Finally, after a little bit of guidance from one of the shopkeepers (god bless them), we reached our starting point, Sarovar, at around 1.35pm ….hurray..we made it, and boy, were we glad!!

We submitted our clue-sheet to the organizers only to then realize that we had missed 2 clues on our way back….picking up ‘kadlekai’ on the Magadi rd – Bangalore route and finding out who maintains the clock tower at KR Circle, but who cares, I was just glad that I could stand still after 5 hours of almost constantly riding pillion (roads, did I hear anybody say??)…and Manoj cover-up line was “we don’t believe in bribing!!”….Still, we were docked (I think) 20points….Well, whatever….

Finale:

Cut to scene of having lunch and then results….

Aetos announcing ….” The third place goes to team O…Manoj “ What the $&^&??….Anyways, Clap clap clap!!!