120) Avalabetta Hilltop Ride: (29/12/2015)

Place: Avalabetta Ride.    

Distance: 100 x 2 = 200kms.

Directions: Bengaluru – Hebbal – Devanahalli- Chikbalapur - Avallabetta

Particiapants: Arun (Aaku Bhai) > Karthik (Sp).

Bikes:  Unicorn > Pulsar                                             

Previous visit: GoldenTemple, Bylakuppe

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:

This was a sweet riding chapter with some funny moments here and there. This ride was again done on a weekday –Tuesday. But this new place lived up to the expectations and we were pleased with it. The ride to the place is something one can enjoy a lot. And this ride marked the closing of 2015. Gudibanda Fort (Gudibande) is another place one can tag along with this place. But we kept it as a separate chapter.

INTRO & PLAN:

As far as the plan goes, Arun was back in town and he had taken leave from office. So, I took one as well and asked him whether he was up for a ride. Once he gave me a thumbs up, riding out was fixed, but where to? Sukesh in office casually mentioned about Avalabetta to me and we googled the place. After checking the distance, altitude and some photographs I closed the tab and said “You will see  my photo at that place tomorrow :P"

TIME: 13:00 (28/12/2015)

ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:

Yeah I was up at 05:00, did a push ups & situps and was all set to go. The meet up was scheduled at my place. This trip also marked Arun’s last ride on his Unicorn. Arun arrived at my place and we took off from Bangalore.

TIME: 07:00

RIDE 1: (Bangalore- Hebbal – Devanahalli – Chikbalapur - Avanahalli)

This was a 100kms stretch. Initially we took off on the ORR and rode smooth until we reached Hebbal. After which the traffic started becoming slightly dense as it was a weekday and people, well had to go work or schools. Finally once we made it past hebbal, it became a little smooth flowing but the relentless taxis kept whooshing past us at top speeds. We sailed smoothly and pulled over McD to have breakfast for a change.

TIME: 08:30

We sat at McD and discussed a lot about future trips. But first Arun had to complete his thesis. Arun told his progress on buying a new bike, it was almost finalised to KTM. After which, we continued until Devanahalli from where we could spot the mighty Nandi hills & Skandagiri. We continued further to reach Chikbalapur, I realised we had to taken the same route when we had been on the Gudibande trek. We rode non-stop on the super wide highway to reach the outskirts of  Prerasandra. We a deviation much before the town on the advice of the locals. Oh yeah, throughout the ride, one thing we kept remembering was the awesome ride to Lepakshi a few years abck on the same road.

 

This route was very pleasant and ran through some old villages. Even though the sun was up and shining, we felt fresh and cool as the ride progressed. After a couple of lefts and rights we made it to the actual entrance of the hill ride.

The hill initially began with some cement roads. And riding on these was pure joy. Riding each curve to perfection we cruised along one beside each other to reach the top.

TIME: 11:00

AVALABETTA:

At the top, we spotted the temple, but first we rode off until where the road would take us. This lead us to a guest house maintained by the Karnataka Government. We spoke to the guard and explored  the premises. We went to the terrace of the guest house and relaxed a little. After which we decided to go the temple. Riding about a kilometre back we reached the temple, parked our bikes and climbed up a few stairs to reach the temple. 

   

But the famous “beak rock” was nowhere to be seen. So, headed to the left of the temple and went on exploring. After climbing some height we could spot the beak rock down below. But there wasn’t any easy path down to it. But yeah, I tried going here and there but finally since both had to go, we retraced our steps to the temple and took a right turn. Going a few steps further we reached the beak rock. 

We spent a good 20-30mins relishing the view from the top. We sat near the temple for a few more minutes and decided to take off from the place. (I am pretty sure; this place will be off the charts for people in sometime, the place is dangerously inviting some deaths)

TIME: 12:15

RIDE 2: (Avalabetta – Chikbalapur – Hebbal – Bangalore)

The ride back was a smooth one. It stretched for about 100kms. As we left, we took the Prerasandra route this time, just to get the over-all perimeter’s picture. After joining back the highway we hit the throttle and cruised at a decent pace to go past Chikbalapur and Devanahalli. 

   

After reaching Devenahalli a really funny incident happened. We were cruising at a decent pace between 60-70km/h. Two cops were standing on the left side of the road, Arun all of a sudden went off-road onto the service road and going just past the cops re-joined the highway. Yes, we had all relevant documents, we were wearing helmets and we weren’t over-speeding. The cops looked at us and began scratching their heads and I was equally confused as well :P

Anyway after reaching hebbal, Arun suggested the route through the city would far shorter than the usual ORR route. I thought I’d give it a try as well. But uh, the traffic was little too much for me and we kept getting stuck here and there. Finally after making it to Mysore road, both of us rode to his place. Thanking him for making it for the trip, I continued to reach back home. A leave well spent!

TIME: 15:00

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