126) Maddur – Back on the Black: (7/5/2016)

Place: Maddur - Started again!.        

Distance: 80 x 2 = 160kms.

Directions: Bengaluru – Bidadi - Ramnagara - Maddur - Nagarbhavi

Particiapants: Dileep (Koof) > Madhu (Barca)  >Gautham (Gauti)> Karthik (Sp).

Bikes:  Thunderbird > FZ> Pulsar                                      

Previous visit: Shettihalli Church & Gorur Dam

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:                                                  

Almost 2 months, since our 500kms ride to Shettihalli Church. We hadn’t ridden out as a brutal summer wave had struck Bangalore. Temperatures had touched 40degrees and stayed there for some time. That is scary in Bangalore. So this trip was done once the pre monsoon showers had just begun. A simple yet effective trip to get back on the road.

INTRO & PLAN:

Trust me it was hard. Yes, it was hard to get back on the road. With life hit a dead still at work and all the dirty games involved I was polluted to the soul. Then with the rains that came into the town the city dropped its temperatures. This was clear signal that I get back on the road and out back into the sphere of pure. Maddur was planned, Dilip, Madhu & I were to head from Bangalore and reach Maddur. Gauti had to come from the other end of the road i.e, Mysore. ETA at Maddur was fixed to be between 09:00 & 09:30.

TIME: 22:00 (6/5/2016)

    

ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:

Yeah I was up at 05:00, did a few crunches & cycling, had a cup of hot water & lemon and was all set to go. I left my home towards Nagarbhavi, picked up Madhu and went towards Decathlon as the meet up was scheduled there. At Decathlon, Dilip joined us both and we 3 left Bangalore. 
TIME: 07:30
 

RIDE 1: (Bangalore – Bidadi– Ramnagara – Channpatna - Maddur)

This was approximately  80kms ride on the butter smooth Mysore road. We rode peacefully and calmly inspite of the heavy traffic that prevailed. It had been quite some days since we had been on the highway and we did feel the traffic to be congesting. But nevertheless we rode side by side chatting away and cruised past Bidadi, Ramnagara & Channpatna. Once we reached Channpatna, the time was still 08:30, so we pulled back our horses at rode at a slow pace and reached Maddur. Exactly a minute after our arrival, in came Gauti from the other end.  Both the parties wondered how synchronous that was!

TIME: 09:15

      

 

MADDUR TIFANY’S:

 We entered the hotel to find the layout completely changed. But the food was the same and we had 3 rounds of breakfast. And a tight coffee to finish things off. Then we went outside and sat near our bikes and went on talking for about an hour or two. After which we decided to hit  the local scene. Grabbing some drinks at about 10:30 we sat  at Maddur. Chattign our time away, finally we bid adieu to Gauti and 3 of us headed back to Bangalore.

TIME: 12:30

RIDE 2: (Maddur- Channpatna – Bidadi – Bangalore)

Once we departed Bangalore, as Madhu didn’t have his helmet we had two option of lunch. Either “Queen’s court” on Kanakpura Raod or the New Dhaba that we spotted near Madhu’s home. We chose the latter. We rode non-stop from Maddur to Bangalore and crashed into the new dhaba. 

     

Trust me the ambience of the place was mind blowing. And food, don’t even ask. Even though price a little on the higher side, the service and taste is simply made it worth it. And guess what we had found our new hang out place (that too near Madhu’s home:P) Ah, you should have seen the look on his face, wondering why he had to show us the Dhaba. Haha. (by the way name of the place is Kuteera)

TIME: 17:30

           

After about 2hours we left the Dhaba afloat in the Bangalore University Campus for some long walks. We went on walking not knowing where we were headed. The pleasant climate and with the sun going down, we loafed around campus eating all kinds of food. Finally dropped back Madhu to his place and we headed back to our respective homes.

TIME:19:30

Incase you are wondering about the pictures, yeah i had lost my camera :P And it was basically a ride from Bangalore to Nagarbhavi via Maddur haha, Cheers \m/

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125) Shettihalli Church & Gorur Dam: (5/3/2016)

Place: Shettihalli Church & Gorur Dam.        

Distance: 250 x 2 = 500kms.

Directions: Bengaluru – Kunigal – CR Patna – Hassan – Shettihalli Dam

Particiapants: Prashanth >Sukesh  > Sujan> Karthik (Sp).

Bikes:  Thunderbird > Pulsar                                      

Previous visit: BilikalBetta Ride

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:                                                  

This was a crazy 500kms one day ride. The beautiful submerged church was pure bliss to watch. The backwaters were calm and pleasant. An excellent lunch treat by Sujan and finally the epic raging ride back to Bangalore made this chapter a wonderful one.

INTRO & PLAN:

As far as the planning goes, Sukesh at office told me about Shettihalli Dam. Once that was mentioned the wikipedia of Hassan, Sujan told us that it was hardly 25kms from his place and he would free. And Prashanth wanted to take his new Enfield for a spin. By the way, Sujan, Sukesh & Prashanth were from the same college, same batch.. So, I guess I was the visitor who ended up having a wonderful day.  

TIME: 22:00 (4/3/2016)

ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:

Yeah I was up at 05:00, did a push ups & bicep curls and was all set to go. Sukesh first arrived at my place. As the meet up was scheduled at the NICE road exit near Tumkur road, we both took off from Bangalore. 
TIME: 07:00
 

RIDE 1: (Bangalore – Kunigal – Chanraypatna – Hassan – Shettihalli Church)

Cruising on the ORR we reached Tumkur road. Continuing further we reached Nelamangala NICE road exit. But we couldn’t find Prashanth. So we called him up, but as he said he was further ahead, we continued going further and ended up at Mangalore highway deviation. Finally we caught up with him at this deviation and all the three took off on the Mangalore highway with full flow.  We cruised at super smooth pace one behind the other. We pulled over at the hotel near to Kunigal for some real tasty breakfast.

TIME: 07:45

After belting two rounds, we had some tea and took off. Riding with full flow, we rode non-stop cruising past  Yadiyur, Hirisave, and reached Channrayanapatna for a small tea break. The roads trust me, were simply excellent. Wide, smooth and little curves here and there.  

TIME:10:00

The last stretch was done again more or less resting back and letting our bikes take us to the peaceful city – Hassan. As we approached Hassan, we called up Sujan who was eagerly waiting for our arrival on the ring road. Last time had met Sujan at his hometown during our Chikamagalur Ride.

TIME: 11:00

    

HASSAN:

We were invited to Sujan house. There we spent about 30mins munching down some snacks and finally after a superb coffee, 4 of us left Hassan towards Shettihalli Church.

The ride to Shettihalli church was a decent one. Initially as we got out of the town we had to face some minor traffic, nothing compared to Bangalore’s.  After which we cruised along at a decent pace and finally after some off roading we could spot the ancient church in ruins afar. Looked amazing from even afar.

TIME: 12:15

SHETTIHALLI CHURCH:

We roamed about the place. Explored the abandoned church first. Then we went around it exploring the perimeters. We went down to the backwaters and checked the water as well. When asked about getting down, it was a no as we had a long way to go back. We sat on the river banks and chatted away the time. After a while we began the ever golden game of skipping stones. Finally went about and reached back the church. Then we decided to ride to Gorur dam as well as it was pretty close by.

TIME: 13:10

    

GORUR DAM:

Gorur dam is about 25kms from Shettihalli. As the roads were narrow, we rode at a slow pace. Once we reached the dam premises, the other 3 recollected their college trip to this place. We spend most of the time wandering around near the gate as going over the bund was prohibited. As the sun was blazing, it drained up most of our energy. We decided to head back to Hassan for some lunch.

TIME: 14:15

RIDE 2: (Gorur Dam – Hassan – Chanrayanpatna – Yadiyur – Kunigal – Nelamangala – Bangalore)

We rode at pretty decent pace as our stomach was grumbling with hunger. Once we reached Hassan, Sujan treated us with an awesome lunch. Then we went to his home for some tea. As Prashanth wanted to meet his friend we went to his home as well and after the meet up we finally left Hassan.

TIME: 18:00

   

And now, all hell broke loose.  Trust me, I never expected this kind of finisher! I told Sukesh to call up his home and tell them that he would be back by 23:00. But as I was experiencing some pain in my chest I told Prashanth that we would ride 50kms and pull over. So that meant 3 stops. And boy! we followed it to precision. Prashanth fueled up his beast at hassan and we took off.

We rode at about 80km/h on the beautiful highway non-stop and pulled over after the first 50kms post Hirisave to witness a beautiful sunset.  With the sun down, darkness came upon us and so did the chilly winds of the highways. Now the traffic gradually increased, but we kept on riding at the pace, and what synch we both were in! it was amazing.  Sukesh went silent  even though now then I spoke to him. 

Finally after another 50kms we pulled over at a small bridge in the darkness with the indicators shining, we had some water. And after resting for some more time. It was a last stretch. With some no non-sense riding we raced ahead and reached Nelamanagala in at 20:15. 2hours & 15mins from Hassan to Nelamangala in the dark was something amazing. 

     

After which the traffic increased too much and slowed our progress. So we took the NICE road from Tumkur road and cruised along again at a decent pace unit the Clover leaf. Here , Prashanth headed straight towards the Hosur road and Sukesh & me towards the ring road.  Finally after a long day on the road we reached back home, completely wrecked but very satisfied.

TIME: 21: 30

CONCLUSION:

This was much needed ride. 500kms in one day was never a joke. But totally it was just the strain needed to get off. Needless to say the ride back was a crazy one! Made me kind of proud and Sukesh, I guess very happy as he reached 2hours before.

Until next time, Cia \m/

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124) Bilikal Rangaswamy betta – Forest Ride: (23/2/2016)

Place: Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta.     

Distance: 75 x 2 = 150kms.

Directions: Bengaluru – Kanakpura - Bilikal

Particiapants: Dhanush (Dany) > Dileep (koof/Isro) > Chaitanya (Endu)> Karthik (Sp).

Bikes:  Thunderbird > Pulsar                                      

Previous visit: ChamundiHills Ride

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:                                                  

Bilikal betta is one of the sacred hills around Kanakpura situated very close to its twin Bananthimari Betta. Our visit to this place was a scary ride on muddy terrain through a forest filled with elephants.  It was nice to catch up with old friends and spend some quality time. Yes, this trip was done on a weekday as well. But another highlight had to be the awesome hotel we found in Kanakpura and obviously another Dhaba, where we could crash now and then.

INTRO & PLAN:

It was only two days since our 300kms ride to Chamundi Hills. Monday I went to office, to apply leave for Tuesday. Then asked Narayan (trekie) about Bilikal as he had been there last week. Once the route was confirmed went on calling up people to confirm their presence the next day. After a few calls Dilip, Endu & Dany were on the confirmed list and we were set to leave.

TIME: 22:00 (23/2/2016)

ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:

Yeah I was up at 05:00, did a few push ups & bicep curls and was all set to go. The meet up was scheduled at our good old bakery, so left my home and crashed in at bakery with some hot tea in my hand. Once Dilip, Endu & Dany arrived, we parked Endu’s bike near college itself and took off on two bike’s. 
TIME: 07:15

RIDE 1: (Bangalore Kanakpura - Bilikal)

Well, this was about 70kms ride on the snake way (Kanakpura road). We took the NICE road near PESIT and cruised along each other in the morning sun. As we reached Kanakpura road, I expressed my doubts regarding finding a good hotel on Kanakpura road. As we rode on, the traffic was surprisingly increasing. But after a while riding those curves which ran between lakes we made it to Kanakpura road. I spotted a empty hotel (which looked decent) and called upon others to ask their view. 

      

But Dilip, spotted another small door kind of entrance and said we would go there as it was crowded. So we parked our bikes and went to the latter hotel. The small door opened up into a pretty big hotel and flooded with people. The name of the hotel was “Vasu Hotel” established in 1980’s. We ordered idly, vada, dosa, bisibelebath (trying out all types) And guess what? first came dosa. By the way it had separate counters for these uh. And trust me on this folks, the taste was excellent. We enjoyed the breakfast. After which we asked the coffee to be extra strong and strong and nice it was. Just the thing needed for a perfect  kick start.

TIME: 08:30

Asking for directions to the hill from the locals, we rode at a slow pace to get out of town. The roads from here were pretty decent even though there are alternate routes to reach Bilikal. the roads were newly laid and the air was fresh. But since the route had deviations on regular basis, we had to enquire with locals now and then. We pulled over for 2-3 times just to take a break on the country roads.  After a while the ranges could be spotted and they were pretty huge. And riding further we made it to a small town. Here when we asked the way to the temple, shepherds warned us about the elephants which flooded the place. Assuring him we would take the necessary precaution we entered the muddy terrain.

TIME:09:15

BILIKAL BETTA FOREST RIDE:

The ride, well, I can only describe it to be scary. The roads were narrow, and pure mud, with lots of shrubs and trees on both sides of the road. And it was pure ghat section. A few bamboo fallen on the road. And a lot of fresh elephant dung throughout this path. As we entered the forest premises, silence came upon fast and we could hear various kind of sounds afar. It was spooky. We did make up plans if an elephant would chase us, just in case. Few instances the road itself was blocked by fallen bamboo, this send chills down our spines. Getting off our bikes, we pushed the bamboo apart and continued. Finally after about 30mins of silent riding holding onto our breath we made it the top.

TIME: 09:45

TOP:

As we reached the top, the breeze picked up and we let out a sigh of relief from breath tight ride. We explored the place on top, to find only a small building and a temple  We made it to the top most point to realise that we were surrounded by thick forest all around us. The western ghats could be spotted afar in its blue hue. We rested on top playing the “thor game” and others (refer pics). After taking a nap, we decided to ride back as very fact of the forest ride started sending chills.

TIME: 10:45

RIDE-2 (Bilikal – Kanakpura – Bangalore):

This was a 75kms, ride back. As we left the top, we had ride back on the same route. I was secretly hoping we encounter a mega, I mean real mammoth like elephant and it would chase us and what not. But still the ride back was scary on the muddy terrain amidst the thick forest with elephant dung all over the place.  We did pull over and poked on the dung with a stick to see the freshness of it:P 

   

Anyway, we made it back to the town and spoke to the Shepard once again and headed back towards Kanakpura. We reached Kanakpura at about 11:15. That time we realised it was too early for any dhaba for lunch. So, we headed a little further from Kanakpura towards Bangalore and pulled over a small shop for some tea & bajji’s. We sat on speaking roadside for about an hour so… wishing a few cyclists the best day wherever they were heading. Finally we began to search for lunch spot. We pulled over at few dhaba on Kanakpura road, as it was election we could get the best out of it. So Dilip suggested we ride back to Bangalore itself as he knew a Dhaba near the NICE road itself. So we rode non-stop towards Bangalore, heading about 1km after the NICE road exit towards Bangalore, we crashed into “Queen’s court” for some heavy lunch.

TIME: 14:00

After lazing around, and trust me we did speak truly interesting topics ranging a wide variety of subjects (College memories , Physics, Corporations, Politics, Ride, Freedom, TV series, Diet, Startups, God) Yeah, it takes some effort to keep all this in one basket right?

We spend about 3-4hours at this dhaba. Finally we had some pan outside the Dhaba and got onto the NICE road to float our way to college bakery for some hot tea. From here we split our own ways to reach back our respective homes.

TIME: 18:30

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