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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108) Skandagiri – Lost tales: (15/1/2015)

Place: Skandagiri Trek.

Distance: 75 x 2 = 150kms.

Directions: Bengaluru –Hebbal – Devanahalli - Skandagiri

Particiapants: Deepak (Deefu) > Ashok (Momz) > Datta (Dattu) > Karthik (Sp).

Bikes: Enfield > Zeus > Pulsar.         

Previous visit: Mysore –The Farewell

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:

Alright, the first chapter of the year 2015. And it was a pretty good one too. This chapter was filled with fun, laughter and oh yes, some very intense moments. Taking the wrong turn during the climb up took its toll on us. But nevertheless we ended the day smiling.

INTRO & PLAN:

As far as the planning goes, we had visited Skandagiri way back in 2010 (Night Trek) and after that we had never set foot again. With Deefu suggesting the place for a morn trek, we all agreed. Dattu, & Ashok were the others on the confirmed list. By the way, the last time’s trek is definitely worth the read, here is the link – Skandagiri Night trek.

TIME: 22:00 (14/1/2015)

 ASSEMBLE & LEAVE: 

Yeah I was up at 05:00, did a few push ups & situps, had a cup of coffee and was all set to go. The meet up was scheduled at the ORR near Mahalakshmi layout. Left my home at about 06:00, Once Dattu & Deefu arrived, we travelled towards Hebbal and went to Ashok’s place to pick him up. With all 4 us checked in we left town..

TIME: 06:30

 

RIDE 1: (Bangalore– Hebbal – Devanahalli – Nandi TJunc – Skandagiri)

This was a about  75-80kms ride on the airport road. Initially we jibed here and there in between vehicles as we cruised on the Ring road. Finally having made to Hebbal, the traffic eased a little, which made riding comfortable. We searched for decent hotels on this road. And there were many, but we missed them all and went straight till Devanahalli and pulled over at a small hotel for some light breakfast.

TIME: 08:15

Continuing further in about 20mins time, we could spot the first glimpse of the hill. And well, last time we had the slightest clue where were heading, but this time it was better. After asking for direction in the town nearby we went and parked our bikes at the base. With the goat’s spirit awakened within us, we were ready to conquer the hill.

TIME: 09:30

SKANDAGIRI TREK:

As far as the trek goes, I will not be dividing into phases as we had no clue how we ascended the hill. And more importantly how we got back home in one piece. After we parked our bikes, we travelled to the temple nearby and behind the temple was the route to the hillock. As we walked on the pathway, we say the hillock right beside us ( the actual route, we had to go a little more further and then start, but no, we took the shortcut, more of a wrong turn) 

And then began the struggle, long tall grasses, flooded with thorns offered a lot of resistance for a smooth climb.  After sometime we found ourselves in a forest kind of region, all we said to ourselves as to continue heading up until we reach flat land.  

Then came the boulder stretch, my god, this pretty much brought down all the pride and put on a new test to our climbing skills. Steep faces of rocks stood staring at us and we had to work together to overcome some of them. It was challenging, yes we enjoyed it, but at the same time it was pretty scary too! Some of the steep faces had gravels and loose mud on them, which made some of us climb us and hold onto to the other person’s hand and pull them up. 

  

One point came, as in the previous trip, where we had to walk sticking onto a wall on a narrow path sideways. The other side was fall to bottom. This was the scariest of them all. After all the struggle we found ourselves finally on grass but on a steep face. There was loose mud all along, but we pushed on through sitting here & there and well lost totally. Now we weren’t even sure where we would end up by the end of the day. (Ashok kept calm throughout, or atleast he looked calm, or wait, was he even aware that we were lost? :P) 

Haha I don’t think he knew. But as climbed on the steep grass surface we finally hit a muddy path, and guess what it was the actual path up. Holy mother of cow, we began to dance one after and jump up and down in pure joy. Then came Ashok, “Oh momz, so we were on the wrong route all along then ah?” we all burst into laughter and rested on the muddy path for some time.

We had done almost 75% of the climb, the last 25% on the pathway was sweat. We walked along smoothly with a few jumps here & there and finally made it to the top.

TIME:11:15

          

TOP:

Well as we spotted the granaries/outposts on the top were shocked firstly to see them. As we couldn’t see anything last time due the thick curtains of fog. We went around to check the perimeter and finally found a nice ruined building to crash into. We went on chatting about school memories and college ones. Then finally we dozed off for 15-20mins. Once we were up, we took what would be one the most difficult group pics taken till date. (The 1st photo of this article)

          

With others standing on top of the granary, I positioned the camera and set 10seconds on the timer(max) then I had to run to the granary, then hop on the  fallen pillar(see pic), run up the pillar and finally pose for a photo.  Haha, all that in 10secs. It was totally worth it. We decided it was time to head down, more importantly in the normal pathway hehe.

TIME: 12:30

CLIMB DOWN:

Hold, Hold, Hold.  The climb down was pretty decent one as it was on the pathway. It was slippery due to the mud & gravels but not hard. After about 20mins of quick descension, Ashok came up with a major, I mean major question. The conversion went something like this:

Ashok – “Momz, I’ll ask 1 question, please don’t feel bad”

We – “ Shoot!”

Ashok – “ Momz, what is the name of this hill that we are climbing? Well you see, I need to tell home I went somewhere alteast”:P

       

Deefu started searching for a stick, Me a stone, And Dattu was already beating him up. Hehe. That’s Ashok alright! Our moods were so lifted up after that incident. Shit, felt good to have such company. Slowly climbing down, asking atleast another 10times so that the name sank into his head.  We made it to the last 25%. Here we encountered lots of muddy terrain. Taking each step cautiously, slipping here and there we made it to an arrow.

This arrow my friends, was the deviation we had to take from the main path when we first started the trek. The last bit of stretch we decided to have a 1km dash, running one next to each other we took off at full speed and reached back the temple premises. Then we got onto our bikes and took off a were starving.

TIME: 14:00 

    

RIDE 2: (Skandagiri – Devanahali – Bangalore)

Riding with the wind felt real good. Trying to remember the turns taken we reached back the T-Junction of Nandi-Skandagiri split. After which we rode further ahead to pull over at a dhaba for some lunch.

TIME: 14:30

After an hour or two of belting rice, discussed about the chapter. Asked others to rate the chapter on 10. After loafing around a bit, we left the dhaba afloat. The ride back was a smooth one as it was on the airport road. It took us only 30mins.  Deefu & Dattu carried forward towards their respective homes. I dropped Ashok to his place and then reached my home.

TIME: 16:45

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63) Maddur – Welcoming the rains: (24/10/2012)

Place: Maddur tifany’s.

Distance: 80 x 2 = 160kms.

Directions: Bengaluru – Ramnagar – Chenpatna - Maddur.

Particiapants: Karthik (Sp).

Bikes: Pulsar.

Previous visit: Kabbaladurga trek.

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:

This was another quick get away from the city for a coffee. I spent only about 10-15mins at Maddur as the main intention was to ride in the rain. Dark gloomy clouds early in the sky were the initiators of this wonderful trip.

INTRO:

Like last year I wanted a special Ayudh Pooja done to my bike. Last year we had visited NG Lake, Manchinbele &Kanva reservoirs. Instead of just staying back home & performing rituals, i decided to rather take my bike for a ride out of town.

 

So like always (or most of the times) this was unplanned. I was up at 06:00, did a few push ups & sit ups. After which I went outside & but a small bon fire. Then I observed the black gloomy clouds moving towards south-west. This meant only one thing “RAIN”. Riding in the rains is something I love, so went inside & said “Amma i’ll go have coffee & come back” & took off from Bangalore.

(Riding in the aftermath of Cyclone Nilam is a whole different story- Behind the music:P)

TIME: 07:00hrs

RIDE 1: (Bangalore – Maddur)

As I left Bangalore, initially thought of having tatte idly at our regular Bidadi hotel. But as I reached Bidadi, there were kilometers long taxi’s parked, so continued further. The weather was dark & gloomy, perfect for riding. But the downpour was something which was still missing. So stopped just before Ramnagar & sat on my bike for sometime, staring at the skies hoping for it to burst open. But then continued on... to cruise past Ramnagar & Chenpatna to reach Maddur.

TIME: 08:45

MADDUR TIFANY’S:

I tried passing Maddur too, by the time I was out of Maddur, bike hit reserve. That meant I had just enough fuel to hit back home. With about 40bucks for food & no extra cash in my wallet I turned back.

Entered Maddur Tiffany’s finished Idly-Vada in less than 5mins, took my coffee outside & sat sipping it slowly. After 10-15mins it started it started to drizzle, i did a clean bottoms-up on the coffee & took off from Maddur.

TIME: 09:15

  

RIDE 2: (Maddur – Bangalore)

As I left Maddur, the roads turned wet, cool breeze & light showers made riding bliss. Once I left Chenpatna, the clouds burst open & it started pouring cats. Ah yeah, finally worth sneaking out!! :D. Enjoyed every second of the riding in the rain. There was a point of time when I rode on the wrong way as the rains had begun to fade. After some smooth drifting I reached back home.

TIME: 10:45

HOME & BAKERY:

Once I reached home, told my mom had gone to Maddur. She asked me as to why I didn’t ride till Mysore, that way I could have atleast seen the Dussera procession ha-ha. After which went to bakery with K-350(Ashok) for some tea, coffee etc., it was after all him who had pulled the same stunt of sneaking out during our 13^th chapter.

MORNING WELL SPENT!! :)

Until next time Cia \m/

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