My First Century - Cycle Ride From Bangalore To Mysore

After I began cycling about 6 months ago, I had pledged to do a long ride before the end of the year. In the months that ensued, I built my stamina by commuting to work, covering about 100kms a week. I even climbed the Nandi Hills once in October. As December came in I planned to ride to Mysore between Christmas and New Years. I increased my weekly commute rides to 150+kms. Did a few 40km rides (a round trip to Decathlon from my home). A couple of my friends Vishnu and Shashi promised me company for the ride. 

But alas, just before Christmas I came down with a viral flu and was bed ridden for a couple of days! The thought of not being able to make the ride pushed me towards a speedy recovery. On the 26th, after being confined to home for 3 days and still dizzy from my medication, I took my hybrid out for a 3.5km ride around my house. The next day, wanting to build up some strength, I made a visit to Vishnu's house on my roadbike - a 36km round trip. 2 things happened: Vishnu informed me that he had done a bike ride to Bandipur with another friend and doubted that he would be able to join us to Mysore. And I realized that though  I was through with my course of medication, I still had a lot of congestion and found it hard to breathe while riding in the cold. I thought about the situation for a while and decided I'd not push myself lest the viral flu relapse. The next day, Wednesday the 28th Dec, I did nothing and just rested at home. I started planning for the ride - read ride stories on BikesZone and Bangalore Bikers Club. Folks at BBC suggested that I avoid the Bangalore-Mysore highway unless I wanted to bake in the sun and get mauled by traffic. They suggested the Kanakapura Rd route which is more scenic, with tree cover and a lot less traffic. I checked the elevation on the route at MapMyRide and figured the first 100kms would be downhill with climbs towards the last 45 odd kms. Before going to bed I called Shashi and told him that we'd definitely attempt the ride the next day, 29th Dec and see how far we could ride. I asked him to give me a wake up call and hit the bed.

I heard my phone buzz at 6AM and told Shashi I'll meet him down in an hour. My wife made me some tea and I munched on a breakfast bar and got myself and my bike ready. The KHS Flite 300 would be my steed of choice for the journey! I gave my wife a farewell hug and asked her if she thought I'd be able to finish the ride. She smiled at me in assurance and sent me off.

As I waited for Shashi, I saw the clear blue sky at dawn and hoped the great weather would hold up through the day. A few minutes later he was down with his white Cannondale SL3. 

We were out the gate by 7:30AM, a little later than we would have liked to, but atleast the sun was out and we'd escape riding in the December chill. We did our first rest stop at 20kms and snapped a few pics as we caught a breath.

 I was dressed in my fluorescent Btwin jersey for high visibility and protection from the cold. 

A couple of inquisitive kids posed with us for snaps.

We rode on and did another stop at 40kms - munched some energy bars, mixed some more Gatorade and kept going. We passed Harohalli, Anjanapura, crossed the Arkavathy river and reached Kanakapura. We stopped by at a darshini and had a breakfast of idli-vada-sambar. The next stop was at 65kms.  Till now the ride had been quite pleasant. The tree cover keeping us cool and the roads were good.

 We found a place where we could sit and did a few stretches and took a few more snaps.

I had stripped down to my T-shirt and Roadie Shorts.

This is where the climbs started. The sun kept getting a little stronger and the tree cover also thinned out a bit. We did get to appreciate the beauty of the surroundings as we rode on.

Shashi riding up one of the climbs.

This is where we started noticed the big difference between roadbikes and MTBs. Although I was not at my physical best, I was able to ride ahead of Shashi. My bike kept rolling smooth and fast keeping the effort to a minimum while his MTB gripped the tarmac on uphills. At one stretch a guy on a bike rode up to me and struck a conversation. I told him we were riding from Bangalore to Mysore. He asked me why? I said it was for the joy of riding. He said "you are great saar! Not married no?" I told him that I was in fact married and asked him why he thought a married guy would not do a ride like this? He smiled back and rode off after a while. At about 1:00PM I made my 5th stop. My cyclocomp showed 87kms. The last few kilometers of the ride had been tough with some extended climbs. I sought shade under a sort of makeshift timber post and waited for Shashi to catch up. We were about 9km from Malavalli. 

After riding for about half an hour we reached Malavalli. Again, Shashi had fallen behind and while I waited for him at an intersection, a couple of kids ran up and started asking me about the bike. They were fascinated by the thin tires and asked me how much the tires cost. I said I didn't know. They asked my how come I didn't find out while buying the bike! Then they asked me how many punctures I had so far. I said none and kept my fingers crossed, hoping I'd be flat free for the rest of this ride!

We entered the town and stopped to ask some locals for good places to get lunch. Couple of them guided us to a place called Utsav Hotel. They said that the week before, they had seen a big bunch of bikers and asked if we were with them. I told them that those guys were riding for the Tour of Nilgiris and we were a separate lot on a joy ride.

We found Utsav Hotel and had a couple of south indian veggie meals. All the water we had started with had run out by now. We picked up fresh bottles of Bisleri and continued on our ride. My cyclocomp showed 96kms. We were thrilled at the prospect of completing our first century and took off on the roads which were now more potholed and uphill. Very soon I saw the digits roll by and stopped to celebrate the moment with Shashi. :)

After this point, we knew the rest of the ride would be mostly uphill, but nothing could have prepared us for what was yet to come. After crossing the magic number, the will power was reduced and we started feeling the exhaustion of the ride. The tree cover was also quite sparse and the sun at its highest intensity. I developed a headache due to the heat and stopped to cool my head by pouring some water. At each climb we'd stop a while and try to inspire each other to keep going. I kept listening to music I'd carried along and tried not to think about the heat or the headache. Heavy metal kept my cadence going steady climb after climb! \m/

On one climb, 3 guys on a bike (yes they were triple riding) asked me why I was pedaling so hard but not moving fast. I told them it was a gear cycle and that on low gears, the bike moves smaller distances for each rotation of the pedal. They said their village cycles would go much farther for that kind of pedaling. I said yes, but it would be pretty hard for them to keep that kind of pedaling for long. They nodded their heads and rode off.

The roads were bad and the climbs steady to hard. We kept at it at under 15kmph. 

At around 5:30PM we crossed the Cauvery river. I saw flocks of sheep grazing. I heard some guys asking Shashi "why saar? you have money to buy car, bike, but why you ride cycle?"

A bridge across the Cauvery

We kept riding, counting down the number of kilometers that we had left to ride. After 6:00PM the sun started going down fast and the temprature even faster! The jerseys came back on. We took a few last shots before the sunset.

　

After we crossed the Chamundi Hills the worst of the climbs were over. We were less than 10kms from our destination. We quickened our pace and reached the Mysore Palace by 6:40PM. What a sight it was! We'd arrived at Mysore!

We cycled on towards our friends Ravi & Ramya's house in Kuvempu Nagara. When we arrived at their house we were in for a big surprise welcome - They had got garlands to welcome us and sprayed us with beer at the gate! We felt like some F1 racers who were at the podium after a race! :)

What a journey it had been! 148kms in all, traveled in a saddle time of 7 hours and 21 minutes. An average speed of 20.1kmph and a max speed of 52.8kmph. My body ached in places where I didn't know I had muscles! But it was all washed in the joy of getting our first century ride under the belt and making it all the way. This concluded a journey we had started about 11 hours ago. We had some beer followed by a good meal and hit the bed. This will definitely be a ride that I'm sure both Shashi and I will cherish for a long time to come!

Cycling - Falling in love all over again!

It has been a few months since my last post. And with good reason too; I've been busy with my newest interest - cycling!

Having chosen a great time to fall sick (the long Christmas weekend! [facepalm]), I decided I'd use my time to put down some thoughts. 

I'd been a runner on and off, to keep fit - hitting the nearby parks or the treadmill to clock in a couple of kilometers. But thanks to my bony feet, I'd develop pain in my heels if I ran too hard. I know, there are special shoes and soles designed for that; but right around then my dear friend of many years, Mr. Vishnu declared that he'd bought a bicycle. I thought, hey this might be a great idea to cross train along with running. The circular motion of pedaling takes away the impact and is easier on your feet. I started researching bikes and was initially shocked at how much imported bikes cost these days! A good entry level bike can set you back by 15-20 grand which is what I'd paid for my first motorcycle back when I was in college! When I heard this from Vishnu the first time, I thought he was mad to shell out so much for a bike. After much research and coaxing from Vishnu to up my budget (which I seriously dont regret now), sometime in June 2011, I got my Trek 7100. As you use one of these modern bikes and understand what goes into the their design and construction, you begin to appreciate what makes them cost so much. It would not be too much of a stretch to say that a modern bicycle is no less technical than a F1 car!

This was my first bike (leaving out the Hero Ranger and Hercules Top Gear that I had ridden in school days) and a Hybrid at that. Not to be confused with hybrid cars, there is no electricity involved here!  :P

So to talk more about the Trek 7100, 2011 Model 

This one is a Hybrid. Which means, it is built to roll smoothly on tarmac but at the same time can handle bumpy road and potholes and can also be used to ride on light off-road trails. It comes with suspension on the front fork and a spring loaded seatpost which make for a very smooth ride. The posture is very upright and the raised handle bars make for a laid back riding posture. I got mine from the FireFox Bike Station in Jayanagar 4th Block for about 21 grand without accessories. I was amazed by the comfort and the ease of riding. I had initially never intended to ride this thing it traffic. This was supposed to be my exercise bike. But I had built up stamina  by running and within a week I was able to do 15kms at a stretch. This is the one-way commute distance to my office. I decided to ride it to work! This was THE game-changing moment for me and I've never looked back. Today I cycle more days to the office than I take the car and clock upto 100kms a week on my bike. Thanks to a very supportive boss, Meher (who herself is a marathon runner) we now are a more bike friendly workplace with shower facilities. And to top it all, my commute time by bike is actually shorter than by car! In the months that I have been using this bike, I've put mudguards on it to ride it in the rain, had a bike rack and pannier bags installed to carry loads and even done a 60km ride with Vishnu down Kanakpura Road. An excellent source for all you want to know about commuting by cycle is this one. 

Vishnu owns a Trek 4300 which is a Mountain Bike (a.k.a MTB). On the Kanakapura ride we did a couple of off-road trails climbing hills and riding through villages where we realized the limitations of each bike. My 7100 was very comfortable on long rides but really struggled for grip on bad terrain. Vishnu's moutainbike hugged the rocks and felt very stable on off-roads but the saddle comfort on longer rides left a lot to be desired.

This also got me thinking about getting my next bike - the Giant Revel 1 D, 2011 model. 

This one is a proper MTB, and I bought it after much research, from RR Cycles in Ulsoor. The guy at the store was pretty helpful and gave me a good discount - I ended up paying a shade under 20 grand for this while the MRP was 23-24. The 2012 model has an MRP of almost 30 grand and IMHO has somewhat inferior components. So, looking back, I'm happy with my purchase. This bike came with mechanical disc brakes and big-a$$ Kenda MTB tires! The Alivio rear derailleur shifts gears like a dream and I have since used this bike to do a couple of off-road rides and climbed the Nandi Hills with Vishnu.

Over the months of riding I increased my appetite for longer rides and once joked that I'd ride to Mandya or Mysore before the year 2011 was through (100-150kms from where I live in Bangalore). I slowly began understanding the dynamics of bikes and the reason people use different types of bikes. On a visit to the BOTS store in Jayanagar, I got to test ride a Trek 1.1. This was my first experience of riding a roadbike and it left me wanting more. Roadbikes are essentially built for riding fast on good road surfaces. They are light and have skinny tires and have an aerodynamic riding posture with drop down handle bars. Because they are meant to be light they are designed with parts that are both strong and light. This is what makes Road Bikes more expensive than all other kinds of bikes. Like Keith Bontrager (who designs for bike components) once said "strong, cheap, light - pick two!". This summarizes that it is difficult if not impossible to design a bike component (or any other type of machinery) that is light, strong AND not expensive.

So, long story short, last week I made a new addition to my set of bikes - a KHS Flite 300 roadbike. 

At 26 grand for a bike with an MRP of 32 grand, this was the best deal I could get on a roadbike at this budget. More pics here. I got if from Venky at Wheelsports in Chamrajpet and am grateful to him for throwing in a free Cateye Velo 8 Cyclocomputer. Weighing in less than 10kgs, this is the lightest bike I have. The low weight is in part because of the carbon fiber fork on the front wheel and seatpost and the overall weight reduction on all other components such as frame, handles and wheels. I took just a day to get used to the posture of riding on drop down handle bars and started loving the effortlessness of going anywhere on this bike. In the first 5 days I clocked 100kms. I am now preparing for a ride to Mysore the coming week on the Flite 300 and realizing the dream of doing that in 2011. I shall write a ride report of my first century ride when I am back to Bangalore in 2012. Until then, be good, have fun and wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! :)