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!