Chikka Tirupathi - Hesarghatta

Date: 25 June 2017

Total distance: 178 Kilometers

Start Time: 4:40 am

Return Time:  4:45 pm

With: Sushanth till Chikka Tirupathi, Madhusudhan till Hoskote, rest of the ride - alone

Altitude Profile:
Koramangala - Chikka Tirupathi - Hoskote - Devanahalli - Doddaballapur - Hesarghatta - Koramangala

Got a call from Sushanth two weeks ago asking if I had any plans for the 24th - 25th June weekend. I had not made any plans and was not aware that it was a long weekend as well. Sushanth asked if we could ride to Chikka Tirupathi on 25th June. I agreed and told him that I would check on the group as well. As usual when there is time for the ride we get a lot of people who are interested, however when the day gets closer the number of riders begins to dwindle. Sushanth and 4 of his colleagues from office were confirmed and I had confirmed.

As I had ridden to Chikka Tirupathi, it did not hold a lot of interest in terms of the route. I looked up the map and tried to see if I could extend the ride. I knew that there would be no takers for the extended ride, however, I did not mind not having company. A look at the map and I decided to ride to Hesarghatta. Although shorter route options were available, the route that I opted for was Koramangala - Chikka Tirupathi - Hoskote - Devanahalli - Doddaballapur - Hesarghatta - Koramangala.

The cycle was in bad shape after the 600KM BRM and I spent a day fixing the front tire puncture and a day on washing and degreasing the chain along with charging the lights. I had thought that I had recovered very quickly from the 600KM BRM as compared to my previous attempts. The first 600BRM took me 3 weeks to recover, the second a week and this time I was up and about in 2 days. However, I had a bout of dizziness on the 4th day and knew that I had not recovered as well as I had thought. Took things a little slow and rested for another day to recover sufficiently.

The day of the ride was onto me and after a lot of doubt about who would join and who would not, the final list was Sushanth and two of his colleagues, Madhusudhan and me. The cycle was ready and the alarm was set for 3:30 am since the plan was to start at 4:30 am.

I woke up promptly when the alarm rang. Was ready in half an hour and then the wait started. I had to wait for Subhash to arrive since he was going to be riding my MTB. I was riding the Road Bike as a result of this. Subhash came at 4:30 am and we started the ride from my place at 4:40 am. We reached the Agara flyover at 4:50 am where Sushanth was waiting for us. Madhusudan told us that he would catch up with us and asked us not to wait. We rode a further kilometer and waited for Tejas to arrive. He came by in 5 minutes. We finally started the ride at 5:00 am.

The ride was slow as Subhash was riding the cycle after 7 years, moreover he was riding a gear cycle for the first time. I opted to stay at the back and ride with Subhash while Sushanth and Tejas rode ahead. We made our first stop at the Decathlon flyover, rather it was a stop by Sushanth and Tejas who were waiting for us to catch up. Just as we pulled up on the top of the flyover, Madhusudhan caught up with us.

We restarted the ride and made slow progress through the pot hole filled roads. Subhash was riding steadily but it was easy to tell that he was feeling the effects of the ride. However, Sushanth, Tejas and Madhu were flying and were finding the going pretty easy. They would ride ahead and wait for us. We made it to Sarjapur and from here the roads were empty with minimal traffic. The pace of the ride was slow until we were about 4 kilometers from Chikka Tirupathi. As only 4 kilometers remained and Subhash was looking good to finish, I rode quick and completed the remaining distance quickly.

Tejas and Madhu arrived soon after and then the wait started for Sushanth and Subhash to arrive. We clicked photos and relaxed while we waited. Surprisingly Sushanth and Subhash slowed down a lot in the last couple of kilometers and made it to Chikka Tirupathi after 20 minutes. Subhash had begun to cramp and had slowed down drastically. We rested for 10 minutes before Madhu and I resumed the ride. Madhu said that he would ride with me till Hoskote while Sushanth, Tejas and Subhash would return on the same route. I tried to convince Madhu to ride further, however he was adamant that he would ride only till Hoskote before returning.

As soon as we started we were welcomed by cross winds. It was not very windy, however, Madhu was tired and was finding it difficult to ride. It slowed the ride down and we made slow progress. Although the initial ride was good, as we got closer to Hoskote the traffic increased, further there was road work in progress which made is a very dusty and frustrating experience to be on the road. We made it to Hoskote and stopped for breakfast.

Idli-vada for breakfast and a chat about pre-monsoon showers and a little bit of convincing to get Madhu to ride further. However, I could not convince Madhu who had his mind set on family duties and would not waver from it. We started from the restaurant and within a minute were at Old Madras Road. Madhu rode home from here, I continued towards Devanahalli.

I wandered a little inside Hoskote before getting onto the Devanahalli Road. It was windier than earlier, as the gradient was downhill the wind did not hamper me too much. I was able to ride quick and was covering distance at a fair pace. I did not realise that I had reached Sulibele and had only 12 kilometers to Devanahalli. As soon as I took the turn towards Devanahalli from Sulibele I ran into a head wind and rolling terrain. The climbs required more effort and the downhill's were not giving a break as I had to pedal due to the windy conditions. In a short while I was at the back wall of the airport and assumed that I had made it to Devanahalli. However, it took some time  and effort to make it to Devanahalli.

I rode into Devanahalli and my stubbornness not to check the maps for the route led me to take a small detour inside Devanahalli.  realised that I had taken the wrong turn and had to make it back to the main road before checking for the route on maps and getting back on track. I crossed the Hyderabad highway and got onto the Doddaballapur road. A couple of kilometers and I got a view of the Nandi Hills overlooking a dried lake bed. The hill looked majestic as it always does to me. I stopped to admire the view before resuming the ride.

What followed after this was a struggle. It was an uphill gradient with a strong head wind. It is just 17 kilometers from Devanahalli to Doddaballapur, however it seemed more like 30 kilometers due to the conditions. The first 60 kilometers of today's ride was done at a gradual pace and I was not tired when I started from Hoskote after breakfast. The next 30 kilometers was also an enjoyable ride and did not tire me, however, after 10 more kilometers I was feeling the effects of the ride. There were steep climbs and the descents required me to pedal, which was emptying my energy stock. I reached the outskirts of Doddaballapur and began to see all the factories of large corporate houses. Mentally I knew that I had reached Doddaballapur, however the last few kilometers especially in tough conditions never get done quickly. I was relieved to get a downhill and made it to Doddaballapur. I rode around town and stopped for Sugarcane juice. It was 12:20 pm.

When I restarted the ride it was 12:30 pm. I had thought that the distance from Doddaballapur to Hesarghatta was 15 kilometers and I would reach by 1:15 pm. I had begun to think that I would be at home by 3:00 pm and would have lunch at home when I saw a kilometer stone with the distance to Hesarghatta as 25 kilometers. I knew that I would have to stop for lunch and immediately the finish time got revised to 5:00 pm. Not that I was in a hurry to get home and I was excited that I would be seeing another lake in the vicinity of Bangalore. After the initial congested roads near Doddaballapur the road cleared up and I was riding on good roads lined with trees on both the sides. There was minimal traffic and it was an enjoyable ride.

It was still windy and I was waiting to get to the left turn to Hesarghatta as it would be a tail wind from there. The sugar cane juice had done the trick and I was not hungry and kept churning the pedals and covered distance. When I reached Malohalli, I rode a little further as there was a huge lake, however I turned back when I saw that the lake was dry. I took the left and rode towards Hesarghatta. 5 more kilometers and I had reached Hesarghatta, I passed by the animal husbandry property wherein there were different divisions, fodder division, then the cow farm, poultry farm and duck farm. As I passed through this the excitement level was increasing as I was very close to the lake. Used google maps for the route and I reached the lake at 2:00 pm.

The lake was a big letdown as it was dry. The lake has now become a grassland, a grazing ground for cows. The lake bed was filled with cows and as I rode around in search of water, the realisation began to sink in that it was dry and there is no water around. I did see a small pond of water just as I was entering the lake area and that was it, no water. Although the place looked good as it was green all around, as it did not meet my expectation I was disappointed. I spent 15 minutes before I started the return ride.

I was hungry and was out of water. I needed to refill on water at least before I could ride further. I reached Hesarghatta town and searched for a restaurant, I ended up at a Dum Biriyani place and sat down, however, even after 10 minutes, there was no one around to place the order for food. I got back on the bike and rode a kilometer out of town before stopping at a restaurant. It looked like the only option available for the next 10 kilometers at least and I made a stop. I ate mushroom biriyani and refilled on water before resuming the ride.

The biriyani was heavy and had filled me up. At the same time the biriyani increased my thirst and I kept sipping on water every couple of minutes which filled me up further. The 10 kilometers after the lunch stop was filled with restaurants and dhabas and I realised that I did have a lot of options on the food front if only I had ridden a little more. As I was getting closer to the city the traffic increased and riding after lunch was very different to the ride before lunch. I made it to Tumkur road and was back in familiar roads. I rode through the city and made it back home at 4:45 pm.