Muninagara Dam - Sathanur

Date: 28 July 2018

Total distance: 169 Kilometers

Start Time: 5:25 am

Return Time: 3:15 pm

With: -

Altitude Profile:

Koramangala - Bannerghatta - Muninagara Dam - Harohalli - Sathanur - Harohalli - Koramangala

Couple of weeks had passed and I was itching to get back on the saddle. It's been over 2 months since I have looked up for places to ride to. As usual, the places which are far off are the ones which are appealing, however, I was not very confident of being able to ride long distances since I have not recovered from the GOH ride as yet. What looked feasible was an under 100 kilometer ride and was thinking of locations within that range. Shashidhar K C recommended Muninagara Dam, a search for this place, it was only a 34 kilometer ride one way. It was ideal as it would be a relaxed ride and would be bordering the Bannerghatta Forest which made it an interesting ride. I would take a call on riding further based on how I felt after getting to Muninagara Dam. The location that I had decided upon was Ganaalu Falls which is near Halagur. So the route was Koramangala to Muninagara Dam via Bannerghatta and return via Kanakpura Road. If I was not tired, I would ride to Kanakpura - Sathanur - Muthathi - Ganaalu Falls - Halagur and return via the Kanakpura Road.

Did not want to start early as I was riding next to the forest and reaching early might be a problem in case there were any forest gates in the vicinity. Woke up at 4:30 am and headed out at 5:30 am effectively.

The start felt like I was riding kilometer number 1,215 and not kilometer 1. I still hadn't recovered sufficiently from the GOH ride, the legs did not have enough juice in them. I had to change into the middle chain ring in the front to be able to keep riding. Took a few kilometers to warm up and then get going.

I had expected it to be day break by the time I started from home, however, it was cloudy and day break was some time away. I had to use the lights, which I had not charged the day before the ride thinking that I would not be using it. Fortunately, it worked and was sufficient to get me through the few dark areas in the city.

Bannerghatta road is a relatively untouched road as far as cycling is concerned for me. I have ridden here rarely and it felt good to be on the road after a long time. The pace was slow and I was not looking to push the pace as well.

When I reached the vicinity of Bannerghatta, I was welcomed by dense mist, it was good to see this kind of mist near Bangalore. Rode like an excited kid through the mist and made it to Bannerghatta. Took a right here to ride towards Kanakpura Road. This road borders the Bannerghatta Forest and I was riding next to the forest for the next hour. Although I was next to the forest, The initial part of the ride was filled with people on their morning walk. It gave a little confidence that I would be allowed to ride on the ride and would not be stopped. There were steep descents on this section with a few short climbs. There were a short entry and exit into the forest as well, however the gate was open and there were no guards manning the gates.

Navigation had to be looked into as there were a few turns to be taken to make it to Muninagara and I was careful not to overshoot the turn as I was checking the map quite often. The road condition did deteriorate a little when I turned towards Mukkodlu, but nothing too worrying, being on an MTB made me even more careless towards the road condition. Frequent checks of the map coupled with a few enquiries with the locals and I was at the lake at 7:00 am.

A beautiful view as the water body is surrounded by hills. Further, with no one around the place looked serene and it was rather relaxing to be there. Spent some time enjoying the view as well as riding along the gravel lane next to the lake before getting back on the road.

Google maps were used here to get onto the road towards Kanakpura. I was in rolling terrain and there were a lot of turns, the simple rule on most occasions being to take the road with a good surface. Of course there was the odd junction where I would need assistance of technology or local help which got me out onto Kanakpura Road at Kaggalahalli at 7:40 am.

It was still early and I was not feeling very tired. I decided to ride further rather than returning home. I was almost at Harohalli and pretty soon I was at the town. I went past town, in a few kilometers the clock had ticked to 8:00 am and I was feeling hungry. There were a few options to stop and have breakfast, however, I was keen on having masala dosa at Vasu Hotel at Kanakpura, kept riding to make it to Kanakpura.

There is road widening in progress which has made only 1.5 lanes available for vehicles. Being a Saturday morning, the traffic was heavy and I was pushed off the road on a couple of occasions by the buses. Advantage of riding a MTB is that I did not think twice before getting off the road. Getting off the road is easy, however getting back on takes time as we have to wait for the stream of vehicles to pass by.

It was a careful ride and nearing Kanakpura, the traffic only got heavier. I passed a couple of cyclists on the way into town and stopped at Vasu Hotel. The riders stopped as well. One of them was Bharath Govinda, we follow each other on Strava. The was Om Prakash. We chatted over breakfast and got to know that they were a group of 17 riders headed to Shivanasamudra falls and then to Mysore. I gobbled up my masala dosa and bid good bye to the riders and got back on the saddle.

The ride out of town was not very easy. The lethargy had caught up with the legs during the break. Took it easy and did not push too hard. Took a while to get past the pipeline section and make it to Sathanur. I stopped at a store refilled water and bought a Thumbs Up for the road and took the turn towards Muthathi.

The road became deserted when I exited Sathanur town. Beautiful country side road took a little bit of focus off the gradient which was climbing steadily. The surrounding hills were green and it was building up the expectation level of getting to see the Kaveri river in full flow. I was excited and was looking forward to the small downhill section which would take me to the river. I had to get to Muthathi to see the river which was still a little over 10 kilometers away.

Just when things were going perfectly, I came across a board. "Police and forest check post ahead, kindly co-operate". That was a very disappointing board to come across. Further, there was even more disappointment when there was actually a check post and I was stopped by the forest staff at the gate. They enquired where I was going, I told them that I was riding to Muthathi and would exit towards Halagur. However, I was denied entry and it was the same story, trekking and cycling is not allowed in the forest. Having been denied forest entry at Bilikal Betta and in Tamil Nadu, I knew that requesting them for entry would be a futile exercise. I enquired if the Ganaalu falls is also within the forest and was told that it was within the forest and that I would not be allowed. That killed this ride. I turned around and headed back towards Sathanur. There is always a person around to explain the situation and I had mine, when a local spoke to me and said that I was denied permission since there were a lot of elephants in the forest and a tiger had also been spotted in this forest. Thanked him for the information and rode back. The sight of bikes and cars going past me was frustrating. It was getting me into the mind frame that the rules should be the same for everyone, if forest entry is denied then it should be denied for everyone and not selectively to only cycles. Calmed down and realised that I had been denied entry in good faith and that the guys there were doing their job.

I reached Sathanur rather easily and I did have the option to ride to Basavana Betta, However, the denial at Sathanur had killed the appetite to ride. I wanted to get back home and crash. I started the ride back home. I sipped on the thumbs up and rode slowly. Saw a couple of cyclists riding towards Sathanur and assumed they were part of the same group headed to Shivanasamudra. On closer look it was Jins Paul and Chinmai. I stopped and Jins came by, having the Thumbs Up in one hand made it a little difficult to brake and it took a little distance to get the cycle to stop.

We had a good chat about my ride and their ride. It was inspiring to see Jins on his single speed bike. Jins was doing the recce for the upcoming 300BRM on 18 August. It was good to see Chinmai riding a bike, he usually accompanies Jins during the rides organised by Jins and is our official photographer during those rides. Hearing that Jins was heading to Basavana Betta was tempting to join them, however, with the mind tuned to get home, I did not have it in me to change and try to ride to Basavana Betta.

When I got back on the saddle, I was in a stretch of mainly downhill and I sped into Kanakpura. It was around 11:15 am when I reached Kanakpura. I was hungry and it would have been ideal to stop for a snack. I decided to keep riding and exited town. I was back onto the road widening section and this time I did not have the option of getting off the road as I was on the side where widening is in progress. The vehicles had to wait if they had to get past me and I was lucky that I got a whole lot of patient drivers who waited for the road to clear to get past me, there was almost no honking. It was a welcome sign and I was surprised that I had been allowed to ride at my pace without being pushed to ride quicker.

By the time I got near Harohalli, I was very hungry and every bakery/hotel was making me weak. I wanted to eat Ragi Ball for lunch and therefore ruled out the bakery/hotels that I went past. It had to be a Military Hotel since I wanted to eat non-veg, so the search began. The ride was getting slower since the climb towards Bangalore had begun and along with it came rain. I made a quick stop to pack my phone and restarted the ride. It was a passing shower, I did not get drenched, it was that quick. The clothes were still dry when I saw Kabalamma Military Hotel.

I had couple of Ragi Balls with Mutton curry and Pepsi for lunch. It was a relaxed lunch. Took 45 minutes for lunch. I sat around for a while after I was done eating before getting back on the saddle to ride back.

1:45 pm when I started the ride. I rode slowly and carefully to get back to Bangalore. I was in no hurry to get back and it was a relaxed ride. Getting into the city limits, I was back into familiar traffic and the usual traffic hold ups at the signals. A few interior roads were taken to avoid the traffic and where it was unavoidable I had to wait for the traffic to move. I made it back home at 3:15 pm.

It was a mixed ride. Started off very well with the ride along the forest border and then seeing a serene lake. It was going very well until I was stopped at the forest gate. From a ride perspective, it was good to get back on the saddle and ride over 100 kilometers, however, I still need to recover from the effect of the GOH ride. Need to rest a little more.