MC's Cycling Diary

Date: 22 October 2016 Start Time: 4:35 am End Time: 12:45 pm From: Koramangala, Bangalore To: Nandi Hills With: Sushanth & Sunil till Hebbal flyover, Chetan till Airport Road Toll Distance: 136 kilometers Altitude Profile: Chetan is the new addition to the cycling group and every time there is an addition there is a push to get things going again. A welcome ride had to be done and my requirement to do some climbing made me lean towards Nandi Hills since it is the closest hill. A few rounds of checking about who will come on the ride and the list was down to Sushanth and Sunil riding till Hebbal and Chetan and I to continue riding towards Nandi Hills. I was surprised that I was able to do the ride to Madikeri and Ooty which involved a lot of climbing without suffering from cramps at anytime during the ride. I will have to test myself on Nandi Hills now to be certain that the climbing ability has improved since this hill has always been difficult for me an...

Date: 15 October 2016 - 16 October 2016 Start Time: 5:00 am 15 October 2016 End Time: 11:00 am 16 October 2016 From: Ponnampet, Kodagu To: Ooty Distance: 200 kilometers The cycle was in Ponnampet and I had not been able to go the previous weekend to bring it back. The additional time gave me time to plan to ride further rather than returning back to Bangalore. I looked up different options and finalised on cycling to Ooty. The route would take me from Karnataka to Kerala before crossing over to Tamil Nadu. I wanted to ride further and complete the loop by riding onward to Salem and then returning to Bangalore through Hosur. However, I was short on time since I would have to travel to Coorg again mid week and I did not want to leave the cycle at an intermediate location and then go back to collect it. I was travelling to Mysore during the week and the plan was to travel to Ponnampet on Friday and ride to Ooty on Saturday and then ride to Bangalore on Sunday. There we...