Basavanbetta - Anchetty

Date: 26 November 2016

Total distance: 265 Kilometers

Start Time: 3:45 am

Return Time:  8:00 pm

With: -

Altitude Profile:
Koramangala – Basavanbetta - Anchetty – Koramangala

The temptation to climb Basavanbetta was growing since I wanted to test my climbing ability. The Madikeri, Ooty and Nandi climb had been done, however, the Basavanbetta climb was still incomplete and it was time to test if I had improved and could handle steep climbs. I checked if anyone would come along and did not receive any response. It was disappointing that I would be riding alone, however I set the alarm for 2:30 am as the plan was to leave at 3:00 am.

I woke up at 2:30 am, however I was not very enthusiastic and was having second thoughts about the ride. The loss of interest was due to the fact that I would be repeating the route and would not be seeing anything new. Although I wanted to climb Basavanbetta, I wanted to combine it with another place rather than doing it as the only destination. I went back to bed and was thinking of the places that could be covered. I thought of shifting the location to Anchetty since Anchetty was also on the list of places to be covered. A look at the map and I noticed that Hosur Road is not the only approach road to Anchetty, there is a route from Kanakpura Road as well. The route was drawn up, I would do Basavanbetta, and based on the physical condition and if I can get back to Kanakpura by 12:00 pm I would go to Anchetty as well.  The route was going to be Kanakpura, Basavanbetta, return to Kanakpura, Kodihalli, Hunasanahalli, Anchetty, Denkanikottai, Hosur, back home. I knew that this would be a difficult route since it would involve a lot of climbing, Basavanbetta is steep and the climb from Anchetty to  Denkanikottai is also steep. I had read about the 22 kilometer climb to Denkanikottai and had added this location to the wish list due to the climb. I finally had an opportunity to do both the climbs at one go.

By the time I came up with the plan and got ready to go it was 3:45 am. It was cold and I wore the jacket although I knew that I would not be needing it later in the day and it would be additional weight, I did not want to be pedaling hard to generate heat and then reach the climbs tired. I started slowly through dark Bangalore streets and had the misfortune of having to slow down whenever a dog came barking out of the dark. The speed picked up when I got close to Kaggalipura and I made up for the slow start. There were cross winds and it was slowing me down a little. I was reminded of the risks of riding in the dark on two occasions, first when I went into a pothole, I could not see it as it was near a turn and my last minute maneuver was not enough to escape it, second was again at a pothole again at a turn, this time I spotted it, however a speeding cab behind me saw it late and was gunning straight for me in his bid to avoid the pothole, fortunately nothing untoward happened. I was making good time and also managed to conserve energy as I was not pushing very hard. I wanted to stop at Kanakpura for breakfast and knew that if I get there too early none of the restaurants would be open. It took 2 1/2 hours to reach Kanakpura, it was 6:15 am and restaurants were open. I stopped at one and had a plate of idli's. It did not take long and I was back on the saddle in 15 minutes.

The ride from Kanakpura to Sathanur was slow, I noticed that in the first 10 kilometers we climb quite a bit which slowed things down. I had forgotten that there are climbs and had thought that the ride from Kanakpura to Sathanur was downhill and when the speed was down I was getting frustrated. Moreover, the thought that I was struggling to get past this section was scaring me since the Basavanbetta hill was getting closer and I was trying to climb a very steep hill. I calmed myself and told myself that I would take things as they come and not to worry about it before it happens.

It was 7:45 am when I got to the turn from the highway to Basavanbetta where the distance to the top is given as 8.875 kilometers. It took a further 10 minutes to get to the base of the climb. I could see the road from a distance and decided that I would try to ride the entire distance without taking a break. I did not want to stop for taking pics as well since it would upset the rhythm and getting the legs to work again in the middle of a climb is difficult. I wanted to push as much as possible and cover as much distance as possible before I stop in case I am not able to pedal or come down with a cramp. The climb started at 7:55 am.

The initial part of the climb was very steep and in spite of having changed to the lower gear I had to put in a lot of effort to keep the wheels moving. The gradient does not let up and I was surprised that I was able to keep pedaling and there was no sign of pain or cramp. Every time I got past a place where I had stopped on the previous attempt it was a confidence booster and kept me going. I realised that I had taken a lot of breaks in the first kilometer of the climb on the previous attempt and was happy that I was still going strong. I had the added advantage of knowing the hill this time and knew that the gradient lets up after half the climb is done and this made a lot of difference in the way I approached the climb. At the end of 2 kilometers I had put in a lot of effort and was not doing too well on the time front and wanted to relax for a bit, however, I knew that if I stop it would only make the climb difficult and kept pushing myself to keep going. I was pushing so that I could get to the point where the gradient lets up and noticed that there are sections in between where the hill does give us time to relax as the gradient eases a little. As I got higher, the legs were feeling good and there was no sign of fatigue, I kept going and although it was a good 35 minutes later, I felt like it came quickly and I had made it to the place where the gradient becomes downhill for just a bit and that was the booster dose that I needed to keep going all the way. It took a further 15 minutes before I reached the temple at the top, I was very excited that I had completed the climb without stopping. I did not spend too much time at the top, I took a few pics and was back on the saddle since I knew that I would be stopping quite a lot on the return to take pics.

The steep gradient is not a problem only when climbing, even when descending I was struggling to slow the cycle down, braking was extremely difficult. Getting the cycle to stop was a challenge and I was hurting my hands in the process. I did make a lot of stops and took pics and made it back to the highway at 9:30 am. I had taken 50 minutes to climb and 45 minutes to descend.

The ride from Sathanur to Kanakpura was filled with me reflecting on the climb. I was pleased that I had completed it and I was still not showing any effects of the climb. As I got closer to Sathanur the thought process shifted to deciding whether I should go to Anchetty or would prefer heading home. I had started the ride with the cut-off time to get to Kanakpura being 12:00 pm, I was going to reach way before 12:00 pm and stuck to my guns on the time front and decided that if I get there in time then Anchetty was on. As I was getting closer to Kanakpura, I was feeling hungry and stopped to have an orange which I was carrying. It was not sufficient and I knew that I would stop at Kanakpura to refill.

I reached Kanakpura at 11:00 am, an hour before schedule and stopped at a bakery where I had juice, dil pasand and mysore pak. As I filled myself up, I decided to ride to Anchetty even though I was beginning to tire, the incentive was that I could do the Anchetty climb. I enquired about the road condition and was told that the road is good. I started the ride and had to get to Kodihalli, the first few kilometers are good, however we have to take a left  from the Sangam road to get to Kodihalli. The road has been patched up which has left the left side of the road very bumpy. I was forced to ride on the centre of the road, however the traffic density is quite high and I was being forced to the left of the road and ended up having a bumpy ride. In addition to the bumpy ride I was climbing, the Sun was out and I was tiring fast. I got to Kodihalli and made the turn to Hunasanahalli. The road improved, and just when I was thinking that I would get to Hunasanahalli by 12:30 pm, I was in for a surprise, road work was in progress and the entire road was being resurfaced. I had to get off and push the cycle for about 2 kilometers before getting back on the cycle as the road had been done up after that. However, there was a lot of climbing and it slowed me down, just when I was beginning to think that I would be climbing all the way to Denkanikottai, I was relieved to see the gradient change to downhill and it was a steep downhill. I touched speeds in excess of 60 kmph and was disappointed that it lasted for just a few kilometers and I was at Hunasanahalli at 1:00 pm and within a few kilometers I was at the Karnataka border. I rode a couple of kilometers and stopped to take a break from the Sun, I was getting cooked by the Sun and it was having a telling effect on pedaling. I was very tired and was using the downhill's to relax and not to build up speed. I drank some juice which I had bought at Kanakpura, rested under a tamarind tree for 5 minutes and I was back on the saddle. I was surrounded by hills all around and would have enjoyed the scenery more if not for the energy sapping heat.

The ride to Anchetty was through a reserve forest and it was disappointing to see that the forest is dry in November. The summer is going to be very harsh. As I got closer to Anchetty I had to encounter climbs and not knowing the road, I was caught out on a couple of occasions in the wrong gear and keeping the wheels moving was a big effort. I reached Anchetty at around 2:00 pm and even though I wanted to stop for lunch, I knew that climbing to Denkanikottai would be difficult on a heavy stomach and opted instead for fluids. I drank a couple of cups of lime juice and downed a coconut water. It was 2:10 pm when I started the ride to Denkanikottai.

I had read that the ride from Anchetty to Denkanikottai is a 22 kilometer climb and was wondering how I would cope with the climb in the afternoon heat. I was short on resources as well, I had sufficient water, however I had only one orange and not having had lunch I was apprehensive if I would run out of energy in between the climb. I again told myself to take it as it comes and not worry about it before hand, I started the climb and was pleasantly surprised when I saw that the first 5 kilometers is not a continuous climb. It is rolling terrain with the uphill's outnumbering the downhill's, however the downhill's was giving time to relax and recover. The real climb starts when we reach the 17 kilometer to go mark, the climb from here is relentless for 6 kilometers. Some sections are very steep and I was doing speeds of 3-4 kmph. I did not mind the speed as long as the wheels were rotating. I had thought of taking a break after doing 7 kilometers, however as I was in the middle of the climb and the climb was not letting up I did not want to stop and kept pushing myself. With 12 kilometers to go I realised that I was done with the hill and it was rolling terrain, I went a further 2 kilometers and stopped for a break. I finished the juice and had the orange, with this I was done with my supplies and had half a bottle of water remaining. Denkanikottai was just 10 kilometers off and I knew that I could make it easily if the rolling terrain continued.

I restarted and was happy to make use of the steep downhill sections and at the same time was taking my time on the climbs. As Denkanikottai was getting closer I was tiring and a climb with 4 kilometers remaining did not go down well with the mind. The winding road was not what I was expecting as I had thought that I had left the climb behind, however I did not have an option but to pedal and clear the climb. I was relieved when I was done with the climb and reached Denkanikottai at 4:00 pm. I was not feeling hungry, however I knew that if I sat down to eat I would be able to eat well. The hunger was getting suppressed by the exhaustion and a common mistake that we do is that we think that we don't need to eat and can pedal on only to realise after a few kilometers that we are out of energy and we don't have any food around as well. I did not want to fall into the trap and as soon as I saw a hotel, I stopped and had a vegetable meal with an omlette. I got the opportunity to splash water on my face and cool off. As I ate I began to think about the road ahead and the thought did occur that it might not be easy going.

It was 4:30 pm when I started from Denkanikottai. I wanted to make it to Hosur Road before dark, knowing that it gets dark early the cut off time to get to Hosur Road was 6:00 pm. I had 25 kilometers to get to Hosur, however there was a deviation before reaching Hosur which goes past the TVS factory and gets to Attibele directly instead of touching Hosur. I wanted to try this route. The Sun had begun its descent and the heat had taken a back seat. I passed by a sugarcane juice stall, fruit stalls and coconut water vendors, however it was within 15 minutes of restarting and I did not want to stop so early as it was not necessary. The route however was reminding me of a break very frequently, it was long downhill's followed by long climbs. The downhill's were being done very quickly, the uphill's were bringing me back to earth as I was struggling to pedal, not the struggles that I used to have a year back, however I had climbed Basavanbetta relatively easily as compared to the climb in the evening although the gradient was not as bad as Basavanbetta.

As I got closer to Hosur the climbs began to outnumber the descents. However, with the Sun not being hostile, I was able to recover and was able to pedal just below 20 kmph. I was happy with the pace and as I got closer to Hosur I was looking at the map to ensure that I do not miss the turn to TVS factory. The turn comes with 4 kilometers to Hosur, it was very tempting to ride straight to Hosur as I know the route from Hosur. However I opted for the TVS factory road as I wanted to see the route. It was 9 kilometers to Attibele and half way there I came across a coconut water vendor and made a stop. Gulped down 2 coconuts and I was back on the saddle. The road to the TVS factory is mainly downhill and as I reached the factory the Sun had gone down and it was dark. It is a two lane road and the road which was good till the factory was in bad condition after the factory. Bad road, high density traffic with oncoming traffic using high beam made me rue my decision to take this route. I was waiting to get onto the highway and when I did make it to the highway at 6:30 pm I was very happy.

I had 30 kilometers to go and was expecting it to take at least 2 hours. However, my legs had recovered and I was riding very fast even though there was climbing to be done. To my surprise I reached Electronic City by 7:00 pm and was on course to get home by 7:30 pm. I did not take the service road and was making very fast progress and with 5 kilometers to go I ran into a traffic jam. From here, the ride became very slow as the traffic was heavy and I began to crawl. It took 45 minutes to finish the 5 kilometers and I was happy to be home at 8:00 pm.

A shower, dinner and ice cream to celebrate the completion of the ride was what followed. Reflected on the ride and was happy that I had completed Basavanabetta and Anchetty climbs on the same day.

Ride Details:

From	To	Distance	Ride Time (hrs)	Total Time (hrs)	Departure Time	Arrival Time	Avg Speed
Koramangala	Kanakpura	57	2.50	2.50	3:45	6:15	22.80
Kanakpura	Basavanbetta	35	2.25	2.50	6:15	8:45	15.56
Basavanbetta	Kanakpura	35	1.75	2.25	8:45	11:00	20.00
Kanakpura	Anchetty	53	2.75	3.00	11:00	14:00	19.27
Anchetty	Attibele	55	3.50	4.50	14:00	18:30	15.71
Attibele	Koramangala	30	1.50	1.50	18:30	20:00	20.00
		265	14.25	16.25			18.60