Kanakpura

Date: 24 September 2017

Total distance: 138 Kilometers

Start Time: 4:00 am

Return Time:  15:45 pm

With: -

Altitude Profile:
Koramangala - Kanakpura - Koramangala

The incessant rains and work had forced me to cancel rides. I had been off the saddle for 40 days and was getting frustrated that I was unable to ride. I had spent time cleaning the house which was repeatedly flooded due to the rains and when it did not rain I was spending crazy hours in the office. I did manage to be free the previous Sunday, however I was too tired to ride. It was a similar state this Sunday as well, however, I was determined to get back on the bike and restart riding.

Spent some time on thinking up a location and as usual with high expectations I first explored the locations which were in excess of 400 kilometers before bringing the expectation down. I have not done a hill climb from the time I have purchased the Trek and Nandi Hills and Basavana Betta were very tempting locations. Nandi was too close and Basavana Betta was too difficult, wanted something easier and came up with Yelagiri which would be an easier climb and also meet the distance criteria. I checked with Rajkumar if he would join and got to know that he was out of station.

I thought over the location again and dropped the Yelagiri plan as I was beginning to lean towards a relaxed ride as I was restarting after a long time and riding 300 kilometers with a hill climb would probably be asking too much. Thought of taking the easier route and opted to ride to Barachukki falls instead.

I woke up at 3:00 am, prepped the cycle and me and was out at 4:00 am. Fortunately there was no rain and I could venture out finally. I started slowly and soon I was riding through the bad roads in the city. When I made it to Kanakpura road, I had to switch on the lights and had my first set back for the day, I had not charged the lights and the battery was weak. Although I had a spare light in the bag, I wanted to save it for the night and tried to make max use of the one that I had loaded. The issue with the one on the cycle was that it would switch off as soon as I hit a pothole and would leave me with a few seconds of darkness before I switched it back on.

The metro construction had left the road in very bad condition and I had to concentrate very hard to maneuver the cycle around the bad stretches. the lights combined with the bad roads made me miss daylight more than I usually do. When I made it to the NICE road junction, I was relieved that the road condition will improve from here on.

It was still dark and I was passing by a few lakes which had filled up due to the rains and I was missing daylight. I kept a steady pace and did not strive to ride hard as I wanted to conserve energy. I was surprised with the traffic which was very heavy in spite of it being a Sunday. I was getting frustrated with the traffic pushing me to the side of the road and off the road on a couple of occasions as well.

Daylight came as a relief and I made it to Harohalli just as the day lit up. The ride from Harohalli to Kanakpura was a breeze. I enjoyed the downhill's and the small climbs. The clock had just moved past 6:30 am when I reached Kanakpura town. I had the option to stop for breakfast, however, I opted against it and thought that I had enough in my tank to keep going. A decision that I was left to rue.

As I made it past Kanakpura, I knew that it was going to get difficult for the next 10 kilometers before the ride eases out. However, I was feeling very uncomfortable and was in a similar situation to the Pondicherry to Cuddalore ride. There was a drop in the energy levels and was feeling nauseous. I tried to keep riding but the thought kept growing in the mind. I decided to stop and rest for a while before continuing.

I had done 65 kilometers when I stopped. Drank a little water, then ate a guava and thought about the ride. Although I wanted to continue, I decided to turn back as I did not want to risk being stranded and having to load the cycle onto a bus/truck to make it back if things got worse. I knew that the ride was going to ease out in a bit, however, with a conservative thought I decided to ride back and hoped to ride to Barachukki Falls in the near future.

The ride back was easier than I had expected. Further with the reduced distance I had the freedom to push a little harder. On the way towards Kanakpura I had passed by a couple of water bodies and had missed day light when I passed by them. Now that I was on the way back I was excited that I would get to see them. I made it easily to Kanakpura and rode towards Harohalli and was expecting lakes after every turn. However I did not come across any and realised that I had passed the lakes in the stretch between Kaggalipura and Harohalli.

Just as I was getting close to Harohalli I came across a group of cyclists who had stopped to fix a puncture and I saw a familiar face. Satish Addanki, was part of the group and we had a small chat. He had just returned from the London-Edinburg-London ride, although we did not have a lot of time to discuss about the ride in detail I managed to get a jist of the ride. As they are a very fast group of riders I said that I would ride as they would catch up with me on the road.

It was still very early in the day and although I wanted to stop for breakfast, as I was on Kanakpura road I decided to ride to my friend Satya's house which is near the NICE road. I called up Satya and woke him up from his sleep and told him that I would be at his place around 10am and that we could have breakfast together. Soumya, Satya's wife had just come back from a solo back packing trip to Spiti Valley and I was keen to hear about her adventures.

After the call I began to ride and although I was only 30 kilometers from Satya's house, hunger was beginning to tire me very fast. I ate a guava which I had carried and hoped to make it without making any more stops. In a short while I began to come across the lakes and it was a refreshing site.

As I got closer to the city the traffic was increasing exponentially and I was being pushed off the road on many occasions. Although I was making good ground I was feeling very hungry and had to make a stop at a bakery and had a couple of buns to keep me going. I realised that I was empty and had not eaten well the previous night which had resulted in low energy levels for the ride. I should have filled up in the morning before the ride, but missed out on that as well.

I reached Satya's house around 10:15 am. We made a short visit to A2B to parcel breakfast and then eventually landed up at his house at 11 am. Had a good breakfast and then caught up with Soumya's back packing adventures at Spiti and their Thailand trip before getting back on the saddle.

I rode through rain soaked streets of Bangalore and kept thinking of the cycle maintenance that would follow. I got back home around 3:45 pm.

I was disappointed that I could not ride to the location which I had planned, but was glad that I had got back on the saddle after a long time. I hope that I don't stay away from the saddle for a long time again.