Makalidurga

Date: 24 September 2016

Start Time: 4:15 am

End Time: 1:30 pm

From: Koramangala, Bangalore

To: Makalidurga

Distance: 136 kilometers

Altitude Profile:

The weekend was on and I did not have anything to do on Saturday, so I decided to go for a ride. I floated the idea to the group and got a positive response from Madhusudan, however, he had time constraints and said that he would be able to accompany me for half the ride. We decided to start at 4:30 am, however the location was not yet fixed. I dabbled between Shiva Ganga and Kolar Gold Fields, however, Kolar was going to be 200 kilometers for the round trip and hence decided to go with Shiva Ganga which would be 120 kilometers for the round trip with a small hike up the hill.

I was not able to sleep and was up by 3:00 am although I had set the alarm for 3:30 am. I got ready and made some last minute adjustments to the cycles and waited till 4:00 am to give Madhusudan his wake-up call. The wake-up call confirmed my fears and Madhusudan dropped out of the ride as he had a late night. I dropped the idea of going to Shiva Ganga alone since the place is infested with monkeys and carrying a bag for the hike up the hill is not advisable. I did a quick check on the places around Bangalore and opted to go to Makalidurga since this would be a ride plus a trek and more importantly the trek was not banned by the forest department.

I stepped out of the house at 4:15 am and realised that it was raining. It can't actually be termed as rain, it was less than a drizzle, so I decided to ride in it. I started slowly and got used to the water being sprayed on my face, however the water accumulating on the helmet and dropping down was irritating. Although the temperature was perfect for riding the water was irritating and the thought of having to clean the cycle once I return was a turn off. I hoped that rain would stop as quickly as possible.

I rode for the first hour and a half in rain and at day break I could see clear skies in the distance. I was happy that the sky was clear and pedaled to get out of the cloud cover. However, the cloud seemed to be moving along with me and the rain continued. I got out of the city, then Yelahanka and finally when I reached Rajanukunte the rain stopped. I made quick progress to Doddaballapur and took the by-pass. A couple of kilometers ahead there was a railway crossing and I had to wait for the train to pass. Did not have to wait long; headed straight and then took the road which goes to Gauribidanur. The route was very scenic from here, however the road is being re-laid and is not in very good shape; still was fine for the road cycle, however the issue was that it was a single lane road in which vehicles from both sides have to ply. Since it was the early hours of the day there was not much traffic and I was not made to get off the road by vehicles coming from behind me.

I was enjoying the view and was relishing the fruits of the decision to cycle through the wet weather. I did get the feeling that I had done a lot of climbing and was happy about it as the return journey would be relatively easy. At the same time, I kept telling myself that it's a false truth since we only remember the uphills and not the downhill segments, so the return might be just as difficult as the start. Just as I was going through these thoughts a long downhill section started, although I was enjoying coasting, I took it with a pinch of salt as I had to climb back up. I kept looking at the hills around and was trying to guess as to which would be the hill that I would be climbing. I came across another train and as I went above the bridge, I saw the Makalidurga railway station and knew that I had arrived and that the destination was not far off. I stopped and checked google maps for the Makalidurga trail, I still had a little distance to cover and restarted. The road went further downhill and as I admired the view of the hills around I overshot the Makalidurga trail road. Fortunately I stopped and checked on the route and did not have to track back too much. The trail road was a gravel road and I was able to ride further. The road heads towards the train tracks and as I got closer another train passed by. As I got closer the road was getting worse and I got off and pushed the cycle. I saw a few vehicles parked and knew that I had reached the destination.

All the cars were locked and no one was around. I looked around for a place to lock my cycle, however, there was no tree to which I could lock the cycle. I was not comfortable to leave the cycle un-attended and gave up the idea of hiking up the hill. I pushed the cycle towards the train tracks, parked the cycle and took a few snaps. Another train passed by and I was able to look at the train from close quarters and feel the force of the train pass by. I was very sure that I could not leave the cycle there and at the same time having gone till there I did not want to return without climbing the hill. I was stuck in two minds and just stood around looking at the view from the train tracks when a couple of village folk came by. I asked them about the route to the hill and they said that it is across the train tracks. I enquired if they knew a safe place to park the cycle, they suggested that there is a house across the tracks and an old man resides there and that I could request him to park the cycle at his place. I was overjoyed and carried the cycle across the tracks. I was accompanied by the village folk who took me to the old man and they also requested him for the parking space. Further they guided me to the trek start point as well. I removed all the accessories from the cycle, locked the cycle and headed towards the start point to hike up the hill.

It took me just over an hour to return from the trek. I paid the old man for the parking space and carried the cycle back across the train tracks. I fixed all the accessories back onto the cycle and ate a Guava which I had carried as breakfast. Since the weather was pleasant, I was not thirsty and neither was I hungry, however the Guava was just sufficient to quell the slight hunger that I had.

I restarted the ride at 9:30 am; the initial part of the trail I pushed the cycle and then got onto the cycle and rode slowly over the remaining trail till I hit the road. As soon as I hit the road, the climb started and I pedaled steadily and did not strive for speed and it was more of pedaling at a steady cadence and not allowing the cadence to drop. The initial 6 kilometers of the ride was all climbing and I made slow progress. Once I got past this section, the speed picked up and I was making up for the time lost in the climb. However, there were intermittent climbs which was averaging the speed. I made my way to Doddaballapur and as I exited the town I could hear frantic honking behind me. I was at the extreme left of the road and did not have any road left and I was not willing to get off the road since I was on the road cycle. This however ticked off the bus driver behind me as he was not able to slow down in time and had to make some last minute maneuvers to avoid hitting me from behind. He was soo close that the conductor standing at the door patted me on my back and told me to get off the road. I did not oblige and ranted back stating that the road did not belong only to him. It was a close shave and the problem was created since only half the road was available due to the road work.

As I made my way out of Rajanukunte I was hungry. I did not want to stop at a restaurant since it would take time. I tried to push for as long as I could, however, I had to make a small stop to eat some of the laddoo's which I had carried lest I bonk. A quick 15 minutes stop and I was off again. It did not take long for me to get to Yelahanka and then make my way towards Hebbal. I was greeted with a huge traffic jam near Hebbal and as I squeezed my way through traffic and used the foot path when I could, I missed the lane for the Hebbal flyover and had to go all the way to BEL circle to get back on track. Since the weather was kind I did not feel the pinch of the deviation, it would have been very frustrating if not.

As soon as I got into city limits the traffic increased and so too were the traffic signals. I had a lot of waiting time at the signals. I was getting stuck at every traffic signal and I lost a lot of time here which was annoying as I was trying to get home before 1:00 pm. As the clock ticked, the rain was back and I did get stuck in a small downpour when I was close to home which left me frustrated and a little drenched. I finally made it back home at 1:30 pm and even though I was a little frustrated with the rain and the traffic, I was very happy with the ride, especially since it was a new place and I had gotten to see some beautiful landscapes.

Ride Details:

From	To	Distance	Ride Time (hrs)	Total Time (hrs)	Departure Time	Arrival Time	Avg Speed
Koramangala	Makalidurga	68	3:50	3.50	4:15	7:45	19.43
Makalidurga	Koramangala	68	3.75	4.00	9:30	13:30	18.13
		136	7.25	7.50			18.76