Maralawadi Backwaters

Date: 29 April 2018

Total distance: 117 Kilometers

Start Time: 4:30 am

Return Time: 12:30 pm

With: Madhusudan

Altitude Profile:

Koramangala - Harohalli - Maralawadi - Thattekere - Jigani - Koramangala

It was the weekend and Madhusudan wanted to ride after  long time. We had limited time and had to plan for a half day ride. The route was decided as Harohalli - Maralawadi and return through Thally if possible if not we would return from Thattekere - Jigani.

The start time was decided as 4:30 am. I was up early and was ready by 4:00 am. I started from home at 4:30 am as I had to get to HSR layout by 4:30 am, which was the meeting point. I reached at 4:40 am and began the wait. Madhu came by at 4:55 am and we started the ride.

It was a steady ride through the city. Most of the roads were well lit and we did not require to use the lights. When we made it out of the city, it was day break. We had reached the NICE road junction on Kanakpura Road when we had daylight and the downhill's arrived as soon as we had daylight. It was timed well since we did not have to do the downhill is reduced visibility.

Madhu, as usual had started out quickly and was riding quick. I did tell him to take it easy as he had to save his legs for the rest of the ride. However, he said that he was done fine and was enjoying the downhill. There were visible signs of him tiring as he was slow on the short climbs and I was wondering if we should turn back from Harohalli.

We reached Harohalli and Madhu re-iterated that he was doing fine. The next town was Maralawadi, we took the left at Harohalli and after a small section of bad roads were onto good roads. It was rolling terrain and we were gaining altitude, Madhu was falling behind, however he kept pedaling and was making slow progress on the climbs. A few indications that he should ride low gears was brushed off as he said that he was comfortable riding the high gears.

Maralawadi is just 12 kilometers from Harohalli and we reached at 7:30 am. A quick check of the remaining distance and we chose the Thattekere route as it was only 50 kilometers as compared to the Thally route which was 70 kilometers. Before starting the return journey we rode to Maralawadi Dam which was 5 kilometers ahead.

Unfortunately for Madhu most of this route was uphill and he was very slow. We took a good 30 minutes to get to the Dam and when we reached the backwaters I got to know that Madhu was cramping which was the reason for his pace dropping. As we were going to spend some time at the backwaters, I had expected that to be sufficient recovery time.

The back waters was calm and beautiful. We spent a good hour almost at the place, first near the back water and then a little distance away when we sat in the shade and ate biscuits and cake. The place hardly had any visitors, probably the reason why it retains it beauty.

We restarted the ride at 8:30 am, the expectation was to get back by 11:30 am max as we had to ride only 50 kilometers. Having ridden the Thattekere route earlier we knew that there was a little climbing to be done for about 5-8 kilometers after which the road eases out.

We made it easily to Maralawadi as it was downhill. From here, it was a nice ride to Thattekere as the road was even gradient and we were passing through agricultural fields. Madhu was slow as he had not recovered from the cramp, this gave me time to see a farmer working on the silk cocoons.

When we reached Thattekere it was time to start climbing and we were hit with a climb immediately. I was trying to ride without changing the gears and was on the highest gear combination on the MTB 3X7. The plan was simple, ride quickly at the start and hope to build sufficient momentum to be able to get past the climb. Executing the plan was not as simple as the making the plan, the first steep climb, I made it half way before losing momentum and pedaling was very difficult after this. I was standing and pedaling and had to put a lot of effort to make it to the top. I stopped at the top which was just before the forest gate and waited. Meanwhile, Madhu was having his own struggle with the cramp which was worsening. He ended up pushing the cycle and had all but given up on the ride and was all for loading the cycle onto a luggage vehicle. I told him that we had to get to Jigani to get a luggage vehicle since we would not get anything around here. Told him to walk a little and that would help in the recovery.

We started after 10 minutes and as soon as we entered the forest, the forest guard was there to stop us. I told him that we are not going to stop inside the forest and that we are not riding to Thattekere. He warned us about elephants in his attempt to dissuade us from riding in the forest. We acknowledged that there was a threat and that we would be careful and continued riding. It was rolling terrain in the forest and in spite of all the plans to not stop inside the forest Madhu's chain had to slip inside the forest limits which necessitated a forced stop.

We made it past the forest after the quick stop to fix the chain and the climb started again. There was a kilometer steep climb coming up and Madhu was struggling in the small climbs before that. I was confident that if Madhu made it past the climbs then he would ride home as the road eases out, however, the climb was proving very difficult for him. I was able to ride on the same gear all through and had made it past the small climb just before the forest gate, which motivated me to try the next climb also without changing gears. I used the same plan, I built up momentum at the start and tried to carry it forward, however, it did not take me far and I was off the saddle very early to keep going. I had half of the climb remaining and I was barely able to push the pedal, I had to try something different to keep going and I changed to riding diagonally. It worked, the gradient reduced and I was able to make progress, however, there was traffic at this inopportune time which forced me to ride in a straight line again and I had to put my foot down. Putting the foot down was not the problem, restarting was and I had to push with my feet to get some momentum going before getting back on the saddle. It took a lot of effort to get to the top and I was pretty exhausted. I waited at the top and thought that even by pushing the cycle up the slope Madhu will make it in 5 minutes. 10 minutes passed and he was not to be seen. I started to ride back and saw that he had almost made it to the top, but was in very bad shape. We were about 10 kilometers from Jigani and it was going to take a huge effort from him to get there.

Somehow, Madhu pushed and rode and made it to the top of the climb and we stopped at a store to refill water and drank juice. We restarted and rode the next few kilometers very slowly. We took intermittent breaks and were 3 kilometers from Jigani when Madhu found a luggage auto and struck a deal to take him back home for which he was asked to pay Rs 600.

After Madhu left, I continued the ride. The road to Jigani was not good, however in 3 kilometers the road improved and along with it the pace also improved. It was familiar roads and I was able to ride hard and keep the pace in the high 20's and made it to Hosur road by 11:30 am. Traffic situation on Hosur Road was not bad and I was able to ride quickly and made it to Koramangala by 12:00 pm. I rode around in Koramangala before getting back home at 12:30 pm. I got to know that Madhu made it back home at 12:15 pm. I was happy that he was back and that he could rest and recover.