Nandi Repeat and Trail Ride

Date: 7 May 2017

Total distance: 150 Kilometers

Start Time: 5:15 am

Return Time:  3:00 pm

With: -

Altitude Profile:
Koramangala – Nandi Hills - Koramangala

I was getting bored in Bangalore and wanted to take off on another short trip. It was a last minute plan, therefore I would have to go alone. I did not have any issues with riding alone and planned to ride to Chennai/Puducherry. The plan was to ride for 3 days. Just when things were falling into place work began to come in and I had to drop plans for the trip. I could squeeze in one free day on the weekend and had to change the plan.

I pondered over the locations and settled on riding to Nandi Hills as it had been over 6 months since I had last ridden to the place. The plan was to ride up the hill and repeat the climb. Try and do the climb 3 times before returning. I had to leave early as it is peak summer and riding in the heat is pretty unforgiving and also climbing will be more difficult. I wanted to get started by 4:00 am so that I can be done with the climbs before the heat begins to kick in.

I woke up at 2:00 am before the alarm rang. Realised that I was up very early and went back to bed to catch up on a few extra minutes of sleep. The few extra minutes turned into a couple of hours and when I did wake up it was 4:30 am. I had missed my start time. I got ready and when I was ready to start the clock had ticked past 5:00 am.

It was 5:15 am when I got rolling. It was still dark and the weather was pleasant. I decided to ride on the Outer Ring Road rather than through the city. The roads were empty and it did not make a difference whether I rode through the city or on the ring road. As I got closer to Hebbal I realised that there was not much of a difference in the distance as well between the two routes. Took another diversion in the route and rode on the Sathanur route rather than riding to Hebbal. The road connected to the Yelahanka Air Force base and I had avoided the Yelahanka flyover. Just as I took the diversion from the outer ring road towards Sathanur it was sun rise time. I checked the watch and the time was just 6:00 am and the Sun had risen. I did not like the early sun rise. In the next 20 minutes it looked more like 8:00 am as the Sun was up and the heat was also beginning to rise.

When I got to the Yelahanka Air Force base it was back to familiar territory and the countdown of the flyovers began. In a short time I was at the ITC factory and crossed the airport toll. A quick ride and was at the turn to Nandi Hills from the highway. It was 7:15 am and I had reached the turn in 2 hours. I had the option to stop for breakfast, I opted instead to ride and have breakfast at the base if I was hungry. I was hungry when I had started the ride and wanted to stop for food, I had pushed through the start and now that I was a couple of hours into the ride hunger was not biting me hard.

It took 40 minutes by the time I reached the Nandi base. I had been quicker than my previous rides and by now riding up the hill as quickly as possible had taken precedence over stopping for breakfast. On the approach to Nandi I had contemplated different speeds for each climb and was working out on which attempt I should push hard and which I should take it easy. As I got closer, I realised that the first attempt will be the quickest as I would be fresher than on the other attempts and that I should try to get a Personal Best Time on the first climb rather than trying it on the subsequent attempts. Although the target was to ride quicker than on my previous attempts, I did want to keep a little in the tank for the subsequent attempts and knew that I should not expend everything on the first climb.

I kept looking at the cyclocomputer and kept the speed above 10kmph. A miscalculation in the expected time once again let me down, I computed that I would be taking roughly 3 minutes per kilometer and was happy with the time. Only on completing 4 kilometers of the climb I realised that 20 minutes had already elapsed and I was taking just under 6 minutes per kilometer. The next kilometer went by quickly, however the 2 kilometers that followed took some work and a final push to make it to the Nandi entrance and I had taken 41 minutes for the climb. When I had started I had targeted a 35 minute finish, however, the clock had ticked over 40 minutes, I had done a personal best, but it was still way below expectation. I started the downhill almost immediately and fortunately got less traffic and made it down in under 10 minutes, another personal best.

When I reached the bottom I had the option to stop for breakfast, however I wanted to continue riding as a stop would make me lazy. I started the second climb immediately. I had expended additional energy on the first climb and now I was back to riding at 7 kmph. My usual speed on the Nandi climb. The legs were holding up, but I did not want to push too hard. It was relatively empty for a Sunday morning and I liked that I got to ride long stretches without having vehicles honking at me. A few tourists were present and they seem to have a strange tendency to mock cyclists when they see one. I ignored these people and continued riding. As I got higher even though I wanted to push, I had settled into the pace and was looking at reaching the top rather than gaining time. Physically I was beginning to feel the effect of the climb. When I made it past the 4 kilometer mark, I had taken over 30 minutes and knew that I was struggling to push the pace. I was climbing steadily but was not able to increase the speed. The gradient got steeper and I was only slowing down. I was happy to keep riding and not stop instead of trying to push on the speed front. I had miscalculated on the water front as well and not stopping for a refill at the bottom was costing me. I had to ration my water supply and with over a kilometer remaining I was out of water. I might not have drunk any water on the last kilometer if I had it, however, the minute you get to know that there is no water, the mind starts playing strange games and I wanted to sip on water after every pedal stroke. I managed to quell the water thought and concentrate on the climb. I made it to the top and had taken almost an hour to reach. I had taken 20 minutes more in the second attempt.

I wanted to click a few pics on the way down and did the downhill at a relaxed pace. Kept slowing down at the curves looking for viewpoints. I made it down 3 kilometers and stopped to refill on water and had coconut water as well. I had stopped at the junction where there is a trail and had seen a few cyclists and trekkers taking the route. I was curious to try it and enquired about the route. I was told that it goes all the way down to the junction where we turn towards Nandi Hills and towards Chikkaballapur. I was riding the MTB and did not have a better opportunity to try the trail. So off I went on the trail.

A few meters in and I stopped to take pics of the trail. The phone had slowed down and it took a while to take a couple of pics. I made it down a little further and stopped again when I saw a view point. Clicked a few more and then went to a clearing and managed to park the cycle in a gap between the rocks and looked at the phone and it was hung. I tried in vain to get it started and failed. I switched off the phone and to add to my frustration the phone was not restarting. I knocked the phone a bit (the usual Indian way of getting things started) and then found a place with shade and sat down and enjoyed the view instead of breaking my head over the phone. It took 10 minutes for the phone to restart and go back into hang mode again. Another 10 minutes to restart the phone again. This time it was up, I clicked a few pics and decided not to use to phone anymore till I get home. Restored the strava recording and I was back on the trail.

The trail looked smooth from a distance, however as I got closer it was very rocky and picking a line was very difficult. Moreover with minimal trail experience I had doubts about the cycle holding up. I was struggling at every steep rocky descent. The brakes were working well and it was a confidence booster, however the trail was getting more and more difficult and I was spending more time off the cycle than on it. I expected that it would get easier as I got down, however it was only getting worse. I do not know the skill of making the cycle jump and was being hampered by this. Further as I got down there were a lot of shrubs with thorns which has grown into the trail and I was having a horrid time riding between these. Got scratched on many occasions and was fortunate to have the scratches on the clothing and not on the body. I was not enjoying the trail ride and was struggling to get down.

There were different route options as well and not knowing the right one I ended up at a dead end. I had just passed by a villager but had ticked him off by not giving him money as per his request and going back and asking him for the route was not an option. I searched for a route and realised that I had missed a turn. A look back and climbing back up on the trail also looked difficult. There was a path between shrubs and I carried the cycle in between and ended up on a dried up stream. The soil was loose and riding was not an option. I pushed through the sand and then climbed out of the stream. I ended up on private property and could see the road but had to ride through the property. The property is being spruced up and as I rode towards the gate I came across a small moat, they had left a gap and not filled the soil here. It was at least 6 feet down. I had to get down while I held the cycle above me and somehow managed to do it without damaging myself or the cycle. I was happy to have made it across and rode towards the gate and then connected back to the trail. It was downhill on smooth trail hereafter and I made it to the junction.

The struggles on the trail and the loss of time had resulted in me cancelling the third climb and I started the return. A kilometer in and I stopped to purchase grapes. A large packet went into the bag and a small one was hung onto the handle so that I could eat them as I ride. I rode a couple of kilometers and could hear the rear tire making noise, further there seemed to be a little rolling resistance. I stopped and confirmed my fears, I had suffered a puncture and as the air loss was slow I guessed that it was a pinch flat which I would have had on the trail. There was no place to fix the puncture and I rode a little further before stopping under a tree. Unloaded all the accessories and turned the cycle over, removed the wheel and started off on changing the tube.

I took about half an hour to change the tube. Removing the punctured tube and inserting the new tube did not take long. Pumping air into the new tube took a lot of effort and time. I rested a while and packed the punctured tube as I rested.

When I got back on the saddle it was 12:00 pm and the sun was out, I resumed the ride in sweltering heat. I was exhausted and was tiring quickly in the heat. The heat increased when I got onto the highway. There were no trees for shade and the only hope that I had was when the Sun went behind the clouds. Every time the Sun hid the speed was up in the high twenties and as soon as it came out the speed would drop to the early twenties. The sight of a fellow cyclist struggling to ride was a bit of a motivation and when I saw that he had opted to get onto a two wheeler and hold the cycle it made me feel better as I was still out on the road riding.

I kept munching on the grapes so that I could postpone the lunch stop. I had not eaten breakfast or lunch and was trying to survive on coconut water and grapes. Although they were doing an effective job, things got difficult when I ran out of grapes. I had to fight hunger in addition to fighting the heat. Fortunately for me I had reached Hebbal and was able to keep pushing and resist the temptation to make a stop for food/drink at a restaurant. I rationed the water supply as well and managed to run empty when I was a couple of kilometers from home.

It was good ride and although I was exhausted I was pretty happy that I had ridden in peak summer and managed to do a 150 kilometer ride. The weather was good for most part, however things began to get difficult from the time I opted to do the trail ride. The phone began to act up, then I lost my way on the trail and felt miserable as I had not enjoyed the trail ride, then the puncture and then the heat from 11:30 am was something of an experience. I was able to ride at a steady pace in spite of the difficult conditions, although not fast but was quick enough. A few personal best's for Nandi Hills and lot of scope for improvement. Although the climbing has improved it is slow progress. The hill still holds its charm in spite of having made 6 visits on the cycle to it.