MC's Cycling Diary

Date: 22 July 2017 Total distance: 404 Kilometers Start Time: 5:30 am 22 July 2017 Return Time:  4:50 am 23 July 2017 With: Rohit B V and Ruban Raju Altitude Profile: Lavelle Road – Tumkur - Arsikere - Hassan - Channarayapatna - Lavelle Road I had to ride a 400 km BRM to complete my second SR for 2016-17. The 400 BRM was scheduled to start at 5:30 am on 22 July 2017. The route was announced and it was a repeat of last year's Hassan 400BRM. Ride to Tumkur, Arsikere, Hassan, Yadiyur and back. The route was not exciting as I had done it before, but as it was the last 400BRM for this season by the Bangalore Randonneurs I opted to ride it. As the cycle choice was pre-decided, although there was a temptation to try the Trek Alpha 1.5, as I wanted this to be an MTB SR, the Merida was prepped for the ride. I had to change the tires as I was averaging at least one puncture on the recent rides. Knowing that having a puncture would be de-motivating on the long rides, I ...

Date: 15 July 2017 Total distance: 243 Kilometers Start Time: 3:20 am Return Time:  16:20 pm With: - Altitude Profile: Koramangala - Kaigal - Koramangala I was looking up for places near Bangalore for the weekend ride and came across Kaigal waterfalls. It is a perennial waterfall in the Koundinya Wildlife Sanctuary located in Chitoor District of Andhra Pradesh/Seemandra. The pictures looked good and the thing that got me hooked was that it is a perennial waterfall, meaning that it flows through the year and gets augmented in the monsoon season. Although the monsoon has not been great, I expected a waterfall however small and decided to ride on Saturday. The place was about 120 kilometers one way and based on last week's ride I knew that I could handle the distance. The plan was to start at 3:30 am so that I can return in daylight. I set the alarm and slept early. Although I did get to bed early I slept only around 12:00 pm after twisting and turning in bed for ...

Date: 8 July 2017 Total distance: 227 Kilometers Start Time: 5:45 am Return Time:  19:30 pm With: - Altitude Profile: Koramangala - Madhugiri - Koramangala Madhugiri is the second largest monolith in Asia, with Savandurga being the largest. I had been to Savandurga and wanted to visit Madhugiri, however the distance had been a deterrent. Further, it is a grueling climb and I was not confident of being able to ride back after climbing the hill. I read a few blogs about the Madhugiri trek and budgeted 4 hours to complete the trek. I checked on the route map and decided to take the shortest route which was to ride to Madhugiri through Dabbaspet rather than through Tumkur. It was about 110 kilometers one way and I had done similar distances in the past, however the trek that followed was not as strenuous as this one was expected to be. I wanted to give myself as much of a buffer as possible and planned to start the ride at 3:30 am, similar to the previous week so ...