The 120k Ride to jigani

After completing the Hesaraghatta ride in the previous week, Sachin wanted  to push the envelope further. We began to search for a easy 100k+ ride on the IISc Randonneurs website and the jigni route fit the bill.

We started off at around 5.30 am. We reached the Mysore satellite bus stand in an hour and had breakfast at a road side darshini. After that we headed towards Kanakpura Road via Banshankari. Since it was early in the morning, we were able ride fast and hard.The road side scenery was greener once we reached the highway. Also huge trees on either side of the road provided shade and probably improved the quality of air. This is one of the reasons I love cycling on the outskirts of the city far away from the regular hustle bustle.Also the road being mostly downhill added to the excitement and the thrill.

The Green Kanakpura Road

We missed a turn at Horahalli and were off course by about 7 km by the time we realized it. The sun which was mostly hiding behind the clouds in the morning was making its presence felt by now. We sat down under a big banyan tree and treated ourselves to some snickers and choco pie. By the time we resumed our ride the weather had changed to sunny.

Me Relaxing during the break.

The ride stated to get serious now as the downhills stopped and we had the occasional up. This was a good warm up for what was to come after half an hour. 

The Warm up Climb

We suddenly encountered a long ghat like bend which we had to climb up all the way in midst a couple of vehicles which were in a hurry. Since I had been through more difficult conditions in ooty and chikmagalur, I thought I could easily climb it on a gear setting of 2-4/2-3. But by the time I reached the top I had already switched to 1-2. Also I was little surprised  to find that we had another section to climb which was steeper and longer. My lack of exercise for the past 1 month was clearly showing during the climb.But since I had prior experience with more difficult climbs, I was able to complete the rest of the climb with slight discomfort. Even  though this part of the climb was fairly difficult it was what I enjoyed the most.The kind of riders high you experience after conquering steep slopes cannot be put in words. But at the same time I was worried about Sachin as this climb was little too much for a beginner. Inspite of not being physically prepared for this climb, he completed it through sheer will power which was quite commendable. I was waiting on the top  to snap a photo of him sweating  out at the bend. But he quickly realized my intentions and changed his body language to make it appear as if the climb was a piece of cake.

End of the Steep Climb Section

Sachin celebrating his success.

It was finally raining downs after the arduous climb and I got a little carried  away as I zoomed off  at the highest gear setting. It was only after a little while I realized that I had gone a lot ahead than required. After a wait of about 15 minutes, Sachin finally caught up with me and reprimanded me for my carelessness.

We finally reached Jigani and hogged on a lot of snacks in a bakery. I don't know if it was because of the exhaustion from the ride, but the pomegranate  juice I had there was the best one I had period.  the time we were cycling in the industrial area, the blazing sun was taking its toll on us. It was more like a zombie cycling session for quite  some time.

It was late afternoon when we were nearing silk board  and Sachin was totally exhausted . He was seriously contemplating on taking an auto.We stopped at a hotel to have the much needed lunch. The ride had taken its toll on sachin and he was so tired that he could not even decide the menu. It was probably too much given that he was a beginner.I quickly ordered meals and it was only after the meal that he began talking.We rested there for about 20 minutes. Having lunch seemed to have restored sachin,s spirit and we cycled all the way home.

In summary the ride unfolded a lot of surprises and thrills.I realized that I need to visit the gym more regularly.As for sachin it was a challenging ride where he really tested his limits and in the typical Sachin Aithal style, he again declared "I will start working out in gym from "Tomorrow" ".

Cycle Ride to Hesarghatta

After discussing about going on group cycle trip for about a year, the "weekend wanderers" finally decided to ride to hesarghatta as a tribute to Jaydeep who was going abroad for an MBA.While me and sachin were default options, we were joined by the ever enthusiastic Yashank and the energetic Pawar (no he has nothing to do with any scam :-) ). Pawar even borrowed a cycle from pro-bike for the ride.

We all assembled at the Big Bazaar at about 5.30 AM. and started off towards IISC where we were supposed to rendezvous with Jaydeep. He eventually joined us at the  BEL circle.

Waiting near BEL circle for Jaydeep

We used the GPX data available on the IISc Randonneurs website since none of us knew the route properly. We took a deviation to the Jakarbandi forest gate from the Jalahalli road. After 1KM in to the road, the noise and hustle-bustle of the city quickly melted into the background. The first 10 KM of this road was great as it is mostly down hill and was slightly secluded with only a few villages en-route. The Boys got very excited seeing the downs  and started riding hard. In the excitement we apparently missed some turn and were way off-course. Pawar was severely reprimanded for this as he was in charge of the navigation, but he passed on the blame to some random GPX app he was using(very convenient!!).

We re-planned  the route to Hesaraghatta lake and had some snacks on a road side shop. We reached there at about 8.00 AM. As usual there was no water in the supposed lake, instead there was a car parked right in middle of it. We took some time cycling on tracks around the lake and exploring it.

Debate on Where all the water in the lake Disappeared

Riding on the edge of the lake

We continued to cycle through the lush green CFTRI campus for sometime and finally reached the fields.

Cycling in the Grasslands

After a brief photo ops session we sat down under a tree to have some snickers. Pawar spotted an imli tree and started eating one. Jaydeep also got inspired by him and cracked open another one only to find all kinds of ants and worms coming out.It was quite gross.

After taking rest for a brief while i realized that we were behind schedule and would have to cycle in the afternoon sun at this rate.

While the journey till the fields was mostly filled with downs, the journey back had a few ups and also it was getting pretty sunny.The terrain and conditions started taking its toll on the boys and they were feeling exhausted. I kept motivating them. This was exactly how my first long distance ride turned out, where i was completely exhausted and kalpesh was motivating me.I was glad to be on the other side this time.

  

                                            Boys Sweating it out at the Ups.

We finally reached BEL Cirle at around 11 and bid farewell to Jaydeep . Pawar wanted to ride fast to probike as he had return the bike by 12, pending which he had to pay charges for an additional day.But the afternoon sun and traffic made him think otherwise.We stopped at a Baskin robins store on St. Mark's road to celebrate which was a fitting end to our ride.

Morning Ride to Hoskote Lake

This was a unplanned ride proposed by suhas on one of his random friday night visits to our place. He was planning to ride to hoskote lake in the next morning along with some of his friends from office and asked if we wanted to tag along. The Cycling enthusiast in me and sachin instantly took a liking to the proposal. JN was initially hesitant but came around on the prospect of bird watching. We spent the rest of the night planning to go through some interior route along the green pastures rather than taking the boring highway.

The Alarm started ringing at 5.00 AM and it took a lot of determination to wake up after snoozing it.It was a pretty cold morning and it took some time for us to get used to it. We took a detour along the main road and went into the paddy fields. Riding along them early in the morning breathing the fresh air with the rising sun in the background was quite the serene Zen like experience.

It was only after some time that we realized that the lakeside road we were supposed to take was private one owned by some international school and were not allowed to go on it.The only other way was to take the main road towards the highway, but suhas was not keen on it as the whole idea of the ride was to go in to the wild along the unexplored routes. We did exactly that for the next half an hour but always hit a dead end at the marsh. By then a dejected JN realized that other from suhas's office will not be joining us and he will not be seeing his birds today.

Finally we decided to hit the highway and get on with the business of reaching the lake at hoskote which was our primary objective.

We spotted nirupam in a petrol bunk. His cycle had got punctured and he was waiting for the repair shop nearby to open. Suhas got started with the business of repairing the puncture and we all happily assisted him.

Once the repair was done, we all rode hard on the empty highway and subsequently a race ensued between JN and Sachin to prove their supremacy on the wheels.As to who was the victor is a hotly debated topic till date.

We finally reached the lake at around 8.00 AM. I was glad to see that there was a lot of water in it which is not the case with most of the areas on Google maps marked as lakes in Bangalore. The birds pecking for fish in the water added a unique element of beauty to the lake.Something about it made the lake look more lively and refreshing. JN settled for the bird-watching he got at the Lake.  Suhas tried to atone for his sin of misleading JN by turning into his spotter.

We cycled in to the lush green fields nearby the lake and stopped somewhere in between when it got difficult to cycle.We were scolded by one of the  farmers for carelessly cycling over one of their water pipes.

Laying on the grass under the sun in cloudy conditions was a refreshing experience after the morning ride.We had a mini-picnic of sorts after resting for a brief while. After a brief debate on the venue for the morning breakfast ,we finally settled for Adigas and started riding back to the Bangalore.

Trip to Ladakh: Part 2 (Scaling Stok Kangri)

Day 1( Stok village to Mankarmo)

We got up early in the morning with a lot of excitement about the great trek we were going to embark up on. The ladies of the firdaus guesthouse were kind enough to give us some dried apricots which they believed would relieve any breathing problems caused by AMS.

Suhas and Shailesh spent the morning session giving pep talks to improve the morale of the troops.

Suhas Giving a pep talk

Shailesh reprimanding Suru for something.

 We had our breakfast in small punjabi dhaba near the guesthouse and reached tenzins sama's shop were some of us offloaded a great part of our luggage and consolidated the essentials in a few back packs.

After a hour long journey from leh we reached the stok village which was supposed to be our starting point. The view was simply mesmerizing with  a quiet stream flowing alongside the beautiful mountains in the background. We were greeted with tea at the entrance and spent some time chatting with the foreigners who were celebrating their success.

While the foreigners were well equipped with good trekking gear, our gear was pretty rudimentary consisting of sticks, shivajinagar gloves  and thermals.The only thing we invested in was the Quechua trekking shoes which earned our respect for it's toughness during the trek.

The customary Before Trek Photo

After some time our trek guides dropped a bombshell on us that one of the pony owners didn't show up and we did not have sufficient number of ponies to carry all of our luggage and some of us would have to carry their backpacks during the trek. Suhas and JN volunteered to take up their luggage, me and Yashank followed the suit.A visibly embarrassed  Tenzin Sama who had arrived there to see us off cursed the pony owner and vowed to ban him for life. After the customary photo-ops we  started on the trail along with guides,cooks and the ponies.

Pep Talk from Tenzin Sama

Beginning of the trek along the stream.

The Trail beginning to get steep 

Beautiful View of the Valleys in the Background.

The route was pretty flat until we encountered our first climb which was a very steep pass. Normally i would have climbed it without much of a problem but probably the altitude and the weight of the backpack made it a very laborious process which left most of us breathless by the time we reached the top. Our guides were smiling and informed us that this was nothing compared to what was yet to come.

Boys Approaching the steep pass

Cool down after the climb

After trekking for about an hour we reached a nice spot which was definitely worth taking a picture of. Suddenly a thoroughly exhausted Suru who was at some distance behind started running towards us as if he had got an adrenaline shot. Nothing motivates Suru more than his burning desire to get the perfect profile pic or gatecrash a group photo.

Suru Running towards the Camera man as if his life depends on it.

By noon we managed to spot the first Mitra cafe along the trail. As i would notice later during the journey, these cafes are present at every major checkpoint along the trail. We replenished our water supplies and had lunch near the stream.Boiled duck eggs in the lunch pack was quiet the surprise.

It's Lunch time

After our lunch we started walking along side the river bed. There were many instances where we had to cross the river and it was quiet an adventure doing it. Suru apparently slipped during one of the crossings and shrieked very loudly, bringing the entire valley to a standstill. We all rushed to the spot to rescue him but it turned out that he was rather unharmed. After resting there for a brief while we headed towards the mankarmo campsite.

JN demonstrating how it is done.

Pandey keeping tabs on competition

As expected pandey was leading the pack.But while nearing the base camp he spotted a group of mules who joined us from some shortcut and we were getting in their way.All of us made way but not pandey. His eyes locked with one of the Mules and he telepathically communicated "Challenge Accepted" to it. Pandey never shy's from a challenge no matter what it is.

Mules giving tough competition to pandey

The Battle lines were drawn. It was either pandey or the mules.The race was a  fiercely contested one where it was difficult to ascertain the winner until the very last minute. But Pandey held his nerve and finally emerged victorious.I am not sure if this will be good tale for him to narrate to his grand kids when he would describe his adventures in ladakh someday.

  

We finally reached Mankarmo at  8.30 PM and it was baffling to see that we had plenty of daylight even at this time. The camp was located on a pleasant site along side the river stream.There were several tents pitched by several trekkers who had come from various countries. The only Indians present there were us and the locals.The trekkers were having a merry time playing board games near the Mitra Cafe.

Camp Mankarmo

Fellow trekkers playing cards

 We quickly got down to the business of setting up our tents which was quite exciting as some of us were doing it for the first time. While others got busy with phots ops at the camp,An unwell JN silently started building a stone Stupa .The reason why he built the Stupa and for whom is still unclear.

JN Constructing his Stupa

The entire camp got pitch black after the sunset and the only thing we could see was the fire lit by the cooks who very busy preparing delicious meals. Locating the toilet which slightly away from the camp was quiet an adventure. The toilets available there were quiet rudimentary but got the job done. Considering that we were on some hill in a remote location i must say it was a great one.

We had a quiet candle light dinner in one of the tents pitched by our guides. We were pleasantly surprised with the delicious 4 course meal prepared by our cook. We had soup for appetizer, popcorn and salads for starters, chapatti/Rice & dal for main course and fruit salad for dessert. The meal was clearly much more than what we were expecting , hell even the salad was cut and presented nicely as if we were in some star hotel.But unfortunately all of us were suffering from a loss of appetite and could not eat much which was a contrast considering how exhausting the trek was and how delicious  the food looked.

The Sumptuous Dinner.

Some us even started to suffer from nose bleeds. Also the temperature dipped significantly as the night progressed. It felt as if the universe was saying something to us like "This is high altitude Bitch!! You didn't think it was going to be that easy. Did you?" . I didn't catch a lot of sleep in the night as I got woken up by the horse neighs and the cold temperature. Also that fact I was using a sleeping bag for the first time didn’t help either.

Day 2 (Mankarmo to Base Camp)

We were grudgingly woken up at 6.00 AM in the morning by Shailesh in the same ruthless manner that he used to do in our college days . The Sun may not rise on time, even the famous dabba-wallahs of Mumbai  may not deliver food on time but once Shailesh commits to wake you up in the morning he will complete the task no matter what. When his credibility is on the line, shailesh doesn't cut any corners.

We picked the empty bottles nearby to gather the water from the stream for our morning ablutions.The cold water of the stream sent down some chills down the spine.The part where we had to brush our teeth was fine, but the gargling process was quite icy. As for other ablutions it is best not described here.

We had a fine breakfast of oats,honey,bread,jam and omlets. We started off to the Base camp at 9.00 after dismantling our tents. The route was steep at many places but we were moving at a steady pace as we had a lot of time to cover the trail. There were some special plants we were asked to stay clear off. We were told that a small cut from them might lead to paralysis. (I am not sure if it was really true but we didn't take any chance). There were some ice sheets on the way and some of us had fun sliding on them.  

We managed to reach the Base camp in about 2 hours. There was some problem with getting up our tents as our mules had not arrived on the advanced camp. So we chose to hangout at the Mitra camp tent till then. We were having some animated conversation in kannada about our situation and were also making fun of the locals.Then suddenly the Mitra cafe manager tells us in kannada that he knows the language. It was one of those deeply embarrassing  moments. However the host was cool guy and began talking about kannada movies,how he loved the state and the time he met upendra during a film shoot. We had a great time taking to him. Also being kannadigas got us a lot of special privileges in the tent.

We also met some Israeli couple who had just finished serving their time in the army and were exploring the world. Also the guy was planning to propose to his girlfriend on the top of the summit and was asking for our suggestions.It was a different matter that all of us were single, but he didn't have to know that.Then we also met some thick bearded american nicknamed Guruji who had been living in the Himalayas for years and was very well respected by everyone around the base camp,

The Advanced Base camp

While some of us spent the afternoon sleeping, others were busy playing board games. In the evening me,pandey and yashank decided to climb up the nearest hill to get a better view for taking photographs. The climb was tiring but he scenery on offer more than made up for it. Suru who was initially reluctant to come up the hill, decided to follow us once he learnt that we were going to take some photos on top.

The Mitra Tent in its full glory

JN tried to cross the stream and get some drinking water from a tap on the other side of the stream. But he go his shoes entirely wet in the process,making it unsuitable for the next days trek.But since we were kannadiga's,the Mitra cafe manager offered an alternate pair to us for free. He also offered some head torches and other useful things in case we required them. 

We were told that the climb to the summit would begin at 12 in the night and we would have to come back by 2pm in the afternoon if we wanted to avoid the dangers of the slippery melting ice. We had a hearty meal  which mainly consisted of this  unique ladakhi cuisine called thupka which is a kind of Noodle soup. Most of just loved it and it went on to become the most ordered food item for the rest of the trip.

Having Dinner with Guruji and the Israeli couple

We all decided to catch some sleep before we would start the trek to the summit. But the temperature was so low that even wearing a thermal suit under 3 layers of clothing and jacket seemed useless for our situation. I somehow managed to sleep for 2 hours after which we were promptly woken up at around 12 pm by shailesh. It was freezing cold and i really didnt like the conditions outside. We quickly had some oats but our appetite was at its worst at this point.

Day 3 (Base camp to Summit and Back to Mankarmo)

Finally we started the last leg of the trek by climbing the nearby hill which some of us had ascended the day before.But it somehow seemed harder in the freezing temperature.We all moved in a single file accompanied by three patient guides. Since night was pitch black we could not exactly see the trail in which we were walking nor could we ascertain how much distance we were supposed to cover. Only while coming back would it dawn on us the amount of distance we had covered under the cover of the night. It was good in a way as we had very short term goals of reaching from one point to other. We would keep talking some random stuff to keep up our spirits and stay awake. The breaks were the moments we cherished the most and i would often doze of to sleep even when i was standing at certain times.

After trekking for about 2 hours i lost the sensation  on my face and my fingers. It was a strange feeling as i could not feel my fingers or my cheeks. Also my fingers refused to move a lot and it felt as if they were glued to the stick. We also had to cross the river stream at certain places and it got tricky because the stream was partially frozen and we had to carefully walk on the slippery ice.

By the time the sun started rising we had covered a great deal of distance and our group had clearly split into three. I was in the second group which was being was led by Shailesh. The First group was not that far ahead actually but the terrain was pretty steep and also the high altitude made taking every single step forward a pretty laborious task. We all decided to take a small break and observe the icy mountains behind us. After some time we had to cross a frozen river stream on our path and that was probably the most riskiest part of the trek. One mistake and we would sliding down the hill in no time. Some use did slip a little but we did manage to recover immediately and complete the crossing.

The Struggle to climb up the hill

After some point i thought i t would be a better idea to just sprint and cover as much distance as i can in a breath instead of slowly walking up the hill. The idea turned in to a nightmare for me as i got completely exhausted and breathless after that. This was probably the turning point in the trek for me where things just went from bad to worse after this.Being slow and steady is the winning mantra for high altitude trekking. Shailesh slowly managed to reach the top of the hill and was waiting for us.Bk followed him soon. I was in a really bad shape, my head was aching , I was feeling breathless and nauseous.But i was determined to reach the top of the hill at any cost.By the time i reached the hill, shailesh had already started off for the summit, but BK was waiting for suru. Rajesh also reached the top of the hill in some time. Suru was the only one remaining behind. The fact that he made it up till here without zero preparation was a testament to his sheer will power. It also a part of his personality trait where he always says that he will fail in a particular task before starting it but will always perform with flying colors when it comes down to business. Throughout the Trek Suru just had one Goal, where BK goes he goes as well.So keeping BK ('s feat) in mind he literally forced himself on the top. It was inspiring to see him climb the last 20 meters or so. His feet and lungs had probably given up but his mind didn't give in. He was lying flat on ground and was crawling his way up with every ounce of his remaining strength.The joy of accomplishment on his silent face once he reached to BK ('s position) on top was worth a million words even-though he was too exhausted to speak.

We all decided to have a quick nap first  for half an hour and decide the future course of action later.After the nap, we were assessing our options as we had already climbed to an altitude of about 6000 m. There was about 150 m more to go for the summit which was a adjacent mountain. Our main guide had gone ahead with others and we had completely depleted our energy reserves.We didnt have tookish  genes like shailesh to go alone towards the summit. Also a wise JN had once said to us "Reaching the Summit is Optional but returning Back was Mandatory ". In between all this i had a violent bout of nausea and got the distinction of puking from top of cliff at 6000m. This may not be a record but the guys decreed that it was so. It may be something like I might be first guy from so and so place who did this in the month August at this opportune time... blah blah blah, you can make something up just like cricket statistics.After some time our third guide reached our spot with Neil. We discussed our situation with him and he suggested that we simply head back as too much time had passed already and our journey back might get dangerous due to melting ice if we try to head for the summit.All of us were deeply disappointed (and secretly relieved :-) ) on hearing his assessment

The first group comprising of JN,Suhas,Pandey and Yashank made it to the summit in time. Shailesh joined them after 15min. But from what they told us, they were like half dead by the time reached there.A delusional JN was inquiring if there would be a Helicopter to take them back.

The Summit

The Beautiful view from the summit

The Victors

Climbing down the hill was not that physically demanding, but was extremely risky.We slided down the  sandy ramps,climbed down the rocks,slipped on the frozen ice,fell on the stones and what not.This was the part of the trek where our Quechua Shoe took a lot of abuse and yet emerged unscathed. At this point i would definitely pay my respects to the "Quechua"for making these awesome shoes.

By the time we reached the Base of the Hill, we  were basically Zombie walking. Even the Guys who had reached the summit, found it pretty hard to come back as they came through a more dangerous route which was apparently supposed to be a shortcut. Suhas literally sleepwalked the entire climbdown.There were many times where suhas had fallen asleep at the edge of the cliff.It was a miracle that he returned unharmed.

Suru had recovered his strength when we are at the base of the hill and was leading the pack determined to reach the camp first. We reached the Base camp at around 12 in the afternoon and dozed of in the tent. After some time we were told by the guides that we could not stay in the advanced base camp due to some logistical problems and had to go down to Mankarmo camp for the night.While this was an unpleasant development we had no choice.After some brief photo-ops we left for Mankarmo and reached in about an hour.Our guides took upon most of our luggage and other items.Some of them even made two trips to complete the job.We had a sumptuous victory dinner and dozed off in the night to a well deserved sleep.

Day 4 (Mankarmo to Stok Village)

Next Morning some of us woke up with bleeding noses. Rapid change of Altitude might have been the cause of it but we are not totally sure about this theory as Rajesh got the nose bleeds when we returned to Bangalore after a week. We set out for the Stok Village in the morning and completed the journey in about 4 hrs as it was mostly down hill. We had a quick Photo session with our guides and bid adieu to them.We had great adventures with them throughout the trek and will always cherish the memories of the time spent with them.

Theme of the Trek

Once we were back in Leh we had to attend to business of finding accommodation for 10 people. Suru and JN being the veterans in this field , shouldered this responsibility no questions asked.We spent the evening exploring the Shanti Stupa. The 500 steps we needed to climb to reach the top of the stupa seemed quite paltry after what we had been through. The View of the City from the top during the sunset was simply breathtaking.

Climb up to the Shanti Stupa

Beautiful view of Leh city from the Top 

We had our dinner at some strange hotel on changspa street. Firstly there were no customers there. There was one waiter who was quite nervous and we played a lot of pranks on him. The way in which he was suggesting that we take the GodFather "Juice" along with the food was quite funny. It was one of those crazy nights that you don't forget.