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.