One heck of a week it has been with all work. Couldn't manage to sleep last night as I had been thinking about nandi hills.. the route conditions.. whether my hawk could manage it and all the repair kits that were needed. Ajay and I were the riders. We agreed to meet at Krishna Rao park and headed towards KR Market Avenue road and straight to Windsor manor ...all the way till just a few kms beyond new airport to turn left to Nandi hills. In true 127 hours style Aron Ralston style I switched on music, headlight, tailight and a hankey to cover my nose and mouth.(air filter) The excellent roads were like a cherry to an ice-cream. Stopped on NH-4 to capture some pics. Hardly any stops were made till the base. I was quite confident that the climbs could be taken with stride... A huge blow to confidence when I made the first stop within 10 mins of start of ascent. Someone from Bikezone forums had completed the nandi ride from base to hilltop in under 30 mins..I wanted to finish by 40 but was able to manage by 1hr as I HAD to stop many times gasping for breath. The hairpin bends were full of scrapes on the tarmac indicating some serious stunts by bikers. When we neared the last hairpin bend I did manage to catch a glimpse of a watch tower/doom which marked the entry to Nandi Hills. A couple of delicacies to the eye were 3 bullets modified as chopper with high profile wide slick tyres with loud exhausts. And 3 Intruders which had awesome exhausts cruising one after another. also saw 2 R1's with REPSOL decals. A foreigner joined the Nandi ride from the base of the hill. He unloaded a lovely bike the innova which looked like merida. And soon left us behind. While we were about 2 kms to the summit he was descending at quite a good speed. This sight just added more namak to thoughts.... I am already in a dilemma whether to opt for a BTsport 1 or Trek. The competition was beaten to the bushes by just looking at black beauty. Hmm couldn't tell you how much road bikes inspire me. There were a few more foreigners who were preparing for an offroad journey but I couldn't spot a trail. Maybe the local guide knows about it. An exhilaration ... celebration with two sweet tender coconuts and our batteries recharged we were ready to descend.. You might be wondering at this point. what ?? you guys didn't enter nandi hills or visit the view points inside?
NOPE .. Absolutely not. This was all a test of strength stamina and endurance. I'm quite happy with both our performances. Maybe if i had to leave head faster I'd have shaved off a few minutes from the 1 hour for the climb but I'd be twice as tired and dehydrated. Anyway, we did start our journey by about 10AM and I had to be very careful as a few strings from the rear brake cable had cracked at the start of the journey. I totaly relied on the front brakes and the moment i see a curve ahead the braking started. But Ajay zoomed way ahead of me and reach a lot faster than I and waited at the base for a quick dose of refreshment. Thought about the return miles that lay ahead and we had to kill this thought as it was getting our morale down and making us think about our saddle sores. Solution :: Listen to music. This seemed to work great till we hit the NH-7 back again when the heat started to take a toll so the number of stops increased and so did the the tender coconuts..!! I saw a lady on a on a road bike which looked like a fomas road king but it wasn't. Damn.. didn't capture the name yet again. Anyway she just waved a quick hi and was on her way. As Ajay's beast ever so slowly ate up the miles I slowed down as much as I could to match up. We were at the Nrupatunga circle by about 1:30. A quick round of thank you's TA TA's we were parted ways and headed home for a much needed nap for the tired body and adrenaline pumped soul :-)
Odo meter :: 140 kms round trip from Jayanagar 5th block to Nandi hills summit.
Route Taken :: Jayanagar 5th Block >> Basavanagudi >> Avenue road/KR Market >> Windsor Manor >> Mekhri circle >> Yelahanka >> Devanahalli >> Nandi Hills.
Average Speed from Blr - Nandi Hills :: 22kmph
Average speed on return trip :: 20kmph (strong headwinds)
Total time taken 9 hours including all breaks.
Fastest ~58kmph by Ajay's Cannondale F9. ( My hawk @ 50kmph)
Cadence :: Some body help me with this !!!!
Fuel consumed ::
5 Tender coconuts
2 Munch bars
1 Center fresh bar.
~6 lts of water
2 plates of lemon rice
5 Idly ( The super soft idlis were simply superb)
About 5 PSI of air by Ajay's cannondale F9 and 10 PSI by my hawk
NOPE .. Absolutely not. This was all a test of strength stamina and endurance. I'm quite happy with both our performances. Maybe if i had to leave head faster I'd have shaved off a few minutes from the 1 hour for the climb but I'd be twice as tired and dehydrated. Anyway, we did start our journey by about 10AM and I had to be very careful as a few strings from the rear brake cable had cracked at the start of the journey. I totaly relied on the front brakes and the moment i see a curve ahead the braking started. But Ajay zoomed way ahead of me and reach a lot faster than I and waited at the base for a quick dose of refreshment. Thought about the return miles that lay ahead and we had to kill this thought as it was getting our morale down and making us think about our saddle sores. Solution :: Listen to music. This seemed to work great till we hit the NH-7 back again when the heat started to take a toll so the number of stops increased and so did the the tender coconuts..!! I saw a lady on a on a road bike which looked like a fomas road king but it wasn't. Damn.. didn't capture the name yet again. Anyway she just waved a quick hi and was on her way. As Ajay's beast ever so slowly ate up the miles I slowed down as much as I could to match up. We were at the Nrupatunga circle by about 1:30. A quick round of thank you's TA TA's we were parted ways and headed home for a much needed nap for the tired body and adrenaline pumped soul :-)
Odo meter :: 140 kms round trip from Jayanagar 5th block to Nandi hills summit.
Route Taken :: Jayanagar 5th Block >> Basavanagudi >> Avenue road/KR Market >> Windsor Manor >> Mekhri circle >> Yelahanka >> Devanahalli >> Nandi Hills.
Average Speed from Blr - Nandi Hills :: 22kmph
Average speed on return trip :: 20kmph (strong headwinds)
Total time taken 9 hours including all breaks.
Fastest ~58kmph by Ajay's Cannondale F9. ( My hawk @ 50kmph)
Cadence :: Some body help me with this !!!!
Fuel consumed ::
5 Tender coconuts
2 Munch bars
1 Center fresh bar.
~6 lts of water
2 plates of lemon rice
5 Idly ( The super soft idlis were simply superb)
About 5 PSI of air by Ajay's cannondale F9 and 10 PSI by my hawk
Feeling good after the ride, feeling as if i conquered the Nandi fort. But he best feeling is to feel fit at the end of the ride. Had a Good ribe bro, hope to do more rides with u.
ReplyDeleteYeap.. I'm looking forward to ride more.. Already missing riding my bike ... :-)
ReplyDeletenice one guys..
ReplyDeletekeep doing it ;)