As the whole world slips into a slumber I get a chance to enjoy the uncanny peace with no motorbikes or cars or auto-rickshaws which are bothersome otherwise. The plans are made all of a sudden and all I can do is nod in agreement whenever I get a chance to hop on the saddle. As it is customary for the Cleated WArriors to ride out every weekend for a workout, this time only two of us had the chance to ride together (Opendro and I). Why? We were starting our ride in the evening. With the ride pre-checks complete I then headed out to meet Opendro at Jayadeva and he was there on time and I had to take a detour to avoid a couple of signals and ended up riding an extra mile. I almost always love the night rides even inspite of the extra risk factor. The primary reason is that the elevations can't be seen so one just keeps pushing. There is so much difference when the same route is tried during daytime when one can see the undulating highway and it is certainly a mind over matter situation. In no time we were at silk board darting in and out of traffic like an excited squirrel seeing peanuts.
18:49 hrs - Start from silkboard and maintained a steady pace till bommanahalli from where we switched from service lane to the highway. As we neared the next signal at kudlu gate the signal was still green but we could see people and two wheelers crossing ( just like it always has been and no respect for signals) we switched on the strobe on the ultrafire's. Magic Magic..!! Every one stopped on their tracks and only realized that the lights were of cyclists and not a silent ambulance. This repeated on the next couple of signals and finally we were out in the open as we neared the end of the E-city elevated tollway. We started riding at a steady pace of about 35-40kph and reached the Bangalore tollway. It was surprising how with the help of a companion you end up pushing harder.
19:34 :: 45 mins to reach from Silkboard. I was happy with the time as I normally take about 5 mins longer. There are some nice downhills where one can maintain 45+ without drafting and increase the average. I didn't push too hard as we also had a return leg and I don't prefer taking the bus or any other means to get back to Bangalore. We took the Hosur flyover could see the bustling traffic beneath with the typical melodious horns from TN(tamil nadu) buses. The terrain was mostly downhill and we enjoyed maintaining decent speeds and after we had covered 55kms we could see McDonalds and I thought we had arrived but then we still had a few more kms to go and I saw a board that mentioned 27kms to Krishnagiri. As always, the comparison was the distance to my office which was just a km longer. I thought we are so close to Krishnagiri.
20:41:: We reached A2B and could see the KPN and sharma buses stop for dinner. Curious onlookers but luckily didn't have to put up with the questions (how what when where why). With opendro sponsoring the refreshments, I managed to refill the gatorade for the return trip. The start of return ride was slow but then we picked up pace and chatting most of the way back. The first mini milestone for us was Hosur and then Karnataka Tollbooth. Both were reached without much drama. As we stopped at the toolbooth for some pics and a break to keep the glutes happy, Opendro updated Facebook about the workout and we ended up laughing. The comments were most awaited since this was the first workout at dusk that extends thru midnight. After we crossed the KA toolbooth it was all familiar territory and at one point Opendro did wonder how many more kms to go before we see the E-city elevated expressway. I gave him the exact landmarks to look out for rather than the kms as it was a familiar territory for my practice runs.
23:30 :: Back to silkboard and headed towards Jayadeva. We bid adieu as we parted ways and I just had over a km to reach home and so did Opendro. All in all a good fun run.
Meagre pics owing to poor light conditions ::
18:49 hrs - Start from silkboard and maintained a steady pace till bommanahalli from where we switched from service lane to the highway. As we neared the next signal at kudlu gate the signal was still green but we could see people and two wheelers crossing ( just like it always has been and no respect for signals) we switched on the strobe on the ultrafire's. Magic Magic..!! Every one stopped on their tracks and only realized that the lights were of cyclists and not a silent ambulance. This repeated on the next couple of signals and finally we were out in the open as we neared the end of the E-city elevated tollway. We started riding at a steady pace of about 35-40kph and reached the Bangalore tollway. It was surprising how with the help of a companion you end up pushing harder.
19:34 :: 45 mins to reach from Silkboard. I was happy with the time as I normally take about 5 mins longer. There are some nice downhills where one can maintain 45+ without drafting and increase the average. I didn't push too hard as we also had a return leg and I don't prefer taking the bus or any other means to get back to Bangalore. We took the Hosur flyover could see the bustling traffic beneath with the typical melodious horns from TN(tamil nadu) buses. The terrain was mostly downhill and we enjoyed maintaining decent speeds and after we had covered 55kms we could see McDonalds and I thought we had arrived but then we still had a few more kms to go and I saw a board that mentioned 27kms to Krishnagiri. As always, the comparison was the distance to my office which was just a km longer. I thought we are so close to Krishnagiri.
20:41:: We reached A2B and could see the KPN and sharma buses stop for dinner. Curious onlookers but luckily didn't have to put up with the questions (how what when where why). With opendro sponsoring the refreshments, I managed to refill the gatorade for the return trip. The start of return ride was slow but then we picked up pace and chatting most of the way back. The first mini milestone for us was Hosur and then Karnataka Tollbooth. Both were reached without much drama. As we stopped at the toolbooth for some pics and a break to keep the glutes happy, Opendro updated Facebook about the workout and we ended up laughing. The comments were most awaited since this was the first workout at dusk that extends thru midnight. After we crossed the KA toolbooth it was all familiar territory and at one point Opendro did wonder how many more kms to go before we see the E-city elevated expressway. I gave him the exact landmarks to look out for rather than the kms as it was a familiar territory for my practice runs.
23:30 :: Back to silkboard and headed towards Jayadeva. We bid adieu as we parted ways and I just had over a km to reach home and so did Opendro. All in all a good fun run.
Meagre pics owing to poor light conditions ::
At A2B (Adyar Anand Bhavan) the u-turn point !!
Pretty good for a camera phone at poor light conditions.
A short break for the Glutes...
Opendro busy updaing Facebook.
At the KA tollbooth on the return trip
