Start of an adventure/endurance rides. Ever since Major (Srinivas) got posted to the north, I wondered if I could ever get a 'brave-heart' companion. The initial idea was to ride till krishnagiri and back then it wavered between A2B/CCD and Krishnagiri. We all know how random the plans can get changed. As the hour approached only two contenders remained, Harsha (the Ironman) and I. Chickening out seems to be the trend and so did this trip see its fair share.
My goal was to head out for an endurance ride regardless anyone participating. Harsha, the strong rider that he is, agreed to give me company and decided to ride through the night. The 'drop pin' destination on the maps
shifted from Krishnagiri to Yelagiri. The general public goes T.G.I.F to me it was T.G.I.S (Thank God It's Saturday). Shift ended at 2pm and the idea was to meet at silk board by 10pm. Started to prepare the bike and post late lunch (at 4pm) hit the bed to catch some sleep. Started from home at about 9.40 and reached Silkboard as planned and Harsha was already waiting. A quick chat revealed that he ended up with stitches on his head a few days earlier due to a fall from the trainer. I doubted if this would hamper his performance but he went on to prove otherwise :-D. We started at a steady pace and reached Attibele in no time with my expert guidance on the road conditions as it is my regular training. The aero bars looked enticing and Harsha seemed a little uncomfortable using them as the tiniest adjustments to the elbow can have drastic effects on steering. After Attibele, it was time to look forward to the next milestone, CCD (Cafe Coffee Day) at shoolagiri. What followed next was a steady
downhill and with CCD in sight, the speedometer showed spike in the
speed. I had a cappuccino while Nagraj gorged on Cold coffee. This was a
short break to help us decide on the breaks ahead.
YUMMY .. Coolant for tummy..!!
Bikes getting a short rest before the long night ride.
From shoolagiri onwards we saw quite a
few places where there was about half a km traffic pile up due to the
roadworks. Was it a problem for us.... Absolutely not...!! Being on
bikes we just zigzaged our way thru the trucks and buses and soon
reached krishnagiri. Another confusion prevailed as to which direction
was chennai highway. Harsha pulled out his phone to check on gmaps and
indicated we had to continue straight but i was adamant and mentioned
that it was to the left and yelagiri is on the Chennai highway. Since
co-ordinates were accurate the orientation was where the confusion
began. We turned left onto the Chennai highway. It was about 1am and
Harsha wanted to top up on omelettes but decided against knowing that
i'm a vegan so we with a meagre stock of figs and nutribars.
The Lone (apart from photographer) Highway Rider..
About 20kms short of Yelagiri turnoff,
we stopped at a small shop on the other side of the road and as soon as
we entered two dogs went berserk. I managed to remove the helmet and
called them as if they were pets and both quieted down. Tummy trouble for
Harsha so off he went to shed some load before the climbs that lay ahead
in the morning. We could've reached Yelagiri by about 4.30 had we
continued in the same pace. Instead we started after nearly 40mins of
break and stopped yet again for another dose of Tea and biscuits. We
overshot the target and stopped at a junction then looking into the
darkness something didn't feel right. More dogs..!! 3D surround sound
with Dolby Effects..!! Checking the maps we found we overshot the
turnoff by just ~2kms. About 8 kms away was another major turn that would lead us to the Salem-Tirupattur highway and we
planned to take that road instead. We managed to cross this junction where
there was a flyover being constructed and took a u-turn. It is very easy
to miss this turn towards Salem-Thirupattur highway as it bears no
resemblance to the color of the route marked on the map (like that of a
main road) against the real deal. We were happy to see a 10std kid on a
hero honda who's dad was a cop and had come to the chennai highway to
see him off to Krishnagiri. Mighty glad that he accompanied us all the
way to the salem-tirupattur highway. Harsha checked on the google maps
just to be extra cautious. We thanked Prabhakar as we were at the base
of Yelagiri. We reached in the best possible time to start the climb on a
cool morning. The view of the towns below was fantastic and for the
initial 3-4 kms taking it easy and continuing at a leisurely pace and at
about 9th km I went full throttle as one of the cyclist who was
returning mentioned that it was just another km to the summit.
Maintained a higher cadence and reached the summit and was ready to
capture pics of Harsha finishing who joined me shortly. Here he is in a
grand finish.. Bragging rights granted.. Been there done that..!!
At the summit .. huffing and puffing..!!
Great food but not so good/polite staff
Photographer getting photographed ...
System in 'Standby mode'
Harsha remebering dialogue from English Vinglish ... I miss two things about India my mummy and Idly !!!
Tasty puris with great sambar and aloo curry.
The most efficient machines on the planet that brought us to Yelagiri.
More of landscape capture from my X6.
Wallpaper material
Inner peace.... Inner peace... Inner.....
Harsha finally getting a hang of the Aero bars..
We headed to the lake but managed to run into the security guard who asked us to leave the cycles outside and didn't agree to let us in with the cycles. A little to tired to try and convince him we managed to get a peek of the small lake from another route and it wouldn't have been any worthy to buy a ticket to check it out. Caught Hotel Surabhi in its morning yawn. The only item on the menu was plain dosa. I went for the ghee roast while Harsha lit up on the sound of Omelete. So omelet's and dosa's and you returned? Nope.. we wanted to wait for pongal and Puri to satisfy the carbs starved bodies :-D. Round 2, Puris and omelete. Round 3 coffee and we were finally full. Harsha did mention that this was the heaviest breakfast. I couldn't say that I had just enough to get back on saddle and coast downhill 12kms :-). We decided to stop every possible photogenic spot and clicked away to glory. After about half hour we decided it was time to hit the highway and soon we reached a junction just before Jolarpet town either to turn right to heads towards Nemily and then continue on the Chennai Bangalore highway or head straight into tirupattur and then on to bargur. The Bargur option seemed like a shortcut. This would've cut a km or two but was not worth it. The roads were a real mess and harsha tried hard to use the aero bars. Trying to find a smooth line on a road as broken and patchy as a teenagers freckled face made it no easy task. The return route was supposed to have been shorter and instead turned out to be 8km longer. In just over 2hrs we managed to reach the Chennai highway and a huge sigh of relief. An uneventful ride till krishnagiri and then we turned into Hosur road. It was about 10AM and we stopped below the flyover to get some rest. Harsha tried hard to brainwash me to hitchhike or take bus back to Bangalore or till Hosur at-least and then continue riding. However, I was wide awake and this wasn't helping him get me think alike. When a rider has rode for miles, rest/food stops become a priority and sleep being the topmost. Every minute of attempted nap proves to be such a relief. One of the best feelings is when you don't have to worry about a time station/control unlike a brevet and one could doze off. My hands on experiment with Harsha's bike had fruitful results with the aero bar tests. The aero bars were soothing for the back and the bike avg just shot up to some intriguing numbers. It was when i looked at my companion when i realized how much effort he had to put in while i was so relaxed. Thanks to Harsha for letting me try his bike. The fit seemed to be nearly perfect so the ride was super comfy. Harsha's bike was lighter in-spite of the aero bars. There goes another hole in the pocket with the next planned upgrade. Home ministry ain't gonna be happy with this decision. With enough rest at Krishnagiri, we started to gaze lazily at the climbs which lay ahead and 'sufferfest' truly was the only word right from the start of any climb from that point on. I hate to admit it but halfway through the climb i see some truck that is going at my pace 10kph :-D.. why not hitchhike..!! But the ride had to be finished with no form of motorized transport as we were 'ONLY' 80kms to Bangalore. Two bikes stopped Harsha for some reason and he didn't understand what they said and when they tried to stop me it looked like they wanted a test ride but i declined saying you need special shoes to ride such bike. Not sure how it got translated in their heads. They were making hand gestures that they are going to stop somewhere ahead and wait for us to pass by. Frustrated by this incident we saw those guys once more overtaking us about 10kms into the ride again and didn't see them anymore. Next stop CCD ofcourse ... again!! A couple of Mocachillos later Harsha managed a half hr sleep and we were off. 15-18kms into riding and another stop to drink the malt sold in pots which normally sell buttermilk. I didn't want to try that and was interested only in buttermilk which was out of stock unsurprisingly. We continued to climb then finally switching to a rolling terrain. From Hosur town it was a stupendous ride. You might expect the cloud cover or sudden burst from clouds or even taking a bus or a truck ... but no !! There was some VIP visit and the entire road was cleared of traffic. A smooth rolling all the way from Hosur till Attibele and only after we entered karnataka did we manage to see the convoy of pilot cars, SUV's jeeps and ambulances. Familiar territory, attibele to home. It was about 4pm when we were riding towards Chandapura and here's where there's a twist in the tale. Of the 3 lanes, the middle and the right were occupied by overtaking trucks and a private bus switched to the left most lane and honked continuously. I, knowing this was another crazed driver, moved to the extreme left (white line) and so did Harsha but the bus drive a lot closer than expected and this was downright scary. However, Harsha stood by the driver's side of the bus and warned him and then rode to the front of the bus. The driver then tries to scare Harsha by nearly running him over and finally managed to wedge him against the barricade(dividing the highway and service lane) leaving no room for him to move ahead. The bus then disappears into the service lane of Chandapura flyover. This was the limit and Harsha now determined to teach him a lesson rode hard to find a traffic police while I rode to the top of Chandapura flyover, I managed to see the bus and took a couple of pics. Had I rode back to catch a better picture of the bus/driver he would've fleed in hurry. He managed to overtake me at the end of the flyover and little did he know about the trouble he's going to get into. Harsha in the meanwhile managed to stop the bus in its tracks. Driver refuses to get down and only when he gets angry did the driver get down. Head right into Hebbagodi police station and another ordeal with the cops and driver. Short story - driver and the bus fleet owner have some political backing but our man Harsha is no less either. Finally they manage to let him off for a fine of INR.500. So it all boils down to life's worth - 500Rs. Initially the driver denies he was the one driving the bus and it could've been someone else. When he got to know about the photo evidence, that's it started to stink for him. Then the conductor gave in and said it was a honest mistake. How could a 'nearly run over' situation be an honest mistake when it was clearly intentional? This went on for about 3 hrs. After transferring pics to Harsha's mobile, I continued home as Harsha. It takes courage to even get to the cops or stop a bus. I admire Harsha's courage and standing his ground to make his point. What could've been a better solution to such an instance? Is it worth filing a case and running about the police station/court? Or was it an option to get the DL cancelled (temporarily if that option was even available)? I leave you thinking at this point and suggest you to feel free to post comments.... To any cyclist.. exercise caution on highways.. Better to be safe than sorry.. This doesn't mean you abandon the bike but just put more efforts on riding safe...
Trip Statistics:
Total Distance: 320kms
Elevation profile looks like below (Click for a bigger picture).
Fuel: Coffee, Tea, biscuits, Figs, Puri, omelet's, Tender coconuts, Rice malt (roadside vendor from an earthen pot), Banana's, muskmelon double dose :-D, aerated drinks (unaccounted for).
Total riding time :: 20hrs (Avg 15kph)
