Monsoon in Bangalore
Rain changes the landscape wherever it falls. This time around, it rained in my city like never before, or at least the met department said it was the heaviest rain in the last 20 years. The landscape in Bangalore had changed quite dramatically. With the roads getting waterlogged in many places, and traffic getting slower every day, life on roads in the city was really tiresome. I wanted a break, from the traffic, from reaching late to office everyday, from the sorry excuses I had to make each of those times, and the monotonicity of life. I know this is not what monsoon means. I know it means better things. So i started to plan for an escape.
The choice of destination
Riding the Hassan express in July was fun. I wanted to do something that was a little more challenging. I had read a lot about the Anchetty 200 from those who had done it. It looked promising and I put out an open invitation on the BBC.
The replies and suggestions that poured in reinforced the fact that this is going to be one helluva ride.
Early start
I wanted to start the ride early enough so that I finish it in day light, and not too soon for the restaurants I planned to stop for breakfast to remain closed. So, I pushed the start time to 3:30 AM from the initial plan of 3:00 AM. Which eventually worked out pretty well.
The morning ride was a bit slow due to my navigational skills and the roads. The roads and the darkness coupled by my unfamiliarity in using the lights made the early hours a bit troublesome. Being constantly pestered by stray dogs meant riding in the dark was a nervous affair.
I met my ride partner somewhere close to the Dayananda Sagara college. A spirited chap preparing for an upcoming 200k BRM. We stopped for breakfast at Harohalli.
Hues of monsoon
But once the morning rays started to appear and illuminated the way, I got what I came for. The landscapes painted green by the Gods of rain. Once I finished my breakfast and took to the country side roads beyond Harohalli, the scenes are quite stark to what we have got used to in Bengaluru. Empty roads, with whatever you could see on the two sides all green. Only occasionally interrupted by some houses, huts or forest department buildings.
As the beauty of the course unfolded, so did the terrain. I had prepared for a mix of descents and ascents. Long winding roads, flanked by water bodies on either sides. Cattle rearers chasing their stray cattle back to their paths.
Going Solo
From then for a brief length, the roads turned into a nice trail for an MTB, Once we reached the 74km mark on my GPS, Dheemantha decided to turn left and end his ride via Thally, not going to Anchetty. I decided to continue solo. I was tempted to turn back and call Deemantha to wait for me. But then, i decided to go ahead anyway.
Search for food
The afternoon got a little sunnier, and I started consuming more water. With no shops or restaurants I had to borrow water from villagers and village community tanks.
A broken bottle cage meant, I was carrying the bottle in my back pack. I started to feel hungry and I had to wait until Anchetty for lunch.
I stopped at a small hotel for another round of breakfast. Meanwhile the power bank I was carrying wasn’t working and I wasted about half an hour charging my watch, I wanted it working for both navigation and to track my ride.
While I started back to ride, the restaurant guy warned me about the forest ahead. I was also warned by motorists about the elephants. I was too naive to pay any need to the warnings. I wish I wouldn’t do that.
I was however starting to feel a little weary about staying longer on the road, and I started to look for faster way home. I decided that I’ll skip Thally reach Bangalore via Denkanikottai, Hosur and Attibele.
The roads were good till I reached the Attibele chech point. Once I crossed over to Karnataka they turned out to be really poor. I managed to reach Attibele well before dark. The urge to reach home helped the final sprint. I took the Sarjapur road to beat the city traffic a bit.
What the activity summary doesn’t capture here is the time I spent charging the GPS watch on two occasions. Summing up to an hour maybe. Thereby I fell short of an hour of my target of completing the ride by 13.5hr. My self assessment of doing Anchetty as a preparatory ride to BITH reminded me about my fitness levels.
The ride was however a great one. I will come back to complete this brevet officially one day. Until then, I’ll cherish my escapade.
santossuren 