Merida - Harohalli - Maralavadi - Hunasanahalli - Anchetti - D'kottai - Thali - Anekal - Chandapur - Bangalore

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I was happily floating on water. Wooosh… an SUV zoomed past very close, I could feel the dust rise and hear leaves rustle and the gravel shudder. Is there a road close to the waterfall? Whatever, I don’t care, I just need to rest.
“Jayanth, shall we start?” Vishnu’s voice startled me and I woke up.
I was sleeping on the road and dreaming!

The ride was planned about a week ago by a few members of the Bangalore Bicycle Club. The ride plan - 100km to Anchetti, swim at the waterfall and back. I was looking forward for the ride and much more for the swim. I woke up at 3:50am, got ready by 4:15am and hurried down the stairs with my bike. I had a vague idea of the meeting point nicknamed Merida Point, about 20km from my place. With my backpack heavy with 4 liters of water, I was doubtful of making it there by 5am.
“Sorry sir, you can go out only after 4:30” said the security near the gate.
I am doing my masters after working for 18 months and have time restrictions! Heights!
“I have a race at 5am. I need to leave now” I exaggerated.
He woke up the head security, and I was allowed to leave by 4:20am.
There is no way am going to make it on time. It was 4:40 and I just reached silk board.
But luckily Merida Point was easy to locate and I was there by 4:58am. It was my first ride with the members of BBC (Bangalore Bicycling Club) and a round of introductions followed. I met Dipankar, Ramesh, Prasanth and Sri Ram. The Times Green Championship on the world environment’s day thwarted all my confidence and I declared myself as a slow rider. So me, Prasanth and one more guy who wanted to go till Kanakapura started riding towards Horahalli. The route was scenic, pitch black tar road flanked by colorful trees, picturesque.
Zzzzziiiipppp… Dipankar, Sri Ram and Ramesh overtook us. I increased pace and joined them.
“Are you sure you are a slow rider?” asked Ramesh after a while and I told him that the race on World Environment’s day convinced me that I was.
We stopped at Horahalli bus stand at about 6:20 and by 6:30, there were a total of 9 bikers debating where to have breakfast – Vasu’s or Jayaram’s. A crowd started gathering around us, gawking at us. A year back, I would have felt very shy but now I became shameless and was just amused. Dipankar, Sri Ram, Vishnu, Harsha, Shobit, Prasanth, Chiddu, Ramesh and I formed the pack of riders attempting to conquer Anchetti and refresh at the nearby waterfall. I couldn’t wait to swim, float and drown myself in the water. Finally, we headed towards Jayaram’s for Idlies.
“This 30km is nothing. We will be riding on the ghat road and the next 70km is going to be like 120km” said Dipankar who was leading the ride, his second practice ride for the Tour de Himalayas.
He was right, the terrain was awesomely challenging. There were steepest of the steep ascents which made me double and triple check if I was on the 1st gear or the 6th. Then there were descents, without peddling, I touched 54kmph on one particular downhill. The road was not smooth and I could hear every nut of my bicycle rattle and every joint creak. I was sure it would soon fall apart. Dipankar and Sri Ram were leading the group and I slowly joined them followed by Vishnu. The story of Dipankar’s 3 bikes amused me – first, Rs7000 FireFox bike, then Rs20000 rockrider and now Rs70000, the make I forgot, which he takes it out only for races. (Hoping to follow your lead Dipankar ).
Vishnu and I stopped for rest, photos and snacks and we were stuck together for the rest of the ride.
“Do you get buses to Bangalore?” enquired Vishnu when we reached Anchetti after a grueling ride with the sun bearing down upon us. Dipankar and Vishnu were ahead of us and the rest of the group close behind.
“Yes yes” replied a localite. I was so exhausted that I was ready to crash into the water with my bike!
“Ready? About another five kilometers for the waterfall” said Vishnu.
I am going to spend a lot of time in the water and return by bus, I decided.
A few hairpin bends challenged us and we were quickly running short of water.
The waterfall, waterfall and swim, I kept reminding myself.
We kept taking short breaks every kilometer and I was envious of Dipankar and Sri Ram who should have been by the waterfall by now, enjoying themselves.
Oh my god! This is not possible! My heart sank seeing the terrain ahead; steep ascent for as far as I could see.
“Jayanth! We need to take a fifteen minute break” shouted Vishnu and I couldn’t agree more. After eating dates and chocolate and washing them down with all the remaining water, I slept by the road using my towel as a pillow.
“Warn me if a truck comes hurtling down” shouted Vishnu. I craned my neck to see what he was doing and smiled. Even he was sleeping, perpendicular to the road.
“Dipankar and the rest are having lunch at Anchetti” said Vishnu hanging up his phone. I burst out laughing. We were leading the group!
“Let’s rest for 10 minutes and go to Devankottai for lunch. It is 15km from here” said Vishnu.
Anything after the swim, I thought and fell asleep.
I was happily floating on water. Wooosh… an SUV zoomed very close to me, I could feel the dust rise and hear the fallen leaves rustle and the gravel shudder. Is there a road close to the waterfall? Whatever, I don’t care, I just need to rest.
“Jayanth, shall we start?” Vishnu’s voice startled me and I woke up.
I was sleeping on the road and dreaming!
We still did not reach the waterfall I was dreaming about, it is still about 5km away, a killer 5km with steep slopes. I stretched myself and nodded. We started peddling. My legs were crying but I learnt sometime back that I should not feel merciful. It is their duty to pedal.
“There it is” said Vishnu
“Where?” I asked
“There!” he said pointing.
“But… But… that is a fall, not waterfall!” I exclaimed.
“Well ya, summer. Water has dried up. Didn’t you notice there was no water below the bridges or anywhere” he said.
“So we cannot swim?” I asked, utterly disappointed. No water to drink, no water to swim and no water to drench myself and cool down.
“Nope, maybe if you come again in November” he said.
I felt like a seven year old whose birthday cake has been snatched away.I wanted to lie down on the road, beat my fists, swing my legs and cry I want my waterfall, I want my waterfall! But sure that the tantrum would drive Vishnu nuts, I hid my disappointment. I even brought a towel and shorts for the swim, the weight of which I can now feel on my back.
“So what plan? Direct to Devankottai for lunch?” I asked. There was no point going off road to see a waterfall without water.
“Yup, 15km more” he said
It was another 15km of rough terrain which took us a little less than 2 hours to negotiate.
Vishnu and me had lunch in Sankar Café, Devankottai and were later joined by Chiddu, Ramesh and Harsha. Vishnu and I decided to continue the ride till Bangalore. The others, due to other commitments and tight schedules, decided to take a bus. After a grueling 35km ride to Anekal through Thali, we separated.
I was happy that I completed the ride, a distance of about 185km; a ride through one of the most demanding terrain in Bangalore.
But the waterfall…
Sometimes we work very hard for something which we might not get. But the journey, though tough, would be tiring, tough, fun filled and full of experiences. I am sure that I am now a better cyclist. After negotiating through the steepest slopes, riding in the city is going to be much easier. It would have been awesome if I could have had the swim, but this is life and disappointments are part of it.

World Environment Day Race

See the pics here, not many though.

From: gjayanth8[at]gmail[dot]com

To: pedalpusher[at]timescycletowork[dot]com

Subject: Times Green Championship

Date: 3^rd June, 2010

Dear Sir/Madam,

If cycling 400Km in two days makes one a pro then I am one.

I rode from Bangalore (Electronics City) to Kurnool (Bus stop) some 10 days back.
I wish to take part in the Times Green Championships, please consider.

Regards,

Jayanth

This is how I entered the Times Green Championship of the Times of India Cycle to Work initiative to take place on the World Environment Day, 5^th June, 2010. All the slots for the race were filled and I badly wanted to participate. The race was for 60Km, 3 laps of 20Km. The 400Km lone ride made me feel that I am not a rookie anymore or maybe a Lightening McQueen (in the movie Cars) style rookie.

Why was I so keen to enter the race? If I had known what the 1^st prize was, the reason would have been the free trip to Leh but the prizes were not announced beforehand. Then why was I keen to enter the race? One, I wanted to compare my cycling with other Bangalore cyclists, two, well be a part of World’s Environment and three, a publicity stunt. Yup, publicity stunt for my debut novel, Exotic Engineer Entrepreneur. If I can figure among the prize winners I can persuade Times of India to review my novel faster than otherwise, I thought. Within an hour and an exchange of a few mails with pedalpusher, I got my registration number for the Times Green Championship race. I was happy.

5:36am! My cell phone ditched me again! It was an Rs800 ZTE Reliance mobile and had a zillion bugs. That day it failed to wake me up at 4:30am. After bottling glucose water, chocolates and boiled eggs, and preparing a map to reach the venue, I slept at 1:00am and was still too sleepy. For a moment I considered going back to sleep but not wanting to miss the event I jumped off my bed and grabbed my brush but threw it down and used colgare plax mouthwash instead. I need to save every second to be there at Sarjapur, 20km away in less than an hour. By 5:45 I was out zooming on the Hosur road and five minutes later I remembered that I forgot the map. But 6am is not as early as we students think and there were folks around to ask for directions.

It’s not the plane, it’s the pilot, I tried convincing myself. The bikes around me were just awesome - professional, and stylish and wheels so thin that thinning a bit more would render them invisible. It’s not the suit on us, it’s the spirit inside. I was wearing regular shorts and t-shirt but some people around me were looking like international cyclists seen in sports channels. It’s all in the mind, I told myself seeing one biker who seemed really physically fit. Shay Mandal of the Hyderabad Bicycling Club briefed me about their activities to remain fit – cycling, running and swimming in quick succession over varying distances, it’s called Triathlon. But I did 400Km in two days, I will stand a chance.

I did not stand a chance and I realized it about 10 minutes into the race. For one I was still sleepy and moreover I was just not prepared, rather did not at the least perform any preliminary checks on my cycle before the race. Front tire was not properly inflated and seat was too low. I had to stop twice to adjust the seat height, first time I made it too high in a hurry. While trying to properly inflate the front tire, my cycle fell down and from then on I started having a problem with the top gear, the shift to top gear would be delayed and abrupt. After 30 minutes I realized racing was not my cup of tea. There were a lot of people behind me but there were lot more ahead. I enjoy cycling and I can go on endlessly at my pace but not race, at least not yet. It was early morning, just after rain and the route was beautiful, so I decided to enjoy the ride. Singing along with my iPod I forgot I was racing. Slowly I started catching up with others. Honestly, if we enjoy what we are doing, it makes hell lot of difference in the quality of the work. Maybe I do stand a chance! Maybe most of them will give up and only a few will complete the race, I started peddling harder. A team of professional cyclists were coming back completing a lap. Around eight guys speeding as one, they were a sight to watch. Lap U-turn  is somewhere close, I kept riding and riding but the lap just did not end! Just as I was feeling I have lost my way, I saw the U-turn sign and a few volunteers waving a flag and stopping the traffic so that we can safely turn around. Jesus Christ! At this rate I will be laps behind the pros!

Unfortunately I was. Vroom… beep… honk. A group of motorcycle volunteers were clearing the way, signaling the traffic to move aside. Wow, thanks guys! It feels royal! Cyclists are the king of the road! Did that volunteer just ask me to move aside? Nah, impossible, I am on a cycle.

Beep beep and I looked behind and suddenly realized that all the hulla was not for me and other casual cyclists. The bunch of professionals were zooming towards me flanked by more motorcyclists and the Safari with two cycles mounted on it. I was a lap behind and they were getting the royal treatment, not me! I moved aside and let them overtake. This is not a chance to miss, I thought and I gave it all I had to catch up with them. One pro shouted encouraging words as I tried to keep pace but after about 20 seconds I had to give up, their cycles were just too good. Don’t be an idiot, it’s the pilot not the plane, my inner self screamed at me but I did not want to agree. It’s the cycle I fought back and what I saw next make me think again, a hero cycle, the kind of cycle we see ordinary people going to work with. The guy was riding it pretty fast, with his wife sitting behind him carrying a steel lunch box! I followed him, observing him, for a few seconds, he was maintaining his pace. Wow! I gave him thumbs up and he responded! I smiled and overtook him. It’s both, the pilot and the plane, given this guy a racing bike, he would be a decent performer, training would make him shine.

 “Hi, I am Jayanth”, I said drawing alongside one of the cyclist riding at my pace.

“Hi, Kartheek”, he replied

And I found a friend, ok a two hour friend. If the name was Krithika or perhaps Nisha, we might have exchanged phone numbers. We spoke, rode together and raced. It was nice to have someone to ride with. In the last lap I got tired and fell behind while he raced ahead. A few minutes later I saw him at a distance having coconut water. To hell with the race, I thought and joined him. He did not have change and I paid. Kartheek if you are reading this, remember you still owe me Rs15 :).

            In the last 10Km I raced a couple of guys riding slowly, one exhausted guy walking his bike and another guy waiting for the crew to pick him up. When I finished the race, there was no one to flag me finish, every volunteer left and they took the finish board along with them! When I entered the shamiyana, celebrations were already on! A bottle of Himalayan mineral water bottle, glucose and cookies were the goodies from the sponsors. Prize distribution started and my heart skipped a beat after the first prize was announced – Rs10,000 + a trip to Leh! I love cycling and someday I am going to win that and much more, I resolved.