Thursday, December 29, 2011

B2M - Bangalore to Mysore and back

Back TO Back Century Rides - Bangalore-Mysore-Bangalore on SH17

Date         : 29th and 30th OCT 2011
Riders      : Rajanikanth and Sohan.
Cycles     : Trek 3700 and Rock Rider 5.2
Problems : Accidents,Flats,Rains and Hotel bookings.

Day#1 Saturday 29th OCT 2011 - Riding to Mysore

As usual myself and sohan woke up late and left whitefield around 6:45 AM.
Due to city traffic we reached BIDADI around 8:45 AM and had idli/vada @Hotel Raghavendra Veg.


On the way to RAMANAGARA I got a call from sohan that he met with an accident asking me to wait for him. Once we met i got to know that he wanted to avoid a speed braker and went to the left and while getting back to the road his tyre rubbed the gap and he fell to his right. His right shoulder and right leg had several bruises. His helmet had got crushed. We moved ahead and got some FIRST AID items from a nearby medical store.

On the way to CHANNAPATNA - the land of toys,  I again got a call from sohan and this time he had a Flat By the time i came back he had identified and removed that part of tube without removing the wheel. We fixed the flat quickly and we moved on.



On the way to MANDYA, we had enquired about a decent hotel. I reached early and finished my lunch and was waiting for sohan. I ensured that my bike was parked in such a place that i could see it while having my lunch. Sohan joined and we left the hotel together after some time. From MANDYA it was a rolling terrain with several ups that gave a nice workout to my legs. My next stop was at SRIRANGAPATNA. Due to rain the socks had become wet and i was desperate to take them out and dry it while i wait for sohan.





Sohan joined and we took some more snaps. It was very funny to see sohan at his creative best.


Around 5:30 PM i was at the COLUMBIA ASIA HOSPITAL. It was yet another 30 mins ride into the city and we checked a few places and finally settled at SK Continental.We went out and had dinner @ RR hotel. We returned back to our lodge and spoke for sometime before closing our eyes.

Day#1 summary :

Overall i took 10 hr 39 mins for 175 kms including an approximate 3 hrs break for brakefast + lunch + Attending to sohan's accident + Fixing flat tyre + heavy rains in mandya + socks drying program.
Day#2 Sunday 30th OCT 2011 - Riding back to bangalore

Our start was again delayed due to delay in hot water delivery, brakefast search and heated argument with a medical store owner as the crepe bandage he had given for sohan was damaged. Somehow we reached SRIRANGAPATNA quickly and took some snaps on the bridge overlooking the famous KAVERI river.




Now i had a flat. This one was a crazy one. Some stupid white color sharp plastic object had pierced my tire. I fixed it to find that i was not able to pump in air. I changed the tube. No use. I changed the pump. No use. I was not able to inflate the tube.




I had to walk for sometime to find a Local Bike Shop aka Puncture Shop. Even he couldn't inflate my tube. He suggested me to go to the other side of the road to get it inflated with the help of a Air Compressor. We suspected that it could be a valve problem and we wanted something that could fill air quickly. Somehow we got it resolved and while we were at it we had to answer expected questions from general public like how much is the bike ? where are we going ? where do we come from ? Is it a race ? Do we get money doing such things ? Blah Blah.
We decided that we won't take the KANAKAPURA route. This was due to 3 reasons.

1) We had wasted 1 hour and we wanted to be on good roads after dark.
2) Kanakapura route has few more kms than the SH17 route.
3) My brother stays near Bangalore University. If it rains heavily i can stay there if i enter Bangalore.

I was pissed off and i started riding very fast from SRIRANGAPATNA and that was the last time i saw sohan. I reached MANDYA,MADDUR and CHANNAPATNA without any break. I had my lunch @KADAMBAM. I called sohan. No reply. I carried on and had a 15 mins rain break@Ramanagara.
I reached BIDADI,KENGERI and NAYANDALLI junction. The rain god smiled again. I had to take shelter for 20 mins in a deserted shed beside the blue hyundai showroom. I was alone. Yes the rains were with me. And the darkness too. It is not the situation that makes the man, but the man who makes the situation. I started again but I took another 30 mins break near mysore road to eat meat. I reached Home by 8 PM with muck and dirt on my body but a smile on face.


Day#2 summary :

Overall i took me 11 hour and 45 min including the lunch and rain breaks and the riding time was 8 hours 30 min. For folks planning to ride on SH 17 i would recommend a road bike or hybrid bike as it assists the rider to ride fast ( to some extent )  and in turn save some time to reach early.

Overall Ride Summary :
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz  i am sleeping. No i am dreaming. No i am planning my next big ride.