Monday, July 7, 2014

B2B ride-Bangalore To Bhadra

After successfully executing BMBT ( Blue Mountain Biking Tour ) Balu and Dr. Shankar came out
with yet another endurance ride  - B2B ride ( Bangalore to Bhadra ) - a 280 km single day ride from Bangalore to Bhadra reservoir. Ride till Bhadra Dam, Stay in the forest guesthouse, Boating and Safari the next morning and return by Car. As usual they kept things simple - Overall cost, Logistics, Pickup points, Luggage drop point and Recovery drinks :-)

Thanks to Wheel sports staff and Venkatesh Shivarama for supporting us from the beginning.
Thanks to Mr. Badri for providing support vehicle and staff.

On 5th July 2014, 13 riders met at a point and started riding towards Tumkur road and then took the NH-48 road ( Mangalore ) . The ride on NH-48 was pleasant as the traffic was not as busy as our infamous SH-17. After riding together for 30+ Km I took off thinking that all of us will anyway meet at Mayura hotel for breakfast. I kept on pedaling and at around 100 Km I stopped for Idlis and Coffee.



I continued to ride and just before the Right turn to Arsikere, I had another break for Coffee and Biscuits. The road was smooth, quiet and rolling. A bit of drizzle now and then made me happy.


Arsikere, the town that i didn't explore is on my radar and shortly i might ride again - in touring mode. I have to see the Pond built by a Princess ( Arsikere - Arsi means Queen and Kere means Pond ). I also want to climb the 1300 steps of Malekal hill to see the standing Venkateshwara - The only place other than Tirupathi where the Lord stands. At Arsikere, I had some snacks and got to know that i have to cross Kadur, Birur and then reach TariKere. At this point I am moving from Hassan district to Chikmagalur district.The sun had came out and I was getting tired. I had jack fruits as i crossed the railway gate.

Once i reached Tarikere ( a town that is popular for large number of water tanks surrounding it )
I found that i didn't had water in my bottles. So it was time to refill water and eat some snacks.
I had completed 260 km so far in 11 hours. 20 km more to reach the Bhadra dam (Lakkavalli village).



In spite of the bad monsoon this time, As i entered Lakkavalli ( the site of DAM across Bhadra river )
I was bowled over by the lush green vegetation and the remote grand impressive hill ranges. 
This Dam that is surrounded by western ghats serves irrigation, drinking water supply, power generation.  For Tigers and Elephants, Get into Bhadra Wildlife at the backwaters of this dam..

Around 5:38 PM I reached the Forest Department Guest house where i took bath and stood in a borrowed towel waiting for my Bag that was coming in the support vehicle. The cool breeze from the surrounding lake was the best thing to happen after a long bicycle ride. 



Finally my Shorts arrived, I mean the support vehicles and all riders arrived.


It was a pleasure to reunite with friends and all of them quickly freshened themselves. All of us were eager to enjoy recovery-drinks and hot and spicy dinner. Topic ranged from wildlife to the way cycling tours and races are conducted. The usual gosSIPs with SIPs of Kho-DAYs made our DAY. 

Next day we headed towards the backwater for a boat ride.


It was a delight to watch hundreds of beautiful yellow billed Red Legged River terns screaming and flying so low to catch fishes. These birds breed only on rivers. 



And finally we took the customary group photo and got back into our support vehicles heading towards Bangalore. Every rider was dropped back exactly where they wanted to get down and all of us reached home safely. I would like to thank everybody ( KP, Balu, Vinay, Sharath, Skandan, Diwakar, Satish and All the 4 awesome Doctors ) who made this scenic, memorable ride possible that will be forever etched in my memory. I hope all of you have cleaned your bikes and let's all meet for yet another awesome ride. Till then ..Keep riding.