"And i was riding bit fast through the downhill. It was lush Green everywhere, no
vehicles, no pollution, no humans, no one except I and (Steve).I was rolling
down with (Steve) at the speed of more than 60 KMPH and at one point, i exactly
remember those 5 minutes of breath i inhaled. Believe me, i never experienced
inhaling such a pure oxygen in my life time. I felt a different kind of
experience. May be i was in a state of Euphoria..."
Welcome to my write-up of 4 days of Malnad Cycling Tour!
One day, i saw some pictures of the CTC Trek posted by Peter in
his Facebook wall and i commented 'I miss Chennai a lot after seeing pictures
of CTC Trek. Now i regret moving to Bangalore'. And in 2 days, i saw a FB
notification from a person named 'Nobal Mohan' from the Bangalore Triathlon FB
Page. By then, i don't know Nobal. He tagged me in one of his post which said
'4 Days Malnad Cycling Tour'.Immediately i added him in my friends list and got
the details about the trip. With my goal of doing the 'Tour Of Nilgris' (TFN)
cycling tour in December, i decided to go for this tour and confirmed my
presence to Nobal. And there were 3 other friends too(Ambika, Supraja and
Vipin) who joined the mailing chain for the tour.
I planned todo this tour in my Road bike(Specialized Allez Elite
aka STEVE) to condition my body in the saddle as a practice ride for TFN and i
heard all others planning to come with their sturdy MTB.
With chain of mails around the preparation for the tour and ticket
bookings done, we were all set for the tour.
The plan was to leave Bangalore on Nov 13th Wednesday night and
arrive back on Nov 18th Monday morning with plans of doing 4 days cycling in
western ghats. Vipin planned to join us from Day-3,so remaining 4 of us started
the trip from Bangalore. We reached Bangalore Majestic Bus stand by 10'O Clock
and boarded the KSRTC Airawat Volvo Bus after loading our bikes in the luggage
box. It costed around Rs.400 to load 4 BiCycles as part of luggage. Believe me
loading the BiCycle in the bus is an art and Nobal was good at it. And the
journey to 4 days cycling tour started there at 10:30 PM.
Day 1 14/11/2013 - Chikmagalur to Horanadu
We reached Chikmagalur Bus stand at around 4 AM. Nobal realized
that there was a flat in his front tyre and he immediately changed the tube. By
that time, i realized i forgot to take my spare tube with me for the tour.It
was very cold and we decided to start once the fog goes away. Finally we
started the ride towards Horanadu at around 5:30 AM. Nobal was the organizer of
this tour and he already planned a route and loaded the maps in his Garmin GPS.
So, we are aware of where we want togo and how togo too :)
Slowly we started pedaling through the roads covered by trees on
both sides with the lights on. I was leading the group from the start, reason
being i was on a roadie bike and with a back pack that weigh around 8 KG.
I was going in front in my Specialized, followed by Nobal in his
Schwin and then Ambika with her Scott and Supraja with Trek. After few
kilometers, is saw the Chikmagalur Serai Resort on my left which reminded me my
last team outbound i been there in November 2012. I was warming up with my
roadie listening to my body and was riding slowly. I had my iPod touch in my
sleeve pocket with which i clicked photographs while riding. I found it very
comfortable to catch the memories without stopping the ride.
I realized it was going to be a different kind of riding
experience for me as most of the times, i did my long rides in the Highways.
With so many thoughts in mind running already how the next 4 days are going to
be,i kept on pedaling.I enjoyed doing it. Then it was around 7 AM, we reached
Aldur and we found a small hotel that was open for breakfast. I stopped and
waited for others. I checked with Nobal and then we decided to have early
breakfast reason being we are not sure to find any other hotels going ahead.
We kept on riding further and i had tuned my mind saying that this
is not going to be a intense practice ride but it is going to be a tour and to
be with the group. So, i was going ahead with moderate speed and stopping for
almost every 10 kilometers or whenever i found some interesting scenery on the
way, for others to join. Once they come, we took photographs, had a chat,
rested for sometime and went ahead. The same thing was repeated for almost all
days of the tour.
Watching the nature all through the ride, we kept on riding and
its worth to mention about our two women riders. They were equally riding at
our speed. It was a surprise to me and it changed my assumptions i had earlier.
I was very conscious about the nutrition and hydration during the ride. So was
sipping my water bottle for every 30 minutes and munching energy bar/banana
for every 1 hour.
At around 9:30 AM, we found a nice paddy fields with smalls walls
in the road and we stopped there took a power nap for around 40 minutes. I was
playing with a doggy by communicating in our own language.
We took some nice photographs, had some snacks that everyone
bought, rested and started pedaling again.
It was altogether a new experience in cycling for me.I normally
focused on building my strength, improving my time over the practice rides in
the highway and this tour i was enjoying through the nature not focusing big on
the time/anything else. That was a good feeling.
At around 11 AM, we stopped at Badra coffee shop aside Badra River
near Balehonnur. We had a small lunch there in-form of mangalore
bun/omlettes/coffee/juice, all priced at less than Rs.20 per unit. I highly
recommend anyone going by this route to stop and have a coffee here.It was
worth it.
Again i was leading the group in front with my comfortable speed
and was riding for around an hour and more and i stopped for regrouping with
others when i found a river on my left on the Magundi-Balehole road stretch.
The roads in this stretch were not road bike friendly but a good test for MTB.
Once everyone reached, we decided to take a dip in the flowing
water.We spent around 1 hour here relaxing ourselves in the water and we
started again at 2 PM deciding that we wont stop further occasionally.But we
broke such promises all through the riding days as it tempted us to stop and
take photographs of the nature every now and then. We stopped for every 1 hour
and sometimes for every 30 minutes and enjoyed the nature munching some snacks
complimented with rides. It was by then 4'o clock.
I was looking forward to suffer through the climbs when i signed
in for this tour and i was so happy to whenever i see some climbs though not
major ones. With some bit of climbs to close the day, we finally reached
Horanadu at round 6'o clock to end the planned ride for the day. We found a
shop and we had apricot juices and to a surprise we paid Rs.30 per juice.
Supraja won't forget it. Why i mention her here, is because she is the typical
Indian Bargainer, wherever we went.
Finally we found a good home stay on the way and we checked about
the fare and we took 2 rooms costing Rs.400 per room. After a good shower in
hot water and refreshing ourselves, we went for the Dinner. We were informed
that, the Annapoorneshwari temple serves free dinner for everyone starting from
7 PM. Since Supraja wanted to taste that dinner, Myself and Supraja had dinner
there while Nobal and Ambika had dinner in a hotel. And yes Supraja had one
more dosa in hotel post dinner at Temple. That's the secret behind her power
rides whole through the day.
That ends the first day of the tour riding 90KM with a good sleep
in a cold weather in the night at Sri Matha Home Stay, Horanadu.
Day 2 15/11/2013 - Horanadu to Sringeri
It was 6 AM, when we woke up and it was full of fogs and mist
outside so Nobal suggested to start once the fog is cleared and there is a
better visibility on the road. We had bed coffee and got ready and we left the
home stay at around 8 and finished a heavy breakfast. Our standard items in
breakfast wherever we went are IDLY+VADA+ CHOW CHOW BATH(Nobal's favourite?).
That being said, we started our second day ride towards Sringeri.
The plan was ride via Kudremukh. It took some 1 hour to cross the Horanadu town
and i was going ahead with a bit decent climbs on the way. Though i had the
advantage of minimal weight of the bike, my gear ratio is not that great
for climbs like MTB. But as i mentioned earlier i enjoyed whenever we saw the
climbs and was riding through it without stops.
After an hour of ride, there was a deviation as mentioned by Nobal
which will take us to Kudremukh hills. So, i stopped at the deviation and went
to bakery to fill in my water bottle waiting for the others to come. Only after
calling Supraja after sometime i realized, i overlooked so that they have
already crossed that point in the meanwhile. So, i started riding fast to catch
up with them. After some time, we were out of town again riding through the
complete scenery covered with greenery everywhere. After some distance, i saw
Ambika and Supraja riding through the rolling terrain. As usual, i was
literally flying through the rolling terrain with my SPECIALIZED and i saw that
some part of the roads had potholes. I exactly remember that one pot hole
through which my front wheel had a hit as i pass by. After some distance i
stopped just to see that my tyre had a flat. Supraja and Ambika crossed by
then.
Now comes the interesting part of the tour. I never fixed a
flat/my bike never had a flat during the rides. And Nobal was in front crossing
some distance ahead. And as i mentioned, i didn't bring along a spare tube with
me. I asked Ambika and Supraja to leave and i said i will inflate the tyre and
try riding. Once they left, i again saw the air went out and now it is very
clear that it was a puncture. Believe me, fixing the flat in the tyres for the
first time is like doing surgery for the first time. I kept aside my bike. Good
that the pucture was in front wheel and not rear. I removed the front wheel,
removed the tyre and tube. I tried to inflate with the air pump i brought in,
but nothing happened. I never checked the condition of the pump before the
tour. Lessons learnt! Now started the mind game. Already lot of thoughts
running through my mind. Since i was unable to inflate air, i thought tube
lining or the valve region is damaged. If that's the case, i have to replace
the tube and i don't have a tube to replace. And i cannot expect a Decathlon
shop in Kudremukh hills where i can buy a tube. I was literally confused and
highly disappointed that my whole trip got spoiled just on the start of the 2nd
day of the 4 days cycling tour. Adding to those disappointments, i got
irritated while trying to put in the Tyre in the wheel. It took me 1 hour to go
through this phase. I was not able to reach anyone's phone as there is no
network in mine in that area. Finally decided to put in my bike in some vehicle
and reach the point until i see anyone of the riders in the group.
Luckily i found a auto-rickshaw in few minutes and myself and and
my bike(STEVE) went inside quickly and we went ahead. Believe me, it was a pain
in the heart going in motored vehicle in those roads covered with greenery
keeping the bike inside the auto. It was around 10KM i travelled, found my
riding buddies and i got the hope by now. Nobal also said, that was a wise
decision to put the bike in the vehicle in such cases and i heard Nobal rode
back some 5KM back to reach out to me. Nice guy he is!
Now he is my Xaviour. He has done lot of surgeries in the
past,(fixing the flat tyres). He opened the tube and tyre in no time and he
said the problem is with my pump as it is not inflating the tube. Ambika gave
her pump which had pressure gauge too and it worked. Now we saw there was a
stone puncture as i suspected during the hit on the pothole. I was so happy and
bit relieved as the tour is not spoiled and i am going to ride it further. We
fixed it and within 5KM, again i saw the air went out. Now again we checked and
to our surprise there was another hole nearby the first one which we didn't
notice earlier. Again Nobal fixed it and also he adjusted the brakes after
sometime.
By now, everything was fine and we went ahead and we have covered
less distance than the planned one. We stopped at around 1 PM for lunch near
Kudremukh steel company. Not many hotels there so we checked with few passerby
and went to one small hotel where we got rice and sambar with appalam.(papat).
Post lunch we bought good number of oranges to fill in our stomach during the
ride. Since we have to cover more distance in the second half and it was almost
a rolling terrain we decided not to take stops. One thing i noticed was every
now and then, a bridge over the river. It has become a common experience for us
riding through such place during our tour.
Now we were riding through the Shola forests on our left. Thick
green grass forests which i have rarely seen earlier. I stopped taking rest
there waiting for others to come. Once they came, we took some good
photographs. I forgot to mention one thing. Except me, remaining three were
vivid trekkers. So they were talking about their experiences of different treks
in the western ghats including Kudremukh, Kumaraparvath, etc.,
Again we started pedaling down the roads and the next stop was at
one waterfall where i found lot of monkeys. Now it was completely a dense
forest and it was almost 4:00 PM. And i
was riding bit fast through the downhill.It was lush Green everywhere, no
vehicles, no pollution, no humans, no one except I and (Steve).I was rolling
down with (Steve) at the speed of more than 60 KMPH and at one point, i exactly
remember those 5 minutes of breath i inhaled. Believe me, i never experienced
inhaling such a pure oxygen in my life time. I felt a different kind of
experience. May be i was in a state of Euphoria...It was a good stretch of
rolling terrain for sometime and we stopped for snacks and coffee in the
evening. We realized that it was getting dark and we have to cover around 25
KM.
After climbing up and down for some time and then riding for
around 10KM in the dark, we finally reached Sringeri town by 7 PM. We found a
accommodation there too in short time and it costed us around Rs.350 per room
and we took 2 rooms.
After the same routine-hot water shower and refreshments, we had
good dinner in the nearby hotel and went to bed by 9 PM ending the second day
trip covering around 85KM.
Day 3 16/11/2013 - Sringeri to Kundapura
We woke up at around usual 6 AM and Vipin joined the 3rd day with
us at Sringeri coming from Bangalore. We started the ride at 8:30 AM sharp post
breakfast. The planned destination was Hosanagara. And the route for the next 2
days were planned by Vipin as he wanted to ride bit longer to cover the missed
first 2 days. Just kidding. He too had a good Garmin GPS and has drafted the
route for the day.
Now it has become the routine for us. Get up, have breakfast, get
ready with the bike and just keep on riding! That's what we did. We kept on
riding with the usual stops for photographs and enjoying the scenery.
The roads were pretty bad in this stretch. Not a good sign for
roadie but a good test for MTB guys.
With bit of struggles on the saddle, i crossed those bad stretches
and finally we stopped at a lake for a short dip. Nobal found lot of Jelly
Fishes in that open water and it seems it is very rare to spot such Jelly
fishes in the open water. We were lucky then. By then it was almost 12'O clock
and we left the place and had a good long ride for almost 2 hours to stop by
for lunch at a place called Edur. It was rare to find any hotels here so we got
into one hotel where we got rice/sambar with one veggie curry. Believe me,
during the tour after long rides, any food tastes good for the taste buds.
Post lunch, we found a banyan tree nearby where we took a power nap
for around 30 minutes. That was a great refresher. Again we started the ride
and i was bit sleepy during the ride till the coffee point at Hulikal. We
stopped at Hulikal and few had Tender Coconut and few had Coffee. I had double
Coffee to come out of the sleeping mode. Now comes the turning point in the
tour. We enquired one tea shop guy about hotel stay in Hosanagara and his
advice to us was not to goto Hosanagara but he suggested us to goto
Siddapura instead. the reasons he gave was the roads were not good and
for going to Kundapura next day, we have to anyway ride back again in that
route. Instead he said, we will find hotels in Siddapura and the roads were
also better.
We followed his words though Vipin was not that convinced about
it. But finally he was also ok with it. So we deviated from the original plan.
Again after crossing some stretches of bad roads, we reached the reserved
forest area. We never expected it to be one hell of a long rolling terrain. We
all five were actually flying in that road with our bikes. I was so conscious
about the pot holes during the downhill from the experience of Day-2.
Sometimes, people say things happen out of our control right? Same in my case.
Though i was so conscious, the front Tyre had hit through a pot hole. And i am
already sure that there will be a flat soon. Sometimes, my intuition goes
right. After some distance i stopped the bike. Yes, it was a flat.
All those 4 nice chaps stopped for me and our surgeon Nobal
started the surgery and fixed the flat. Again it was two small holes in the
same place as it was a stone puncture.
I own him a beer for fixing my flats for two consecutive days! I
am sure i will do my home work and will be perfectly fit to be a surgeon during
my next ride. We started again and on the way, we found a peak where we get to
see a good view of sunset behind the mountains. It was a remarkable view so
everyone of us took their profile pics here.
Again we started rolling down the roads for some more stretch and
we finally reached the destination Siddapura at 6:30 PM. We were searching for
hotel stays as mentioned by the shopkeeper in hulikal but to our surprise it
was a small town and no hotel stays available. Myself and Nobal went to find
one stay where 1 room is available but considering the safety aspect and
comfort, Nobal took the call to reach Kundapura the same night loading the
bikes in the vehicle. That was a wise decision. That means our ride is going to
end there at siddapura as Kundapura is near coast and its a big town so no
rides next day.
We had dinner. I found it hard to find a vegetarian hotel
but found one and had Neer Dosai/Idly. It was yummy. The locals were supportive
and one gentleman called some vehicle guy and he came exactly at 7:30 PM. So,
post dinner, we loaded all the bikes and we too sat in the TATA ACE and the
drive was around 35 KM to Kundapura form there. We paid Rs.800 for the vehicle
guy.
We checked in at Hotel ShivPrasad at around 9 PM ending the ride
for the 3rd day with no idea about 4th day plans.But yes, i had a plan. If not
for ride, then i thought of doing my weekend run next day morning.
That ends our 3rd and the last ride of the tour.
Day 4 17/11/2013 - Kundapura
Someone knocked the door at 5 and it was Supraja asking me where
we are going to ride! She is a damn productive girl i say. Nobal and Vipin were
acting like sleeping at that time.Finally hearing from the Organizer Nobal, she
was convinced that there are no rides planned for the day and it will be mostly
sight seeing.
I brushed up, fastened my Garmin and went for the run. I felt ok
to run even after 3 days of ride.
No Pains.No Injuries.So i did my 14KM run in the highway of
Coastal region of Kundapura. It was Humid.
I came back. Had breakfast and coffee. By now also, Nobal and Vipin
were sleeping at around 8 AM.
Finally everyone woke up, had breakfast and the plans are to go
out to kill the time. We took local town bus to visit a temple and then again
took a bus to goto Trasi beach Maravanthe, before which we had some snacks in
Hotel Court Restaurant near bus stand. We spent good time in the beach walking
in the shore in the sand. We finished our lunch there and started back to town
to kill some more time in the so called back waters area. I was restless
without any activities and so budding the guys , back to hotel all the time.
I left to hotel having one more coffee on the way and after some
time, everyone reached hotel too. We refreshed ourselves and got ready for the
return trip to Bangalore. The bus was at 8:30 PM in Kundapura.
We had a light dinner and rode a kilometer mark to bus stand.
Loaded our Bicycles and this time, we paid Rs.360 for 5 bikes as part of
luggage cost. At the last minute before boarding, Ambika's new Nokia Lumia fell
down and the screen was broken. Not sure about Vipin's contribution towards it
:) The bus reached Bangalore at around 7 AM.
That being said, we carried those 4 days beautiful memories with
us to Bangalore.
Personally, i felt it was very much needed tour for me once in a
while and am already looking forward to start my journey to the world of
Trekking soon.
Ambika, Nobal, Supraja and Vipin - Thank you for the wonderful
company during the whole tour.
