Over a casual conversation with Arun said he will forward me a mail about some cycling ride. http://cyclingandmore.com/ ( CAM ) was hosting a cycle ride from Bagamandala - Kasargud - Jalssor. It was advertised as a beginners ride. I never doubted my cycling skills and registered, I even invited a couple of colleges to join in , my argument was beginners ride it will be easy. The altitude chart for this ride showed a lot of down hill and some small up hill climbs. I convinced Arun to sign up for the ride. We practiced 30 min every day for 4-5 days before the ride. The price of the ride was 4.5K.
I own 2 cycles which can be used for touring.
Trusted Hercules act 110 plus. I have had this cycle for 3 years now. I have taken it for 40-50 KM rides. Very reliable , fast and a capable hybrid. I wish it came with a suspension.
New-bee BSA Kruz. Its a relatively new cycle in my garage. It is very light weight and fast. I am still not used to riding a road bike. The recommendation from CAM was to get all-terrain bike. This recommendation meant I was taking the Act. Here is a picture of the bike.
Cycle chosen .. the gear had to be bought. This meant couple of trips to decathalon our neighborhood sports warehouse. All in all I had spent close to 8 K.
The starting point was at nayanhalli on mysore road. We were there on time. The cycle was loaded onto a canter ( tempo ) and we boarded a SRS bus. Bus ride was pretty silent. Sat in our designated seats and tried to get some sleep. The sleep was scares. It was not a bad bus ride.
Reached Bagamandala early in the morning. I guess around 5 AM. CAM had booked a hotel for us to freshen up and get ready. There was only one dormitory so most of the men got the chance to get ready first. My attempt at catching a 30 min sleep was not successful.
Day started with a quick bad breakfast. We were around 35 riders, few folks were renting cycles. Everyone got ready by 7. It had rained heavily on Wednesday and Thursday , Me and Arun anticipated that it would be a wet weekend. Both of us carried basic nokia phones which had no cameras. We were left with no option but to ask others to click pictures :(. CAM organizers did not have cameras. So no photo shoots ;).
Direction sheet were handed to everyone and off we went. First couple Kilometers were uphill. Soon I was leading the group. There was this super cyclist in our group, he beat me soon . The down hill was pretty awsome. At places the road was patchy, I stayed a close second. We passed 2-3 water falls. The road was pretty desolate as well. We must have been riding at 40KMPL. I did not stop to enjoy the water fall. After some kilometers I was concerned about Arun. I stopped and waited. In-between 2 cyclists overtook me. Arun was there within 5 min. Arun was cycling long distance first time. He was enjoying the ride. We started off again. We passed many villages. The road was never flat. We were either climbing or descending.
We missed our tea stop point. Since both of us were together and did not feel so tired. We kept pushing forward. It was around 11 that I started feeling tired. The road was pretty shady but the downhill uphill combination was just killing us. Turn after, turn ,of up hill climb was just killing our moral. Cycle seats are good for short rides. More time you sit on it , you start feeling that they are torcher contraption.I got down and stretched my legs at 2-3 places. I was completing another torchers ascent when I saw the 3 folks who had overtaken us enjoying cool drinks. This must be the lunch point :D. I have made it. Took a break, had some juice. Waited for Arun. 30 minutes later Arun came by. The lunch point was pretty close. We all proceeded there. I was happy to have completed a significant portion of the ride. Felt pretty satisfied. Since I was pretty hungry , I ate up 2 servings of vegetable biryani. Little did I know this would make the next-leg of the journey difficult.
Sacry bits : While having lunch many more cyclists arrived. The had been two falls on the way. Both pretty serious. There was some talk of one of the guys sitting in the bus. After lunch I went it to see this gentlemen with broken teeth sitting in the bus. He was hurting unable to move both his arms. The CAM organizers were pretty hush hush about the whole incident. They could have easily prevented such things had they given some fair warning before starting the ride, I later found out that this was not the first time people had fallen on the ride. This was pretty unprofessional of the organizers. The help offered was to arrange a cab to take the injured gentleman to a hospital. I felt bad for the guy, he had been knocked cold form the fall. He had lost two teeth and was unable to move both arms. The disk brakes on his cycle had locked up during descent , setting newtons 1st law into action. The bike stopped because of the bake jam but the rider continued to be in motion, landing face first. I later found out the gentleman had 2 fractures. The second guy who had a fall but was already moved to a hospital also had multiple fractures a broken wrist.
Well with my confidence shaken up, i started to ride after lunch. It was an ascent. It was a never ending ascent with the sun shining down hard, and hardly any shade. It was dehydrating... the roads were good though. After the ascent I was on a hill top, with only grass on the sides. It was very sunny and somehow very tiring to ride. Met a bunch of kids on the way, one thing i noticed through this ride. People are very nice when they see you on a cycle. I have never seen people being so nice when I am driving my car. Throughout the journey I have had people waving, encouraging, asking my name, asking my destination.Seeing someone on a cycle probably reminds people of their childhood . Or may people feel that the person on cycle is more approachable. Whatever it was , it was great inspiration to see people, kids encouraging you throughout the journey. Many kids ran up to me and asked my name. They even told me Hemanth is a sweet name :P.
Riding alone ahead of the pack , I was tired and not enjoying the ride so much. Took a break and waited for someone else to join me. Joe was the one who reached my place in 10 min. With new company I started riding again, Joe was my cycling partner for next 10 KM. It was nice to have company in the dissolute place. There were 3-4 people in front of us. we reached the NH around 4 PM. The sun was very hot and roads as usual had a lot of gradient. We reached bakel fort by 4:30. Went round the fort. It was ok ok. Tall green grass. Read brick fort, with a Arabian sea at a distance. It was ok. We had covered 80KM by then. It was the last rendezvous point for the cycling group. The bus was supposed to take us from there to kasargud. Since I felt I had some more energy and few of the cyclists were keen on completing 100KM in a day. 5-6 of us decided to cycle to Kasargud from Bakel. I think It was a 10-15 KM journey through small villages. There are many mansions in Kerala villages. The houses are build on plots which are larger than football field. These folks are rich. There was nothing much to report on this part of the ride. I was mostly coursing myself for not taking the bus to Kasargud.
At Kasargud we were put up at city tower Hotel. The room was pretty dingy. Had dinner at a vegetarian restaurant and slept well.
The next day ride started at 8. I did not want to get struck in the hot sun. I started, pretty soon I was leading the group. We were at Jalsoor 11. There is a small hanging bridge at the end point. It was nice to ride over the bridge and play in the river water.
The journey home was long and slow. Extremely painful and boring. Our drop was at Mysore road. This meant me and Arun had to ride home in cycle with our luggage. This was a bad 15-20 KM ride.
Returning Home never felt better.
But it was an interesting journey , where you meet some nice interesting people. I got to see the landscape of Kerala up close.
I own 2 cycles which can be used for touring.
Trusted Hercules act 110 plus. I have had this cycle for 3 years now. I have taken it for 40-50 KM rides. Very reliable , fast and a capable hybrid. I wish it came with a suspension.
New-bee BSA Kruz. Its a relatively new cycle in my garage. It is very light weight and fast. I am still not used to riding a road bike. The recommendation from CAM was to get all-terrain bike. This recommendation meant I was taking the Act. Here is a picture of the bike.
Cycle chosen .. the gear had to be bought. This meant couple of trips to decathalon our neighborhood sports warehouse. All in all I had spent close to 8 K.
The starting point was at nayanhalli on mysore road. We were there on time. The cycle was loaded onto a canter ( tempo ) and we boarded a SRS bus. Bus ride was pretty silent. Sat in our designated seats and tried to get some sleep. The sleep was scares. It was not a bad bus ride.
Reached Bagamandala early in the morning. I guess around 5 AM. CAM had booked a hotel for us to freshen up and get ready. There was only one dormitory so most of the men got the chance to get ready first. My attempt at catching a 30 min sleep was not successful.
Day started with a quick bad breakfast. We were around 35 riders, few folks were renting cycles. Everyone got ready by 7. It had rained heavily on Wednesday and Thursday , Me and Arun anticipated that it would be a wet weekend. Both of us carried basic nokia phones which had no cameras. We were left with no option but to ask others to click pictures :(. CAM organizers did not have cameras. So no photo shoots ;).
Direction sheet were handed to everyone and off we went. First couple Kilometers were uphill. Soon I was leading the group. There was this super cyclist in our group, he beat me soon . The down hill was pretty awsome. At places the road was patchy, I stayed a close second. We passed 2-3 water falls. The road was pretty desolate as well. We must have been riding at 40KMPL. I did not stop to enjoy the water fall. After some kilometers I was concerned about Arun. I stopped and waited. In-between 2 cyclists overtook me. Arun was there within 5 min. Arun was cycling long distance first time. He was enjoying the ride. We started off again. We passed many villages. The road was never flat. We were either climbing or descending.
We missed our tea stop point. Since both of us were together and did not feel so tired. We kept pushing forward. It was around 11 that I started feeling tired. The road was pretty shady but the downhill uphill combination was just killing us. Turn after, turn ,of up hill climb was just killing our moral. Cycle seats are good for short rides. More time you sit on it , you start feeling that they are torcher contraption.I got down and stretched my legs at 2-3 places. I was completing another torchers ascent when I saw the 3 folks who had overtaken us enjoying cool drinks. This must be the lunch point :D. I have made it. Took a break, had some juice. Waited for Arun. 30 minutes later Arun came by. The lunch point was pretty close. We all proceeded there. I was happy to have completed a significant portion of the ride. Felt pretty satisfied. Since I was pretty hungry , I ate up 2 servings of vegetable biryani. Little did I know this would make the next-leg of the journey difficult.
Sacry bits : While having lunch many more cyclists arrived. The had been two falls on the way. Both pretty serious. There was some talk of one of the guys sitting in the bus. After lunch I went it to see this gentlemen with broken teeth sitting in the bus. He was hurting unable to move both his arms. The CAM organizers were pretty hush hush about the whole incident. They could have easily prevented such things had they given some fair warning before starting the ride, I later found out that this was not the first time people had fallen on the ride. This was pretty unprofessional of the organizers. The help offered was to arrange a cab to take the injured gentleman to a hospital. I felt bad for the guy, he had been knocked cold form the fall. He had lost two teeth and was unable to move both arms. The disk brakes on his cycle had locked up during descent , setting newtons 1st law into action. The bike stopped because of the bake jam but the rider continued to be in motion, landing face first. I later found out the gentleman had 2 fractures. The second guy who had a fall but was already moved to a hospital also had multiple fractures a broken wrist.
Well with my confidence shaken up, i started to ride after lunch. It was an ascent. It was a never ending ascent with the sun shining down hard, and hardly any shade. It was dehydrating... the roads were good though. After the ascent I was on a hill top, with only grass on the sides. It was very sunny and somehow very tiring to ride. Met a bunch of kids on the way, one thing i noticed through this ride. People are very nice when they see you on a cycle. I have never seen people being so nice when I am driving my car. Throughout the journey I have had people waving, encouraging, asking my name, asking my destination.Seeing someone on a cycle probably reminds people of their childhood . Or may people feel that the person on cycle is more approachable. Whatever it was , it was great inspiration to see people, kids encouraging you throughout the journey. Many kids ran up to me and asked my name. They even told me Hemanth is a sweet name :P.
Riding alone ahead of the pack , I was tired and not enjoying the ride so much. Took a break and waited for someone else to join me. Joe was the one who reached my place in 10 min. With new company I started riding again, Joe was my cycling partner for next 10 KM. It was nice to have company in the dissolute place. There were 3-4 people in front of us. we reached the NH around 4 PM. The sun was very hot and roads as usual had a lot of gradient. We reached bakel fort by 4:30. Went round the fort. It was ok ok. Tall green grass. Read brick fort, with a Arabian sea at a distance. It was ok. We had covered 80KM by then. It was the last rendezvous point for the cycling group. The bus was supposed to take us from there to kasargud. Since I felt I had some more energy and few of the cyclists were keen on completing 100KM in a day. 5-6 of us decided to cycle to Kasargud from Bakel. I think It was a 10-15 KM journey through small villages. There are many mansions in Kerala villages. The houses are build on plots which are larger than football field. These folks are rich. There was nothing much to report on this part of the ride. I was mostly coursing myself for not taking the bus to Kasargud.
At Kasargud we were put up at city tower Hotel. The room was pretty dingy. Had dinner at a vegetarian restaurant and slept well.
The next day ride started at 8. I did not want to get struck in the hot sun. I started, pretty soon I was leading the group. We were at Jalsoor 11. There is a small hanging bridge at the end point. It was nice to ride over the bridge and play in the river water.
The journey home was long and slow. Extremely painful and boring. Our drop was at Mysore road. This meant me and Arun had to ride home in cycle with our luggage. This was a bad 15-20 KM ride.
Returning Home never felt better.
But it was an interesting journey , where you meet some nice interesting people. I got to see the landscape of Kerala up close.
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