Bicycle ride to Devarayanadurga

Cycle is a funny machine,
the driver is it’s engine!

Life is like a 10 gear cycle,

Most of us have gears we never use!!

Yet another journey with BASC, yet another journey with Patrick, yet another milestone achieved!
This seems to have become a habit now!
It was during the Ganesh festival weekend that Patrick organized a seemingly incredible 160+ km Cycle ride to Devarayanadurga. I was like, why not, after all I always complain about not getting enough company to accompany me on my occasional weekend cycle rides in and around Bangalore!

Here goes the description of our Odyssey –
A group of 6 experienced and highly seasoned cyclists assembled near our agreed meeting point, Vivanta by Taj in Yeshwantpur at around 5 in the morning. I started from my home and hurrying through signal-less roads and empty flyovers in Outer Ring road reached the place, a good 10 km away. All had already assembled beforehand there! Hearing the instructions about which directions to be taken(It was basically a straight road along the Tumkur road on NH4 highway and then a small right at Dobbaspete beneath the highway), we started along the Tumkur road in pitch morning darkness, those who had tail and front lights were lucky as they could drive without any worries of occasional potholes near Yeshwantpur.
The cold morning air along with almost zero traffic is a heady feeling and we all whizzed past along the highway. With sign board proclaiming proudly, PUNE- 840km Tumkur 75 km etc, the decreasing kilometers of our destination actually added to our happiness. After riding for around 15 km along flyovers and roads, we reached a toll gate. The journey was pretty uneventful as we all rode at a steady pace - that was when I got a sprain in left leg - yikes!! Good that others waited for me after 5 km near the road as I lagged quite behind. Those 2 minutes or so of rest I had there was like God sent! Recovered enough to continue the journey again. Then as we moved along, the slick city landscape gradually changed to rustic one with lush greenery along both sides of NH-4 combined with typical now-oh-so-familiar Karnataka’s beautiful rocky, boulderish landscape. There was quite a bit of steepness in the roads as we cycled along but the road quality was as clean as a whistle absolutely flat. It was amusing, watching school going kids in autos waving at you. You feel obligated to wave at them back! Old people, curious people used to ask me ’ellinda guru?’ (From where dude?) At they stood like statues when I replied them ’Bangalore’! probably thinking that I have gone insane!
After another 1 and half hour, we reached Dobbaspete, where we pounced upon the delicious Pulav, idlis, vade and chai. Here, we took a right to reach Devarayana Durga which was still 22 km away from that point.
The Dobbaspete landscape was even more rustic, with roads getting slightly worse at this point and beginning of hairpin bends.
Quite a number of people travelled by bikes, scooters and cars on that day. Many KSRTC busses also plied on this route.
We reached base of the hill after crossing Uggere village at around 10 : 45 am. Here we had a mini photo session to my joy, as I was just waiting to whisk out my camera and start shooting and of course munching on some snacks!
Then began the arduous task of negotiating hairpin bends for 5km! After a few breaks along the way we finally reached Devarayanadurga temple at the base then later at the top.
Weather Gods were very kind to us as there was not much sun nor rain until then. Rather, cloudy weather was the order of the day. After exploring the hill side a bit; myself, Patrick, and Surya settled to have bhel. The monkeys there were so polite here!
They literally tap your shoulder, make that innocent face and outstretch their right hands. After munching on some, I happily emptied the entire packet in front of them, much to that little kiddo’s delight! Well that’s a reward for politeness I guess :D
Again, some photo-session later, we started our journey to Bangalore. Was such a joy going downhill. It started raining then, a pleasant light rain to revitalize you. We then decided to meet at Dobbaspete flyover at around 2:45 in the afternoon for quick snacks as energy would be required till the next stop i.e. the Dhabha! We left at 3:10 and reached dhabha at 3:50 in afternoon, here all of us had sumptuous meal of fried rice, chicken kabab, phulka and what not and started at 4:30. From there Bangalore was around 38km. The same journey seemed a big different and easier then, with the evening light playing tricks on you and traffic adding to a sense of hustle-bustle. After steady cycling for 2 and half hours and crossing 3 tolls, we finally reached Jalahalli. Because of the heavy traffic at evening time we finally reached Bangalore at 7! Patrick had to cycle additional kms to reach K.R Puram, so a total of 170km in a day - phew! This taught all of us that, distance, time and muscles don’t matter during such journeys - will power does!
There, that was the end. These mere words won’t alone describe the joy and sense of accomplishment we all achieved when we reached back Bangalore without any hiccups not to say we slept like babies that night, and some of us (like me) turned into Robots the next day! Such rides give you overnight six packs, calves and quad muscles burn fat not fuel ;) Salute to those muscles that were destroyed and new ones discovered in the process!
Written by: Saurabh

Post – 2

A Bicycle ride to remember:
Devarayanadurga is always the favorite trekking destination for adventure lovers but my good friend and one of the BASC organizer Patrick Sam had something special in mind. I never thought event like Bicycle ride to Devarayanadurga will be held because it is far from Bangalore with more than 150 kms of pedaling. As soon as I saw the event page, I was in dilemma due to the distance need to be covered in one day and is it possible for me to sustain stamina to ride cycle continuously for 15 hrs. Finally, I decided to join the endurance ride to Devarayanadurga.
My Experience:
It was an endurance ride and one day event, so not much of backpacking is required. Prepared small backpack with Electrodes, Glucose, Bananas and Chocolates along with the cycling repair kits.
Woke up at 2:30 AM and started cycling from my home at around 3:15 AM. Patrick decided to start the ride from Yeshwanthpur around 5:00 AM since lot of distance need to be covered in one day and we can return back to Bangalore by night. I started around 3:15 AM from home and thought will reach Yeshwanth pur around 4:30 AM. I reached around 4:20 AM and Patrick joined me in 15 mins. Surya, Prithayan, Mallick and Saurab joined us little later. There were 2 last minute dropouts from the shortlisted people and hence, 6 of us started cycling from Yeshwanthpur.
Assembling Point: Gurgunte Palya Signal (VIVANTA Taj Hotel, YeshwanthPur).
Our plan was to reach Nelamangala first then Dabaspet and have breakfast at Dabaspet. It was an awesome experience for me while pedaling on Bangalore- Pune National Highway (Tumkur Road, NH-4) due to the wonderful road conditions and weather. Finally, we reached Dabaspet around 7:45 – 8:00 AM. Had breakfast and took half an hour break. Started pedaling again to our destination Devarayanadurga and reached base of Devarayanadurga around 9:45 AM.
Took much need break of 15 mins, had snacks and started pedaling to Devarayanadurga top at 10:00 AM.
It was 5 km ride of uphill and hair pin bends so Patrick thought one and half hrs of time is required to reach top. All of us reached base of temple around 11:30 AM and parked our cycles.
Stared trek to the Yoga Laxmi Narasimha Temple which was at the top of the hill rock and relaxed here for 2 hrs. My bike computer showed me the count that I had done around 80 Kms of pedaling  for the day till afternoon. I really enjoyed the terrain and weather was another plus point for us so far.
After relaxing, all of us started cycling back to Bangalore at around 1:30 PM. Decided to have lunch at Dabaspet. It was cloudy and drizzling from afternoon. Weather was pleasant and we enjoyed the ride to the fullest on the beautiful monsoon climate.
At 2:30 – 2:45 PM, we reached Dabaspet. All of us were hungry, filled our stomach at small bakery with junk foods and decided to have lunch on the way at dhaba on NH-4. Since most of us were hungry, we had lunch at dhaba and started at 4:00 PM. Our mission was to reach Yeshwanthpur around 6:30 PM. We could see heavy traffic on NH-4. We pedaled to our best, my bike computer showing speed of around 40-45 km/hr, Since there was a huge traffic jam at Peenya, we all reached Yeshwanthpur at 7:00 PM.
Departed to our places and reached home at 8:30 PM after battling Saturday evening traffic :P

Cycling distance: Around 158 kms. (To & fro- Devararyanadurga and Indiranagar).
Cycling route: Yeshwanth Pur –> Nelamangala –> Dabaspet –> Devarayanadurga.
Terrain: Difficult (Day long pedaling with a lot of distance coverage, Hairpin bends and uphill at Devarayanadurga, little off road cycling).
Finally, Super cycling Saturday for me. Started at 3:15 AM in the morning, back at 8:30 PM. Non stop cycling throughout the day and covered nearly 158 Kms. of cycling. My personal best on single day was 120 Kms. (Last year Nandi Hills bicycle ride).
Thanks to Patrick Sam and Bangalore ASCENDers for organizing this endurance ride to Devarayanadurga.
Written by: Gautham Baliga
Join Bangalore ASCENDers @ CLICK HERE
Date: 29th, August, 2014
Composed by: Swetha Padakandla
Event organized by: Patrick Samuel
Expenses per head: 0 Expense (Food expense was at own cost)
Image Gallery: Saurabh Rao
The team : Patrick Sam, Saurab Rao, Surya Vanamali, Rakesh Mallick, Prithayan Barua, Gautham Baliga