Kolar Gold Fields 300k BRM - Ride Report

Introduction:

Kolar Gold Fields is a 300 km Brevet organised by IISc Randonneurs. Following is a brief description from their website:

The Kolar Gold Fields 300km BRM takes you through some ancient and important towns in the Kolar Gold Fields region near Bangalore. It then crosses into the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh travelling a beautiful road from Venkatagirikota before entering Tamil Nadu. We then trace the Palar river to Vaniyambadi, before returning via NH-46 in the shadow of the Yelagiri hills and NH-7 to Bangalore via Krishnagiri.

This is an ACP-sanctioned brevet ride, and must be completely self-supported. The ride must be finished within 20 hours, but note that it is not a competitive ride.

Ride Summary:

Following is my detailed ride Report:

I started around 6:10 am with Karthik and Somaskanda amidst slight drizzle and very pleasant weather. About 2 kms into the ride as we were approaching Old Madras Road, my Btwin bottle cage came off and was on the ground along with the bottle. An oncoming car crushed the bottle cage and I was left with a bottle full of water but nothing to keep it! What a start for the ride!.. Somaskanda offered to carry my bottle in his back pack as it had some space. We rode on non stop till Malur, the 1st control point and reached there around 8 am. Had nice breakfast at Malur and also met some of the other riders over there. Karthik had an extra bottle cage on his bike and he offered to carry my bottle from then on. And that's how he became my support vehicle for the rest of the ride! :-)

With Karthik at the Malur Backup ATM control

Anil Kadsur also passed us at this point - I thought it must be one of his morning rides where he accompanies people for part of their rides and then heads back home.. I saw him next only at the end point and that's when I realised, he did the whole ride! Without any lights/reflective vest/puncture kit etc. He was allowed to do the ride purely because he hadn't registered and was outside organisers' jurisdiction.

Continuing from Malur we found that the road, although well paved, was slightly narrow and we had to be wary of trucks coming from either side. Suddenly the rains increased and my poncho came out!. Although it protects very well against the rain and the back spray, it has the tendency to swell up almost like a parachute! Not the best thing to do if you are riding a bicycle but I really wanted my butt and back to remain dry and this was the only way to do it! The roads turned really bad as we approached Tekal and a little bit after it. However the rain had stopped by now and it was bright and sunny so I promptly removed my poncho and was quite glad to do so!

Me riding with my poncho on. A mini parachute! A strange sight that earned me many a stare

Slushy non existent roads due to overnight rains

We rode steadily as we crossed Bangarapet and the KGF!. The heat was steadily increasing and after we passed Bethamangala we were almost out of water. So stopped for a small snack (biscuits/bananas) break and stocked up on water as well. Soon we reached Venkatagirikota and were relieved not to see any road blocks! We didn't want to stay much in AP and continued on our way to Pernambut without stopping. Soon we reached the famous descent to Pernambut. This was the best part of the whole route with awesome downhills and beautiful scenery on either side of the road. We rode merrily clicking pictures on the way and enjoying the downhill. We knew about the dangerous bumps at the AP/TN border right in the middle of the descent and were careful as we approached them. Some pictures of the descent:

The dangerous bumps at the AP/TN border right in the middle of a long descent.

An awesome view of the valley during the descent 

Soon we reached Pernambut control at 1:15 pm and took another water/snack break. We had decided to have lunch at the Mufasa's restaurant after Vaniambadi and only have small snack breaks until then. The route from Pernambut to Vaniambadi had good tree cover on some sections and that helped! However, the temperatures were quite high (~34C) and that was taking its toll. We took another chikki/coke break at Oomerabad. Rode strongly after that to reach Vaniambadi around 3:15 pm. Crossed it and reached Mufasa around 3:45. Had nice lunch and a longish (~1 hr) break. Met a couple of riders from Coimbatore who were doing this ride as a preparation for a 600k later in Chennai. Temperature was 37C when we reached Mufasa and 35C when we started from there!. The 3 hr ride between 2 pm to 6 pm was the toughest part of this whole ride and we really felt that we were riding through hell! 

Hot sun in the afternoon and no shade meant a very tough ride. Riding in this period really felt like hell

Awesome and filling lunch at Mufasa Restaurant

The weather started getting cooler after 6 and we could feel the increase in riding speed. However, now we had to deal with the climbs as we crossed Krishnagiri and I learnt from Karthik that there are even more severe climbs between Shoolagiri and Hosur.

Right after Krishanagiri, we caught up with Vijay who had just had the 3rd puncture of his ride. We helped him change the tube and started from there. We had hardly gone 300m when Vijay again had a flat!..There was nothing (thorn/nail) in the tire to indicate what caused the flat but we could see that the tube was punctured on the outer side (thus ruling out a bad rim tape). I gave him my tube and changed it for him as he was visibly frustrated. This tube held on and we continued on the ride.

Crossed Shoolagiri around 9:30pm and decided to have some food at the McD after that. With our batteries charged, started riding hard after that. Guess what! Vijay got another flat abt 15 kms from Hosur! This time Somaskanda offered him one of his "patched" tubes which we quickly changed and got on with the ride. Reached Hosur around 11:15pm and took another 15 min water break. Ride after Hosur was relatively flat and we rode fast to reach the end control around 12:40 am!

As soon as we reached the end control, we were greeted with nice chocolates (Snickers) by the organisers. They had also arranged for some light snacks (wafers/chikki/tea). I believe the tea was from Siga (thanks!). Awesome (festive) atmosphere at the end control where every rider was greeted so well that they would have forgotten the exhaustion of a tough ride (at least for some time).

Full set of pictures from my camera can be found here

Preliminary results of the brevet can be found here

27 Hours - 410kms : (Nearly) Challakere and Back: 400K Brevet ride report

I recently entered in the world of Randonneuring and this 400km Brevet ride organized by IISc Randonneurs was a part of it. This was my 2nd brevet ride having earlier done the 200K Brevet held last month.This particular ride started at 6:00 am on Jul 21st and we had to cover a distance of ~410 km before 9:00 am next day (total time of 27 hrs). We are given a cue-sheet and a map which has directions for the complete route at the beginning of the ride. There are various control stations along the way where we need to reach within designated time limits. This is a non competitive ride and everyone who completes it within the stipulated time is eligible for a medal from Audax Club, Paris. 

The complete map of the ride is as below:

View Larger Map

Some brilliant roads around Hesaraghatta - Pic courtesy Rafi

I was a bit late at the starting point and started around 6:20 am. Learnt from Nirmal and Mustafa that 8 people had already started the brevet. Around 10 kms into the ride I found a bunch of bikers standing in a group. Kiran kumar had decided to abandon the ride due to a pre-ride injury and good-byes were being exchanged. Shreeju (on hybrid) and me (on MTB) started riding together from there. We passed through some really beautiful stretch of village roads near Hesaraghatta with almost zero traffic and well paved roads. There were occasional  potholes and small stretches of broken roads, but overall it was a pleasant ride with lush green fields on either side and good tree cover.

A very small section of bad road near Hesaraghatta.
Most of the roads here were excellent as seen in prev photo.

We passed Sri Anjaneya temple near Madhure lake around 8 am and decided to have breakfast in the town which came immediately. After a quick breakfast, we set targets to complete 100 kms by 11:30 (5:30 hrs) and also reach the first control at Koratagere (109kms) by 12:00 pm. 

We encountered severe headwinds and also some climbs as we rode towards Dobbaspete. Thats when my speed slowed down and I started falling behind Shreeju a little. At Dobbaspete we had to take a sharp right turn (Almost a U turn) and that somehow told me that we should get some down hills and tail winds ahead! It turned out to be true and we gained some speed and momentum in this stretch.

With help from the gentle slopes, we were able to meet our own time targets we had set above. After getting the required ATM slips, we took an awesome 30 min lunch break at Koratagere. 2 HUGE tatte idlis with sagu (vegetables) and a bowl full of tomato rice and unlimited majjige (buttermilk) for just 20 rs! 

Shreeju was already feeling he had eaten a lot and was slightly worried if he will be able to ride in this state. I assured him that after the first 4-5 kms he would again be in aggressive ride mode. We just joked - after eating a lot, now its the time to ride a lot :)

Madhugiri Fort - A nice place to hang out in the weekend.
Perfect for a day long cycling trip from Bangalore

Soon we reached Madhugiri without much trouble and and were feeling really good so far. The Madhugiri hill is really a beautiful sight from a distance as we came near we saw the fort at the top. Looked like a cool place and I definitely would like to come here again. A Bangalore--> Madhugiri --> Bangalore trip with hiking at Madhugiri hill added in between would be ideal for a day long cycling trip.. This being a weekend, there were quite a few tourists already there. Anyway, after taking a couple of snaps we started on our way to Sira. Soon the sky became overcast and it began drizzling. I was wary of getting wet because of the night ride ahead (was worried of catching cold due to the cold winds later..) So I decided to wear my rain poncho. As always happens, as soon as I wore it, the rain stopped! Again removed it started riding. Kudos to Shreeju for stopping for me every time! 

A Road biker's nightmare: Around 30 kms of road
between Madhugiri and Sira was being completely re-laid .
Again pic courtesy Rafi

After doing about 10 kms in the next 30 mins we passed through a small village where Shreeju filled his water bottle and we had some munch like chocolates. After that, THE bad portion of the road started. It was a killer stretch where the whole road was being re-laid and everything had been dug up with diversions every now and then. Thank god for the rains otherwise there would have been loads of dust flying around. For the first time I felt lucky to be on an MTB! :). Initially, I maintained good speed here and managed to stay on Shreeju's heels. However, soon it again started raining and thinking it might be another passing shower, I decided to wait for a while at a small bus stop. On hindsight, this was the first mistake I made on this ride. Before I knew, 30 mins had passed and the rain was showing no signs of stopping. So eventually I decided to wear my poncho and start riding again. The winds were making my poncho swell up and it had become a mini parachute decreasing my speed by quite a bit. I just hung in there and kept riding at whatever speed I could. 

Meanwhile, got a call from Shreeju who had reached Sira and was having some tea and snacks over there. I had no idea about how far I was from Sira and asked him to continue without waiting for me. It took me ~40 mins to reach Sira and without taking any breaks I just continued riding towards Hiriyur. The winds had reduced by now and I was really enjoying my ride in the rain. I just rode on merrily singing songs to myself without worrying too much about time or distance. My garmin watch had died by now and I had no sense of time too (my phone was in my bag at the back inside the poncho). This part of ride on the highway in the rain was the most kick ass part of the whole ride in terms of pleasure quotient. For a short while I seriously felt I just wanted to keep on riding to infinity and beyond... :-) Its a feeling difficult to describe in words. 

After a while the rain stopped and evening sun was out for a while. I promptly removed my poncho and took a small snacks break. - One full pack of hide and seek biscuits and water mixed with electral. As I rode along, I met the only other MTBer on this ride - Karthik (Karthikeyan Swamiappan) from IISc. He was changing the tube in his rear wheel since the other one had a slow puncture which he wasn't able to find. I stopped for a while and helped him put things together. He informed me that Shreeju had passed him ~30 mins back when he was having food at a dhaba. Karthik is a very strong rider and had done the 600K brevet last month on the same MTB. With the 200K and 300K also done, this was his last brevet required for becoming a Super Randonneur. We rode together from then onwards and I picked up some speed in his company. Soon we passed through Hiriyur towards Eraballi (the next control point). 

We were still about 20 kms away with 1 hr 30 mins to go for the control closing time (20:40). It was almost dark now and it was time to switch on my all new head light. It was really bright and I could easily see up to 25m in front. We rode well and reached the control by 8:00 pm. 

Me at the first Photo control point - Eraballi

This was a photo control and we had to take a photo with us and/or our bike in it standing next to a white sign board at this place. I had brought my small Nikon camera just for this. Unfortunately, it was kept in my front pannier bag and had got all wet in the rains. First we tried taking photo using my cell phone camera by pointing the bike light on the the subject. But did not work out :(. As a last resort, I took out the Nikon, wiped it dry with my kerchief and turned it ON with crossed fingers. Luckily it was dry from inside and turned on without any trouble! Only thing, it had reset itself and I had to re-enter the date and time. This is when we realized that this type of proof (a photo with time stamp) could easily be tampered with by just changing the time in the camera :-) Something for the organizers to ponder .. 

Anyway, we found that Karthik's new tube was also leaking and loosing air. He was really (and understandably) frustrated with that and was even considering quitting. He just wasnt able to find the root cause of the slow punctures. The next control (Aymangala) was just 13 kms from here and so we decide to pump in some air and then reach there and then decide on what to do. This particular stretch of road from Eraballi to Aymangala was really dark and scary. It was single track with open fields on either side and not a soul in sight until horizon. Karthik was too occupied worrying about his puncture (and rightly so) and he probably did not "enjoy" the spookiness of this place :). 

Me at the 2nd photo control point - Aymangala

By the time we reached Aymangala and got the required photos, it was already 9:15 pm with just 15 mins to go for the close of control!! Here, we met Kalpesh (another IISc rider) who was sitting there looking very weak. Looked like his body was reluctant to accept any solid food and was rejecting it outright.   Me and Karthik had some food over here and prepared some water with electral for Kalpesh (I dont remember whether he had it or no). After a while of debating whether to quit or continue, Karthik finally decided to try one more tube and reach the next (and last) control Hiriyur and then decide. Hiriyur was about 22 kms from here and we had 1 hr 30 mins before the control closed. Since it was an ATM control, Karthik did not require my help (I was the only guy with camera) over there. So I wished him luck and started riding towards Hiriyur. He would start ~15 mins later after changing the tube one last time.

The rest of the ride (~177kms) was going to be on NH4 and was expected to be smooth. I started riding fast and soon reached the flyover near Hiriyur. When I was 1 km away from Hiriyur, I got a call from Shreeju asking where I was. He was having dinner at Hiriyur and was happy to learn that I was also nearby. Somehow, I lost my way and could not figure out how to take the right opposite to Hotel VMP Mahal  (as mentoined in the cuesheet). I wasted around 10 mins to figure that out and another 5 mins to find the SBI ATM at Hiriyur. It turned out that both me and Karthik reached the ATM at exactly the same time (22:50 - just 10 mins before closing time). This had been a control point during his 600k brevet earlier and he knew the way well. Suddenly he found that he had forgotten his wallet at Aymangala and was not in a position to take the ATM slip!. He quickly called Kalpesh if he was still there and could get his wallet. But looked like Kalpesh too had already left the place. I took a photo of Karthik outside the ATM as a proof and we rode on to a hotel for dinner. Karthik had found that his rim tape had worn out at a certain place and probably that was causing these slow punctures. He had put some packing at that place while putting a new tube at Aymangala and was hoping that it would last now.

We now had 10 hrs to go and 155 more kms to cover. Karthik assured me that this was easily doable as most of the road was downhill with just one small stretch between Sira and Tumkur which was really uphill. He had done this stretch in 8 hrs 30 mins during his 600K brevet and they had ridden in the afternoon heat at that time. From my earlier 200K brevet, I too was aware that the road after Tumkur was really nice and one could really speed on that stretch. So I relaxed a bit and took a nice 1 hr dinner break over here. This on hindsight was the 2nd mistake of my trip.

During this 1 hr, Karthik found that his 3rd tube was also flat :(. This was the final nail in the coffin and he decided to pull out. This was really sad because his dream of becoming a Super Randonneur this season had come to an end (unless he goes all the way to Delhi for the 400K BRM). At the previous control, Kalpesh had offered his road bike to him to complete the rest of the ride (since he was dropping out anyway due to bad health). But Karthik refused saying "If at all I complete the brevet, it will be on the MTB (RR 5.3)". Moreover, he did not want to leave a sick Kalpesh behind alone too. I really liked the camaraderie among these two IISc Randonneurs and was myself tempted for a while to quit and help them. But logic got the better of emotion and I decided to continue on the ride.  

At Hiriyur - Still 155 more kms to cover in 9 hrs with lots of Elevation gain 

I started from Hiriyur at 12 in the night and now had 155 kms to cover in exactly 9 hours. Now I was getting a little tensed on whether I will be able to finish in time and started riding at brisk pace. After covering some 26 kms in the next 1 hr 10 mins, I suddenly started feeling very sleepy. Just then came across a small dhaba with lots of cots lying outside. I could not resist and decided to take a 10 min power nap at this place. Woke up around 1:20 and had a nice cup of hot tea and was back on the road at 1:30. Around 2:15, when I just passed by Sira (292km mark), I got a call from Shreeju asking where I was. He had crossed Sira about an hour back and was a good 20 kms ahead of me. He offered to wait for me since he was well ahead and had some spare time. It was very nice of him but I asked him to continue since he might get a puncture (he has a history of getting punctures on the highways) and it was not wise to risk waiting for me. I told him its going to be touch and go for me at the finishing line and asked him to carry on. 

Talking to Shreeju freshened me up and I kept riding till 3:30 without much trouble but started feeling sleepy again. This time I decided to take a nap just sitting on the sideway. Another 10 min power nap and I was good to for another 1.5 hrs. I had brought a mix of dry fruits (apricots, figs, cashew nuts and almonds) with me and started munching them on the way while riding. Apricots and figs are really hard to chew kind of fruits and they helped me drive away sleep on the way. I think chewing gum is also a good option for staying alert while riding. 

My average speed reduced as I approached Tumkur due to the uphills. I did not have a cyclocomp and wasnt using my garmin watch to log distance to save battery (I needed a watch in case my phone battery died). So, the only source of distance covered were the not so periodic milestones. I must have crossed Tumkur around 5:15 and was again starting to feel drowsy and just waiting for sunrise. I was hoping that the sleep would reduce once it got brighter. Soon, I reached Tumkur toll booth at 6 am. The sun had risen and it was quite bright now. Had a nice cup of tea and some bananas and checked the cuesheet for the distance remaining. Was surprised to find that I still had to go another 60 kms in the next 3 hrs! I must have been really slow in the up hill section. 

At Tumkur toll gate. Still 60 kms to cover in 3 hrs!

From my previous 200k brevet experience, I knew that there were considerable downhills after dobbaspete and it is possible to gain some some momentum over there. Assuming at least 20 mins of total break time, I would have to ride at an average speed of 23-24 kmph. This was not an easy ask considering the amt of kms I had already done. Somehow I just kept pedalling and pushing myself to keep my avg riding speed around 24 kmph. The confidence kept increasing slowly as I passed familiar points (Dobbaspete, Nelamangala toll booths etc). Soon I reached NICE road interchange at 8:20!  (I beat my target to reach here by 8:30) Now just 12 more kms to go and 40 mins remaining. I was finally relieved. Rode on normally after that to reach the end control just about when it was closing!. I actually reached at 9:10 due to the traffic along the way and also I had to stop at various signals. But there was a grace period of 15-20 mins due to the additional 10 kms and I was considered to be in time. Also, We (me and Shreeju) had helped a person on a Luna who had crashed down near Hesaraghatta. That had taken >10 mins of our time. I am sure organizers would have considered it had I been more late.

Finally reached the finishing point. After the longest
(and toughest) ride of my life!

The feeling that I remember on reaching the end control was more of relief than anything else. Was happy to see Shreeju and Rafi sitting there with Nirmal. After relaxing for ~10 mins whilst Nirmal completed my brevet card, we started towards A-Mess for scrumptious breakfast. Had 4 masala dosa's back to back! :-)

My left knee and ankle had developed minor swellings due to the hard mashing towards the end  and I was barely able to walk! Felt slightly better after applying volini cream. I decided I will ride slowly to hebbal and take the airport volvo towards my home with the bike in it. Unfortunately a bus that came after waiting 30 mins did not allow the bike inside. Left with no other option, just rode slowly the final 15 kms to home in an easy gear. 

Thus ended my longest and by far the toughest cycling trip ever! I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it and will cherish these memories for a long time to come. I had good company from Shreeju and Karthik for a major part of the ride and really enjoyed riding with them. Really sad for Karthik who could not finish the ride due to some silly punctures which could not be found. But he is a brave rider and I am sure he will be a Super Randonneur next year (if not this year). A word also for Ashok who is nearly 50 years old and he completed 350 kms of the ride before punctures in the middle of the night and back pain got to him. Wish him luck for next season. I will probably be doing this ride again next season in my quest to become a Super Randonneur. Hopefully will ride with these awesome guys again then.

More photos of the ride can be found here:
https://plus.google.com/photos/101248951236541984759/albums/5768265952171279201

Preliminary results of the ride can be found here

CYBikers: Cycling trip to Ooty and back

What: Cycling trip on the Gundlupet --> Ooty -->Gundlupet route

When: Good Friday weekend -6th and 7th April 2012-  (8th being a rest day)
Who: 4 CYBikers- Aditya (ADIY), Kannan (QVS), Somashekhar (STHA) and Nayan (NYBP) -and one guest - Sridhar  
Background

We have a group of cyclists at the Cypress(CY) Bangalore office. We are called CYBikers and consist of people who cycle to work and/or cycle in the weekends and/or want to start cycling..

This was the 1st official trip of our small group. We had a long weekend coming up (Good Friday) and I was thinking of various trips that were good enough for 2 days (to allow a rest day). That is when Aditya along with Soma came up with this awesome plan of doing the famous Ooty climb (One of the toughest climb in south India with a vertical climb of >1200m over a 11km long road). 

The Plan

The plan was just right for 2 days. Drive to Gundlupet (~200kms from Bangalore) in Soma's car with our bikes mounted on it. Park the car at Gundlupet and do the Gundlupet-Ooty climb via the Kalhatty route on the bikes. Stay over night at Ooty and return to Gundlupet next day via Gudalur route. Return back to Bangalore next day in Soma's car. 

The Preparations
We planned to start from Bangalore at ~1:00 am in the night in Soma's CRV. The excitement of the trip and preparing for the ride (preparing bike, packing my stuff etc) took up all of my time and I could not get any sleep before that. Soma and team picked me and my bike up from near my  home at around 12:45 am and we soon started on our way to Gundlupet around 1:00 am.

Bikes mounted on/in the car, All set to leave Bangalore. L to R:  me, Kannan, Aditya, Soma

It took about ~4.5 hrs for us to drive to Gundlupet and I managed to get ~ 2 hrs of sleep in that period. 

Initial Ride through Bandipur National Park

At Gundlupet, we unloaded and assembled our bikes and by the time we started, it was already 7:00 am.We knew the summer heat would catch up with us soon but took solace from the fact that Neelima and team had managed the same trip after starting at 9:00 am exactly a year back in similar weather. We were a good 2 hrs ahead of them! The initial part of the ride was smooth with very small and not so steep uphills - A nice way to get warmed up for the tough ask ahead. 

On the way we passed through Bandipur National Park and Mudumalai Tiger reserve. Due to the summer, most of the trees were dry and there was hardly any shade. We spotted lots of deers and monkeys on the way. But they were very shy of us and just ran away as soon as we came any nearer or even if we stopped far to take pictures. Our first major stop was for breakfast at Masinagudi. We spent close to an hour over here and we used it to charge ourselves well for the tough ask ahead. After a scrumptious breakfast, some of us  decided to find a nice place to take a dip and cool down a bit. I took the opportunity to take a small nap. After a while some forest officers came and started shouting at us as we were bathing in elephant territory and it was supposedly dangerous :). We started from that point at ~11:00 am and the sun was really getting hot now and we all could feel the heat. To minimize the effect of heat, I would just ride hard when in the sun and relax a bit when passing through some shade.

Whenever I am stuck in such situations, I remember a quote by the legendary cyclist Greg LeMond: 

"It never gets easier, you just go faster"

The Climb

Soon, Aditya and me surged ahead of others, followed closely by Sridhar and not so closely by Soma and Kannan. We could suddenly feel the gradient becoming steeper as we reached closer to Ooty base. We found a tree with thick foliage and decided to rest here for a while (until Soma and Kannan caught up with us). We had an orange each and me and Sridhar shared a cucumber. We waited nearly half an hour at this place for Soma and Kannan. 

A nice shady area to rest while waiting for Soma and Kannan. Aditya checking the phone for the distance to the first of the 36 hairpin bends. It was about 600m ahead.

First of the 36 hairpin bends on the climb.
Photo of the actual bend below

Aditya meanwhile checked the map to find that the first of the (in)famous 36 hairpin bends was ~600m ahead. He said he will start riding and wait for us over there. Soon, we were joined by Soma and Kannan. We shared our orange/cucumber/water with them. Since Soma and Kannan were too tired and wanted to rest some more, I decided to start riding as I too was wary of the hard day ahead and wanted to cover as much distance as I could when I was relatively fresh. I had decided that whatever happens, I will not pull my bicycle. If too tired to ride, i will just get off and rest for some time and ride again.. but strictly no walking/pulling.
Soon I saw the sight of the 1st Hairpin bend (36/36 - they are all in reverse order while going upwards). Saw Aditya also over there, I think he had exhausted all his water already and started asking the passing cars for it. I had some half a litre left with me. Took a small gulp and a couple of snaps of the board and the hairpin bend itself and started riding again.
From my prior experiences of the Nandi climb (which was nothing compared to what we were just attempting), I knew that staying hydrated was by far the most important thing for pulling off such climbs..It was already 12:30 by now and we were sweating profusely due to the tremendous heat and lack of shade on the road.. I was seriously scared about whether I will be able to complete the climb. Curve #35 was just nearby and I was happy that I knocked of two curves in quick succession.

The periodic boards at every turn are a major motivating factor while doing this climb. You keep knocking them off one by one and your confidence grows slowly and steadily. Soon I too was out of water and was lucky to get another half a litre from a passing car. Then I decided to put my head down and just keep pedalling till I reach curve #18 (half way mark).

Never ending Climb:

The curves were pretty near each other until curve number 20 but after that, #19 is quite far (~2kms of low slope riding).  It was almost 1:45 in the afternoon and the heat was just un-bearable! Add to that the lack of proper hydration and enough sleep on the previous night and I was feeling really really tired :(.. Although the gradient was less steep, the journey from curve #20 to #19 was appearing to be never ending.. But I just kept repeating LeMond's quote to myself and just kept pedalling. I felt like the happiest person on earth on seeing curve #19 and subsequently #18 :))).

My Bike resting at curve #18. I slept for a while on that small white wall that you see on the left.

This was a target achieved and a milestone for celebration! :).. I gulped down whatever water I had (~0.5 litres), parked my bike next to the yellow board, dumped all my stuff (camera, water bottles, helmet, gloves..) next to the bike and just lay down on the small white wall.. Was breathing super heavily for the first 5 minutes or so and one car guy even stopped and inquired if all was well... I smiled at him and answered by just nodding my head (too tired to speak). The time was 2 pm and before I knew, I was fast asleep in the nice shade that was falling on this wall.

Next thing I remember was Aditya walking up pulling his bike at 2:30 pm (so I must have dozed off for ~30 mins). Aditya's strategy was to cycle as much as possible and if his speed dropped below 6 kmph, he would just start walking (at ~4 kmph). This way he insured that he was moving all the time.. I borrowed a sip of water from him (which he had collected from the numerous cars passing by..). After Aditya left, I rested for ~10 mins and then slowly gathered all my stuff that was lying around and started moving again. 

2nd Half of the Climb:
The weather had suddenly become very pleasant with lots of clouds coming from somewhere. Although the sun disappeared behind the thick cloud covering, the humidity was still causing lots of perspiration :(.. Soon I reached curve #12 and was super happy to see some stores over there :)) Purchased a bottle of water and gulped down most of it instantly!.. I could feel a sudden sense of energy and relaxation after having that water. Soon, I finished that bottle and bought another one for the rest of the journey. 

We had another prolonged break at curve #8 where we had a nice cup of coffee with a pack of Oreo cream biscuits. It had started raining mildly and we decided to soak in the pleasant weather. This is where there is a killer uphill which is really a straight climb around 300m long with an angle of at least 30 degrees. A pack of buffaloes were descending from this slope and we decided to let them pass before we restart our climb. I took this opportunity to shoot a panoramic view from this awesome place..

A panoramic view from curve #8. Nice Coffee shop at this place.

The rest of the journey was tough but not that eventful. I managed to reach curve #1 with just 2 more stops in between. The feeling on seeing that board (1/36) was simply un-describable (if at all there was such a word). After about 4-1/2 hours of toiling I had finally done it!.. "King of the world" kind of feeling for those who have seen Titanic. Soon, Aditya and Sridhar also joined me and we took some pictures with the yellow board. After a while, Soma and Kannan also joined us. They had finally given up on the climb at curve #8 and decided to take a truck from there. We took a final celebratory group photo at this place and then started moving into the Ooty town. 

A final group photo after competing the climb! From L to R: Kannan, Aditya, Soma, Sridhar and me

Our place for overnight stay (YHAI Hostel) was at least 10 kms from this place and it took us ~45 mins due to the uphill-downhill terrain within the city. Finally managed to reach there by 7:30. Had a small bath and rested for some time. Soon we were joined by our Photographer (CYClick) friends Noopuran, Shakir and Bigmal - who were traveling by car and clicking photos on the way.. We had nice scrumptious dinner and it was already ~11 by the time we hit the sack..

A summary of the onward trip from Gundlupet to Ooty can be found below:

Day2- Return Trip Begins

We wanted to start as early as possible to avoid the afternoon heat and reach Gundlupet by at least 12 in the noon. However, it was terribly cold in Ooty and we were without any warm clothes or lights. So, the earliest that we could start was 5:30 am. The plan for return trip was to go via the Gudaloor which is a longer route but much more scenic. It is also not very steep, so allows you to go at a steady speed without braking too much.
The Detour:

On the way we passed next to the beautiful lake Pykara at about 12 kms from Ooty. This was an awesome place which provided an opportunity for small off roads and also soothe the eyes and the mind with the beautiful scenery. Some pictures from this place:

Nice place for some "off-roading". Lots of grass and no thorns! so no worries of getting flats :)

Beautiful view of the lake from the top!

A group photo at the beautiful location

Back on the Road:

Soon we started from this place and it was the time to enjoy the awesome down hill ride! .. No pedaling at all and we were going at speeds >30 kmph. On the way we passed  the cinema shooting spot, The Pykara Dam and boating place etc but we decided to avoid all of them in the interest of time. We wanted to reach Gundlupet as early as possible and avoid the HOT afternoon sun! The super awesome roads and the brilliant weather and landscape all around made this a ride to remember. There were beautiful tea gardens on either side of the spiraling downhill roads. Some pics of them below:

Beautiful landscape and smooth roads made this a ride to remember!

Lush green Tea gardens on either side of the roads. This was heaven for landscape photographers.

The Accident and a lucky escape!

The downside of such beautiful downhills is that in you tend to get too carried away in the fun of cycling fast without any effort. Moreover, you can get engrossed in enjoying the beautiful landscapes all around and every now and then your concentration can waver momentarily from the road ahead. That momentary lapse in concentration can be really dangerous as we found the hard way! We were all riding keeping a distance of at least 15-20 meters between us. Just before one of the turns, I saw that Soma was dangerously near to me. I had slowed down due to the turn and he hadn't.. He tried to overtake me at that turn and I slowed down further to let him go ahead. However, from the other side, a couple of cars were approaching and instinctively Soma applied sudden brakes on his bike. This caused his rear wheel to skid and he slipped on the road. He was riding on our side of the road but slid till the median (center line) due to the momentum. His water bottle fell one meter to the right of the median and got crushed under the wheels of of the oncoming car. (The car driver hardly had a fraction of a second to apply the brakes and stop). Luckily, Soma was safe as he fell on the left side of the median. He escaped with minor bruises on the hands, legs and just above the eye. 

All of us stopped here for a while as Soma cleaned his wounds with some water. I rode his bike a little and it was working really fine.. no damage at all! Unfortunately we did not have any Dettol or first aid kit with us so we decided to ride a little till we reached a place where we could get that.

Soma- Showing off his wounds after getting them cleaned. :-) A word of caution to everyone - Going downhill is more dangerous/difficult than going up hill. Please be careful and ride safe!

We had nice bananas and coffee/tea at the above place and regained some lost energy. Although Soma was fine, he was in a bit of discomfort due to the injuries. So, we decided to ride till Gudalur and then hire a truck from there till Gundlupet.  
We had nice heavy breakfast (almost lunch) at Gudalur and Soma went and saw a doctor to get his wounds cleaned and bandaged. Also, we were joined by our CYClick friends and we were driving together from this place onwards.

The Truck that we hired at Gudalur with all our bikes loaded. Kannan doing some last minute adjustments.

Bandipur Reloaded:

Soon we were again passing through Bandipur National Park and this time we were lucky to sight some not so common animals - Two wild elephants (one female and a male both at different places), a stag who was crossing the road!

Kannan took this awesome snap of the stag while it was crossing the road at super high speed:

Awesome click by Kannan - That thing was going really fast ...  Also, proud of my super fast camera :)

On reaching Gundlupet, we quickly dis-assembled our bikes and loaded them in/on Soma's car again and now it was time to start the drive back to Bangalore. Before we left, it was time for a group photo of CYClickoBikers :-) (A term coined by Noopuran). 

CYClickoBikers: A bunch of happy people after an awesome trip! :) From L to R: Shakir, Noopuran, Kannan, Aditya, Sridhar, Soma and me.

Thus concluded a super awesome trip which had everything: The pain of one of the toughest climbs in south India, the bliss of riding downhill amidst some breathtaking scenery, an accident (!!), and some lucky sighting of some awesome animals in the Bandipur National park. We couldn't have asked for anything more! Hope we do more of such trips! (at least 1 per quarter)

Link to Picasa album from my camera:
https://plus.google.com/photos/101248951236541984759/albums/5729237095759555201?banner=pwa&authkey=CJv2lqzv3aG7ZQ
Link to some Brilliant shots from Shakir's camera during their too and fro drive through the Bandipur National Park:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104067233193489024682/Bandipur?authkey=Gv1sRgCJGLl8aRkYf-Rg#

Following is the ride summary for the return trip from Ooty to Gudalur:  

BBCh12-2: Off Road Race at Turahalli Forest

My first attempt at a bicycling race. It was the 2nd race of the 2012 edition of Bangalore Bicycling Championship. I must say it was a brilliant experience and one which I would remember for a long time.

It is a 3km off road trail in Turahalli forest, which is ~25km from my home.
Race Format: All riders race for one hour. The rider completing most laps within that time takes the coveted golden jersey!
We were a group of 6 Cyclists from Cypress.
The Team: Aditya (ADIY), Ajay (AJAI), Nachiket (NBS), Kannan (QVS), Soma (STHA) and Nayan (NYBP)

Background:

We all started from home at ~5:20 am as we wanted to reach early and get familiar with the conditions at the race trail. Five of us (all except Soma) had planned to meet up at Domalur flyover and then ride together from there. Unfortunately, before I could reach there, I found that I had a flat in my rear tire :(. Met up with Ajay, Aditya and Kannan on 100Ft Road and decided it was too dark to fix the puncture. So we just pumped in some air and started riding again.Crossed the Domalur flyover where we waited for Nachiket to join us. It was suddenly bright enough and me and Ajay thought we could fix the tire. So, we opened everything up to find that there were two punctures! Adtiya, who has gained considerable experience on fixing punctures, was at work straight away with little help from Ajay, Kannan and me. Unfortunately fixing them took up quite a bit of time and by the time we started from there it was already 7:10 am!. Because of all these delays we reached the venue at 8:05 am instead of the planned 7:00 am :(. To our horror we found that the race had just started 5 mins back! and in 5 mins we even found the race leaders completing the 1st lap. Aditya quickly talked to the organizers and to ask if we could join the race midway to which they replied with a NO. We still decided to ride considering that we had come all the way and it was better to ride than just stand and watch!.

About the Trail and the Ride:

A view from one of the pits on the Turahalli Trail. This was one of the scary portions of the trail where I was going downhill at a fast pace passing next to a large pit with a very thin piece of trail. 

The first km is very challenging in terms of elevation and loose gravel. I had to get down and pull the bike for ~20 meters right at the beginning. There were a few more climbs later but they were on more firmer soil and was able to manage them w/o getting off. Just when you start feeling tired at the end of the uphill section (~1.5 kms), begins the downhill ride through the forest. I was so thrilled by the downhill return section during the 1st lap that I just had to do this round again!! (I managed to do 3 laps in 45 mins before finally giving up)

While going downhill, I was going at 25kmph on a gravel trail, flying (literally) over small rocks and little hills, making sharp turns to avoid colliding with trees, bending down to avoid hitting a low lying branch..skidding due to dry leaves and/or soft gravel on the trail  (wohoooo!!).... I could totally feel the adrenaline rush

A brilliant capture by Shakir - one of the best photographers I know - using his 7D!

In spite of all the issues we faced in reaching the venue and the disappointment of not being able to join the race, I really enjoyed the actual race. The place (Turahalli) is just awesome and I am sure I will come back again for many more trail rides here in the weekends. And of course, looking forward to the next BBCh race! :-)