Ride to E-city, Chandapura, Anekal

My colleague and myself had planned for a early morning ride. With Bangalore Bicycle championships round the corner, and being a MTB race I was gearing up to hit the trails near Sarjapur and didn't want to miss the ride but due to the bad weather and coming home late in the night, that ride never happened. Slept an extra 2 hours just to kill time. Got up by 8 and again slept for another 2 hours and finally woke up by 10am.

A peek outside the window, a thought raced across 'how about a ride?', then dismissed the idea thinking that the weather was very deceptive. The sun might be out while riding and if I attempt a ride then I would be drained within 2 hours.

knowing that I had missed the ride, frustration was beginning to build. Had my breakfast. I had downloaded the videos on my handy cam onto my comp and thought it would be a good idea to edit those. During this time, a thought was running through my mind saying 'you can later come back from a ride and do the editing stuff', sat down turned on my comp and....the power went off!!

Immediately got into my riding gear, poured water into the hydration pack, pulled out some chocolates from the refrigerator, stretched a bit, and in about 20mins was on the saddle. Checked the time it was 12.45.....

Headed towards my favourite destination bannerghatta, near JP nagar thought it would be nice to ride towards electronic city and check the status of Flat which I had purchased from Concorde housing group around 1.5yrs back in electronic city, and due to recession and other problems the project was being delayed.

Rode till country club, took a left turn to Electronic city. The ride was pretty fast and the clouds were closing in. Thought it would rain, but thankfully that never happened. The initial plan was to go to electronic city, have a look at my flat and head back home. Reached the construction site, checked the status and headed back via Hosur road. Instead of taking a left at electronic city, took a right. It was as though my bike resisted going back home.

It was a fast ride averaging about 25km/hr. Stopped at a chai shop to hydrate myself. When I was having badam milk, was surrounded by locals, who were asking question like 'Does the cycle have a motor?','Do you need to pedal?'....cleared all their doubts and was back again on the saddle. Took a right and headed towards Chandapura.

From Chandapura onwards the head winds gave a visit and never left until I reached JP Nagar. It was real pain, my average dropped significantly by the time I ended my ride.

Reached bannerghatta national park, took a right to Bangalore. Reached home by around 5.20pm.

Total Distance : 81km

Ride Time : 4hr 10mins

Avg Speed : 19.44km/hr

After reaching home, realised that I didn't do a off road ride :). But was satisfied that I could at least ride.

Flickr Photos : http://www.flickr.com/photos/modi-kumar/sets/72157622001140512/

Technorati Tags: Bangalore Bikers club,Bikezone,Time Trials,Monthly Races,Cross Coutry race,MTB race,Road Bike race,Road Race,volunteering,photography,blogging,riding,Bangalore bicyle Championships

Nandi Mayhem

  All the rodies were itching to test their trail riding skills and the plan was set to ride Nandi trails on MTB's with big knobby tires.

As always we (Myself, Nelly, Pradeep and Srikanth) were late to reach the idly point because Srikanth was late in reaching lalbagh, where we had to wait for over 5mins :). Samim had plans of riding the trails 5 times and to warm himself rode till idly point from hebbal on his road bike. Vivek, George and Joshine came in Vivek's car till nandi base and unloaded their bikes and rode till the Coconut Jump point. While the rest of us drove till there.

Unloaded our bikes, and without wasting any time all of us set out. From the jump point there are 2 trails, one goes up which is about a kilometre and the other goes down to the idly point. We decided to ride up and reach the top and role down till the idly point. By the time we reached the top, few guys had problems of their own, most of us were exhausted riding up once, Samim had plans of riding it 5 times and unfortunately his back breaks stopped functioning....and there was another 4.8kms of downhill left!! ohh boy!

Took a few snaps and started riding down, half way through the trail we had our second victim, Pradeep tumbled over his bike and as a result his back wheel, you know, got bent. loosened the brakes and was on his bike again. Samim, George and Vivek were on clipless and Nelly pointed out to me saying Vivek was struggling and the next moment we had our Third Victim (Vivek)....it was not due to the clipless pedals rather it was because he was chased by dogs, cats and cows that came in between :)

Reached idly point, had breakfast. Samim, Vivek, George, Ananth and Joshine set off, while Myself, Nelly, Pradeep, Srikanth and Paresh decided to cool ourselves for some more time. We were joined by Ravi, who was supposed to participate in the Sunfeast 10k marathon, but unfortunately his son turned his bib into a kite / boat and he had sit out. Pradeep and Paresh decided to drive up in Samim's jeep, while the rest rode till the jump point. While we were at the potty point (hehehe!! Samim knows it) Me and Nelly decided to ride the entire stretch without changing gears.....phew! I was drained out by the time I reached the jump point.

Nelly, Pradep, Srikanth and others prepared the ramp, while I took rest and after about 15mins we were off doing our usually coconut jumps :). we were joined by two guys who were riding from bangalore all the way and both of them tried their bit....and after a couple of jumps we had our fourth victim, he jumped over and lost his balance and footing and thud!! tasted mud, his left arm was bruised and was in shock and pain, plastered his wounds and he decided to call it quits and drove along with vivek and George to Bangalore.

Samim also decided not to ride anymore and decided to head back. The rest of us decided to ride the trails again and reach idly point. One thing was evident if you get the basics right you are faster on the trails, after the previous Nandi trail ride Nelly and others had posted about MTB skills, read all of them and was preparing myself to follow those tips. One thing that I did was concentrate on looking ahead on the trails and trusting your ambient vision to take control of you and your bike. It definitely helped me and it was fun riding down the trails fast.

In the end it was a very satisfying day but not tiring, guess if  you keep practicing you get better at it.

Flickr Photos : http://www.flickr.com/photos/modi-kumar/sets/72157619105052774/

These pics where clicked by Pradeep BV, Myself, Nelly and Srikanth.

Bangalore Bicycle Championships

Get ready start training, burn that rubber and you just might be the first Bangalore Bicycle champion.

After the Time Trials held last month that was organized by the members of BBC, all the bikers are on a high and after discussion about the same the outcome was the Bangalore Bicycle championships.

The only categories for this event are the Men and Women. There are no separate categories for MTB, Road bikes etc. Its up to the riders to choose the appropriate equipment for the event. And the points scoring systems is that followed by F1(10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1).

Moving forward the plan is to have this event on a monthly basis, so that the bikers can test their riding abilities, compare and train harder for each event through out the year.

For more info : Please visit Bangalore Biker Club or click here

Technorati Tags: Bangalore Bikers club,Bikezone,Time Trials,Monthly Races,Cross Coutry race,MTB race,Road Bike race,Road Race,volunteering,photography,blogging,riding

Tattekere

It was a long weekend and didn't want to miss a chance to ride my bike. Called up Sree late in night to find out if he was free on Saturday. And luckily he had an off. Tattekere was the first long ride I had done about 2yrs back when I had purchased my Trek 3700 from BOTS. And it was a long overdue, and wanted to ride again.

Left my house at 6.30am and was joined by Sree near JP Nagar, headed towards Harohalli had breakfast at Adigas on kanakpura road, and without a stop reached Harohalli. Harohalli is a small town about 15kms before Kanakpura. Had a small pit stop, loaded ourselves with some refreshments and Turned left towards Jigani, from the turning near Harohalli, Jigani was about 22kms.

 

The road through out the route was awesome, hardly any pot holes. But after the turning near Harohalli for about a kilometre or two, the road is pathetic but after that its a pleasure and its completely rolling. At one point we on our MTB's touched 57.8Km/hr (Imagine on a road bike, I bet they can easily touch 80 or may be even 90km/hr) . Reached Tattekere the odo read 45Kms. 

The previous day when I was talking to Sree, I was telling him about taking this route i.e. starting from Kanakpura side and ending the ride on bannerghatta road as the route would descend down making the ride easier and then later on ride through bannerghatta road which is almost flat.

After we reached Tattekere did I realise that the actual climbs were just after Tattekere. The lake was completely filled, it was an simply superb sat down for about half an hour and started our journey back. From kanakpura side, we descended to about 690m and then we had our mammoth climbs a head of us. It was torturous, with very little water and one orange with us all we wanted was to find a place where we could get some water. 

During the journey to Tattekere I had my helmet on, and by the time we reached Tattekere my forehead was throbbing and had mild headache. And during the climbs removed my helmet and just wore a cap and the pain subdued. I think it must have been the helmet that caused headache.

Reached the junction where Bannerghatta road meets Koppa road. Took a left turn towards bannerghatta. The Temperature was unbearable, I think the time must have been 12.30. There were a couple of things I was worried about as we reached bannerghatta, I thought I would bonk (but till now i've never experienced it) and secondly was a bit worried about my leg. But luckily nothing happened, Sree broke off near Arekere and I head back home, the last 5kms literally crawled back.

Flickr Photos : http://www.flickr.com/photos/modi-kumar/sets/72157617500441065/

Route Details : http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/india/bangalore/584124128007052831

Nandi Hills Coconut Jumps - Part 2

We (Me and Nelly) were just waiting to get back at Nandi and start all over again. A week seemed like a month. This week the crowd was bigger we had Vasu and Sreenandan along with us.

Had the first flat of the day, before I could start riding. Changed the tube quickly and rode to Nupur's house, where we loaded our bikes onto the bike rack on her Car. Drove all the way to the jump point. Sree came in his car and picked up Vasu near the airport. Apparently Vasu hadn't slept the previous night and watched 3 movies back to back and started at 4am from his house towards Nandi. Had idly's at Nandi base. Nupur had planned to start her journey back from this point, but we convinced her to start from the place where we had built the jumps. Drove up and waited for the other car, while Nupur tested out a few trails.

When we reached the top, the ramp we had prepared last week was completely cleared off. so built a bigger and better one. It was at least 2.5 times the older one. After about an hour later by 10am started our speed jumps. The ramp was perfect and the feel was awesome, the distance we jumped was almost double and we also jumped higher. Nelly was our guru, watched him take the first jump, then I jumped, followed by Sree and then Vasu. After the first set of jumps Vasu quit as he developed back ache. Initially we were jumping one at a time, then started jumping in tandem......ooh god. On the first tandem jump, Sree jumped over, lost his footing and some how managed to control his bike to a great extent until he crashed at a very low speed. I was right behind him, had to brake hard and just avoided crashing into him. 

Met Anand Mulky, Arjun, Shasank, jagannath and others. Anand was on his road bike climbing Nandi for the first time. He managed to climb till the Jump point and watched us jump a few times and after that headed back while we continued with our jumps.

 

Despite his injuries to the shin Sree continued jumping and after about 2/3 tandem jumps, it was my turn to crash.......Earlier, we used to carry the speed off the jump, pedal a little harder enter the trail below negotiating 2 curves and slow down some 500mtrs after the ramp. All the three (Nelly, Sree and Me) started off from the starting point pedaled hard, carried over the ramp and after landing I pedaled hard got into the first turn and just after the first turn realized that these 2 had slowed down, and I instinctively braked. My front wheel got stuck into one of the ruts and was thrown off the bike, landing head first into the mud. The helmet took all the impact and things went flying......First thing that raced through my mind was to figure out if I was blacking out.......got up, guys came running towards me, was on all 4 and realized I could not breathe.....took about 2mins to get back my normal breathing. Had a cut on my forehead and nose and as Vasu said.....I was a leaking boat :). Both my knees, left arm, hip, right shoulder, nose are bruised and forehead has a cut. Hope it heals fast.

 

Sree helped me out plaster the wounds....took rest for about a 45mins and decided not to jump any more for the day. while we were resting, saw Samim climbing Nandi for the second time in the day.

 

Then we decided to ride up the trails, which is about 1.5kms from the jump point and ride the downhill trails till the idly point. Started off, reached the top of the trail, and started rolling down, Vasu stopped midway due to back pain and he took rest near the car as we continued down. Reached the bottom in about 45mins, had lunch and started riding back to the top. This was the first time I was climbing Nandi hills and must say I totally enjoyed it. At the idly point the sign read 12kms Nandi. Then in about 10/15mins it read 7kms...from there on it was a killer, didn't have water to drink or the energy to pedal but somehow managed, after talking to myself not to quit.......

The downhill trail from the top till the idly point is about 5kms, this trail is seriously a hard one and it has all in one package. Be there next time around.....its fun!!

On our way down we saw Samim, coming back to Climb Nandi for the 3rd time in the day. Took a U-Turn, and followed Samim all the way to the top . By this time he had already completed 250Km for the day and had 50Km more to go. Shot a few videos and clicked a few pics.

In the end it was a very fulfilling day for all the riders. My injuries don't seem as bad as they looked yesterday. But hurt a little.

Today morning Nelly sent me a link, answering a few questions about the mind set riders should have while riding their MTB's : http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/fitness/article/technique-step-it-up--21014

Biking @ Nandi - Part 2

Trail Ride : http://www.flickr.com/photos/modi-kumar/sets/72157616698855532/

Samim's Ride: http://www.flickr.com/photos/modi-kumar/sets/72157616701746280/

Nandi Hills Coconut Jumps

After one and half months of zero biking action, finally it was time to fly....Coincidence, it was the same with Nelly as well.

We decided on Saturday to go towards Nandi Hills, as Nelly was desperate for some downhill action.The next day we dumped our bikes in my Omni started by 8am and reached Nandi Hills by around 9.30am. Unloaded our bikes and immediately started trail rides.One and a half months of no biking sucked the air out my lungs by the time we reach the top of the trail. I totally underestimated the trails and the gradients were too much for me to handle at certain sections. But it was fun.

If going up the hill seems tough, coming down is even tougher and it scares the shit out....All your body parts shake like hell and your arms and thighs take a beating. And if you are tired, damn you are destined to fall....Good nothing like that happened with us. Downhill riding is awesome, and at places I was breathless, the excitement was too much for me.

Nelly had both his tires punctured, pinch flats and we tried fixing it for about 2 hrs finally gave up and fixed the puncture below at a puncture repair shop. Came back to the top and since Nelly had a set of tires not suitable for trail riding, we decided to build speed ramps. Prepared the ramp in about an hours time and started the jumps. Dirt Jumping that we guys had done was chicken s***.........this was even better. The first jump I did was all together a different experience. Its like the same experience I had sitting in an air plane for the first time and when the plane takes off, you feel that weightlessness for a sec, it was somehow the same feeling and this happened only for the first Jump...... Don't know if everyone fells the same or its only me, it a momentary high that you get, the feeling is just out of this world.....

Did a few jumps and as it was getting dark, packed our bikes into the van and headed back. The ramp is at a turning that marks Nandi top 4kms, if anyone is interested in doing these, can easily locate these, all you have to do is locate these 2 coconut vendors and the ramp is on the opposite side of the road.....

We named this jump as Coconut jump, as its prepared out the coconuts shells and also to those 2 funny coconut vendors at Nandi, who just wont stop arguing against each other. Guys Nandi is the place to do hardcore technical trail / down hill ride....practice a few times, get used to trail riding and then its time for a FS downhill bike!

Biking @ Nandi Hills

A Little jazzed up video

A few Pics  on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/modi-kumar/sets/72157616322524339/

Technorati Tags: Nandi Hills,Bangalore Bikers club,Bikezone,Mountain Bike jumping

The Truth is out (T)here!

Phew! finally after 3months and 220 odd episodes later, finished watching the entire collection of this awesome series. Totally enjoyed watching every episode, some boring, but for the better part, most of the episodes blew me away for brilliance in the story and cinematography. You have to watch it to believe it, these were shot like movies. I used to sometimes watch 5/6 episodes back to back. I must admit I was totally hooked onto it. I've spent many days sleeping at 1/2 am, keeping myself awake just to watch another episode of the  X-Files.

Technorati Tags: X-Files,fox mulder,dana scully