"It's all downhill from here..."

If you want to know how 6 novices cycled 200+ kms and returned unscathed, then you've come to right place. It has almost been a year since the Bangalore to Bheemeshwari nature camp cycling trip and during the quarantine period of 2020, it has dawned upon me that this trip deserves a rekindling. 

I have recollected all the events of this trip purely from my memory and the photos that were taken during the trip to trigger some parts of my memory. Please bear with me for any inconsistencies.

Before the Trip

Bheemeshwari Nature camp, 100 kms away,  was chosen as the desired spot to go for a cycling trip from Electronics City, Bangalore. It was the 6 of us, college students inexperienced in long-distance cycling, who decided it would be a good idea to test ourselves against the daunting distance which would amount up to 220 kms over the course of 2 days.

The first thing we needed for this trip was... 

Cycles.  

We picked up 6 cycles from a local distributor in Bangalore who was conveniently located 20 kms away from our place.

The ride back from the distributor's place was quite interesting considering that we were in the middle of the Bangalore traffic on a Friday evening.

And for the supplies, we picked up some stuff which seemed obvious at that time - a bunch of protein/energy bars for each one of us and a 1.5kg pack of Glucon-D, which turned out to be really essential. 

Day 1 - Bangalore to Bheemeshwari

The Beginning

We took off from Electronics City, Hosur Road at 4:30 am towards the NICE road. Bangalore highways are a sight to behold at that hour of the day.

The sun hadn't even risen yet and we had our first mishap. Bicycles are not allowed access to the NICE road, which meant we had to reevaluate the route to our destination.   

Bannerghatta Joyride

Right after exiting Bangalore which involved an unnecessary dog chase, we hit the Bannerghatta valley. This valley is enclosed by a national park and we saw a lot of animal crossings across this valley.

 

Words cannot explain how pleasant and refreshing the ride of 15-odd kms through this valley was. Downhill all the way, twisting and turning with the natural landscape, lush with greenery, fresh and crisp air; we hit top-speed of almost 55 kph zooming through this valley and every second of it was purely satisfying.

Breakfast at N.A.S.A.

After a brisk ride of about 20-25 kms, we had some of the packed stuff and moving on, we had our first breakfast at - believe it or not...

NASA.

Yes, NASA - the dosa place, which also served us in other complimentary ways. For example, a place to relieve ourselves and a place to complete some lost sleep while the others are relieving themselves.

The Road That Leads Nowhere 

Very little further from NASA, we found an off-road which did not match the aesthetic of the roads we had traveled on so far. Just a beautiful straight off-road which led nowhere and perished at a distance.

 

 

As it happened, this road became our photo-op location as well as another place to rest, and by rest I mean simply lying down wherever we find space, which remained a theme throughout the trip.

Kanakapura Halt

Continuing the ride at a brisk pace of 15 kph on average, we reached the city of Kanakapura by mid-day. By this time, we had blitzed through half-a-kg of Glucon-D and multiple protein bars each. Kanakapura was the last stop within the civilization so we refueled here before continuing further into the wilderness.

By this point, we had covered almost 75 kms and signs of fatigue were noticeable on some of the riders. Considering fatigue and exhaustion, we took little breaks of 10 minutes every 8-10 kms. These breaks proved to be a much needed boost to the group-morale. As a matter of fact, these breaks capture the true spirit of the whole trip.

The Sketchy Destination

We arrived at our destination after going through a village and some wilderness. There it was, in the middle of nowhere, a "holiday-home". The night-stay place that we had booked was another 5-minute walk away from the main building on the top of a hill.

 

This place was extremely eerie, surrounded by grassland and forest on one side, and a valley on the other. Despite our skepticism, we were thrilled to spend a night at such a place where some poor decision-making skills were on display later in the night.

Bheemeshwari Waterfall

We hadn't come this far just to stay in an isolated shack. There was a waterfall nearby, and we just had to pay it a visit to make this trip meaningful.
 

 

The waterfall was quite small but very powerful and there was a strange vibe attached to it. Regardless, this waterfall became another of our photo-op spots.

The Night

The night that followed the gruesome ride didn't provide the confidence required to make the journey of 100+ kms back. In fact, one of us had the brilliant idea to check the elevation difference that we might had covered in the ride. 

1100 feet of elevation lost over 100 kms isn't much in hindsight, but clearly that night our brain-cells didn't have enough blood providing oxygen.

Terrified of the pending uphill ride, we completely changed our route to not go through the divine Bannerghatta valley, because it had provided the maximum elevation drop on the route. This decision would come back to bite us, or at least some of us, as we dozed off into a brief and much needed sleep before the ride back.

Day 2 - Bheemeshwari to Bangalore

Great Start

The next day came with the challenge of gathering ourselves and making our way back. We were confident of making it back but needless to say, a little bit of doubt had creeped into our minds.

Nevertheless, we took off at 6 am. And we were taken aback by...

Punctures.

Multiple of them. In more than one cycle. 

Courtesy of the not-so-great start that we had, we got some time to have breakfast just outside the village meanwhile the cycle tires were undergoing the due process.

Pace-making

To our own surprise, we had a strategy for riding back. 

One of us would be the pace-maker of the group and the rest of the group followed him at a constant pace. Our breaks were more uniformly placed after every 8-10 kms. 

 

This tactical ride helped us conserve a lot of energy instead of the reckless speed-kills that we were trying during our ride the previous day. But what it really allowed us was to enjoy the ride to the fullest. 

We saw scenic valleys, crossed beautiful bridges and stopped at the most random locations due to rain. We had the most normal conversations as friends riding along, but the most memorable ones at the same time.

The Wrong Turn 

The first three-quarters of the ride back were very pleasant and relatively uneventful as we zoomed past various landscapes. But the last quarter of the ride presented us with some surprises that no one had asked for.

In our renewed route, just at the edge of Bangalore city, we had to take a turn to go through the Bangalore suburbs in order to avoid bad roads and traffic. This turned out to be the single worst decision of our whole trip.

These suburbs had the most lopsided roads that we'd ever seen. Every single uphill climb was a challenge, and the rain and darkness made matters worse. 

The projected time to reach our destination was 6:00 pm but we eventually reached at 9:30 pm, which gives an idea of how bad those suburbs were. 

Final Remarks

Regardless of how the trip ended, it was an incredible experience. One that I would like to have more of in the future. The meals we had at roadside places, the random locations to stop and rest briefly, the pacing of our cycling, the will to keep going, this trip had it all. 

Overall, this experience was a concoction of laughter and tears, of pain and pleasure, of fear and grit, of struggle and concentration, of agony and fulfillment, but most of all it was of strengthening of the primal bonds among us.