Highly inspired by the previous ride, Gokul and I planned to ride again 170 kms around. Place, as we decided earlier, was Devarayanadurga. This time, out of curiosity, I framed a route, starting with Tumkur road upto Tumkur, reach Uradigere from Tumkur, loop around Devarayanadurga hills after a climb to the peak, return back through Madhurekere and Hessarghatta. Gokul also came up with two routes, but as they were 210 km loops (give or take some) and I had to return back before 1700 hrs for farewell function, we chose the shorter loop. As Gokul says, it really was a killer ride.
We planned to start early in morning last sunday. Gokul prepared rava upma (with coconut oil, I liked) and boiled eggs to carry along. We set out for the ride by 0435 hrs. We sped up in Tumkur road, as we were fresh and felt interesting to ride in dark, in smooth highways. We took very early breakfast after TBegur, and soon reached Dobbasapete. Here, to reduce the distance, we planned to skip Tumkur and directly reach Uradigere through SH - 3. This state highway was rolling down and had excellent scenary throughout. We reached the turn towards Devarayanadurga by 0820 hrs.
The real challenge started from here. As Gokul said, Devarayanadurga climb had a completely opposite elevation profile to that of Nandi Hills. Initial 3 kms or so, form a killer climb. We hadn't given up, slowly crawled through it. Next 3 kms form a constant, but gentle ascent. We reached the peak by 0900 hrs. We were satisfied of climb, spent around 50 mins to have some snacks, refill water and enjoy the scenary around. We then rode back to the base, and started looping around the hills. Riding amidst the greeny hills is really an enjoyable thing, especially if no climbs are there.
We soon finished the loop and were back in SH -3. Here we missed a turn, and went all along to Uradigere to take SH - 94. This state highway also was excellently scenic, but contained too many ascents and descents, upto Yelachegere, forcing us to take breaks frequently. We stopped some kilometres before Yelachegere around 1230 hrs to have a short lunch of carried food. Upma and boiled egg tasted best in that hungry condition. Again, the rolling roads continued, and we again got tired soon, still continued.
At Muddalinganahalli, we were supposed to cross the railway track and continue in the same SH. Once again, we missed that and took NH - 648, because of wrong guidance by the people around and myself too tired then to notice. Soon, I was able to find this, because, while framing the route, I had seen railway track to be on the left side of route we had to pass by, but here it was the opposite. Fortunately I remembered there is a road connecting that highway to Madhure, from Dodbelavangala. So we headed towards Dodbelavangala. We stopped a while in Dodbelavangala to have proper lunch.
Then we headed towards Madhure. Here roads were flat and our challenge ended finally. When we reached Madhure, I got a homely feel as we reached known and more ridden route. With some breaks, we rode along Madhure kere and Hessarghatta kere. Again, though I have ridden umpteen number of times in this route, this is the first time I rode in a non morning time. As usual, road section along Aivarakhandapura lake is completely out of condition as new laying works were going on. We walked through that section, for about 3 kms. Then, usual Doddabyalkere, Gangamma circle, institute by 0715 hrs, ... No juice to complete the ride that day because I was hurrying for farewell function.
So, the ride was a challenging one, needed much of mental push to ride through ascents a long time when legs were getting soar and energy level kept going down. Gokul said, "some times he pulled me, some times I pulled him, and this kept us pedalling furiously. Alone, may be we wouldn't have been this faster". Yeah, true words. Also, the pushing factors were, nice village roads (except a total 8 kms of bad sections, here and there), completely scenic routes through villages and hills, and again, the chats I had with Gokul throughout. This time, chats went around his previous ride experiences, pelotons and their significance, setting up an ecologically sound fish tank, etc., Hoping for more such rides......
Addons :-
1. Started with a disaster. I forgot to clean my backpack after last ride. It contained an orange fruit and spoiled the bag completely. So, had to ride without electrals and other ride stuff, which I usually carry.
2. Once again, a ride on a scenic route without a camera. This time, the difference is, I hadn't allowed Gokul also to take pictures much as I had to comeback earlier :( .
3. Gokul got his fish tank. Yesterday I had an opportunity to see that :) . He nicely have decorated it with plants and ordinary stones.
Photos :- (all photos - credits to Gokul)
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