Sunday, November 9, 2014

Yet Another SMBR ride attempt....

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All the Pics in this post - Credits to Sandeep Reddy..
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SMBR?

Copying following from Gokul's Blogpost...

Quoting Sreepathi,
"Just how far will you go to have your breakfast on a Sunday Morning? Literally?
Announcing the Sunday Morning Breakfast Ride (SMBR -- pronounced Sambar).
Pick a spot, not IISc, not where you usually have your Sunday breakfast.
Ride a cycle, preferably in a group. Be back before Lunch (2PM).
Tell us in a ride report (short or long):


1) How many km?

2) Where?
3) How the food was.

This challenge runs every Sunday.

Please note, the distance is not really very important ;)"

I made an attempt on March 24th 2013 with Gokul, and ended almost in a disaster - my tire got torn and tube - burst.. Thanks to Gokul, we booted the tire and were able to return back (Read the experience, here).. But that ride couldn't qualify as we reached back after 2PM..

With SMBR coming up with new set of rules again, I wanted to convert my breakfast rides to qualify for SMBR challenge.. But there is one check point - the starting point / end point has to be IISc / around IISc. Well, my usual starting point is also in the vicinity of IISc - Just 15 kms away.

Master Plan
After a lazy saturday dropping two ride plans, I wanted atleast one small breakfast ride for this week's workout. Discussed with Sandeep, and we thought of avoiding Denkanikottai as Ganesh Bhavan there might be closed - Last week's disaster - we found it closed on our volunteers' post ride when I needed a full meals to the most :-(

The obvious choice was to ride on Hosur road.

The ride
With the laziness left over, Sandeep and I started at 0615 hrs from SilkBoard Junction, with myself having an unannounced plan of breakfast at Shoolagiri.

We rode quite fast and got out of the city. Maintaining good average, we reached Shoolagiri soon. When we found the weather was good, we decided atleast go till Saravana Bhavan further.

We reached Saravana Bhavan, our usual breakfast point around 0845 hrs.. Sandeep had a masala dosa and pongal, where I had my usual breakfast - Paper roast. The paper roast tastes just better, but what I like is the size of Dosa and the range of chutneys (3 different chutneys - Coconut chutney, Onion Chutney and Mirchi Chutney,  along with 2 cups of Sambar). We had cups of coffees too..

2 cups of Sambhar - This is definitely a S(a)mb(a)r ride

Powered by these, our plans got changed. Sandeep suggested to avoid returning back via AH through Hosur, and instead ride through Vepanapalli - Theertham - Berikai -Bagalur.

Some kms before Krishnagiri, we took deviation towards Vepanapalli.. Some kms into the road, there is a deviation to a hill called Samanthamalai. (Want to explore this sometimes)

The roads around are awesome - both in condition (well tarred) and scenaries. Any one want the experience of riding on scenic Pernampattu - Vaniyambadi section? Try this route...

To Vepanapalli

Towards Theertham

Forest Section after which climbs start


There are two tiny climbs, each with two hairpin bends.. We took some rest at the base of the first one..

The first climb passes through a forest section. At the end of the first climb, there is a Basaveshwara temple and near to it there was a small pond, built of stones. We observed a person taking dip (Added to "should try it next time").

the sun never showed up much - the day was not that hot. As Sandeep said, after the two climbs, the humidity effect reduced and we felt cool breeze.

In Berikai, we had Egg Puffs, Dilpasand, Slice and Badam Milk. We didn't fill water and thought of managing till Bagalur with remaining half bottles of water each..

In a bakery at Bagalur, Sandeep had gems chocolates while I had a small piece of Dilpasand - Just to manage to fill 4 bottles of water from the jug. These days I am reluctant buying water for refill because of the plastic waste involved. (I don't care whether they are recycled).

A slow ride followed, we managed to reach back home by 1530 hrs..

Stats :-
Distance - 167 kms
For - Paper Dosa, mainly
Ride Time - 07hrs 10 min
Total Time - 09 hrs 30 min

Well, this ride, except one small point (Actually two - start and end points), has all the valid reasons to be ratified as a SMBR ride.. Waiting for the organisers' response now...


2 comments:

  1. Nice! New route in the making then?

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Arvind....
      Yeah... The route is Sandeep's idea... Needs a bit of work though....

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