Cycling Trip Bangalore to Mysore

12:36 Swajit 10 Comments

Every now and then I have always felt like I should do something different, I always wanted to challenge myself to see what I can do, in any aspect, I had recently taken up cycling in Bangalore because of my friend Sathwik. When you are little old and you start cycling it bring backs the joy of those wonderful childhood moments of you used to cycle in your area, have those races with colony friends. But now I had taken up cycling purely from hobby and fitness point of view, in a city like Bangalore I have seen so many cyclists around streets using the cycle to go to an office. I had a cycle now here just for leisure rides, morning rides to Cubbon park or Lalbagh or night rides to nearby eateries. It was time to go for long rides along the city, no more 20/30/50 km ride. I had recently completed 80 km cycling trip nearby Bangalore. It was time to set a new benchmark probably 100 km, I knew it was going to be tough, but I was up for it. And the opportunity was there, with my friend we had planned for cycling trip near Ramanagar(80 km from Bangalore- round trip would be 160 km). But when it comes to long cycling rides I always noticed, your enthusiasm vanishes on the return journey. It's very tough to complete a return journey, I guess that was the case with me. So final after some initial discussions with sathwik, we decided that we will go to Mysore. Many of the cyclists preferred and tested route. Bangalore to Mysore is roundabout 160 km. My average cycling speed was below 20 kmph that means I knew I had to ride a bicycle for more than 8 hours. Seeing that figure of 8 hours initially I felt it's not possible, but I had come across many blogs and information of people doing Bangalore to Mysore cycling. In a way, I wanted to take up this as a challenge. It would have been a fantastic achievement if I could pull it off. Along with sathwik(my friend), we had another partner in crime Srini. He suggested that cycling in afternoon is going to drain you out, it's not possible, so with that we gave a thought to our plan and decided that we will cover 70-80% of the distance in midnight. In my previous experiences with cycling Sun and the weather was always an issue, It becomes difficult to cycle continuously and maintain your speed. So with so much of planning we were all set for an epic adventure of cycling to Mysore from Bangalore on Saturday 12th Sept early morning( almost at 12:00 AM).

Before going for cycling I had done fair bit of research on weather forecast and routes, on cycleroute.org you get fair Idea of what the route is going to be likely, it shows how many ascents(up-hill) are going to be there and how man descents(down-hill). Most of the route had more descent than the ascent, so in a way I was happy that if more decent then fewer efforts we will have to make while cycling. As usual One day before I had packed everything since it was going to be one-day affair there was no point in carrying extra luggage or so, cycling with heavy luggage would have been difficult. So just about some snacks(2 protein bars+3 snickers+ Chiwda + 1 ltr Water), extra t-shirt and wallet I was all up for the epic adventure. Since it is not like a trek or trip where one can briefly describe the experience, I will try and elaborate on the journey we went through with respect to timelines. Below diagram shows roughly elevation profile of the road.

Plan:

Start at 12:00 AM on Saturday

Cover 90 km till point MIN as per elevation graph before sunrise

Not to take breaks more than half an hour

Staying within 1 km of each other

Keeping yourself always hydrated

Start of the Journey(initial 50 Km)12:00 AM

As usual we wanted to start at 12:00 but again due to coordination and different locations of stay we managed to start at around 12:40 AM, I was meeting Srini for the first time, A jolly person was riding his awesome SCOTT bicycle, We met each other at Samsung office building near my home, Sathwik was supposed to meet us at mahadevpura, so we rode along, after meeting sathwik we decided few rules and guidelines on long journey ahead, everyone put on their headphones and we were off.

After midnight Bangalore is city which really doesn't seem alive, there are not much of vehicles on the road, not much of noise, it's not like Mumbai where there is a constant buzz, in a way it was good for us, as we took old madras road. In initial 10 km only I had some mechanical issue with my cycle, my chain was off, I was worried that it was a serious problem but eventually I was able to solve it, we lost bit of time because of this, but nonetheless we continued, till the time were in Bangalore city, it really didn't felt like we were covering much of distance, it seemed slow, but eventually we picked the pace. As there were quite a few descents, we picked up the pace, by the time we were on Mysore highway road, we were quite okay. There was a patch of almost 5kms decent where even if you didn't peddle it was okay. We completed round about 50 odd km at and the average of 20kmph at around 3:00 AM we took a break(Snickers time).

The next 30kms(Sleepy ride to Ramanagara)

To tell you honestly I don't have much of memory of how the time was spent for next ride, we rode about 2 hours without brakes, crossed ramanagara. On the way, there were quite a few climbs but not very steep, this part of the road had a maximum amount of street lights on. In a way the ride peaceful and we were feeling little tired now, since the milestone of Ramangara was crossed in the way there was the happy mood. But again we were running out of the water, we had to stop somewhere to buy it, eventually near a place, we saw a chai tapir, and we took a brief break there. After chai, the sleepiness was gone a little and we were marching for the next phase of the road.

The next crucial 30 km and Maddur

While riding in the middle of a night, there are a lot many thoughts are coming into your mind, all your tired body wants now is to complete this journey and simply rest, that was my situation here today. After the Chai break it was almost 5:00 AM and sunrise was about to happen. Road was visible now and I could see the countryside now. In a way I was happy, I was riding little slower than my co-riders. Also, we had just crossed the Town of Mandya(sugarcane town). It was time to have a breakfast now, we found the famous Maddur Tiffanys restaurant along the road, had a breakfast there, and got ourselves little refreshed. In a way, we were pretty much happy with our progress so far. Almost covering now roundabout 100 km now, But we knew the challenge was now ahead, I knew the elevation map clearly, After around 100 km there was a steep ascent for almost 30 km. And little bit tired us had to complete that distance in sunny environment as the time was 7:30 AM

40 Kms of punishing ride

As we started from Maddur ride till Mandya was punishing, there were quite a few climbs to make and more so ever Sun was up, we took almost 3-4 brakes during this time, I myself had 3 times coconut water to keep myself hydrated. There were climbs were we initially took a rest and simply walked for a km to avoid cycling on the ascent. But eventually we crossed the city of Mandya, the frequent brakes along the road and coconut water had helped us get through the tough part of the route. As we crossed city there was a smile on my face, I was seeing the Mysore Board on the highway now, Mysore was simply 45 km away now.

20 Kms and Srirangapatna

As we cycled with every km passing I was happy, the destination was nearer. We had planned to take a halt at Srirangapatna now, Sun was almost upon us now, it was becoming very humid now, cycling was tough. Our Avg speed had dropped to almost 10 Km now. But we cycled for another hour again, we reached  Srirangapatna, Sathwik suggested that we should take a break as it's very sunny, so in the city there was  Tipu Sultan Mahal, which had a garden. We decided to freshen up a bit and went there. The palace had 5 Rs entry fee, we simply went on the lawn and laid down. I guess everyone took a Nap for at least an hour or so. Since we had not slept much feeling sleepy was inevitable. After a brief rest, we all decided to move on, throughout the journey we were so much focusing on the ride that, none of us bothered to click pics. I switched on my mobile data did some browsing, by the time my co-riders got up I was asleep, anyway the time was no 12:30 PM now, we decided to stop directly at Mysore now, Mysore was another 20-25 km away now which approx. an hour ride.

The last 30 km and Mysore

After leaving from Mahal at Srirangapatna, the weather was on our side now, it was not sunny and clouds had come up, it seems like it will rain hard. But it didn't, there was light shower which made us more of refreshed, and as soon as it went away I saw this giant board of Welcome to Mysore City.

Finally we had reached the destination, even though we had to go inside the city at Srini's place, There was a joy within me, I had completed my adventure which I had taken up, With sense of achievement we carried ahead and went inside the Mysore city another 15 km (1 hour of ride very painful) to reach Srini's home. We were warmly welcomed by Srini's family there, it was now time to rest a bit and have Lunch. Thus with almost 13 hrs of the journey had come to end now. All I could think now was when I will sleep now. But anyways I was happy, I called and messaged my friends and family on my achievement. Updated my FB status(lol), And got indulged into awesome food prepared by Srini's mother.