Byrasagara - Gudibanda

Date: 2 July 2017

Total distance: 212 Kilometers

Start Time: 3:30 am

Return Time:  2:45 pm

With: -

Altitude Profile:
Koramangala - Gudibanda - Koramangala

A week had passed and I did not have a location in mind for the ride. I spent Saturday painting the wall in the room and had written off riding during this week. However, as I painted I realised that there are still few locations around Bangalore that I have not covered and one location stood out since I had cancelled the ride on 3 occasions. The desire to ride to this location increased and I decided to ride on Sunday. On 3 previous occasions I had planned to ride and had not woken up as I had missed the alarm. I set the alarm and hoped that history would not repeat itself.

The alarm rang at 2:30 am. I rolled around in bed for half an hour and was up at 3:00 am. Got ready quickly and was ready to start at 3:30 am. I had prepped the road cycle yesterday and did not have to work on it in the morning. This allowed me to start early.

It was a cold morning; the cold weather was the first thing that hit me as soon as I opened the door. I did not run back in for warm clothing as I knew that within a few minutes of cycling the body will warm up and the warm clothes will be unnecessary. Further the additional clothes will become a liability during the day. I started slowly as I usually do and when I reached Domlur my usual friends were back to slow me down further. After a long time I had an encounter with dogs, only 2 of them but they kept me company for about 100 meters during which time they would have woken up the neighbourhood. I got through this section unharmed and began to increase the speed steadily.

By the time I reached the Hebbal flyover, I was in a good rhythm and was pedaling quicker than usual. I did remind myself that I had sufficient time and that I did not have to ride quickly. However, it was one of those days when I kept riding quickly. I had made up for the slow start and was riding over 25 kmph average speed. Things were looking good on the speed front as I would be able to reach Gudibanda earlier than expected and I would have time to do the hike at a relaxed pace.

It was 5:30 am when I reached the Nandi turn. There were a lot of bikers at the junction and as I passed by them I was wondering how much they would be cursing the cyclists since Nandi hills is closed for vehicles from 6:00 am to 10:00 am on weekends from this weekend. 49 kilometers completed in 2 hours, probably the quickest that I have covered this distance which showed that I am getting accustomed to this route and know where I can push and where I can relax. I rode further and entered rolling terrain. It was day break and by the time I reached the Chikkaballapur bypass it was bright. The hillocks around had their peaks covered by clouds and I was able to see the Nandi peak and knew that it would be a surreal experience to ride the hill in such weather. The Sun was hiding behind clouds and I could see the road ahead heading into the horizon. The flipside of daylight was the wind; there was a cross wind which was hampering the speed on the downhill's and made climbing difficult.

The last time that I had ridden on this route it was the ride to Aavala Betta and I had done this stretch in the dark. I had ridden through this section with relative ease and had not noticed the gradient. Now with daylight I was able to see the gradient which made riding difficult. The cross wind was slowing me down and I realised that the return would be difficult. When I got to Peresandra, I opted to ride on the highway rather than on the interior road as it was new territory for me and I wanted to experience the highway. I rode past Varalakonda and when I reached Beechanahally Cross I had to get off the highway and get onto the state highway to Gauribidanur. The road had been majorly downhill from Chikkaballapur and I had expected it to go down further as I was heading towards a lake. However, the road began to climb. I was 10 kilometers from Byrasagara lake and the gradient was uphill and had to contend with a head wind. I did not mind the gradient as it would make the return easier and the wind also did not matter as I would have a tail wind on the return.

The speed of the ride came down, I was trying to keep the average speed above 25kmph, which I was able to do till I reached the 100th kilometer, however in the next 7 kilometers things slowed down as I reached Byrasagara lake. A huge lake for an area which is not unfamiliar with drought. Although the water level was lower than I had expected there was still sufficient water. Saw a couple of people fishing and as I got to the end of the lake I saw a stall set up selling their days catch. A few minutes spent at the lake which is surrounded by small hillocks before I rode into town to hike up the fort.

Gudibanda town is just a kilometer from the lake and I was in town in a few minutes. I could see the hill with the fort wall and realised that it was not too much of a climb. I looked around for a restaurant to have breakfast but could not find any other than small roadside eateries. I still had a full bottle of water and since the hike did not look like much, I decided to complete the hike before having breakfast.

I reached the start of the climb and saw that there were stairs. I had to carry the cycle up the first few stairs and then locked the cycle to a light pole. I had not carried my bag and had to carry the handle bar bag and the saddle bag in the hand. I tucked the handle bar bag and saddle bag under the hand and carried the water bottle in the left hand and kept the phone handy in the right hand to click photos. Any thoughts that I had about the ride being easy till this point vanished when I started climbing and within the first few stairs I was feeling the effects. I stopped to take a few gasps of air and calm myself as I was trying to do the hike quickly. I slowed down and realised that it was an easy hike. I was the only one on the hill with the exception of a localite who was descending when I was climbing.

I made it past the initial flight of steps and then started a winding route to the top. A few flat sections followed by a flight of steps. There are a lot of places where the steps are carved under boulders and it seemed like I was walking through the boulder rather than under it. Looking up I could see that there was not much of the hike remaining, so I kept pushing myself to reach the top rather than spending time looking at the view from every vantage point as I knew that I could do it on the way down. The fort wall is multi layered and every time I reached a fort wall there was a small doorway which led me into the next circle of the fort. The place is in ruins and a lot of places even though accessible seemed eerie and I did not venture off the marked path. I reached the last fort wall and as I entered the stretch which takes me to the peak I saw a small pond nestled to the right. I headed down to the pond which had green water. I had read in an earlier travelers blog that the water is sweet, however I did not have the courage to taste the water as the detriments from it outweighed the benefits. There was a flight of stairs carved in the rocks which led to the top. I reached the top in a couple of minutes. The entire hike from base to the top had taken 20 minutes. Took a few minutes to walk around the top and saw that the Shiva temple at the peak is locked. I headed back to the pond and rested.

I sat there for 10 minutes and watched as a strong wind created ripples in the pond. Watched a couple of frogs frolicking in the water and thought about the return route. There were a few return options available, however I was not for increasing the distance and ruled out venturing to other places. I was not keen on experimenting with the route as well, I chose to ride back on the same route. I started from the pond and was down in 10 minutes. Fixed the handle bar and saddle bags and started from the fort premises knowing that I had to make a stop soon as I had to refill on water.

I rode into Gudibanda town and made a stop for water. Filled up the bottles and decided to get to the highway before stopping for food. The ride from Gudibanda to the highway was the easiest part of the day and the downhill gradient and tail wind took me to the highway in no time. What followed was a difficult ride to get back home.

As soon as I got onto the highway I started looking for restaurants. The thought of food kept growing on me and riding was becoming difficult. The conditions were already not in my favour with a strong wind, uphill gradient and Sun making things difficult, the thought of breakfast was impeding the ride. I reached Varalakonda and had to ride a little more before I saw a restaurant. I stopped and ordered a plain dosa and sprite. I was served a plate with 3 plain dosas. I ate the first very easily, the second filled me up. It was an indication for me to stop, however, I made the mistake of eating the third dosa as well since I did not want to stop for lunch. The plan was to ride the remaining 100 kilometers in 5 hours so that I could make it back by 3:00 pm. If I make a stop for lunch then the time would get pushed by an hour at least.

It was a quick breakfast stop and I was back on the saddle at 10:00 am. I was prepared for the climbing but the wind was an unwelcome element. The climbs were more difficult and the downhill's where I could have coasted became equivalent to uphill's as I had to pedal hard to keep the cycle moving forward. I was having a stomach cramp as well as I had overeaten. There was 20 kilometers to Chikkaballapur and I knew that it would get easier when I get to Chikkaballapur. Fortunately for me it got easier with about 5 kilometers remaining. The 15 kilometers from Varalakonda to Chikkaballapur had taken a lot out of me and in relative terms to today's ride I was crawling even though the average speed was hovering just below 20kmph. I was beginning to enjoy the ride when the wind picked up again and brought me back down to earth. A sustained period when I kept my head down and kept churning pedals brought me close to the Nandi Hills turn. I was out of water and had to make a stop. I pushed on till I got to the Nandi turn and stopped to refill on water. I had taken just over 2 hours for the 40 kilometers after the breakfast stop. I wanted to drink Jeera Soda but did not want to spend 15 minutes at the store, I filled up one bottle with jeera soda and the other with water and got back on the saddle.

The move to fill up one bottle with jeera soda back fired. Drinking soda during the ride made me thirsty and I needed to constantly take swigs of water. The clock had ticked past 12:00 pm and the Sun was at its peak making it harder to ride. I had expected the ride to get easy after the Nandi turn as I was in familiar territory, however the Sun and wind combined to make it anything other than easy. The terrain was not difficult, but the conditions were making it difficult. I kept pushing and set small targets to keep myself going. Things got easier after I crossed the Airport toll and I was able to ride quicker. Familiar territory helped although physically I was beginning to struggle a little. As I got closer to Hebbal I began to push harder as I knew that I would get sufficient breaks due to the traffic.

I did know that I would get breaks on account of the traffic, however I was not expecting a traffic jam. I was stuck on the Hebbal flyover for almost 10 minutes and did have a fleeting thought that the flyover might not be able to bear the weight of all the vehicles and might collapse. On crossing the flyover, I got an easy run inside the city as there was minimal traffic, possibly due to the time at which I had entered, it was just after 2:00 pm.

I rode steadily through the city, got a lot of green lights and had minimal stops at traffic signals and made it back home at 2:45 pm. It was a good Sunday workout and riding in head/cross winds for almost 100 kilometers was satisfying as I had made it back. Gudibanda has an aura surrounding it, probably because it remains untouched by humans and retains its sanctity. The view of the town from the fort is a little disappointing as you get to see the effects of the urbanisation, it looks like the town is eating into the Byrasagara lake. There are a lot of hillocks in the area which can be explored, Chikkaballapur district has a lot of unexplored hills, however it is better that they remain unexplored rather than getting spoilt after being discovered.