The One That Made it all Worth It

Bangalore to Goa

2.5 days 

The One With the Cold Feet

After the strenuous ride to Krishnagiri we deemed ourselves fit for a multiple day ride. The plan was to ride to Mangalore and return by bus. The route also included a ghat section, about which we were very much excited and nervous. From our earlier rides we observed that a speed of 20kmph is achievable for us. That multiplied with the 10 hrs of riding implied we could cover about 200Kms in a day. Thus, even with the ascents and ghats, the ride to Mangalore spanned over a couple of days seemed a decent and achievable target.

Special thanks to Ram from BBC who helped us a lot while planning the trip. He too wanted to join but couldn't make it because of some official obligations.

We had decided to ride on Friday(10th Feb) and Saturday(11th Feb) thereby allowing ourselves to book some recovery time on Sunday. Plan for the first day was to reach Hassan as early as possible and continue to Sakaleshpur if there is enough light left in the day.

The alarm clock woke me up at about 4:00 AM. I got ready by 04:30 AM and was about to leave the house when I thought of checking my mails. There was some disturbing news in the mail which almost made ponder over the thought of aborting the trip. Although, I realized there wasn't much I could do by sitting at home and decided to carry on with the trip. I knew it would help me relax myself.

I met Jagan near Domlur Bridge at 05:30 AM. This time I was also carrying pannier bags containing our gears amongst other stuff for the 2nd day ride.

We were to reach Nelamangala by 07:00 AM but the roadblock at the circle after Mantri Square messed up our sense of direction. The GPS on Jagan's mobile did help in getting back on track. Then again we missed the turn at Nelamangala pedaled for about 6 Kms towards Tumkur. Our stupidity and absent mindedness paid their toll and we left Kunigal at 11:00 AM, an hour behind the schedule.

There wasn't a decent place for breakfast at Kunigal (our intended breakfast stop) and we didn't want to waste any more time. We had kept ourselves hydrated so a couple of bananas and a packet of ParelG sufficed for breakfast. We also noticed that it isn't prudent to schedule a break for less than or equal to 10 mins. Practically it is not possible at least for us. Buyig water bottles, filling up water bags, streching your muscles, catching your breath etc. takes a little more than 10 mins. 30 mins proved to be optimal.

Except for a small patch in Yeshwantpur (too much traffic and pollution so early in the day) the roads were good and completely worth a bicycle trip. A few ascents and descents along the way but nothing too difficult or too easy. Also, there were a few stretches of long straight monotonous roads which were a bit boring to be honest. Same goes for the patch from Kunigal to Yadiyur. Although, there are a lot of coconut vendors on this patch. We reached our 100 Km mark somewhere near Yadiyur. While savoring the taste of coconut water the vendor suggested a restaurant nearby for lunch. We were on our way there when we saw a hoarding claiming CCD was just 2KMs away. Well, no one said anything and we kept riding until we reached CCD. It was 01:00 PM. After riding for over a 100KMs, any cool drink from this outlet can make wonders to your tired self. After the blunder on the Krishnagiri ride, we had scheduled a 2 hour break in the afternoon to evade the heat. The air cooled CCD insisted us to look no further. The lunch was good. There is only one problem with the afternoon break. You feel sleepy. Not good if you are running on a tight schedule.

We clicked a few snaps here and then continued pedaling after 03:00 PM. A road widening project was going on a little after our stop. This meant no more four lanes and so no more exclusive lane for us. There were times when we had to get down from the road to make way for the giant trucks. Apart from this, the road was pretty good.

The ride through Chinnarayanapattana was embarrassing. I am quite sure that to their eyes we were no less than jokers. There were instances when school kids were pointing fingers at us and laughing. We stopped just after this town. It was about 04:30 PM, we refilled our water sacks and continued riding. Thanks to the Shades, Water Sack, Jersey, Shorts, Shoes and the playlist on my Walkman ;) I was tired but not enough to quit. Sakaleshpur looked like an achievable target and we would have have made it if not for the inability to resist the temptation of entering a CCD 3 KMs down the road.

It was 5:30 PM when we started pedaling again and Hassan was still 28Kms away. The torchlights were already working their way trough the fading light.

I was optimistic and wanted to pedal till Sakaleshpur but Jagan was realistic and wanted to stop at Hassan. A steady climb from Channarayanapattana to Hassan, giant fast moving vehicles with their bright headlights and the dark streets left us with no other choice than to stop at Hassan. Although, it took forever to reach Hassan. Throughout the trip, this was the only patch when I found myself out of breath.

We reached Hassan at about 7:00 PM covering a total distance of 210Kms at an average of 20.5Kmph. We pedaled our way into the city and were greeted by the very much expected awed and ridiculed looks. We stopped at the first decent hotel that we could find. We were a bit skeptical about parking our rides in the regular parking area of the hotel situated in a city fairly unknown to us. The hotel manager agreed to station the rides in the hotel lounge plus he gave us a discount after learning that we had pedaled our way from Bangalore. There was one little disturbing thing though, he asked "Do you want your beds close together or separated?". I mean, what kind of question is that?

Anyways, after a days ride any hotel room would feel luxurious. That accompanied with a hot water bath and delicious dinner made the transition into the sleep state far too swift.

The plan was to start riding at 05:00 AM the next day. Somehow, we missed n number of alarms set at regular intervals of 5 minutes. It was 07:00 AM when I got up. Jagan was still fast asleep. I got ready and tried to wake him up. I checked mail again and this time there was a good news. Wow!! It felt so good. I had finally been accepted somewhere :).

The hotel did provide us with hot water but Jagan had to use cold water while bathing after the ride. It took a toll on him and he had a fever. His knees were also jammed, the idiot didn't stretch even for a bit after the ride. Plus, he was too scared of the ghat section that we were supposed to cover. No other option but to return back to base. We canceled our KSRTC tickets for Mangalore-Bangalore and booked two for Hassan-Bangalore instead.

There was a little brawl with the conductor about carrying cycles as luggage. He was asking Rs.200 .... per cycle. The luggage compartment was all empty. Finally he took me to some station master who stamped two tickets for Rs30 each and gave away Rs10 to the conductor and the driver. I surely would have given him more than Rs10 had he asked nicely and reasonably.

I know this ride did not go as planned but we promised each other that we will finish it soon, before bidding adios!!

The One with the Sanity Check

After a decent gap of a couple of weeks we geared ourselves up for our next challenge. This time our group (I don't know if a group of 2 people counts as a group) had a new member. Kshitij on his Schwinn Sportera. A real energetic guy. Very soon he'll be walking a distance of 100Kms over a couple of days. As you can infer from the previous sentence, like us some screws in his brain also need tightening. Jagan of course, needs no introduction (provided you have read my earlier posts).

An anecdote: Jagan bought the cateye blinker for Rs 850/- when he bought his bike. Kshitij and myself carry the local blinker that costs about Rs. 80/- . His reasoning was that the cateye blinker does quality blinking. Anyways, it so happened that a day before the ride he found out that the batteries of his blinker have drained off and need replacing. Although, the weird 1.5V batteries were no where to be found and he had to buy the local blinker that does not do much of the quality blinking.

The blogs shared on BBC had given us a fair idea about the ride to Krishnagiri. Our plan comprised of two steps:

Step1 : Reach Krishnagiri as early as possible

Step2 : Return back to Bangalore as early as possible.

Simple enough.

Just before the ride began

This time I woke up early and called up Jagan at about 4:45 AM. He picked up the call but from his "enthusiastic" voice I could tell that he was going to get late. Anyways, it was about 6:15AM when the three of us met each other near Sony World, Kormangla.

Kshitij was riding his bike after a long time. Sometimes things go wrong. When he reached Sony World he pointed out that his mudguard was rubbing against his front tire. After a little discussion and paying heed to the experts (Jagan's) suggestion we decide to remove the mudguard and continue with the ride. While removing the mudguard we somehow managed to pull out the small rod that goes through the center of the tire. Fixing it back is apparently not that easy as the tire keeps wobbling if you don't fix it properly. Jagan did try to put his best efforts but to no avail. Jagan wasn't rally in the favor of continuing the ride but agreed to ride until electronic city and then decide whether or not to continue further.

So we started from Sony world at about 6:40 AM. We rode at peaceful pace upto electronic city. (I wanted to take the flyover but was voted out) There Kshitij's rear tire got punctured. We(Jagan) had experience with fixing punctures. But when fixed, the tire formed a weird shape which wasn't concurrent with the rim. Now it was getting risky for kshitij to continue with the ride and Jagan suggested not to. So he decided to ride until the end of electronic city flyover and then return.

After the flyover we exchanged some stuffs from Kshitij that we thought might be useful and then continued further while Kshitij returned. This could have been his first long ride, I could tell he wasn't happy but had no choice.

Jagan : Smiling/Laughing/Wondering :?

From here on, Jagan and I rode at normal pace and we were at hosur in a jiffy. We had our breakfast at Udupi Uphaar. A decent restaurant I'd say. We did get a lot of strange looks but I guess we were prepared for it. We continued with ride after taking a few snaps.

The ride was seeming like a cakewalk. Which was freaking us out. It only meant that we were riding downhill and return would be most difficult. The blogs on BBC had done a decent job of scaring us already. Given the delayed start, long breaks and effortless pace we were surprised that we reached Krishnagiri before noon. We tried to look for a decent restaurant around but they all had closed doors and we weren't comfortable eating lunch without being able to keep a close watch on our rides. We did find a coconut vendor and gulped down the water from a couple of coconuts each. Later we found a fruit vendor and bought a few bananas and oranges. We refilled our water pouches and decided to have lunch along the way. The constant stare of the people around was really making us(Me) uncomfortable and we didn't even manage to click any snaps.

We started the ride back at about 12:05PM and stopped at a secluded spot on the highway at about 12:30 PM. Had some fruits which tasted gooood. Took a few snaps. 

The sun was up and it was hawt. Plus, there was the added obstacle of steady uphill. Our ride back to bangalore was getting real scary. After a few minutes of discussions/calculations we realized that the easiest way to finish the ride was to man up and climb back on the saddle. Which we did.

The "man up" thought laughed back at us the moment we started riding. Thanks to the water pouches on our backs that we were able to keep ourselves hydrated throughout. In fact we started appreciated every thing that we had bought before coming on this ride. My butts couldn't thank those padded shorts enough and my palms knew that they were alive because of the gloves. The lonely, hawt and steady uphill seemed unending. I so wanted to stop. To add it up my brain started the sanity check on me. I started finding answers to questions like : Who am I? What am I doing here? What exactly am I doing and why? I don't know how but these questions cheered me up. The answer was simple : The person is in fact Insane. I laughed out loud (Thanks to the lonely road nobody else had to witness the insanity :P). I am sure my fellow cyclists on BBC and elsewhere must have had such sanity checks atleast once if not more. I could share the laugh with you, others keep wondering. Anyways, I decided that whatever happens I will finish 20Kms before taking any rest. Which meant I'd have to be on the saddle for atleast an hour and a half. I was about to give up after 12Kms but then a like a beautiful oasis I saw vehicles disappearing at the end of the road. Finally : a downhill.

I pedaled with all my energy and the downhill did not disappoint me. The cool breeze that continued running across my face was so .... peaceful. About 10 minutes after the downhill, my odometer read 100Km (I had to reset it along the way) marking the finish of my 20Kms, I took a snap of it and then stopped near a truck, hiding behind its shade. Jagan took another 20 minutes to show up. 

The only snap of wither of us riding a
bike and he has to look back

I was surprised that he didn't stop before. Later, when asked he said, "How could I ever live with myself knowing you finished that climb in one go and I couldn't". So many funny retorts rushed through my mind when he said that but didn't mouth any of them. As long as it works, let's let it.

We stopped for about half an hour here. We tried to calculate what went wrong. The Sun, the heat and yes, the Lunch?? We were on fruits (2 bananas and an orange). We could recollect seeing a McD joint after Hosur and it was only the thought of a tasty burger that motivated us to pedal forward. 

I have special bonding with McD for so many reasons. It has been the meeting place for most of my dates. Most of my friends prefer Dominoes, Pizza Hut or KFC but I'll choose McD over them anyday. Those soft sinful tasty burgers are just irresistible. It used be one of my most visited place an year ago ;). I started avoiding it later for obvious reasons. The best part is, everytime I take first bite the shape of the burger resembles that of laughing face. Its like the burger is laughing back at me and saying, "Haha!! Got you!!".

Incidentally, McD was just 3Kms down (sorry, up) the road. We filled our stomachs and satiated our thirst (literally and figuratively). Took a few snaps and started riding again. 

The sun was still hot and we were still pedaling uphill but this time we knew what was coming and our stomachs weren't empty. We covered the next 20 Kms in what seemed like a looong time (it was 80 mins as per clock) but we weren't as exhausted as before. Also, many thanks to the awesome playlist (compiled by my special someone). It helped me stay calm and maintain a rhythm. My flatmates had gone to hogenakkal and we crossed paths at this point. The looks on their faces were confusing and usually I'd have pushed for an explanation but needless to say, I was too tired. They left after we took a few snaps. The auto function could have enabled a snap of all of us together but again, I was tired to suggest/explain. They left after that and we rested for some more time.

From here on we had no trouble pedaling. No more scorching heat and not too much of uphill. Throughout the ride a lot of people asked a lot of questions and I answered as innovatively as my weary self allowed.

We had decided to watch the newly released "Chronicle" after finishing the ride. So were moving at faster speed. At about 7:40PM we reached home. Booked the tickets as soon as was possible. Had dinner at the food world in forum and caught the 10PM show at PVR. After which I slumbered into the deepest limbo. 

The One with the Pedaling Legend of India

A solo ride to Nandi Base had boosted my confidence towards my level of endurance. My blog had an adverse effect on my friend Jagan. It had sparked a sense of competitiveness in him and I could see that he wasn't going to let me go on any more solo rides (as intended). Just to take it up a notch, I had decided to carry a heavier backpack this time while covering the same distance as last time. But, Jagan argued that, there is no point in going to Nandi Base if you aren't going to climb the hill. I could agree no less. Thus, a plan was drawn to do the esteemed Nandi Climb.

My experience from my last ride told me that we should be starting at 0400AM, if we were to make it back home without suffering too much of heat. Although, there was an argument over the security risks in the dark and we decide to start at 0500AM. This was supposed to ensure easy visibility by the time we reach Mekhri Circle.

Anyways, the lazy bums that we so obviously are, we started off at 0620AM from Domlur flyover with enough visibility and traffic ensuring our security. Normally, I don't usually get up until the sunlight bombards on every wall of bedroom so a ride a 0600AM was still refreshing, if nothing else. We were chit-chatting and riding at a leisurely pace trying bask in the purity of nature. After Hebbal we started picking up speed. Jagan was riding his Bianchi after a long time and wasn't really comfortable with it. He started whining real soon about the slow uphills and traffic. The ride upto airport was easy enough for me this time. Jagan did get a feel of some new muscles in his butts. Only the prospect of a good breakfast (only available at Nandi Base) could convince him to continue. I was quite amazed that he agreed to move foreword. He hadn't moved any muscle in his body for the past 4-5 months (except the ones required in strolling, eating & sleeping :D). No doubt he was experiencing  a lot of pain. He was trying to compensate it by whining about it. The handles of his otherwise "perfect" bianchi were skewed this time, the rear wheel was lacking a complete circular shape, the bearings near his front gear were loose and what not. The whining continued until the puncture.

My first puncture. About 8-10 Kms from airport, the rear wheel started making sounds. I asked Jagan to take a look only to discover that I was facing a flat tire situation. We had a puncture kit, an extra tube and the latest collection to my cycle accessories : Micro Floor Pump. This pump is so awesome and it fits on the bicycle like a water bottle. Not like a regular hand pump were you need decades to fill enough air into the tire. Worth the money and really helpful in situation such as this. Jagan had all the experience with flat tire. Besides, we had an extra tube. So, I let Jagan do the work and jumped in later to inflate the tire. A little bit of more fixing and we were back on the road. I did try to understand the supposedly mundane procedure of changing the tube but to me it looked too complex. I guess I am going to need another 2-3 trials to be as accurate/effective as Jagan.

The ride from Nandi Cross to Nandi Base is a patience test for every new-comer. Jagan was no exception. This time he wasn't whining though. Just asking me which one of the hills visible was Nandi Hills and repeating his trademark phrase on the trip, "I hate slow climbs". There was a moment when he was contemplating the possibility of him trekking atop Nandi instead of cycling. A perfect demonstration to the marathi saying "Durun Dongar Sajare" (Hills are beautiful from the distance). We reached Nandi Base at 0950AM. The breakfast at the Nandi Abhinandana was fulfilling if nothing more.

Later we fixed the punctured tube from a tire shop nearby. Jagan was too tired by now which was acceptable. He had just got up and pedaled to Nandi without any preparation. I still wanted to climb up. Jagan was ready to wait at a restaurant just before the climb begins. I moved foreword.

I plugged in my Sony MP3 player loaded with the awesome playlist of bollywood songs (Rehman Special) compiled by my special someone. I must say, these songs helped me stay in the rhythm the whole time and encouraged me to move ahead, pedal by pedal. On my way up I saw a Vendor selling Coconut Water on his bicycle. The confused look that he gave me was discernible. He might be willing to do anything to avoid riding up the hill everyday. To him I must look like a complete nutjob. Anyways, pedaling ahead. There was a group of people in their mid twenties who suddenly paused when I moved into their visibility zone. One of them just stood in my way, intending to start a conversation. I din't want to stop so I had to dodge him. It must have seemed rude and I should have said something but I was too tired and had a very little presence of mind to say anything. Dude, if you are reading this, I am Sorry.

Pedaling got harder with every pedal and I was dehydrating at an amazingly faster rate. The otherwise weightless bag now seemed heavy enough to knock me down with its weight. I realized why one needs 21 gears on a bike.  On this climb, every gear counted. By the time I reached curve no. 33 the gear ratio was 1:1, my mouth felt too dry and the bike just stopped moving. I had to stop. I had dehydrated a lot. I sipped in a little water which was refreshing. I din't want to go back, not after all this. The song playing on the mp3 was soothing, I got back on my beloved and pedaled ahead. After this I did stop once more to drink water. At the last curve (curve no 36/37 I think, I don't remember the number) I saw a firang (too white) riding a bicycle behind me. He was in the standing position and he pedaled right past me at an  amazing speed. I was in the sitting position the whole ride and decided to switch, thinking it might be efficient. I wasn't ready for it. The gear ratio was 1:1, which is not good for a standing position at that inclination. I had to step down to prevent a fall. I was in no position to continue riding from zero speed on this curve so I decided to walk up the curve and continue riding. I walked up and there it was, an ancient looking stone gate welcoming me on the Nandi Hill.

                         

The firang (I was so angry at him) was resting across the wall on one side of the gate, trying to catch his breath. I picked up a spot on the opposite side. It was such an awesome feeling. I could see everything around, the music was still playing in my ears and yet there was silence and my brain was thinking nothing.

After what seemed like hours we waved at each other and shared an awkward laugh. Then another cyclist appeared. Then, came a car with racks mounted on the top and on the rear side to hold about five bicycles. One by one, more cyclists pedaled their way up. They were five in total. On inquiring, I found out that they do this almost everyday. They start from the CCD on the Airport road and ride atop the hill. That seemed like a formidable feat. This was my first Nandi Climb. An estimable and much desired feat for any cyclist in bangalore who picked up the passion during their work life. I wasn't going to let them ruin it by their amazing stamina, endurance, flashy road bikes and aerodynamic helmets. I was a bit distressed to say the list. One of them came up to me and struck up a conversation. His name was Samim. He looked decent. Warned me to pedal slowly on my way down. I did start to like the group until he said "Hum log toh chote mote rider hai". Being modest should be a crime in situations like these. Anyways, I let them ride back before me.

After waiting for a considerable amount of time and reconnecting with the nature and the feeling of solitude, I  began my journey back. I had decided to go real slow on my way back and observe every detail on the way. This was my way of doing justice to my climbing efforts. Yet, it took me less than 10 minutes to reach the base. Jagan was enjoying music on his mp3 player. We headed towards Bangalore after having a small lunch. It was about 1230PM. It had taken me about one hour to climb up with an average speed of 9.6 Kmph.

The journey home was without much incident. We were both listening to music the whole time. Jagan was all charged up from his rest so were able to maintain an overall average of 23-24 Kmph. Overall we had pedaled a total distance of 122 Km + 14 Km (Climbing up and down the Nandi Hill) i.e. 136 Km.

After reaching home I was disabled in unfathomable ways. I wanted to sleep but couldn't , I was hungry but eating required a lot of efforts. I had crawled up inside a bean bag and was just sitting still like a log of wood for about 3 hours.

The next day I was talking with Jagan and another friend of ours Kshitij. During the conversation we somehow landed on the topic of Samim Rizvi. There it hit me. WTF!! That was  Samim Rizvi , I shook hands with on the top of Nandi Hills. His whole team was there. Ever since I got my Schwinn, I had read so many articles about him. I mean this man has completed the  RAAM . At the top of the hill, I was too tired to make the connection between Samim and Samim Rizvi. The man is a legend. I must have looked like such a fool. I am still unable to comprehend the fact that I had met India's most accomplished cyclist and wasn't even able to recognize him.

Maafi Kar do Yaar, Sir Ji!! Galati Ho gyi. Fir nhi hogi. You are such an admirable personality. Tusii great ho!!

The one with Newly Found Butt Muscles

It had been long since I along with a friend of mine(Jagan) had decide to commence the training for a long distance cycling trip. We were gonna start it by riding to the bangalore airport (around a total of 60kms to and fro). The date was fixed at 07th Jan'12. Although, we had been planning this for a long time, some unforeseen incidents forced  Jagan to to cancel at the last minute. So I was home on the Friday night (6th Jan) debating with myself about the possibility of me doing a solo ride to airport. All I knew was that delaying this would screw with our training. Besides, Jagan had already done a ride to airport. Unable to come to a proper conclusion, I set my alarm at 4:30AM and decided to go for it "if" I get up. :)

Well, the alarm chimed and somehow woke me up (This rarely happens). I took it as a good sign and started preparing for the ride. It was exactly  05:25AM when I left my house at Kormangla. The weather was just awesome. Chilled and pleasant.

At around 06:00AM I reached the ITC Windsor bridge. The Sun was yet to arrive on my side of the planet. I had covered about 16Kms which was longest distance I had covered on my Schwinn Searcher so far (my commute distance being 13Kms).

I pushed on to the Bangalore-Hyderabad highway. The initial slopes upto the Mekhri Circle kindda cheered me up. I was maintaining an average of 23-25Kms all the while. Along the way I saw a herd of about 10-15 Royal Enfields cruising the highway. They looked .... umm .... royal, I guess. I remembered the time I was cruising along this road on my Avenger at about the same time, with my girlfriend .... it was sssooo awesome.

Anyways, by 6:30 the visibility increased as I switched off my headlight. But it was still a foggy atmosphere and although there was a pleasant amount of morning light on the road, nothing beyond 10-20 mts was visible. I had been on this road a lot of times but never before had I seen it look so beautiful. I was busy pedaling and admiring the nature, that I was a bit distressed when all the cabs started pushing on the left side of the road. There in front of lay the diversion in the B'lore-Hyd highway that leads to airport. I had made it. I wasn't even tired. No fatigue or nothing. Atleast that's what I thought. I climbed down my beloved, stretched my legs, had some water and waited. It was only 07:30 AM. As per my speedometer I had covered about 40 Kms at an average of 21.0Kmph. My sweat shirt was all wet but not because of my sweat and I am quite sure it didn't rain. Must have been because of the fog, sheer awesomeness of the weather. Anyways, I took it off. As expected my white jersey was dry as sand.

A couple of cyclists passed me by, I guess they were going to Nandi Hills. I realized that I'll be home before 10:00AM if I started the return journey. Although, the Schwinn was looking at me curiously and mumbling more .... more .... more. I had not tested my endurance level ever before. My sane mind was screaming the facts like there was still a return journey to be made and my capacity was yet be assessed . But, my insane mind and the Schwinn formed a majority and I decided to move forward. I always used to love reading the posts of people doing their first century rides on BBC and I wanted to know the feeling. So, now the plan was to ride until my speedometer reads a distance covered of 50Kms and then turn back.

I climbed on my beloved and pedaled ahead and that's when it hit me. My butt just cried out in pain from parts I didn't even know existed. Scared the hell out of me. I stopped almost immediately did a few lunges. I had found my challenge and I knew I wasn't going to stop now. All of a sudden pedaling got really difficult and the pain .... well, I'll spare you those details.

The road to airport was beautiful but I don't know how to describe the road from airport to Nandi Cross. Refreshed some memories again, involving my special someone :) Soon I started feeling the shivers. It was chilly. Tiny water droplets had covered my bare hands. Again, a foggy trick. I got back into my sweat shirt. Nandi Cross came in almost no time. I was hungry and I knew that the nearest place for a decent breakfast is at nandi base. There is this family restaurant called Nandi Abhinandana, I just love the Idlis that they serve there. The only other time had them was when I was with my girl. A ride foreword promised refreshments for the memory too. I smiled at myself and started the 10 Km ride from Nandi Cross to Nandi Base.

This 10km patch really tested my patience. It is a loong straight road which just wasn't ending. Fog covered everything and nothing but a small patch of road in front was visible. It felt like the infinite loop train station in matrix. Everything remained same no matter how many times I pedaled (except a few bumps ofcourse). Finally reached the restaurant at about 8:30AM. It was an awesome feeling. I jumped at first then acted like I was exercising when people started staring. I also wanted to make a few calls but their was no network. One of the best things about nandi. atleast for aircel users. You are completely cut from everything else. Just enjoy the nature by choice or be forced to do so.

The breakfast was awesome. I took a few snaps and stayed until the sun was out. It was about 09:30 when the fog almost completely receded. A few cyclist started showing and I waved at them as they waved back. I climbed back on my beloved and started the journey back. I was so engrossed with all the memories that I din't realize when I neared my home.(Although, I did think of a few ways to let Jagan know what he missed.) I called up my roommate and asked him to switch on the geyser.

It was exactly 01:02PM when I reached home and thus an awesome journey ended. I had averaged at 22kmph covering a total of 112kms. My first century ride!! :)