It all started in the summer of 2010. I and my friends from Chennai had been to Bangalore and had planned for a short trip to Nandi hills. On our way back from the top of the hill, I saw this bunch of cyclists, riding all the way up (I must say they looked really glamorous with all that riding gears and top notch bikes :D). Then I heard this bell go gonggg in my head!!!. What better way to keep yourself fit and also commute within the city, by not adding to the ever existing overdose of filth in the air we breathe. I knew I found what I was looking for. I knew I was going to get that two wheeled muscle powered humble-beast. I did quite a lot of research and pushed google as far as possible to get what I wanted. It took a whole of two months to find a bike that I was precisely looking for. And finally my search ended with this b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l piece of carved metal and rubber, going by the name, TREK 4300 D.
Now having talked about all this, let me give you a standpoint of how things were during my recent ride to Bangalore. It was a very pleasant Thursday morning. Considering I had holidays for the next three days, I decided I would go out on an adventure trip on my bicycle (hereafter referred to as bike :P). Initially it was planned that I would ride to Sri Harikota, Andhrapradesh (it houses India's only satellite launch centre and is used by ISRO to launch satellites) which is about 112kms from Chennai, but then I thought, doing a round trip would cover about 224kms and add another 100kms to it, I can do a distance almost as good as doing a one way trip to Bangalore. That’s when I decided, that I’m going to kick it all the way to Bangalore!! Now that I had a destination in mind, it was time for me to chalk out a plan on how this is going to be done. So this is what I finally plotted – Start from Chennai at 11:00PM, ride throughout the night and reach Chittoor by 12:00PM the next day, take a nap for about 3 hrs and then continue riding all the way to reach Bangalore by 02:00AM. Sounds simple? Well, I was definitely in for a nasty ride. All this planning seemed to be flawless, until I realized at a later point of time during the ride, that Bangalore is on a higher ground and I had committed a huge blunder by neglecting the harrowing uphill’s en route.
Well, I have The “Plan” in place now. That noon grew very gloomy with thick clouds lurking above the head. Somehow I must say, I did give a second thought about riding that night.! In the evening I started early from office hoping to grab atleast two hours of sleep, before I set out on my ride. I was praying that the sky would clear up by late evening, but if at all anything happened, it was only that the clouds grew bigger and darker. The only way I could get some respite was by telling myself that the rain gods are here not to scare me but to shower their blessings on me, before I started off my venture ;). I packed my backpack with a Jean, a T-shirt, towel, boxers, extra pair of socks and a lock for my bike. I also carried a pack of bread and dates to fuel my legs, and a sachet of electral powder, just in case I lose too much salts from my body. I Equipped my bike with LED head lights and tail lights and also a puncture kit, tool kit, n two bottles filled with water. After all this, the only thing left to do now was to take a hot shower and retire to bed, only to wake up 3 hours later J. Spoke to few of my very good friends before I took off, although one of them was very reluctant to see me do this trip all by myself and was extremely concerned about this whacky idea of mine. She almost had me convinced to pull out of this trip. But I was determined to do it. So I lied to her, saying I’m off to bed :P
And now, the much anticipated time is finally here. It was 11:30PM, 30mins past the planned time of departure, and it was time for me to put all that planning to use. I bid farewell to my roomies. They were not quite sure if I was ready to do this trip! One of them, who was till then considered to be a very soft-spoken, humble person, hurled abuses at me and asked if I was insane to do this thing whatever I was doing :D (Man it sure was a sight to watch him lose his mind and talk the way he talked :P) . We all came downstairs and bid one final good bye. I cranked up the first few revolutions off of the pedals and I set out on my voyage. The only thing I had in my mind now is the picture of me parking my bike in the front porch of my house in Bangalore, and ringing the door bell :D. Wow, that gave me Goosebumps :D
As I cycled out of the main gate of my apartments, the thing what I was praying that it shouldn’t happen, just happened. It started to rain. It was only drizzling though, but the winds were building up. As I was riding along the OMR towards Madhyakailash, strong winds started to set in. The barricades on the roads, used as a make shift speed breakers during the morning wee hours, was being dragged along by the strong winds. I could see few metal sheets from front of these petty shops getting ripped off and being carried away by the wind. That’s when I thought to myself, am in deep $hit. I would be wrong if I said I was not intimidated by these weather conditions. But I put all this behind and kept pedaling. I reached Guindy in less than half an hour. On my way up the Guindy flyover, I could sense that I was being followed. I reduced my pace and I heard the sound from the moped behind also dropping low. He slowed down his pace too. Before I began to freak out, I just turned around to see what was happening. To my relief, I saw it was a family of four, a Man, his wife and their 2 cute little kids riding on a moped. That man was only obliging to his child’s curiosity to see and know more about the shiny bike, which also had flashing bright red lights under the seat :D. I pulled over at the exit of the Guindy Fly over and the kid was really happy to have a closer look at the bike. They enquired about me and my riding plans and were quite astonished to hear about it ;). It was Ramzan that day and I wished them Id Mubarak and continued my ride.
At this point the rain had subsided and it was a pleasure to ride in those conditions. I reached Porur after about 20 mins and the Rain Gods unleashed its fury yet again. I could see an over bridge at a distance, and I had to get under that bridge, to save myself from getting drenched right till the last piece of cloth on my body. Another lone biker stopped under the bridge to take cover. We were later joined by a truck driver, who was ferrying paper products in his truck. It was quite a strange place to be at. There was a large pond next to the road we were stranded on. The only thing that lit the underside of the bridge was the lights from passing cars and heavy vehicles. What made this place look even spookier was the kind of people I was stuck with. The Dark biker in his Shorts and T’s and flip flops, was carrying a back pack and was continually staring at me and my bike. The truck driver was a bald old man, with long beard and thick moustache almost covering half his face. The first 10mins was very awkward and we only kept exchanging stares. It was time that someone broke the silence. I asked the biker “going on a road trip??“ he didn’t quite seem to understand what I said. So I asked him again, this time in Tamil “Enge poringe.??” (Where are you off to??) For that he replied, “Vellore, my home town!”. We then got into a long conversation and it turned out that my initial impression of this guy was indeed wrong. Bala (that was his name) turned out to be nice guy. He worked as a Web designer in Tidal Park and had recently returned to Chennai after completing his assignment from Kuwait. He kept talking a lot about his work-life and about his experience outside the country. It was very evident from the way he spoke that he was very proud of being in a position where he is right now, after being raised in a small town village in Vellore. His story was indeed very impressive. It was my turn to talk now :P. he too was well taken aback after learning about my plans of riding to Bangalore. He enquired about the bike, and what made it so special, and how often I ride, and what are my future riding plans and many other silly questions like that. I humbly replied to all his queries and he was happy to see some weirdo like me, although I don’t really know why, but I assume it made him realize there are a lot more other weird people in this world than him :P. Now it was the truck drivers turn to talk. So we all listened to him. He called himself as Muthusamy. Muthu was tired of carrying paper load, and was tired of this weather in Chennai. Every time he thinks it might rain he should find a place to hide his truck to save all the paper inside. He wanted to make himself more comfortable while he was talking, so he got a big mat from inside the truck and laid it there on the sidewalks. I immediately unloaded my back pack, removed my shoes, helmets and gloves and made myself comfortable like at home :P. He kept telling us stories and it was really interesting to know about their experience as truck drivers. He told us about this incident where he rammed into a pole to avoid running over a dog. He sure did save that dog, but at a very huge cost. He said his boss fired him for destroying the truck and the goods he carried, just to save a dog. He was more than glad to quit working under those MOFOS (thats exactly what he said in Tamil, trust me). So this made me come out of the delusion that all Truck drivers are ruthless and have no regards for their fellow drivers of smaller vehicles on the road. It was now 4:00AM and the rain subsided for the second time since the time I started off from Chennai. Bala was more concerned about my lost time, than I was :P. he insisted he would drop me a little ahead to make up for my lost time. So I sat on his bike with my bike on my shoulder. We did about 15kms and it was too much strain on my shoulders. It was also getting very difficult for Bala to ride. So I asked him to pull over and I got off of his bike. I thanked him for the ride, which saved at least 40mins for my riding time. We exchanged phone numbers and email ids and we parted ways.
It was 4:30 AM now. The roads were wet from the rains last night. It was a very cold morning. I cycled for about 20kms to reach the first of the two toll gates that I would be passing through on the Chennai-Bangalore express highway. I knew there was a CCD a few hundred meters after the toll gate. I stopped over at the CCD for a cup of hot coffee. As I chained my bike to the pole near the steps and walked up towards the door, I saw this man, in his late thirties. He looked straight at me and asked, “you are cycling?!” I said “Yes” with a smile on my face. He then asked “where are you coming from?” I replied saying I’m coming from Chennai. Then he asked me where was I heading to? So I told him about my plans. Just like the others, he too was a little shocked on hearing about my plans. His wife too got a little curious and initiated a conversation. The next thing I know is we are all seated and sipping coffee along with their 5 year old son Rohan. 10mins later I bid them adieu and started off on my, what it appeared to be, a never ending ride. I continued pedaling on the highway and very soon I could see the break of day. Without even knowing it, I had covered 40kms since my last stop. So I thought I would stop over to eat my breakfast, bread and dates!
It was 10:30AM now. I could sense tiredness sneaking into my legs. It was way too early for me to experience pain in my leg muscles. Even a tiny hint of pain would be a great set back, considering the distance that I still had to cover! So I thought I would listen to some good music to keep my pedaling rhythm going. Within no time I reached the second toll gate and took the next right turn which would lead me to Bangalore, via Ranipet, Chittoor, Palamner and Kolar. The roads were not broad enough, and each time I heard a bus or a truck honk from behind, I used to get shivers. They just brush past you. Sometimes the sides of the roads are layered with big rocks and stones. You can’t even get off of the roads in such places. Phew! That really is something that you should watch out for if you are taking the Chittoor route. Once you have crossed the Tamilnadu border and enter into Andhra Pradesh, the roads became a bit wider. The landscapes changed a wee bit. Palm trees formed a chain all along the road for quite some distance. When the Sun was at its peak of the day, I was blessed to be riding through the shades from trees on either sides of the road. I was constantly getting calls from few of my friends, to get a status of my ride till then. They were all glad to know I was still up n kicking ;)
My real struggle with the roads started off from here. Flat roads eventually started to rise and with changing landscapes, the only thing that never changed and remained constant were the climbs. It was now it struck to my mind that, Bangalore is way up above when compared to Chennai. I very much underestimated the mighty climbs which I had done till now, and even the more mightier climbs which I would be doing later that day. My scheduled breaks were long gone from my plan. Breaks at every half an hour became a frequent activity. I could feel the pinch in my leg muscles already. I had done about 100kms till then. Was just wondering, if this is my state after 100kms, how is it going to be after 270kms!!? It sure did get me thinking!! There were times when I told to myself, “What the HELL was I thinking??” But when I think about the moment, I would touch Bangalore, and all my friends gathered to welcome me, it really pumped up loads of hormones into the system and I kept my cadence up :D.
By 2:00PM, I had reached Chittoor. The sun was at its blistering peak and I was more tired and exhausted than ever. After going through a corner along the bypass road from Chittoor, I had never felt so relieved and happier throughout this trip, when I found this CCD standing tall in all its glory!! I chained my bike to the pole and just crashed on the couch inside. It was a bliss to be relaxing at that time of the day, when u have ridden almost close to 130kms, with the last 40kms being a gradual climb. I saw a couple of guys outside checking my bike out. They walked in and it was not so difficult for them to identify the owner of the bike. May be because I was probably the only guy inside, with dirty shoes and jersey and also with salts from my sweat stuck to my forehead all the way down till my cheek. He introduced himself as Harsha, a young businessman from the same town. He was really happy to see a cyclist doing a long trip, because he himself was a cyclist and also had done Hyderabad-Belgaum a couple of times. He gave me some tips on riding uphill’s and also gave a brief scary idea about the climbs which lie ahead. He enquired about my plans of riding, and I told him that I might retire at the next town, Palamner, which was about 35kms from Chittoor. Hearing this, he got really excited and told me, that a lot of his relatives are at Palamner and he was more than willing to make arrangements for a night’s stay for me, with one of them. So he made few phone calls and finally arranged for a place for me to spend the night. We exchanged phone numbers and also made a note of his relatives address. I thanked him for his courtesy and bid farewell to him. Now I had a short goal in my mind. Reach Palamner before 6 and get some much needed sleep.
It was 2:30PM already and I had about 4 hours to reach Palamner. I was very confident of making this in less than 3 hours. But my confidence did not last very long. Soon after I took off from CCD, the climbs got steeper and steeper. Riding uphill during the middle of the day only added to my agonies. I could only manage a very decent 11kmph all along the climb. I could see the road disappear ahead at a distance. With all the joy I pedaled faster to reach that point, hoping there would be a downhill and I could get some rest while gravity did all the work. All those sweet expectations went crashing as soon as I neared that point, when I realized it was a hair pin bend, and the climb was only to continue. I just could not pedal any more. So I started to walk. I used to walk at all the steep climbs and continue to ride when the roads flattened a bit. After about 3hrs of riding since my last stop at Chittoor, I reached this Dhaba on the high way. Don’t really remember the name of the place. But I will never forget this Dhaba. They had these wooden cots with ropes tied in a criss-cross manner for beds. Food was served on wooden plank which was placed across the cot. You are also allowed to sleep there for a few mins. I remember this place very well because I had once had my dinner at the same place, when I was on my way to Bangalore on my motor bike. I unloaded my backpack, removed my shoes and gloves and helmet and just fell flat on that cot. I washed my face and sat down to dine. I generally don’t eat much when I’m cycling. But my long day of cycling, doing with just liquid diet only increased my cravings for solid food, and also given the setting to dine on; with the fact that I just have another 10kms to go; I just gave up easily and ordered for four butter naans and a butter chicken! I saw this family sitting next to me and heard them conversing in Kannada. I knew I was very soon going to talk to them J. Looking at my attire one of the guy came up to me and asked me the same question that I’ve been asked a lot many times earlier. This time the questions were in Hindi. Knowing he was a Kannadiga, I replied to him in Kannada :D he became even more happy to hear me reply in Kannada and I repeated my whole story again to him. He told me he was the Sub Inspector at one of the Police stations in Jalahalli, Bangalore. Before he left, he taught me a funky hand shake and said it was for good luck and wished me all the best for the rest of my ride. After a sumptuous meal, I put all my gear back on and was ready for the ride. 10kms was not seemingly a difficult task. Roads were flat for a while but it all started over again, and this time it was steeper than the previous uphill’s. I thought it was a real bad idea to have eaten tummy full. I could already feel the cramps in my stomach muscles. Pedaling became difficult than before. To add to all of this, the lights were dimming faster than ever and a slight fear started to creep in. It was completely an isolated place with no civilization around. The place somehow felt very haunting to me. The only thing which kept me from pushing further was the fear of getting stranded in the middle of nowhere! So I continued to pedal. I again got on to Walking mode when the climb became unbearable. 10kms seemed like it would take an eternity to complete. In the end it took 3hrs for me to finish the last 10kms. This last 10kms of climb has been the most grueling task in the entire trip so far. I reached Palamner by 8:00PM and went in search of the address. I met Mr and Mrs Ashok at their house, and received a very warm welcome by them. They had already set up a room for me on the first floor after they heard from Harsha in the noon that day about my arrival. I couldn’t spend much time with them as I was really tired and just wanted to get some much needed sleep. So I hit the bed. I made a couple of phone calls to my friends to update about my status till then.
I had set the alarm to go off exactly at 4:30AM. Though I woke up to the alarm, I promptly shut it off and went back to my sleep. By the time I realized I had over slept, it was already 8:00AM. So I jumped out of the bed and freshened up and got ready in about 30mins. Mrs. Ashok made some hot coffee in the morning and I was more than glad to take a glass full before I started my second day of riding. I thanked them for their hospitality and both Mr and Mrs Ashok blessed me, and also wished me good luck for the rest of my journey. I continued my ride and the roads were getting a little better as I travelled further. After about 2hrs of riding, I was getting closer to the Andhra-Karnataka border. I had another 20kms till I crossed the border. On my way up the hill, I saw this young kid along the road side, with a pile of fresh big Custard apples, trying to stop almost every vehicle that were passing by, in an effort to sell his stock. I stopped by and bought a couple of fruits. It was very sweet and tasted extremely good. I got into a conversation with that kid. He spoke only in Telgu. This is when all my efforts to learn Telgu, from my friends from Andhra, during my training period in Cognizant, finally paid off. I could speak enough Telgu to convey my message across, along with some hand signs ;). He said his name was Harikrishna and was accompanied by his younger sister, Bhavya. He said he’s been standing there since 6’O clock in the morning and was not able to sell even a single fruit. When I asked if he had eaten his breakfast, he quickly replied with a big “NO”! He said he cannot go home unless he sold that lot of fruits. But once he did, he could go home, eat and will have to come back again for another round of sales with a fresh lot. I told him to eat a couple of fruits from that pile, and I would pay for it. But he straight away denied that and uttered something in Telgu so fast that I could not comprehend what he said. But I’m assuming he said something about fear of parents that they might punish him if they got to know he ate one of those, which could have got them some money otherwise. But when I asked him if he liked bread n dates, his face lit up and showed no hesitance in saying YES! So I gave him the remaining pack of bread from the previous day and also some dates and few biscuits. I could see that, he and his little sister were happy to accept it. I bought few more fruits and got it packed for my rest of the day’s journey. When I was about to leave, he asked if I would be returning back the same way. I really wished if I could say yes! I told him I will surely be back, not any time sooner, but sometime during December. He smiled at me and I waved good bye to both of them, and off I went. I continued my ride hoping to reach Mulbagilu before 2:00PM.
After riding for about an hour, my leg muscles were getting really tired and what better time to have found this small milk booth, which sold cold Masala Butter Milk and other Dairy products. I gulped down 2 packets of Butter Milk and that really felt very refreshing. I enquired with the guy at the booth, about the roads ahead and how many more kms to go before I crossed the border. He said the roads are pretty much flat from there on and the border is just 5kms away. I was quite relieved to learn that and with all the revived energy I pedaled towards the border. For the first time in the last 150kms, riding was considerably easy. Riding became blissful again on that flat tarmac, which had tall Eucalyptus trees on either sides of the road. I soon crossed the border and continued riding towards Mulbagilu. I reached Mulbagilu by 2:30PM and ate those Custard apples for lunch. The next major town was Kolar, which was about 30kms from Mulbagilu. Within no time I found myself riding through the streets of Kolar. After riding for about 10kms from Kolar, I became very week and I barely had energy to even stay upright. So I just laid my bike on the road and I fell flat on the ground under a tree. Bangalore was just another 45kms ahead, which I knew I could do it before 9:00PM, even at the slowest pace!. But after about 320kms or riding in the last two days, I was very much tempted to put the bike on a truck and hitchhike a ride all the way to Bangalore. Being so close to home and yet so far, combined with very tired legs and fading lights, I convinced myself that it is very unsafe to ride on the highway during the night, when you know you are not feeling good! So now I had a different kind of task ahead. I could see a truck coming at a distance, and somehow my instincts said this guy might stop if I signaled I wanted a ride. My instincts were right, and the truck driver agreed to offer me a ride till Tin factory. So I hopped on to the back of the truck along with my bike. Although I regret having taken a ride when I was almost nearing my destination, I somehow felt that I made the right decision considering the condition of my health, and the deserted roads that I would be riding at odd times, had I continued my ride along the highway. I was sitting there on the truck thinking about all the amazing experience I had during my trip and all the wonderful people I came across who were more than willing to help me at times when I needed the most.
After about 40mins, the truck stopped at Tin factory and I got off of the truck with my bike. I had another 25kms to go to reach my House. I called my friends and announced my arrival in Bangalore. They were all happy and excited to know that I finally made it to Bangalore in one piece. I was asked to meet them at Barista on New BEL Road. So I was back on my seat kicking the final bit of energy left in me. The very fact that I was riding in my own city made me forget about the aching legs, and tiredness was no were in sight. I continued pedaling along the Ring road and reached Barista in 40mins. I finally met up with few of my closest friends and I was jumping up in joy to have finally achieved, what I thought would be an impossible task, with an experience of just over 18 days of cycling, before I set off on my ride from Chennai. More than that, it was just the presence of my friends at that moment, who had complete faith in me, in what I set out to achieve, and their never ending support and concern, that made me extremely happy and completely overjoyed. I also realized the important role friends play in your lives. Without them you are just NO-body in this world. If at all you think you ARE someone, then it is only because of your friends and offcourse family, which goes without saying. We all celebrated my successful completion of my marathon ride, although with minor hiccups here and there! And I HAVE to add this point here, I felt really proud of myself when few of my friends told me that I had inspired them in getting into cycling. That was something that I never really expected they would say, especially when I think of all the mockery these guys did when I had announced my plan of getting a cycle! And let alone the cycling-all-the-way-to-Bangalore part, it only made them flip out of laughter :D . Anyways, all that mockery only brought good things. One, I gave my friends a good laughter. And two, my determination to do it only got stronger :D.
After the celebrations with friends it was time for me to finally bring that picture I had in my mind, before I set out on my ride, to reality. I reached home by 6:00PM and parked my bike in the front porch. My sigh of happiness didn’t stay for too long. I saw my parents standing at the door, in complete shock. I had a tough time in explaining myself. Later when we sat down for dinner, the whole episode seemed funny to my pop, and both my parents started to laugh about the whole thing. I think I did see the part on my mom’s face where she thought to herself, “I have a mad mad son ;)” You are right mommy.. you sure do have a mad mad son;)
- Abhith K
