Bike Ride to BRHills

As i parked my bike in the sideways of the road , an melodious silence descended upon me....I could hear the silent symphony , that the wind brought with itself.I heard birds celebrating life with their cherubs and trees dancing and swaying in extacy ... This was the forest of Belegul Rangaswamy betta or B.R.hills.

The Route
=========
Sony world ->NICE ROAD NH209–> Malavalli –> Sivanasamudram –> Kollegal –> Yellandur –> BR Hills(198 Km) ;)
BRHills->Yellandur->Looegal->Sivanasamudram->Malavalli-> NICE ROAD->
SonyWorld (210 km) ;(

Total distance: 400kms

casualty
--------
My bums became numb ;)

The Journey
===========
I started form Bangalore at around 7.00 am .It was cloudy .I was quiet eager to leave the poisonous urban rush behind.
I filled up a big flask with TEA and off i go....



I took the NICE road and driving at speed of 80 km/hr i could feel the scream of wind in my ears.There wasn't much traffic




but occasionally had to look out for careless pedestrian or trucks hurridly trying to cross the road.

On the way to Kankapura i decided to fill the petrol tank to full just in case i decided to explore the place ;)



Once the tank was full , i zipped thru the windy morning air.The sun was beginning to come out and i enjoyed the warmth of the sun rays and coolness of morning freshness.

I just to take 10/15 min breaks in between my rides ,sipping hot tea and enjoying the greenery around.












At around 12.30 I reached Kollegal,this was the last mile before one heads into BRHills.Here the route got pretty confusing and it almost took me 1 more hour ot figure out the route to BRHills.Frankly I was pissed off with that and decided to head back to Bangalore and may be come to BRHills some other time.

The StevJobs thing;)
======================
As i started back towards b'lore i was trying to convince myself that i wou;d come back to B.R Hills the next time.so what if i couldn't make it this time.then,after riding for 5 kms ,these words of steve jobs came LOUD AND CLEAR into my head.He had said "to be successful one has to be passionate....When things go tough only if u are passionate u will carry on ...any sane person will simply give up .....its only ur passion that will make u continue thru the pain ..." these words was a thunderbolt to me .......
"IF i say i love bike riding how can i give up so easily ".....
"Naaa!! its not worth it we can come the next time .....lets get back to the comfort of our room in b'lore" sain my mind
"Nope !!! If i like some thing i have to enjoy it ...i must enjoy even the frustrations and the pains ...only then will i truly enjoy it ..." said my heart ......
I pulled up .... took a couple of heavy breaths and said to myself "Ok Alright !!! Why the hell did i ever watch that video ;) now,Even though there is always a next time but i am going to B.R hills this time ;)
I turned back and zipped thru the rout again .

The Stevejobs speech


Back to BRH
=============
Riding with a new vigor i rod for another 30 kms when atlast i saw teh mighty mountain.






I reached the base of the hill.Here people passing thru would have to register there vehicle.I registered mine and drove thru the forest.






The experience was just amazing....it was so serene and quiet i could hear the whispers of the wind ;) .




I drove for another 10 kms when i decided to take a break.I parked my bike in the sideways of the road , an melodious silence descended upon me....I could hear the silent syphony , that wind brought with it self.I heard birds celebrating life with their cherubs and trees dancing and swaying in ectacy



the sun rays were becoming slant and with the prospects of driving 200km back to B'lore i decided to head back.I took a

small walk down and then started my journey back to b'lore.



Then return journey was a bit more stressful and the fatigue had started to set in.....My bums had started to become numb ;)I was struggling to be seated on my bike or more that 15 min ...i took brief breaks in between the rides and by 6.30 pm I reached b'lore.

I guess next time round i would plan a 2-3 days trip around this place.....may be go for a camping in the jungle some time ;)

For more pics

2011-09-17 BRHills

Bike ride to Salem

Now that Badri became Halal ..err i mean got hitched ;-) i decided to go for a solo bike trip, this weekend.I decided for a ride to Salem , a small town in Tamilnadu.

I started at 6.30 am.




It was a cloudy morning ,so i knew that the heat will not bee much of an issue at least in the morning.I took the elevated toll way from silk board to electronic city(5-7 kms ).Driving constantly at speed of 75-80km/hr i felt my helmet almost being blown off my head.After the elevate toll way ended i took another flyover which cut thru Hosur busstation ,towards Krishnagiri .

Still riding at around 75km/hr i felt i was flying .With well laid roads and sparse morning traffic on NH7 road i was having an adrenalin rush .As i crossed Hosur i saw the geography change .Industrial sheds and factories were replaced by small hills and shrubs.





Though not very green and scenic , the horizon held a promise .

Vrrrruuuuummmm ........Vruuuummm i passed by many eateries and drive thru on the way.It was quiet early for breakfast and i wasn't feeling hungry. the wind from the bike was screaming in my ears and my eyes had become watery.
So took a 5 min break.parked my bike on the road side ...had few gulps of Litchi juice and set again for take off ;-)

Zooom......As i accelerated my bike my sight slowly moved to the speedometer.it read 85 km/hr.This is good enough ..i thought ;-) ...
It was 8.30 am now and i was approaching the pictures town of Krishnagiri.




This is a small lovely town with many hills surrounding it.



The beauty of this place was straight from movies ...As i rode along the hills i some times felt the hill
moved along with me ...as if to show off their magnanimity."What a place to spend one's life" ...




i thought ... if i would be living in this place i would be a very very busy person ...busy exploring one hill after another climbing the shoulder of one hill and then another ...... Therz some thing about hills and mountains that mesmerizes me .....


There was a small lake at the base of one of the Hill.As the sun played hide and seek in the clouds ,its rays seem to now and then sprinkle jewels and diamonds in the lake .I wanted to hold on to this scene for as long as possible ...i felt my system being overtaken by some great contentment as if i have seen GOD ....;-) .....



Next stop was Dhramapuri , which was another 65 km from this place.Keeping on the NH7 highway ,I speeded towards Drahmapuri.I was getting a bit worried about my bike .Would it be able to take this speed and distance ? Its engine was already becomming very hot and i could feel the heat on the footrests.



Zomm.....Zoomm as i crossed Dharmapuri i came across the Ghat road of "Thorpur".This was the most picturesque and amazing part fo my journey.huge magnanimous hill greeted me .I saw vehicles and humand drafted by the magnificence of the hills here.It was as if i was in the lap of nature.I stopped for 10 min just to let the scene sink into mee ....As i road slowly i came across this hug huge majestic hill.Rising as a phoenix form the dust ,It seem to tower over all the surrounding hills.






Not only was it high but it was also hugh breath wise.I felt as if some gentle giant was calling on to me with open arms ...there was such an urge to climb this hill ....but i had to keep moving ...as i followed the road which crisscross across the hill i figured this was one huge hill range .......it was like one big dragon covering all other creatures with its huge wings ...



Mesmerized and Energized i rod for another hour and half until i reached my destination.The Salem district of Tamilnadu.





The journey took 4 hrs to complete and almost 200km covered.

I had a cup of tea at Salem took 5 min of rest and started back towards Bangalore.




I was beginning to feel a bit exhausted and it was beginning to get hot.Hence i decided to go a bit slower.As it was

cloudy and the sun wasn't beating bright (to start with ) i decided to ride back without helmet.Riding at 60km/hr , nice warm breeze caressing my hairs and face , songs from my mp3 player buzzing in my ears it was a moment of trance for me .It was enigmatic till Krishnagiri (90 km from salem).
I took short breaks every 40-50 min , jut to allow my bike to recoup ;-).


I kept gulping in more juice and water and as i crossed Krishnagiri , the sun had escaped the cage of clouds , beating down in full blaze.It was almost baking the road and i needed to cool down in the shades of trees, time and again.At last 50 km form Bangalore i decided to take a longer break in an eatery (Kamat's ).While my bike enjoy the cool shade , i gulped in two choco bars ....cooling my systems ;-))




At 3.15 pm , speeding at 80km/hrs again i was on the Elevated Toll Way of electronic city .I had entered Bangalore few minutes back and as i descended from the flyover , traffic jaam greated me .Luckily i was able to still keep my composure in that jam (considering my bumps had become numb ;-) ).I reach my room by 4.00pm crashing into the welcome comfort of bed.

In retrospective , I had traveled more than 400 km at 70km/hr in 10hrs.That is some traveling haan .....;-)

For more pics click below

2011-05-14 SalemBikeRide

Trek to Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta - Part 1

We decided to go for a early morning trek to Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta .A place 70 km from Bangalore.Vineeth arrived at 4.00 am in morning.We thought 4.00 am is too early so lets start at 5.30 am.We went back to sleep and as expected we woke up at ... 7.00 am.
Anyways we decided to go for the trek as Rangaswamy Betta trek was supposed to be an easy one.This, I say ,is destiny's way to getting its work done .We had absolutely no idea what was in stored for us there ..
we had a quick breakfast and were on our bike towards Kanakapura road.We took the NICE road and with scant traffic we road at around 80 kmph.




We reached Harohalli and biked further towards Doddamaralawadi.The ride was fun as cool air and wide road pumped adrenaline into us.we reached Onaaladoddi by 11.30 am .



We were asked by some villagers to park our our vehicles in front of a house .we parked our bike and started our seemingly easy trek.

As we started our trek, we found a path way.




we followed the path way and all of sudden we came to a dead end.This was going to be the hall mark of our trek for the whole day and little did we realize that it could be frustrating if we strayed from the path.We decided to make our own way thru the hill.




We came across a small hill which overlooked the peak we intended to scale.We climbed this hill and form the top got a bird's view of the terrain.there was a valley between this hill and the one adjoining it.we needed to scale the adjoining hill to reach to the peak.



There was a valley between the two hills.Standing at the top of the hill we could not see any trek paths to the peak.We saw some open burnt areas and thought that if we could reach those area we will be able to figure out the way.






After taking rest for a few mins we decided to get going down hill , and start climbing the adjoining hill after reaching the valley.The descent looked harmless and we were enjoying our trek except occasionally we realized that we were not going on correct path or thats what we assumed ;-)

whenever we followed a path , the path would almost disappear leaving us stranded and we had to figure out and new way ....




Having reached the end of the trail,we took rest in a scantly available shade.As we searched for the trail path we realized that the path was missing again.

It was 1.30 pm and was getting hotter .Breeze had died down and the heat was beginning to take its toll.We were hungry and thirsty , and with scant water supply we didnt wanted to go on another trail search.We knew we had lost our way and didn't had the energy to find another path



So we decided to head back.Now ,we thought, we had two options either we trail back our path the same way we came up or try more direct route down hill.We decided to try the latter as , we thought , tracking our way back would mean we again start looking to trail paths which were not consistent.Now here again ,with no trek path visible we just started heading downwards.

As we moved we found an area of open space .We all were quiet encouraged by this as we thought this would eventually take us down the hill, which we were very keen on.
there were dense shrubs and thorns waiting for us and we somehow managed to make our way through them with hope that we would find a way / path down hill.Also i realized that by finding our own way , we were unable to keep a track of which way we came.The whole gamut looked the same .If we had to trace out paths back ...we wont be do that confidently ....we thought its better to keep moving forward than think of tracing our way back .....(nooo age hi badhna hain ;-) )
As we made our way through the dense and difficult shrubs and thorns .we realize we had come to a dead end .there was no way we could move forward and even if we tried it would be dangerous .

Badri was getting tried by the minute and he was really struggling to keep up pace with us.We decide that al thoguh we had descended quiet considerably but there was no way forward.We could be stuck here if we moved forward so its better to climb up again and hope to find some trek path ....at least that way we knew we were in that place.We strenuously climbed back again .Again as there were no paths we randomly started climbing this time.many a times we realized that even the climb has reached dead end and due to dense shrubs , thorns and the heat we had to change our directions.Atlast at one point we found a trek path and realize that we had been thru this place during our initial climb.We were elated....a bit of frustration had crept into us by now as we were randomly climbing and descending without and path.this path was a moral booster for us..We had lost quiet a bit of blood thanks to the throns and our skin was cut and bruised.

continued in PART 2

Trekk To RangaSwamy Betta - Part 2

continued from Part I ...



Happy we found a trek path we followed the path and were satisfied that even though it would be long path it would eventually lead us back to our starting point.And then ,it happened again.This path ended and we couldn't figure out any other paths around us.Now how do we move forward and in which direction.Badri was getting really exhausted and started developing cramps.We had no other go . We figured out that first lest reach the bottom in the valley and them we could scale the adjoining hill( which was smaller than this one).That way at least we had a plan in our mings.Were were getting anxious to get to the valley and decided ,no point looking for paths now.Start moving down and we would have to figure out our way for ourselves.Myslef and Vineeth took turns navigating and figuring out our way ,climbing down the hill .in most of the cases we had to slide down dangerous rocks.Even badri ,with all his cramps ,having no other option ,had to slide down the rocks.It was quiet dangerous and one wrong foot who have lead to a a broken bone, but luckily we all were strong and composed enough to make our way thru the descent.



At last we made it to the valley ,we had reached the bottom of this hill...but hooo!! where /how do we move next.Either we scale the adjoining hill ,making our way thru the thrones or follow the path that the valley provided us hoping it would lead us around the adjoining hill.We decided on the latter and made our way thru the valley .But here again we meet a dead end .What do we do now.We were in no mood to trace our way back in the valley.




It was 3.45 PM and we were still no where.As the sunshine starter becoming tender , we knew we still had enough till (at least another 2 hrs ) before the lights starts fading .we decided to now scale the adjoining hill ,rather than look to follow the valley path .we started scaling the this second hill and after few strenuous climbs we hit another road block .We couldn't find any opening to move ahead.We were stuck again.As if destined to get trapped within these hills.But surprisingly all of us were composed and calm and that made the difference ,at the end of the day .while we rested for some time , vineeth decide to check if there could be any other way around the road block .in the mean time I decided to call the 108 service(in case of any emergency at least they would know we had contacted them ...at least they could figure out where we were )

THE 108 SERVICE(911 OF INDIA ? )
=================================

I call up 108 service , and some lady picks up the call and starts asking something in kannada.I give her the background and ask if she can help locating us.She asks up for Zillah /taluk name (how on earth am i supposed to know that ) then she transfers the call to some guy .he said "we only ambulance service for emergency and accidents only "
Now to present to them an emergency situation i said that we are lost and one of our friend is dehydrating and going to faint ;-)
Badri: what !! when was i going to faint ? ;-)
then the fellow transfers my call to Some one from ambulance service who asks me for a landmark.I try to explain to him that We are lost and could he locate us ? he says sir i can come in ambulance tell me a landmark .....
in the mean time , as usual the signal strength became low and i could hardly make out what they were speaking.

I call up the 108 folks again and again they asked me for a land mark.I again try to explain to them in English that we are lost and hence are in no position to provide them with a land mark .he repeats we provide ambulance service for emergency and accidents .....Kindly gives us ur location and i repeated again "We are lost and do not know our location ... will u be able to track us ? "

The worst case scenario flashed in my mind....we might have to stay on the hill for the whole of night without water/food but once the sun comes up in morning we can make it back ...so the situation actually is not that dire ;-)

with none of the 108 folks ready to give us an ear and with the signal strengths varying we decided to switch off our cell phone for the moment as we could use them in case of extreme emergencies.
We again did a recce of the space and found a way that was leading to the top .We decided we have to cross this hill at any cost and started scaling the second hill.Making our way thru more shrubs and thorns ,we moved closer to the top of the hill .this wasn't the actual peak of the hill but we climbed the slanting part of it so that when we reach the top of the slant of the hill we got a birds view of the terrain and we were overjoyed when we saw a small group of laborers working on some dam.I was never so trilled and happy on seeing a human as i was this day .We knew tat if some how we are able to reach to them than all our trouble would be gone.
we headed downhill and this time as we neared the ground we came across more plain land and it was easier for us to keep walking towards the folks working at the dam.As we reached near we found a piece of land dug up (may be for farming ).I didn't have the patience to find another path around this and straight away slanted form high grounds.As i crashed into the ground the flashed by in my head felt the same way ,how a sprinter fells when he crosses the line.I was like some kind of victory but i didn't know victory over what. Badri and vineeth followed the suite and at last we were on the ground .Vineeth and myself hugged in joy and we approached the folks working there, who upon seeing our dire condition offered us water and gave us directions to the village where we had parked our .bikes.
even though tired to the bones this was such a moral booster for us .We reached the village and set for bangalore on our bikes.Vinit promised to give us a party upon reaching bangalore(although we are still waiting for it).we started at around 6.15 PM from the village and by 8.00 PM we reached bangalore.We crashed into our beds.
We ordered pizzas for dinner and laughted our hearts out over dinner. We simply were quiet thrilled and amazed at how differently things could have been .Here we are in the comforts of our room , having w coke and pizza and just a few hours back the possibility of spending the whole night out in the hill without water and food.
The whole experience is still to sink in.




Nature , some times can be so intimidating and be merciless to anyone who carelessly treads its path .having a matchbox and a torch lite is a must for any travel .we never know how things might turn up .if at all this experience did to us was not only improved our confidence but also taught us not to take Nature so lightly.Better preparation is always helpful.

Bike Ride to Muthathi

It was a ride to remember. Cool air touch my face , warm sun rays energies my mind and the fresh scent of mud ,wet form due and eucalyptus filled air filled my ssystem ….it felt as though I was free , I was flying...

After a long break I decided to visit Muthathi this weekend

we started at 6am and took the NICE road towards Tumkur .Folks it was such an amazing drive ...the road was wide and empty .Driving at speed of 80km/hr I could only hear the wind in my ears .The view that the rising sun provided was aesthetic.For once i realize that there is nothing humanly possible that could match the beauty and grandness of nature.


We halted in between for a quick sip of tea and ....hmmmm wasnt that so amazing ..int he cold of early morning having hot tea and still in awe of high speed riding .
We halted at around 8.30 am in Kankapura and had a quick breakfast and left for Sathanur.





Once we reached Sathanur it was such a pleasant and serene ride.With almost not vehicle the whole road was for our self(although i must say it wasn't in great condition ) The place was so serene that we took breaks every 15 min and just sat by the corner of the road enjoying the calm stillness of atmosphere and warmth of the sun.





Travelling almost 100 kms we still were feeling quiet fresh.







When we reached Muthathi , we were very disappointed with what we saw.Tons of garbage and polythene lying near banks of Cauveri.We could'nt find a proper CLEAN place where we could park our bike and enjoy the nature.We continued to drive past muthathi and atlast found a UNINHABITED piece of land which seemed to have missed the human eye.



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It was mid day ,around 12.00 and the sun was beginning to beat down.It was getting hotter so we decided to head back.
The return journey was a bit of pain though.Our bumbs were in bad shape ;-) and we had to take frequent breaks to rest our selves.At last we reach Bangalore by 3.00 pm and as soon as we reached our room ,we crashed on our beds.
"pheww room sweet room ..." i said to myself.

It was a wonderful journey esp on my bike.I plan to bring up more such trips on my bike and make these trip an everlasting experience.