Epic Trail Ride: Episode 2 - Hesaraghatta

That was what this ride was called during the planning stage. I had missed the Episode 1 due to some other commitments, so, made sure i would not miss this one. Marked it on my calendar a week in advance and made sure that no other work clashes with this. Slept at a decent time on Friday and managed to wake up by four. I was still lying in the bed willing myself to get up when Pavan called up. I had requested him to give me a ring in the morning just in case. I had kept everything ready and in place the previous night itself, so was able to get ready even though was half asleep. Pavan, Karun and I had planned to meet up at silk board at 5AM. We had to cover close to 30 km to get to MS Palya -which was the starting location for the trail ride. We had given ourselves 2 hours to do this as we did not want to push ourselves. There was another reason as well: none of us knew the route, so the map consultation time also had to be taken into consideration.

We reached the MS Palya Circle by 6 45 AM, and found Sowgath and Jonathan waiting there. I had marked the starting location on my phone the previous night.. We were trying to find the starting location and ended up riding a loop and getting back to the Junction. Met up with Shankar, Karthik and Sumukh here.

Hesaraghatta is Shankar’s backyard and he was the one who had planned the ride and was going to be our guide. The Hesaraghatta trail head was about 17 km from the MS Palya Circle. The ride was very pleasant as there was hardly any traffic and the route was scenic too. Shankar on his MTB was leading the way and he was really putting us through our paces! I had it easier than the other as i was on my hybrid. Being the lone hybrid rider on a trail ride does have benefits at times. Soon reached the Hesaraghatta Lake where four more guys who had got their bikes in their cars for the ride were waiting.

The Riders

The Rides

The lake was inviting and we soon started down the trail. The trail is a loop around the lake. Shankar was leading the way and he put quite some distance between him and us. So he stopped and turned around to take pictures of us. By the time we had taken a few snaps we realized that one of the bikes had a flat. Got down to fix it and soon another rider realized that he too had a flat. I was boasting that even though my ride is a hybrid with slicker tires i hadn’t got flats, and at that exact time someone pointed out that there was a thorn sticking into my rear tire. Cursed myself for jinxing it and got down to fix the flat, with help from the two who had just gained experience in fixing flats.

Puncture Workshop

We rode out after fixing the flats and soon reached an grove of eucalyptus trees where we had fun riding in between the trees. This was followed by some serious trail riding. There were places where we couldn't ride and had to lift our cycles and cross them on foot.

We reached a junction of sorts, where three trails met. We chose one at random and went down that trail. Pavan and me went ahead of the others and after riding through some very thorny sections hit a dead end. Thankfully the others hadn’t come as far and turned back to the other trail without getting their legs badly scratched. The other trail lead us to the tarmac and here Pavan found that he had a flat. After getting Pavan’s bike back on its wheels, we were riding on the tarmac for a while when Shankar suddenly spotted a trail head and wanted to explore that. Five minutes down the trail we looked back and realized that only six of us were there and the others were missing. Jonathan had got a flat and the remaining six had stopped on the road itself. We tried searching for them but couldn’t find them, so called them and told to meet us the trail head and we started off on the tarmac again as Shankar realized that his rear wheel had developed a slow leak. Shankar knew of a Local bike store near the start of the trail, so we decided to ride there to get his bike fixed.

Hesaraghatta Lake

After reached the trail head, we wanted to try the trail on top of the lake. We were riding and this was when I suddenly developed some pain in my right knee. So, decided to take some rest and I headed out of the trail into the Hesarghatta town. Shankar told me the way to a bakery in the town. Headed over there and as rides need to have an ice cream break, went and bought myself an ice cream! Soon the other riders joined me and by now my mysterious knee pain was gone and i was able to ride again. It was 2 in the afternoon by now and we all were hungry. Riding in the heat is never fun and when you add hunger into the equation it just becomes that much worse. Karun got a flat and even after fixing it twice, there was a slow leak. He deiced to ride with the slow leak till we get to some food joint. It was past three when we got to some resort and we had to literally barge into the kitchen and ask for food. It was past their lunch hours and so all we could get were a few plates of Fried rice and some Onion pakoda and Kababs. Had a nice time chatting about everything under the sun and of course about bikes.

After the food had settled in our stomachs we got to work on Karun’s slow leak problem. We were not able to spot the leak at all, when Pavan came up with an ingenious way to detect flat on the move:

After putting the bike upside down we filled the saddle with water and used that water to detect the air bubbles escaping out of the slow leak. After fixing the flat we started out again. The others dispersed when we reached MS Palya. MS Palya is in the norhtern part of Bangalore and Pavan, Karun and I live in the extreme south part of Bangalore. So, had to ride across the city to reach home. The ride back was completely opposite to the riding we had done all day long. We had to contend with the Bangalore traffic at peak hours and also all the smoke and dust. It was 8 by the time we reached home. After the ride back through the city we decided to ask the guys to come to South Bangalore for the next trail ride. It was while riding in all the traffic when I was reminded of a quote I had read:

When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments.  Here was a machine of precision and balance for the convenience of man.  And (unlike subsequent inventions for man's convenience) the more he used it, the fitter his body became.  Here, for once, was a product of man's brain that was entirely beneficial to those who used it, and of no harm or irritation to others.  Progress should have stopped when man invented the bicycle.  ~Elizabeth West, Hovel in the Hills

But of course I personally have to thank mankind for not stopping with the cycle and carrying on to develop the automobile and the aeroplane. If it hadn’t I for one wouldn’t have a job.