End Control

Update (May 2020): I am now blogging at kabhijit.net

This blog and all it's posts will stay as it is.

 

Looking back over the last eight years, it has been a long and varied ride to here. Uphill slogs and long descents; smooth highways and barely-rideable trails; lung-bursting efforts and easy ambling; blue skies, blazing heat, chilling cold and torrential rains - I can't complain about the variety. The only consistency was the camaraderie of friends, old and new; the curiosity and kindness of total strangers; and the pure pleasure of riding every ride.

But this is end control, and this ride ends here. I will be leaving IISc, (and Bangalore) soon, and will no longer be posting to this blog. (It will remain on the web as long as Blogger chooses to keep it.) If and when I start blogging again I will post a link here. I can always be contacted via the README page.

 

Although some of the info in this blog and many of the links may have gone out of date I believe this content has some value, and do not plan to remove it. You can browse through the archives for posts about rides, tours, randonees, and equipment.

If you found this page looking for information on:

• Bicycling in IISc: See the IISc Bikers' web page and Google group
• Bicycling in Bangalore: See the Bangalore Bikers group. 
• Randonneuring in Bangalore: Check out IISc Rando and Bangalore Brevets 
• Randonneuring in India: See Audax India

Sarjapura SMBR

Last saturday I did a brisk paced ride with Rachit heading southeast of Bangalore, an area I had not ridden since the Bangarpet brevet. We met up near Marathahalli, then headed towards Varthur, and then eastwards.

Beyond Gunjur

The road surface is mostly good, but there are some really bad patches in places.

Rolling roads

The terrain is rolling, with lots of small hills, and many false flats. Though the area was quite green, I imagine it will all be dry scrub in the summer, before the monsoons.

Lantana in bloom

The area was quite green throughout, but there aren't many trees providing shade on the road per se. In the afternoon, with the sun overhead, there isn't much shade on the road.

A small lake

We even came across a small lake, just before we hit Chikka Tirupathi. There is a small "darshini" just opposite the main temple entrance, and we had a quick breakfast (some of the best Idlis I have had), then turned around towards Sarjapura again. The return was noticably harder - there was a strong headwind blowing southeast and the sun had come up by now.

Decathlon - Gift cards

On the way back we stopped by Decathlon Sarjapura, which has now introduced gift cards. We were hoping to find some bargains in the end of season sale, but the sale items were out of stock or not great.

Walking up one-ways

On the way back the traffic was unusually annoying, so instead of taking the long way around with the one ways I took the shortest path and walked up the one ways. Traffic was at a standstill all the way from Minsk Square to High point, and even further towards Bellary Road.

The Art of SMBR

A Sunday morning breakfast ride (SMBR) to Kanakapura Road

I had some work on Kanakapura road, very close to the AoL campus on Kanakpura Road, so I decided to do a SMBR ride to Harohalli and back. David was free, and agreed to join me. The weather was pleasant and traffic very light as expected on a sunday morning. As we passed through the city, I noticed (because of David) many buildings and features that I would otherwise have missed.

Minto Opthalmic Hospital, Kalasipalayam, Bangalore *

Back to Hessaraghatta

Got back in the saddle after another long-ish break yesterday, and what better way to start the season than with a trip to old familiar Hessaraghatta...
Last week's rains have ended a long stretch of unbearable heat here, and the weather was just lovely.


 

The surface quality of Pipeline road was really good throughout. Many sections have been re-carpeted, footpaths have been made and even nicely painted. It remains to be seen whether all this will stand up to the monsoon in the coming months. Pipeline road also seems to be heading down the 'development' path, with lots of housing and small commercial projects coming up in the area. Some of the familiar orchards and fields had been cleared to form housing plots. The lake area had also got a facelift. The little parking area at the entrance and the path on bund had been cemented and the whole area generally spruced up. Perhaps all is in aid of the expansion of the temple at the top of the bund. I remembered it being a tiny place earlier, so I dug out some photos from earlier...

Before and after

The bund has also been fenced off, so there is no way to ride off the bund on the other side near the check dam.

And the riding season has begun! (For me at least).