Nandi Betta conquered on my MTB… Second attempt though :P

It’s every Bangalore bikers’ dream to ride to Nandi. When I searched online for information, there were thousands of blog posts. This deterred me to write about it. It was a few months back, maybe 6 months back. I rode to Nandi with a friend of mine and was too optimistic to scale it. 0.5km done and my first pit stop, what followed was a series of stops and I pushed through it. 

It hurt my ego, it hurt me bad. This is when I realized failure takes you to greater heights in life than success ever will. 

These lines by Henry Ford are very much true and are close to my heart.

Think of it this way: There are two kinds of failure.

 The first comes from never trying out your ideas because you are afraid, or because you are waiting for the perfect time. This kind of failure you can never learn from and such timidity will destroy you. 

The second kind comes from a bold and venturesome spirit. If you fail in this way, the hit that you take to your reputation is greatly outweighed by what you learn. Repeated failure will toughen your spirit and show you with absolute clarity how things must be done.

In fact, it is a curse to have everything go right on your first attempt. You will fail to question the element of luck, making you think that you have the golden touch. When you do inevitably fail, it will confuse and demoralize you past the point of learning. 

In any case, to apprentice as an entrepreneur you must act on your ideas as early as possible, exposing them to the public, a part of you even hoping that you’ll fail. You have everything to gain.

Now I just couldn’t control myself from penning this down. Let this be the 1001^st blog post about Nandi betta, am still gonna write about it and feel proud about my accomplishment

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After my first brevet (read here-Krishnagiri brevet ride), my trainings have been on and off. My sleep times are more than necessary. These 3 weeks of semi hibernation mode took a toll on my fitness. This is when I decided that I wanted a kick to restart my training regimen. 

What else will be a better time to conquer Nandi than now? This would definitely boost my morale. If I don’t, well I will work harder and achieve it.

It was 13^th of June 2015, Saturday, my planned date for the ride. A night before the ride, I gathered all my accessories and tuned my alarm to 3.30am. I had planned an early 4am start.

Oh, my bad! I overslept and woke up at 5. After gathering everything, I could only start at 6am.

I regretted initially for starting late, probably this is the problem with the solo rides 

(No sense of responsibility :P). 

Once I started, the nice weather blew me over. Maybe, the early start would’ve not let me enjoy this beautiful weather. 

At the 24^th km from my home, this was my first pit stop, reached here in an hour, which was a good mileage. Had my favorite breakfast (Idli + Kesari bath+ Coffee) at the favorite place which we had discovered earlier.  

The weather was splendid, probably one of the best rides. It was cloudy with some chances of rain. I soon reached the base. So far, so good. 

This was one of the coolest moments of my life! Very much ready to conquer the hill and I felt nervous. I felt goose bumps after a very long time. Can I do the climb?

I started; gear ratio was at 2-6. I decided to change after a few meters. The gear wouldn’t fall to 1. I just didn’t want to stop after just a few 100’s of meters. 2-1, 2-1, 2-1…. finally the gear fell to 1. Probably the last time I had used 1^st gear was in this climb only. 

Some relief and the climb started. Saw the 7km to go mark and felt good. Just 7 more boy!!

The only thing I learnt here was to be patient and that was the only thing needed for now. I started chanting my favorite mantra and felt relieved. 

Now, I saw an idiot riding down on his motor cycle. 

“Do you really want to do this?”

“Is it required?”

I felt like punching on his face. Probably he will never in his life understand how much blessed a biker is! A sincere request to motorists is we never expect help from you, at the same time, at least show some courtesy to runners/bikers/pedestrians by making way for them. All that we burn is our fat and not oil.

One off incident and the focus was back on the goal. 

6km to go

I had a sip of water and was still holding on to the 1-6 gear ratio. I wanted to hang on with 1-6 as much as possible, anything lesser than that might make me tired and I might have to stop. Initially I decided to drink water every 2km, so that I don’t over hydrate and get tired but later whenever I could make time for it. My hydration pack with a sipper was handy now. 

5km to go

Effectively, I had completed 2km of the hill. Now was the gradual uphill. It’s now or never. I thought that if I pass through this, I can conquer the hill. I passed but it was not end of the story.

4km to go

Small climb and a flat road for a good stretch, finally could relax. 1-7 combination for a while now. The uphill started again.

3km to go

1-6, 1-5, 1-4. Well, this was the moment I was waiting for. It was my mind Vs the hill, body wasn’t even in the picture. At times till now, I used to stand and peddle, just to relax but now during the curves, it was inevitable but stand and peddle. Never in my life had I stood and peddled in 1-4 gear ratio. Every 20 strokes and cycle moves a little distance and leaves you more tired.

2km to go

If you have made it this far, better make it to the end. I was toggling between 1-4 and 1-5, didn’t want to go to 1-3. 1-3, curve and I would be finished.

1km to go

There was a father and kid in the front, also a group of people taking snaps and me crawling up. What a sight for them! I could’ve been one of them but I chose to do this. Another curve but this time more challenging, felt like keeping the leg down but the heart wouldn’t agree. Stood, peddled, used the last ounce of energy and moved ahead. Sight of the arch was bliss. 

Pic courtesy: Indiamarks.com

The pain disappeared and I made it to the end. The satisfaction was immense.

It was tough, I was tougher.

Nandi betta conquered. Now, I know which one next. 

Total 70km completed in 4hrs. Probably last 8km took a lot of time. I refreshed, relaxed myself and started the downward journey. Initial plan was to rest for some time at the base but I decided against it and moved ahead. 

At 94^th km, I touched the main road. Pain started showing up. I stopped for coconut water and continued. The headwinds were high. Sun and the winds played around with me. I stopped again after 10 km or so for a few minutes and continued. 

120km completed and return was much slower than expected, I have to get stronger. My core strength should improve further. Now, I stopped and had rice bath+ lemon juice.

 It was a good carb loading. I hit the speed again only to be stopped by heavy traffic. Lost 30min on the way and finally made it to home. 

Apart from the return journey, everything else was very memorable. Now, I am in love with this solo rides :). You get to talk to yourself and satisfaction is a measure as defined by you.

Total distance covered: 139.88 km

Total time taken: 7:56: 09 (I know this is bad pace compared to my 200km ride :P)

Trekking in Agumbe

I couldn’t wish anything better than what has happened so far. It has truly been transcendental consciousness for me (Still pondering over how I transformed!!)

I had a long holiday of 3 days this year. Don’t laugh at me. 3 days is a long holiday when you’ve started your career 4 years ago. The first plan was to do a beach trek, but as my colleagues wanted it to be postponed to a later date, I had to heed in to their request.

When I was contemplating my plan for these 3 days, my friends came up with the proposal for the trek in Agumbe and a walk around few falls there. I was initially reluctant to go with them, as is always the case with me (For reasons unknown to me :P). Soon I decided to join them. 

Again, as is always the case with my group, nothing goes as planned. A few of them wanted the trek to be postponed by a day. This was a blessing in disguise for me. I used this free day to bike 100km to chikka tirupathi and back with my new biking friends. I knew this was test of mind over body, a test of endurance. I was ready. 

This was my trekking group and my observations about them.

1. Madhuri- Organizer and to whom I owe a lot :P 

2. Kishan- Another Organizer and a nice buddy.

3. Bhargavi- My half sister and acts double as crazy as me.

4. Deepak- Calls himself a pro trekker :P. 

5. Kiran- Oh, his never ending stories.

6. Lucky- Looks like the patient guy.

7. Vidyadhar- Speaks what is necessary and to the point. 

8. Vishak- Always ready to help you no matter what.

9. Nifa- Knowledge and experience, 2 words to describe him.   

10. Sucheta- A bird watcher and an amazing friend.  

11. Saigiri- Myself, read my previous blogs and try to decipher my character.

 

The same night I boarded the bus to shimoga, after which it’s a 2.5hr journey to reach Agumbe (Heaven on Earth).

 

We all met at the Bangalore ksrtc bus stand. I knew most of them and got introduced to rest of them. Bar (Bhargavi), with her 3 layers of clothes and with 2 big bags, came as if she was about to relocate. The next day I realized the worthiness of her extra luggage when we cooked and feasted.

I wanted the aisle seat to stretch my legs after a long ride in the sun. I was expecting to have a good sleep and rest my tired body. The seat next to mine was empty and Sucheta asked if she could sit there. Bus wasn’t mine, I obliged. I saw her big binoculars and knew she was up for something. We spoke for a while and I tried to sleep but couldn’t. As I understood from her, even she was an early bird when it comes to sleeping but found it hard to get a nap. We spoke about each other for a while and we drifted to my favorite topic, running. She had just started running and I bugged her with all the information I had and finally she was motivated enough to sign up herself for a half marathon.

3.5 hrs to go and if I don’t catch sleep now, trek could turn into a disaster. I forced myself to sleep. Within minutes, I was in a different world, deep sleep for a while and occasional bumpy ride marred my sleep. We reached shimoga bus stand at 4:30am. Temperature was humid and I expected it to be a warm day.

Soon, we changed our bus and the 60 ~ 80 km ride was amazing and I was busy drafting my plans to bike there. I was hungry by the time we reached. We had an amazing breakfast at dodda mane which is famous for the ‘malgudi days’ shooting and ‘pay as you wish for what you eat’ marketing. Thanks to Deepak for suggesting the place.We met our guide who was already high over last night’s adventures. Later, we realized that it was his energy drink and always had a quarter in his pocket.

Then we boarded our 7 seater vehicle with 13 people and our bags!!

It was a 6km beautiful ride to the base where we will be starting our trek. I loved this stretch so much that I promised myself that I would run there, no matter what. After all, it was mind over body. We carried only the necessary things and left the rest of them at the base (Guide’s place). This was my first trek after 2 years. 

Trek to Narasimha parvata:

As it was summer, we had a good trail to follow. Within a km, we were in the forest. Only few rays of light pass through this amazing rain forest. Bird watchers were behind and story tellers were in the front, I somehow placed myself in between and was occasionally talking to Deepak. I had never experienced a leech bite before. As crazy as it can get, this place is haunted by leeches. A few good tips and I was no more an amateur in removing leeches off me. 

As we moved through the forest, our guide sensed elephant movement and asked us to be cautious.  This reminded me of my muninagara trek, where people were scared of the elephant dung. Here, we spotted similar dungs and were discussing various strategies; just in case if we encounter an Elephant.

At the 6th km, we reached the barkana falls. We didn’t want to waste time there and decided to spend time at the falls during our return.

From here, next 4~5 kms was moderate uphill. We reached a point after which, we were not supposed to move ahead as we were told that there were cctv cameras on the top to monitor our movement. We made fun of it and rested there. I opened my shoe and found this little rascal.

 It was around 2pm and decided to have our lunch. Chappatis and holige was our diet. Probably, I had the most. I even ate the leftover of Sucheta :P. It was a good one hour break and then we started our return jouney. 

The view at the barkana falls was breath taking, which is the highest water falls in agumbe.We spent another good one hour playing in water and enjoying the beautiful scenery. We were told that this area wouldn’t be accessible within a month as there would be incessant rainfall. The whole area is covered by forest; it doesn’t let sun touch you. Beautiful, isn't it?

 

 

 

We started the descend as it was getting darker, 22km covered in a day. A nice tiring uneventful journey we had. Thanks to the guide, we had a rejuvenating hot water bath at his place. When I was thinking it was time to rest. The team was in full action preparing dinner, next 3 hours was like a marriage preparation. Hats off to the hard work displayed by everyone. Our pro trekker was asleep (Probably a tiring day). Sucheta too rested complaining of headache. Probably little food and less hydration was the problem with her.

 Beautiful village life

It showered a little in the night, making it cold for us. It was a nice sleep finally but managed just 4 hrs. This was 3rd straight day of almost no sleep.

Next day, I woke up with a pressure. I had to release and eventually ended up drawing water from the well quite a lot of times for the whole group and this completed my morning exercise. Sucheta was about to go bird watching and asked me to join. 

I still had an hour to start my running. So I thought of accompanying her. She showed me a bird and asked me to look at it in the binocular. I had to first learn how to hold a binocular, and then the rest. Initially, I was shaking my hand and then could concentrate on locating the bird. She was asking me the color of the bird’s beak. Well I couldn’t see the intrinsic details as yet. Thanks to her patience, I could see the features and then I could move the binocular along the flight of the bird. I never knew bird watching was so much fun. Thanks to her, I could learn a new thing.

After a little fight with bar, I was more relaxed and decided to go for the run.  My socks were still wet which made me run with just my shoes. Initial plan was to hit the main road and come back which would be a 12k. I wasn’t really concentrating on the pace this time with this tired body but wanted to enjoy the nature. First 3km was really good but it was a never ending steep down, I had to decide whether to hit the main road or not, finally decided to turn back at 5^th km. Or I will have to climb another mountain.

 

The return wasn’t as bad as I imagined it to be and was seriously thinking about that missed 1km to the main road. This made me run a km farther and make it a 6km one way. Finally in around an hour and few minutes, I was done with my 12k. Mission accomplished. I was a free man now. The landscapes are still afresh in my mind. A beautiful place to run.

A walk to the Vanake Abbi falls.

I quickly packed my back pack, thanks to the good soul who had kept all my items near my bag. Then we walked on the same route again for a good 3km where we were picked to the main road. We had light snacks at around 11am at a nearby hotel. We started our journey to another water fall in Agumbe- Vanake Abbi. The entrance was breath taking but was soon bored with the same scene all the way till the falls. This place was ‘leeched’ too much.

 

Spot the spider below.

No matter how the journey was, the destination was out of the world. 

The trekking couple.

We spent a good one hour there. Looking 90 deg down from the falls was a first in my life. I enjoyed it thoroughly and watched it many times. 

Our gang.

 

Neefa trying to measure the depth.

Another amazing view.

Bar lost in the hole.

While the rest were contemplating whether to leave; I and Deepak started the return journey. It was a brisk walk + jog. Really loved the silence while returning and enjoyed the route more this time. We were back to the main road in no time. It was 2:30pm. We still had time for our lunch and decided to try our luck at dodda mane. We were indeed lucky; lunch was available for only two of us.

When we were done, we were unlucky. We got the ire of the fellow group members for leaving them and eating selfishly. Controlling my hunger is the last thing on the list these days. Few of us decided to rest while the most went to a nearby research center to understand the happenings in the forest.

It was a boring evening, so went in search of a beer. After visiting many fast food centers and a few condiment stores, we finally found a place. Done with 200ml of local beer, refreshed and boarded the bus back to shimoga. The frequent honking made the journey terrible. We had a late night bus which gave us ample time to refresh at bar’s place. Well, this is the native of both Bar and Sucheta. We had a good dinner at a good restaurant and walked our way back to bus stand. There we meet Sucheta greeting us with jack fruit; I had just one although it was delicious thinking of the return journey in mind.I forgot to mention that Sucheta went home before we went to falls in the morning and was suppose to meet us at the bus stand. 

Overall, it was a beautiful 3 days of my life. I owe a lot to these people for tolerating me all the while. I hope I catch up with these guys sometime again and recollect all the beautiful memories we shared.

Maybe another trek? :P