May 07, 2010 01:03 PM
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(Updated May 07, 2010 01:07 PM)
26th April 2009, Sunday
As a get together / outing of BCMT (Online community), we decided to ride as a group to Gopalaswamy Betta which was 260 kms away. I decided to join them to get the feel of Bangalore biking even though I had ridden a lot with my friends. Plan was to start from Madiwala at 2.30 am.
Madiwala to Mysore Road
Mobile rang at 1.40 am. It was Shankar. He wanted to wake everybody up. Now it was ringing again at 2 am. It was Dheeraj. He will come to Madiwala at 2.30 and we will go together to Mysore Road Shell Petrol tank to meet other BCMTians. That’s the official starting point. I have only 30 mins to get ready. I don’t take much time to get fresh in the morning as I am used to the routine of getting up at 9.30 am and reaching office at 10.30. By 2.25 am I was there at Madiwala Bus Stop waiting for Dheeraj.
In no time Dheeraj showed up. We were meeting in person for the first time. His machine was bigger than mine – it was Yamaha R15, the brand new bike with too much of bhp compared to it lesser cubic capacity to fall into the category of sports bikes. We started; Dheeraj was going in front, applying indicators while overtaking, waving to other vehicles and all such things were new to me. Due to some reasons I didn’t follow these kinds of ‘extra” signals other than the mandatory ones. At around 3 am we reached near Shell petrol tank and we could find a couple of guys waiting. We introduced ourselves. Most of them have good armor kind of jackets, knee and elbow pads and a heavy helmet. I was feeling smaller because I didn’t have any of them – Just Jeans, T Shirts + normal jackets and Helmet. It was again odd man out. Punctuality of bikers wouldn’t be so nice and we wait for another 20 mins to start the journey.
Mysore Road to Gopalaswamy Betta
We started together. A lot of humps were there, without letting us to go beyond 60-70 km/hr. We took two breaks before reaching Mysore; first for night snaps and second one was a tea break. After reaching Mysore we got into Gudalloor route and by that time it was around 6 am and Sun showed up. We stopped somewhere near Nanjankud to have break fast. I came to know that the other guys are not as posh as they look. Most of them are like me only but with better branded costumes / gadgets. I am not a person paying much attention to the gadgets that I wear – just wanted to look good not the best.
After breakfast some of us started to go faster, unknowingly splitting ourselves into 3 groups. Praful, Archie, Krish and Chetan first; Dheeraj, Avin and Myself second; Vignesh and Shankar third. Now you know that RTR and Thunderbird can’t match other vehicles speed. From Gudalloor road we took a diversion towards right and by that time I managed to get into the first group.
Gopalaswamy Betta
As we proceeded dry Bangalore outskirts landscape changed suddenly to look like completely greenish. We were climbing up to a hill on which there is a temple. Roads are narrow and nice for two wheeler drive. But you will see potholes frequently hence it would be better if you look on the roads along with enjoying the scenery around. It started getting colder as we moved up. We stopped in between to take a few snaps. After proceeding with the ride, in 10 - 20 minutes we reached on top of Gopalaswamy Betta where you will see the temple. It is not a tourist spot but rather a pilgrimage place. We saw a few buses and four wheelers with aged people who came to see the temple.
It was around 8 am. We parked our vehicles near the temple and went to visit the temple and its compound. It was all painted in white. Color and ambiance made it look more sacred. Place was indeed beautiful with a lot green around. I love scenery like anything and hence I feel much better after visiting a scenic place.
A little bit of trekking
All of us finished “walking around” part by 9 am. Now what to do? At a distance we saw a small hilly area with a lot of rocks. And a few tourists were walking towards that side. Praful and Archie suggested the idea of going there. Dheeraj was too lazy to walk and he rejected the idea. But democratic went along with Praful. I also voted to climb up because I like trekking. We started walking and very soon everybody realized that it was not that near as we thought earlier. Praful started showing the signs of tiredness; Dheeraj blamed him; but Krish and I motivated others to complete the trek. As we climbed up, most of the guys were showing too much of fatigue than I expected. I felt better because I am not the worst. Everybody needed a break. As a gift one tree’s skeleton appeared and a few of us (Dheeraj, Archie and me) tried to climb up on that tree. Some body called it a monkey’s act. I recalled my old childhood days when I used to do such crazy things with my friends and cousins.
Excitement and enthusiasm appeared again because of that break. But it didn’t last long. Next climb was much steeper than the earlier one. Most of us were gasping for breath. At last we reach at the top. I was surprised to see many guys who rejected the idea of climbing to this hill, reached the top earlier. It was 10 am then. We all talked for a while. Some of us found that he could get network coverage of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu from that hill top. That was strange. After some discussion we climbed down which was much faster and easier than climbing up.
Off Roading
It was 11 am and some of us were damn tired. I hoped that some biking will make them feel better. New generation bikers are pretty lazy than I thought?. We started our ride back. After turning a curve we found a small walk way / road, full of mud and gravel and that goes into the jungle. We all decided to do some off roading. Praful went ahead and found the end of the road to park his vehicle at the top / very end. Others parked down before Praful’s bike. I decided to be crazy and raved my engine to climb up further and parked my vehicle beyond Praful’s bike in spite of the warnings that I got from others. My Pulsar 180 is at the top now. That was cool. Started our return journey from there at 12 pm.
Return Journey: GS Betta to Mysore, then Bangalore
Road was not that great. Most of us were reluctant to pick up the speed. I didn’t care and started racing. In no time I was leading the group as a result of ignoring and jumping potholes, a few rough overtakes and a little bit of rash driving. We took a couple of breaks for coconut juice before reaching Mysore, found a Punjabi Dhaba to settle down and it was 2 pm. Lunch was delicious for me with Lassi, Roti and Butter Chicken. We had a heavy lunch grabbing anything that we can get because of long ride and its tiredness. After lunch, we restarted our race at 3 pm. This time it was different –Mysore Bangalore state highway was damn good. So powerful bikes got an edge I tried to keep up the pace but couldn’t do that with Pulsar 220s, Karizma and R15s. We entered the city through nice road. I went directly to Church and mass at 6 pm was already started.
