Cycling : Shimoga to Gokarna

Travelling is always fun as usual. This time we decided to go for a Cycle Trip.
Before embarking on this trip, this was our plan :
13th Thursday : Leave Bangalore to Shivamogga
14th Friday : Pedal from Shivamogga to Jog Falls (Appox : 100kms)
15th Saturday : Pedal from Jog Falls to Gokarna (Appox : 120kms)
16th Sunday : Relax in Gokarna and then travel back to Bangalore.

We were 5 members who finally made it, - Jimit, Abhishek, Rohan, Sumanth and Myself.  Ricky and Shantanu had to opt out due to their sudden personal work. Ricky was the one who planned the trip, route and stuffs. Unfortunately, we had to move on. Since we were well prepared for this trip we did not wanted to back out.

There were news of heavy rainfall in Shivamoga but we stick to our plan of Cycle trip.

We planned to ship our cycle via train for on-going journey and while coming back we thought of putting it on the bus. Yes, this was amateur ride. We knew there will be lot of learning as we have to manage on our own, no support vehicle too. We were all excited.

We had our train on Thursday at 11pm, but we had to be there near Luggage counter around 9pm for shipping the cycle. Jimit and I left marathalli to Majestic around 7pm, similarly Rohan, Sumanth and Abhishek left for Railway station to reach there by 9pm. And by 9pm, we were there at Railway station. We had little introduction of each other . After booking the tickets for luggage we went to have dinner to near by hotel. We came to each other well and decided the road plan for the next 3 days.

We reached Shimoga around 5am, after un-loading the cycles we got freshen up in railway station itself. We were all set to ride around 6am.  After some 10km, we had tea and Banana so that we have keep our energy level.

Sumanth had a cramp on the way. He had to rest and have to do stretches. We were in Ghat section and that did not seem to be good idea to rest. So, we were waiting for a tempo and truck so that it can carry cycle along. Thankfully we did not have to wait for long, a truck passed by and he agreed to drop 10km far. He was diverting from there. Anyways 10km was sufficient to get recovered.

We 4 continued our ride and reached Anandapura where Sumanth was waiting. We had breakfast here. And resumed our journey to jog.

The journey was amazing, the scenic view made us to love cycling even more. The road from Shivamoga to Jog was ultimate, the only issue was with truck and other vehicle, being a cyclist we had to follow the lane properly.

During our journey we experienced heavy rainfall, we rode and it was a great feeling. Greener along the sides with rain can made us happier.

As per the plan we had to ride from Shivamoga to Jog on the first day. And to our surprise we reached Jog by 3:15pm. The jog beauty was absolute classic. We enjoyed the beauty after which we decided to stay nearby Jog. Managed to get a room which is big enough for 5 of us for 1500rs. This was pretty good deal. We had the snacks in Jog. Room was large enough and we were comfortable.
The stay was approx 2km from Jog, we thought of re-visting the jog in the night. Since it was raining we did not wanted to go again and hence decided to pass time in room itself. We spent time talking and watching Saina's Semi-Final match and later pro-kabbadi. We ordered dinner from the stay itself.

It was an awesome first day of our trip. We slept around 11am and decided to start the ride by 6am.

Next morning we woke up around 5;15am and were ready by 6:30am to explore the ghat section. To our surprise Sumanth and My cycle were having flat tyre. Luckily for both of us it was the front wheel. But Unfortunately Sumanth's tube was broken at the tip and had to replace with the new tube. Rohan was an expert in fixing this and made the fixes quick. We left Jog around 7:30am.

Now we were about to cross Ghat section with terrrible up and down's. yes it was indeed a great experience. After riding some distance we had tea and biscuit. As mentioned the CYcling in the ghat section was amazing. We encountered the rain too. It was all fun. Finally reached a village where we planned to have break fast. The break fast was delicious. We had atleast 2-3 dishes. The Sun was coming out brightly and we were coming out of Ghat section as well. The ride till Honnavar was really challenging. Up hill and Sun never seemed to be off.

Finally we reached Honnavar. We were sweating bad. Luckily we found an AC restaurant named Romanancia. The food was Ok but the environment was the best. We sat nearby AC machine and enjoyed the cool weather which we were badly missing. We spend almost 2 hours here.

Around 3pm , we planned to leave to Gokarna. The route to Gokarna was almost flat. Due to Sun, the ride was bit challenging. Since, we were getting later to reach Gokarna, we decided to halt near Kumta. Kumta to Gokarna is 30km travel distance and we did not mind going next day morning.
Also, Sumanth had flat in his tyre , so we decided Kumta.

We visited Kumta beach, had cycled over the beach, shore and had fun in beach. We found a good hotel in Kumta and it was pretty decent. We had a beer and good food to close the day.

The last day of our trip, we left Kumta around 7am to Gokarna, we reached Gokarna by 10:30am. We visited Om Beach and spent time in Namaste Cafe. A good place to hang out. We spend entire day here.

Since we did not book Train ticket, we had to put the Cycle in Bus luggage counter. It was difficult to accomodate 5 cycle in bus, hence we had to dislocate each and every part possible and put over the luggage. Finally we managed to do.

We reached Majestic, Bangalore around 7am. Fixed our cycle and dispersed to our locality.

It was an awesome experience. Love Cycling :-)

Ramzan in Bangalore!

Ramzan is celebrated after the holy month of fasting and prayers. Ramzan is the ninth month of the Islamic calender and a month of fasting to commemorate the first revelation of the Quoran.

Our Muslim friends will keep the fast from morning 5am till evening 6:50pm after the prayer. It was the month of the Ramzan and the end of fasting was approaching.

Frazer Town in Bangalore is known for having wide and special range of non-veg counters in the road side. Here we have Mosque and as soon as the prayer ends the frazer town will be filled with customers for the delicious food.

This was the first time in Bangalore and I definitely did not wanted to miss the chance of having this delicious food also being a core non-vegetarian.

So, we (colleagues) decided to visit Frazer town after office on Friday.
We were a total of 6 members. We reached the Frazer town around 7pm, since the prayers were already offered the roads were full of food stalls. It was like a cloth bazaar as we usually see across many part of India.

We were already excited for batting the non -veg food. Initially we were confused of which way to take. We choose one way and decided to roam before jumping into any stall.

The varieties of Chicken, Mutton, Beef, Bird (Don't know which), Fish Items were present.

We started with starters enjoying most of the variety and finished with Shaddi-Ki biryani.
Splendid day for the food lovers. Enjoyed to the fullest.

Cycle Trip

1. Chicka-Tirupathi :
Being a cyclist, I had made friends with similar mind set people. So, here we were 3-4 friends planning for a sunday morning trip for about 70-80km.

The destination was planned to Chicka-Trirupathi, 35km from Marathalli. Jimit, Ricky, Sreekanth and I planned this ride.  We were from Marathalli (Roughly 5km radius) and started this ride around 6am.

The route was beautiful but the weather was not that pleasant. It was hot and we had to sweat it out o reach Chicka-Tirupathi. Chicka-Tirupathi is a temple where lot of devotees visit.

We reach Chicka-Tirupathi around 9am. After having a good breakfast here we headed back. We took a nap in the nearby village for half an hour and then resume our ride back to Marathalli.

We reached back around 12:30pm. The weather was harsh but was a great ride and great time with friends.

2. Janapadaloka:
This is 140km ride trip, organised by Anil S Kadsur. The destination was Janapadaloka, this is mid way of Bangalore and Mysore. From Bangalore it is 55km and 80km from Mysore. The route was scenic and with minimum traffic.

The uphills were tough, it was a good balance between uphill and downhill.

I started from Marathalli at 4am along with Shiva and Mohan. We reached the starting point at wheelsports,Chamarajpette around 5am.

Seera and Water had been arranged by Anil, this gave up bit more energy to our ride. Almost 40 people were present for this ride.

Early Birds'

We started around 5:30pm, the route was tough and beautiful. Reached Janapadaloka, Kamat hotel around 10am. Literally exhausted. Nirav my colleague was also present for this ride.

We had buffer breakfast in Kamat hotel. It was delicious. We choose buffet as we were already tired and we had to go back around 70km.

After having proper breakfast we planned to go back in the same route. The route was challenging now as the Sun was already up and the uphill were almost steep. We finalised that we will be going by the same route.

Yes, It was indeed exhausting. I reached back home by 4pm.

That is, overall I had been 12 hours for the cycle trip. Yes, this was my longest ride. I am happy that I choose cycling for the commute.

Cycling is fun :)

Yo! 100+ km ride

Second Marathon!

Zinnov 10K Marathon :

After TCS Marathon 2015, this is my second attempt to run 10K marathon. My focus of this marathon was to run 10K continuously without any rest.

I have been practising since May to build up my stamina. At-least 3-4days/week was my routine to build my stamina. So, I was bit confident for this race. Zinnov 10K was organised by Zinnov consultant group on July 12th.

I did not want to stress myself too hard as I have heard of bad news such as 27year old guy died during some marathon and 38year old guy died due to heart failure. So, I was being more cautious. Run slowly and stop after the finish line was my motto.

Finally the day had come, July 12th. I did not know anyone participating in the race and I didn't bother about it. I reached around 5:30 am to Kantaveera Stadium, Bangalore. The race was supposed to start at 6am. My commute was by Cycle. The distance was about 12km which was a warm up for the event. Zinnov also had a warm up session. The instructor played Zumba dance. It was fun as no one expected this for 10k or 5k marathon warm-up session. There was mixed response for this warm-up session. I tried a few steps of Zumba dance, it's not that easy :P.

So, Marathon began at 6am. The route was inside Cubbon Park. It was a 5k long loop. For 10k we had to run twice the loop. I was prepared for this run as I had running shoes from Sketchers unlike my first marathon.

This first loop was easy, I could complete it without any break. I had positive things on mind for completing this marathon without a break. Around 7km, I felt exhausted. I thought of quitting, then I remembered TCS 10K run where I wanted to run continuously but I couldn't, so I decided that I will run slowly but will not stop this time.

As I was closing in for finish line, I got more pumped up and last km I ran like a finisher. I was glad that I completed this marathon without any break.

The timing of this 10K marathon was 1hr 1min and 40sec. I am glad that I was better than past. I learnt from past and achieved what I intended to. This small step was a great step was my future :).

Hope I will continue this healthy habit :-)
Next plan : Half Marathon by November 2015.

Running is Fun!

Leh Adventure : 15/15

Summary :
The highlights are 3 States, 14 Friends, 15 Days, 2500 Km bike ride, experiencing First flight, Snow fall, Cold Dessert, Camel with double humps, Dust storm, Sand storm, Meeting new people, expanding the friends group. Yes, this will be in memories for a long time, beautiful place to go.

Here is our Budget  (Per Person):

Rough Estimation :

Budget/Person
Flight	Bangalore to Chandigarh : Two ways	10000
Bus	Chandigarh to Manali : Two ways	1700
Bike + Bolero + Mechanic	Manali to Leh : Two ways	16,500
Fuel	Manali to Leh : Two ways	2100
Stay + Food	All misc charges in the group (Pass entry/Camel ride..)	10000
Adcane buying	Trek Bag,Shoes, Woolen cloths....	5000
Misc	Self sponsord	4700
Total	Not included shopping for self/family members	50000

Picture Courtesy : Rajesh Sivakumar, Aditya P, Rakesh Rao, Vyas V and Tushar.
The photo album is shared in fb:
Rajesh : Leh
Rajesh : Leh2
Prashanth : Leh
Ram Charan : Leh 


Links :
Tips and Suggestion
Bike Details

Leh Adventure : 14/15

Last bike ride of the trip : Keylong to Manali

We planned to leave early as we had to reach Manali before 4pm. We had to do bill settlement of bikes and Bolero with Varun and leave to Chandigarh at 6:30pm.

After getting Ajay discharged from the Keylong hospital we left for Manali. We had breakfast in Keylong.

The obstacle for today's ride was Rohtang pass. We left at 9:30am, Rohtang pass was challenging but since we had already had experience of riding in tuff situation made us to handle this easily. We did not wait here for photography or to spend time. There were lot of activities going in Rohtang pass, where people enjoyed the snow. Activities such as Yak/Horse ride, slide of snow from top of the hill, Paragliding and much more. Nirmal and I while going had a glance over this and wondered if we had time to do this, but unfortunately no.

We were looking into paragliding ride and were about to fall steep as it was very curve road. The road was full of curve with no side boundaries after which I always fixed my eyes on the road.

We managed to bypass traffic and reach Manali early at 2pm, whereas others stopped in the midway for Lunch.

After reaching Manali we went to good restaurant to have good food, we had Butter Chicken and Roti. The taste was amazing after alo paratha and maggi food for couple of days.

Others reached Manali around 3:30pm.

We had the final bill settlement with Varun and walked towards private bus stop as there was much traffic. Going in Vehicle would have taken more time also the distance was less.

We managed to reach the Manali Private Bus Stop at 5:45pm. We got front seat for Ajay to get him comfortable.

The amazing road trip was ended :(. We reached Chandigarh airport at 7pm.

Ajay had flight in the evening but we re-booked 8am flight from Chandigarh to Bangalore, Ram Charan assisted him for the journey. We booked early so that they can have medical check up in the evening in Bangalore.

I had my flight at 1pm, whereas others had at 4:30pm, we all reached safely.

After the report from the doctor, it was understood that it was nerve issue and not the spinal code issue. We were happy for him as that would get heal and he will be back as normal in couple of weeks. I visited Ajay and was glad to see him happy and getting well soon. Hope for his speedy recovery.

We(3rd Team) met in Biryani Zone,Marathalli on Sunday to celebrate the success of the trip. It was indeed a great experience.

Next : Leh 15

Leh Adventure : 13/15

Today's journey was from Pang to Sirsu/Keylong.

The numbness in leg for Ajay had been increased. We had a option to go from Pang to Leh back or Pang to Keylong for checking up with Doctor as Keylong had hospital service. We had been to army camp for check up in Pang and the doctor suggested that he must not travel as it might be very serious issue.

We did not have much choice, both the way was risky. If all are together we can work out something so we headed towards Manali.

After having Maggi with lead and Tea we set out for Keylong. The road was bad.It was off-road for first 80km. We took almost 2 and half hour to reach Sarchu from Pang.

We planned to reach as close as Manali so that we can reach and have some more time for checkup for Ajay.

The Lachung la and Neekila pass were easy. The roads were good, snow surrounded place, it was a good ride.We did not have lunch we managed with biscuits and tea.

After passing the 2 passes, we had to face Barcala-cha where few scenes from Jab We Met was shoot. Before this there was Gata loops, which had twenty one hairpin bends. The roads were full of stone.

For the fraction of second I was thinking about something else during the ride and I applied front break at 20th hairpin pin. Result, Bike got skid we fell. Thankfully Nirmal and I were not hurt. Nirmal hurt his arm a bit but nothing was major.Broke the headlight too. After that, we resumed the ride and we had a laugh about the fall. Even this was a good experience. What is the point of ride without a fall :P.

We were expected Baralacha pass to be a tough one, it ended up with nominal one as there were no traffic and the road was ok. The roads were narrow thanks to less traffic we passed it soon.

We understood that there is a hospital in Keylong and planned to have a check up again.

Here, Himachal Pradesh CM had visited and roads were blocked. We discussed the emergency with the police officers and they let only Bolero and one vehicle to pass.

We other bikers were having a chit chat near Hanuman temple, Keylong,

I always prefer to interact with people of different state, it will be a new story and learning too. I started to interact with Police Officer and had a good chit chat.He mentioned that during winter the snow will be filled over road till knee and there will be total shut down of transport.The food, emergency requirements were transported through helicopter.They will play skiing during those season. Also, when talking about agriculture he mentioned that the season for agriculture is only 4-5 months unlike south india where the agriculture will be carried throughout the year. Even with few months of cultivation, the outcome will be good enough. Work hard for 6 months and play hard for the other 6 months.

Best thing was the people over there is that they will have lot of time to share the experience and all, whereas it is difficult to find that in Bangalore where one's life is very busy compared to others.

After consulting the doctor, the doctor advised to admit him so that he will get adequate rest and be ready tomorrow morning with better condition.We did not wanted to take further risk and admitted to Keylong hospital. We found a nearby lodge to stay. It was honeymoon special rooms, ie two rooms with common door. We had good non-veg dinner in Keylong and relaxed .

Last but one day of ride completed.

Next : Leh 14

Leh Adventure : 12/15

Everything worked according to the Plan, we were happy about it. The journey was amazing so far.Today's destination was Pang/Sarchu.

Ajay was still facing back pain and decided to go in Bolero. Tushar was riding the Thunderbird.

So, we were all set for Leh.The Leh to Manali route have mainly five passes : Tanglang la, Lachulung la , Neekila , Baralacha and Rohtang pass.

On the Way!

Tanglang la pass - we will be facing today.

The road was great, we were riding in Military zone. The place was kept very neat. Respect for Indian Army for all the sacrifice.

The road continued to be good till Upshi, where we had lunch around 2pm. We had a checkpost in Upshi to enter the vehicle details.

After lunch we resumed our journey to Tanglang la and Pang.

Even though there was snow all around, the road was in great condition , off-course the twist and crazy turns does not seem leaving us soon. We cleared the pass happily, There were no difficult circumstances.

After the pass, the road was even better now about 10km from Pang. Last few curves were with dead twist and blind curves.This was off-road ride :).

Ajay's condition worsens, he was feeling slight numbness on his legs. We were worried and we hope nothing serious will happen.

Pang had tents for the vistors. It was more like dormitory, we all 14 were in same room. We had rum shoots too :).

Food was not that great here : We had Chowmain (Noodles), fried rice and all. The best thing was to have maggi and tea.

Next : Leh 13

Leh Adventure : 11/15

We woke up around 9am again being "Lazy Riders". We were in Hunder also known as Cold Desert.

We had breakfast in the guest house itself, Breakfast -> Alo paratha, Pickle and Curd.

Double Hump Camel

The desert was only 5km from guest house.It was all-together different environment. The double hump camels in India can be only found here.

During war times, Camel was used to transport goods to China after which few of the Camels were left over this side hence the origination of Double Hump camels in India.

We went for a ride for 15-20mins. It was fun, different experience after we encountered Snow, Rain and stuffs.

There were stalls which contained the costumes of local people. Few of our members tried and they had lot of fun posing for photos.

Now, we had to ride back. Again Khardungla pass will be challenging and also fun.

The roads as mentioned were having many blind curves, the concentration of the rider was very important. A small slip could cost us really bad.

While going back to Khardungla, the snow fall had increased. The roads were filled with Snow. For bike, it was very difficult to ride as it was causing bike to skid. We had to push our bikes during up hill. Finally after the struggle we reached the Khardungla top again, struggle was fun :P.

From Khardugla to Leh it was 40km. While riding towards Leh, my bike got hit by stone. It was the stone in the snow and could not been avoided. It had hit the gear and the shaft was moved from lock position that is I could not change any gear. Best part is the gear was at first. 

Since those areas are prone to avalanche I did not wait and thought of going in Single Gear (First Gear). I was happy that I got locked to the best gear in this condition.

Since the route from Khardungla to Leh is downhill ie from 18300 feet to 12000 feet.

I was slow (by force :-) )and finally reached leh around 5:30pm. I managed to go in Neutral for most of the distance and went required just some raise in first gear and then hold the clutch :P.

We had a nap till 7pm, then went out for shopping after giving the JK registered bike back. We settled the payment of Innova. For overall of 400km the charge was 10,000rs :-). 

The passes were open, this was confirmed as we met few riders from Manali to Leh. We were very happy about this.

So, tomorrow we were heading back to Manali.

Next : Leh 12

Leh Adventure : 10/15

Today, we were about to cross the said 'Highest Motorable Road in the World, Khardungla pass' during our ride. Khardungla pass is about 18,380 feet high.

We needed to take the Jammu and Kashmir registered vehicle as the checking was mandatory. 

We had kept our 8 bikes in Lodge itself. Few our friends were not well hence decided to go with Tempo/Innova instead of bike as we had to rent any one for our commute.

I personally wanted to go in Bike as riding in Snow will be fun :). 

We got 3 JK registered bikes and 1 Innova for our commute. We also had bolero with us.

So, we set to explore Nubra Valley and Hunder village.

The Innova driver was an expert. There were so many blind curves, that is - only if you go in your lane you are safe. The lane rule must be followed here to avoid any accidents. He drove around 70-80km/hr.

We, Bikers were on our own. We left bit early and we were able to move during avalance or traffic break unlike Innova and Bolera which had to be in queue.

Avalanche is the term used here to indicate the snow falling on to the road and blocking the transport. We had experienced and as usual we had to wait to  get it cleared. The Army men were on the job and they helped to get cleared early.

We reached Khardungla and had a photo shoot. Here, there was heavy snow fall and we had to go inside army hotel to have Maggi and Tea.The ride in the snow was challenging as the Tyre were skidding, we had to push the bikes in couple of places.

We resumed our ride to Hunder. Nubra valley with rare precipitation and scant vegetation except along river beds was a pleasant ride.Nubra valley was beautiful as there were greenery all around the places, Yak and other animals with thick fur were also visible.

Innova driver overtook us on the Nubra valley, he was kick-ass driver.

We also visited a place were Hot-springs has been occurring. Hot Springs - Hot water from the mountains. The weather was cold and here we are getting hot water, strange things :) Nature power.

We had to travel back almost 25km to get to Hunder which was our destination from the hot-spring location. Hunder village is famous for double-hump camel. Double hump camel can be spotted only in this place in India.

We had to ride in Dust storm,a new experience - a new badge :). We took a guest house at Hunder  for our stay after reaching at 10pm.

After a nap, we had our dinner at 12am since the guest house people had prepared and we did not wanted to waste the food.

Next : Leh 11

Leh Adventure : 9/15

We got up at 5:30am to view the beauty of Pangong-Tso lake. It was indeed beautiful view.

Thought of taking bath in the lake but the water was too cold to even keep the legs. We spent first half here as there was no other plan for the day.

Lake Beauty

We planned to reach Leh around 6pm and have some shopping for self and family.

We roamed around Pangong-Tso lake, the weather was beautiful, the water was transparent and we had literally peace of mind :-). We relaxed here.

After the brunch near lake we left for Leh. Since the road were good we were speeding up.

Rajesh S, Tushar and myself had a mini race , was fun though for the riders not sure about pillions about the enjoyment :P.

After reaching Leh, we got to know that Hubli team was also there in Leh.  We did not miss the opportunity to meet them. Had a nice chit-chat and left for respective lodge after wishing Good Luck.

Hubli team had rode from their respective bikes and no wonder they had great experience too.

After enquiry on the passes, we were informed that the pass was open and some vehicles have been coming from Manali to Leh. That sound a lot of relaxation, first we are not giong to throw more money and second the ride in Pass will be great fun which was expected.

On the other hand, few had stomach upset, dizzy-ness, fever, cold , back pain and so on.. this was due to high Altitude. We managed to take antibiotics and good rest.

Ajay was having severe back pain, he had been to doctor and as per doctor's advice he planned to stay at lodge and not coming for Nubra valley.

Next : Leh 10

Pangong-Tso Lake

Leh Adventure : 8/15

Day 8th : 13th June Saturday

By the way, we were completely unaware about the dates and days. We just knew that it was Day 8th of our journey.

We were also completely isolated from Social Media, no news, no facebook, no whatsapp just as people say 'living in the moment'.

Today's plan was to go to Pangong tso lake.

Pangong tso lake is shared by China and India, where almost 3/4th of the part in China and the remaining part is in India.

Since we hired Manali bikes (Himachal Pradesh registration), we were not sure whether the officials in Leh will allow other state vehicles.

In the beginning, to check whether they will allow/not allow the vehicles, Santhosh and I went along. We found that the checking was not done and directed others to start from Leh.

Santhosh and I reached Pangong-Tso lake around 7pm. The road was terrible, it was a plain road so that we can ride at 80-100km/hr speed suddenly they is a steep which is intentionally created to slow down. 

During our ride, it was not dark hence we were able to make out about this risky roads and reach safely. There was also sand in the road due to sand storm for which we had to go really slow to avoid bike skid, other obstacle. 

We saw donkey with bi-color, the donkey was with Brown and white like a horse. Few passerby said that these donkey's can be withnessed here only.

After reaching early, we made arrangements for Tent and place to stay. We did not face any difficulties regarding the stay. There were always shops to assists us. We waited patiently for other's to join us.

And they all made it. I am sure that for others it will be much challenging than us as they had to ride in dark.

One crazy incident, Vyas and Rajesh S were on single bike. Vyas was riding and Rajesh had to get down during one slope upwards as it was snow and mud road made it difficult to climb. However after the climb, Vyas some how forgot about the pillion and went alone further about 20mins. Rajesh S was caught in the fix, his rider boycotted him. Imagine the situation, you are middle of the avalanche prone roads and all alone. Rajesh somehow managed by

asking a lorry vehicle driver for a ride and finally found Vyas after some km where he was asking others whether they have seen some guy walking alone. It was so funny, thankfully everything ended up safe. We had a good laugh altogether.

We planned to get-up early and view the beauty of the Pangong-tso lake. Couple of movies were shooted in this place including mega hit 3-Idiots.

Ride with Nature!

Beauty!

Next : Leh 9

Leh Adventure : 7/15

Today's journey was from Kargil to Leh.

Kashmir CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was about to pass through Kargil and hence we had to start early to avoid Traffic.

We had Break fast in Kargil itself. Since the owner knew that we were in hurry he had mentioned high price for the dish. We had a heated up discussion with the shop owner and mentioned that it was unfair to treat the visitors. Finally, he stopped the argument. 

Buddhist Monarchy : A view from Top

Roads were good, thanks to Border Road Organisation. The ride was absolutely classic with mountains everywhere and that Nature beauty!!.. 

During our Tea break we visited Buddhist monastery.

In the way, we had a stop in Magnetic Hill. The saying "It has a power to drive the vehicle on neutral".

Magnetic Hill!

However, we thought as it was a myth or may be the mountains have lost that magnetic pull maybe due to global warming.

However we reached Leh around 7pm. Now we were confused about the plan.

We were actually worried. We have come from Manali to Leh via Srinagar in 5 days and being Lazy drivers. Now we were awaiting for Leh to Manali route via 4 passes which was scheduled to open on June 15th.

We were thinking about all the possible cases if the route from Leh to Manali via pass does not open.

We planned to stay in Leh for 4 days, 2 days for Pang-gong tso lake and 2 days for Hunder,Nubra valley.

Then we thought of taking flight from Leh to Delhi then Delhi to Chandigarh. This would cost us much as we had to take the flight tickets also we had to pay the bike transport cost if we are giving them bike in Leh and the cost per bike will be 10,000rs. Uff.. We simply kept our nerve calm and waiting for the announcement, whether the pass has been open or not.

We had Old Monk in Leh :-) Had fun discussing things, happy with the journey so far. Still there is more :-)

Next : Leh 8

Leh Adventure : 6/15

After a relaxing day in Srinagar, we decided to leave early round 7/8am. We ended up leaving at 9am as usual.

We got a tag from Varun and Amit as -"Lazy Riders" "24-Hour riders".As we used to ride through-out the day. Varun had to drive Bolero, so he was stressed too if we were driving at inappropriate time.

Today's journey was from Srinagar to Kargil. Kargil war was fought in 1999 where Indian Army announces complete eviction of Pakistani intruders. The journey was fascinating, we experience Snow, Cold, Rain and damaged roads. We stopped for brunch around 11:30am.

Rajesh S- Snow Slide

We came across Zero-point. Zero-point is the place with two mountains on either side capped with snow. The temperature would have been around 0-5C. Here I lost my Ray-Ban glass. The excitement of experiencing snow and losing Ray-Ban glass got me mixed feeling. But past is past, I should have been more careful.
I forgot about Ray-Ban and enjoyed the Snow.

We had tea here. Imagine Hot Tea at 5C :). You have to drink it fast to have it hot :P.

We had 5 SLR's and we enjoyed the photo-shoot for the first time snow experience.

Landslide in Zojila pass

We had to pass Zojila pass. The pass are nothing but the top of mountain. You have to climb the mountain and have to get down. These mountains are prone to landslide. ie stones might fall over vehicle anytime. We had encountered this and had to wait to get it pass. The transport will be two way and these are risky road. There are no boundaries, if the tire slips then there is no chance of getting back.

I had personally encountered such experience. I along with Nirmal were overtaking the still traffic. The vehicle had stopped due to landslide. We were trying to reach as top as possible. There was narrow way to pass with the vehicles parked due to avalanche. 

There were no place to keep my right foot, I had to go as slow as possible to pass it. I however did not realise the risk factor and passed it with double ride. Nirmal was however were frustrated about it. Yes, a small mistake could have cost us very badly. The slip would send us to very steep down the hill. After passing, we parked the bike can came to that spot as the landslide clearance was in progress and would require to take some time.

It was scary, the path was narrow. Even I felt that I was over confident to do this stunt and realized not to attempt such risky situations again. Let's wait, it is better to be Mr Late than to be Late Mr -> A sign board by BRO. BRO stands for Border Roads Organisation. The roads on these places have been constructed by this organisation.

We reached Drass around 6pm. Drass have a record of having Temperature of -70C. Just cannot imaging that. That will be during night, winter season. We had Tea here. Interacted with Tea shopkeeper, he had shown the Tiger Hill which Pakistan army had captured during Kargil war. He also mentioned that the Kargil war was fought at -50C.

Few of our friends visited War Memorial, Drass while other including me left for Kargil. 

The road from Drass to Kargil was awesome.

We waited for others in Kargil who had been to Memorial in Drass. We actually planned to put some tent nearby, but it was late to spent time to tie the tent. We ended up getting accommodation and good food in Kargil.

Next : Leh 7

Leh Adventure : 5/15

The journey was from Udhampur to Srinagar, which was about 220km. We had breakfast in nearby locality of Udhampur. As usual we had Alo Paratha with Pickle/Curd.

We started around 10:30 am after good rest.We planned to reach early by 7pm to Srinagar. Tough luck, we faced traffic and were stuck for almost an hour. The good thing about ride in north India was the day light was present till 7:30pm so we made a target to reach before the day light.

Few of the roads were bad which made us to slow down where as few were really good. The bad roads were risky though, again with no light and pot holes.

Finally reached Srinagar around 11pm :P.  The plan for the next day was to roam Srinagar and do a little shopping, so we were relaxed. Had non-veg food, we also had rum shots too to keep body warm :P. 

After a long sleep we had breakfast at 11am the next day. Since the day was off for bike riding, we planned to visit good restaurant in Srinagar by local transport.

Mughal Darbhar!

We visited Mughal Darbhar, the taste was delicious. The taste of Kashmir food was felt.  Yummy!.

In the evening we visited Dal Lake, one of the beautiful spot to visit if you are in Kashmir.

Nehru Garden was in the middle of the Lake. We took lot of photos here.

The Lake was huge and there were shops on the lake side. It was good experience.

Dal Lake

After Dal Lake, we went out for shopping. Shopping list included items for Snow, Rain, Cold and all. Also we also made this as opportunity to buy stuffs for near and dear ones.

The Bike were serviced as Varun and Amit (Mechanic) were involved during the first half.

We had not rode the bike completed for the day. Had a good walk around the city.

The discussion, bargain with shopkeepers was fun. They were all businessman, it was good learning how to interact to customers.

Next : Leh 6

Leh Adventure : 4/15

Due to the night ride, we were tired. We got up late, had breakfast in Mandi itself.

We left Mandi around 10:30am to Pathankot. Pathankot,Punjab is 205km far from Mandi.

There were dhaba throughout the route and we had our lunch in one of these around 2pm. We reached Pathankot at 6pm.

After quick tea, we set to Udampur,Jammu. at 6:30pm.
During the ride, 2 bikes got issue. It was ignition problem with one and the other went out of fuel. Even though the payment for mechanic was bit high we were in safe position. Because we knew that the roads were challenging and in few cases bikes can have problems. The rent for the mechanic was 1600rs per day for 8 bikes.

We had to wait for the bikes to get repaired. This was a good test of patience. It was already dark and we were waiting for the bike to get repaired. We somehow had a laugh by discussing funny things keep aside the frustration in these unavoidable situations.

We were also happy that we are facing problems in the beginning like out of fuel and all. Since we were riding in the highway we had gas stations nearby and thankfully not in isolated places or middle of forests :P which we are going to ride soon.

After a wait for almost one and half hour, we resumed our journey.

Reached Udhampur around 1:15am. This was very difficult journey as there were no proper street lights, divider without indicator. I was almost about to crash the divider for which I did not have any clue , I was cautious there after.

Since, we were not in package trip we had to choose the hotel on our own. As we reached very late and all of us were exhausted, we choose one hotel which turned out to be costlier. Off-course it was as good as room rent cost, but we did not wanted AC neither TV. Just a bed to lie down till next morning and the luggage to be safe was our requirement.

The day's journey was about 320km, this was possible as we were riding in the highway. The average speed was 80km/hr.

We knew late start was not good as we did not wanted to ride at dark because it was risky with narrow road with pits and pot holes, blind curves, steep gradients and no street light as we rode in remote/forest area.

We also thought about issue that bike will encounter such as Disc issue, battery issue, out of fuel and all. We had Gyan, fun discussions ;-).

We all needed good sleep to start fresh next morning.

Day 3 Completed.

Relax mar aur pose dey! :P

Next : Leh 5

Leh Adventure : 3/15

Manali is a beautiful place where the mountains are capped with Snow.It is located in Himachal Pradesh. The river flows in the middle of the city, we saw many tourist, locals having a good time playing on the river side. Manali is a good tourist spot, there are more Bike Rent shop than hotels.
I loved to interact with locals to know more about them. I was informed that the peak revenue time for them was from March to August, so they have to earn as much as possible later due to the snow fall there will not be any business.

We woke up at 7am, it was wonderful feeling to see the beautiful mountains. Morning Tea, breakfast were at the same place. Since we were 14 members', it required some time for all of us to get ready and to get started.

The breakfast was Alo Paratha, Pickle, Curd, Cheese :).

At 11am, we met Varun who was in-charge of Vehicle which we were about to rent. We had rented 1 Bolero, 2 - 500CC Royal Enfield, 5 - 350CC Royal Enfield and 1 - 350CC Thunderbird.

I took 350CC Royal Enfield Electra model. From our team, formation was Rajesh S and Shamgha/Yogesh - 350CC Classic, Rajesh R and Rakesh - 350CC Electra , Nirmal and Prashanth - 350CC Electra. The 500CC bikes were ordered by Charan's team.

We were riding for the 13 days ie from June 7 till June 19. The cost per bike was
350CC : 1300rs/day
500CC : 1600rs/day
Bolera : 4300rs/day

This had a huge impact on our trip budget but the Bike ride was planned. Bolero was rented so that we can keep our luggage,tent and stuffs also if any person falls sick he can make use of Bolero.

We were set for the test ride to get comfortable with the bike and also to mentioned if there is any issue with bike to Varun. We visited Solang Valley which was about 15km from stay. We did not spend much time in Solang valley and returned back to do more of shopping as suggested by Varun for the adventures trip.

We reached back to the stay around 3:30pm where we had lunch after which we started to ride.Around 5pm, we packed everything in Bolero and were set to go out in Bike.

First destination from Manali was Mandi, which was 110km far. The road was good, but it was with twist and no boundaries ie.. if you fall you go up straight. Risky road but was fun. We had to make journey in the dark as we had left late for Mandi.

The planned destination was Dharamshala, which was 100km far from Mandi. We did not go there as it would be very late.

We reached Mandi around 10:30pm, got accommodation and good food and had a good sleep.

Day2 Completed.

Bullet!!!

Next : Leh 4

Leh Adventure : 2/15

JOURNEY BEGINS...

I booked my tickets bit late hence there was timing difference of flights. I was alone to travel Bangalore to Chandigarh also the vice versa, whereas others were in groups during the journey.

This was my first Flight experience. Even though this was a domestic flight roughly about 3 hours, it made me curious and also nervous. Once after the take-off, I got adjusted and was in comfort zone. The view from 37,000 feet high was amazing, I could see the land from Eagle's eye view.

The anxious first time moments started to fill in.

I reached Chandigarh bit early, after a wait for 10mins other friends joined me.

My flight from Bangalore was at 9:50am, and reached Chandigarh around 12.40pm.

In the morning, we had ordered Ola Cab for the commute from Marathalli to Airport. Rajesh R, Rakesh and I planned to book Cab. There was an offer such that the first ride from the app was free and we tried to utilize this opportunity. The obstacle : Ola Cab Driver refused to take us to Airport as he told that he won't come to airport as this was free ride. We got terrified by his response and thought of taking this matter with the authorities after the trip.

Since, for most of us it was the first flight. We woke up at 5am (almost 4 hours early than the flight). Because of this we thought of taking Bus as we had time and ignored other cab services as the request for Cab would cost us time. We took the Bus around 6am and we were able to reach airport around 8am. 

We met other friends in airport, had a chit chat with them, introduced to each other as we will be the family for the next 15 days sharing fun, happiness, tuff times and also frustrations.

After reaching Chandigarh airport at 12.40pm, we spend some time talking also collecting the luggage from cargo. By 1pm we were ready to explore North India. We had hired a tempo which was 14 seater, the journey was from Chandigarh to Manali. We also had to do shopping a bit as we did not buy all the necessary items like bike armour, rain-coat, gum boots, etc.

We had lunch in Punjab Pal Dhaba, the food was delicious especially Butter chicken, Tandoori Chicken and Roti. We purchased the Guard for the bikers, gloves, eatery items, rain coats and other basic requirements from Chandigarh. We left Chandigarh to Manali around 5pm.

Punjab roads were too good. The best thing I liked in Punjab is the shops, house's are at-least 15m far from road giving space to parking. The road was in good shape with no pot holes, and less density of the people made it a calm place. The weather was harsh, it was hot around 30C. It was good to experience new state and also to interact with people there.We had tea, dinner on the way in dhaba.  The route was bad after we left Chandigarh, the professional tempo driver was handling the road better by going at 60km/hr speed.

We reached Manali at 2:30am. It was cold around 5C. We wondered how fast did the temperature vary from Chandigarh to Manali.

Stay in Tent was expected and we got the experience. It was cold out there, blanket was as thick as bed itself which helped us to protect from cold. This made the thrilling start.

This was just the beginning.

Chandigarh Airport! : Team 3

Next : Leh 3

Leh Adventure : 1/15

THE BEGINNING...

Travelling is the best investment we can make out our busy life. It provides a break to work life and provides a lot of memories to cherish for life. Leh Ladakh is definitely a must visit place once in a life time.

The best time to visit the top most India is on June to August, so that most of the passes will be open in this time frame. I like to travel and got to know about the Leh Ladakh plan from my ex-colleagues. Initially, it seemed to be a budgeted trip but I knew it was a worth a shot and hence decided to go for it.

We planned the trip by early February so that we can book the flight ticket with good discount. The estimated budget was 50K (Including all stuffs). There were three groups of 7 each. One from Hubli and two from Bangalore. Most of the folks knew each other from working in Sankalp semiconductor (colleague and ex-colleague). Involvement in work made me to focus less on plan, similarly with others too. The Leh plan was made by Ram Charan (2nd Team) and we (3rd Team) followed the same.The first team - Hubli had different route plan as they were getting their vehicle.

We were not worried much about the trip regarding the stay, purchases advance of trip. February passed, march passed, May made us excited and also anxious to worry about the weather conditions there.It was Mid May where we created XLS, check list to get stuffs to Leh.

By June 3rd we were all good with the check list.

Our Trip was from June 6th to June 20th.
We were 14 members ie... 2 Teams from Bangalore.

Intro to Family :
Ram Charan, Ajay, Tushar, Aditya, Santhosh, Vyas, Kishore, Nirmal, Rajesh S, Rajesh R, Rakesh, Shanmugha, Yogesh and Myself were the family.

Expectation from the trip :
Bike Trip over Manali to Leh and back via different route.
Enjoy the bike ride.
Night Tent/Camp stay.
Challenges during ride.
Snow fall.
Other tuff weather conditions like dust storm, rain etc...
Testing out patience level during ride on passes.

Basically a complete package of Adventure trip.

T-shirt in Leh!

Our route was : Manali - Mandi - Pathankot - Udampur - Srinagar - Drass - Kargil - Leh - Pangong Tso - Leh -  Khardungla - Hunder - Leh - Tanglangla -Sarchu - Baralachla - Keylong - Rohtangla - Manali


Next : Leh 2

First Marathon!

TCS Marathon is a huge event happening every year in Bangalore. TCS Marathon run - is for charity and many companies in Bangalore are supporting this event. TCS marathon has different categories such as World 10K, Open 10K, Majja Run (5.6km), Champion run (People with special ability) and senior citizen run.

I was always fascinated by the Marathon runners and decided to run for open 10k. ARM sponsored the Marathon for all its interested employees for the run. I was excited about this marathon and practised for about two months to complete the race by an hour. Completion by an hour means running at 10km/hr, but this was the second priority. My first priority was to run 10k without a stop either a walk, just running throughout.

I have been practising for about two months and I could compete 10k in thread mill at the speed of 9km/hr. I did not wanted to stress more as I didn't wanted any health issues. Last two weeks before the race were pretty relaxed as I was not practising and there were many parties which I attended.
I also tried to balance between the party and marathon practice but it was bit difficult to hang on.

Somehow, I was bit confident about my ability to run and marathon seemed a very good opportunity to test my stamina.

Race Day!
Oh my God! 12k people were in competition for Open 10K. I was in F section which was for the first time runner's. The other sections are categorised based on their previous timings. Once the race got started I was running at my pace and did not bother about the others.

Till 5Km, I kept running until I felt exhausted also pain in my leg. Now there was some issue, I was sure that I need to complete it at my best so I tried to walk some distance to gain the stamina and then run till I can, and then repeat. I was wondering why I could complete the 10k during the practice in thread mill and why not here. There were lot of things that was running on my mind, May be I did not practice on road, May be I did not practice with many folks, May be I could have cut down some parties, May be I could have tried little harder.... By then I thought lets think about these thoughts later but now lets focus on the completion of the race.

I tried to run harder but every time I felt pain in my legs I walked for a little distance and then got back running. Finally I managed to cross the finish mark by 59mins and 13 seconds. I was definitely happy with my performance about the timing but at the same time I was bit disappointed that I could not keep running through out which was my priority.

Post race, I sat back and thought of all the reasons I could think of to make myself better runner.
Now, I have a list ie to-do list for enabling a better health, better me!.
This marathon is going to transform myself.

This marathon will be a changing event for me and lets hope I will stick to the plan.
Mission : Half Marathon by 120mins (By November 2015).

Marathon was fun, but it's just the beginning!

Madikeri Trip

The long weekends are always good to explore the nature. I have planned this year as my "Year of Travel", at-least to start the travel experience, hence looking forward to visit most of the places. The long weekend of May 1,2 and 3 didn't seem like losing out. We planned a Madikeri Trip with college buddies and we were 5 of us. Four from Bangalore and one from Puttur planned for this trip.

Madikeri is about 85km from Puttur and I had been quite a few times here but did not cover all the places.So, this was the opportunity to explore and have a good time with friends :). Since one of us had some work , we couldn't go to Madikeri on May 1st and planned to leave early morning next day.

As there are ample number of buses from Bangalore to Mysore we did not book any buses. This was the costly mistake we have done and realized during our return trip.

Madikeri is 270km  far from Bangalore and according to our estimated time, we planned to reach there by 5-6 hours, but in Karnataka Sarige aka Red Bus it took 7 hours due to the multiple stops during the journey. We left Bangalore at 7am after having breakfast in Kadamba, Satellite bus stop and we reached Madikeri at 2pm. The journey was bit of stress as we had to sit still for long hours.

Lunch was at Surabhi Hotel in Madikeri, after which we arrived at our home-stay -  Pompei Valley.

Hollazz, Home Stay!

The home stay looked good, it had good acre of land which was filled with greenery all around. The valley home stay had 3 cottage with good space to hang around. The weather was pretty good and could have been better if it was rainy season. There was partial drizzle which made the Madikeri environment feel alive.

Around 5pm, Holla arrived from Mangalore. After settling down in Home-stay we set to roam Madikeri in his WagonR.

:-)

The drizzle-weather-greenery had bought the calmness among us and it was feel good moment. We roamed around Madikeri in the evening. We also came across a lot of visitor's in Madikeri as it was a long weekend.

We reached back to home-stay at 8:45pm and got ready for the night party. We had bought drinks and snacks from Madikeri town and for dinner we had ordered from home stay itself.

The night party was good with good weather and with friends made it more beautiful. We also had a dog nearby which Nikki named "Suzi". The night passed slowly, we missed the camp fire as we were involved with many other discussions, lol .

We got up late around 9am. We roamed around the cottage, lake and so. It was calm and pleasant.
We had breakfast from Home-stay itself, but it was expensive as Quality was not as par.

Jeep Journey

We checked out the home-stay around 2pm and planned to visit Madalpatti. Madalpatti is the hill station. It is 18km from Madikeri, we did not choose WaganR as it was off-road ride.We rented a Jeep. The road were in-fact not good for car, it was suited for jeep only.

The view from Madalpatti was amazing.With the breeze all around it felt definitely out of Bangalore :P.
We had lunch from Green-Hotel, it was not good though and then we planned for departure.

This is where we were worried, we had not booked the return tickets and due to the long weekend there was no bus with decent seats. We had to take the Karnataka sarige bus only.

We finally managed to get the Karnataka Sarige from Madikeri to Mysore around 7pm and from Mysore to Bangalore at 10pm. We arrived at Bangalore at 2pm. I took the bus to Marathalli where as the other 3 took the Ola cab.

It was stressful during the return journey. But when we look back into these 2 days, the memories will put a smile on our face as this two days were enjoyed with friends. :)

Cheers :)

PC: Holla 

100km Ride! Finally...

Today, Apr 18th is Bangalore Bandh due to Cavery issue row. I hope the conclusion will be fair. But this did not stop us from going for Cycling early in the morning.

Every Saturday, Bangalore Cyclist Group organizers "SAMBAR" ride which will be a long ride of almost 100km. I will  be involved with other activity on weekends and hence miss the opportunity to ride with the team.

However, Yesterday I was mentally prepared to go for the SAMBAR. Having it mentally prepared,I did not wanted to lose this opportunity and hence I went for the full preparation.

I bought Cycling shorts, Water Bottle holder, ORSS for dehydration, Banana and Chocolates for the protein. Hmmm.. I have done my self check list. Also checked the Cycle Tyre pressure and cycle condition. Both were good. 

So, The ride for me will start from 4:15am from Marathalli. The plan is to go the Airport and then to Airlines hotel in MG road. 

I had to be special early bird and hence slept early with mobile at a good distance from me with alarm loaded.

I started the ride from Marathalli along with Philip. The meetup point was Esteem Mall, Hebbal.

We reached Hebbal at 5:15am. Folks kept adding in and finally the group was of 40 members. We were all set for a ride to Airport from Esteem mall.

Morning Beauty

The journey was amazing the scenic beauty , wind kissing the face, group of cyclist made the journey even great.

After reaching Airport we took a 10min break and back to Airlines hotel. Had a good breakfast there and also had to pay the double the amount as Bang was on strike :-( But it was fun to have breakfast with new folks. I made a couple of friends too :-).
We then took the Silk Board to Marathalli.

It was an awesome 100km ride :-)

The Route was : Marathalli - Hebbal - Airport - Hebbal - MG Road - Silk Board - Marathalli.

Team BCG