A fun filled 150 km cycle ride from Bangalore to Mysore

The expressway was out of question, and we didn’t want to take the old highway.

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A fun-filled Bangalore - Mysore ride with the Recharged Riders group:

It's more than a year since we started cycling regularly and our normal group rides are around 50-60 Kms with occasional longer rides. We also do our regular weekend ride either solo or 2-3 as a group. Apart from these group rides, some of us have individually done 100 Km rides and two of them have done TOK/BRMs too.

Group rides have always been fun and for quite some time we had been discussing a longer group ride with at least 100+ km, staying at a place and returning the next day. However, this discussion never gained momentum to make it happen. During one of our random meets last November, this discussion came up again, and this time we decided to make this happen. We started discussing a destination and Mysore was preferred by many. In fact, we didn’t have any sound alternate destinations to consider. The advantage of Mysore is, that it’s a known route, it’s a good distance of 150Kms and we can find good options for staying in Mysore.

With 11 riders in the group, it is always difficult to get hold of that one weekend when everyone is available. So, we fixed Feb 3rd-4th for this ride well in advance. This also meant it gave us sufficient time to work on our fitness to prepare for this ride. Also, one of our riders Sandesh took the responsibility of booking a homestay in Mysore.

The plan was to ride to Mysore (150 Kms) and return the next day by Car/Bus/Train with the cycles shipped via cycle carriers (a Tata Winger). Once this plan was in place, we also had a few noncyclist friends who were interested in joining us for this Mysore trip. This opened the idea of a support car and our friends who were planning to join us in the car were fine to act as a support car instead of driving down to Mysore directly.

Route and Pit-Stops:

The expressway was out of the question, and we didn’t want to take the old highway. Instead, we decided to take the route via Kanakapura, Halagur, Malavalli, and Bannur. Till Kanakapura there are few diversions and after Kanakapura, it’s a nice 2L road. The breakfast stop was at 42Km mark and from then on, we had identified a few stops every 10Kms. And lunch stop was planned at Malavalli or Bannur based on our progress.

Preparation for the ride:

To improve our fitness level, apart from our regular fitness sessions, we started doing a few long rides. Few of us practiced on an incline near our apartment regularly.

And regarding accessories, we had the below checklist,

• Spare tubes (2 Nos)
• Puncture Kit/Tools
• Reflectors Jackets/Belts
• I got a Saddlebag to carry one more water bottle.
• Lights should be charged fully before the ride
• Smart Watch/Mobiles should be charged fully before the ride
• I turned off a few features in my Smart Watch to help improve battery performance.
• Powerbank (as a backup measure to recharge watches/mobiles)
• Electral powder
• Fast&Up tablets
• Some of them took sunscreen cream
• Some Snacks
• Bandage/Cotton

Support Cars:

The plan for the riders was to start at 5 am. So, we asked our friends in support cars to start late as we would be able to manage the 75-80 km without any hassle. The meet point was set at Mayura Bakery/Juice shop, Halaguru. This is around 76 Km from our start point. We had asked them to get some bananas and water bottles. They were in 3 cars, so if someone didn’t want to continue or faced any issues, we had these cars for rescue.

One main advantage of support cars is that the riders can keep riding and there is no need to be worried about people who are behind as they will be able to take care.

Since it's a one-night stay in Mysore, one day before the ride all the riders handed over their bags to people coming in support cars.

The D-Day:

The last one week before the ride was tough with all the excitement and anticipation. The D-Day arrived and as usual, I didn’t get proper sleep before the ride. This trend has caught up with me from my car drives I think. The plan was to start at 5 am and everyone assembled at our apartment main gate by 4:45 AM after doing their warm-ups. One of our support car members Sridhar was happy to wake up early to send us off. We took some pics and started our ride.

All the riders

It was super cold in the morning, and it took some time to get a proper rhythm. The initial 7-8 Km had too many turns and so we were sticking together. At one point, one of our riders had an issue with this saddle bag and hence few of them stopped to fix his issue. From here on we got split into two groups (4+4). I was part of the first group, and we were doing some decent speeds. However it was too dark from Kanakapura-NICE road junction to Kaggalipura, so we were a little slow and had to be more cautious due to the diversions on this stretch.

We stopped at Kaggalipura for a quick break. During this break, I called the other group members who had stopped for the saddle bag issue. But they didn’t pick up the call. So, this gave an indication that they were riding, and all was good. So, we proceeded ahead towards our breakfast point.

Quick stop at Kaggalipura

When the group2 riders stopped for a quick break

Breakfast Stop at Mandarathi Gardenia:

Breakfast stop was at the 42Kms mark, we reached here by 6:50 AM. Till now all was good, and we didn’t face any issues. We were earlier than the estimated time to the breakfast point. The hotel guys asked us to wait for 5 minutes. While we were waiting here, our other riders reached the spot.

Most of us had thatte idli and vada. They were good and nothing to complain about.

Yours truly at the breakfast stop

And other riders started reaching one by one

When Group2 riders reached the breakfast point

All set for the breakfast

Later our support car friends also stopped at the same place for breakfast

Post Breakfast:

From here on the plan was to stop based on individual convenience. Apart from this we had identified and shared a few stops every 10Kms as well. After the breakfast, we were fully recharged and pedaled ahead. Initially, there were few steep climbs, especially on the 45th Km mark till the 65th Kms. These climbs were challenging but we were able to do it comfortably. After this we started getting some flat and a few down slopes as well, this probably was our fastest sector as we were able to average above 25kmph. The sun was still behind the clouds, and this helped us a lot. I took more water breaks and we all met again at around the 65 km mark.

During a random stop after the breakfast

When everyone reached the 65Kms spot

After a good break, we continued further and the plan was to stop at Mayura Bakery/Juice shop, Halaguru (at around the 76 km mark). Here we were scheduled to meet our support cars as well. I think support cars took us lightly as we thought they would be reaching here first but it was the cyclists who reached first [FONT=&quot]��[/FONT]. We had some snacks, juice, water, coffee, etc. With support cars still not in sight, we decided to go ahead and that is when our support car 1 (Ertiga) reached the spot. They had bought us some bananas and few of us had them. We didn’t wait for the other two cars and continued our ride towards Malavalli.

Support cars join the riders:

After a few KMs, all 3 support cars were with us. The support car was super helpful during our random stops. They kept stopping every 5-10Kms range and moved once everyone crossed them. I don’t think even at a professionally planned event, we will get such support. Our guys really did a great job. Our next major stop was at Malavalli which was at around 97Km mark. We missed our lead riders Rohan and Ravi here as they had stopped a little ahead but we thought they just continued towards the lunch stop at Bannur.

They handed over to us some Chikki and Banana

During a random stop

Malavalli was one of our options for lunch stop but we reached here before 12 PM. So, after a good stop here, we proceeded towards Bannur for lunch. The sun was out by now and with some never-ending gradual inclines, the ride was getting tougher. From Bannur it's almost a gradual climb to Mysore. Despite having enough water, I started getting cramps in my legs which slowed me down. This continued for around 10 Kms and then I started getting some relief, I had electral and some tender coconut which helped. One another rider was also affected with cramps.

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