Virtual Gates of Heaven (vGOH) - 1200kms Ride in 90 hours with 10,000m elevation
Back in 2018, the route was via Yercaud, Ooty and Coorg. Me and Prasad had quit at 615kms after Ooty due to heavy rains and we were under prepared to ride with rains. That mistake of quitting the ride haunted us for long. So, it was a revenge ride this time. Due to the Covid-19 situation, it was conducted virtually, meaning, we could plan our route, food, stay ourselves. So it was a self-supported ride.
Thanks to Mohan Sir and Bangalore Randonneurs Team for coming up with such an awesome plan to ride 1200kms and come out of the fears of covid situation. Thanks to Sushma and my parents for trusting me on the long ride without practice. Thanks to Biju (Cycling Boutique) for all last mins check-up to make sure the bike was fine since it had been a while since I had given for service.
Me and Prasad planned a route Salem-Yercaud(twice),Mysore-Chamundi Hills-Basavana Betta and then Bangalore-Sira-Bangalore to keep it simple at the end. We made our home as the base to start, mid-point and at 900k mark. Plan was to ride 600kms non-stop, then rest for 2-hours and then 300k, rest for an hour and then complete the last 300k.
The previous night I could not sleep better out of excitement. We ate veg fried rice which we had packed previous night and 2 boiled eggs. Started from Sena Vihar, Bangalore at 6:00am. Though many roads are dug up in Bangalore, we could make it to Silk board in an hour and luckily had escaped the traffic. From here, it was going to be smooth sail with tail wind and downhill. We picked up good pace and reached Krishnagiri in 3:20hrs covering 100kms.
Vivek R saw us while he was driving to Salem, and took a few pics and we had a quick chat with him and headed to Salem. We skipped breakfast and instead stopped at Dharmapuri for early lunch. By 2:30pm we were at Yercaud base, Salem. We stopped for tea and snacks ahead of the big climb. Prasad started climbing aggressively, my lack of climb practice started showing up. I struggled for first 3 kms of climbing. This is the point when mind starts playing with the body and we need to back ourselves. I started eating whatever I had chips, cake, chocolate, everything got over. With each thing I was eating, the monkeys there would chase me to get a bite. It was fun watching the baby monkeys jumping around, practicing the climbs with small bushes. Specially here I have seen people to be very kind to monkeys. Many people get food, groundnut, bread and give it to monkeys. We reached the mid point (Hair pin bend 16), here we get snacks and tea. I was so hungry, I ate watermelon, cucumber, tea and corn. This was sufficient to take me to the peak. After 3kms we were covered in thick fog. 5:30pm: The clouds had completely covered the peak. Its such a delight to ride in cloudy weather, a heavenly feeling. The visibility was very low, we had to ride carefully and had switched on our blinkers and headlight.
By the time we reached peak it was 6:00pm and completely dark, sipped hot tea and started the descent. We had to be careful riding down as tires could skid in high speeds. By this time, we decided not to climb Yercaud 2nd time, instead we went with the idea of riding to Yelagiri. 2 Reasons: 1) not enough visibility during night 2) back to back climbs were tough as we were not fully prepared for such hard climbs.
It was 8:00pm when we reached Salem outskirts, and we stopped for dinner near tollgate and packed enough food (fried rice) for the late night and early morning. With tailwind, we were at a very good pace. We remembered our earlier twin hill rides with Shashi and places where we had rested. Near Thoppur ghats after the climb, Raghu was calling us on mobile, once we reached there he mentioned mech issue with his cycle bottom bracket, and Sunil would join us from here. With tailwind and pleasant weather we reached Krishnagiri at good pace by 1:00am. We had good buffer of 4 hours in hand.
Day-2 (Krishnagiri - Vaniyambadi- Yelagiri Hills - Krishnagiri - Bangalore) - 260 kms
As we were riding all day and with Yercaud climb, body was tired, and from here riding night time was tougher. We were caught surprised at not finding a single tea shop open at Krishnagiri. About 15 kms later, we were very drowsy and stopped at a petrol bunk, the person at bunk was kind to give us safe space and we rested for 20 mins and late night packed dinner, and had tea at the nearby shop. The tea shop owner was gossiping about the Tamil Nadu politics and how Stalin has better chance of winning this election like Jagan :-). We started sprinting here to reach Vaniyambadi by early morning. 6:00am, we were climbing Yelagiri hills. Its such a wonderful route, the elevation is gradual, consistent and much easier than Yercaud. Legs were so much used to climbing now that we hardly felt any pain and we could climb non-stop. The people in and around here seemed quite health conscious, we could find many batches of kids and elders climbing up the hill barefoot, and many were doing squats and pushups. The hairpin bend Num 10 was fantastic, so we planned to stop here while climbing down for pics. Once we reached the peak, it was time to freshen up, so we went in search of a hotel. With only bread omlette, we were fine as it had clean restrooms.
We climbed down quite quickly in 20 mins, it was light drizzle. From here, it was going to be tuff fight against the heavy headwind. We started with good pace of 15kmph and steadily increased to 18-20. It was quite tiring ride and we were feeling very hungry. We ate egg dosa on the roadside hotel, and drank hot tea. This gave us enough fuel to ride till Krishnagiri. We could reach by 1:00pm, we stopped for quick cool drink break, as we were getting ready for another battle of climbing. The plan was to ride beyond Shoolagiri climb and eat at Anand Bhavan as we would get the famous jigarthanda. But, were disappointed to see it closed for renovation. God had different plans to keep our 'Jigar' thanda by raining :-). After a good lunch with rice and sambar, we started climbing, by this time it started raining. We wore the jacket and had covered well, but it was irritating to take off the jacket often as it would rain and stop in a while. This was killing our momentum. With many climbs, we felt drowsy at 3:30pm, and found an empty bus stop to take a quick nap. Prasad wakes up exactly, alarm is only a back up option. Am bit lazy, I oversleep, so Prasad wakes me up :-). We woke up to see the rear tyre had gone flat. It took us 10 mins, to find the pin and fix new tube. We were now trying to hurry up to beat the heavy traffic due to weekend. It was 8:15pm when we reached Bangalore with barely 2 hours of buffer. We had to clean up our bikes, lube the chains, refuel and then headed out for dinner. We packed food (veg biriyani) for the late night as well. We carry a 10L Decathlon bag, its lightweight and can easily carry food and other stuff for 3 people and when not in use it can be folded into a small pocket. We came back and slept nicely for 2 hours.
Day-3 (Bangalore- Mysore - Chamundi Hills - Basavana Betta - Kanakapura - Bangalore) - 310 Kms
We started at 12:00am after a good sleep of 2 hours. Here we shifted our strategy to ride to Mysore via Mandya and keep the Basavanabetta for the afternoon, otherwise we could have been too early to climb at Betta. At Bidadi, Sunil caught up with us and we started riding together. We were hungry by now as we were riding with headwind. We decided to take a 15-mins nap and then eat dinner. Near Maddur we badly needed a tea, it was about 4:00am, and were finding it hard to control sleep. The tea shop owner was a busy guy and still was cracking jokes, he wud say 20,000 for Rs20/- packet of chips and 10,000 for Rs10/- packet (yes, he was counting paise). He gifted 3 of us 1 rupee chocolate and wished us a good ride. Meanwhile, Prasad’s bike fell off, he had leaned his bike on a jeep and the driver took off while we were busy with tea. Luckily except for few scratches, the derailleur and the hanger were safe. We took one more break near Mandya at 6:00am, to eat remaining dinner and drink tea. We then planned to ride non-stop till Mysore 40kms away. Once at Mysore, we went in search of a good hotel. It took us 30 mins to freshen up and then packed juice and headed out to Chamundi hills base. Surprisingly the 7-kms was not a tough one, easy gradient and it took us about 25 mins to climb. We took photos near Mahishasura statue and then infront of Chamundi temple. From here Sunil went alone to Mysore and then repeated the Mandya-Mysore-Malavalli route next day, whereas me and Prasad went towards Sira.
We now climbed down in 10 mins and were heading to Bannur. With tailwind, it was a cakewalk to Bannur and then towards Malavalli, about 1:00pm, Prasad felt sleepy, so we planned to take a quick nap near a farm where a guy had setup a sugarcane juice stall, we requested him to watch our bikes. The sleep under a tree for 20 mins was very satisfying. So much breeze and the cool shade was a heavenly feeling. Drank sugarcane juice and then reached Malavalli at easy pace. Divya mess in the beginning of the town serves best meals at very less price. The ragi ball and rice sambar was filling and we were now ready to climb Basavana Betta. People at the base were scaring us that there were elephants and 4pm was not a good time to start. With not much choice, we went ahead with the climb. Around here, I just opened up mobile to check strava, and the app had crashed and it restarted recording, but we had lost about 28kms of riding, so we had to ride 28kms after 1200k. With fatigue after riding 800kms, Betta seemed quite challenging and we thought it could take us 2-hrs, so the strategy was to take a few breaks on the way and sip enough water and to climb criss cross. First 2kms of tough climb was done and Interestingly, we were doing good, so we went on. The more climbs and we were getting more confident and it took us just 35 mins to climb the daunting hill. Another 5 mins to reach the Basaveshwara temple.
With all major climbs done, we were now confident that tough part was over. But from the top of the hill, we could see the rains in Bangalore. So, we had to get ready for another round of drizzle. When we climbed down quickly and headed towards Kanakapura. The plan was to stop here for a tea break, but Vasu hotel was closed by then. Another shop and he served us mild hot tea, we told him that he shud take less money as it was not hot. He took it seriously and made fresh tea and did not take money.
The Kanakapura climbs are intimidating, but the roads were pathetic. With light drizzle and fatigue, I was feeling very drowsy, so we decided to take 20 mins nap infront of a closed hotel. It was very chill weather and body feels cold when not riding. We started climbing again, as it was very early in the morning, we could not find a single tea shop. The plan was to reach Bangalore by 11:00pm and then head out to Sira starting at 1:00am. But, the fatigue had changed our plans. We were at Kanakapura road at 12:15am. It was quite late. We found a Shell petrol bunk which had an attached snack and tea shop open 24/7. We rested in the parking lot, freshened up and drank hot coffee. We changed our strategy here, instead of heading to home, we planned to ride directly to Sira to save 2-hours. Also, another reason was to beat the city traffic and also headwind. This shift in strategy was very helpful, but it also meant we wont get sleep in bed for an hour. So, we headed through the outer ring road and found a petrol bunk to sleep. The guy did not accept our request, so slept in front of a Bajaj service center. A good 2-mins sleep was helpful, we reached Gorguntepalya and had a smooth exit out of the city as per our new plan.
Day-4 (Bangalore - Tumkur - Sira - Tumkur - Bangalore) - 310 kms
Near Nelamangala, another Petrol bunk was calling us :-). We rested here for 20-mins and ate the packed food. Hot tea for the morning at 4:00am was helpful in rushing through and by 6:30am we had crossed Tumkur. Plan was to eat breakfast at VRL, but it was closed, and we found out another hotel after a km on the right side. With idlies and coffee, it was good enough until lunch. Mohan sir checked our whereabouts and shared a few pics with him.
At about 11:00am, both of us were very drowsy and next to the highway, there was lot of grass, but it was too sunny. Finding shade here was tough, so we took a short nap, and I woke up in just 10 mins as I could not bear the sunlight. We headed to Sira, it was easy climbing down. The plan was to ride at least 10kms after Sira Coffee Day to cover the distance we lost as the strava app had crashed.
After the u-turn, it was much easier to ride. At Kamat, we ate North Indian meal and started at 2:15pm, we aimed to reach Tumkur before 5:00pm. With help of tailwind, we were climbing faster and surprisingly, we reached Tumkurat 4:00pm. With idlies, coffee and ample buffer to reach Bangalore, we decided to slow it down a bit. Another stop near Reliance petrol bunk, with short rest, we started slowly towards Nelamangala. Prasad had a quick shut eye moment, and we were forced to stop at a tea shop and bought some chewing gum.
Now, we were fresh with energy and planned to ride faster to avoid getting drowsy. City traffic caught up and it was too fast moving vehicles. We then carefully navigated till Peenya and stopped a while to re-strategize as we were running short by about 20kms. We entered city and riding in short loops around Yeshwantpur and MS Ramaiah hospital. With just 10kms left, we then headed to home.
It was such a satisfying ride. We had completed 1200kms of crazy ride in 87.5 hours. Since this was a self-supported ride, it was so much fun in planning and executing it. The change in strategies at times was very helpful in making sure our ride was comfortable. 4-days of lovely endurance cycling had come to an end. These 4 days we were immersed in endurance cycling, thoroughly enjoyed every moment.
Tips for long ride:
Just trust yourself that its possible. A good practice will help make long distances comfortable. Sleep cant be avoided, we need to learn to take power naps. And best of all, do not expect Organizers will help, true randonneurs don't depend on anyone, they just ride for their own satisfaction. Make sure to reach first 600k within 38 hours, rest for 2-3 hours and freshen up for next haul. If its possible to rest again at 900, its amazing. This ride was a good learning for us on how to plan such long rides and be ready for navigation, plan well for food, rest and make strategies and re-strategize if the plan A fails. Lot to learn on the long rides yet. With Mohan Sir and BR team, we hope to get good opportunities to be better randonneurs. Lastly make sure to enjoy every long ride :-). We can inspire each other and achieve more to be better randonneurs. Thanks everyone at Bangalore Randonneurs for all the support and motivation, am ever grateful.
