Ride to Thattekere with CNL

Cycling Next Level(CNL) is more than a WhatsApp group. It is more of a family which shares the simple pleasure of Cycling and admiring the surroundings.
On a July weekend, Niharika planned a ride to Thattekere. The plan was to begin at 5.30 AM from our favorite starting point, Audi showroom at Electronic City. I slept at 12 AM and hoped that I would wake up at 4. Surprisingly I did and got ready quickly, started from my house at 4.55 AM to reach Electronic city was 11 KM from my house in HSR.
A few angry dogs greeted me in the beginning. The ride to Audi showroom from HSR was fairly simple but I was feeling a little fatigue. I reached the starting point ten minutes before. I spent that time munching on my Yoga bar and adjusting the seat of my newly acquired love, Merida Crossway 100.
The first one to arrive there was Sugu, with his uber cool Specialized Epic. I met him for the first time. He moved to Bangalore from Hyderabad two years ago and has done multiple century rides. After that, Niharika who is the Iron lady of our group, arrived. We quickly checked the whereabouts of Sreedhar who started from Indiranagar and was waiting for us at another Audi showroom. He arrived at the correct one in ten minutes and we started our journey. Sreedhar was silently planning for his first century ride that day and Niharika was silently(okay not so silently) planning to make him achieve that.
We reached Jigani Industrial area quickly. The industrial area stretch was a roller coaster ride for our nostrils. From Jigani, Sreedhar took up the role of our navigator since he was the only one with a phone holder. We took a wrong turn at a junction which we realized pretty soon and got back on the correct route.
We crossed a stretch of not-so-good roads to finally arrive to a route where we could see a lush green hill valley view on our right side.

Niharika, being the champ of our whole CNL group warned us a little about the downhill that was about to come. We enjoyed the downhill ride which had a few steep drops thinking how we would climb it back.
We entered Banerghatta National Park range where we saw warning signs of Elephant crossings and Tiger sightings. A local woman told me a story about a cyclist being knocked down by an Elephant a few months ago. Niharika and her group weren’t allowed into this on her previous ride a couple of months ago. Being a little cautious of the danger, we entered the range. I forgot about the danger ten seconds later when I saw how peaceful and serene the environment was. Countless pretty birds and quiet morning breeze was something which took me in its embrace and I kept pedaling. I guess we all were mesmerized because we didn’t click a single picture of this stretch.
We reached Thattekere and took a break at a local shop. We had Chai, Buns and Chikki there. Sreedhar had brought wet wipes with him which were a boon for everyone. Niharika took out her new weapon, a newly discovered Sunscreen lotion which she was excited to try as she has never tried one. We were surprised to hear that since she is our Brevets queen. She also told us about an incident which happened at the lake we were going to visit. A guy lost an arm fighting the crocodiles which attacked him while he was helping his dogs take a bath in the lake. I was excited as I have never seen a Crocodile in the wild and so were others with me, also being scared at the same time. We reached the entrance to the lake where two forest personnel were guarding the post. They denied the entry for us to the lake and we stood there thinking how to convince them. Niharika and Sreedhar could only speak a few words in Kannada and they could only understand a few words of Telugu or Hindi. With the omnipresent language barrier, a funny conversation followed. Guards told us through actions about a man losing his arm to Crocodiles which was the reason of not giving access to lake. Sreedhar told them that we have come from a very far place in Bangalore called Indiranagar, to which the guards replied that the fellow who was attacked by Crocs was also from the same place. There was a road to the right which was not barricaded and Sreedhar asked him where does this lead to? He told us that it will lead us to ‘Huli’, which translates to Tiger and they can’t be stopped by mere barrier. After this comical disappointment, we took a selfie at the gate and started our return journey.

First few kilometers were pretty easy but silently on my mind, I was hoping for the climb to go smooth. Before entering back into National park range, we decided to go into two groups. We spotted a Fox kind of an animal and tried to figure out if it was Fox, a Wild dog or something else. Please let me know if you can figure out what animal it is.

Niharika and I were going ahead and she casually told me that we should go up the steepest climb and come back and do it again. My brain couldn’t register the enthusiasm and I gave in. We stopped for a few pictures in between before the climb.

The climb was approximately on a 30% gradient for a while but it was fun to finish although it left me panting in the end. Niharika’s energy level to climb this back was something I could never match. It was an inspiration for everyone in the group and I made a mental note to train harder. Both of us turned back and went screaming down the hill with excitement. On the way, we saw Sreedhar, not happy with the steep climb. While returning, I waited for Sreedhar sitting on a rock embracing the beauty around me. We all took a break after the climb. Sreedhar looked a little exhausted and Niharika suggested that he should do stretches and she will help him do the right ones. What followed was Sreedhar lying down and Niharika helping him flex his muscles. She showed us which stretch does what and what importance it has to our body while it is under stressful situations like these. After the stretching session, Sreedhar looked fresher than ever and he was ready to do the whole ride all over again, well that’s what he looked like.
We reached Jigani and had our breakfast of Coffee and Idli Vada. From there we calculated how much more Sreedhar would have to do to finish his century. It was 10 AM already and sun was starting to make us uncomfortable.

Niharika suggested we go to Anekal and Chandapura from there to increase the distance by 10 kilometers. I secretly asked her that the route she mentioned is mostly uphill, to which she said “They don’t know that we know”. On the way till Hosur road junction, we stopped for a glass of Sugarcane juice to recharge ourselves. She reached the junction first and I followed her. Sugu and Sreedhar arrived a few minutes later. Looking at the sun I took her advice of applying sunscreen. It was 15 kilometers for me from there and I was cursing the heat and traffic on Hosur road. We reached our starting point and and were happy to make it back. Around 6 more kilometers to go for Sreedhar’s century. Sugu packed his bicycle in his car and we said goodbyes there, with a customary selfie.

Niharika told us that she would accompany Sreedhar and I till he finishes his century, post which Sreedhar would take an auto-rickshaw to home because it was almost 1 PM. Sreedhar and I kept going and at a point he felt he had finished it. He stopped, checked Strava and the smile on his face was priceless at that time. I know the feeling of finishing the first century ride and words can’t describe it.

And then we took our separate roads to home and the ride ended with an accomplished feeling and a sense of satisfaction.
