Ready !! Set!! Pedal!!!!
If your nerve deny you
-
Go above your nerve -
~EMILY DICKINSON
Trin Trin!!!
When was the last time you
rode a bicycle ? The answer varied among the WOWies present at the Hebbal
Railway station entrance when all were ready for a 30km cycling event organized
to mark the 5th anniversary of BTC
If for Sneha it was a daily routine to commute to office in cycle, for
Suma it was a memory of her childhood to rent cycles for riding at an hourly
rate of Rs. 1, for Kanchan had completed 50Km cycling event and for me years
ago it was riding cycle from entrance of the
campus gate to office building where I used to work.
But no one can deny the real fun used to
be the beginning days of learning cycle
or to go to school or that early morning ride to tuitions with your friends.
BTC provided us with this excellent opportunity to relive those days by
organizing cycling event on their 5th year anniversary. What a fun
way to get to ride the bicycle with like mindset WOWies and also learn one or
two things also about gear cycles.
On a busy working day in office when I was completing all the work ahead
of new year vacation I got the message from Suma G informing about the BTC
cycling event, I paused my work and registered for this event – which was
scheduled at 7th Jan. I was part of BTC treks previously
but never dared to take up their cycling events
before, this was a good opportunity for all as no prior cycling experience was
required and with WOWies I was sure this will be more fun.
7th
Jan 18:
When the alarm buzzed at 4.30 AM – for a
change it was not to curse the alarm but to jump off from the bed to start for
an exciting day. Prepared food for the potluck and booked a cab to reach the
venue ‘Hebbal railway station entrance’ at 6.15 AM and joined organizers. It
was still dark and cold, cycle vendors were yet to come.
By 7.15 all the participants
had joined – Mano, Sneha, Ramya, Divya, Suma G, Suma V, Kanchan, Parimala. We were in the mid of our introduction session,
when the omni van came loaded with cycles.
All the cycles were un assembled, Vineetha and
Bhanu from “The Garage Café” soon got into work with assembling the cycles.
Within sometime all the cycles were ready.
But we found all the cycles were considerably big for our height, but
later Vineetha assured us that we can ride them with ease once on it. So organizers gave the responsibility of assigning the cycles to Vineetha and Bhanu,
since they knew it better to assign cycle as per individual’s height.
Parimala and Suma V were given the bigger
cycles whereas all the other cycles more or less of the same height was
assigned amongst others.
Now it was time to learn some basics of gear
cycles, how and when to switch them.
Vineetha gave us some basic learnings as
- Bend the cycle as per our
convenience when mounting or unmounting from it
- As with two wheelers, apply both the brakes when the need comes to stop
- Switch to left side shifter to 1 when going up, 2 on normal roads,
3 when going down hill.
- Switch the right side shifter to increase or decrease the speed
accordingly - ideally to be kept at 3,4,5.
- Manipulate the shifters at the same time as you are pedaling
By default they kept all the cycles at left
shifter at 2, right shifter at 4 mode.
Vineetha encouraged us to change the
gears and advised to experiment with it for smooth ride.
Vineetha and Bhanu assured us that they will be following us throughout the
activity and will be there for any help required on the way. They also told
that if anyone is tired they can hop in the vehicle, but encouraged us to
complete the whole event.
A quick warm-up session from Vineetha ahead of
the event:
With this we started off our 30km cycling
event.
Initial ride was smooth on flat
roads and being Sunday there was not much traffic. After passing underpass the road seemed up
way, I tried to switch the gear from 2 to 1 ---wooooh now felt what it really means to ride a
gear bicycle, without having to put too much effort to pedal. After pedaling
the up way we reached the Gorguntepalya signal. Signal was green and we quickly
crossed onto the Tumkur main road, which
was now busy by this time.
We kept to service road and most of us were
damn hungry by this time, we kept pushing as there were no good restaurants on
the way.I felt like I was pedaling more but the cycle
was not moving at the same speed as the others, so on others advise I kept
changing the gears to see what suits me.
We joined main road and took right towards
Hesaraghatta road at the 8th mile junction on Tumkur Road. This road is very familiar to me until
Chikbanavara, with my frequent visit to my relative who stays near here. This
time traveling on a familiar path not on a bike or car but on cycle was an
amazing experience.
We stopped at the signal to have breakfast and
as we were ordering for breakfast we saw Parimala and Kanchan passing by in
great speed. We tried to shout but since the road was downhill they went very
much ahead. Bhanu picked one of our cycles and raced after them to bring them
back, as did Bharti. But they were all not back until we had ordered and done
with our breakfast ;)
We ordered for Idly, Dosas and the breakfast
was delicious for the tired souls.
Now huffing and puffing all
the way uphill came Bharti, Dhanu, Parimala and Kanchan. Then we got to know
that Bharti told one of the passersby on the bike to stop Kanchan and Parimala
who were very ahead.
When the guy reached near Kanchan he asked them to stop, but Kanchan overcome by stranger anxiety on an
unknown road yelled back at him saying “Why should they stop”. Now imagine the
poor guy’s state for asking them to stop. We had a good ROFL moment when Bharti
narrated this story. Well – thanks Parimala and Kanchan for this hilarious
moment.
After fueling ourselves with food and tea we headed towards
Chikabanavara. Ride after Chikbanavara was very gentle on a single road covered
by trees on both sides and shade throughout the way.
We reached Hesaraghatta and took a right
towards the lake.There is a big arch at the entrance which
leads to some steps.Bhanu told us get our cycles over the steps to
top for a good view and clicks.
Currently there is sufficient water in the
lake. This man-made lake was built by the erstwhile Chief Engineer of Mysore
M.C. Hutchins, is counted amongst the largest artificially designed fresh water
reservoirs.
The lake is fed by
waters from the Arkavathi River that originates from the Nandi Hills of Kolar
District.
Vineetha served us all smoothie, it was
awesome but we all failed to guess the ingredients of it. She later revealed it
had watermelon and vanilla ice cream.
Bharti was hurrying us up to get over with
photo session since we had to go further to Nrityagram. This place closes by
sharp 2 PM. We got our cycles off the step and took road towards Nrityagram.
Road is under construction so pedaling was
little difficult on this rough terrain road. We came across some of the
organizations like research and
development farms for poultry, animal husbandry, agriculture and horticulture,
Adarsh film institute on the way.
We came now on tarred roads and again with the
farms spread across on either side of the road, it was a very good experience
to pedal through the way.We reached Nrityagram around 1PM , with hardly
one hour left we still decided to take the tickets. Fortunately dance class was
still going on and we went directly to the class.
We witnessed an amazing odiya dance, though it
was almost towards the end we all were absorbed by those swift yet graceful and
precise moves of the dancers. It was a blissful experience to watch the dance.
Photography is strictly prohibited in the
area, so we could not capture anything here.
Bharti later talked to the dance guru and she
was happy to see women cyclists come all the way till Nrityagram.
After the dance class closed, staff gave us a
quick introduction on the Nrityagram and asked us explore the place and return
by 2PM.
The place is very neat and
calm and an ideal place for dance and art lovers. This residential school has a
rustic look with small kuteers (mud huts) built on the lines of ancient Gurukul
tradition
It was 2.10 PM when we exited the gates of
Nrityagram and we were all damn hungry now. We took out our lunch packs and
shared our food. After lunch we started towards Hesaraghatta main road where
the next plan was to get bus towards main Majestic Bus stand.
Now after a good break from the ride sitting
again on the cycle was a Game of Thorns
;)
But the ride down was awesome as we did not
have to pedal much and reached Hesaraghatta main road.
After handing over the cycles and saying our
goodbyes to Vineetha and Bhanu we boarded the bus towards Majestic bus stand.
We had quick feedback session in the bus and said our thanks to Bharti and
Shilpa for organizing first WOW cycling event from BTC.
Most of us pedaled after a long time and we
never gave up along this 30+km cycling even when the legs felt like logs and
refused to pedal or when the hands went numb by exerting all the upper body
weight on the cycle handle. We were all very proud at the end of the event.
A big thanks to all the co-cyclists,
organizers Bharti and Shilpa, The Garage café and BTC Admin.
The warmth, the friendliness of each one of
you is cherish able.
Written By : Shubha Shivanadappa
Organized By : Shilpa & Bharti
Date of event : 7th Jan, 2018
Place
: Hessaraghatta Lake
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