First CAM Ride: Riding & More

I mentioned a couple of posts back about Cycling & More. I joined this ride too; basically helping out my organizer friends. This turned out to be a fun-filled two day ride, with 36 riders riding from Sakleshpur to Sunticoppa (near Madikeri).

For most riders, this was an initiation ride into touring: some had ridden 20 kms max a day, and most less than a 100 kms a day. There were road bikes, mountain bikes, two "single speed" bikes, and a Kona Sutra, my new touring bike (more about this in my next post!). There were two couples riding as well : Divya & Chinmay(Chaitanya. Thanks Harsha for the correction. Sorry for the goof-up. I hate getting names wrong!), Madhavi & Sampath.

Bringing up the rear was my responsibility on day 1. Secretly, I was glad that I could ride easy on my new bike - no need to spend energy chasing the road bikes and other speeding bikes, see ! Greenery surrounded us everywhere, but mountain views were scarce. The road was mostly nice, there were no bike malfunctions, and no punctures; no real 'excitement' ! Only three riders gave up and opted for the support vehicle. The last rider reached Somwarpet, 65 kms away at 3 PM, having started at 8:45 AM. Slow and steady finishes the ride 😉

The real fun (for me!) started after lunch. Few rode to the falls, but many opted to take the support vehicle to reach the falls. We had fun playing rummy, and antakshari till the Mallalli Abbi falls(older pictures here). It was getting late, 5:30 PM at this time, so we did not go to the base of the waterfall. The support vehicle had gone back to Somwarpet with many riders and bikes. Some bikers opted to ride back, supported by the car behind it. Moonlight from the top, headlights behind and cold air from outside: they sure had a good time riding back. The rest (including me) walked in the moonlight for quite some time, till the support vehicle returned back. Exhausted, everybody was only too happy to finish dinner & crash into their beds. The Suvidh lodge was quite clean and neat; not what I had expected for sure in Somwarpet.

Sunday started at 5 AM, except for those who could convince the other persons to get up first ! A nice downhill ride greeted everyone. Brakes be damned! I was testing my new bike on the downhill. The Sutra is very stable, and zip she did. The road was mostly fine, except for patches which had me wishing for padded gloves. The only glitch on the ride to Madapura, 20 kms away from Somwarpet, was a broken chain. This was quickly fixed.

Everybody had a choice to make after breakfast at Madapura. The easy ride option meant only 10 kms of riding to Sunticoppa. The "expert" ride was a longer 35 km option, including a climb to Madikeri. Less than half the people went for the expert ride. The rest opted for the short route, and I showed them the way. I had mysteriously lost my helmet before leaving Madapur. I haven't yet figured yet how it went missing in a span of 10-15 minutes. Damn. When will I learn ?

The easy riders, arguably had more fun. They got a chance to roam around for a while in my uncle's coffee estate, close to the backwaters of the Harangi dam. Oranges, Anjeer, Cherries : each got to taste what they were lucky enough to get 🙂 Holige (Obbattu), Chakkuli & Coffee rounded off the food menu. The easy riders reached Sunticoppa around 12 AM where they found many "expert" riders busy boxing their bikes; they were only too happy to tell the expert riders about the additional bit of fun they had. The fun ended with the journey back to Bengaluru. Most riders, I can see, would be cursing the monday.

There were some queries about the next ride, and a few registrations as well - and that speaks of the good job done by the organizers! I hope most enjoyed the journey; and for the sake of cycling I'll hope that that all those who did will continue riding and have even more fun.

Overall, the first Cycling & More ride went pretty well. For sure it wasn't perfect, but it was much fun. So much so, that I couldn't help joking that perhaps a more apt name could have been, "More & Cycling". We cycled less, had more fun, and made friends : that's what will count...