Nandi Revisited

[Climbing] never gets easier. You just go faster.
-- Greg LeMond

Yogesh Rao of the Bangalore Bikers Club put out a notice for the July-end ride to the top of Nandi! What happened next was amazing. The trickle of riders turned to a flood, and ultimately over 150 cyclists signed up for the unsupported ride! And this despite the fact that unless you take a car to the base of Nandi, you can easily ride more than 100km to and fro from Nandi. But with 150 cyclists riding, would you want to take a car? Nyah!

Although, unfortunately, I never saw a huge group of cyclists ever together -- cycling ability being all over the spectrum, it was still wonderful to stop by the road and see groups of cyclists go past every few minutes! As is wont with cyclists, especially the BBC lot, friendly greetings always marked this occasion!

By the time I had breakfast at Idly point and reached the base of Nandi at 10AM, I was ready to go. The weather was wonderful with the skies overcast, the atmosphere incredible and while the spectre of my last ride to Nandi loomed large, I was going to give it a good shot this time.

I started the climb at 10.20AM. After the first initial steep section, Nandi kind of levels out. So I rode continuously until I reached the 5km-to-the-top mark, where I found a very nice moss covered parapet under the shade of some trees where I decided to rest until my pounding heart calmed down a bit. Then I rode again, gunning for the 3km-to-the-top point, which since the grade was still relatively low, I reached easily. I was doing 10kmph at a cadence of 70, something I was finding rather easy to maintain. There I rested again, egging on others, as well as some friends who were doing their second climbs!

The last three kilometers are incredibly steep, atleast from memory, and so I took them cautiously. As it turns out, my legs did not give out so much as did my heart, and except for the extreme switchbacks, going up the last three kilometers was easier in reality than in my imagination. I did however rest many times. I have clearly improved in these last four months.

At 11.50AM, I crossed the first arch of Nandi! It had taken me 1:30 including rest times, and I had pedalled all the way! For reference, the good cyclists do it in about 35min. So there is still something to aim for. Overall riding time was about 6 hours, at a speed of 20kmph including the climb.

Down again in 15min, I had lunch courtesy Brig. Vijay of the Indian Army who volunteered to provide lunch and support vehicles. The Transport Commissioner of Bangalore, Mr. Bhaskar Rao, himself an avid cyclist, provided breakfast.

In all, one of the most memorable rides till now. The BBC community is amazing!