Turahalli

I always feel guilty about not riding trails on the RR6.3. The problem is that you have to find trails to ride, and despite having done some small ones like the Manchanbele trail, I was always under the impression that I had still not pushed the RR6.3 (or its rider) to its potential.

No longer feel that after Turahalli.

Turahalli is a forest in the south of Bangalore. It's not very far from the Institute, maybe 20-odd kms. You enter it through a gap in the fence, and follow an off road trail to the base of the hill. There is a very steep path from the base of the hill to the top. In previous BBCh races (which is where I first learnt of Turahalli), I'd always seen photographs ofstrong riders dismounting and climbing, and I quickly learnt why. It's not that the steepness is not manageable on a bicycle, it's that the path has been "paved" with stones to assist motorcycles with traction, and those stones make it very difficult for bicycle tires to gain traction. After a few futile attempts, I dismounted and rode on foot.

At the top of the hill is a temple, thankfully without devotees. In the cool of the morning, the top of that hill is a wonderful place. We sat there watching the ugliness of the city fast encroaching on the pristine greenery. Two of the riders were from the "nature" departments of IISc, and all of us got an impromptu and fascinating lecture on "herpes" (apparently the term for reptiles, not the disease).

But the thrill of Turahalli is not the climb or its trails -- it's the downhill.

Downhill MTBing is a separate discipline and this would be my first experience of going down fast on a hill on a trail.

I've never been so scared ever in my life.

The first rider from our group crashed on the first part of the downhill, thankfully with only cuts and bruises. I tried to walk gingerly, but uneven inclined trails are very hard to walk on. So I grit my teeth and got back on my bicycle. And went down fast on the mud path full of ruts, stones and boulders. I took a few wrong turns on the trail, but for the most part my heart was in my mouth. I finally got down, rider and bike both in one piece. The rest of the trail was an "ordinary" trail, looping back to the top of the hill.



Tiring but fun. Going back sometime soon. With body armour.



(Pics by Sartaj)