Re: Bangalore Backroads

Great going!

Good Bye Avenger
Last backroads ride with the trusty old Avenger. After 9 years of service, it was time to get a younger sibling. But this one is about the Avenger and the last beautiful ride.

Lock down had everyone cooped up in their homes. Not only it was boring it was stressful, especially for people like me who like their open spaces.

So the first opportunity, I went on the a small ride. The fact that Gulmohar’s are blooming late this year was a blessing.

I wanted to go towards Venkatagirikota and Koundinya Wildlife century, but the Avy had other plans.





At Hoskote I turned towards Malur. The Hoskote-Malur road was once a narrow lane lined with Gulmohar trees. One of my early rides on Avy was on this road. Below is a picture from that ride.





Much has changed since then. The road is no longer the rural back road it once was. The trees on the side of road are gone. The road itself is transformed into a divided highway, bringing with it a promise of prosperity.





A brick kiln or perhaps a poultry farm on the way. Soon these would be gone.





Some of the Gulmohar’s are still standing. These are mostly ones next to existing building giving joy to the people living nearby.

At Malur, I turned towards Tekal. Plan was to hear to Bangarpet and then towards VGirikota.

Few Km before Bangarpet, the plans changed. A nasty nail gave me a rear tire flat. Didn’t have much choice but to drag the to Bangarpet. 6Km of huffing and puffing with the heavy jacket and warm sun. Fortunately it was still early in the morning. So the hot summer sun was still not beating down mercilessly.





On the outskirts of Bangarpet, found a puncture shop. While the tube looked fixable to me, the person insisted that he needs to change the tube. Off he went to buy a tube and came back with one several size thinner. Didn’t have much choice and asked him to go ahead.

Post the tube replacement, I was not very confident of safety the new tube provided. Decided to change my plans and turn back towards the Kolar highway and then slowly limp back home.





So at Bangarpet, I turned towards Kolar. Stopped at the railway crossing just after Bangarpet and walked on the track taking a few pictures.





The Gulmohar’s were in full bloom and I started rethinking the plan of returning home via the highway. By the time I reached NH75, I had changed my plans once again and decided to head towards Srinivaspur and then return via Chintamani.





Tomatoes thrown on the way due to lock down.

Kolar to Srinivaspur route was a surprising find. The entire stretch is lined with Gulmohar’s blooming at the time of the year.

Enjoy the pictures below.






























At Srinivspur, turned towards Chintamani. Took the bypass and reached Hoskote and home via NH75.

All in all a good last ride on the Avy – 9 years and 60,000Km of companionship.

Some stellar shots.. lovely landscapes as well!

Thanks buddy.

this awesome spotify codes

Dandiganahalli Dam

Ride to Dandiganahalli Dam near Chikkaballapur with a colleague and friend UmaShankar.





Most rides in 2020 are there just to escape the lock down and restrictions to stay at home. Also wanted to take the D250 for a spin and get more miles on the bike.
So off we went for a small breakfast ride through the backroads.





Instead of taking the airport road, we took the backroad through Hoskote to Sidlaghatta to Chikkaballapur. Beautiful road flanked by fields and lots of greenery owning to the rains.





At Chikkaballapur we stopped at a roadside thela for coffee. Would have preferred a filter coffee joint, but had to do with instant coffee.
Couple of dark cloud up ahead had me worried. I wasn’t anticipating rain and I had not packed any rain gear.





Turning off towards the dam, we found this large reservoir and stopped for a break and pictures.





Wild weed reflections in the reservoir.





Soon we were at the dam. Seemed a pretty popular place with a few cars, many bikes and a cycle or two. Mostly college crowd.






Walked around the place a little. There seems to be a way to walk to the further end of the lake, but we decided against it given the riding gear etc.
There was a fallen tree next to the lake which gave a few photo opportunities.





Having spent a little time at the dam, we decided to take an alternate route back to airport. Stopped in between for a picture.
Turning west and then south, we took the road going to Doddaballapur. This road has been completely transformed since I rode on it last. From an idyllic semi-rural road this is turned into a wide highway. Good for speed, but not for a morning ride.
Doddaballapur itself has changed. A big flyover and several new shops. The place looks completely different from the days we went to Pyare-Punjabi dhabha on Tumkur road.
Joining the Airport road we took a little diversion to Indian Parantha Place for breakfast and then back via Hebbal to home.
A short a sweet ride.
Ride Month: Aug 2020
Distance: ~200Km

Bangalore Backroads Circuit
Been wanting to do this ride for quite sometime. Back in 2010, I did a ride around Bangalore on my old Unicorn. Since then wanted to always do it again.

The intent is to do a full circle around Bangalore on the backroads. Enjoy the narrow roads, villages and the flowering trees. Unfortunately this was not the right time of the year. Not many flowering trees, yet it was a fun ride.

Also had gotten the 1st service on D250 done. So an opportunity to push the speeds a little.




Started off from Whitefield to Attibele, Anekel, then through some good jungles to Kanakpura. Next to Ramnagaram, Magadi, Dobbaspet, Doddaballapur, Airport and back.

The road have improved a lot since I traveled these roads several years back.









A little after Anekel, stopped by a few fields for some picture. The Dominar riding posture is quite unlike Avenger. Not really to my liking, especially the fact that foot pegs hit the shin when I put my feet down. Plus more load on the arms. Giving myself 10K Km to see if it works for me.








Stopped again at a border of a small stretch of forest. The land stretches far into farmlands over undulating hills giving a nice unrestricted view far.
The D250 engine is much smoother than the Avenger’s. Each to reach higher speeds, though I am not sure how relaxed I am at those higher speeds.





Kanakpura and favorite breakfast joint of Vasu’s, Over the last few rides I have stopped here a lot. It was a little later than usual and so dosa was there on the menu.








Kanakpura to Ramnagaram, the road is in great condition. Green fields and prosperity in abundance.







Beyond Ramnagaram, its back to gently rolling hills. Stopped for another break on a side trail. Sat down to watch the fields and forest stretching below. Far away a few hills rose creating a ringed boundary.







After crossing Magdi, took another break. Met a village taking a break from his work. Chatted a little.
People are surprised when you tell them that you are just out for a ride. Makes you wonder on how lucky we are.











Took another break before Shivagange. The two hills of Shivagange and Kachkal Muneshwara Swamy Temple dominate the landscape.

From there returned home in one stretch. Overall a good ride. The weather was mostly cloudy, saving me from the heat. Got hit by rain once and took cover at an underpass.


Ride Month: Sep 2020
Distance: ~280Km

Rides of 2020. Most on the back roads of Bangalore except for one to Kanyakumari.

Catching up on last year's log.

Shetahalli Church


Ride to Shetahalli Church outside Hassan.




I always wanted to ride to Shetahalli Church near Hassan. However the ride on NH75 always dissuaded me. I find riding on the new National Highways extremely boring, not to mention that it lulls me to sleep. The wide new highways with their chopped down trees and village bypasses are devoid of any character.

One day I was looking at the map, and realized that I can actually go towards Mysore and then turn North-West to reach Hassan, an idea of a ride was born. And of course the desire to get to 5K Km on my D250 was another motivation.




Decided to avoid the Mysore highway and take my once favorite Kanakpura Highway. Nowadays the task of widening this highway is well underway. This means bad traffic and death knell to many of the trees.

Yet a side lane with inspiring view of some monoliths, a few Km from Kanakpura, still exists. My old Avenger has seen many photo shoots on that stretch. So took a break for the same.


One of the monoliths in the background.



At Bannur, I turned towards Srirangapatna and then towards KRS reservoir.



The stretch along the reservoir with green field and inundated trees was the highlight of the day. The water and the greenery presented with ample photo opportunities.


Coracles parked on water’s edge.



Break on edge of a field.



Having crossed the KRS reservoir, I headed towards the Hemavathi Reservoir. The Shetahalli Church is submerged by this reservoir.




Picture of Gorur Dam from the road. Took me a while and a few stops to look at Google Maps to get to the Church.




Being the season after the monsoons, the church was completely submerged. They had dug up the road leading to the banks. The reasonable number of tourists who were there were content to walk the short distance down to the water.




I decided to head on ahead towards a bridge a little way ahead. There is a good view of the church from the bridge. I stopped at the bridge. Few others were stopped there. Hung around a while and got a picture taken from another helpful tourist.



9 year old picture of the same church in July when the water levels were down and hardly anyone visited the place.



After I while I traced my route back to the main road and then NH75 to back home. On the way stopped at Murali Military Hotel for a well deserved mutton lunch.

Ride Month: Oct 2020
Distance: ~510Km

Nice run in ride you had there bhai Please do stay safe too. Your new steed looks stellar. Congratulations and enjoy your future rides and of course do not forget to post them here. We are waiting vidmate download instasave

Thanks buddy.

Another ride from last yr

Germalam Monastery and Dhimbam Ghats

This used to be and maybe is still my favorite route. While the Kanakpura stretch is slowly being turned into a boring stretch and the Mallavalli-Shivasamudram stretch is already widened and rendered monotonous.

Yet this route is still one of the best day rides around Bangalore. It has ample sunrise opportunities on the lakes adjoining the Kanakpura Road, there is early morning breakfast at Vasu’s, there are fields around Kollegal and Chamrajanagar, then there are hills of Dhimbam ghats and finally when you are tired at the end of the day, there is a straight stretch of road home. Nothing beats the all-in-one nature of this route.




So early Oct, in my quest to get to 5K Km on the D250 off I went on a morning ride.




First stop, double idli and double coffee at Vasu’s.




Then the sunrise on the highway.








A little down the road, I veered off the highway to watch the sun rise over the fields and take some pictures.




The little red house on the Malavalli-Shivasamudram stretch. I discovered this on one of the previous ride on this route. Fortunately it is a little inside from the road of the road widening would have ruined the view.




Weeds glowing in the sun.




Cauvery river from the Satthegala Bridge




At Kollegal I turned left and then right towards Germalam. This may be my last ride to the Dhondenling Monastery. The road ahead through the forest seems to be closed to two wheelers on weekend. Thanks to the youth who comes and drinks around in the jungle creating ruckus.




Drogchen Monastery








Posing in the corn fields around the monastery.




View of the Tibetan settlement.

After roaming around the settlement a bit, I moved on towards Dhimbam ghats.




Forest check post where I was stopped. The guard required a bit of persuasion to let me through. Makes me wary of coming down this road again, since its a long way to go back and go via the alternate route.




A poser.




View from the top of Dhimbam ghat.




And the Bannari temple at the bottom.




Crossing the Cauvery river.




At Salem, I stopped for lunch at the Selvi Mess and then the sprint back home.

Ride Month : Oct 2020
Distance : ~560Km

Wonderful adventures and awesome shots!

Thank you. Glad you liked them.