Horemheb's Musings

First Published on March 28, 2013

This was a ride of several experiments. The first time I tried the Sathyamangalam route from Bangalore to Palghat, the first time I am riding long distance on two consecutive days and also my first solo night ride. It led to a great many interesting experiences and some lessons for the future. To call this ride as an epic one would certainly not be an overstatement.

The event was my dear friend and fellow Heritager Nandgopal’s wedding in Palghat on the Sunday 24th of March, 2013. I started the ride at around 0530 on Saturday 23rd of March. The ride out of Bangalore in the early morning placidity was unremarkable. I had received warning from my cousin brother Vijay that the regular road from Maddur to Malavalli has some really horrendous stretch so consulting the maps I had decided to take the detour to Malavalli from Channapatna on the Mysore route. The deviation is not well marked but helpful locals pointed out the correct deviation. At the start of the route I had feared whether this road too would be in horrible condition, but my fears were left unfounded by the superb tarmacs on this road. It was a very leisurely ride through scant traffic and beautiful Karnataka countryside. At times the coconut grove lined roads made me reminisce about rural Kerala.

From Halaguru I joined the NH209 (Dindigul-Bangalore) towards Malavalli and Kollegal. At Kollegal I had some confusion on the direction towards Channapatna. Looking out for someone to ask directions to I was glad to see a couple of beautiful girls from the nearby college at the fork in the road. Without any hesitation they told me to go towards right direction. I turned the bike around but due to some instinct also asked an auto rickshaw driver. He corrected me by saying that I had to take the left route.

Lesson learned: Girls may be cute, but directions they give may not be. I hope I don’t sound chauvinist but this is the last time I would be asking directions from young cute girls.

Finally getting on the right track towards Channapatna I rode through a quaint little village called Mamballi. I have been through numerous rural villages of Karnataka but for some reason this village captivated me. The narrow single lane street was lined by ancient buildings that seemed remnants of a bygone era of great prosperity and importance for this village. The buildings were grand once; their grandeur still showing through years of neglect and ignominy but there was a quaint charm nevertheless. I guess I was reminded of Tripunithura, my hometown. I wonder if it had some historical importance once.

Then it was once again on with the long winding and peaceful roads through Yelandur, Chamarajanagara towards Sathyamangalam. As a person with a healthy respect for wild animals, I am naturally wary of riding through any forest. I prefer seeing wildlife only in TV and never face to face, especially not in zoos and certainly not in their natural realm, the forest. So it was with a substantial amount of trepidation that I entered the Sathyamangalam forest. As ever those green wild life boards warning of elephant crossings managed to make me nervous, there were no deep ditches along the sides of the road as there are in Bandipur-Masinagudi to keep wildlife away but there were these masses of brambles and dried shrubbery along the sides of the roads. Whether they were there to ward off animals from the road or to give excellent cover for them to ambush hapless me, I don’t know, but again it did not ease my nerves. However the one good thing when compared to Bandipur route is that there were no speed breakers.

The speed breakers in Bandipur-Masinagudi roads are of the greatest density I have ever seen in any place outside of Bangalore (or as we say Humpangalore). Even a cyclist would get frustrated with those speed breakers sometime kept just a hundred meters apart! It had always been 2-3-4-3-2 gear changes when one is riding through that road. The roads are good enough that we upshift between humps, but humps are sufficiently nasty and numerous that we have to slow down. Sathyamangalam on the other hand has no speed breakers. Of course the traffic density is much less and visibility is much better so it was at a pleasant 60kmph clip that I rode through Sathyamangalam forests. Of course I was wary of the random wildlife that could jump into my path, but with the visibility clear and assured by regular traffic coming easily from other direction I was not too worried.

Once the forest was done and I entered Tamil Nadu state it was noon and I was famished. Compared to Tamil Nadu, Karnataka has far fewer road side eateries. I wonder why it is like that. There have been stretches of hundred kilometers or so without a single eatery catering to the highway traveller. Of course I was not looking for any posh establishments, but at least the dhaba style local joints that usually cater to the long distance truckers are absent in Karnataka. Enter Tamil Nadu and Voila!! A profusion of such joints. I stopped at the first such joint in Tamil Nadu territory to have some much needed nourishment. The management of “Taj” hotel spoke Tamil, I tried speaking English and Malayalam and we were reaching nowhere. Finally I made the sign of food and he said something in Hindi and again I was in luck. Conversed with them in Hindi and had some delicious biryani rice, omelets and sambar. There was something different in the sambar there, lots of dal (parippu) and extremely tasty. Finishing off one and a half plates of the rice with copious amounts of sambar I was rehydrated and nourished and ready to tackle the 27 hair pins of Sathyamangalam. I knew that rapid altitude changes do not go well with empty stomach so my decision to eat heavily before crossing the mountain slopes was fortunate. The 27 hair pins were an absolute delight and it was a long time since I had that delicious ear popping sensation of altitude change. The view of the vast plains of Tamil Nadu stretching to the horizons was a cherished highpoint of this stretch of the ride.

Finally the hairpins were over and I had reached Bannari and the plains ahead. The heat was already excruciating but I was well stocked in terms of water and chocolates so I rode on. Having tackled my first worry, the Sathyamangalam forest my next major worry was ahead of me – how to bypass Coimbatore. I

knew that at the tail end of a 400 kms ride it would be hellish to have to ride through the city traffic of Coimbatore. From the maps I had seen that there was a route from Annur to Karumathampatti by which I can join the NH47 and thus bypass Coimbatore city completely. By the time I passed Sathyamangalam however my fatigue had climbed to overpowering levels. My eyes were drooping; I could not maintain a straight line and even repeated yawning were not helping. The time was around 2 PM and the heat was at its most debilitating. I knew I was heading for real trouble when I could not even sing properly. Singing aloud is one sure shot way to boost the adrenaline, especially when I am singing. On the open highways I can sing aloud to heart’s content without worry of any public nuisance or noise pollution litigations. Usually singing aloud drives most of the sleep away, but this time I could feel that my voice was slurring too much, lines were senseless, it was as if a tape recorder with failing battery was playing music. I knew I had to get off the road but the shades were very few and there was no place to really sit and rest. And then thankfully I saw a coconut vendor by a roadside tree and immediately got off the road. He gave me a chair and I rested my sore posterior and fatigued rest of the body on it and downed two coconuts in quick succession. Then I just vegetated in that chair for some ten minutes. Regaining my senses a little more I asked the people nearby about the deviation to the NH. They told me that I was just one km away from Annur and the deviation road to Karumathampatti was of excellent condition. This along with the natural electrolytes of the coconut milk was energizing me when a couple more locals stopped by and enquired of my journey. When I told them I was on my way to Palghat and was taking the deviation from Annur, they suggested I head on straight towards Coimbatore. Apparently there is a deviation 8 kms before Coimbatore to a place called “Sithirai” from where I can join the NH47. Now fully energized I was on my way. I was glad that I did not have to take the longer detour towards Karumathampatti and also relieved I can avoid the clogged roads of Coimbatore.

The afore mentioned deviation could not however be found by me and around 2.30 found me smack in the middle of Coimbatore. Hot, sore and fatigued, I navigated the confusing roads of Coimbatore and finally somehow managed to be on the road to Palghat. I was helped particularly by an old gentleman on a scooter who led me through a labyrinth of byroads and shortcuts to lead past some clogged junctions and on towards Palghat Road. After one more pit break by a bakery on the NH47 I was finally on my way to Palghat. An hour later as I plonked down the lush bed of my room at KPM Regency in Palghat I was already in trepidation of the ride I was going on the next day. On Sunday after Nandu’s wedding I would be already tired from the function and from the Saturday’s ride and then I would have to handle the evening rush hour of Coimbatore and Palghat by passes before a night of hard riding on the NH47 and NH7, solo.

Sunday afternoon at 2PM saw me fully decked out in my riding gear and leaving Palghat. After some slight detour and a visit to an old friend and some relatives at 4.30PM I had left Palghat. I was told that temperatures were touching 40 degrees Celsius in Palghat in those days and my sweat sodden T shirts were testament to that fact. The pain and soreness of posterior, that hallowed companion of us riders, which usually starts for me after about 200 kms in my Hunk, started barely 40 kms out of Palghat on that day. I knew the night ride would not be a joke, especially not on the second consecutive day of riding, but this was an experiment that I had feared for long and no more avoided. As a passionate rider my dream has always been rides defined not in hundreds but in thousands of kilometers. Rides of duration defined not in hours or days, but weeks on the saddle. To go on such rides I must be physically capable of enduring the long hours and days on the saddle. It would also be necessary for me to be as experienced in riding in darkness as I am during day time. Of course I have ridden in darkness and in adverse weather conditions before, that too in extreme fatigue. But those were rides in which the majority of the ride would still take place during the day time. Not this one.

The roads after Avinashi are of course an absolute joy for riding and it was on these roads that I had an amazing experience. I watched as the sun set in my rear view mirrors! It was so beautiful! The crimson red sun sliding down the clouds and towards the distant hills. After a while I stopped at a crest and just enjoyed the distant vistas. Sore posterior, odd cramps and all, it was validation of my passion for biking.

Such sights, such experiences are solely the realms of us denizens of two wheels. Greater are the cyclists, but as their more lazy counterparts we too have the right to claim to such bliss. No one who travels by a car, bus, train or plane can ever experience such beauty, such glory of nature.

As I reached Salem at around 8.30 I knew I was making decent progress, to have ridden 200 kms in 4 hours, but the fatigue was becoming heavy. I have always despaired of how Salem despite being such a major junction has such a serious lack of highway joints. There are joints before Salem and after Salem, but nothing within the city itself. Such a disappointment. However I managed to find a decent bakery from where I had lots of coffee.

The problem I faced while riding hard like that is not fatigue. Fatigue is manageable, some rest and it won’t be there for hours. I don’t have any back pain either; I guess I have perfected my posture over the years. The biggest problem and the single greatest distraction from giving my full attention to the roads is the sore posterior. I have experimented with various types of innerwear but to no avail. I fear whether ultimately this pain is ultimately due to the seat itself. Since changing the seat of my Hunk is not an option I guess I just have to bear through it. I have always hoped and wondered whether like all callouses after a point of time the body learns to ignore this particular pain, but alas, no.

After Salem I found out that the kilometers I could cover between breaks were reducing significantly. I took a break a few kilometers before Dharmapuri at some junction on the highway. There was some sort of tea shop opposite the road and some police vehicle was also parked there. As far as I was concerned there was a large light tower which drenched the area in light so I felt marginally more secure than I would have in any other isolated stretch. I knew the dangers that could befall a lonely traveller in such isolated stretches, but exhaustion compelled me to take some rest. After sitting around for a while finally I lay down on the dirt of the median and closed my eyes for a quarter of an hour. My senses were peaked, I was on the alert for any change in ambience but I had to get the rest of my body some rest. It was certainly a strange experience, lying down in the middle of nowhere staring at the stars with umpteen cars and trucks zooming past every now and then. Yet another experience I cherished as a biker.

A couple more hours later at midnight I had neared Krishnagiri when I stopped at a tollbooth. There a middle aged man made his acquaintance with me. On learning that I am riding from Palghat to Bangalore he said that he is a security guy working at Electronic City, after being a Hawaldar in Indian Army he had also worked in Defense Security Corps for a few years and while there was stationed at Kannur. Then came his pitch. Claiming that he had been waiting at the toll booth for close to an hour he asked me whether he would give me a lift to a point some 8 kilometers away. At first I tried warding him off by saying that my rear tire is not suitably inflated but he seemed over eager. Then I decided to go on another tack. I sat at the bench there and chatted with him for a few minutes. He went on about his army and DSC career when subtly I asked him about the Territorial Army Battalion stationed in Kannur. He said their unit is adjacent to his own. Then I asked him what was the name of that TA Battalion and he was stumped. Surely any army guy stationed in Kannur would know that the Kannur TA Battalion is known as the Terriers? I knew that this was a question through which I can politely get rid of him. Being a seasoned traveller I am well aware of the dangers of these highways, which are often death traps to the weary and the naive. Sure he may be bonafide but unless and until I am absolutely sure of it I cannot take such a risk. I told him openly that unless and until he gave me the name of the unit I cannot offer him a lift. He tried pleading a few times, even showed me some address on a notebook. I asked him for his Army Identity Card and again he was stumped. Even if he is a bonafide person I am sure my reasons should prove to be a logical reason for not giving him a lift. Happy that I handled this potential nasty situation ably I was on my way.

A few more stops later finally I neared Bangalore. I got a small scare as a couple of kilometers before Electronic City, a seemingly crazy guy tried to stop my bike in the middle of the road. I swerved past him

but it did give me a much needed adrenaline boost to cover the final stretch home. Paying the fee for the Elevated Highway I was enthralled to find the Elevated highway completely empty of all traffic except mine. For close to 10 unbelievable minutes I was cruising along this road enjoying the feeling of being on top of the world. It seemed like a victory lap for me, at the culmination of a harrowing and strenuous day of riding. Though this solitude was marred by a few vehicles which passed after about 15 minutes when I finally neared home I was in the best of spirits. The spirits were so high that I almost had a fishtail a few kilometers from my home but I reached home uneventfully at 2.30 AM on Monday.

It was truly a ride of great experiences and validated experiments. I found out that Sathyamangalam route is indeed one of the best routes to Kerala, if you manage to bypass Coimbatore. I found out that I have the physical stamina to ride 800 kms in 2 consecutive days, except for my posterior. I found out that I can handle night rides; I know now what extra precautions and preparations I have to take. Of course far ahead is an exclusively night ride, a ride from Bangalore to Kochi and vice versa conducted entirely at night, which if accomplished would ensure that even on weekend holidays I can travel between the two cities, without having to devote day time to riding.

Of course this account would be incomplete without giving due credit to my mother who tired of trying to argue me out of this ride stayed awake while I was riding praying for me. As she messaged me, and as I fully concur, Thank God for helping me complete this ride without issues.