Friday, January 27, 2012

Weekend Trip with Pathfinders

Onlooker
Saturday morning was very special as I was about to meet my childhood pal Damodar. Meeting point was Petrol pump on Varthur lake cross at 6:30AM. And cause was to cycle around sarjapur area.
Last I remember meeting Damu was 17years back and we were both riding bicycle that time. 
Had never seen early morning in city for quite long, and being up at wee hours was bit tough. Yet I managed with some difficulty and started my journey to the meeting point.

Cloud Bed
We all gathered at the venue on time. With little chit chat about life and all we started our journey towards sarjapura road. Aim being purely to enjoy the nature and nothing else.

cold wave


Group:
Mak, Damu and Me (Photo by Anurag)


    Pathfinder cyling club is started by two gentleman Mak Parab and Damodar Sawant. They have conducted many weekend getaways in an around sarjapura and whitefield area.
 Our last member for trip was shutterbug Anurag Hande.
Pathfinders

 Journey:
    We started towards decathlon from Varthur. At few meters we stopped by to get glace of sunrise, mist covered paddy fields and morning flight of birds.

Varthur kere at 6:30AM
We took the detour at Gunjur village towards Sarjapura road.  Road from here becomes narrow single lane with typical country side surroundings. Huge fields on either side with evenly patched forest trees.
For nature admirer this place will be heaven. Lot's of nursery's are located at this point.
My favorable being Manisha nursery.
Route from Start to Detour


  A small detour on the village road took us to a vast potato field. Periodic breaks from pedaling is required to conserve energy and muscle longevity for longer rides.
We just did right by taking frequent breaks.
Damoday, mak and Anurag  

Potato fields 
 From gunjur to Sarjapur road is very near and it takes abut 15 minutes or so to reach the junction.
At the junction we replenished with cool coconut water.  With no time to waste we headed towrds Manish nursery. Nursery is located next to the intersection.
@ Manisha nursery 


Tower through torn jeans
Spending some time in the nursery we moved ahead in the direction of decathlon sports on sarjapura road. Just before the Sports complex we noticed small off road and without wasting anytime we on on the trail.
Little ahead there was nice walking path passing through the fields and we directed our machines towards the path.

Trail 
On trail was serious fun as the bikes made for trail deliver lot of comfort and control. We spend few minutes in the field. Anurag and Damu were more keen on playing with two pups in the field

Pups

Gear

Monkey Business 

en route
It was getting hot and we had to plan for our return. We unanimously decided to return back to marathalli instead of regular varthur lake junction.

We took off the fields and on the tarmac. After crossing a small railway gate we took little detour on walking trail. Walking trail took us very close to decathlon.
Race against the iron mammoth
Well! would have never done it but thanks to my Pathfinder pals :)
 It was getting really hot now and we had extended our trip time. without wasting anytime we cross the railway gate at decathlon and moved towards carmelaram railway station.

We took a detour towards devarbessanhalli on outer ring road. passing through small by lanes we finally manged to reach outer ring road. Nice breakfast at Kanthi's with refreshing badam(almond) milk we dispersed in our own direction.

 

Saturday, January 14, 2012

My New Ride

Wonder how much fuel is trapped in our body? I just calculated and found I can make round trip to delhi with all the fat stores I have developed over years :)

Yes I have gone back to pedal power! and brought new Merida Matts V40 yesterday.
MERIDA MATTS V40 Hardtail
BIKE HUNT:-

My hunt for bike started with test rides of various bikes.

1. Cannondale  I did't like the ride of low end ones.
2. Btwin rock rider series Bike had good specs, but not so good ride for the price point of 16k
3. Schwinn Not that great in tech specs and ride is not great to pay in excess of 15K.
4. Mongoose Tyrx Sport Shift quality of SRAM shifter coupled with SR Suntour crankset is mediocre. .
5. Fuji Tahoe 2010 very good bike with all deore system and liked it well. but price was quite high about 26k
6. Giant Revel 2 offered very good ride but shocks of Suntour XCT 80mm were disappointing.  Knew I will be not doing any great downhill trails but these shocks were not good. But certainly not the deal breaker.  


MERIDA Frame
Now I had done with Giant, Canondale, Mongoose, Btwin, Schwinn, Fuji etc. I had two other bikes in my mind. KHS Alite 300 and Merida. Had seen merida spec online but price of 24k was overshoot to my budget..
Went to wheelsports.in at Chamrajpeth on weekend. Tried Merida and instantly liked the ride. KHS was not ready for the trial. Moreover KHS was new bike with SRAM shifters.

Merida Alivio derailers
 It took me 2 hours to decide on what I have to buy. Venky at Wheelsports was very courteous in showing me various bikes. I recommend him for everyone.
Another one screened was Scott. But ride of Scott was not available so I cancelled it from my list.
Shimano Shifters are easy to Use.

Rear End.
 Riding from Chamrajpet to my home in Whitefield would be real test for me. It was not the issue with stamina, but the direction to destination was totally unknown. My GPS was saviour. Person at Wheelsports made a small mount for my GPS which I could attach to my bike and navigate.
Idea was good and it turned out great for me. It took me more than one hour cutting evening traffic to reach home.
Only pain I had was in my bum. So same day I visited Decathlon with Bhagyesh and purchased gel seat , bike computer, tail light, Helmet and gloves

My Parking lot
BTWIN COUNT 8 Bike Computer

"Saviour Da BUM" gel paded seat cover

Helmet and Paded Gloves for long rides

That's me :)
looking forward to put some miles on my bike soon :)