We started the journey with 0 ride plan and no destination in mind.
BHPian doomketu recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
RESET
Stress is a silent killer. It piles on you one incident at a time and build up like the sludge in an engine whose oil has not been changed in years. When built up with nowhere to go, it compresses itself into a singularity and explodes with a big bang when you least expect it, laying waste the efforts you had put to maintain everything in its place.
If identified early, you can start multiple home remedies to alleviate the buildup and slowly regain your sanity and sense of self. Some do yoga, others sing, while some workout, and I chose to ride it out.
With hectic work schedule and multiple escalations my hours were confined to the 10 hours I spend ( I make sure to log off and go offline after work hours) but those 10 hours each day for 2 weeks were peak stress inducing instances where despite my technical skills, external factors would hinder me with my investigation leading to a mess. Pressure creates diamonds, but in this case it created mashed potatoes and somehow the team and I tided this over. Exhausted as it is and now gearing up to face our next technical upgrade, I decided to reset myself before attempting anything. Though I ride the bike almost daily, it is limited to the confines of a routine befitting a domesticated animal, Home – Office – Home , with no scope to let loose its wild nature that is hidden just past the rpm midrange. Sai and I got talking about an unrelated topic and a last minute decision entailed that I would get just 4 hours of sleep to meet him next morning and Ride along Kanakapura road, with no agenda in sight. We both wanted to just ride for the sake of riding with a good place to view the sunrise being an added bonus. Little did we know that we would realise how beautiful the inner roads past Kanakapura are and how we can enjoy the curves and the mountains side by side.
I set off from the easternmost tip of Bangalore at 430 am, armed with only my riding gear and a bottle of water, only to be greeted by traffic in the ORR thanks to the Metro Construction. What a lovely start to the day. I reached Murthy’s petrol pump at the Kanakapura Road Nice road junction and filled up on XP95. I was in line to fill fuel as just before me was a gentleman in a Street Triple 765 and his friend in a Street Twin 1200. If there is anything in the world that can jumpstart your heart, it would be either the symphony of the 3cylinder Triumph or the inline 4 orchestra of the ZX4R. After talking to the gentlemen for a bit (I hope you both are Bhpians) they set of on their way for the Rocky ridge circuit that they had planned for the weekend. Sai joined in 15 minutes later and we set off with a 20 min overall deviation from our 530am agreed upon. As usual we had to take obligatory photos of the Apache 310’s with their headlight on. You underestimate how much I love the headlamp of my RTR.
We started the journey with 0 ride plan and no destination in mind. With Kanakapura road opening up and welcoming us, we crossed Harohalli in not time and the scenery went from semi urban landscape to pure natural bliss. This ride is enough to convince me to save up and pick up an Insta360X3 and mount it to Appucha, just to relive the memories over and over. Sparse traffic and beautiful tarmac aided us and we maintained the speed limit quite easily. Surprisingly the speed limit here is 100, which is totally doable, provided you restrain your throttle hand and keep a lookout as Activa in wrong lane is least of your worries, the divine bovine and street dogs will ensure they keep you on the edge of your seat. before we knew it, we reached Kanakapura, 40km away from our start time. We decided to turn left and follow the state road and further take a left and head towards district roads, away from any main channels. I am glad we took this route. The Road curved naturally and the scenery on both sides was sublime. The lush greenery (hasiru) and the local cows (hasu) munching on breakfast , the cold morning breeze and the 630 am misty sunrise filled us with happiness. We stopped for a Sunrise photo shoot and then ambled further inwards reading the signage ( which is beautifully maintained in Kannada and English) which showed that the Arkavathi Reservoir was a mere 17km away.
We decided to go the long way around and approach from the south and stumbled quite accidentally upon an upward slant Z curve followed by a bridge over the river. We approached the curve at 60kph and the feeling we got when tackling it only to be greeted by an even more beautiful boulevard of purple flowering trees was truly a sight to behold. We did not stop anywhere till we hit the Bridge on top of the River. The bridge is a fantastic and slightly risky spot to stop and take photos of the bike as its quite narrow and the KSRTC Sarige busses zoom past us in a hurry. We spent a good 15 mins admiring the view and that is when my brain reset itself. It was at this moment that we both just quietly looked at the landscape and let out our sighs, thereby steeling ourself to tackle the next workweek. Standing in front of such a majestic view is indeed a beautiful way to reset and rejuvenate ourselves.
From here on we slowly ambled thru concerte village roads with lush green fields on both sides and made our way to the Reservoir. By this time the sun was up in the sky and was uninhibitedly raining down heat and exhaustion upon us.It was just 735 but we could feel the temps rise. The reservoir is a good place to park your bike and chill for a bit , and with a decent view surrounding it, you can take good pictures if you are handy with a DSLR. After clicking a few pics and soaking in the view, we decided to start our return journey back to Bangalore. Trusting google maami’s guidance we quickly reached the main road which took us to kanakapura and from there stopped just outside kanakapura for breakfast.
To those who frequent this road, I will recommend Mandarthi Gardenia. Their thatte idli with Mint chutney is pretty good. Their vadai is decent but coffee is alright. From here on, it was every man for himself and we both started the ride back and split near Nice road junction. I covered the last 60 km from the hotel to home in an hour and 10 mins which is not bad at all. All in all with mind recharged, I will dream about the hasiru (green) roads with the “olle” ( good) curves which can cure good chunk of stress. I am sure others in TBHP will have similar stories on much better roads or more capable bikes with more skill than me, but hey we work with the tools we have and the skill we cultivate. As long as it makes us happy, we are on the right track.
Till Next Time, Dhanyavaadagalu For Reading This Amateurish Adventure.
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