Place: Kabbaladurga trek (Kabbalamma temple)Distance: 100kms x 2 = 200kmsDirections: Bangalore > Ramnagara > Channpatna > KabbaladurgaKrew: Gautam (Gauti) > Karthik (Sp)Bikes: FZ >PulsarPrevious Visit: KRS Backwaters and Venugopalaswamytemple.IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:This was another wonderful trek to test our stamina. The climb like always was good. The only thing that kept worrying was the dancing clouds on top of our head. The slow bike ride (50kmph), wonderful trek and a grand finisher at our dhaba made this run a memorable one.INTRO & PLAN:Okay, it had been a week since I had got my bike’s engine re-bored and all the valves changed. The result? Well it was more or less a new bike all over again. But the first 800kms or so had to be ridden at less than 4500RPM. So, it felt like day one for me all over again, taking me back to the Maddur Days (Ah, sweet!) Anyway, snap, snap, Gauti had told me that he would be coming to Bangalore for the weekend, I hold onto his horses at Maddur, as we would be taking a small detour in between :PTIME: 22:00 (1/7/2016)
ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:Oh yeah woke up at 05:00, did a few push-ups & sit-ups, had a sip of coffee & was all set to go! The meet up was scheduled at Maddur for breakfast. I called up Gauti and asked whether it was raining at Mysore, when he confirmed a “no”, it was time for an all-out trek at Kabbaladurga. TIME: 05:45RIDE 1: (Bangalore – Bidadi – Channpatna – Maddur – Channpatna - Kabbaladurga)So, this was roughly 80kms+50kms ride to Kabblu. As I left Bangalore, the weather was just perfect for an excellent morning ride. As my engine was re-bored I rode slowly in between 45-55kmph. I mean, it felt different and took me back to my initial days, where hadI learnt to ride on the same very road – Mysore road. Yeah I know one of the tough roads to learn a bike. I started off enjoying the breeze and began humming to myself as the traffic began to gradually increase. I came across a group of Enfields (Himalayan x 2, Classic x 1, Electra x 1 and some more) who had pulled over after Kengeri.
Guess they must have wondered who this slow poke is! Anyway, I kept a stone steady pace at about 50kmph, changing it by a few steps now and then. All those bikes zoomed across at 80+kmph and the poor little tortoise kept crawling along. Then they had pulled over for some tea. I continued further at the same constant pace. After about 30mins, came the group again zooming ahead in full force. I kept the same pace. Then I again found them road side admiring each other’s bike. Finally as I approached Maddur, I pulled over at Maddur Tifany’s and Gauti arrived about 2mins after I came. (Mighty, Mighty, Sync!) Then the sounds of the Enfield’s roaring came again, this time I was like, wait. I went out, it was the same gang. Ayyio I thought, but made faces. It was like that rabbit and turtle race all over again hehe!TIME: 07:45
Okay after a brief catching up talk, we stormed into the hotel and munching down on some hot idly vadas. After a nice coffee, we headed out and after speaking for some time we decided to freeze on Kabbaladurga inspite of the dark clouds above our heads. I told Gauti about my bike’s condition and I had to keep it below 4500RPM, he said as long we ride together to the place and back, nothing else mattered. (Such, nice words I thought!) After a small refuel, we cruised along at a nice slow pace toreach Channpatna, from where we took a right deviation to head towards kabblu. A standard 1st Glimpse stop was made and the chill down the spines I could feel, very clearly. Parking the bikes in the town, we were all set for the climb.TIME: 09:15
ASCENSION:The ascension was a very smooth one. To be frank I thought I would have difficulty, guess my body pulled it off without a sweat. And Gauti, well one of the few adapters we have in this club. Adapters I call them because they would go along with the flow of circumstances so well. Okay, it took us 1hour and 10minutes to reach the top.By now guess we all know what the stretches are right? For new comers, here goes:i) Initial Stretchii) 3-Point Stretchiii) Viper Stretchiv) Final StretchKeep up with here now!i) Initial Stretch:Alright, like always we goofed up at the start itself. I think I have been here more than 7times, and the first stretch is the one that often misleads me. Once the stone steps were spotted it was piece of cake traveling through the muddy terrain to reach my favorite phase of the trek.
ii) 3 Point Stretch:Okay, once we found our way around and reached the 3 Pointer, we knew this would be ‘the’ test of our stamina and would clearly give us where we stood on our energy levels. Took a deep breath and with the lizard king awake within us we started scaling the walls. It was actually a very nice feeling of getting no thoughts expect the next crack on the surface to search for. Heavily breathing we made it up the steep face and continued further a few more meters to reach the Viper Stretch.
iii) Viper Stretch:Surprisingly, we never rested at this point like we always did. With the clouds playing hide and seek above our head we didn’t want to delay any progress time. Viper I call this stretch as it resembles a snake crawling its way through grass lands. Jumping on the boulders and dancing around, we made to the final stretch.
iv) Final Stretch:The last stretch, still always takes me back to the first time I had climbed this hillock. So, barren it was and had almost killed me twice or thrice here and there. Now it looked a little tamed down with all the railings and support. Pushing on through, we made it to the top. And I showed the spot where I had encountered the Monitor Lizard (Ooda) one of the times I had hiked the hillock. (Kabbaladurga – Monitor Lizard Encounter)TIME: 10:30
TOP:Even though it was a Saturday, we were happy to find no one around. So like always we first visited the Kabbalamma temple and showed our respects. After which we went to Nandi temple to crash. But this time it was a little different, we slept off outside with the strong breeze all around. 
By this time the sun was up and shining mighty. We managed to get a good 30mins sleep. Woke up fresh, by two hikers had made their way to the top and asked us if that was the only route up as they found it very difficult and had left one of their friends in between. I was tempted to say “Well that’s kabblu for you” But told them that was the easiest one and most importantly they should spend time enjoying the view and we would help them to get back down. But once they said they were good on their own, we requested them to return soon as the clouds were approaching.TIME: 11:30
DESCENSION:We took about 45mins to descend the hillock. It was easy going, but we took care to mind each and every step. Any silly moves would send us tumbling down a bloody path. As we finished off the final & viper stretch, I was all excited and set for the 3 pointer. Moving zig zag along the steep curve, reading the curves and cracks we made it down to the first stretch to find the left out friend from the group. We asked him if he wanted to join us back to town. He asked us back whether the 3 pointer was easy or the normal route was easy. I looked at Gauti and Gauti looked back at me and we together asked as to which path was he comparing with. He showed us the normal path and said that he found that pathway very difficult. We asked him to wait for his friends calmly and moved ahead to reach the town for some refreshments.TIME: 12:15
RIDE 2: (Kabbladurga – Channapatna – Bidadi – Bangalore)Okay, this was a 100km ride back. But this turned out to be one of the most gruelling rides as the sun was shining in all its glory and keeping a constant of 50-60kmph was quite difficult. The traffic increased a bit but we pushed along steadily to reach Kengeri outskirts. Here we called up Dilip & Madhu and asked them to put attendance at Kuteera Dhaba. After we all assembled we drifted into a long required rest.TIME: 14:15
After spending about 5+hours munching and drinking we left the dhaba totally afloat. Madhu headed back to his home, while Dilip and me continued towards Banashankari to reach back our respective homes.TIME: 20:00CONCLUSION:“well this was a feel-good trip. Was totally happy to know that my stamina hadn’t deteriorated and the lizard king was alive and kicking within me. And yes, always good to end a chapter at dhabas with good friends”KREW:Gauti – even though he had climbed this hillock before, never showed hesitation in repeating trips. (That by the way is true sign of a traveller) Also, rode alongside at 50-60kmph knowing I would be slow that day. Cheers to that brother!Sp – I was on tortoise mode throughout this chapter. Lazing around Mysore road looking at skies, green fields, feeling the breeze and enjoying the view felt real good. But at the end of the day, my ass was bed-ridden the next day, hehe!
Saturday well spent huh, Until next time Ta-da Cia \m/
