Tour de Mysore

I wrote this article in 2005 for my company magazine.

My birthday this year was a very special one. It marked my permanent exit from the twenty-something club to the thirty plus crowd. It meant my automatic promotion to the under-40 from the under-30 category during the annual Philips Sports Day. And worse, I began to dread the day when my younger colleagues start addressing me with my first name suffixed with an affectionate “mama” (uncle). It made me remember my taunts of colleagues who were in a similar position. And every recollection sent a shiver down the spine. That’s what motivated me to join my colleague on one of his cycling trips.

Krishnaprasad S., popularly known as “KP”, is well known for his antics as well as for his atheletism. He is very passionate about cycling. In December 2004, he had cycled from Pune to Kanyakumari, a distance of 1800 kilometres in about 17 days. So, when he asked me to join him, half-jokingly, on a trip to his hometown Mysore, I held onto it like a flotsam. KP is a nice person and a lot of fun to work with. But when it comes to his passion, cycling, he is a man possessed by the spirits of Lance Armstrong. He appointed himself as my cycling coach and took interest in my preparation. I was prescribed a training schedule and a diet to build stamina for long distance cycling. He helped customize my bicycle to suit my anatomy. The couple of weeks before the trip were very intense. I got up at 4:30am every day and cycled 30 kms on an average. I did “Suryanamaskaram” for my stretching routines before and after cycling, which I learnt from another colleague (Hemakumar Kasala, who has been practising it for the past eight years).


The trip was planned on 13th August 2005, which was a Saturday. I left my home in Indira Nagar at 5am on my Hercules Top-Gear to Banashankari Temple on Kanakapura Road where I was joined by KP. In order to avoid traffic and the hustle bustle on the Mysore Road, we decided to take the Kanakapura-Malavalli-Bannur route to Mysore. This route, though longer, was much calmer and had far less traffic. The condition of the road was good but for a few stretches where development activities were still underway. Even though Bangalore is at a higher altitude than Mysore, the towns enroute lie at a lower altitude than both Bangalore and Mysore. As a result, one loses altitude during the first part of the journey and gains it towards the end. We covered good grounds and were averaging 20 km / hr. We reached Kanakapura around 8:30am and stopped there for our breakfast. From here we headed out to Malavalli, which was 40 kms away. We had smeared ourselves with sun-screen lotion to protect from getting sun-burnt. As we passed through different “hallis” (villages) we invoked the curiosities of the on-lookers. From our perch atop the bicycle we had to answer questions like “Yellinda?”, “Yelli?” and “Yaake?” (roughly translated to “Where from?”, “Where to?” and “Why?”). To this our standard replies while undertaking the gruelling task of cycling were mono-syllabic and precise. “Bangalore”, “Mysore” and “Summane” (just like that). As we passed through the open classrooms being conducted under banyan trees, children who were having their breaks found it amusing to run along with us, waving small Indian flags. These moments were surreal and created an illusion of us competing in Tour de France with many Indian supporters encouraging us.

We stopped 15 kms after Malavalli for lunch. We had covered about 115 kms and we were 41 kms from Mysore. KP’s sister, Priya had prepared delicious “chappathis” with an assortment of fillings. We started after lunch break at about 2pm. As I had explained early the last 41 kms was entirely uphill and we made slow progress. We reached the outskirts of Mysore at about 4:30pm. As we approached the city, suddenly dark rain bearing clouds gathered above us and there was a cloudburst. It was a surrogate reception accorded by the Maharaja of Mysore to two emissaries from the kingdom of Kempegowda. We reached KP’s home in Mysore at about 5:30pm after having travelled a distance of 160 kms in about 12 hours and 30 minutes at an average speed of 16.2 km/hr. I was glad I could make the trip without any mishap. It was possible because I had a firm belief that I could do it.

Lots of things have changed since the cycling trip. My younger colleagues have realised that at thirty I am still as young as them. They look up to me for inspiration and encouragement. And now they call me “anna” (elder brother). But that’s still better than “mama”, I guess. As for me, I have realised that cycling in India is as much fun and safe as elsewhere in the world. And KP and I have already started making plans for a holiday on wheels, come this December.