Cycling the 70km Bangalore Harohalli route

Route : Bangalore - Nisarga Layout - Harohalli - Kanakpura - Bangalore

Preparations
After digging into many articles for some of the best cycling routes in Bangalore - i preferred doing the Bangalore - Harohalli route with close proximity to my house in Banerghatta road. I had plans to do the Bangalore Mysore route one way and back on the Volvo, but i guess that was too adventurous and tasking - 160 km - by gosh,,,

Me on the Trek 3700

I often cycle early in the morning at my home in Patna - Trek 3700. I knew if i had to do any of the routes in Bangalore -the distances would be long.

Once i selected this route - it was time to get a cycle on rent. I checked on RR Cycles - Madiwala - if they had one. RR Cycles in Madiwala do give cycles on rent. I managed to get a Trek 3700.

The ride

Bangalore-Harohalli.

As Soma left early morning for office , i was off solo en route to Nisarga Layout at 8:45 AM. The initial 12 kms from Gottigere via Banerghatta National Park was crazy. Hell lot of morning traffic.
Once i took the right turn to Nisarga Layout which was another 2 kms. - riding was fun now with no traffic. Nisarga Layout is pretty big and planned - i took a stop here for a quick breakfast. As i was solo - had to make sure that i was on the right track. I avoided doing it from Anekal to Nisarga Layout being too lengthy.
Once i crossed Nisarga layout - the road was bad and heading towards a downhill. Past a few junctions to the right - came a pucca road - which was much better. I had never imagined that the outskirts of Bangalore - road and countryside was beautiful. With a perfect weather - i just felt that i had the extra energy to ride ahead. I guess - as i read in one of the articles - this stretch is one of the best to ride. I had to come over a few uphills which was really taxing and tiring but was worth it. I was now soon on the Banerghatta Zoo corridor. I was the only person on this entire stretch riding and i feared of Elephants cross by,,,i did not stop for a break on this entire stretch,,,,

Uphill - Blr-Harohalli route

There is one particular stretch after the Banerghatta Zoo corridor which is a downhill - by gosh,,,had i not applied my breaks, i would be off the mountains in a deep pitch,,yes, it was very steep.Mind ya fellas- if you do Harohalli to Bangalore via Anekal - it's much more challenging as it has mostly uphill on the route.
By 12:30 i was at the Harohalli junction. Took a break and asked locals for the way back to Bangalore.

  

Harohalli-Kanakpura rd.-J.P.Nagar-Gottigere (Blr)

 This stretch was pretty good to ride but you had to keep in mind of the traffic. I had to keep a constant check to ride to my extreme left - in fact off the road. A few stretches is uphill and it really requires that extra energy to pull. As i was tired cycling more than 3 hours - i could feel the pain in the butt and the muscle pull. The milestone really helped as you could spot at every 2 kms. I took many breaks in between for water and tea. I spotted a few dhabas en route which looked tempting but did not stop,,,after doing this stretch for 25 kms. i almost reached Bangalore. Took a shortcut to JP Nagar - there was a 2 kms uphill which was a killer - i preferred to walk,,,i was near gottigere now.
Before reaching home - i congratulated myself for doing this wonderful route of 75 kms. solo.
Wow,,,,,

Important Info.
Bike - Trek 3700
Rent : 275 per day
RR Cycles - Madiwala - 0091 984479039

Route