Nandi Hills ride

I had cycled twice before to Nandi hills, but never done the complete ride from Bangalore and back. The first time, ,I'd started from the Nandi cross on NH-7. The second time, we had started from Bangalore, but could not complete the ride back due to severe headwinds and a puncture. I was determined to complete it fully and finally did it yesterday.

Eight of us started off from Hebbal at 6:30. People kept dropping off and finally when we reached the base of Nandi, there were only 4 of us left. I had two goals on the climb, one to do it nonstop and secondly to avoid using the lowest gear. I achieved the first one, but the second one was too hard especially on the later stages. On the way back, we took the route via Doddballapur to avoid the hot sun and headwinds that are always present on NH-7. We reached Hebbal at 3:30, it was a ride to cherish.

Stats
Total distance: 106 km
Time from Hebbal to Nandi base : 1 hr 50 min
Time to climb to top: 50 min
Time to descend : 12 min 42 sec
Ave speed on descent: 37.5 kmph
Max speed on descent : 67.5 kmph
Time from Nandi base to Hebbal : 2 hr 5 min
Overall ave speed: 21.2 kmph
Ave speed excluding Nandi: 23 kmph