Exploring the historical Devanahalli fort: A Tandem Ride
Continuing our fun ride on tandem every weekend, this sunday (14th Oct 2018), was biking trip to the Devanahalli Fort. But interestingly, this time we had a group of around 26 riders (for me this was the first ride with such a huge group) from the CNL group. CNL i.e Cycling next level is a local biking group in Bangalore, which is a platform to encourage the newbies into cycling, while pushing the endurance level of the experienced cyclists, by organising fun and endurance rides every weekends. This trip was led by Guru and Vidya, planning and guidance both.
I had passed by the Devanahalli fort a couple of times, but never had a chance to explore it. As always, my general practice, I googled the historical importance of the place and found the heroic history behind the fort. Devanahalli Fort is located 35 kms north of Bangalore city, at Devanahalli. It was originally built in 1501 by Mallabairegowda, which remained in the hands of his descendants until the mid eighteenth century. In 1749, the then Dalwai of Mysore, Nanjarajaiah, attacked the fort and occupied it. Later, the fort passed into the hands of Hyder Ali and subsequently Tipu Sultan. In 1791, Lord Cornwallis laid seige to the fort and took possession during the Anglo Mysore war.
We started off at morning 5:50 am from J P Nagar to meet the guys at the meeting park near Cubbon park. As always on every ride, we were greeted by surprise and anxiety by the look of tandem. Some of the people had a confusion that its only the front rider who is riding and the stroker can relax without pedalling. But let me tell you, when one person is not pedaling, the other person on the bike knows it. What happens is that the gear shall become very heavy and the captain will have to shift up to an easier gear. If the stoker is outpedaling the captain, the captain will spun out and even the chain may fall off ...There were some contradictory views that two riders are riding a single bike which must be making the ride so easy.. Not so easy at it seems as Tandems are heavy due to huge steel frame weighing 30 kg plus the weight of the two riders.
As the ride progressed more and more people started joining and the number increase to 26. We focussed on our main target of increasing our average speed. Monitoring cadence of 90 and shifting to harder gear during uphill and to lower gear during downhill, we moved ahead. The group took a break for lunch before hebbal. After almost an hour we resumed the ride. Hills are a killer but that gets compensated during the downhill in case of tandem. So as we were rising through the flyovers, it seemed quite frustrating when we were dead slow at a pace of 10 kmph when the road bikers were covering it at a very decent pace. But when we were coming down, the speed enhanced to 45 kmph. A lot of respite, and it was a view worth watching, and even the fastest road bikers, gave us a glance. By now everyone in the group were just awwed by the sexy bike.
Before the Devanahalli fort, we stopped by the birth place of Tipu Sultan. Not a huge mansion, but just a small memorial with a small plaque to commemorate the birth (1751) of the great warrior. Its about 6 feet tall with a pillared enclosure and square top and bears a stone tablet. The area around the enclosure is known as Khas Bagh and has a dried up stone pond, banana, tamarind and mango plantations. Nevertheless, its a historical one and thus we thought of taking a few photographs. 500 mts away from the place stood the mighty Devanahalli Fort. The oval fort has huge semicircular bastions. The entrance to the fort is quite small, probably comfortable enough for the horses of Yore. The bastions are provided with gun points built with lime and brick. Inside the fort was a lawn with lush green grasses and we enjoyed a lot with our photo shoot sessions. I climbed up (many were not interested) for a view of the surrounding countryside--the highway to Hyderabad is within sight, all that traffic passing by without noticing the fort !! After spending some fun and lively moments we returned back.
It was a day well spent, riding with such a huge group of enthusiastic and spirited riders. We felt like the stars of the show due to the awesomeness of the tandem.
We started off at morning 5:50 am from J P Nagar to meet the guys at the meeting park near Cubbon park. As always on every ride, we were greeted by surprise and anxiety by the look of tandem. Some of the people had a confusion that its only the front rider who is riding and the stroker can relax without pedalling. But let me tell you, when one person is not pedaling, the other person on the bike knows it. What happens is that the gear shall become very heavy and the captain will have to shift up to an easier gear. If the stoker is outpedaling the captain, the captain will spun out and even the chain may fall off ...There were some contradictory views that two riders are riding a single bike which must be making the ride so easy.. Not so easy at it seems as Tandems are heavy due to huge steel frame weighing 30 kg plus the weight of the two riders.
As the ride progressed more and more people started joining and the number increase to 26. We focussed on our main target of increasing our average speed. Monitoring cadence of 90 and shifting to harder gear during uphill and to lower gear during downhill, we moved ahead. The group took a break for lunch before hebbal. After almost an hour we resumed the ride. Hills are a killer but that gets compensated during the downhill in case of tandem. So as we were rising through the flyovers, it seemed quite frustrating when we were dead slow at a pace of 10 kmph when the road bikers were covering it at a very decent pace. But when we were coming down, the speed enhanced to 45 kmph. A lot of respite, and it was a view worth watching, and even the fastest road bikers, gave us a glance. By now everyone in the group were just awwed by the sexy bike.
Before the Devanahalli fort, we stopped by the birth place of Tipu Sultan. Not a huge mansion, but just a small memorial with a small plaque to commemorate the birth (1751) of the great warrior. Its about 6 feet tall with a pillared enclosure and square top and bears a stone tablet. The area around the enclosure is known as Khas Bagh and has a dried up stone pond, banana, tamarind and mango plantations. Nevertheless, its a historical one and thus we thought of taking a few photographs. 500 mts away from the place stood the mighty Devanahalli Fort. The oval fort has huge semicircular bastions. The entrance to the fort is quite small, probably comfortable enough for the horses of Yore. The bastions are provided with gun points built with lime and brick. Inside the fort was a lawn with lush green grasses and we enjoyed a lot with our photo shoot sessions. I climbed up (many were not interested) for a view of the surrounding countryside--the highway to Hyderabad is within sight, all that traffic passing by without noticing the fort !! After spending some fun and lively moments we returned back.
It was a day well spent, riding with such a huge group of enthusiastic and spirited riders. We felt like the stars of the show due to the awesomeness of the tandem.
Group photo near Hebbal
Birth place of Tipu Sultan
Our tandem Photo shoot
Capturing the beauty
Top of the fort
Semicircular bastions
View of the surrounding area from top of the fort
The kiddos who completed their maiden century ride
Mandatory group photo
Cheers to woman power !!
We rock !!
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