A cool Sunday morning, awesome weather beckoning enough for a ride and first Sunday of the month. What do we do? Ride ofcourse! We were off on our 2nd ride with the ‘First Sunday Rides’ group, the group's 9th FSR. The predecided route? Bangalore - Bannerghatta - Anekal - Kanakpura - Bangalore, a total of ~150 kms.
Satya's XR plans a route in his absence
), for rest of the guys to land up. The first few ironically, were RTMC fellas. Trickling in one after the other, after had a few rounds of hot chai and Parle-G, we finally got going almost an hour and a half later.
“Hey! There is a place that looks just like Kalhatti! Lets go!”
 Lush, green and so remote... |  ...even the biggies need maps |
 Peaceful fields around Anekal |  Satya caught in cattle rush hour |
It had been a while since I traveled towards Bannerghatta. As Abhi and I rode towards the National Park, the picture in mind from my previous trip was loads of trees, village scenery and absolutely no buildings, except for the IIM. This time around, all that was gone!
In fact, I dint even realize when we got there! It was maddeningly city-like all through. No wonder, there was news of some Pachyderms destroying crops in the vicinity of the National Park and I now know why :( Poor things! Managed to push these sad thoughts to the back of my mind as the scenery got better towards Anekal.
The bunch regrouped at a hotel close to Anekal Bus Station for breakfast. As usual we had to endure gaping/staring or whatever you want to call it, from the locals. I guess anyone from the city would get this treatment, and especially we guys on an assortment of bikes never fail to attract attention wherever we go! 
The road to Thally was beautiful. Nice and winding with unpredictable twisties and elevations, and added to that the weather was comfortably chill. Monsoon does bring out the best of mother nature and it was lush flora all through with lakes filled up. Add to this a bunch of sunday morning riders lazily cruising along. Picture perfect don’t you think? :) Well, if this is impressive, there is more.
Our Monsoon Ride 2 and the August FSR was through some beautiful country side.
 The Dual Sport confronts the, well, good sport. :)) |  Motorcycles reflecting (hehe) on their lives. |
 The Sunday Ride bikes |  Twisty bliss! |
Some of the guys found an off-road path and decided to wait there for the rest of the bunch to catch up. Rajesh (Soppu) and Trishul went exploring while the rest of us stay put next to a small muddy pond. Soon Soppu returned, all excited, with “Hey! There is a place that looks just like Kalhatti! Lets go!”. The slippery off-roading to the top paid off, and it led to a quarry. The view here was amazing. Small hills all around with miles and miles of greenery. Abhi and Santhosh even found a few cycling trails and camping spots. The group chilled out for a while with some beer, funny conversations which included Abhi’s squeaky riding boots and whether the squirmy floating things in those water pools on the stone blocks were tadpoles or mosquito larvae 
. (Abhi: Hey! Troy Bayliss’ shoe does that too! & for the 400th millionth time, they are mosquito larvae!!)
We got back onto the roads and headed towards Thattekere, from where we were supposed to get to Kanakpura. But then, midway down the route, we realized that we had missed a turn. Happens I guess! With such fantastic sights all around, and with the bunch doing a relaxed pace, you do get a bit lost! heh! Anyway, after checking with the locals about the route, we headed towards Jigani, with the rain chasing us. As we got near Anekal, just when we thought we were lucky to escape the torrent, we ran out of luck. By the time we reached Bannerghatta, we were drenched. Stopped for some hot tangy Bhutta. While Abhi gorged on it, his face resembled a cow chewing the cud with his entire jaw going round and round.
The ride ended with the group lunching in one of the restraunts on the way to Bangalore from Banneghatta. A short and sweet ride with a bit of Monsoon magic thrown in!
