“We never get lost.. We only find new trails..” This sums up the HBC philosophy as well as our ride today. We set out to explore the Medak road area and we did just that. Explore. Explored new paths we have never been before and thoroughly enjoyed the process of discovery.


We met up(Sateesh, Shobith, Sandeep, Shay and I) at Dr. Reddy’s labs gate 1km from the Miyapur x roads at 7am and set out towards Bachupally where Krish joined us. Shobith dropped off even before we reached Bachupally as he apparently received a call that needed him home immediately. By the time the rest of us reached Bachupally junction, Krish was working hard on his mini-foot up to get the tire pressure on his back wheel right. We moved on when he is done and took a left a couple kilometers further. This took us through a village with green fields alongside the road.

We stopped for our first pit stop after crossing the village and Krish worked his charm on his mini-foot pump to get the air pressure on Sateesh’s bike tires. The Sun was at his mighty brilliant best and looked adamant on giving us a proper tan. We thought, may be starting early would help a bit. We moved further to reach Medak road.

The Medak road was a god send with trees on both sides of the road offering us ample shade as we rode along. We had to take left somewhere, according to our ride leader Shay, that would take us back to the starting point and making the trip around 30kms. He tried looking up in the maps on his iPhone but apparently the GPS reception was not that great. So, we resorted to relying on human directions instead and asked an auto-driver for directions. He told us to take the left there and take another left in the first village we come across. That should take us to the starting point in around 10km.

But as we rode along, we blissfully missed taking left in the first village and rode right alongside the village enjoying the scenic beauty around. Ten minutes down the line we realized that we might have missed the road we have to take and asked another gentleman (Lets call him Mr.Maps for his proficiency at the craft of giving directions) for directions. He told us to go back and take right to reach Miyapur which would be 7km. We did not feel like turning back and asked him where would we end up if we were to go along the same route. He said that we could reach Patancheru which is 15km from there. We preferred to take that route much to the bemusement of the guy. He must be wondering what kind of freaks would prefer a route that is more than double the shortest route available.

We rode for almost 5-6km to reach a point where our road met another. We stopped to ask a group of teenagers lazing around in the shade of the tree for directions. They told that Patancheru is 16km from there. We figured that it would be around 10km by what Mr.Maps told us. But as it turned out, 15(the distance that Mr.Maps told it would be) – 5km (the distance we travelled so far) =16km (the distance the kids and the milestone there told us). Good thing that Mr.Maps does not work for Google maps. 😉

We decided to move on and the route towards Patancheru was surreal with the black road and the greenery around shining bright in the morning sun. With a vigor only such a fantastic setting can provide, we surged forward and sprinted for a while to reach a couple of huge mango trees. We stopped there for the shade it offered and sat down to drink some water and eat some of resins, dates that Shay and Krish offered. There was a small pond below the trees as well and it was a beautiful setting.

We were in a mood to lay down right there under those trees and doze off till evening. Krish even tried that for a couple of minutes while Sandeep seriously contemplated calling his friends to come along with some chilled beer so that all can chill out there till evening. 🙂

After spending almost five minutes in the intoxicating shade of those trees, we moved on and resumed our ride. We came across a couple of patches of Sunflower fields alongside the trail and the scene was out of the world. I hurriedly clicked a couple of snaps but those hardly do justice to the real beauty there. How, I wish my eyes can capture all the beauty along the trail that I can directly upload to Picasa to share will all of you. 🙂
From there we passed through Bommankunta, and Beeramguda to reach Lingampally. At Lingampally Shay parted ways to reach his home while the rest of us rode towards Miyapur and parted ways there.

All in all it was a fantastic ride in the company of fantastic guys exploring a new trail. The trail itself was an intoxicating and surreal setting for the ride.

I have to mention a word or two about the fantastic guy that is Shay. He is an Israeli national and has been in Hyderabad for the last one year. In this last one year, his enthusiasm and love for cycling has made the HBC meet-up forum one the most active meet-up forums bringing together cyclists from all around the city for rides like this.
Thanks guys for the company you gave on the ride. It was a fabulous ride.

Here is the link for the photos:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/hivenkat.d/WeNeverGetLostWeOnlyFindNewTrails20090620#

Total distance (for me) :53km
Riding time: 2:54:39