2011 & 2012: Year gone-by & ahead

End of every year we tend to look back and see what has been highlight of the passing year as well as try to set goals for next year. We start with bang while setting the goals and slowly the goals keep fading till we realize once again we are at the end of the year...sound familiar...isn't it.

Well here is what I did in 2011 and now plan to achieve in 2012.
2011:

• First & foremost, did the mountaineering course at Darjeeling. It was month long course which is going to be one of the best experiences of life..
• Bought the dream machine - RE-Classic. Took it for day long rides with wish to take it for longer runs in 2012. Wanted to buy it in 2001 and finally got it in 2011.
• Watched the Formula 1 Race first edition at Greater Noida live. Got the thrill of it but also realized that its wonderful to watch it at home in front of large LCD with all the commentary and highlights etc. is more fun
• Visited Golden Temple, Amritsar for first time and again can say amazing place & experience. Wagah border is another must visit place at Amritsar where I went. Coupled Trek/visit to Vaishno devi along with Amristsar visit
• Got into Photography & got Canon 550D. How serious am gonna be is perpetual question with me but signs so far are good :) plans to build on my photography experience along with riding experience in 2012
• Ran half marathon at Mysore in October after like 6 years of first HM I did at Mumbai in 2005. Did well to complete it in good time and get motivated to do more in 2012
• Have learnt to play half decent Squash.

Actually 2012 aims kind of are clear from above list but lets write it for clarity sake:
2012:

• Take RE for long rides, preferably 4+ day run by year end.
• There is no scale to measure photography but wants to become better so as to consider myself decent photographer..can I be more abstract than this :)
• Do my first Full marathon and 3-4 half marathon. Overall aim for the year: 2 FM & 2 HM
• Get better at Squash..again it's abstract but aim should be to be able to compete with most of player around
• Read at-least 30-40 books from different genres
• 4-6 Treks in & around Karnataka with probably one of them of 1+ week
• Travel to Andaman or some other place around
• Climb the sports wall till top. did 60-70% last year & need to push for rest of it
• Learn few primitive songs to play on Guitar...even if it means cramming and just cramming
• Blog more regular...at-least once a week.

Pushpagiri Trek

Trekking is something I enjoy a lot and has done quite a bit while I was at Pune as well as during my Stay at Bangalore (Will write about them in other entry...hopefully). It was high time to do some treks from Mysore and did a small one in January to Kunthibetta followed by a better one to Pushpagiri in mid-Feb.

It's probably end of the Trek season since it was quite hot during the day time but it was enjoyable nevertheless. Pushpagiri is approx 45 km from Kushal nagar and 140 km from Mysore. Thanks to the westeren ghats for the last 20 km or so, it took us almost 3-3.5 hrs to reach the village Beedahalli which is base for the Pushpagiri trek. Now most of the folks trek for overnight stay at the top (rather most can be replaced by all since we did not found anyone, apart from our group, doing day trek).

Total Trek is of 7 km one way as well as add 1 km for the walk till forest check point. There is an entry fee of 200 INR per person to be paid to forest guards as start of trek. First 2-3 km are in dense jungle with nice shadow and negligible slope. Real fun begins after that as there are couple of rocky patches which needs to be tackled to gain quick height. Basically 3-5/5.5 km is what tires one while at the same time provides amazing view of western ghats to relax. Last couple of km at again easy and one suddenly reaches the top. There is good flat plateau at the top for those who wants to stay overnight though there are no structures etc. for shelter. Few important thing to take care are

• Availability of water since there is no water after first 2 km and it's important to carry enough water.
• For day trek, ensure to start the trek by 9 am. For overnight stay, it will be ok to start by 12 pm also since it takes 3-5 hours depending on number and duration of breaks taken.
• Again, for day trekkers, plan for the cut-off time for reaching the top and decide accordingly since trekking back in dark will not be fun, specially if it's unplanned.

Here are some pictures from the trek as well as the details from wiki. Pushpagiri Details

Start of the Trek -Jungle

Rocky Patch at mid-way

At the top, Beautiful Western Ghats

End of Trek - Fellow trekkers

Baden & Pizol Switzerland

Recently I travelled to Baden, Switzerland for a short trip; this one was really short n sweet trip. Did not got chance to do much sight seeing or travel around this time since apart from it being short, weather was extremely cold, so stepping out of home/office was generally not that interesting :). But this trip brought back the memories of time I have spent there earlier.

Baden - Bird's view

I lived at Baden for a whole year in 2007 working there on one of my professional assignments and did travelled quite a bit in Switzerland. First place to visit was of-course Baden and must say it's one of the real nice towns I have seen around in Europe; Small, scenic & lively town (on the scale of liveliness European small towns have & not comparing with India). Here top get more info about Baden from Wikipedia: Baden 


Some of the more memorable places in Switzerland are, strictly my opinion and experience, Interlaken (of course), Grindelwald Zurich city, Lucerne, Locarno, Bern, Zermatt etc. Apart from these famous places, there were couple of trips to not so well known places to tourist which were really enjoyable. Few of those are Pizol, Sihlsee & Rigi Klum. All these were more like walk/hike trips with Pizol being most fun. Pizol is famous for 5 pristine mountain lakes and one gains height of 2200 meter during hike. Have put the pictures of the 5 mountain  lakes and these are from personal trip :). For more info on Pizol, here is wiki link: Pizol

Pizol - Lake 1

Pizol - Lake 3

Pizol - Lake 3

Pizol - Lake 4

Pizol - Lake 5

Ride to Mangalore & Half Marathon

Travelled to Mangalore on 26 January, our Republic day, from Mysore. Agenda for the Trip to Mangalore was to spend relax and see Mangalore city and around on 27-28, run the half marathon on 29 and then travel back to Mysore on the same day to reach by evening. 

Trip partner

Ride to Mangalore took around 7 Hours including multiple breaks either to get over fatigue or admire scenery now and then.Total distance covered was close to 280 KM and it was fantastic ride to say the least. There were several schools in the way where kids were running around coming back from the republic day celebrations. It reminded me of my childhood when we will be at school for flag hoisting (some time on our own while most of the time due to discipline). Good part used to be the sweet distributed at the end of flag hoisting and national anthem + other cultural programs. Accommodation was booked at Ginger hotels (chain of Smart Basic hotels by Tata) and must say that it impressed me. Really nice format with reasonable charges.

Sunset at Tannir Bavi beach

Went around on 26 evening in Mangalore and ended up at the Tannir Bavi beach. It's nice and clean beach with white sand. Way to reach there is to take boat from Sultan Battery (read Bathery) and then walk to the beach. While looking around, found the Adventure boat club and it was fun to do kayaking, next day early morning. It was my first time and was bit apprehensive being along on the small kayak and it is tiring. Very good exercise with loads of fun if one gets to do it more often. Saw many other places around Mangalore city though did not ventured out to places like Udipi (60 km north) etc., probably for next time. Visited Panambur beach to collect the race kit and found it to be really amazing beach. Basically saw only 2 beaches at Mangalore and found both of the wonderful. One noticeable thing at Mangalore is that people at city are quite well to do. City is quite small but you can see many big malls and jewellery stores, car showrooms and what not. Probably the mix of people working at gulf countries and the business owing to Mangalore being port city. Wanted to visit Mangalore port but apparently is closed for visitors owing to the security threats. 

Being a movie buff, specially hindi, I ended up going for Agreepath 2012 on saturday. It was anyway day before the half marathon and was officially chilling so had good time at movie with a friend. Post movie, had good time talking about various things hence spent the relaxing day really chilling out. 

After finishing HM

As is the case most of the time, was bit anxious on the eve of run specially with plan of travelling back to Mysore couple of hours after completion of run. Could not slept well but by the time got to the Panambur beach to start point, I was doing good. Start of the run was as usual with most of the people crossing me in first 200 meters and am trying to stick to pace and get into rhythm. Have learnt based on personal experience, getting into right rhythm is most important for completing the long distance run. I sure was in good rhythm since completed 5 km in 26 min and then 11 km in 56 min but then started feeling some niggle at 12 km. Was not sure which direction will it go so continued slowly and at around 16 km, it subsided hence giving me another chance to push. Luckily got a guy from RFL with whom I tagged along and we both pushed each other for last 5 km hence getting my best time of 1:53:20. I have done only 3 Half marathons so far but best part is that I have improved by 7 minutes every time. I am sure it's not possible next time since getting any close to 1:50 in HM will take monumental effort.

Took couple of hours break and started back for Mysore. It was same scenery and again took those breaks with only difference that there were some cramps here & there :). Overall the ride back was again good and luckily reached back on time to catch up with the fantastic Australian open final going on between Djokovic & Nadal. What a match and it there could not have been better way to finish the weekend. Amazing day for me personally to complete the run, ride back and then had luxury of enjoying the match.

Till next ride as well as the run!!!
Mysore to Mangalore Route taken: Hassan->Madikeri->Sulya->Puttur->Mangalore : 270 km
Places to see at Mangalore: Many but I liked Sultan Battery, Tanni Bavi beach, Panambur Beach, Mangla devi temple, Sultan Battery boat club and in general area around beach/port