* bangalore east
Posted on October 23rd, 2011 by Alex. Filed under Cycle Tours.
After a long time I went on a cycle tour again. This time the east of Bangalore was explored for the first and definitely not for the last time. We started at around 5:30AM in the morning. It was just about to dawn with very less traffic on the roads. An hour later we reached the outskirts of Bangalore east wondering how easy that went. Memories came up about tours towards the south of Bangalore involving the crossing of Sultanpet which is already very busy at that time with lots of traffic and pollution.
Smooth roads led to Devangonthi from which we went north. The roads are excellent. However nearby to that stretch are some terminals for gas and petrol, hence many tank lorries speed on the roads even in the morning. We had a little break at a shrine on top of a lonely hill. Based on chicken feathers that were lying around, a bloody stone and a cooking place, it seemed the shrine also functioned as a kitchen for some non-veg food many times in the past.
We had breakfast in a shack next to SH-17. The food was good and we watched the cow in front of the shack being cleaned with brush and even soap. We met with NH-4 in Hoskote to go back to Bangalore through the northern villages. On NH-4 we met a motorbike rider asking why we cycle. We explained that we do it just for fun causing him to shake his head in disbelieve. He wondered why we cycle without having a motto or a theme.
Recently many people ride through India (even from Kashmiri to Kanyakumari) having some motto in mind. Some want to create awareness for eye donations, some for the medical situation in some rural villages. Although I really appreciate the initiatives, too many and not related to cycling will cause more good than harm in the end. If everybody goes cycling to create awareness, the real cases drown in the sheer amount of cycling awareness programs.
Although most of the roads were in excellent condition there were a few bumpy stretches, but nothing spectacular nor impossible to go with a road bike.
The route can be easily altered regarding the personal fitness. For instance, if you go north on SH 35 towards Kadugodi instead all the way east to Devangonthi, the trip is cut short by about 20km totaling in 65km (from IISc). If you want to go a little bit further, the next option is going north in NH207, adding another 10km. But also extensions to more than the 85km that are described here are possible. However that will be reported another time.
Distance of the tour: 85km
GPX files
October 23rd, 2011 at 8:32 am
good suggestion:)
[REPLY]
October 27th, 2011 at 4:04 pm
The bloody stone thing and stove is probably for chicken ‘sacrifice’ in the shrine. People then cook the ‘sacrificed’ chicken for consumption that’s probably why the stove.
[REPLY]
Alex Reply:
October 27th, 2011 at 5:28 pm
Thanks for agreeing
[REPLY]
November 2nd, 2011 at 8:38 am
any reason for preferring open street map to google map?
[REPLY]
Alex Reply:
November 2nd, 2011 at 8:56 am
Yes, the map material has a different license. Compared to Google maps the material from OSM is under CC-by-SA. summarized and copied from Wikipedia this means the following:
You can basically do whatever you want to do with it, with the restriction that “Licensees may distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs the original work.”
Apart from the gained freedom, many times we cycle on roads, which are either not in Google maps or marked wrongly. In OSM I can change the properties of roads or put new roads or points of interests easily.
Probably you can do the same in Google Maps. However you are at the mercy of Google, you do not know, how long it takes, and your work and efforts become THEIR property, dictating what the users can do with it and what they are not allowed. In OSM everything is free for everybody.
It causes some discomfort for the users due to the lack of some functions found in Google Maps. However the visitors of this page becoming a little bit (hopefully at least) aware that there is something else apart from Google.
[REPLY]
November 2nd, 2011 at 10:56 am
also, there is bhuvan satellite mapping(similar to google earth)(product of isro), haven’t seen it in detail nor done a comparison study of google earth vs bhuvan myself. although they haven’t released a map i think.
regarding google map, actually google map from last year is a lot different from the one of this year. a lot of the roads have been updated(this is for the rural areas). in city areas like bangalore almost all the roads have been marked and almost all the one ways have been marked too!!. not trying to say which is better because OSM like you said serves its own purpose.
have learnt about OSM and CC today. well everyday you learn something new
[REPLY]