July 2012: Tristate 600K

The Ride

Presenting the brevet that passes through three states! The 600 Tristate BRM, will take you through Sathanur, Kanakapura, Anekal, Hosur, Krishnagiri, Vellore, Palamner, Mulbagal, Srinivasapura, Chintamani, Chikballapur, Devanahalli. With two of the toughest climbs at Harohalli-Jigani and Pallikonda-Palamner and total elevation gain of about 3600 m, this is one tough route !!

This is an ACP sanctioned brevet ride, and must be completely self-supported. The ride has to be finished within 40 hours, but note that it is not a competitive ride.

Ride Summary

Date: July 28, 2012, 7:00 am, Registration formalities begin at 6:30 am

Start: Indian Institute of Science Gymkhana Gate, Yeshwantpur

End: New BEL Road.

Distance: 603 km

Time limit: 40 hours

The ride is open to all cyclists regardless of their affiliation.

Rules and Regulations

Please read the rules and regulations for a randonnée.

Lights and reflective jackets are compulsory for this brevet. You will not be allowed to start without them. Since riders will be riding in the dark for a long period of time, it is recommended that they carry spare lights and batteries. Lights must be in working condition at all times. Riders violating this rule will be disqualified.

The rider must return his/her brevet card to the organizers at the end of the brevet for their ride to be homologated. Riders completing the brevet successfully can opt for a medal from ACP, for which a separate medal fee of INR 350 must be paid. Cards and medals will be returned after a few months.

Registration Information

Registration is mandatory and must be done through the RRBM website. The registration fee is Rs 300, which must be paid via online transfer. Payment details will be sent to you via email after registration. You will also need to sign a waiver at the start.

Please note Brevets are held rain or shine.

Registrations will close automatically on Wednesday, July 25, 6 pm.

If you already have a jersey number for the Bangalore Brevets, register using the Returning Riders page. You can look up the roster to find your number.

If you are riding the Bangalore Brevets for the first time and do not have a jersey number, register using the New Rider page, you will be automatically assigned a new jersey number.

View the list of all registrations so far.

Riders completing the brevet successfully can opt for a medal from ACP, for which a separate medal fee of INR 350 must be paid at the end of the ride.

Route

A route map is provided below for reference. The route is tentative, there may be some small changes to the route. An official cue-sheet will be made available before the event.

Surface:

Kanakpura road NH-209 is a two-lane undivided national highway. It has excellent surface all the way till Sathanur.

The route from Harohalli to Anekal has moderate surface with a few potholes for the first 25 km. The remaining stretch till Anekal on SH-87 and then from Anekal to Attibele on SH-35 has good surface.

NH-7 (Attibele-Krishnagiri) and NH-46 (Krishnagiri-Vellore) are excellent four-lane highways with divider. However, because of ongoing construction work, the space on shoulders is not available.

The road from Pallikonda to Gudiyattam is moderate. From Gudiyattam to Palamner the road is narrow with lot of turns and climbs through the ghats. This road has good surface except for the last 15 km before Palamner. This last stretch has a few potholes.

NH-4 from Palamner to Mulbagal is a two lane national highway with good surface. Mulbagal onwards, NH-234 till Chikballapur is a narrow, two-lane, undivided national highway. It has good surface outside towns, except for when it passes over some bunds. It is in very bad shape inside some towns for short stretches (100m). Three 200m or so stretches are hard mud, because SWR is building underbridges for a railway track. There are no potholes outside towns, but watch out for unmarked speed breakers near small villages. NH-7, ORR and New BEL Road have mostly excellent surfaces.

Traffic:

There may be considerable traffic till Kanakpura road inside the city even with an early morning start. Kanakpura road NH-209 has medium to heavy traffic outside the city. Watch out for overtaking heavy vehicles at the turns along the highway.

The Harohalli-Anekal stretch has very low traffic. SH-35 (Anekal-Attibele) has low to medium traffic.

NH-7 (Attibele-Krishnagiri) and NH-46 (Krishnagiri-Vellore) have heavy traffic even at night. Make sure you are visible to traffic by using reflective vests and proper lights. There may be some truck traffic between Pallikonda and Gudiyattam. SH-127 between Gudiyattam and Palamner has very low traffic. Watch out for oncoming cars along the narrow ghat sections.

NH-4 between Palamner and Mulbagal has medium to heavy traffic. NH-234 has low to medium traffic. Heavy vehicles (buses) ply on this route. NH-7 has medium to high traffic, even at night, and with NHAI flyover construction, there are a number of diversions that are difficult to ride for cyclists. Watch for merging traffic. ORR has medium traffic, and New BEL Road has low to medium traffic.

Terrain:

Two stretches will present most of the climbs on this route - one between Harohalli and Anekal and the other between Vellore and Palamaner. There will be some less steep climbing between Palamaner and Mulbagal.

The road is mostly downhill till Kanakpura. The road from Hosur to Krishnagiri is also largely downhill. Krishnagiri-Vellore has gentle descents and ascents. Mulbagal onwards, NH-234 is mostly flat with long gentle descents and some very gentle ascents. Man-made flyovers on NH-7.

Here is the elevation profile generated by utrack.crempa.net for the route from data provided by gpsvisualizer.com

A GPX of the route can be found in the attachment sections at the end of the page.

Cue-sheet

A draft cue-sheet of the previous 600km BRM is available. A final cuesheet will be made available to the riders before the ride.