[nerdlinger]

Anyone else found good routes out of Bangalore?

Here's a few of my favourites, mostly picked for quality of roads so you can actually cover a lot of ground over a weekend, applicable to cars except they are more prone to getting stuck behind buses/trucks. I will add some of the dirt-track routes later.

By far the best road out of Blore I have found is the NH7-NH46. It is all dual carriageway with zero (!) potholes, a bit congested until you completely escape Blore's sprawl and then again at Hosur but from thereon in it is a breeze, cries out for an imported bike. Beautifully hilly scenery. On some of the gradients you often meet lots of trucks crawling along which you can slalom through giving the impression your indigenous bike is high-performance.

Nice shortish trip to Yelagiri Hills (turn right at Venyambadi) 2Hours+ finishing with a winding climb with a load of hairpins.

Trip to Vellore, quite an impressive moated fort, maybe 3.5 hours.

Not sure about a trip to Chennai by bike, getting through the outskirts is probably frustrating, I haven't done that yet.

Went to Mallam/Mahabali-puram yesterday which took 5 hours, the road via Kanchipuram is mostly very good in terms of tarmac, two-way traffic only. The last couple of junctions to M.puram are not signposted...

I think the Road to Mysore is nearly finished now and is mostly very good dual carriageway. Took this route part of the way to Madekiri several weeks ago, the road beyond Maysore is v. poor, partly because of roadworks so it will probably be worth trying in a year or so.

Shimoga - Tumkur road is just two way but in good nick, nice scenery and very little traffic. This is a good and fast route to Chickmalagur, Halebid etcetera, better the than the NH48. Tumkur - Blore is NH4 which is good in most parts, trip to Hampi, NH4-NH13, is surprisingly quick (5-6 hours) though the NH13 is a little worn.

For expats in Whitefield the trip to Nandi Hills using the NH207 is good biking, the road is quite minor but mostly good with nice curves. More hairpins up to another one of that Tipu's forts.

I hit a goat on the way back from M.Puram today. Rider, bike and goat are fine, I managed to leave a significant smear from my tires on the tarmac which slowed the impact to a slightly winded goat. The goat-herd shook her stick at me. I'm not sure if that was by way of an apology for driving them into my path in the middle of a dual-carriageway or a reprimand for me riding my bike at the speed limit right across her goat-route...

[malkers]

What an excellent post.  Some great pictures to go with it would be a real bonus, come on Andrew you must have loads!  

[DharamCula]

I have been riding in and around Bangalore for past few years and here are a few additions to the list

Bangalore - Sivanasamudram. Its 120 km one way with good roads upto kanakpura and average further up. Though I went there in May 05 before the rains so the sivasamudram falls were not at their majestic best.

Bangalore - Pondicherry - A 300 km run through krishnagiri - uttangarai - chengam - tiruvannamalai - gingee. It took 5.5 hrs one way as roads are very good for most part of the journey. Not many good hotels/dhabas in the way between krishnagiri to pondicherry. the huge temple in tiruvannamalai is also worth a look. One point of advice - get your hotel booking earlier since pondicherry can be hopelessly crowded on long weekends and hotel hunting can bring more pain to the already sore ..

Bangalore - tirupati and Bangalore - yercaud are also perfectly doable on 2 wheeler over the weekend