This is an account of my cycling trip through the Nilgiri's in 2010. I got interested in TFN through my colleague Pramod. After listening to his account of the 2009 TFN, I had decided to do the 2010 TFN. I got the easy parts done pretty quickly. I bought a cycle in a month with the help of Pramod and the folks at BOTS. I started commuting to my office on my cycle. The disciplined partions however did not happen. I did a few 40 km rides and one 70 km ride. I found myself at the starting point of TFN unsure of how the ride will turn out and if I will enjoy it. I had decided to ride as long as I am enjoying the ride and then take the sweeper truck.
The weather on the first day was perfect at the start. It was overcast with an occasional drizzle, refreshing without being irritating. The ride started half an hour late and we slowly made our way out of the bangalore traffic. Once we crossed Bannerghatta road, we were free from the traffic but the road started getting bumpy. I started making acquintances with my fellow rides as we rode along. I met Vinay, who was my room mate for the first couple of days, chiddu, shilpa, akash and the SAP roadies.
TFN needs three parts to come together for success. One is the organizers and volunteers who spend time making sure everything is in place , two is the scenery that makes the ride enjoyable, three is the fellow riders who make the ride memorable.
The first photostop for me was when we crossed the NICE corridor. It was the first time that I had seen the NICE corridor and I was pleasantly surprised. It was as good as any road I had seen in Germany. While I stopped to take a photo, a couple of passersby asked me questions about the riders passing by. I somehow communicated to them in my broken Kannada that we are going to Ooty and back. The interactions with locals were part and parcel of the TFN. My response to the locals reflected my thinking at that that point. Getting to Ooty is the hardest part and after that it is plain sailing. I was proven wrong twice.
The second photo stop was at the Jigani lake. Treeline shore around a wide lake. I had to stop. There were a couple of other folks taking photos. One of them(I think it was Sreeram) was carrying a SLR and a tripod and was still maintaining a faster pace than me. I just had to grin and bear the results of my under preparation.
After Jigani(was it before), we rode for some distance through the Bannerghatta national park. We rode in groups as it was an elephant area. Unfortunately, I did not sight even one. A little while later, we came to some exhilirating downhills. The stretch was atleast 5 km long and pretty steep. I had a lot of fun. Part of me was scared. Part of me wanted to go as fast as possible on the downhills. I had my eyes wide open lookng for potholes and speed breakers that tend to pop up at the end of downhills. It was the fastest I had ever gone on a bicycle. This was the best part of the day 1.
After the downhills, we stopped in Kanakapura for the obligatory coconut water break. We had hit the highway by this point and the road was boring. The terrain was rolling and there wasn't much of a cloud cover either. SS1 was getting close and I turned my mind towards getting there in good time. I found the TFN mechanic a little distance before SS1 and got my front shifter repaired. It turned out my new bottle cage was interfering with the front derailleur.
By the time I reached SS1, I had bettered my personal distance record but I was half spent. Most of the riders were well ahead. I had two choices for the route from this point. One of them was a detour from the highway to Muthathi for a ride by the cauvery. This would add 30 kms of additional distance to the ride. The other was a ride straight down the highway. When I set out of the Support station(I always keep saying service station), my plan was to go down the highway. I passed the turn for the detour but I had built up a lot of hype of the detour as a scenic route in my head. So I turned around and took the detour.
I met Yogesh at the start of the detour. I was glad I had company for the detour but Yogesh was riding at a different level. He left me behind quite quickly. In my mind, this part of the ride was an easy downhill all the way to the river and a tough climb. Again due to my lack of preparation, the reality was quite different. The road was a series of descents and climbs and the condition of the road was not quite good. There was loose gravel on the road with pot holes here and there. The afternoon sun was out and I was nearly drained. I started taking breaks to drink water and get my breath back. There was one place with such a steep ascent that I got down and walked my bicycle up. After many such breaks, I finally reached the shore of Cauvery.
The stretch appeared familiar. As rode down the shore, I realized I had come to this parts for river rafting about four years back. At that time, I had arrived at the other end of the strecth in Bheemeswari and I did not map the name Muthati to the same area as Bheemeswari. Lack of preparation again. The stretch was not scenic enough to be worth the trouble for me. If I had been better prepared, I may have enjoyed the ride.
I started the slow ride back to the highway. There were occasional showers on the way back. There were some cows roaming around completely oblivious and unherded. I was too tired at this point to take pics. The climb back was very hard especially for an unprepared person like me. A series of steep hairpin bends defeated me. I walked my cycle up the bends and settled down on the road shoulder for rest. The sweeper truck made it appearance and I gladly climbed into its back. So I ended my first day of TFN.
The driver of the sweeper truck had other ideas. We were seven people in the back of a mini truck with 8 cycles. We were cramped for space and most of us were standing at the back of the truck. The driver kept the truck going at a good speed through the narrow roads and I was literally hanging on for my dear life. Thankfully the truck ride got a break when we reached SS3.
After grabbing a quick lunch, me and Abhinav got a ride to the hotel in Gayathre's SUV. We made it to Kollegal as it was getting dark. Thankfully the luggage had already reached and in my case already sent to the hotel room. After a shower and a quick dinner, I literally dropped to sleep
