Till this day, I was looking at the TFN as a cycling trip to Ooty and back. I had not looked beyond Ooty on the tour. In my mind, getting to Ooty was the hardest part. Everything else was afterwards was a piece of cake. On this day I found out how wrong I was.
When we woke up, there was a light drizzle. By the time we finished our breakfast, there was a steady rain. The start was delayed by 30 mins waiting for the rain to subside. We were going back from Ooty the same way we made the climb. I was looking forward to the payback. All the gruelling uphills we faced on day 3 would now be a downhill. There were a couple of uphill sections but now I was sure that I can grind through them.
When the ride started, we were forced to ride in groups due to the Ooty traffic. Once we were clear of the town, the groups broke apart based on the pace of the riders. I had reverted to my own photographer self. Frankly, I had gone a little mad at this point. There were a few places where I actually circled back and took photos. One of these stops was the so called "Shooting Point". Amazing scenery. I was glad that I decided to stop at that place. Naturally by the time I did all this, I was the last of the riders.
Once I started from "Shooting Point", I was looking forward to the Pykara lake. The lake is at a nice trough in the road and is very scenic. The road to the lake also had a heavily banked turn I was looking to take a good speed. Sadly I realized that I had a puncture in the back tire of my cycle. I walked my cycle to Pykara but could not find any puncture shops. Apparently the closest one was in Naduvattam further down the road. Luckily for me, Dr. Kumaraswamy came by. One of his friends had come down to meet him in Pykara. With their help, I got the punctured tube out somehow and put in a new tube. But I could not get the tyre back on properly. Thankfully the doctor's friend offered to give me a lift to Naduvattam in his car. On the way, we found Jas and the TFN mechanic who were checking the riders brakes before the real downhill starts. The mechanic quickly got my tire back in place and I was ready to go.
The rest of way to Gudalur was a nice downhill. I made a brief stop at SS1 where was I once again part of the rear. From Gudalur, the roads took us through tea gardens. The roads settled into a familiar pattern. A winding climb to the top of a hill. A small section inclined down and then another winding climb. The sun had come out by this time, increasing the effort required. Apart from the good scenery around, the fun on this stretch can from the musical chairs we stragglers(Me, Dr. Kumaraswamy and Shilpa) were playing. All of us were riding at the same average pace. Each would stop for a photograph at a different place and end up being the tail for sometime. This kept happening all the way till SS2.
We had a quick lunch at SS2 and I started off determined to make SS3 atleast before being swept. Accidentally I left one of my water bottles at the SS reducing the weight on my bicycle. This and the lunch gave me a boost. There was a gyan session from Rakesh Nair the previous night where he was talking about pushing oneself on the uphills and enjoying the downhills. I decided to apply his words and I had a lot of fun. I started pedalling harder on the uphills as opposed to going to the lowest gear and plodding upwards. The terrain was also helpful. The downhills were longer than the climbs and the sun had started to set. I made to SS3 earlier than I expected. Now I was dreaming of making SS4 before being swept.
I left SS3 quickly and started pushing myself. The roads on occasion were potholed. I passed a couple of roadies fixing a puncture. I was quite happy that my cycle was holding up well. I was making quite a decent pace when I realized that my front tyre had a puncture. It was getting dark and I decided to wait for the sweeper truck instead of fixing the puncture. When it did arrive, I had a whole truck to myself. Another benefit of bringing up the rear.
By the time we reached the hotel, it was dark. This time though the rooms were great. After a quick shower and dinner, I got around to changing the tube on my front tire. All in all, a good days ride.
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