TFNTen Day 6: Short ride in Kerala

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Day 6 was short 70 km ride around Kalpetta. The original longer route was cut short due to ongoing road repair works. The ride was uneventful. The terrain was mostly flat and occasionally rolling. The Sun came out only near the end of the ride. There were a couple of good memories from the days ride.

One was the best cup of tea I had on the tour. Pramod and I rode together for sometime on this day and stopped for tea at a roadside shack. This was the best tea of all the eight days on the tour. I passed by the same shop on the ride the next day. I realized that when I was too far down the road or I would have definitely stopped there once again.

From TFN_day_6

The other was that the buses of Kerala are to be respected. After the first one passed me, I started getting off the narrow roads or riding in the shoulder everytime I heard a bus approaching.

The best part was that the area surrouding Kalpetta reminded me of my fathers hometown. Coconut trees and paddy fields everywhere. The only thing different was that the terrain here was rolling.

From TFN_day_6

From TFN_day_6

All in all, an easy and refreshing ride midway through the TFN.

TFNTen Day 4: Nature Walk in Ooty

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Day 3 of the tour ended at the YMCA in Ooty. I was already feeling quite happy having finished the ride. The YMCA folks organized a bonfire and carols on the first night of our stay there. The atmosphere and Christmas decorations reminded me of christmas during school days. The YMCA folks followed the carols up with an excellent dinner. Though the rooms were not insulated, our hosts had setup four layers of quilts on the bed. It was good for once to go to sleep without the next days ride on my mind.

Due to the routine on the last three days, I woke up quite early on day 4. Vamsi who sharing the room with had already gone around Ooty once in the morning. We had some time to kill. So we set out again without agenda. We made a full circle around the Ooty Race course and visited the railway station. I was quite excited to visit the location of the train scene in Gitanjali. I got some beautiful photographs on the walk and one photograph of the race course is probably one of my best.

After the breakfast, we set on a nature walk organized by one of our fellow riders Prem. Prem was a Ooty local boy and generated quite a buzz on the TFN mailing list with his tidbits about Ooty. A twenty something group had formed for the nature walk. We rented a couple of mini trucks for transportation and set out for the starting point. The weather was amazing, clear blue skies and a comfortable temperature. Great day for photography as I realized later.

We started walking through the woods towards Dodabetta. We spotted some birds indigenous to Nilgiris and a lemur. Prem's excitement and passion for the Nilgiri's was quite obvious from the way he was showing us stuff. It reminded me of my other friend Sharath who is equally passionate about Bangalore. I also got to meet some of the other riders who I see only at the starting point and the finish line.One of them was Jaggi who was talking of hash run's that they organized along the trail we were walking. One more thing added to my general knowledge. By the time we finished the trail, it was later than we planned for. We decided to return to Ooty instead of going to Dodabetta. We hired a couple of Jeeps and landed up at the Ooty main road.

After the usual shopping for chocolates,tea and eucalyptus oil, Prem and I headed to Higginbothams. I was looking for a map of Ooty which I found but not detailed enough. I set out for the St. Stephens church on walk taking in the sights of the non-tourist portions of Ooty. The church was unfortunately closed. So I started back to YMCA using the map I bought. I had been to Ooty a couple times before but this was the first time I was walking freely through the city. Ooty was very much like any Indian town except for being in a beautiful hilly area. I returned to YMCA, cleaned my bicycle and started preparing for the next days ride.

TFN day 3: Bandipur to Ooty

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Day 3 was the ride I dreaded. A 40 km climb to Ooty. I was not quite sure I could finish the day. The road out of the hotel was a small climb on a mud road. I was already on my lowest gear, struggling up the climb. Some how, I decided to go ahead. May be it was the chance to ride through Bandipur or most likely I did not like being thrown around the sweeper truck all day. In a little while, a group of late starters passed me and asked me to ride along. A little saddle height adjustment with their help and I was riding along feeling better.

From From Right, Raghavendra, me, Vinay and ?. This was right at the start of the ride into Bandipur. There were deer grazing on the other side of the rode unconcerned about the vehicles passing on the road

. The ride through Bandipur was uneventful. The road was good but it was rolling through out. I felt as if I will be worn out before the start of the Ooty climb. I stopped at the first tea stall I could find. This was at Theppekadu from where there were two routes to Ooty. TFN was taking the longer but less steeper road via Gudalur to Ooty. I was glad. The other road via Masinagudi has a lot of hairpin bends and is hard to climb. From Theppekadu, it was a monotonous ride till Gudalur where I first saw what we were attempting. It was daunting but the ride mood had kicked in and I kept going.

From TFN_day_3	From TFN_day_3

From this point on, the scenery was amazing. As we rode up the hills, every turn would bring a new vista. I had good company as I rode. Initially there were Priya and Anand who had this talent to find anything interesting on the way, be it a beautiful view or a bird up in the trees. Later there were Sameer, Supreet and Mayank who were completely enjoying whatever the road had to offer. We stopped at road side shack for lunch of omlettes and chapati's. It felt like I was back in college.

From TFN_day_3	From TFN_day_3

Unlike the earlier two days where I had some intention to complete the ride, I was just riding along and enjoying the scenery on day 3. In addition to the normal water stops, I stopped at whichever road side shop I fancied. At places it was so beautiful that I had to stop. The lake at Pykara was one such place. As I covered the distance, I started believing that I could finish the climb to Ooty. Sameer who was riding with us had done the recce of the route earlier in the month. His information that we had finished most of the climbs by the time we reached Pykara was very motivating. I doped myself with coca-cola and dry fruits and set along to finish the ride. On the way, there was a false alarm where I took one of the villages for Ooty itself. In the end, I reached Ooty around 6.30 PM in the evening. Lots of riders had reached a lot earlier. I was justglad that I finished the climb. Now I could just enjoy the day off and prepare for the rest of the tour.

From TFN_day_3 Supreet, Sameer and Prem at "Chinese" hill	From TFN_day_3 False alarm for Ooty