Velo Kerala - Day2 - Ernakulam to Munnar !!!

It has been over a week that the blog has been dormant and I hardly got the time to finish the first one. So here goes the next chapter in the Kerala chronicles. Our plan to start early was delayed as we woke up late set about truing the rear wheel on Ajith's bike. 

The tablet put to dry

Truing the wheels using the spoke wrench a part of ICE toolz kit.

Once the wheels were back in good shape, I was ready in no time and we headed out for breakfast. After a sumptuous dose of idlies, appam and peanut chutney we were ready for the arduous 120 km of riding. Since it was going to be hot day and we started only at about 10am we rode till the highway and then found a truck carrying gate grille's for painting and the owner was glad to drop us till (Muvattupuzha)a point that was 30kms away. He refused to accept any money but he obliged to take pictures. 

Shah Jahan (Driver/owner) and Faisal

The happy campers on the back of the mini-truck

After over a day's frantic search for tender coconuts in the "land of coconuts" we found one about 10kms into riding and we immediately stopped to utilize the golden opportunity. Next point on the way was Kothamangalam and from this point Munnar was still a 90kms ahead with a 60km climb. With the tummies topped up with the 'tender' recharge we then kept a nice pace through the rolling terrain with a smooth tarmac. Crossed kothamangalam and then we hit this Neriyamangalam bridge under which the great Periyar river flows. 

The Neriyamangalam Bridge

Periyar River as seen from the bridge.

About a km ahead is where the a climb starts and there a 60km of the lovely ghat stretch. The gradient is gentle unlike the kalhatti climb with 36 hairpin bends nor the yercaud climb. Came across yet another tender coconut stall and without having the need to apply brakes our bikes gradually stopped near the shop and we feasted on a couple of tender coconuts. There was a sudden increase in the density of the forest cover and this was evident. Somehow the bridge seem to be the bridging gap between the flat-lands and the ghats. After about 10mins we were to start riding so we reach munnar before dusk however the prying eyes of ajith then fell upon the fruit juice. Needless to say, a shot of mosambi(sweet lime) juice went in and it is worth a mention that the juice was way better than the tender coconut. Tender coconut tasted like it was injected with electral :-P.
I welcomed my old nemesis (the hills) as this time it was an MTB to face the 60km route. The high humidity was certainly felt but the soothing breeze from the trees ensured the engine stayed cool. About 10 kms before adimali we stopped for a break. In went a couple of bottles of mango juice. That is when we met another cyclist. Mr.Ravi from Cherai. He has been riding for a couple of days and his destination was Adimali. So he wasn't far. We exchanged plesantries and he had some queries about our bikes. Something to notice was the DIY chain guard and an extra handlebar prop to aid in climbing. Simple and neat.

He took leave and we soon had to start and thats when we found the rear tyre of Ajith's bike flat. Removed the tyre and tube in no time and then realized that the tube was filled with slime and had we give it more time to heal it would have sealed itself. However the nail might have done more damage. So removed the metal piece and replaced the tube with the normal one. We also discarded the slime tube as it had a lot of patches. Another problem surfaced, the wheel was out of true again and Ajith set about setting that right. Half hour later we got started again and in about a couple of kms we hit a waterfall that resembled the silver cascades of Kodaikanal.

The traffic now getting thinner and thinner and the surroundings greener!! Just what we expected. Humidity levels then dropped and we felt the winds of change. Next stop Adimali for lunch. Just in time to catch up with folks protesting against the price hike. Looked like we were indirectly giving them a hint - Ride a bike..!!! We stopped at the newly opened restaurant called "The Cardamom". A pep chat with the manager and we got to know that the owner was from Taj group. The price and the taste was justified as the food disappeared into the hungry tummies. Simply put, a well deserved sumptuous lunch. 

That mustard sauce...!!!

5.30pm - We start from this hotel and back on saddle for just about half hour and we encounter the board "Welcome to Munnar". The moment Ajith gets to know there is still 30kms of it left here's what happened. (you might have to zoom in to see it).

Yet another hour into riding and the darkness sets in. The ultrafire was raring to go. We got the flashlight onand the two vioo lights on fork of Ajith's trek was impressive and they looked even better when they switched places from fork to the handlebar. It looked like a jazzy UFO following me :-). Soon the winds got colder and at about 7.45pm we reached the periphery of munnar town. But we still had 8 kms to go to reach the town. After a quick stop, a few snacks and an enquiry about the buses to take us back to Ernakulam we then started to ride as quick as possible. We rode till the misty mountain resort and its sure lived up to its name. Lot of mist just went past us as we just continued our journey towards the town. Soon we found a tata mobile (207) and just held on to the rear cage on either side. Since it was a narrow path we had a few cars following this carrier and they just wanted to overtake. But if we let go of this then there was no way to catch up. So we held on for as long as it was safe and about 2km away we left the dropped off and started pedaling again. A mad rush to the bus stand  was in vain as there were a lot of confused folks around. One said the last bus to ernakulam was at 9.30. The local were glad to give us the news - All buses had left for the night and we had to wait for the first bus to Ernakulam scheduled to depart next morning at 5.30am. Holy-Moly..!!! Now we were exhausted from the tiring climb up and a sprint towards the bus stand. So we were trying hard to spot any carrier/tempo that could carry us at-least till muvattupuzha or some place enroute so we could hitchhike the rest of the route. Time to satisfy the tummy and we headed to a parota stall. The smell was so tantalizing. Parked the bikes nearby and sat down at the local roadside stall. (unfortunately no energy to take the mobile out for a pic). We enjoyed the parotas + peas gravy. Nourishingly delicious. There were a few agents who were on their night stroll to look for any new comers to munnar and offering them places to stay. So we seemed to be at their mercy. A twisted dilemma, is it better to take a room, stay for the night and then take the first bus next morning? Probably the best solution. Other plans included ::
1.  Ride back in the night (60kms of downhill) in utter darkness..!!
2. Hitchhike a truck or a carrier. 


What did we do ... How did we return? Did we return the same night? Did we book an accomodation? 


Just when we were about to give up looking for a vehicle to hitchike and book a room for about INR500, (Just 1 room and no restroom) we spotted a truck stop on the other side of the road. So quickly we scooted and enquired with teh driver as to his destination and we were darn lucky. He said Kochi and exactly the place where we were headed. He agreed to load our bikes and we were the happiest bunch as we got the bikes properly tied using the ropes. This truck was carrying the top quality premium Tea (not available to the indian market) for export from port Kochi. Also made a new friend Jomit George who is from Adimali and an engineering student. Every day for him could be a vacation @ Munnar. Lucky soul. We got a lot of topics to discuss and I ended up talking with the driver Sendhur Pandian of Tirunelveli but mainly into truck driving hauling goods from and to Kochi, Munnar and Goa. The truck is like a second home and he said he had all the basic supplies and he normally just have to buy vegetables in order to prepare food. Hmm, talk about camping and adventure on road. He did mention that it was not going to be a direct trip but he'd stop on the way probably at Kothamangalam to catch some sleep as he hadn't had sleep in about 3-4 days. PHEW.. and here I am thinking I get only 4 hours sleep every night..!!  There was a lower berth and an upper berth. As we approached adimali we stopped for black tea more discussions followed about the trucking experience and life on road. You get to meet new people and make new friends. Absolutely exciting. Had I been on a motorbike or a car none of this would've ever happened. I settled in the upper berth and slept like a baby once we stopped for the night halt. I only woke up about 10kms from Vytila junction. The upper berth was such that you could enter only in one direction and exit the same. One couldn't even turn around :-) But I didn't care as I was fast asleep and so was Ajith. He too woke up from the parota hangover. The cost of the room expense was then transferred to Sendur pandian and all three of us were happy. He got a chance to make a quick buck we got back to kochi the same morning. The expense of staying back at munnar and taking the next bus would've been a costly affair. In fact Mr.Pandian was about to return me change and my response, you've been a godsend to us when in time of need so this was the least we could do. We exchanged phone numbers and soon our bikes unloaded. 

Sendur pandian, The weary rider (me) and the trusted Ashok leyland 1612

Secretly, I always wished to hitchhike a ride on a truck and never dreamt that it would be realized in this trip. Half hour of riding got us from vytila junction to Panampily nagar. Time for morning chores and then breakfast at the usual keralite roadside dhaba. 

The world goes by at a slow pace once on a bicycle. One gets the time to understand and take in the essence of time with it.  In any motorized transport the world whizzes past and you miss quite a lot. The spectacular photo opportunities, a stop every now and then to munch on something, the looks at the rest of the world when they see you on a cycle on an expressway or a village. I sometimes do think about defining or understanding time - For humans the world is at its own normal pace but the same world for a housefly might probably be 4x times slower. And for an elephant our world might be twice as faster. This is just one of those instinctive thoughts that crop up while on the saddle. To reinstate, I am truly happy to be a cyclist. Though the public might think I have saved hundreds of litres of petrol/diesel. None of the statements above is aimed at demeaning the petro-heads or diesel-heads. Adventure can take any form its just the passion that binds man and machine. Same theory applies here that binds me with the most ingenious invention of all, "The Bicycle"....!!!

Just another page from cyclist's diary - After dark sufferfest !!!

As the whole world slips into a slumber I get a chance to enjoy the uncanny peace with no motorbikes or cars or auto-rickshaws which are bothersome otherwise. The plans are made all of a sudden and all I can do is nod in agreement whenever I get a chance to hop on the saddle. As it is customary for the Cleated WArriors to ride out every weekend for a workout, this time only two of us had the chance to ride together (Opendro and I). Why? We were starting our ride in the evening. With the ride pre-checks complete I then headed out to meet Opendro at Jayadeva and he was there on time and I had to take a detour to avoid a couple of signals and ended up riding an extra mile. I almost always love the night rides even inspite of the extra risk factor. The primary reason is that the elevations can't be seen so one just keeps pushing. There is so much difference when the same route is tried during daytime when one can see the undulating highway and it is certainly a mind over matter situation. In no time we were at silk board darting in and out of traffic like an excited squirrel seeing peanuts.


18:49 hrs - Start from silkboard and maintained a steady pace till bommanahalli from where we switched from service lane to the highway. As we neared the next signal at kudlu gate  the signal was still green but we could see people and two wheelers crossing ( just like it always has been and no respect for signals) we switched on the strobe on the ultrafire's. Magic Magic..!! Every one stopped on their tracks and only realized that the lights were of cyclists and not a silent ambulance. This repeated on the next couple of signals and finally we were out in the open as we neared the end of the E-city elevated tollway. We started riding at a steady pace of about 35-40kph and reached the Bangalore tollway. It was surprising how with the help of a companion you end up pushing harder. 


19:34 :: 45 mins to reach from Silkboard. I was happy with the time as I normally take about 5 mins longer. There are some nice downhills where one can maintain 45+ without drafting and increase the average. I didn't push too hard as we also had a return leg and I don't prefer taking the bus or any other means to get back to Bangalore. We took the Hosur flyover could see the bustling traffic beneath with the typical melodious horns from TN(tamil nadu) buses. The terrain was mostly downhill and we enjoyed maintaining decent speeds and after we had covered 55kms we could see McDonalds and I thought we had arrived but then we still had a few more kms to go and I saw a board that mentioned 27kms to Krishnagiri. As always, the comparison was the distance to my office which was just a km longer. I thought we are so close to Krishnagiri.


20:41:: We reached A2B and could see the KPN and sharma buses stop for dinner. Curious onlookers but luckily didn't have to put up with the questions (how what when where why). With opendro sponsoring the refreshments, I managed to refill the gatorade for the return trip. The start of return ride was slow but then we picked up pace and chatting most of the way back. The first mini milestone for us was Hosur and then Karnataka Tollbooth. Both were reached without much drama. As we stopped at the toolbooth for some pics and a break to keep the glutes happy, Opendro updated Facebook about the workout and we ended up laughing. The comments were most awaited since this was the first workout at dusk that extends thru midnight. After we crossed the KA toolbooth it was all familiar territory and at one point Opendro did wonder how many more kms to go before we see the E-city elevated expressway. I gave him the exact landmarks to look out for rather than the kms as it was a familiar territory for my practice runs.


23:30 :: Back to silkboard and headed towards Jayadeva. We bid adieu as we parted ways and I just had over a km to reach home and so did Opendro. All in all a good fun run. 


Meagre pics owing to poor light conditions ::

At A2B (Adyar Anand Bhavan)  the u-turn point !!

Pretty good for a camera phone at poor light conditions.

 A short break for the Glutes...

 

 Opendro busy updaing Facebook.

 

 At the KA tollbooth on the return trip

My first XC race - Turahalli..!!

Yet another one in the basket of firsts. My first XC trail ride/race. However whats the point if something spectacular or ridiculous doesn't occur that you can brag/shrug about. My mind wasn't as excited as it would've been had it been a road race or a brevet ride and I managed to get generous sleep before the race on 18th March. Opendro and I reached the venue at 7 and could see quite a big crowd. After getting the tags we decided to checkout the trail to understand it. We headed out and soon Opendro disappeared and I was busy chatting with team veloscope as they were on the lookout for a flat stretch to capture some stunning pics. After directing them I tried to catch Opendro but he was no where to be seen and just about 200mts from the start point I heard the whistle blow and then as I whizzed past the finish/start line I knew I just made the day for quite a few folks as I could hear the chuckle and was the laughing stock. I wanted to overtake as many as possible but it was a tough one as the initial part of the trail was loose gravel and mud and there hardly was any grip and the crowd was quite big and I had to slow down and shift to 1x1/ 1x2 and stayed put on the saddle only getting down twice to negotiate a clearance in fear of damaging the rear derailleurs. The first km is very challenging in terms of elevation and loose gravel. Moreso there were a lot of slower cyclists ahead and being a single track trail I still managed to go off the trail just to overtake them and the Trek 4300D exceeded my expectations. Picture this if you will, I'm riding a trail which has the legacy of one experiencing multiple flats and I probably was the only rider who wasn't carrying any backpack or saddlebag for any repairs in case of a flat or mechanical issues. The one thing I was worried about was the bottle holder (Bontrager)as the Btwin's would've been worthless in such a terrain. The bontrager held it snug while I managed to scoot over mud, rocks, gravel, weaving in an about, dodging trees and other cyclists. Quite a bit of confidence as started overtaking some known riders. The first 1.5kms is the uphill and the rest is mostly downhill. Starting off with half a km of dirt/loose gravel. A the steady climb followed by escaping into the thicket with some steep dips and then out on the flatland to turn around and head back into the forest. From here it was a fast section all the way till the finish point. One can experience the WRC style "bunny hop". What i mean is you ride a small mound at a good speed ~25kph and lift the bike up in such a manner that you land on both wheels in sync. Felt stupendously excited and enjoyed the thought of doing multiple loops. A sweatout session for the first half of the loop followed by the adrenaline rush through the second half. As I finished the 4th lap they flagged me down and I though my position wasn't even worth looking at because there were a lot of riders who had already crossed the line to finish a 5th. But later I found out that the first rider had already lapped me hence I finished with just 4 laps. The only number matters to me is, after starting late and 200 mts behind, how many riders did I overtake? I await the official results and till then here's somepics of the event ::

 The only guy (Vasu Mishra) who did the trail ride on a ROADBIKE !!!

Trying hard to overtake... waiting for the right moment...!!

 

 Yep probably the right time.

 

 The best snap of mine so far from Veloscope this season.

200 mts after the turn where I saw many guys fixing flat

 

Enduro3 - A stupefying Fiasco !!!

I feel that the adventure demon that possessed me has finally let go after what my body and mind went through on 25th and 26th. Thats it no more adventure races like these.. No more going to another state to even attempt any rubbish like this. Ladies and Gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts as you are going to be rocked by the rest of the blog.(no no, not with that bout of excitement but by my rant of the Enduro3 at Pune).

 Initially the plan was to attempt the Brevet 600 along with the tusker, Kiran Kumar. But as usual the overhaul happened just in time when Opendro got us into the Facebook chat about this event called Enduro, which involves 145kms of cycling, river crossing (rope or swim), trekking, mountain bicycling, rappelling, kayaking. Naturally any sane adventure loving nut, would think of attempting such a thing. The website certainly managed to bait hundreds of teams and I with Opendro and Kiran were among the many fish up for the grabs. So we ditched the Brevet and Opendro registered us as a team and booked return tickets from KSRTC club class multi-axle volvo. Yet again this trip saw many firsts and here's a few ::


1. First travel by the multi-axle club class volvo.
2. First travel to another state and especially for a multifaceted adventure race.
3. First time night ride among the mountains on a proper dirt / gravel track. (Pure adrenaline rush).
4. First proper VADA PAV which was yumm...!!!
5. First night ride/downhill trail ride with the super good ultra-fire flashlights. 




And so the journey starts with a training the earlier weekend with Suma rao with a dose of rappelling. Rappelling = check. 
Next to ensure the bikes are fit, I take the bike to Opendro's house where with his help, restored the shine. Bike = Check. 
Swimming, kayaking, trekking - Will see as we go along = check. 
The website had a list of mandatory equipment per participant and a separate checklist as a team. Left our bikes at wheelsports Chamrajpet who helped us box the bikes to get it ready for transport. With the bags packed we met at KBS/Majestic and boarded the Bus to Pune. Mind loaded with thoughts I managed to get some sound sleep. But the happiest of the bunch was Opendro as he gets ~ 8 hrs of uninterrupted bliss..!! We checked in to hotel Shri Ganga near Wadgaon bridge and unpacked the boxes and assembled the bikes. We left hotel to explore Pune and headed towards Swargate and then stopped at Hotel Fountain in Shivajinagar carb load session. Nice hotel with great food with a place to park bikes. After spending about two hours we had to look for the briefing point at a place called Parvati. We were asked to assemble at police grounds the next day between 6-9am to register and collect the kit. On the way back to hotel we stopped to have pani puri Open skipped but Kiran and I feasted. A slowish ride to the hotel and we carried the bikes to the 2nd floor for final checks for tomorrow's race. Kiran and Opendro caught up some sleep while I was busy battling mosquitoes and managed to get probably a half hour sleep. We were ready by 5:30 and reached the venue and teams were trickling in. Thats when we met Sarva who was last time winner (I think runner up) in the Open mix category and this time secured 3rd place. There was transport option available about 4 - 5 kms from the flag off point to the base of singhagad. The participants have to climb till the start point which was about 1-2 kms from base. The road was treacherous trail was taxing and we could hear plenty wheelspins. The whole sight resembled a cyclocross section. Most of them stopping and pushing bikes. But us three mashed it till the first control point after which we lost steam and pushed the bikes or rode at 1x1 gear ratio. The gradient was quite tough. Towards the end of teh climb was the fort. Next challenge, carry your bikes and trek to the fort and reach teh viewpoint which was the rappelling point. Topped up water supplies and had some lime juice which was very refreshing. There was a wait period of about 1 hour after which Opendro managed to finish it in about 15 mins.

Once we exited the fort we saw no path to ride down, instead it was a treacherous trek route and we had to take our bikes along. Trust me, words do absolutely no justice to the toughness of carrying the bikes and hopping off the rocks without proper foothold. about 200 mts from the base Opendro had a flat and we got busy fixing the same. Thats when two organizers reached out to us enquiring if all is well. Took some pics flat fixing was done in about 10 mins. opendro fixing the flat tube and I installed the new tube with kiran filling air. All hands at work..!! We could see the next control and we left Got the card stamped. Next was about a 10-15 km ride on a broken tarmac. Then yet another passage control. Stam again and we turned off the main road to take the village road to climb a few hills to reach the next control point. Yet another stamp and we got to know we were 3rd and we ripped during the down hill (dirt/gravel road)at speeds over 30-35. The Trek 4300 truly proved its legacy. Get off the saddle, keep the hands in an angle with elbows streching outwards to absorb any shocks due to the terrain and you have a pure bliss of riding an MTB .. ever..!!! Being a roadie it is hard to comprehend that a whole new world of cycling can be so much fun. Its another story that the bike is an "unrideable" condition now but more on that later. A huge surprise was how the tusker (Kiran) was being helped by Opendro who was pushing his own bike and Tusker's on the uphills when we got off the saddle. With teh dusk we could feel some cool air finally, after braving the hot sun. The next task was to trek with the bikes for about 5-6 kms. Better said than done. The next control was hidden in the bushes atop a mountain and as we crossed the same I bonked and couldn't carry on more. So Opendro and Kiran stopped as I had a quick nap. By then we lost the team that was in front of us whom we kept as a guide. Then as we were trekking dowhill about 200mts we were lost and decided that we'll wait for daybreak (about 2.5hrs). We were near a village so asked for directions to Shirkoli and started riding the trail to reach the river crossing. Once there opendro swam the of about 100mts to complete the river crossing. He also did ask the organizer pointing to the safety vest "Is this mandatory?" to which we had a hearty laugh. Once done we had a 20km of trek which took almost 4 hours. We got to know it is on road after passing through the PC (passage  control) we went off road got down the mountain to climb another. By now you must be lost and thinking " up and down and up and down and repeat. Our state there was pretty much the same but the rolling terrain had us. Heat played the spoilsport and the terrain. As you feel excited going downhill you loose the steam as  soon as the uphill is in sight..!!  More depressing news await as we reached the kayaking point. It was cancelled and they took us via boat to the other side of the river. :-( Thats it we've had enough The last control we figured that we were 4th and saw no point in going forward as the last stage is 8kms of trekking with the bikes again. Returned to Pune via a tempo hired by Ravi Ranjan and team so we could also catch the night bus. Booked the room for 4 hours. Refreshed and ready for dinner we went back to the same hotel in shivajinagar. My condition was such that my shorts were hanging dearly and would've dropped if I jumped. We finished a sumptuous dinner by 10 and reached hotel to vacate. One last task remains, Boxing the bikes. This probably was done quickest about 20-25 mins for all three bikes. Gladly the bus waited for more passengers to board but we were the only 3. Slept peacefully to be woken only at Hotel Kamat in morning for breakfast. Idly vada puri kesari bath. Yeah that's not the menu but what I had for breakfast.
Back in bangalore as I write this blog i've taken a decision not to quit any race in future but be better prepared. In the open mix catergory i've seen guys on bicycles towing the lady member of their team. Hats off to their courage and strength in doing so..!! Though I can blame the organizers for a shabby work there's little that can be done at this point. But quite  a lot of learning from this adventure..!!