TFN - Day 3

When I accepted the TFN invite this year, I knew this has to be toughest day. More than 50 km of proper climbs, out of which around 26 km being relentless. I knew I had to train for this, but that never happened. Will I be able to do this climb? I don't know. It was too late to even think about the question.

My left shoe had been biting my little finger, which was becoming a challenge for me. I decided to ride with my floaters today. The floater had a very soft sole, which is going to be a major disadvantage, especially on the climbs, but I didn't have any other option for now.

We had our briefing in the morning and was told that this being forest territory, we will be riding in small group. There were couple of leopard sightings yesterday, and elephant sighting too is pretty common. We started from the Bush Beta resort at 8.30 am, and rode though the bandipur forests. It felt really nice riding through the forests, and we decided to take it slow enjoying the surrounding. We spotted lots of deer, and also a bison which ran across the road. I was hoping to spot some elephants, but it didn't happen.

We soon crossed the forests area, and reached gudalur, from where the climb starts. I gave it everything I had. It was very steep, I guess, the initial couple of kms part might be 7-8% , and soon I ran out of energy. There after, it was breaks every few minutes, franatic spinning at my lowest gear combination, and persuading myself that this is doable.

Through the Bandipur forests. Vinay, Gokul, Amit and others stop for the other riders to catch. I use the opportunity to take pictures

Lots and lots of deers grazing in the forests. They seem to be very used to the tourists. Gokul can't resist capturing them.

A nasty speed breaker follows a nice and long downhill. Amit, who hasn't topped up the air pressure enough, gets a pinch flat. We replace the tube and pump in some fresh air.


A monkey steals a packet of enerzol at the first rest station. He manages to open the packet very efficiently and savours it.

Nice long downhill follows after a climb. Amit and Gokul freewheeling

A very scenic part of the route as keep riding towards gudalur.

The Ooty climb starts. The first 25 km from gudalur was really stee, I had to take very frequent breaks. Vinay giving it his all.

The scenery was worth admiring though. The road, the mist, the greenery's - couldn't have been any better.

Around 10 km into the climb, we come across a very scenic stretch with giant eucalyptus trees both side. The smell of the eucalyptus leaves was very refreshing

Riders ride through the eucalyptus firm

I kept taking breathers

The slopes were really steep, and I realised I was massively under trained for this kind of terrain. However, the frequent breaks contributed to many photo opportunities

Around 4 km after service station 2, and 26 km from gudalur, the terrain got much better. The relentless climbs were replaced by rolling hills. Unexpectedly, we were even rewarded by some nice downhills which did wonders to our spirit. In this picture, Chidambaram climbs up.

The route was serene and scenic .It was 2 pm, and I took a 15 min power nap on the thick carpet of green grass on the other side of the rail.

Stopped at the a small bridge on the way to service station 3, and listened to the water gushing by.

Reached the service station 3, and this is what I saw when I laid down my back on a mat.

I ultimately reached YWCA at 5 pm, 89 km of days ride. But mentally , this was the most challenging ride I have ever done. I was told almost80% of the rider finished this ride, and King of the Hills was Amrish, who completed the whole ride by 11.40am. Paul and roopak finished by 12.30 pm. Boni completed the ride earlier than most of us in his now single speed ( broken derailer hanger). He plans to fabricate a hanger at ooty.

TFN - Day 2

Day 2 was tough and long, the toughest day so far in the tour. Distance wise, it was 157km - not too long. But very tough indeed. Partly due to the climbs, partly due to the hot afternoon sun, and partly due to some very bad roads, and partly due to my shoe biting into the little finger of my left feet. I am glad that I completed the ride. Some captures below

Early morning second day - bikes waiting for the riders. While riders were getting ready for the day, I clicked some pictures of the machines

Anand's BMC

Paul's Pinarello Dogma

During breakfast, we were handed the day's route map.the last 15 km of the map is on the other side of the paper. To bandipur, 157 km ride.

Riders starting for the days ride.

The day didn't start off well for me. Myself, Sunil and Deena started together. 2 km into the ride, my bottle was out in the ground. Realised, the bottle cage is done.

Another 5 km into the ride, one of the rider overtook me in a hurry, came in front of me, and braked hard as there was a bus coming from the other side. I had to suddenly brake, and in the hurry to uncleat, the pedal bounced off and created a deep mark below my knee. Stopped, washed my knee with help for villagers, put some band aid, and carried on.

At around 20 km mark, deena wanted to take a break

While Deena stretched, I used my camera to take some pics. Pradeep and his wife in the frame here

Me and Deena reached the first service station , at 40 km mark.

Vandit, Sumit in the frame

Around 20 km further into the ride, I stopped to take a pic. Deena kept going, and I couldn't catch him there after.

By now, my my left shoe was giving trouble. It was biting my little finger, and I had to stop and take of my shoes for 5 -10 min after every 45 min. Heres Hrishi Nair, TFN's youngest rider and her mother Rossana rides through as the official TFN photographer captures the moment.

Another break, another rider

Going down a hill

I kept taking breaks to take my shoe off, and the pictures flowed

Service station 2 - villagers checking out our bikes

These and much more on offer at ST. And the peanut butter is real yummy

Volunteers in action

I was riding alone at times.

While I take my shoes off and give me feet a breather, 2 more riders pass by. This was around 1 pm, and it was getting tough, especially with the climbs.

98km covered, and the sight of service station gives a relief. It is also the lunch station. It is 2 pm.

Volenteers and riders taking some rest. I had my lunch, waited till 3pm to avoind the afternoon sun, and then started my ride. This time, there were around 5 more riders with me. But breakes every 45 min means I will have to ride alone in short while anyway.

Around 20 km down, road marking showing the right way. The sign of home though was illusive and 35 km away from here.

At last we reach gudalur, and take the left turn at highway. I was running out of time( it was 5 pm already, and i had to cover 3o more km), and the sight of the smooth highway after those bad roads did wonders to my morale. I caught up with Ankur here, who is in this frame. On the way, we caught up with another bunch of 8 riders, and we rode the rest of ride together.

Close to the our resort in Bandipur, we spotted lots of deer. One of the bunch here, although the autofocus didn't work properly. Reached resort at 6.30 pm, and it was already dark. Dead tired, but happy on completing the ride without being picked up by the sweeper truck. Heard later than only around 60 odd out of 100 completed the day's ride. Also came to know later that Paul had spotted a leopard 10 metres from him on the same route.

TFN - Day 1

So the much awaited TFN ride started today morning. 100 riders starting together from the Koramangla sports club was sure a spectacle. A few nasty crashes (the riders are doing fine though), a few punctures, a broken derailleur hanger, and of course sore legs - thats the story of the first day. If theres one more thing that needs mention, it has to be the support stations and the route marking, which was precise at any point that had diversion. Glimpses as below

Around 25 km from start, kumar has a puncture. Mark helps him out with the tube swap.

Vandit gets some tune up down. Boni, Saravanana and Sumit completes the gang. Later in the day, I came to know boni's had small accident ( he is all fine) that broke is RD hanger.

The much awaited first support station at around 80 km mark. Stocks a bike pumps and lot of gooodies like biscuits, chikkies, maaza, minute maids, enerzol. And the volenteers were owesome.

I happened to ride with Kumar ( rides a KHS) and his friend for around 15-20km. They took a break before the 3rd support station, and I carried on.

Sunil had taken a wrong turn somewhere in the first 50 km, and wandered off quite a bit. He caught me up at the 3rd service station, where we reached just at the right time for lunch. We met randel too there who was riding his bianchi via nirone 105. But it started pouring and we had a tought time getting a shelter. We set off when the rain eased off. I managed to hang on to Sunils wheel for the next 35 km till our final destination.

The sun came out soon, and we stop to take our rain jackets off.

Sunil rides through one of the more scenic routes , around 30 km to kollegala.

Our acc for the day - kollegal yatri nivas. I finished the day with my 162 km ride, a major part being a nice downhill:)

Trek bikes at TBA

We received our first lot of trek bikes early this week. Here are some snapshots

Trek it is

The Trek 2.1

The Trek 4300 with hydralic disks

The spinner fork of 4300D

Maninder can smell treks from far away. He was at TBA even before
Raman came to pick up his 2.1

Raman taking the first ride of his new bike