The tour was just beginning to warm up and we are into Day 3 of the ToT. The previous evening we were all invited for dinner at a local private resort and did I eat well (?). Those kothu parottas and mutton biryani made many of us to help ourselves to several servings and licking fingers. It sort of reminded me of Sri Lanka during the Mamil tours. We would devour endless numbers of dosas served with egg on top and then those diced chicken parottas. It was yummy indeed and the ones in TN were no less yummier either. I think I do not want to see parottas for another 6 months and I'm sure my ToT mates would agree.
Photo Credit: ToT 2013 & Nagesh
I slept well the previous night having put in a great effort to get my ass up Yercaud. It was a cold misty foggy morning with wind making it very chilly. We were briefed about the ride by Vaz and it was supposed to be a nice long descend followed by long rolling terrain for most part of the day and then great descend into Hogenakal. But the headwind made the ride very hard to negotiate. We did come across 2 long climbs of fairly long distance. The elevation profile did not speak of anything more than cumulative ascend of 700 meters for the day. The chill in the morning was way too much for me. The wind made it even worse. I was shivering down to my bones. I decided to stuff my jersey with some newspaper to create some insulation against the cold.
We do not decend the way we came up but take another route which was equally scenic and brilliant. Confident from my previous two attempts at descending, we start our journey. The descend was long and fast one. It is kind of scary when you see all these monkeys spread everywhere from the tree tops to the middle of the road. I always had this weird fear that one of them would pounce on me and I'm gonna get a real bite. Thankfully, they would just sit by the roadside or on tree tops but some still had the audacity to stay put in the middle of the road. I wanted to take my phone out and take some photos of the hills but too scared that the phone might end up in their hand. Once I and Ancy had gone to Nandi Hills close to Bangalore on an official plus vacation trip. One monkey ripped off a packet of Lays Waffers from her hand. Since then, these little Hanumans make me nervous. Oh yes, they do have giant canines.
Photo Credit: ToT 2013 & Nagesh
Siva, as always, is hard to catch up on the downward slopes. I tried to tail him but chickened out. I'm followed by Sapeksh and Vaibhav but soon the gap widens. I get behind a bus which just wouldn't let me pass. Sapeksh sees the right moment at the hairpin to pass the bus but I'm caught behind. It takes me a little while to pass it. Tackling those hairpins were not as tiresome as it were during the Kolli Hills descend. 70 odd ones to negotiate. We soon hit the base and all of us stop by for others to catch up and of course the customer sugary cup of coffee. That one at the base had enough sugar to give me enough supply of glycogen to survive the rest of the day. Soon, the newspapers are long folded up and the temperature rises. I must however say that we did not really experience harsh heat throughout the tour. It was fairly warm but tolerable. It was dry heat unlike how it is in Bombay where it comes with high humidity and sweat factor.
Photo Credit: ToT 2013 & Nagesh
Soon the group breaks up and all the roadies form a little team of their own. We pass some local town and some pristine villages. More or less, all take it easy thinking about the long day ahead of us. During the course of the day, we encounter some harsh barren land with horizon visible all 360 degrees. The headwind was tolerable but at times it was confusing. Headwind would soon turn into tailwind and then crosswinds. The bike swayed all over the place. VDHehe was in his element throughout this day. He was very strong on those flats. I was more than happy to sit at the back of his wheel and let him do all the hard work.
We do come across some small hills and poor road but not as bad that it would bring out the Bombay boy in me. No cuss words ! We had to negotiate two climbs of fairly large distance and elevation. I manage to cut through all of them as I soon begin to realize yet again why I like to climb. I'm surely not a fast climber but I somehow like to sit there and grind my way up. I enjoyed those two climbs as it had everything from headwind to tailwinds and to crosswinds. I break away from the peloton of 7-8 riders every time the elevation profile smiles up. I was more than happy to do so.
The rest of the day goes without much of an incident. The villagers would spead out their farm produce on the highway for the vehicles to pass over them. An ingenious way to get the end result without having to pay for it. We stopped by to get some rest as we inch closer and closer to Hogenakal. I leave my bike against a giant tree looking at a bore well to freshen up. I see two little kids using all their energy to extract some water. I too wanted to get some. It was embarrassing to say the least that no matter how much I tried my pumping, no water would flow through. 'Ah ! these city folks' I pondered.
We were all waiting for the long descend into hogenakal. It was time to wrap up the day and look for some beers. The 'British Empire' lager helped us recover so much so that we now have a whatsapp group by the name. We stop by a large sculpted image of Ayyanar for well deserved break and of course some dry fruits energy. I decided to lookout for some of these sculptors to make my own book of Ayyanars. I always wanted to stop by and take some photos but, damn it, if I do so, then I lose the wheels of other roadies. Why can't they just take it easy once in a while. For god sake, we just climbed 2800 meters over the past two days !
Photo Credit: ToT 2013 & Nagesh
These things are so colorful and expressive. Nearly all had very big eyes and those typical of handlebar moustache. I somehow cannot recollect seeing any female Ayyanars. Do they even exist ? I guess these village protectors are also sometimes called 'Chami'. I think there is no 'Swa' in Tamil hence it is pronounced as 'Chami". They had so much anger that it felt as if they are gonna burn every ass that comes it way. The effort gone into making them exuberant is worth every appreciation in the world. My facebook update was something like this - 'That's the anger I had on my face on every single climb today'. I was loving it today.
Soon, we approached the final descend. We all had a go at it. It was long descend with very wide roads and great view of the surrounding landscape. Some riders stopped at the highest point to shoot videos of roadies coming down. I gave my all to look at 'pro' as possible. Haha ! Sapeksh could have very well applied for a job with a local circus company. He was shooting a video on his mobile with only a hand to tackle the fast descend. Crazy ! But the video came out very well so I'm not complaining.
We reach Hotel Tamil Nadu at around 4:00 pm and soon settle down to take rest. Later in the evening, Siva, Amol, Venkat, Jothi, VDHehe and I decide to go for a little stroll around the town. Hogenakal is known to have a great waterfall with little or no drastic human intervention. It did have a fair amount of tourist walking around with their belly nicely oiled and so proudly lifted. It showed every sign of prosperity that the new Indian middle class is now known for. We had some fried fish in the middle of an all-out attack by mosquitoes. The town sounded of prayers at dawn and dusk which is very typical of Tamil Nadu. Singers yell and scream the names of their beloved god as if apocalypse is just few meters away from them. VDhehe found it amusing and at times irritating but the South Indian in me loved it.
Day 4 was a rest day for many of us. My knees were perfectly alright but a day of rest would have made it even better. Some guys go for a local loop ride whilst others go the water fall. I think I missed it and now I regret not going after looking at all the photos coming out now that the tour is over. Sometimes its good to forget the aero position and gradients and blend in with folks who come out for that extra bit of fun that comes outside of high cadence ride. I spend my Day 4 doing some minor maintenance work on my bike and some usual chit chat. ToT is going strong.
No comments:
Post a Comment