ToT Stage 1: The Flag off, Elaneer, Knee Pain, Kolli Hills and 132 kms

The tour is about to begin. The hard work over the past 3 months will finally come out with its verdict – Am I fit enough to be riding the ToT ? Two days prior to the tour all felt good and healthy. The legs had over 12 metric centuries to boast of and some very hard ones going up the Kharghar Hills.

Everything fell apart in the evening 3 days prior to the departure date when I nearly slipped and hit my knee on the sofa. I have my cats – Dupli & Dukli to thank for that. At that point I figured what they meant by the phrase “billi ne rasta kat diya”. I tried to avoid stepping on Dupli, the adorable cat, but in doing so I end up with my left knee hitting the sofa arm rest. Over the next two days the pain get worse as I feared it might come to haunt me over the next 10 days or so. I sent a text message to Trainer VDHehe telling him about the exuberating pain in my left knee. He suggested that I buy the crepe band. I did so and thankfully the pain subsided by the day of departure.

Tour of Tamil Nadu is now go on the 22^nd of December. All the riders assembled for the flagging off ceremony which was done by the district collector. 

We were all set to start the tour. The day’s goodie bag included dry fruits of every kind, Gatorade, cereal energy bars and Enerzal powder. I started off the tour with just a sweet pain which slowly vanished as the legs got warmer and the mind very busy with all the chit chats and greets.  ToT surprised us by giving us high quality hydration water pack, puncture kit, frame pump and head lights sponsored by Fuji and Pro-Bikers of Chennai.

We leave the hotel at 8:00 am. Surprisingly, it did not feel hot at all which indeed was my prime concern for the tour. I had experienced the Jaffna heat early this year and kind of expected the same. Oh boy, did it burn ? Initially, it was I and Trainer who would be ride buddies but quickly the peloton fell apart and I found myself all by myself. I rode along River Cauvery and went past some very beautiful villages and those typical conical shaped temples of Tamil Nadu.

 It amused me endlessly to see those very angry deities armed with all kind of weapons at every village or farm boundary wall. They had so much anger in their protruding eyes and tongue hanging out as if the great goddess kali have possessed them, I figure later through some of my friends that they are called Ayyanars. I would come across many over the next few days. From my friends, I also figure that they are meant to be protector of villages and their ever-so-precious wealth in the form of farm produce.

In no time, I started passing all the MTBers and for some reasons I find VDHehe missing in all the action. I continue riding along the river only to find myself right in the front. One interesting thing about the ToT was the organizer’s firm belief in not marking roads with paint, unlike TfN. I tried to fall back and join the rest as I did not want to get lost on the 1^st day itself. Ironically, I get tagged later as the ‘rider who rode 5-10 kms extra daily’. The ride docket had all information on the ride distance, elevation profile shown in percentages to show how much of the climbs have been covered and also the turns we need to take. I tied to make sense of the ride docket. 

Finally, I catch up with Venkat and Jothi who were the lead riders. I join them as the 3^rd rider but vary of doing any pace lines with them as I did not know their riding skills and abilities. How would I have guessed at that point that they would soon be my rider partners for the rest of the tour ? I am known to be a poor starter during a tour like TfN or ToT. Soon, it became apparent that all roadies have now formed the pack and we all assembled on the bridge that took us to the other side of Cauvery. We stop to take photos.

I find VDHehe show up with Muthu, Siva  and the rest. The pace slowly picks up and it now becomes apparent that there will be some fast riding. The pain in my knee is now showing signs of a come back. I drop my chain to easier gears as I did not want to aggravate it with fast pace ride.

Distance crumbles under our pedal strokes. We hit a bad patch of road and it continues for good 10 odd kms. My knee start showing unease and the pain is back. I continue riding but start worrying as we get closer and closer to our destination – Kolli Hills. I figure from the ride docket that it will be 22 kms long climb with an average gradient of 4.3% and 70 hair pins. The bounces off the road begin to hurt. We stop at a village looking for some coconut water – called ‘elaneer’ in local language. We ride a kilometer or more looking for some. We have taken a kilometer long detour. It is now around 2pm and everyone starts asking for food. I start asking for elaneer on the pretext of taking some rest for my knee.

We stop by a village. The view of the mountain ahead of us was just too beautiful to ignore. We stop by to take some photos. 

As we were about to start, VDHehe shows up finally. He had a flat and that kept him way behind us. We take turns to motivate each other to bring us to the base of Kolli Hills. By this time, I knew I will have a tough climb ahead of me. My knee was hurting a lot. The Chennai boys stop by to eat dosas and are soon joined by one and all. I and VDHehe decide not to eat and eat bananas and drink lemon water. The salted lemon juice was a relief to have.

I was one of the first to leave the base to hit the summit. I start my journey along with Bhaskar. The first 10 kms go without any incident and surprisingly the pain vanishes. 70 odd hairpin bend works as a mind game. I continue my climb with a good pace and I soon find myself climbing at ease. 12 kms are gone and I look down to see how much I have climbed. The garmin shows about 900 odd meters. Feeling confident and the eagerness to finish the day, I get out of my saddle to tackle some tough gradient over 8-9% and hairpins which were at very close proximity. I think it should not have been done.

Within another 1-2 kms into the climb following the out of the saddle sprint, I suddenly sense a sharp pain under my left knee cap as if someone has thrusted a blunted object. I nearly fall off my bike as I could not pedal anymore and the pace drops. I naturally un-cleat my left shoes first and this time I could not do it as my left knee was completely wrecked. I un-cleat my right shoes and come off the bike. I was worried all of a sudden. No way, I wanted to the tour to go bad for me on day one itself. I wait for a few minutes too find Bhaskar coming up and then Trainer VDHehe.

Both of them pass me and I could hear VDHehe shouting at me for stopping. I tell him about the pain but he yells back saying if I continue waiting there I might very well wait in the same spot for the rest of the evening. I gather some courage and sit on the saddle. I somehow pedal for a kilometer and look at my garmin. I see I have 5-6 kms more to go. I hear grunts and scream by VDHehe in the distance. I then find him stopping and I ask him what the matter is. He just nods and continues to climb. Seeing him stop, I too get tempted to stop, which I did. I feel thirsty but I have no water. I forgot to refill my water bottle at the base. Ayyanar, the village protector is not happy with me. Everything is falling apart.

Bhaskar sensing I need help stops and offers me some water. I tell him about the pain. Being a physio himself, he helps me with the cramp which started appearing around my left knee. He makes me do some stretch which really worked. I now look at both of them for inspiration. I hear VDhehe grunting again. I start the climb and start talking to myself. My garmin now shows 10 kms to destiny and 2 odd kms to the summit. I gather some strength and reach the summit. On the summit I’m greeted by long 2-3 kms long descent and the around 2 kms long climb with average gradient of over 8%. I just wanted to finish my day, gulps my saliva, abuses Ayyanar and spins my way up. I felt very glad that I have made it up and more glad that VDHehe pulled me up. His grunts pulled me up. Bhaskar’s offer of water pulled me up.

I felt proud that Trainer has dropped me on the climb. He gave me 9 mins on the climb. I find him at the entrance of the hotel. I hug him and wish him on his great climb. The lad who started riding a decent bike just 6 months ago set the best time on HC climb. He had tears in his eyes. He breaks down. I would tell him to sit and watch me climb Kharghar. I would tell him to watch me climb NH8 and Godbhunder. He would get dropped in matter of seconds in Bombay. I felt he couldn’t climb.

Not now though. He delivered where it mattered the most. I knew at that very moment that Trainer has come of age and he is no longer the guy who would cut short his ride on the NH8 every time we rode together with other Bombay lads. He couldn’t keep pace with us on his BSA. We would disappear into the horizon and turn back to catch up with him. He would turn back earlier. He nailed the Kolli Hills and left his mark there. It is now on record that he gave me 9 mins on a HC climb.

The facebook update that evening read something like this on my wall – ‘Dandekar Vaibhav leaves his mark on Kolli Hills. He is the man’. Good work there my friend. And how does it go for me after that ? I have the best tour of my life. The knee pain will eventually go away and I’m on my way up. No gradient mattered to me anymore. I cracked one and all.

ToT is ON.