Twin hills on the way to my first SR!

“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

*Alert! – mostly text, no much pictures*

Taking a shot at my first SR!

My Cheetah, somewhere on the Yercaud climb

I called Biju to check if my bike was ready, It was Thursday evening, just a day to go for the registrations to be closed for the final brevet of the season. My maiden SR on the line. He assured me that he was trying his best to get the bike out in time. I thanked him, and hung up hoping that it would be out by tomorrow.

Never before was I this nervous going into a ride. With the 200,300 and 400 already under my belt for the season, the season finale of 600k would be my attempt at the SR, my first. I wasn’t too keen on riding brevets in another city, that would mean that this would be my last chance for completing the SR series this season.

My prayers with the people of Kodagu and Kerala!

What was to be a “Tour of Coorg” had to be shifted to a different route after the fury of monsoon shattered Kodagu. After a bit of thought and rider consensus the organisers put forth the plans, it was to be the “Twin hills”. It brought back the memories of the ride earlier this year and with it another opportunity to take on and capture the mighty Yearcaud and Yelagiri.

After getting my bike back just in time on Friday, I set the bike up, checked if all the work was in place at office, and went to bed at about 11 PM. Having been almost an hour late to my earlier brevet, I had a restless night with frequent time checks.

As I set off from home, I started running my mental checklist, and as expected, I had forgotten to eat my pre-ride banana and snacks.

I reached the flag off point well on time. After the bike check and route briefing the ride was flagged off. Met and greeted a few of my fellow riders, Rohit was one of them, we rode a major part of the route together.

Zip Zap and Zoom Morning!

When we started our ride, I told Rohit I might not go too far before breakfast. I thought Hosur. But once we set off, the descent and tailwinds took me to Krishnagiri even before I even knew it. At about 30km to Krishnagiri when I was just feeling pumped up for maintaining an avg speed of close to 31kmph, a car out of nowhere was speeding towards me in the wrong side of the road!! I barely managed to stay on the road and away from the car! I expressed my disbelief and disgust for the car driver to Galin who had just then passed me, and rode on. I stopped for breakfast at about 15km to Krishnagiri around 8:45 AM. Made a plate of idly vada, and another plate of masala dose vanish in no time. Did a few stretches and moved on.

Partial map of the route. PC:Strava.com

Some time after the Dharmapuri toll gate, we were flagged down by Mohan for a dash of life giving butter milk. The next stop I planned for Salem, but felt like stopping at a bakery for some snacks anyway. The day was getting a bit hot you see… I joined with Ruban Raj for a chat as we resumed to ride. Battling the heat was hard stuff, and finding someone to talk on the ride is a good distraction from the hot sun. As we passed Salem toll and towards Yercaud I asked if Ruban was planning for a lunch break, he said he was only planning to load himself with some fruits and soda, he didn’t want to waste time waiting for food at a restaurant. I tried to follow him, but my hunger instincts far outweighs my need for speed! I stopped, although not for a whole lunch but some heavy duty snacks. I realised I did the right thing at a later point. I passed the auto stand where I waited in Dec for an auto guy to agree to ferry me to the bus stand. I brushed the not so pleasant memory aside.

Letting those hamstrings scream!

Then came the first of the twins, Yearcaud! It was roughly a 22km climb. I had built a buffer time of close to 3.5 hours to climb the first hill.

Soon, I spotted the improvised night lamps at the security check post. Light bulbs hung from inside inverted plastic pots. I remembered these from my earlier attempt. The climb to Yercaud was a daunting one, 20 hairpin bends in all, the first couple of hairpin bends were done away with quickly, but the remaining ones were nowhere to be seen. As I climbed up inch after inch, I kept thanking Biju for the work he had done on my bike. The hanger failure during my last attempt was still haunting me in my head! Without the assurances that I got from Biju, it would have been impossible to ride even mentally. As I kept looking at the view from up above, and looking at the macaques checking on me, I saw a gang clapping and cheering at me, then I spotted Monish with his phone pointed at me, and the other riders waved me down. Again, my crying legs were treated with some very warm peps and a couple of glass fulls of lemon juice. I gulped it down, did a few stretches thanked them profusely and returned to my saddle. The climb was gradual, and there were quite a few vehicles moving either way. A little up ahead, I saw a herd of cows grazing. They seem startled by something they saw (me??), and started galloping. To my good luck, they were not coming towards me. I passed them, albeit a little warily. A little further more I saw a small pile up of traffic. As I moved on, I saw the cause of the pile up. A car damaged from collision was stopped mid way of the climb.

PC: Monish

The hairpin bends resumed. Strangely the bends felt a lot more easy than the stretch so far. Monish had assured that there was a bit of a descent atop the hill. I took close to 3 hours to complete the climb. Went around the lake and clicked a pic of me at the CP, and prepared for the descent without wasting much time.

Chennai express!!

Climbing down the hill posed a challenge of its own, steep and dark, hands numb because of continuously applying brakes. I reached Salem by about 8:30 PM I stopped at the restaurant by the toll booth for dinner. I ate my mushroom biriyani packed the half eaten paneer manchurian for later in the night. As I came back from my bio-break after dinner, I saw Rohit stop for dinner and come by the same table that I had sat. Since it was already getting dark, I didn’t want to ride alone, so, I asked Rohit to wake me up after he was done eating and I lay down on a bench at the back of the restaurant for a short nap. But the sleep never came. We then continued into the ghat section before Dharmapuri, the recorded announcements about the steep roads ahead were both scary and funny. It reminded me of Deepika Padukone’s stereotyped accent in the movie Chennai Express. The message kept playing in my head in loops, as we climbed the roads by the ghat section. Soon, I could hear Rohit who was ahead of me shout with joy, it was the end of the climb.

We then rushed to the next CP at Dharmapuri, a CCD, we were given the option of curd rice or uppit, I rested (trying to get some sleep in vain) and woke up to eat a packet of uppit which I had initially turned down since I had just eaten. But I didn’t realise how hungry I was. I ate, and then woke Rohit up and continued. Around about 12:30 AM, we had a decent buffer of 1.5 hours at this point. Rajesh joined us from here.

Hallucinating!

As soon as I hit the road, I started feeling sleepy. I tried to cheat myself saying, let me push for a few more kilometers. after some time I stopped by the gate of a college (I guess) took a power nap of about 5 mins on the slab next to the gate and continued. and in about an hour or so I started hallucinating, I swerved off the road shoulder onto the road. I realised the danger and started looking for a place to sleep again. This time in front of a temple. Before reaching Krishnagiri and taking a right turn, I took one more power nap break to maintain sanity in my head.

After passing Krishnagiri on to the Chennai highway, I reached the next control point distance pretty quickly, but I couldn’t see the ATM, I remembered Mohan saying that Vanyambadi toll could be the other alternative CP in case we didn’t find the ATM. That was almost 15-20km from where I stood. I continued, keeping the pace steady, not losing much buffer that I had built. The paneer I had packed served as an early breakfast. I clicked the customary pic in front of the toll gate, and moved towards Yelagiri. Just before the climb I saw a small eatery with breakfast being served. I stopped to eat. I filled my stomach and started again.

Yelagiri – The dark horse…

The road leading up to Yelagiri from Vanyambadi was not that great, I hoped the road for the climb is not in the same condition. I passed the warning board that said that the ghat roads began. Marking the start of the climb.

PC: Mohan Subramanyam

Although a shorter twin, the Yelagiri was no way the easier of the two. With 14 haripin bends, each of them about a kilometer apart, the climb between them was absolute torture to the legs. The hill though was pretty laid back compared to Yercaud with less traffic. I reached the top where I saw Mohan and Monish waiting for us with yummy food packets. Again, not wasting too much time, I ate, finished the formalities of a manned checkpoint and climbed down. The descent on this hill was much easier since the road was less winding and it was broad daylight.

By this time my TomTom gave up, and refused to record the activities further. Now, with the time and speed numbers out of sight, I had to do all the calculations in my head. Not wanting to take chance, I also tried to up the pace a bit. In the mean time, the sun steadily picked up heat, the terrain ahead was rolling, and by the time I was at Krishnagiri, the steam was running out. And then, magic happened again. Monish handed out a pack of buttermilk yet again. I drank it, and stopped for lunch just before Krishnagiri. I ordered my sunny day favourite Mosaranna along with a mousambi juice.

Race against time.

First time in the ride, I was trying to kill time, I hated to step back into the sun, I ate my lunch slowly, planned for my next stop even before this one finished. I planned to have some cold coffee. The map said the next CCD was at Shoolagiri. I had no choice, but to move on. Luckily there was a CCD just being set up in Krishnagiri, which didn’t show up on the maps. I thanked my luck and went in, I ordered my cold coffee and laid down on the floor to stretch a bit.

After the coffee I hit the road again, knowing too well the sun and the terrain, a climb very comparable to the one near Dharmapuri. I set speed and distance targets. Shoolagiri first, and then Hosur and a dinner break, then it was E-City fly over. Here I was in two minds, whether or not to take the flyover, since I had the luxury of time, and since it was peak hour traffic with all the traffic flowing in, I anyway decided to go under the flyover.

200, 300, 400 and then the 600, my road to SR!

After a long journey of managing the hustle and menace of traffic and, I reached Bangalore, and to the end CP at 8:53 PM. A couple of months more than a year since I started randonneuring, I had my first SR!

PC: Mohan Subramanyam

One of the changes I did to my start was, not to mix enerzal for the first day in my ride. Mostly because I become averse to the taste of it. I wanted to keep the option of enerzal to the tiring phase of my ride.

Although I went all out in the first part of the ride, the plan was to make full use of the 40 hours that was available.

With the wheels trued well this time, I could realise the actual potential of the magnic lights. With this ride, I might not be the happiest customer of these lights, but I am definitely satisfied and didn’t have to worry much about the lights and battery running out.

Special mention to Poorvika mobiles for putting up a lot of hoardings with Kajal Aggarwal’s pics, very motivating!! 😉

The result announced on the AIR website.