Ooty

Date: 15 October 2016 - 16 October 2016

Start Time: 5:00 am 15 October 2016

End Time: 11:00 am 16 October 2016

From: Ponnampet, Kodagu

To: Ooty

Distance: 200 kilometers

The cycle was in Ponnampet and I had not been able to go the previous weekend to bring it back. The additional time gave me time to plan to ride further rather than returning back to Bangalore. I looked up different options and finalised on cycling to Ooty. The route would take me from Karnataka to Kerala before crossing over to Tamil Nadu. I wanted to ride further and complete the loop by riding onward to Salem and then returning to Bangalore through Hosur. However, I was short on time since I would have to travel to Coorg again mid week and I did not want to leave the cycle at an intermediate location and then go back to collect it. I was travelling to Mysore during the week and the plan was to travel to Ponnampet on Friday and ride to Ooty on Saturday and then ride to Bangalore on Sunday.

There were multiple route options to travel to Ooty, I opted to do the Ponnampet-Mananthavady-Sulthan Battery-Gudalur-Ooty route. I avoided going to Kalpetta and also was not very keen on doing the Kalhatty climb. Two reasons for the Kalhatty climb being avoided was mainly due to my climbing ability and secondly since I would have to break my journey as I would have to pass through a tiger reserve. I wanted to try the easier climb to Ooty and use it as a confidence building measure of my climbing ability.

Ponampet to Gudalur:

Date: 15 October 2016

Start Time: 4:55 am

End Time: 16:30 pm

From: Ponnampet, Kodagu

To: Gudalur

Distance: 146 kilometers

Altitude Profile:
Ponnampet to Gudalur

I reached Ponnampet at 11:15 pm on 14 October 2016. It took about 30 minutes to get the cycle ready and I hit the sack at 12:00 am. I was going to get 4 hours of sleep before I hit the road. I promptly woke up at 4:00 am when the alarm rang and quickly got ready. I was ready to leave at 4:45 am and bid farewell to my Uncle and Aunt and got on the road. A small problem with internet connectivity and I could not get GPS connectivity. About 100 meters down the road and connectivity was available and I started the ride.

It was a cold, dark and misty morning. I made a slow start. I did not have the favoured flat start as it was rolling terrain. I was apprenhesive about being able to hold up and was fine with a slow start and was hoping to make up time later in the day. I passed through a few small towns and had dog issues where I was chased by dogs and I used the slow approach to get past the dogs. It was very dark and visibility being restricted to the light thrown by the head light gave it an eerie feeling and I was not comfortable riding in the dark and hoped that it would be day break soon.

Day break was a welcome relief for two reasons, one being that visibility increased and secondly I could enjoy the view. I passed by paddy fields and coffee plantations with mountains in the back drop. It was misty and the view was hazy. The mist was accumulating on the helmet and I had water droplets which was irritating. The view of the sun rising was breath taking. The orange color of the Sun and being able to stare at the Sun without the bite in its rays was a beautiful experience. However, within a few minutes when the Sun was up in all its glory I could barely look up and I was not complaining about the mist anymore as it was keeping the temperature down.

I passed by the turn leading to Irupu falls and was tempted to take a deviation and take a look. However, the terrain had made me realise that I did not have the luxury of taking deviations and that I had to be focused on getting to Ooty. I reached Kutta, the last town in Karnataka before crossing over to Kerala. I had covered only 30 kilometers in 2 hours and was behind the 20 kmph average. I wanted to get to Gudalur by 1:00 pm so that I could make it to Ooty in daylight as I was not keen on using the lights. The 15 kmph average was just not good enough as I would be reaching Gudalur only by 3:00 pm and further I had not taken any breaks which made Ooty look very far away.

The down hill as I crossed into Kerala was welcome as it got the speed up. However, I had entered the forest and as I rode beyond the border area and all traces of human life vanished I was inside a forest and riding down hill with few climbs here and there. I was enjoying the ride through the lush greenery when I heard a thudding sound on my right and as I turned I spotted a few deer making a hasty retreat into the woods. I knew that I would spot a lot of deer and was hoping for an elephant encounter. I was surprised that the deer bolted when they saw me as I am used to the deer standing around when I passed through the forest in a car. In a few minutes I saw a few more and it was the same again, they bolted when they saw me. In a few minutes when I saw a herd in the distance I saw two wheelers coming from the opposite direction and the deer stood beside the road, as I got closer they ran into the woods again. I realised that they were running away from me and it was probably the red gloves or the red bag cover or my bright inner of the jacket which was putting them off. I could only speculate and before I knew it I had crossed the forest road which was just 5 kilometers long. As I got into areas with human life again I was warned by one saying that I would encounter elephants and I was happy when I heard it and was not flustered. I passed by a couple of streams before hitting the estate area again and knew that I was out of the forest. It was coffee plantations and the road was still rolling terrain which kept the average speed down. Every time I told myself that I had to increase the speed there was a piece of me which said that I have to save up for the climb from Gudalur to Ooty.

I reached Mananthavady at 8:00 am and although I was hungry, I opted to go through the by pass rather than into the town to have breakfast. I was hoping that I would find a place on the bypass rather than going into town. However, to my luck I did not come across anything and continued to ride towards Panamaram. As I rode on, hunger took a back seat and I made quick progress and I did not want to stop. I pushed on and reached Panamaram at 9:15 am. I crossed the bridge over the Kabini river and I resisted the tempatation to ride on before having breakfast and rode into town. I had a plate of Parotta with Beef Curry and refilled on water before starting again at 10:00 am.

I was well behind on the time front. I did not have any idea of the gradient and what to expect further up the road. The only section that I knew about was from Gudalur to Ooty being a climb, till Gudalur I did not know what to expect. As the terrain was unknown, I did not know if I could push or I should conserve energy. I took the conservative option and did not push very hard. I had the option of going to Gudalur through Kalpetta or through Sultan Battery. I knew that Kalpetta was going to be a climb however I did not know what to expect from the Sultan Battery route. I opted for the Sultan Battery route to avoid the Kalpetta climb. The flip side of this decision was that I was off the highway and was into interior roads which were not in very good condition. I was happy that I was on the MTB and not on the road bike. I was feeling the weight of the back pack as I was having a bumpy ride. The next town where I get back on the highway was Meenangadi. I counted down the kilometers and was relieved to get back on the highway. Generally, cyclists prefer the interior roads, however I did not enjoy the road surface.

The ride from Meenangadi to Sultan Battery involved a lot of climbing and I was left wondering if I would have been better off riding to Kalpetta. The slow progress had made me reconsider the plan and I had set 3:00 pm as the cut off time to get to Gudalur. If I could not make it by 3:00 pm, I would have to postpone the climb to Ooty to the next day. It was around 12:00 pm when I reached Sultan Battery and as I got out of town I stopped for sugar cane juice. A short break to re-motivate myself and told myself that I still had a chance to make it to Ooty and restarted the ride.

I got a few downhill sections and was happy with the added rest and made a stop to refill on water. Within a short time I had reached the Noolpuzha forest checkpost and I looked around to see if I would get stopped by a forest guard. The forest was on my left and there were houses on the right. I realised that I was riding just outside the forest and was technically not inside. There were steep climbs here and I was struggling to pedal. I rode as much as I could and finally had to drop down to the 1st gear on the front as I was expending a lot of energy riding in the 2nd gear. It eased the pedaling a bit, however I was making very slow progress. I remember the 107th kilometer of the day taking forever and as I made it to the top I was exhausted, however a long down hill followed which allowed me to get my breath back. It was a long downhill and the cycle was not picking up speed, instead the back was sliding around. I feared that it was a puncture and I stopped to confirm my fears. It was puncture, a slow one and I knew that it was a pinch flat. I wanted a place to sit to change the tube and since there was still some air left in the tube, I rode on for another kilometer before stopping.

This is my first puncture on a solo ride and I was not very happy with the timing. I was behind schedule and it came at the wrong time. The puncture made me decide that the ride was going to be only till Gudalur and that I would have to climb to Ooty the next day. I took it easy since I had decided to stop at Gudalur, I was in no hurry to change the tube. I did it at a relaxed pace and although I did not want a crowd, I had 4 inquisitive onlookers looking at the tube change procedure like I was putting on a show. Getting the tire off and chaging the tube was quick. Pumping air into the tire upto the right pressure took a lot of time and effort, I was already tired with the additional effort in pedaling with the puncture and pumping air left me exhausted. I got the tire back on, adjusted the breaks, cleaned myself and packed the punctured tube and sat for a few minutes. The crowd had thinned down and only one person was left who told me that the road ahead is hilly terrain and that there would be no more paddy fields, instead it would be tea plantations.

It took me 45 minutes to get started again. I could make out the difference immediately as the cycle was rolling again and coasting was so much easier than earlier when I was having to pedal a lot. I entered the Mudumalai Tiger Reseve for just a fleeting moment. It must have lasted for just about a kilometer but the feeling of riding through the forest reserve was thrilling. Although I knew that I would not encounter anything, the excitement that I might just see something was thrilling. I did not know that it would last for just a kilometer when I entered and was disappointed that the forest ended so fast.

As soon as I got out of the forest, I was in Tamil Nadu and the climb hit quickly and I was back to riding at slow speeds. I was in Bitherkcad and was climbing towards Devarshola. The first sight of the tea plantations was again an experience in itself and gave a little push to the aching legs to keep going. I was not very lucky in this section of the ride as I had to take the steepest part of the turns due to the traffic and was left cursing my luck. I kept climbing and kept pushing myself to make it to the next curve. As I climbed up, I was running low on fuel and had to refuel quickly. A kilometer was taking long to complete and with no town in the vicinity, food was going to take some time and I was surviving on water. In a way I was fine that I had not eaten since it would be difficult to climb on a full stomach, however, I knew that I had to refuel if I wanted to get to Gudalur. I made it to Devarshola and at the first sign of food, I stopped for lunch. A quick meal and I was ready to go.

It helped that I had a down hill section just after lunch. The tea plantations looked more beautiful when riding down hill than when I was climbing. The ride also was better since I did not have time pressure to reach Gudalur. The mountains in the distance were still looking hazy and as I closed in on Gudalur I could see a lot of hills and was speculating as to which one of those was Ooty, the hill that I would have to climb. There were a few climbs followed by a downhill and as I enjoying the ride I knew that I would have to climb back up again. The climb to Gudalur started with about 4 kilometers left to Gudalur. The climb was steep was was very slow. The hotels started cropping up just before getting into Gudalur and although they were tempting, I was not keen on stopping before reaching Gudalur, I wanted to exit Gudalur before stopping. I got into Gudalur town which was very crowded and as I made my way out of town, the steep climb continued and I was very slow on the climb. It was 4:15 pm and I had a lot of school children making their way back home. I had the set of kids who were excited and cheered me on as well as the one's who mocked and made cat calls. I ignored the second set of kids and continued pedaling and as I made slow progress, I was wondering that if this is the easy route to get to Ooty then the other route would be almost impossible for me to do in the state that I was. It was 4:30 pm when I had made it out of town and I stopped at Velu's Home Stay. I did not get the basic room and had to go for the premium room as I did not fancy going back to Gudalur town in search of a cheaper option.

I did have the thought of riding on till 6:00 pm and then stopping, however, I was not keen on pushing the body too much as I was not having a good time with the climb into Gudalur. I preferred to rest and do the climb the next day so that I could enjoy the ride rather than get into time pressure mode and not enjoy the ride. It was slow start to the day and I did not recover from the lethargy and was left to contemplate what would have been if I did not have the puncture, I would probably have attempted to climb to Ooty on the same day. It was time to relax now, gather my thoughts and then re-plan the ride.

Ride Details:

From	To	Distance	Ride Time (hrs)	Total Time (hrs)	Departure Time	Arrival Time	Avg Speed
Ponnampet	Kutta	30	2.00	2.00	4:55	7:00	15.00
Kutta	Panamaram	40	2.00	2.25	7:00	9:15	20.00
Panamaram	Sultan Battery	28	2.00	2.75	9:15	12:00	14.00
Sultan Battery	Gudalur	47	3.00	4.50	12:00	16:30	15.67
		145	9.00	11.50			16.11

Gudalur to Ooty:

Date: 16 October 2016

Start Time: 5:50 am

End Time: 11:20 am

From: Gudalur

To: Ooty

Distance: 54 kilometers

Altitude Profile:
Gudalur to Ooty

The gruelling day that I had the previous day had left me considering a lot of options. The first one was to ride back from Gudalur and not attempt the Ooty climb, an option which was very tempting, however I ruled it out since I did not want to pass the opportunity to climb to Ooty. I had written off doing the Ooty-Conoor-Salem-Bangalore route as I was short on time and the postponement of riding to Ooty had cost me the return ride from Ooty to Bangalore. I had the option to ride down Kalhatty after climbing down from Ooty and then finding transportation to get me out of the forest and then to ride back, however considering that I would make it to Ooty by 12:00 pm and a further 2 hours for getting downhill, I knew that even if I rode back I would get back to Bangalore only the next day morning. I did not want to get back exhausted and instead opted to stop the ride at Ooty and take the bus back to Bangalore.

I promptly woke up when the alarm rang and got ready. Got the accessories back on the cycle and a few cursory checks to make sure that the cycle was alright before making my way to the road. The previous day I did not like that I was starting in rolling terrain and that I did not have a flat road to warm up, today it was going to be climbing and not even rolling terrain. I did not know how my body would react and was very apprehensive that I might not be able to make it. It was another misty morning and as I got on the cycle a jogger went past me. It was a steep start to the day's ride and I made a very slow start and tried to get into the rhythm. I was so slow that I was not able to catch up with the jogger and crossed him only when he turned back to return. As I made it up the first couple of kilometers it was day break and I did not have to use the lights. The climb did not let up and the steep gradient continued and I made very slow progress. I was not concerned about the time and I was only worried about making it to the top. I went past beautiful tea plantations and mist covered view of the valley below. I could see imposing hills in front of me and every time the view cleared I would contemplate which hill was I going to go up. I tried as much as possible to avoid the steep part of the curves. Although the traffic density was not high they had this habit of popping up every time I reached a curve forcing me onto the steeper part. There was a stream running down the hill and there was a constant sound of water gurgling beside/beneath me. I was going up slowly and at the same time I was left wondering if I had to climb 50 kilometers which is the distance between Gudalur and Ooty. If it was a 50 kilometer up hill I would take over 8 hours to get to Ooty, if I would make it that far. however, I continued in the hope that at some point the ride would give and there would be a few downhill sections.

There were sections on the road where the water was flowing onto the road and the road surface had eroded. Further there was road work in progress and bridges were being built where the road was again in bad shape. Since I was climbing, the road condition did not cost me any speed, although negotiating these sections was difficult since the weight of the back pack was bearing down on me. As I got higher I went past a eucalyptus plantation and in the forest areas I had monkeys and wasps for company. I saw a black monkey running across the road, I do not know if these are rare, however, its the first one that I have ever seen. There were other monkey sightings which were the normal brown color ones.

The progress was slow and it did not look like improving in the near future. The road kept climbing and it took me some time to realise that I was not climbing up one hill, I was going across hills, every time I reached the top of a hill the road would cut across onto another higher hill. I was not reaching the peak and there was no down hill in sight. The clock kept ticking, however the distance did not tick at the same speed and I was beginning to tire. I did not want to eat, however I wanted to have a drink and I made my first stop after an hour and 45 minutes of riding. I had covered 12 kilometers of the 50 kilometers and the road ahead looked like more of the same. My average speed at this point was 7 kmph and I was struggling to get up the hill. I stopped at the sight of a shop and gulped down a half litre bottle of Slice and ate few Gooday biscuits. I was ready to attack the climb again.

The next 5 kilometers of the ride was again more of the same climbing and as I was getting higher I was getting that sinking feeling that this would be climbing for the rest of the day without a downhill section in sight. After I was done with 17 kilometers of the ride, the road turned down and I was over joyed to get a down hill section and made the most of the 2 kilometer down hill. I coasted all the way even though the down hill was not steep, the cycle did not pick up any speed on the downhill, however not pedalling for the first time since I started and being able to coast was a big relief. My spirits were up after the down hill and the uphill which came after this was ridden with renewed fervour before the down hill to Pykara started. The Pykara down hill was longer and was done at a good speed which lifted my spirits further and the ride was not painful anymore. I rode for a further 5 kilometers from Pykara before stopping to refill water.

The ride from here was easier than the initial ride and the road changed to rolling terrain. I reached the Kamaraj Reservoir and stopped to have bread omlette as the hunger pangs were difficult to ignore at this point. I wanted to eat minimal food so that I could continue to climb. The road from here to Ooty was rolling terrain and I reached Ooty at 11:00 am. A little bit of searching for directions and then heading to the Ooty boat house and then to the railway station took a little time and added a couple of kilometers to the ride.

I headed to the bus stand, booked a ticket on the 3:30 pm bus to Bangalore and specifically stated that I have a cycle to transport. I was assured at the reservation counter that the cycle would be taken as luggage. I checked into a very basic room to spend 3 hours. A little bit of rest, lunch and I was back at the Bus stand. The bus arrived and the Conductor told me that he would take the cycle however I needed to pay for it. I told him that I would pay Rs 150 for it and he agreed. However, when they started boarding, the driver had an objection to the cycle being loaded and he did not allow the cycle to be loaded and closed the luggage compartments. I told the driver that I had informed about the cycle at the time of reserving the ticket and that I had been told that the cycle would be taken. The driver did not agree and sent the conductor to the reservation counter to check. I went along and was told to pay Rs 200 for loading it. I paid the amount and the cycle was loaded, the bus was delayed by 20 minutes by the time this circus played out. When I reached Bangalore the driver had the cheek to ask me to pay an amount to him as well for transporting the cycle to which I politely denied stating that the amount had already been paid.

I rode back home and crashed. It was a satisfying ride and I was happy that I had not cramped during the ride. Considering that I did not cramp on the Madikeri climb and now on the Ooty climb I could safely say that my  climbing has improved, however there is still a lot of scope for improvement.

Ride Details:

From	To	Distance	Ride Time (hrs)	Total Time (hrs)	Departure Time	Arrival Time	Avg Speed
Gudalur	Pykara	27	2.50	3.00	5:50	9:00	10.80
Pykara	Ooty	27	2.00	2.50	9:00	11:20	13.50
		54	4.50	5.50			12.00