Yercaud

Date: 2 June 2016

Total distance: 233 Kilometers

Start Time: 3:45 am

Return Time: 5:30 pm

With: -

Altitude Profile:

It has been quite a while since I have gone on a long distance ride other than the brevet's. Cycle rides have been restricted to the city only. The 400 km brevet is round the corner and I wanted to get some preparation done for it. I wanted to test where I am physically when it comes to completing rides of that distance. Although the brevet needs to be completed in 27 hours, since this was going to be a practice ride I did not want to push too hard and opted to do the distance over 2 days. I chose Yercaud as the location over Coorg, since Yercaud has a climb involved as well.

The planning to cycle to Yercaud had been done quite  a while back, however it could not be executed due to various reasons. Finally I had the opportunity to execute the ride and I did not want to miss out on it. I planned to leave at 3:00 am and quickly drew up the schedule for the ride.  

The plan:

From	To	Distance	Ride Time (hrs)	Total Time (hrs)	Departure Time	Arrival Time
Koramangala	Hosur	40	2.0	2.0	3:00	5:00
Hosur	Krishnagiri	50	2.0	2.0	5:00	7:00
Krishnagiri	Dharmapuri	50	2.5	3.0	7:00	10:00
Dharmapuri	Salem	60	3.0	3.0	10:00	13:00
Salem	Yercaud	30	3.0	5.0	13:00	18:00
		230	12.50	15.00

The Yercaud climb was going to be 22 kilometers, the longest that I have attempted and knew that it would be difficult to do on the first day of cycling. I decided that I would take a call on climbing the hill after I reach Salem based on the physical condition. If I am able to climb the hill on day 1 then I would cycle back to Bangalore on the next day. If not, I would stay at Salem, climb the hill on the next day and then return by bus.

The day before the ride it started raining at 6:00 pm, it was heavy rains and since there is a flooding risk at home, I was worried on two fronts, flooding and also that I would have to cancel the ride. Fortunately, it did not get flooded, however it continued to rain into the night, I was determined to ride and made all preparations for it, bought snickers, electral and other miscellaneous items for the ride. I checked the weather forecast at Krishnagiri, Salem and Yercaud and the picture was bleak with thunder showers expected on the day of the ride. I did not pay much heed to the forecast and hoped that the thunder showers would stay away. I set the alarm for 2:30 am and after finishing packing hit the bed at 11:00 pm. When the alarm rang, I promptly woke up, switched it off and went back to sleep.....for just 5 minutes. When I woke up it was 3:00 am and I had missed my start time. I woke up got ready and left at 3:45 am.

It was dark, the weather was cold, the road was wet, not flooded. I started slowly and negotiated my way out of the Madivala market and got onto Hosur road. It did not take long for the body to warm up and I was into my rhythm and picked up speed. I knew that the ride from Hosur to Krishnagiri is relatively easy with long downhill's and I would be able to relax during the descents. With this at the back of my head, I pushed hard to get to Hosur. I was pleasantly surprised when I reached Hosur at 5:15 am. I had taken only 90 minutes instead of the expected 120 minutes. There was a little bit of climbing involved just after Hosur before the descents started. Once the descents started it was exhilarating stuff, I was touching speeds of 50 kmph regularly. There was hardly any pedaling that I had to do, however, the concentration levels were on the higher side since even a small jerk at that speed can be fatal. There was the odd uphill which would sap my energy, however the next downhill would come as a relief. Although it was a relief, it came with a pinch of salt, since I was thinking of how difficult the return would be. I could see trucks/buses struggling to make the climb and was reminded of the Goa trip. The road kept going down and within 45 minutes I had reached the Shoolagiri Coffee Day, it was 6:00 am and too early for breakfast.

I continued the ride and the down hills continued. As it was day break I could see the landscape around; it was a beautiful morning. Blue skies with the clouds placed like cotton balls and small hillocks laced the horizon, to add to the beauty, all the water bodies were full. At the back of my head I was happy to see the lakes with water. As I concentrated hard on the down hills and was able to catch the fleeting glimpse to appreciate nature, I did not realise that I had closed in on Krishnagiri. I was getting hungry and wanted to stop for breakfast. I had passed a few restaurants, but did not stop. The body wanted to stop but the mind wanted to get to Krishnagiri before stopping. I pedaled on and reached the junction where we need to take a left to go to Chennai. Watched the Sun hiding behind the clouds from the flyover and then headed towards Salem. Within a kilometer I came across Gokul Veg and stopped for breakfast. It was 7:15 am.

As I sat reflecting on the ride and collating the data of the ride, I noticed that a crowd had gathered outside the restaurant. The crowd comprised mainly of the hotel staff with a couple of customers. They stood around the cycle and were looking at it like they had seen a time machine. As I ate my breakfast which was a plate of Pongal and Vada, I tried to keep an eye on the crowd as well, just to make sure that they do not touch anything on the cycle. I realised that even though I had ridden downhill most of the way, I was tired and a little worried that the easy part of the ride was done and there was a further 100 kms to go before I start the climb. On the time front I was doing well, but physically it was not very good, or rather not where I wanted to be.

I restarted the ride at 7:30 am, it was a very quick breakfast. The ride was a gradual downhill, however, there were a lot of flyovers. Even during the early morning ride there were a lot of flyovers, I did not realise the number when I was pedaling hard at them, however, now that the energy level was beginning to dip, the flyovers were noticeable. The Sun was out and the heat was on. As I exited Krishnagiri, I noticed that the agricultural activity has been commenced and all the fields were ready and were waiting for the monsoons to commence. The patches of green paddy fields were a relief to the eyes. The water bodies in this section were far lesser than the morning ride, however the agriculture fields made up for it. The ride till Kaveripattinam was a continuation of the morning ride, wherein the down hills outnumbered the climbs. As soon as I crossed Kaveripattinam, the road began to climb towards Dharmapuri. I was able to pedal at a steady pace and was making good progress. I had 20 kilometers to go to Dharmapuri when I decided to stop for a rest. The legs were showing signs of cramping, so I decided to rest, lest the cramps get bad enough for me to cancel. I had started to look out for a place to rest a few kilometers back, however, I did not come across any place with shade. Finally, I stopped at a bridge and sat on the road, with the wall of the bridge providing the shade. Stopped for 15 minutes roughly and was ready to restart the ride.

The gradient of the ride had changed and it involved a lot of climbing, with the flyovers adding a lot to the gradient to slow things down. The average speed was down in the 20 kmph range and progress was slow. As I closed in on Dharmapuri, I took the bypass instead of heading into town to avoid the traffic. However, even though the road bypasses Dharmapuri and Nampalli, this goes round the two towns and adds a little extra to the kilometers, which I did not appreciate at the time. Also, the height of the flyovers and the road in general had a lot of climbing to do. The gradient and the heat had taken a toll on my body and I was out of water, I had to stop to refill, however, all the stores were on the other side of the road. I finally found one on my side of the road after 5 kilometers and was relieved because I was desperate for water by then. Took a 15 minute stop and answered a few questions of the shop owner and listened to a lecture from him about cycling and general life style of people, since he was speaking Tamil very fast, after a point I lost track of what he was saying and was just nodding my head.

When I restarted, I was looking forward to reaching Thoppur which was 15 kilometers off which would be the end of the climbing as it was a downhill ghat. I was recharged after the water and rest break and also since Thoppur was going to be downhill, I pedaled hard. I kept the speed up, even though it was tiring me, I knew that I could relax in about an hour. I was into a nice rhythm and hoped that the downhill would take longer to arrive. Just when I was thinking that I could go on for another hour before the downhill, I saw the board which said 'Ghat Section Ahead'. I braced myself for the increase in speed, however, the initial part of the Ghat has a little climb, I was wondering if it was going to be one of those ghats where the gradient would drop gradually, just then the downhill started and I picked up speed. The speedometer went beyond 50kmph and was inching towards 60kmph. I was able to take my eyes off the road just for mini seconds to catch a glimpse of the view and it was a beautiful view; worth taking the risk to take my eyes of the road. There was a view point, however I did not want to lose out on the speed which I had picked up and went ahead, only to encounter traffic and I had to back off the speed. Within the next kilometer I was done with the ghat and I reached Thoppur. I pedaled another kilometer to get to the outskirts of Thoppur and stopped to rest and take in the view.

I was left with 30 kilometers to reach Salem, it was 11:30 am and the gradient was mostly going to be downhill. I was confident that I could reach Salem by 1:00 pm and was happy with the time. I budgeted that I would give myself an hour of rest at Salem and then would start the uphill and gave myself 5 hours to do it. I was planning the afternoon climb as I rode towards Salem. The afternoon heat was sapping my energy and I started to break down the journey to Salem into small blocks of 5 kilometers each. The body was craving for a break, however, I did not want to take a break since it would affect the journey time. I pushed myself to keep going, even though I had set myself a target of doing 5 kilometers every 15 minutes, since the gradient was downhill, I was able to finish earlier and reached Salem town by 12:45 pm.

Once inside Salem, things slowed down, traffic signals and the search for the road to Yercaud. When I got to the Yercaud road, I looked at Strava and the distance showed as 195 kilometers completed. I wanted to get that to the 200 kilometer mark and rode on towards Yercaud. When I did finish 200 kilometers, I was out of the city and had very little options for rest and lunch. I stopped at the first small place that I found and ordered Kushka (Biriyani Rice) and Sprite. I gulped down the Sprite, ate about 30% of the Kushka which was served and then left the place since it was cramped, rode on to the foothill of Yercaud. There was a 100 meter stretch where the road was bad, I had to alight and push the cycle in this section. I reached the foothill, pedaled up a couple of turns and stopped to rest.

It was 1:40 pm; I wanted a nice and long break, I was not worried on the time front since I had reached early and was ready to restart at 2:30 pm. I gulped down water, Electral and lay down on the kerb stone. I was planning to catch a quick nap, however, there was a person who had parked his moped nearby and was talking on the phone. I was unable to sleep since he was speaking loudly on the phone. I was relieved when he was done with his call and started his vehicle, shut my eyes and in the next second he pulls up alongside me and starts the usual questions. What is the price of the cycle? Where are you coming from? When did you start the journey? What do you do? Are you married? Why do you do these rides? Why is the cycle so expensive? Why not buy a bike instead, since it costs the same? All the questions are laced with a "I'm sorry, I disturbed you when you were resting." 30 minutes had already passed and the conversation did not look like it was going to end. I was very tired and told him that I wanted to rest and that he had to kindly excuse me from talking any further. I lay down for a couple of minutes and a look at the clock confirmed that it was time for me to leave. A few stretches, a little walk and I was back on the cycle to start the 22 kilometer climb.

Climbing has always been my achilles heel and I want to improve on my climbing ability. I knew that attempting to climb on the first day of cycling will be very difficult. However, I would at least get to know where I stand. Within the first kilometer I reached the check-post where they were collecting the vehicle entry fee. I was exempted since I was on a cycle and restarted on the ride. I got into a low gear and concentrated on keeping the legs moving rather than speed. I was riding at 8-9 kmph speed with the drop down in speed every time the gradient became steep. I had wanted to climb at 10kmph average speed so that I could cover 10 kilometers in an hour, I was falling short of that mark, however, I was not worried since I was looking at pedaling constantly without the legs giving up. I had pedaled for 30 minutes and the kilometers covered was only 3. This is when I began to worry a bit, the speed was too slow and the gradient was only going to get worse since I had not reached the hair pins as yet. A brief rest, I got back on the saddle and even though I wanted to go faster, the speed was the same if not slower. The road is filled with monkeys and in spite of clear instructions that the monkeys are not to be fed, the tourists still stop their vehicles to feed them. I was very worried, since I was riding very slow, it would be very easy for the monkeys to jump on my back and search my bag. Fortunately for me, nothing of that sort happened. I made it up to the first bridge, a quick snap and an appreciation by a fellow tourist, I got back on the saddle and made it a further half a kilometer. The lower back was hurting very badly and I decided to stop. I had completed 2 more kilometers by then. I sat and wondered how much longer it would take me to complete this ride. I looked up and I could see the road winding up way above, this was like a death blow when I saw the road high up the hill. It broke my will and I wanted to return. I sat around for some time and noticed the steady stream of vehicles going up the hill. Noticed that there were trucks and luggage autos also plying up the hill. I signaled to one truck asking for a drop, he politely declined saying that his truck was loaded. I waited for 5 more minutes and was declined by 4 more vehicles. The back was feeling better; I decided to continue to ride further uphill, I pedaled a further kilometer by which time the thought process had changed to 'stop the ride since this might lead to hurting myself pretty bad from which I might not be able to recover in time for the brevet.' I stopped for another break, I had miscalculated the water/fluid requirement. I had expected stalls to be set up along the hill, however there were none in the first 6 kilometers. I was out of water/fluid and going up any further would only dehydrate me further. I tried my luck for a last time and waved to a luggage auto. If he had declined, I would have come back down the hill, however, he stopped and was willing to take me up the hill. I loaded my cycle onto his auto and sat at the back.

As he rode up the hill, I had changed my plan to riding downhill as soon as I reach the top and then to return to Bangalore by bus. The thought of climbing up the Thoppur Ghat and also the Krishnagiri to Hosur uphill was unnerving. I told myself that I need to be in better physical shape to do the ride and for now I could enjoy the downhill. As we rode further up, I noticed that the gradient increased in the hair pins and that I had over-estimated my ability to do this climb. There is no let up in the gradient and that is what makes this a very difficult climb. I saw a let up after approximately 18 kilometers of the climb where the road straightens up for a bit. I got off about half a kilometer from the top when the auto was stopped by the cops to verify the documents. I rode into Yercaud and stopped at the lake. A quick photo followed by a visit to a store to buy water and I was ready to start the downhill ride.

I started the downhill ride at 4:15 pm and was excited about the ride. I concentrated on the technique for the downhill ride, more to do with the feet position on the pedal when taking a turn. Initially it was going well, however, as the speed increased and also the turns increased it became difficult to concentrate on the feet since the concentration shifted to the braking. I do not know if it was the altitude, the brake handle was getting damp which meant that the fingers were getting damp and I ran the risk of the fingers slipping off the brakes. I had to slow down the pace and had to keep wiping my fingers until I got down to lower altitudes. I was able to over take a few vehicles and was enjoying the wind on my face, however the braking was very difficult; it was like exercising the fingers by squeezing a ball. I was not enjoying the work out for the fingers, to make matters worse, I got stuck behind a bus with 5 kilometers to reach the foot hill. The smoke from the bus did not make matters any better. I backed off and slowed down to a crawl so that the gap would open up, however, this back fired as well as the vehicles which were coming down hill formed a train behind the bus. I managed to get to the bottom and then pedaled back to Salem. The journey from the foot hill to the city was uneventful and as soon as I got into the city I asked around for directions to the bus stand. It took a few enquiries before I made it to the bus stand at 5:15 pm.

I was disappointed that I could not make it up the hill and was pretty de-motivated. The decision to ride back to Bangalore was cancelled partly due to the failed attempt to climb and mostly because the confidence level had taking a beating about being able to handle the Thoppur and Krishnagiri climbs.

When I got to the bus stand, I asked around for the place where buses to Bangalore would depart. I was guided inside the bus stand. When I went in I saw a chaotic scene where buses were parked haphazardly. The conductors were shouting the location of the places where they were going to and other conductors were shouting at the conductors asking them to leave so that they could get the passengers. It was sea of green buses in the bus stand. I found a Bangalore bus and when asked for transport of the cycle, they rejected it and said that I had to ask other buses. I got another bus which was exiting the bus stand, the conductor agreed however his condition was that I had to load the cycle to the top of the bus myself and also that I have to purchase an extra ticket for it. I agreed and asked him to stop the bus, for which he checked with the driver who was not ready to stop. I was told that it's not possible and I had to ask another bus. Phew! I was exhausted and just wanted to get onto a bus and get back home. I kept calm, took the cycle aside and removed all the accessories, put them into the bag and went back bus hunting. This time found a bus which had time to leave, the condition however was the same that I had to load the cycle myself and that I have to purchase an additional ticket for it. When I got ready to load, the conductor tells me that I have to tie it to the rack as well. I did not have rope and was feeling helpless. I asked where I could buy rope, they were hesitating to tell me. Just then, a porter approached me and asked me if I wanted the cycle to be loaded, I replied in the affirmative to which he bought the rope and climbed the bus with the cycle and tied it to the rack. I was charged Rs 10 for the rope and Rs 100 for loading the cycle.

It was a relief to get onto the bus and to start the journey back to Bangalore. I was very tired and as soon as the bus started the journey, I took the nap that I had yearned for in the afternoon. Woke up about an hour later and we were near Dharmapuri. I got to experience a Formula 1 kind of a drive in the bus after that till Bangalore. I requested the conductor to give a stop near Madivala so that I could get off, if not the stop was going to be at Mysore Road bus stand which would result in a 15 kilometer ride instead of a 2 kilometer ride. He obliged and as soon as the bus stopped, I got on top of the bus and dismounted the cycle. I did not bother to fix the accessories on the cycle, hopped on and rode home. I reached home at 10:30 pm, nice hot shower and volini to get the body going again.

The ride was not a success, however, it gave me an idea of where I stand and also of the Shoolagiri and Krishnagiri descents.

Ride Details:

From	To	Distance	Ride Time (hrs)	Total Time (hrs)	Departure Time	Arrival Time	Avg Speed
Koramangala	Hosur	40	1.50	1.50	3:45	5:15	26.67
Hosur	Krishnagiri	50	2.00	2.00	5:15	7:15	25.00
Krishnagiri	Dharmapuri	50	2.25	2.75	7:15	10:00	22.22
Dharmapuri	Salem	60	2.50	3.00	10:00	13:00	24.00
Salem	Yercaud	9	1.25	3.25	13:00	16:20	7.20
Yercaud	Salem	25	1.00	1.00	16:20	17:20	25.00
		234	10.50	13.50			22.29