Yercaud

Date: 1 December 2018

Total distance: 260 Kilometers

Start Time: 5:00 am

Return Time: 7:15 pm

With: -

Altitude Profile:

Koramangala - Dharmapuri - Kuppanur - Yercaud - Salem

A combination of work commitments and procrastination had kept me off the saddle after the SR5 event. I was unable to ride in November other than regular commute. The inaugural 200 kilometer brevet being hosted by Salem Cycling Club gave the opportunity to get back on the saddle and to ride around Tamil Nadu before the event. I did plan a 3 day tour, however, things did not work out and I had to restrict myself to riding on the day before the event.

Yercaud has three approach roads, one from Salem city, one from Kanavaipudur and one from Kuppanur. I had done the Salem city and Kanavaipudur routes and wanted to try the Kuppanur climb. Plotted a route which showed that Kuppanur is at 200 kilometers from Koramangala and did not look too taxing and it seemed doable. The consideration was not only about being able to do the 200 kilometer ride in Salem, but also about being able to recover sufficiently for the 1,000 kilometer brevet 5 days after the Salem brevet.

Took a little effort to get out of bed and get going. The lethargy to get out of bed cost me an hour and the start time became 5:00 am. In spite of the delay I was still happy since I was on the saddle and had finally got myself out of the comfort of my house. Although I was an hour off the start time, I was relaxed and did not push too hard to make up for the delayed start.

The effect of staying off the saddle for almost a month was visible. It was a struggle to get back in rhythm. The first thing to note here was that I still had a saddle sore from the previous months riding which was worrying. The first hour of riding was more like a warm up, checking if the gears are working, if there are any pains that I was carrying. After the initial slow pace when I was confident that I was fine, I upped the pace a little. Having reached the fast rolling section near Hosur helped to get me going.

The ride from Hosur to Krishnagiri was the usual ride. No surprises and the feeling of riding quickly in downhill gradient felt good. It was an overcast day, however, I was missing the sight of white clouds and since it was hazy the view of the small hills in the horizon was blocked as well. I had truck traffic for company and made distance rather quickly from Hosur to Krishnagiri. When I reached Krishnagiri, I did not stop for breakfast at Saravana Bhavan. I was confident that I coould ride further as I was not hungry. The plan was to stop after riding 100 kilometers at least. The sight of a lake which I have been wanting to visit on a few occasions in the past made me change my plan a little as I went towards the lake and spent a few minutes near the lake.

It was a short detour and I was back on the highway in 5 minutes. Still not hungry, so kept riding. Went beyond the 100 kilometer mark and with it, I was past the restaurants as well. Around the 110 kilometer mark it was 9:15 am and I was pushing the time for breakfast, I wanted to eat, and the pace slowed since I was on the look out for restaurants. It took 5 more kilometers to come across a road side eatery and I stopped to have masala dosa and omlette. The Sun was up and I was feeling the effect of the heat, a small cart selling Curd was right next to the eatery and I had a cup of curd to cool off.

It was 9:45 am when I restarted. I was 15 kilometers from Dharmapuri. When I got back on the saddle, I realised that I was low on energy and had to wait for the breakfast to kick in. Till that happened it was about making slow progress. The decision to push beyond Krishnagiri had not worked out and I was struggling on the energy front. A cross wind had started to add to the difficulty of the ride. It was a steady ride without pushing too hard, the wind made me sip on the water more often than not, which resulted in me running low on water by the time I got to the turn towards Dharmapuri. A quick stop to fill up water when I got on the road towards Harur.

The road was in good condition, however there was an elevation gain in this section and a head wind which made riding difficult. Fortunately the elevation began to drop after a while and I made it to Mookanur. I took the turn at Mookanur to get off the road to Harur and take a short cut to Pallipatti. This would save me a few kilometers is what I had assumed. However, the road which was butter smooth till then became very patchy and in a short while I came across a closed railway crossing and had to ride on a gravel path to make my way past the railway track and ended up riding 3-4 additional kilometers. After this it was about watching the dot on the phone while negotiating the pot holes on the road to get to Pallipatti and onto the road to Kuppanur.

It was 1:00 pm when I got onto the Harur-Kuppanur road. The road was in bad condition and had a lot of heavy vehicles as well. I was hungry and was tiring rather quickly. I stopped to have lunch. It was a small hotel and I ordered a parotta and had a Sprite as well. I forgot my wallet at the store after purchasing the sprite, fortunately the store owner sent the wallet to the hotel. It was a clear sign that I was tired. In my tiredness I was unable to eat and had the sprite instead and started from the hotel after having only one parotta.

The road condition did not improve and it continued to climb for the next 12 kilometers. I was slow on this section, the clock was ticking, it was 2:15 pm and I still hadn't reached Kuppanur. I was worried if I would make it to Yercaud in daylight. Just when doubts were beginning to creep in there was an approx 10 kilometer downhill which allowed me to make up some time. I stopped just before the turn towards Yercaud to buy Coca Cola, refill water. I reached Kuppaur and took the turn towards Yercaud. Couple of kilometers before the road begins to slope and snake upwards.

2:45 pm when I started the climb to Yercaud, the kilometer stone said 26 kilometers to Yercaud. I did not know what to expect on this climb and decided to ride steadily, the only thought was that 26 kilometers meant that it would not be too steep as the climb from Salem is just 18 kilometers and I expected this to be easier.

This route is not used much and as such has lesser vehicles. The climb starts in a forest stretch and there were sections where work was being done on the barricade. After the initial forest stretch I reached the estate section. I was surprised that I was in the estates very quickly, which meant that there were a lot of people around. The insufficient lunch that I had was beginning to catch up as I had gone through my supply of CocoCola and was gulping water to quell the hungry. I was getting worried since I had ridden only 6-7 kilometers and still had 20 kilometers to get to Yercaud. I pushed on for a further 3 kilometers and came across a village. I refilled water, bought another CocoCola and purchased biscuits as well, few of which I had right there. I was in for a long climb and getting to Yercaud before dark was going to be difficult.

After a further half a kilometer from the village I was surprised to come across a steep descent. The descent lasted 3 kilometers and it was getting my hopes up of making it to Yercaud in daylight. What followed after the steep descent was a steep ascent. The road is also very narrow which necessitated that I get off the road to allow a school bus to pass by. It was slow progress for the next few kilometers as it was rather steep and the energy levels were beginning to dwindle again. Getting past the steep section took some work and also a lot of energy, I stopped again for a break and finished the biscuit packet and the CocoCola bottle. I had only water remaining for the remaining climb, Yercaud was still 10 kilometers and if I went by my struggle over the previous 18 kilometers, 10 kilometers was looking a long way off.

I was passing by estates, schools, colleges in this route which was a departure from the other two routes. This stretch comprises mainly of estates which resulted in me passing by people quite often which put me in a comfort zone as far as safety was concerned. The last break had helped me recover to an extent and I was able to ride steadily and made good progress (compared to the start). The gradient had let up as well which allowed me to enjoy the climb. The road is rater narrow, however, with very little traffic, the road width is not too much of a concern.

The higher I got, the taller the trees got and it was not allowing the sun light through, making it dark rather quickly. It was a race against the setting Sun which was still providing a little light in between the trees. As I got closer to the top the road became steep again and a little effort to get to Pagoda Point and Montfort School junction before getting to the Yercaud lake. I was happy that I had made it in daylight. It was 6:10 pm when I reached the Yercaud lake. A quick pic at the lake before I started the descent in fading light.

It was a quick descent, fortunately there was not a lot of traffc descending and I was able to make my way down in 30 minutes. Just as I got down from the hill it was dark, however as I was already near the city, there was sufficient street lights and I made my way to the Hotel, checked in freshened up and headed to Selvi Mess for a biriyani. Headed back to the hotel after the meal, charged the phone before sleeping and hoped to recover sufficiently for the brevet tomorrow.