RIDE REPORT: 4th September 2010 -> Ride to Yercaud (Tamil Nadu)

Hi All,

Destination : Yercaud

Photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/harishaksbhat/Yercaud#

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/103479552858616934331/46Sep2010YercaudTrip466Km#

Bikes used:
Deepan, Shashi = Hybrid bikes.
Ramey = Merida MTB with Hybrid tires.
Prakash and me = MTB bikes.

1st like to thank Shashi, Deepan, Prakash, Ramey, Shashi’s brother Sridhar, his friend Sandeep and Shilpa for their wonderful support during this ride one or other way.

Night before the ride I had problem with my front lights and had to call Shilpa around 10.45PM to check if she had spare bike front lights. Was able to get it from her around 11.00PM and fixed it on my bike as there was possibility of riding ghats in dark.

I left my house early morning at 3.05AM and reached Konankunte cross waiting for Shashi to join me, we left Konankunte cross at 3.15AM and rode through Merida Junction were we met Prakash. We three rode together slowly towards Silk Board Junction were Deepan and Ramey were already waiting for us.

Five of us – Shashi, Deepan, Prakash, Ramey and me started off the ride at 4.05AM from silk board on NH7 and reached Krishnagiri as per our ride plan. During our ride toward yercaud we enjoyed the steep descent. At 7.30PM we were at our first breakfast point A2B hotel. Sridhar and Sandeep joined us around 8.15AM driving their car. Around 8.40 we left the place and rode towards Dharmapuri and we were following the ride plan and time as well.

After couple of hours of riding including some breaks I encountered my first puncher of the ride, that too right in front of a puncher shop to my luck. While I was getting my puncher fixed Shashi was eating Paddu (Cousin of Idli) and Masal Vadai. Ramey, Prakash were relaxing under a tree shade and Deepan was ahead of us at Deevattipatti Junction where we were suppose to take a diversion to Yercaud instead of highway.

We reached Deevattipatti after 20 min at 2.30pm and took left on the highway to reach Danispet village. We came across beautiful green landscape and a stream running across the road which in fact is the water which overflows from Danispet Lake. We washed our face and took some snaps and cycled our way towards Danispet. Reached Danispet and to continue our ride on road ahead there was a railway cross and it was closed, while waiting for the gates to open we drank tea. Few minutes passed but there was no train crossed or the railway gates opened (we did not want to cross the railway gates while they were closed – we followed rules) came to know that this gates will be closed always, we were like ……… waiting for the gates to open which never did, So we crossed the gates using a passage and reached a T-junction. We asked a locality and he said the right rode leads to Yercaud which was good enough for cycles.

I noted one thing common in the people, nobody knew how far it was to Yercaud road everybody were telling it was 2 kms, 4 kms and so on (may be they didn’t wanted us to be discouraged by telling us the real distance or the road condition of this route), but we pushed our way through and soon found our self riding through forest road filled with gravel, stones, plants and sometimes little footpaths which did not seemed to be in use for long time. We had to push our bikes for couple of kilometers due to the size of stones which was not making cycling possible. Deepan rode ahead in search of the tar road which leads to Yercaud. I and Ramey were riding together, Shashi and Prakash rode together for couple of distance and we found a stream again which we had to cross to continue our journey. We relaxed there for couple of minutes, Shashi and Prakash joined us. We again rode for couple of meters and saw Deepan coming back for us to tell that he has found a way which leads to Yercaud Rd and it is few kilometers away. We came to a forest checkpoint and right next to the check post was Yercaud Zoo (Kurumbapatti Zoological Park) which was closed for the day. We ate juicy pineapples, drink mango drinks and we were about to start the ride towards Yercaud Rd, Deepan found air escaping from his front wheel. It was fixed in couple of minutes and then we continued riding for couple of minutes to reach Gorimedu (Yercaud Road Junction).

We had almost covered 25 kms talking around 3 hours through the forest to reach the road to Yercaud Rd junction.
At 6.30pm we were at the base of the Yercaud ghat, I wore my luminous jacket, we took couple of snaps and started to climb and soon it got dark. I rode ahead with my own speed and found lonely on the road after few kilometers, took couple of minutes of rest while waiting for someone from the team to join me instead of riding alone. While I waited for others I eat dry fruits which relaxed me, it was so dark that I didn't even noticed a big monkey sitting right next to me, when I noticed I freaked out and maintained my distance from it. I saw a flashing light at a distance and it was Deepan. We climbed together for rest of the climb and took breaks for every couple of kilometers. Couple of kilometers later we ran out of water and there was no place to get water. I had made up my mind that I would keep my body as cool as possible as there was no water left and had to rely on dry fruits that I had. It started drizzling, we took shelter at a distance which was like a resting place for travelers, a couple stopped by to wear their rain coats and we asked them if they had water with them. They were kind enough to share their water; we filled our bottles with water and drizzling was also stopped. We continued for few kilometers and stopped midway, saw Shashi was hitching along with a motorbike for last 2kms and stopped after seeing us. He told us that he was informed that there was a Bison crossing the road ahead and he better be in a group then alone. Three of us rode together from there and water run out again. We found a hut in one of the coffee plantations and filled our water bottles there and it was 8.40PM when I checked my phone. Ramey and Prakash took a lorry which was climbing up because Ramey was bleeding because his grips in his paddle hit his leg and blood was not clotting. One of guys in lorry took a piece of cloth, dipped it in the hard water from the battery and applied it on the wound. The blood stopped bleeding immediately. The lorry reached us while we were resting and offered us a lift, but we declined and continued to climb. At around 10.15PM we reached the top and I felt happy to have finished the part of the journey. We rode to Lake Forest resorts were Sridhar and Sandeep had arranged for a nice dinner. We freshened up and had dinner and slipped into deep sleep soon after it.

The next day we went around Yercaud for sightseeing on our bicycles while Shashi went to Salem with his brother to meet his relatives. Rest of us went to couple of temples, view points and ride was again filled with uphill and downhill. We finished our ride and came back to resorts to keep our bikes and went to launch. After launch we went for paddle boating and came to resorts again, played table tennis and badminton for couple of minutes and soon mosquitoes started swamping us. So we went to our rooms to freshen up and have dinner. Deepan slept at around 8.00pm while I got all my stuffed arranged for morning ride again. At 9.30pm apart from Deepan went to hotel we have dinner but there was no rice so we eat parotas and dosa. As soon as I reached my room at 10.40PM I went to sleep.

Ramey had decided to reach Bangalore using bus so he stayed back and started his ride late and rest of started back from Yercaud at 4.15AM on Monday. We rode slowly till the base, stopped couple of times for snaps. The sky was so clear that we could see many stars and city was looking like Jewel. We met few people jogging at climbing uphill and exactly 52 people to be precise till the check post. Took snaps at the last hairpin just for the record.

Rode from Salem to Dharmapuri was uneventful and stopped multiple times for breaks and had tender coconuts at multiple places as well. Sridhar and Sandeep caught up to us and give us few cheeks and water and they went ahead in search of hotel. Just before we reached toll gate I encountered a puncture with rear wheel. A reflector piece was the cause of the cut in the tube. I removed the wheel and handed that to Deepan to get that fixed with the nearby puncture shop while a motorist offered a left till that place. We got puncture fixed and rode to hotel Kamath Upachar. While we got to the hotel Shashi and Prakash were about to leave towards Bangalore, Sridhar and Sandeep had already left to Bangalore as Sandeep had training at 3.00PM at his office. It was 10.40AM and we had breakfast and took rest for an hour and it was 11.40AM when we left Hotel and our next destination was Krishnagiri (A2B hotel). After couple of hours riding again around 2.30 we reached the A2B hotel. Shashi and Prakash were having launch and we joined them.

After the launch Deepan and me, Shashi and Prakash we were at different speed riding the Ghats from Krishnagiri to Hosur. It was pretty tiring and again took multiple stops before reaching Hosur. Around 20kms before we stopped at a dhaba to have some food and met Shashi and Prakash after couple of minutes. Heard from Shashi that his front wheel had a puncture and was delayed by that. We rode towards Hosur while they had tea. Reached Hosur at 7.00PM and the traffic there was in mess and vehicle coming in all direction because of the local traffic mixed with high way traffic, we had to ride carefully.

Me and Deepan reached Silk board junction around 8.45PM and went our homes. I reached home at 9.20 PM and came to know that Shashi reached around 9.30PM, Ramey reached his place at 1.00PM. My _ _ _ is still burning :). My mom barely recognized me after I reached home because of the sun burn.