TfN: Day 3: The Unniappam and The Elephant

Route Name: Paris - Roubaix
From: Madikeri
To: Sultan Bathery
Distance (km.): 142
Elevation Gain(m.): +2238m / -2356m

Today we were headed up and down and up to Sultan Bathery before the climb up to Ooty. The first 40 odd km of the day were really bad roads so the bikes and cyclists got transported to Gonikoppal. It was just 40 km but it took us almost two hours to cover the distance. Rolling hills of coffee plantations with valleys of golden paddy are beautiful but when terrible roads bounce you all about, the beauty gets marred a bit.

Getting down from the jeep to stretch at Gonikoppal had me wishing I was a dog. How I wish I could have just shaken off all that dust we were covered with! The riders were picking up their bikes and unpacking them while I stood by to watch. And I got to see my first quick tube change. It was fun to watch Venky change his tube in no time at all, as if a puncture is nothing.

With a late start from Gonikoppal at 11:30 the riders headed out towards Kanoor, the first SS and lunch stop about 15-18 km away. This was still bad road, just, better than before. Today was a testing day for road bikes, the MTB guys might have had some fun though.

A little beyond SS1, at Kutta the Wayanad Reserve Forest starts and in this 20 km section cyclists had to stay in groups with instructions to not stop in the forest but ofcourse there was an exception. Cyclists left SS1 in groups headed into the second largest santuary in Kerala that covers over 345 sq. km. and houses a large variety of flora and fauna. And then they stopped right in the middle of the forest for some unniappams and sulaimani chai (black tea). This was a stall at a juction in the forest, that I had heard alot about and was looking forward to.



But Alas, I didn't taste the unniappams. I grabbed a chai hoping to come back later with the boys for some unniappams but we rushed off to shoot pictures of the cyclists in the forest and I forgot all about it until later. :(

Now that we were in Kerala the roads got better and it was a wonderful drive through the forest. We reached the end all to soon though and turned around to spend more time in the forest shooting cyclists. This proved to be a good decision because not only did we get some good photos but we also saw a healthy tusker munching away by the road ;)



Making a quick stop at SS2 to check on the cyclists ahead of us, we left for SS3 at Panamaram which was the lowest point for today. Until here there had been a fair number of downhills to enjoy but after this the last leg for today was hugely uphill to Sultan Bathery (town gets its name from Tipu Sultan who used the abandoned Jain temple here as his battery in the 18th Century). It had been a testing day but this last stretch pushed the test some more. Not that I saw any cyclist complain, they did groan but then got right back on the cycle to suffer some more.



With a late start, it was a rather long day today and the first cyclists reached the hotel in Sultan Bathery only at 4:30. When we reached at 5:30 there were still more cyclists to arrive. The last few reached at 6:30; Kudos to them for shear will-power. Today's been a long day, not in distance but definitely in time, effort and endurance, and it doesn't end here. Tomorrow is the 99km climb up to Ooty and I'm looking forward to it. See you at the top tomorrow.

No CS, No Results. Top 3 and timings same as yesterday.

Don't forget to check out Venky's Update on how the Riders fared today.

Two Wheeled Trivia Of The Day

In 1899, Mile-a-Minute Murphy (Charles Minthorn Murphy) became the first man to ride his bicycle a mile in under a minute.



Today's Pedaled Patois



'Yard Sale' is a crash causing every piece of gear to be scattered all over the place. The resulting scene is reminiscent of a yard sale.


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Photo Credit: Che Photo and Chethan Ram Photography

Here are the other days posts from the Tour of Nilgiris 2012 -
Day 1: It’s not cold, it’s just a breeze
Day 2: To Get Into the Cool Hills, You Have to Climb

Day 4: Even A Trickle Piss Counts
Day 5: An Entrée and A Proposal
Day 6: Loopy Loops
Day 7: It’s All Downhill From Here
Day 8: And On The 8th Day It Was Done!

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TfN: Day 2: To Get Into the Cool Hills, You Have to Climb

Route Name: First Blood
From: Mysore
To: Madikeri
Distance (km.): 122
Elevation Gain(m.): +1791 m / -1536 m

As is customary, to satiate his sweet tooth Chenthil found awesome kulfi last night. There's something weird about this sentence but it still seems so right, hmmm, anyway... Che heard of a food street just a short distance away from the hotel and we being we, we headed off there to grab a bite while we waited for dinner. And it was a treat, we had some hot crackling crisp dosas with a chutney that left you wanting more. Since no meal is complete without dessert we looked around to see what everyone else on the street was eating and headed to the kulfi guy. Now I like good kulfi and its been a while since I've found good kulfi in Bangalore. This was not good kulfi, it was awesome. Rich and creamy with flakes of badam and pista in every slurp. This kulfi you should not miss.



The second day of the ride arrived all bright and sunny and at 8:15 there was an uneventful flag-off (uneventful is a good thing). The riders headed out towards Hunsur accompanied today by Mr. Bhaskar Rao, IG (internal security) who was joining the TfN riding pack for the day.

I had read up on Hunsur while prepping for the trip and was looking forward to see the town that was historically a resting station for bullock carts and hence called ‘Gaddi Palya’. But I was sorely disappointed, there was no air of gaiety, no colourful bullockcarts, Hunsur was a town that I hardly noticed as it passed by. My romantic mind felt so let down. We did run into a road-side wholesale saabzi mandi a little later though. :)



The riders were setting a good pace and by the time we reached Support Station 1 at 9:15 quite a few riders had already checked-in. Looking forward to getting into the hills before the riders we headed out from SS1 towards Periyapatna and Kushalnagar. There is no land in India that is boring, it's just that some of them are a wee bit uninteresting. This section is just that and some time after SS2 I actually dozed off only to wake up startled when Vasu the Timing Turk stuck a camera into my sleeping face. Oh, those pictures are 'candid' but I ain't sharing :D



We'd made it to the CS start before the riders, which was great because now we could position ourselves well to watch and take pictures but not before a quick bite. My favourite dry fruit of all time is the fig. Its great in its fresh form but in its dry form it has this amazing texture, a soft crunch, chewyness and this awesome sweet taste that just seeps through your mouth with each bite. I've never come across anything else that good, 'never' until this afternoon that is, when I tasted honey-dried bananas. The SS3 at the CS start point had these dried sticky succulent banana bits that were not dry fig but I think I just found a contender.

Well past Kushalnagar we were now in coffee country, Coorg. The temperature dropped and the views got scenic as we left the start point to find a good up-hill corner to capture the 'suffering' :) It is a lot of hard work climbing up this hills with just your legs to power you but these guys seemed to be enjoying the suffering. There was this expression of euphoria that everyone of them had, every one of them, like cycling was a high.



Todays competitive section was a climb from 950mts to 1400mts within 10 kilometres. That's a touch section that does have downhills but it's a constant uphill climb and a fast ascent at that through winding coffee and pepper plantations. Oh yeah the boys did well, did you even have to ask?

We got to the CS finish to find a lot of riders had already checked in and were even almost finishing lunch. God if I had cycled up that hill I would have already finished lunch. (sorry, I know sad humour) Anyway we had lunch as we watched more cyclists race in to finish the CS and grab their well worked for lunch.

With Madikeri just 10 odd kilometers away no one wanted to idle around at the support station, so along with a lot of cyclists we headed to the stop for the day. Coorg is beautiful with rolling hills filled with green forests and coffee plantations, so I'm not going to idle here anymore and I'm going to be off enjoying the daylight left. Not that writing this post was idle in anyway, oh!, you know what I mean. Ok, I'm off, see ya tomorrow....

Here are the top 3 results for today -



You can read Venky's Rider Report for Day 2 here.

Two Wheeled Trivia Of The Day

Every year since 1977 the winner of the Paris–Roubaix receives a sett (cobble stone) as part of his prize for winning this cobbled classic.

Today's Pedaled Patois



Slopestyle, a form of downhill, is when riders do tricks such as tailwhips, 360s, backflips and frontflips.


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Here are the other days posts from the Tour of Nilgiris 2012 -
Day 1: It’s not cold, it’s just a breeze

Day 3: The Unniappam and The Elephant
Day 4: Even A Trickle Piss Counts
Day 5: An Entrée and A Proposal
Day 6: Loopy Loops
Day 7: It’s All Downhill From Here
Day 8: And On The 8th Day It Was Done!

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TfN: Day 1: It's not cold, it's just a breeze

Route Name: Fast and Furious
From: Bangaluru
To: Mysore [via Kanakapura, Bannur]
Distance (km.): 168
Elevation Gain(m.): +1377m / -1551m

Yesterday at the pre-tour brief I met a lot of TfN riders and they looked just like normal people, like just about anyone I know, not like 'riders'. But today morning at 5:30 I met the real 'riders' at Sullivan Grounds. All geared up they turned up with their cycles on time to get fitted out with the Beacon gps trackers. There were a large variety of bikes out there but there was not one I could recognise yet. I could tell the difference between the road cycles and MTBs but thats as far as the theory seems to have taken me. Lot more to learn, yippee....



At 7:15, after tagging, numbering and breakfast the riders assembled for flag off. The chief guest Mr.Bhaskar Rao, IG (internal security) said a few words followed by Mr. Katti, DGM, Bangalore division from SBI. This year SBI is sponsoring Arun Marc DSilva who is one of the four charity riders cycling for a cause. Post some tour announcements it was flag off time. Mr. Bhaskar Rao flagged off the riders at 7:45 and they took off towards NICE expressway while we gave chase. Cutting across the city would be difficult even on a Sunday morning and we wanted over take the cyclists and wait for them to enter the NICE road, so off we went. And it paid off; the entry to NICE is a beautiful curved climb-up and it was a joy to watch the riders pack climb lined up in a train of colour.



Leaving the NICE expressway that was a nice treat to ride especially since cyclists are not allowed on it on regular days, we headed towards Harohalli and Kanakapura the first rest stop. The riders were making good time and I couldn't help but be amazed at how fast the human engine can go. By 10am the first riders had started to report in at Support Station 1. A quick stop for a snack and they were off again towards Halaguru to start the first competitive section of TfN 2012.



We hung about a bit to see more riders arrive while I took in the Kanakapura air. Its been almost three years since I was last here. Kanakapura is a quaint little village-town that has not only great bene (butter) dosas but also a long history. It is a town that was burned down twice by Tipu Sultan to hinder the British in their march to Shrirangapattana. Remains of the twice burned fort can be seen by the bridge over the Arkavathy river which is a tributary of the Kaveri and also supplies almost 20% of Bangalore City’s water supply.

Heading out we sped up to get to Halaguru before the riders. Today's day on the tour is the longest in terms of distance but shortest in time and effort. Its all flats today I'd been told but there was nothing flat about the gentling undulating terrain. Bordered with the green of winter the road reminded me of the soft ripples on a silk saree teasing you to smooth them away. The riders seemed to be enjoying the ride as they coasted along in groups. One group of four riders in file were even having an animated all out discussion!

At Halaguru we met up with riders getting ready to start the competitive section(CS). Not wanting to miss the finish of this CS we hurried to Malavalli 16km away where the section would complete. We set up cameras and along with the timing team, we settled down to wait to the first rider to show up. And man did they show up fast. The first rider took just 21-22 minutes to finish the section! Before we knew it a large number of riders had zipped past us to the rest stop and were relaxing there waiting for lunch.



The section after Malavalli towards and around Bannur has terrible roads with not potholes but moon craters, so it wasn't surprising to see riders wanting to be over and done with it as soon as possible. A few riders decided not to wait for lunch and headed out towards Mysore and the last rest stop.

Crossing the chasm of potholes at Bannur we reached rest stop-4 only to realise just like some riders there, that we were just 20 odd km away from Mysore. 'Why wait' was everyones expression so we headed out quickly again toward Mysore passing a few riders on the way. We reached the KVC International hotel in Mysore closely followed by the first riders trickling in between 2 and 2:30. Before long the hotel lobby was filled with the clip-clop of riders and not long after that the corridors got filled with riders exchanging notes. I can still hear them out there. Ok, I'm off to do some catching up in the corridors, see ya on the road tomorrow :)

Dialogue of the day -
Overheard on a Winter morning in Bangalore - "it's not cold, it's just a breeze."

Before I go here are the top 5 results for today -

Open GC


Master GC


Women GC



Read more about Day 1 in Venky's Rider Report.

Two Wheeled Trivia Of The Day

The most exotic road bicycles can weigh as little as 3.2 kg.
The highest priced bike in the world is the custom Madone by Damien Hirst, sold at $500,000 USD.

Today's Pedaled Patois







A brevet or randonnée is an organized long-distance ride where riders attempt to complete courses of 200 km or more within specified time limits. A rider who has successfully completed a 200 km brevet is called a randonneur. This is a lifelong title!


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Here are the other days posts from the Tour of Nilgiris 2012 -

Day 2: To Get Into the Cool Hills, You Have to Climb
Day 3: The Unniappam and The Elephant
Day 4: Even A Trickle Piss Counts
Day 5: An Entrée and A Proposal
Day 6: Loopy Loops
Day 7: It’s All Downhill From Here
Day 8: And On The 8th Day It Was Done!

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TfN: Totally Random Rider Trivia

TfN (Tour of Nilgiris) starts off today or rather by the time you see this we would have started out and will be well on our way to Mysore. :) Watch out for todays update towards evening (if the internet gods are willing that is).

Before I go into all the trivia today I’d like to introduce you to Venky who will not only be cycling TfN but also blogging it. I first heard of Venky last year when Che would keep talking about Lord Venky during TfN 2011 and I drew this image of a pompous ass in mind. It was only after Che got back that I heard the story of ‘Lord’ Venky and I must say that, that title is well earned! And now that I’ve met him I can certainly tell you he is neither pompous nor an ass :D

Don’t forget to follow Venky on his blog Venky’s Monkey Musings and More.. for more TfN updates.

Now here’s some totally random trivia about the riders in Tour of Nilgiris 2012.

• A total of 85 riders will be at the starting point.


• 9 of them are women riders.


• Only 1 out of 9 women is from Bangalore.


• There are more riders above than below the age of 35 – 46 vs 37.


• The youngest rider is 21 and the oldest is 56 year old Renu Mittal.


• The nationalities other than Indian are American, British, Flemish – Belgian, Dutch and Swiss.


• The three top cities riders have come from are Bangalore (33), Pune(11) and Ahmedabad(11).


• The largest blood group present is ‘O+’ (36).


• The most popular type of bike being used is the Road bike (61), but there are also 18 Hybrids and 4 Mountain bikes.


• The three most popular manufacturers are Trek, Cannondale and Bianchi.


• 400km is the longest ever day ride done by the riders at TfN.


• 3 volunteers from TfN 2011 will be cycling this year.


• 12 riders have participated in a previous TfN.


• Non-vegetarians(53) are the majority group this year on TfN, followed by vegetarians(22) and eggetarians(8).

The last two weeks have been a lot of theory and numbers as you’ve seen in my last few posts (sorry for that). Now it's time to try out the theory in practice and meet the numbers – the riders and their cycles. :)

Cheers to the next 8 days being filled with sun-soaked mountains and the ever-winding road…

See you in the evening. :)

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The Ride a Cycle foundation aims to create more cyclists and bring more cycles on the road through various programs. TfN is one of them!

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TfN: What Type of Cycling is TfN?

Yesterday I talked about the different types of cycles but there is also the matter of the different types of cycling. So continuing on the topic of cycles and cycling, here are some of the different types of cycling done around the world.

Cycling is categorised based on the use of the cycle into 3 broad types.

Utility Cycling - Utility Cyclists use their cycles to commute to work daily, for a commercial activity, to transport goods, etc. Some examples other than the standard work commute are cycles used in the postal services, urban policing on cycles, and the Mumbai Dabbawalas delivery cycles.

Recreational Cycling - Includes Bicycle Touring, Organised Rides and Mountain Biking.

• Bicycle touring, also known as cyclotourism is exploration or sightseeing for leisure done individually, in small groups or as an organised tour.


• Organised Rides like Cyclosportives, Challenge Rides, Reliability Trials, and Hill Climbs are organised by cycling clubs for all levels bicyclists participate.


• Mountain biking originated in the 1970's as a downhill sport, but today most of it takes place on dirt roads, trails and in purpose-built parks.

Racing - Some of the different racing formats are road racing, tour racing, mountain bike racing, time trial racing, and cyclo-cross racing.

So what is type of cycling is Tour of Nilgiris?
After reading an analysing I think TfN can be categorised under Recreational Cycling--> Organised Rides--> Cyclosportive + Challenge Ride

• A challenge ride is a form of cycling where the riders challenge themselves rather than each other.


• A cyclosportive is a short to long distance, organised, mass-participation cycling event, typically held annually.

Did I get it right?
Ah, wait, it also says a cyclosportive falls between a traditional cycle road race and the more challenging non-competitive randonnée or Audax events. So my revised answer - Recreational Cycling--> Organised Rides--> Cyclosportive :D

Now that I know the types of cycles and types of cycling, how do I choose a cycle for myself?
One way to choose a good cycle would be to first figure out what kind of activities I'm going to do with the cycle and based on that choose the type of cycle I need. Then of course I need to check out and research whats available and in my budget before I measure myself for the cycle and test ride it. Another way (my preferred method) is to make puppy eyes at husband and ask him to help :P

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TfN: What are the Different Types of Cycles Available?

Beyond the basic design of a cycle (it has a frame, two wheels, a handlebar, pedals, a chain and gears) I don't know much about cycles, and lately I've been trying to remedy that. After all in a cycling event I should at least be able to recognise the basic cycles. If not in practice, at least in theory :D

So here's the dope...

Cycles are classified into types based on various factors like - function, number of riders, construction or frame type, gearing, etc. and each cycle can appear on more than one list. Since this means a lot of different lists I figured I'd try to understand the types of cycles based on the function they are created for.

Cycles in the function category are broadly of two types - road and mountain bikes. There are also other types like Freight bicycles that are designed for transporting large or heavy loads, Railbikes that ride on rails, etc.

Road Cycles are built for traveling at speed on paved roads. They have a lightweight construction and narrow, high-pressure tires that are smooth to decrease rolling resistance. Some of the types of road bikes are:

• Touring bicycles: designed for touring hence robust, comfortable, and capable of carrying heavy loads.


• Hybrid bicycles: designed for a variety of recreational and utility purposes.


• Utility bicycles: designed for utility cycling like commuting and running errands.

Mountain Bikes (MTB) are made for off-road cycling like traversing rocks and washouts, steep declines, dirt trails, logging roads, and other unpaved environments. To handle the stresses of this kind of off-road terrain mountain bikes usually use wide, knobby tires for good traction and shock absorption. Most bikes also come with front and rear suspension. Mountain bikes can be classified into four categories based on suspension:

• Rigid: A frame with a rigid fork and fixed rear, no suspension.


• Hardtail: A frame with a front suspension fork and no rear suspension.


• Soft tail: A frame with small amount of rear suspension, activated by flex of the frame instead of pivots.


• Dual or full suspension: A front suspension fork and rear suspension with a rear shock and linkage that allow the rear wheel to move on pivots.

They are also designed and categorised based on different styles of mountain biking like Cross country(XC) bikes, Trail Bikes, Enduro/all-mountain(AM) bikes and Freeride bikes.

What all of this tells me is that there is going to be a large variety of road and mountain cycles at TfN. And my chances of recognising a cycle are slim. With all my reading just guessing whether its a road or mountain bike correctly will be cool. :P

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TfN: 27 Things I Didn't Know About Mysore

Mysore has always been next door to Bangalore and like all things next door, I've always put it off thinking it was next door after-all. I did visit it often though either as a stop on the way to the Nilgiris or to visit Dad who would be working there for part of the year.

Lately as I've been reading to prep for Tour of Nilgiris, Mysore surprised me. There was a wealth of information on the city and I knew so little of it. So here's some interesting info I came across. Mysore is the first stop on the tour!

• The name Mysore is an anglicised version of Mahishūru, which means the abode of Mahisha in the Kannada language. Mahisha stands for Mahishasura, a mythological demon that could assume the form of both human and buffalo. According to Hindu mythology, the area was ruled by the demon Mahishasura. The demon was killed by the Goddess Chamundeshwari, whose temple is situated atop the Chamundi Hills.

• Until 1947, Mysore served as the capital of the Kingdom of Mysore.

• Mysore Airport is also known as Mandakalli Airport.

• The city was the location of the first private radio station in India.

• 1897 an outbreak of bubonic plague killed nearly half of the population of the city.

• With the establishment of the City Improvement Trust Board (CITB) in 1903, Mysore became one of the first cities in Asia to undertake planned development of the city.

• A fire at a television studio in 1989 claimed 62 lives.

• The highest temperature recorded in Mysore was 38.5 °C (101 °F) on 4 May 2006, and the lowest was 7.7 °C (46 °F) on 16 January 2012.

• Among 63 cities covered under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, Mysore City Corporation was adjudged the second best city municipal corporation and was given the "Nagara Ratna" award in 2011.

• The city got its first piped water supply when the Belagola project was commissioned in 1896.

• The city has had an underground drainage system since 1904.

• Mysore was rated the second cleanest city in India in 2010 and the cleanest in Karnataka.

• The first college to be set up for higher education was the Maharajas College, founded in 1864.

• A high school exclusively for girls was established in 1881 and later it was converted into Maharanis Women's College.

• The  University of Mysore was the sixth university to be established in India and the first in Karnataka.

• The Mysore Medical College, founded in 1924, was the first medical college to be started in Karnataka and the seventh in India.

• The Dasara festivities, which are celebrated over a ten-day period, were first introduced by King Raja Wodeyar I in 1610.

• The main palace of Mysore, Amba Vilas was burned down in 1897, and the present-day structure was built on the same site.

• The Mysore Pak  traces its history to the kitchen of the Mysore palace.

• Mysore is the location of the International Ganjifa Research Centre, which researches the ancient card game Ganjifa and the art associated with it.

• Kannada writers Kuvempu, Gopalakrishna Adiga and U. R. Ananthamurthy were educated in Mysore and served as professors at the Mysore University.

• R. K. Narayan, a popular English-language novelist and creator of the fictional town of Malgudi, and his cartoonist brother R. K. Laxman spent much of their life in Mysore.

• Sudharma, the only Indian daily newspaper in Sanskrit, is published in Mysore.

• Mysore was the location of the first private radio broadcasting station in India when Akashavani (voice from the sky) was established in the city on 10 September 1935 by M.V. Gopalaswamy, a professor of psychology, at his house in the Vontikoppal area of Mysore, using a 50-watt transmitter.

• In 1957, Akashvani was chosen as the official name of All India Radio (AIR), the radio broadcaster of the Government of India.

• Javagal Srinath, who represented India for several years as its frontline fast bowler, comes from Mysore.

• India's first youth hostel was formed in the Maharaja's College Hostel in 1949.

All Facts Credited to Wikipedia.

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