After fishy affair in Hogenakkal over 2 days, we had prepared ourselves to ascend and then ascend again to Yelagiri. Since we had climbed Yelagiri 2 years back (Myself and Venkat), we knew this would be slightly better than the other climbs in the tour! Purely in the difficulty level. As usual very thought of the descent we came in 2 days before to Hogenakkal, we thought the start itself will be like Deepavali for the lungs! So after bidding lot of Tea, coffee, walking, recovery, fish we bid adieu to Hogenakkal and started the ascent to yet another climb day in TOT.
 |
| While waiting for Siva |
 |
| Muthu wondering about our stops! |
 |
| Venkat and Bhaskar |
 |
| Photos are mutual folks!!! |
Started in a steady pace and slowly went into the climb. Sanjay, Anjali, bhaskar and Venkat were leading into the climb. Some how i could gather good intensity and finished the initial climb out of Hogenakkal in a good clip. Saw Venkat coming back from Pennagaram after he missed to take the outer towards Dharmapuri. This is a familiar sight in TOT! We used to go and take a detour, finally to get back on track again. We took a small stop to wait and take Siva with us. Once Siva came back, myself, Venkat and Siva started the ride again. After the Timestation stop, myself, Rakesh, Venkat and Vaibhav got into a paceline. 2 minutes pulling for 16kms. We were flying and the team were working really well. Roads were good, riders were strong, lungs were with us, big chain ring working over time and yes it was a really good team work to get into that mode.
 |
| Machines resting after in a paceline... |
 |
| Riders posing after paceline.. |
 |
| Giant SCR2... |
 |
| Some awesome views... |
 |
| Sunscreen adding too much weight!!! Lols. |
After really enjoying that phase, we stopped for photo shoot! After that we started to ride steadily and went into Thiruppathur for lunch. We had a good lunch and i even felt would be cramping through the climbs. After that big lunch, we started to get onto the road which was really bad. Big time vibrations and wrist pain started to come over until we were reaching the base. While reaching the base, we were greeted by Bala sir and Co. We understood that was not a place to stay for more time since the place was infested with Monkeys!
Due to that feeling, i started the climb fast and Venkat was leading the way. I was trying to cling on to his wheels, of course its a mistake. Lot of learnings from this tour. But i went into that sweet spot (As mentioned by Venkat) in the climb, i kept on pedalling stronger than ever. Comparing other climbs, Yelagiri was bit easier, but no way underestimating the climb after 120kms! Knew that Yelagiri and its 14 hair pin bends (Famously one of the Bangalore brevets was named as 14 poets) thought of stopping at 10th HP. But felt good and the monkeys were also there which prompted me not to stop. So climbed all the way and went into the Silent Water resort. Siva came yelling at us after the climb was over for all known reasons. After refreshing, started to play shuttle, cricket etc. Went for the usual recovery walk and came back to play an interesting game hosted by Pravin. Everyone of us were really affected at one area which was revealed during that comical show:) Folks you know what i am referring to. Enjoyed all the songs, especially Senthil has a good voice. Happily ate and called it a night! Next day would be a long day to Kallakurichi.
Day 5 Stats:Destination:
Yelagiri
Distance covered:
137kms
Elevation Gain:
1350m
Elevation Loss:
620m
For Lunch:
Proper Veg Lunch..
Also Read:
Day 4:
Fishy Day 4
Day 3:
Relaxed day from Yercaud to Hogenakkal
Day 2:
Killer Yercaud
Day 1 and Day 0 :
Into TOT and to Kolli
_MJV_
No comments:
Post a Comment