College Roomies Reunite At TFN after 20 Years!

Rahul Nair had a terrible roommate in his grad school at the University of Maryland. To escape the headache, he used to hang out in Anand Prakash’s room downstairs all the time. After a few months, he moved in as his roommate and they have been friends ever since.

After graduation, life took them in different directions. While Rahul ended up in Dublin, Ireland, Anand moved back to his hometown in Jharkhand during COVID after nearly a couple decades of living in the US.

Rahul Nair took part in TFN in 2019. He loved the experience so much that he wanted Anand to experience the same. He wanted to use TFN as a reunion for them as they rode together in the beautiful routes in the Nilgiris. So, last year they both took part and became roommates again now at TFN 2022.

They came together again this year and are reliving that amazing experience at this year’s TFN.

Rahul also got his Dublin riding club mate, James Byrne to join TFN this year. It is James’ first ever visit to India and what a way to experience the beauty of India while riding in the midst scenic of places.

Rahul’s TFN 2019 riding buddies, Mihir Joshi and Howard Miller also joined him this year on the tour completing the Nair express! Rahul had to miss the first 4 days at the tour because of a family emergency but so glad that the situation is better now and that he could join for the last 3 days for some great times with his pals.

Express Trains Leave Coimbatore Towards Valparai!

As we started at 6:30am from Coimbatore, the weather was very pleasant with a cold nip in the air. The roads were flat with a great surface and traffic free.

My teammate, Vivek Bhateja, got me out of the town and on to the wheel of a long train consisting of Jonas, Krishna, Sharath, James Byrne, Abhinandan and Anirudh! We made it to the first support station together at a nice clip.

At SS1, I joined the Nair Express and the six of us drilled it on the way to SS 2 at the 64km mark.

The huge windmills and expansive coconut grooves gave us company on either side as we made smooth and rapid progress. The roads felt like European bike paths except for a few rumblers along the way.

After SS 2, Jonas and the gang decided to join us and the train became huge. About 14 of us chugged along on those country roads at a fairly decent pace without much effort. We agreed on one minute pulls and tried to get the rotations as smooth as possible.

Full credit to the organizers for finding some fantastic riding routes away from the highways and full marks to the Tamilnadu government for maintaining the roads in great shape.

We reached SS 3 which is also the lunch spot. My original thought was to skip the lunch and get to the start of the competitive segment which is another 20km away, get done with the CS and then have lunch at the brilliant small hotel at Attakatti where the CS ends. But, that quickly went out of the window as we were told that we have to wait there since there is an issue with the forest office permission to ride the climb.

The Brilliant Lunch Stops at TFN:

For the last 5 years, TFN has been having freshly cooked lunch at various scenic spots along the route and it has definitely enhanced the experience for us. I remember the days of packed lunches that were not so appetizing in the middle of the rides from a few years ago.

It is no easy task to have a crew going along with you to cook freshly on the road and serve 100 hungry cyclists and crew. But, they are hitting it out of the park with great quality food served fresh on all the days making riding a breeze.

In our friend, Howard Miller’s words, this food is way better than the food served at any of the Indian restaurants in Italy where he lives. That’s not a bad endorsement at all!

The Tusker Troubles!

We have been looking forward to riding the beautiful Valparai climb after a few years of gap at TFN. The last time we rode Valparai was in 2016. We rode Valparai in 2014, 2015 and 2016 and then there was a gap with various route changes. But, on popular demand it was brought back this year. However, as luck would have it, there was a sighting of a couple of large herds of elephants in the forest section of the hill this morning and that made the forest officers rescind the permission for us to ride.

It meant that we had to end the ride for the day at 93km and get to Valparai in cars. It is a bit of a relief and a bit of disappointment for most of us. Relief because, a long and hard day of riding is cut short. Disappointment because, a long and hard day of riding is cut short.

It would have been super fun riding up what is without doubt one of the most scenic of climbs in the region. As we drove up, it brought back memories of climbing it in the years gone by. Each of those hairpin bends are etched in memory with the pain and sweat as we suffered up the climb during CS and the tons of pictures we took as we rode easy after the CS.

Ride on the bike or on the car, it didn’t matter as we stopped at the hotel at Attakatti to taste the excellent fish fry and tea there.

What’s Ahead?

Tomorrow we get to do a local loop around Valparai. It is one of the most beautiful places to ride in. With no CS and the ride being less than 100km, it is going to be a super fun ride to stop and click a ton of pictures.