“It doesn’t get easier. You just go faster.” Greg Lemond, Tour de France champion from yesteryears. When it comes to hills, I think, it neither gets easier not do we go faster.

Forget hills. Today we climb a big mountain and many small hills!

Day four of this year’s TFN took us from Sultan Bhatery, Wayanad to Ooty via Gudalur. It is a 125km ride with 2800m of elevation gain. 11km climb section is the timed segment for the day.

Once we got out of Sultan Bhatery, instead of going directly to Gudalur on the main road like we have done a few times at TFN before, we veered off to enter smaller country roads. They took us into some amazingly surreal tea estates that were mesmerizing and mind-blowing! We just couldn’t pick our jaws off our top tubes.

The beauty attracts many beasts in folklore. This beauty of the back roads in this part of the world comes with many beastly climbs. They just stare right in your face as you struggle to keep your front wheel down on the road. We had our fair share this morning until we got back on the main road to Gudalur again.

It is amazing to me that I still get to ride some amazing new routes even after being part of TFN for the last 12 times! Kudos to the organisers for finding some great hidden gems and giving us some surreal riding experiences.

It Took Him 10 Years to Join the Tour!

Senthil Kumar has been living in Richmond, Virginia for the last 24 years. He has been cycling for the last 20 of those years, mostly in the weekends.

About ten years ago, he heard about Tour of Nilgiris when one of his wife’s friends did it and it got stuck in his mind. It sounded like a  fantastic experience and he wanted to do it ever since. Every year since, he almost ended up signing up but had to keep postponing as something or the other would come up.

Finally, early this year his wife told him if he still wants to do it, he should do it this year as he started thinking about it when he was 40 and he’s now 50. He can’t keep postponing something like this forever as we don’t get younger. That encouragement from his wife finally got Senthil on TFN this year and he’s having a great time! May he continue to do TFN every year for the next 10 years and more!

Shining Star of the Future!

Nithila Das is a 14 year old Supercross, Circuit racing and mountain biking champ. She is the youngest on the tour this year and is riding like a champ.

The first four days of this tour were all though in their own way and today’s ride to Ooty tested even the best and the most experienced of riders. She rode continuously with very minimal time wastage in breaks. She was one of the first to finish the ride alongside Shiven and Peter. That is seriously impressive when you consider most of the riders struggled to even finish the day before it got dark. Well done, Nithila. All the best ahead. Keep working and keep getting stronger.

An inspiring Doctor Couple!

Dr Shekhar Rao is a heart surgeon and Dr Kavitha Rao is an eye specialist from Bangalore. Every day on the rides I pass them at least 3 of 4 times because they are always ahead. They just keep on going. They always ride together and however tough the rides are, they prove that they are tougher by finishing them strong.

It is their second time riding the tour together after TFN 2022. Dr. Shekhar has ridden TFN more times on his own with his first TFN being in 2014. It is inspiring to see them ride each day. Thank you for inspiring us and keep riding together forever!

TFN Entré 2 Riders Join!

This year, TFN had introduced a shorter format of 4 days for riders who think the full tour might be too hard for them or for those who find it difficult to take 8 days off work etc. You can either ride the first 4 days or the last 4 days and experience the spirit of TFN.

This morning at Gudalur lunch point, 5 riders for TFN Entré 2 joined! They opened up the legs with the Ooty climb!

After lunch and a quick nap to let the lunch settle a bit, Rajesh and I started riding together towards the start of the CS which was 10km away. We made some quick calculations and decided that he would be looking at between 35-40 mins for the 11km climb and I’d be looking at a time between 40-45 mins for the same.

When Your Legs Comply With Your Head and the Heart!

11km of the Ooty climb is the competitive segment for the day. Last year we did only 5k as a CS as there was much construction work going on at that time. So, this year’s CS felt long until I remembered that back in 2011 and 2012, we did the entire 20km 1000m elevation climb as the CS. I’ll take 11km of suffering over 20km. Thank you very much. 

I filled my bottle with some liquid nutrition for the effort ahead and lined up. Until I got there I was full of doubt and felt that I didn’t have it in me today. So, instead of delaying and giving the self doubt more time to fester, I took to the start line ready to go.

I remember the climb to be a steady 5% gradient climb. So, I shifted to the big ring and started off. For the estimated time of 40-45 mins, it has to be a sweet spot/steady state effort for me. I let the first 5 mins to be just a little above my target and let it feel easy.

Typically the first 5 mins of any effort feels too easy. But, if we over do it in the first 5, it’ll be difficult to recover from it. I let the power be whatever it was and focused on maintaining a steady effort. I kept checking from time to time to see if it is in the range I wanted it to be and kept adjusting accordingly.

I got into a rhythm right away and focused on maintaining that rhythm. I knew the effort will eventually catch up with time. When you feel in control of the effort and not run after it, it is a great feeling. There is no rush. Just a zen calmness even when you are panting like a steam engine!

It was difficult to keep the rhythm on the cobbled/paved segments of the climb where the bike kept bouncing. But those were not too long at a time. So, it was not too difficult to get back to the effort once the tarmac smoothened.

When I saw 2k to go mark! It was time to go beyond the comfort zone. Push! Go.. Go.. Go! Harder! It was time to lose control let the power and heart rate hit the ceiling of the abilities. I crossed the line completely cross eyed and utterly satisfied. A rare occurrence. But, it happened. Happy.

It Ain’t Over Until It’s Over!

After the CS was done, there was another 39km with a fair bit of climbing to be done to get to Sterling Fern Hill in Ooty where we are going to stay for the reminder of the tour.

Rajesh rode a fantastic race and finished in 40 mins. I waited for him to finish his race effort and joined him for the rest of the ride again.  He set a steady endurance pace and I was glued to his wheel. Although initially it felt hard especially after the race effort, I hung in there and it got better.

I knew it was the safest and the best wheel to follow. He was kind enough to be the mother hen and ferry this fat chicken around all day. We kept chipping away at the uphill kms and he opened up the throttle once the road flattened. It was super fun.

From my experience of TFN 2012 and 2013 when we stayed at Sterling Fern Hill, I knew some really nasty kickers awaited to get to the place. Even then when they came, it was hard to get over them. But, we did get over them and it was done. It was a hard day to put it mildly. We were welcomed with some local music band. Rajesh danced to the music to celebrate the queen stage finish in style.

What’s Ahead!

After 4 hard days, it is time to rest and recover with the rest day tomorrow. The day after the rest day, we do a local loop of 116km to Thiashola and Kinnakorai with a 7km CS thrown in between.