During my MTech times, I came across many people. Many kinds of people, like sweet, bitter, toxic, worst etc… Out of that, I find one person to be quite good and compatible nature, his name is Dheepak. He was my classmate and a good friend during the MTech times. One of the good qualities I have seen in him is he is non-judgemental and doesn’t believe the gossips directly, unlike others.
The last time we met is during convocation, and its been almost 2 years. He lives in Rajapalayam, Tamilnadu. I use to go through the Thenkasi route to my hometown, crossing Rajapalayam. Three things are here, first I would like to meet him, second the route to Rajapalayam from Thenkasi is parallel to the western ghats which I love to see while going on bus, third is I wanted to do a long ride. So, I chose his home as the target place and notified him about my plan and everything was set within the week.
This will be my second 300+ km ride. The first one being the ride to Alapuzha. I wanted to know if my capacity has increased, as I felt so tired in the end of Alapuzha ride. Partly because, I didn’t have dinner and was riding with full push to reach campus on time. That drained me well. So, this time I have decided to make this visit as a ride, by which my all 3 wishes will be made to come true.
I started in the early morning by 5AM from campus and took the route of Palode to Thenmala. It was a pleasant morning. I was worried about the battery charge of my headlight as it is still dark desipte the time crossing 6. On the way, I decided to take a tea break at a shop in Madathara which I have visited on my last weekend ride, but the shop was closed. So, I proceeded further, found another shop and had tea plus a banana cake. I strongly decided to have breakfast, lunch and dinner this time. I continued the ride and decided to have breakfast in Shenkottai.
I climbed the Thenmala, crossed border and reached Shenkottai. Then the usual thought of full stomach came, I thought of not wasting the time for breakfast, yeah I know I am a stupid on this. I was carrying dates and had that while riding into Thenkasi. I thought of going through the bus route itself so that the risk of delay due to low quality bypass roads can be avoided. As I crossed Thenkasi and proceeded north towards Kadayanallur, my dates was burnt it seems. I started to feel tired.
The climate was hot, still I proceeded and decided to have direct lunch at his home. I took sugarcane jucie and water refills at fuel stations on the way. I think that these people are new to seeing riders. They are seeing me with a mix of suspicion, amaze, and wierd looks. I was taking a small break near Vasudevanallur where a group of 3 boys came running towards me. They were asking about myself, my bike and other things. After talking to them, I proceeded further.
On the way, another army person named Kuttiraj met me. He said that he himself wanted to become a rider, so he asked about the bike and myself, after that I proceeded further on my ride. I reached Sivagiri, and was seeing the distance to Rajapalayam was reducing on the signboards on the way. Finally, I saw the detour on Rajapalayam, that will take me to the new bus stand there. The location of his home was close to that bus stand. It was a joyful moment for me as I see the two big arches of that bus stand with my own effort, which I use to see during bus travel.
I reached that bus stand, checked for the local route and was proceeding towards his home. On the way, his sister saw me it seems. They were following me behind which I didn’t know. I reached nearby his home, confused which one is his house, and was calling him. After getting proper instructions, I turned back and saw his sister and his brother, they took me to thier home. There I met his mother, mother’s sister and their family members. I didn’t expect them to know that I am coming with my bike, but Dheepak told them it seems. They were surprised and were discussing with me with full energy about it. Dheepak went out at that time, and after a few mins he came back.
I had a plan of reaching his home by 12:30PM but, due to that food issue, I was slowed down and reached by around 1:30PM. I went there, spend good time with his family members, had home food after a significant break. We then discussed about some old stories and their still continuing versions. In the end, we took photos with his family members, and went to his mother’s sister house, where other family members were there. It was nearby, took photos there and started the return ride by around 3:30PM. My plan was to spend some 1 hr with him but, the time flew when I went there.
The return ride was through the same route. I reached Sivagiri, Vasudevanallur and other along the route places. The climate was favourable. It was mildly drizziling. I saw the same good view of the western ghats this time, that I use to see during bus travel. I clearly seen the energy difference, after lunch I was able to ride with no tiredness or special effort. However, it didn’t last long.
The lunch was burnt before I reached Senkottai… I planned to have briyani in the same place where I had it last time when I came to Thenkasi. But, I couldn’t find that shop open. So, I took the dinner in a veg hotel that I saw in the morning when I came by that route. I took three dosas and left to continue the ride. The last time when I came to Thenkasi, that briyani was the one which saved me. There was a heavy head wind while going towards Aryankavu i.e. near the foothils of western ghats. That was an afternoon time, and I realized why they have lot of windmills in that area at that time. I was expecting the same headwind now, thats why I searched for that briyani shop. But, luckily the headwind was low, I guess it is due to the night time. It was around 8pm.
This is my first ride where I took two sachets of energy gel in a single ride. Usually I take it in the early morning at the starting of my ride. But, this time I didn’t take in the morning. Now, at the foothills, I took the first energy gel before the climb and it did its job well. I was able to reach the border checkpoint quite easily, and that is the point from where the downhill starts. I reached checkpoint, took some 5 mins rest there and continued the ride downhill. I reached Thenmala, then continued on the climb that leads out of the Thenmala dam. It was tough in the night and not much vehicles were coming and no street light as well. It was the first time I am riding late night with no street lights that too in the forest, with my headlight alone.
I was worried that if I ran out of charge, then I have use the smaller headlight. I saw the charge of headlight went below 50%, so I hooked it to the powerbank that I was carrying and continued the ride with the light on. But, due to some issue, the charge was drained out within some 5 mins and light went out despite charging. I was confused and thought like it may be incompatible to lightup while charging, which is strange for the bike lights. So, I turned on the smaller headlight, put it in blinking mode and let the main light to recharge. Luckily after some point, the streetlights started to appear.
After the foresty climb with bad roads, I reached the good stretch where the roads are good and downslope major. I was enjoying that night ride stretch till Kulathupuzha, where I took a rest stop. I was running out of water, so I got a couple of sprites of 250ml each and had one bottle of it, kept the other one for later. I was looking on the map for the nearby Nayara fuel station, where they will be having good water and washroom facilities apart from other fuel stations. I got one nearby on the way, where I visited almost everytime when I came by this route, filled the water there and resumed the ride. At that point, I crossed 300km, took that as snapshot for memory. I continued and was slightly worried about a long stretch with ups and downs that connects to Madathara. But, I don’t know how it was easy this time.
I did some 200kms in this route, but as usual, I was underfueled when coming on this Kulathupuzha to Madathara. That made me challenging to cross that zone at those times, but this time, the dosas made its work and I reached Madathara in no time and effort. Then, I continued without taking rest stop to Palode which is about 10kms only from Madathara. I reached Palode, took a reststop where I had the second bottle of sprite, and continued the ride. I reached the most familiar route in my morning rides.
I reached Nanniyode crossing, and took the second energy gel sachet, as this will be climby. I reached the crossing where Robin’s home is, and continued the downslope… I reached the major climb that brings me to Chullimanoor, which was very easy than I thought, I don’t know whether it is due to that energy gel or my familiarity with that climb. I reached Chullimanoor, continued to campus and reached the backgate. I felt so satisfied in realizing those three wishes in a single day. I entered the backgate by around 12:15AM the next day :), surprised the CISF soldiers with that total distance of 321 kms, went to room, refreshed and slept.
I was worried that I may be so tired like last 300+ km ride, so I called one of the people in my hostel to get me something to eat, but that guy didn’t pick the call and neither called back. I was worried that I may face the same tiredness the next day. But, I didn’t, in fact I am perfectly fine apart from small muscle pains that got cured in the evening by the time of writing this blog.
I am happy that my capacity has increased now! I guess I am ready for the next BRM event of 400km, only thing is I need to eat properly.
Below are the pics and videos I took on this ride.
Below is the Strava log of this ride.
