April 2012.....A Month of Climbs.

“THE BIG RIDE” in January  was a great way to kick start the bicycling year.I believe it took us to the next level in terms of riding ability and understanding of not just the bike but of our bodies as well.Not to mention giving us the confidence to attempt any ride,particularly climbs,provided the preparation was right.

With May just around the corner,it felt like the time was right to probably do some hill climbs before we head up to the hills for some fun.

PAALAMALAI. .....April 1st

For a long time Shantharam(shantha) has been talking about this hill called Paalamalai with supposedly some serious grade,around 40kilometres from Coimbatore city.After a recce(by Shantha and his wife Jaisri)on Saturday,We(Santha and myself) decided to ride to Paalamalai and back on Sunday the 1^st April 2012.It was to be a 75km roundtrip ride.

                                                                      Shantharam 

We started at 7am knowing full well that we will be at the mercy of the very hot summer sun on our way back,but usual Saturday night out with the guys prevented an earlier departure.

The ride to the foothills of Paalamalai through some back roads is around 35km  from home and not the most enjoyable.Not much traffic in the morning but very dusty and bad road sufaces in many places.The climb is very short,around 3.5km from the foothills to the top.With grades ranging from 7 to 9.8 percent it was a good climb with excellent road surface.Since it was a short climb my aim was to do it non stop.We decided to ride at a pace we were comfortable at and started off..

                                                         At the Foothills of paalamalai.

.Few hundered metres in and I was reminded of “THE BIG RIDE” .......the grade was about the same in places.I loved it and got to the top in just over 30 minutes with no stops.Shantha followed soon after having just stopped once.

                                                   Shantharam Cresting the hill.

                                                    Start of the ride back down!

We hung around there for a bit and rode back.The ride down the hill was the first time for the both of us on such a steep grade with a  smooth tarmac surface.With the brakes working overtime,keeping the speed under 50km/hr was a task.Inspite of the smooth road surface the load on the arms and shoulders due to the steep downhill grade was surprisingly high.The way these bicycles want to pick up speed you need to be very careful else you are going to end up not making the corner.

With the sun belting down on us we headed back after refueling with water and hydrates.Santha was finding it a bit uncomfortable on his saddle so I asked him to ride my Orbea,the dual suspension bike was more comfortable and he was ok after that.Shantha's Alma which i was riding had a flat on the way,i decided to just pump up the air since it was only a slow leak and finish the ride.It was around 11.30 by the time we reached Jenny Club.It  turned out to be a very satisfying Sunday Ride.Im sure Palamalai is going to see a lot of visitors especially before “THE BIG RIDE 2013”.

VALPARAI…April 13^th

Ever since I did this ride with Jacob in December of last year I have wanted to do it again.Its just a fabulous ride,with an average grade of around 5percent for the entire climb, not too difficult but at the same time a challenge if you set a time target for yourself.

This time Gopi Anna(Gopi) and Shantha decided to ride along.Viren and Ganesh came along as well,to enjoy a day of photography and also provide some much needed support,the other support vehicle being the  LandCruiser with my driver.It was going to be a fun day.

                                         L-R..Shantha,Gopi,Ganesh,Viren

We started off at Aliyar at around 7.30am on what looked to be a slightly overcast day.Very soon  we found ourselves splitting up,riding at a pace that was comfortable to us.I wanted to do it non stop with just min time spent for filling up the water bottle.The first 13k”s climbs at an average of 5.5percent and then the rest of the way up to kilometer 29 is a steady climb with grades ranging from 4 and 4.9 percent.

                                                              A few kilometres in.......

                                                                     Shantharam.

                                                                      Gopi

All three of us found a good rhythm and the ride up was very enjoyable.The landcruiser following Gopi, Viren and Ganesh in the 4Runner doing photography duties and also making sure Shantha and I had our drink bottles full.My first time seeing a Nilgiri Thar in such close quarters as well.Also called an IBEX, is a kind mountain goat usually seen on the slopes around Valparai and Munnar.

Riding all alone we  reached the top at different times.Santha having managed to do it non-stop as well and Gopi with just 3 stops which I think is a brilliant effort by both of them the first time up valparai.I crested the hill at the 29km mark in a time of 2h10min and then went down about 6kilometres to stop just short of the town of Valparai.

                                                       Viren and Ganesh.

Viren and Ganesh were waiting ahead and we decided to end the ride there and wait for Shantha and Gopi to arrive.Shantha arrived around 30 mins later and Gopi a further 20 mins.Total time was between 2h30mim and 3h20min for all of us which I think is a super ride on MTB’s.

                                                      Gopi's first major hill climb.A Super effort!

                                                    Gopi,Arjun,Shantharam

Spent some time enjoying the view while Viren did his magic with the camera and then took a leisurely ride down just short of the town of Valparai.

A while later we loaded up and made our way down the ghats ,found a place to park for lunch,lots more banter and then headed back home.The climb to Valparai is surely on our favourites list now.Overall a great day of riding,photography and banter.

Being their first time up Valparai,Gopi and Shantha would probably have a lot more to add about their experiences on and thoughts about their ride.

Special thanks to Viren and Ganesh for coming along and making the day all the more enjoyable.Hope to have them along more often in the future...on or off the saddle.

Photographs by Viren Mohan.

©Viren Mohan (viren.mohan@gmail.com)

ADDERLEY......April 28^th

Adderley is a village situated below the town of Coonoor at around 1200 metres above mean sea level.Jacob and I have done the ride down and back once before on our Cannondale Hardtails and it was the toughest hill climb we had ever attempted.

I wanted to do it again,this time to check the grade and see how we fare after a year of bicycling and also curious how the Giant Trance and the Orbea OIZ dual suspension bikes would feel on this 4km stetch of broken tarmac,rocks and grass trails going down (and then coming up)at an average grade of 10 percent which means that the actual grade in some places was well above 13percent.

                                                            Jacob on the way down

This one in my opinion is far more difficult than the climb in Kalhatti albeit much shorter.We got to the village in the bottom at around 4.45pm,this was at 1260 metres above sea level.

                             Below ...some pictures from the base of the hill @ 1260 metres.

                                 The top of the hill is lambs rock view point at 1780 metres.

                                                                          Jacob.

                                              The start of the climb back to the top.

The ride back up was very very tricky due to the  steep grade along with the wet and broden surface often with just a pile of big stones across the road.It was a huge challenge just to keep moving,managing the wheelspin and wheellift while the heart rate was hovering above the 175 mark all the time peaking at 180 beats per minute.

We managed to do the 4km ride up with just one stop in around 46min at the end of which we were at 1690 metres.The estate workers who were busy felling trees  earlier cautioned us not to go down, warning us of elephant activity in the area.They also believed there was no way we could come back up on a bicycle.After informing them that we have done it before and reassuring them that we will be very careful we rode on.An hour later we could see the shock on their faces when they saw us riding up.I have to say that was  a big thrill.

The entire ride from home in coonoor to adderley and back was around 30kilometres of rolling hills with some reasonably steep grades.A fantastic ride,huge workout on the cardio and the legs,particularly the last 4km down to Adderley and back.

The dual suspension on both bikes really helped over the very steep broken surface.With the shocks set to active position the traction was so much better over the damp rough and also prevented wheel lift as the road got steeper.It was nice to be doing challenging rides with Jacob again.

Look forward to doing it with the rest of the gang someday.