Whew! A lot has happened in the last week!!!

I have ditched Sri Lanka for Tour oF Nilgiris (TFN), India’s premier cycling event covering 1000Km covering Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu over 8 days. Its gonna be lots of fun!

TFN should have happened last year itself, but then I turned it down foolishly. This year too, almost turned it down due to lack of leaves and clash with Sri Lanka trip. Then, out of the blue, suddenly realized TFN is more important and had to happen this year… at any cost. Cycling and Nilgiris are two things I deeply love and both packaged together is a dream come true!

So, contacted Sameer and enquired if my slot was still open. In a day, I got a positive response… and here I am getting ready for TFN.

Will try to do another post with more details, my training strategy for the ride, etc. For now, my recent Facebook / Twitter statuses say it all. Am copying them here in case if you missed it.

The announcement!

• Sri Lanka plans go for a toss. Ditching Lankan hills for our own. Backpack gives way to the saddle. Any guesses?
• Just sneaked in as one of the late joinees for TFN

Anxieties over doing a 1000km ride begin

• Cleaned and oiled the bicycle. Gonna do a 100Km+ ride tomorrow after a looong time.
• I hope taking the stairs to the 5th flr in office every day helps. My stats tells that I had my last century ride in March.. 🙁

Training ride 1 (102Km, Nov 13)

• TFN training kick started! Rode to Bilikkal betta & on my way back having Bisi bele bath @ Harohalli.
• Riding outside Bangalore is fun. You get to cycle with kids. Kids like it because they get to ride my multi-geared bike.
• Been a crazy day. A 102km ride. Then tyre shopping for my bike. And then shopping for my daughters bday. Will sleep like a log today… but then have a ride tomorrow as well! Have to wake up early again. TFN training is lotsa fun!

Training ride 2 (104Km, Nov 14)

• Am never a morning guy.. except for cycling, photography & birding
• Reached Muthyala Maduvu.50km done, having tomato bath @ Anekal. Another century ride.Feeling confident of #TFNTen now!
• At Jigani, rode for half an hour with a guy carrying stuff for his shop on his 20 yr old bicycle that has been repaired & patched to every possible extent. But he seemed quite content with it and never complained abt it all through our discussion abt 100 things under the sun!
• Todays route : JP ngr – Bannerghatta – Anekal – Jigani – Muthyala Maduvu and a bit of offroading at Kagglipura on way back and a couple of detours.
• Back to back century rides! Feeling more comfortable abt TFN. Need to pack in a few climbs next.
• ‎102 & 104 done. What to do for tmrw? Run, ride or rest my legs? Have 3 hours in the morning. Thinking!

Training ride 3 (50Km, Nov 15)

• Okay. Decided to ride today too. 60 km in mind.
• JP ngr – Bannerghatta – Jigani today. 51km in 2hrs 25mins. Strong ride by my standards given the crazy traffic on B’ghatta rd & having to ride on gravel quite a few times!
• Okay. Canceling the order for Marijunaa :-).  Hopeful of doing TFN Ten without it.

Stay tuned for more…