Western Ghats and Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary Mountain Biking Expedition
A third mountain biking expedition in as many years was just meant to happen and it happened thanks to my partner in crime Akhilesh. This time round we were also joined by Mandar & Ganesh. Everything was set and since we had an extra day in hand; we planned to visit Mysore en-route to Ooty. The adventure started right from boarding the flight from Mumbai & continued till Mysore. The Mysore escapades will follow in a separate post.
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| My Bike |
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| Outside Mysore Restaurant |
On the way we passed through the Bandipur Tiger Reserve. Well we didn’t spot any tigers; but we surely did spot some elephants & deer’s. Once we crossed Bandipur there were 2 routes going towards Ooty; one via the Mudumalai wildlife sanctuary & Kalhatty ghats while the second one goes through Cudalor. We took the latter since heavy vehicles are not allowed through Kalhatty ghats (we would find the actual reason first hand in a couple of days on cycles). Christmas was just round the corner & by the time we reached Cudalor; there was a huge traffic jam with hardly any movement. This gave us a chance to chat with the driver. He informed us that he was about to retire in 6 months and he has been driving on this route for the last 27 years. And post retirement he swore not to touch the steering wheel :) We inquired about options to reach Youth Hostel Ooty since it was away from the Ooty bus stand. He suggested that we take the local bus going towards Coonoor & get down on the stop closest to Hotel Preethi Palace.
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| Bandipur Tiger Reserve |
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| Mudumalai Tiger Reserve |
We finally reached Ooty @ 9 PM and there was a local bus just about to leave for Coonoor. We rushed & just about managed to board the bus. It was extremely cold and to make matters worst; there was no door and broken windows in the bus. The conductor guided us to the nearest bus stop. We reached in 10 mins and got off. We started asking for directions and after some struggle, we managed to find the Missionary Hill Road. From here again, since it was dark and there was no one to ask for directions. We decided to split into 2 teams; Akhilesh & Mandar went uphill to check for the YHAI hostel while I & Ganesh guarded the luggage.
We came back to the room & met the fellow participants and participants from the first batch. One such participant who got our attention (in other words he chose to get Akhilesh’s attention) was Abhishek. He had a central government job & was very excited meeting another central government employee in Akhilesh. Soon the discussion got down to literal details like comparing benefits which is when he passed the joke of the tour with a poker face. Scientists get a lot of benefits; I have heard you guys even get “chaddi & baniyan”. We all just broke out laughing. We played cards for sometime & then decided to call it quits.
We woke up to a chilled morning. There was dew all around. Tea was ready accompanied with breakfast. We were asked to assemble at 8:30 am for orientation. We all assembled and were greeted by Vandana & Sapna; our second camp leader. Everyone introduced themselves & the participants were split into 2 groups; ones with geared cycling experience & ones without any experience. Since we had experience with geared cycles; we were asked to collect our bikes & gear. It was a pleasant surprise to see brand new bikes & gears in this expedition. We collected the bikes & gear while the others were being instructed on using the cycles by Sapna. We got ready & took out our bikes for a spin while the others also finished their orientation & joined us. In about one hour everyone was ready and all set for the trial bike ride.
The route for the trial bike ride was uphill on the Missionary Hill Road for about 1.7 km. We all started in a straight line and soon everyone got down to their own speed. The uphill started taking its toll but it was only signs of the tough uphill to follow in the next 3-4 days. We were all up for the challenge. We all reached the pinnacle and assembled for some instructions. We soon started the downhill but since we had sometime to go for lunch; Akhilesh & I decided to take another spin on the same route. This is when we met an enthusiastic local kid picking a race with us. We were quiet astonished by his cycling skills on the uphill roads. We clicked some photographs with him and did some off roading in the local village.
Since Mandar & Ganesh had already gone ahead; we had asked them to check out Glucon-D at the local shop. But sadly it was out of stock. So on our way back we continued cycling till the Ooty market and got some packs of Glucon-D. By the time we reached back, it was time for lunch. We had lunch and were really sleepy. We laid back for a nap & the nap soon turned into a long break. We woke up in the evening and went to the local market to get some woolen stuff for Mandar & Ganesh since it gets really chilled at this camp. We were told that this was the coldest camp in the expedition.
By the time we came back it was time for soup followed by dinner. We enjoyed the dinner and were given instructions by Vandana & Sapna about the plan for tomorrow. There was a group from Bangalore which was expected to join us late in the evening since they were cycling all the way from Bangalore to Ooty via the Kalhatty ghats. They finally reached at 9 PM and it was really a commendable effort by them to cycle all this distance. Hats off to you guys. We played a round of cards and then decided to hit the bed. The day ended with an anxious wait to start another cycling expedition from tomorrow.
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| Youth Hostel Ooty |
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| Our Bikes |
We woke up to a chilled morning. There was dew all around. Tea was ready accompanied with breakfast. We were asked to assemble at 8:30 am for orientation. We all assembled and were greeted by Vandana & Sapna; our second camp leader. Everyone introduced themselves & the participants were split into 2 groups; ones with geared cycling experience & ones without any experience. Since we had experience with geared cycles; we were asked to collect our bikes & gear. It was a pleasant surprise to see brand new bikes & gears in this expedition. We collected the bikes & gear while the others were being instructed on using the cycles by Sapna. We got ready & took out our bikes for a spin while the others also finished their orientation & joined us. In about one hour everyone was ready and all set for the trial bike ride.
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| Trial ride started |
The route for the trial bike ride was uphill on the Missionary Hill Road for about 1.7 km. We all started in a straight line and soon everyone got down to their own speed. The uphill started taking its toll but it was only signs of the tough uphill to follow in the next 3-4 days. We were all up for the challenge. We all reached the pinnacle and assembled for some instructions. We soon started the downhill but since we had sometime to go for lunch; Akhilesh & I decided to take another spin on the same route. This is when we met an enthusiastic local kid picking a race with us. We were quiet astonished by his cycling skills on the uphill roads. We clicked some photographs with him and did some off roading in the local village.
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| During trial ride |
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| With local kid |
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| Offroading |
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| Offroading |
Since Mandar & Ganesh had already gone ahead; we had asked them to check out Glucon-D at the local shop. But sadly it was out of stock. So on our way back we continued cycling till the Ooty market and got some packs of Glucon-D. By the time we reached back, it was time for lunch. We had lunch and were really sleepy. We laid back for a nap & the nap soon turned into a long break. We woke up in the evening and went to the local market to get some woolen stuff for Mandar & Ganesh since it gets really chilled at this camp. We were told that this was the coldest camp in the expedition.
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| Selfie time |
By the time we came back it was time for soup followed by dinner. We enjoyed the dinner and were given instructions by Vandana & Sapna about the plan for tomorrow. There was a group from Bangalore which was expected to join us late in the evening since they were cycling all the way from Bangalore to Ooty via the Kalhatty ghats. They finally reached at 9 PM and it was really a commendable effort by them to cycle all this distance. Hats off to you guys. We played a round of cards and then decided to hit the bed. The day ended with an anxious wait to start another cycling expedition from tomorrow.
