My excuse for cycling is because I am cheap and lazy. However, I do so fervently wish I had taken up cycling earlier and had enough stamina to undertake the Tour of Nilgiris, which seems like every wannabe endurance rider’s dream come true.
With gazillions of sponsors, and an ecclectic bunch of forty riders (some of whom I’ve met up with due to Bums on the Saddle), the 919 km long tour starting from Bangalore and going all around through the Nilgiris is an attractive proposition I wish I could be part of.
The TFN, as it is popularly called, has had carefully planned routes, and I believe that a senior of mine, Pradeep B V from engineering college was the guy who worked on collating the GPS data, elevation, traffic and route plotting for the entire trip.
But, I’m going to be realistic, given the fact that my daily evening jaunts after returning from the office hardly ever cross 12km, and that the most I’ve done so far has been about 30-odd km on two consecutive days, and I’ve been bragging about that distance covered to those who’ve been kind enough to give me a patient hearing, and even to those who haven’t.
Maybe if there is one such ride next year, or if there is some mountain ride during the summer, I’d consider trying out, if I end up putting some decent mileage on my cycle.
For right now, aside from riding the bike around in Bangalore, all I can do is to dream about the day when I’ll do the trip from Bangalore to Mysore, waking up at 5 AM to set off on my cycle, and try go be home before lunch. I sincerely hope I can do it before I turn 26 in April.
Update Are There: As I was typing this post, I got in touch with people from the TFN, and I might either
- (a) go on a one day ride from Bangalore to Mysore on Christmas day
- (b) Volunteer for assisting / organizing something during the Mysore stop over
or
Currently (b) looks more plausible. More to follow.
