Day - 4 is
technically a picnic. You just have to get to it safely after negotiating the
15 Km of technical descent that follows after 20 Kms of bad road. The breakfast
arrangements at the Solitaire Exotica of Madikeri was not too great. The bread
was a big fail. But, they adapted quickly to give poori-sagu to all riders.
Well, that is all what one needs for a down-hill trip ;-)
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| Bone rattling ride on 'patchy' roads |
After a
'light' breakfast it was time for a quick daily briefing. The riders were
appraised with the latest state of the roads until Virajpet -' bad in patches'
was the Official description. The TD cleverly missed out how big and how often
were these patches. Rajesh gave a 'standard-down-hill-check-list' instructions
to all the riders and wished them all a good safe descent. Tour leader Mark A.
told every one to keep their eyes on road - 20ft ahead of you. The bike goes
where your eyes go. If you look at something off the road, then you go off road
too. Rajesh added the importance of braking well before the turn and keeping
the bike straight during the turn. Another announcement
was the photo-shoot plan soon after the first support station. All came out in
their best jerseys.
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| Vinay zipping through |
Since
there is no CS today, the was not hurry and the only strategy was to get down
without tasting dirt. The bad patches made group riding or drafting very
dangerous. The late start however meant that the riders had to share the road
with the Monday traffic. The MTB's especially with suspension, were finally
smiling as the road condition alternated between 'bad' and 'worse'. Now I have
to extend the 'bad in patches' ... to 'worse in the rest'. So went the ride
like this until Virajpet. According the morning briefing, the road from then
was to be smooth. It was better, but far from smooth. When the riders came to a
nice bridge across a stream, they stopped . Some of them thought it was the
photo-shoot point and the group grew.
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| Richard Joyce waving at the welcome committee |
More
rolling terrain followed with comparatively better roads. Just before Kerala
border, we were welcomed by a bunch of pre-school children. Their teacher
thought it would be a good exposure for them and sent them to cheer our riders.
The kids in this area speak either Kannada, Tulu, Malayalam, Urdu or Kodava in
their home. With five languages around them, they look too confused and when a
stranger speaks to them in English, they just get petrified. Still, as cyclists
passed them one by one, they got more confident and started clapping hands
joyously. I even taught them to count 1 rider, 2 riders and many riders.
Cheers!!
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| Photo Point @ Support Station 1 |
A few
Kms after the school was the photo shoot lake. What a back-drop for the ride!!!
Words any way can't do justice... I will not even try.
This is where the
technical descent starts. All but two riders got down safely. Those two riders
suffered some bruises. At the bottom of the descent, the mood was much of
relief - of getting down in one piece, of completing half the tour, of looking
forward for the rest day.
Rest day tomorrow - one can wake up late.
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