Day 8 can be renamed
as a Photo Session - Day. Chill out. But a few very serious riders gave it a
pass. Some had to hop on to Tour of Tamilnadu (ToT). Some others had to go on a
Nandi climb so badly. Those who did not search for a reason, stayed back to wake
up to a wonderful Ooty Morning. For once, the baggage truck was made to wait.
Because, by the scheduled departure, none of the riders were out of their bed
yet ;-) No one can blame them, it has been a tough week of incredible rides.
And today is a just a joy ride. (or at least that is what they were made to
believe).
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| Akshat - On top of the Nilgiris |
As soon as we got
out of Ooty, we were greeted by giant uphills and the now infamous rolling
terrain. We had to pass through some winding roads of Kothagiri to enter the
Kodanad Tea estates owned by you-know-who. The roads, fences, plants instantly
get a wonderful face-lift. Just what the riders wanted - and excuse to stop and
take photos with their fellow sufferers over the last week. In any other week
long trip, two strangers would meet and never would want to see them again. But
in TFN, bonds are made... Some times life long.
Chenthil Mohan needs
a special mention here. He usually smokes cigarettes... But today he was a
different kind of high. The sky was clear, lighting perfect, all apparatus in
sparkling conditions, riders willing and cheerful, every one was wearing their
TFN jersey - No better conditions to get some stunning pics. He recruited Vasu
as his light boy (could not have imagined that happening) and was clicking away
to glory. You may want to see his photo stream if you don’t believe.
To give respite to
the riders, there were a quite a few down hill sections also. On one such fast
down-hill sections Chacko found himself face-to-face with a tempo. There was
very little he could do but to time and control his collision well. Boy was he lucky
- he walked out of it with just a scratch on his index finger. The bike was
less fortunate and needs a fork replacement. Everyone started taking much
easier after that and made sure that the tour ended on pleasant note. Slowly,
all riders reached the view point taking their own time.
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| Vishnu - Very happily sporting his Livestrong jersey. |
Another round of
photo frenzy happened on Kodanad view point. The star of the hour was our own
marker - Kiran Raju. He showed off his skills on Ritesh's
58K-full-suspension-downhill-bike. He
spent over 30 minutes on the bike going from one end to another doing wheelies
and stoppies to amuse the photographers without ever setting his foot on the
ground. This kid has talent.
Time for Prize
distribution and speeches. A very nice gesture from TFN to give a prize to
Rishi Goyal - youngest rider and was it not for TD's decision that prevented
him from riding on Day-7, he was looking very good for a Top-20 finish. Vandit
from DiveIndia announced a special prize of 3-days-2-nights @ their resorts in
the Andamans for him and his family. Way to go!! Rishi and Vandit. The winners
were awarded a Montra Jazz each. They could not thank the volunteers and
organizers enough for a truly well run show....
Will leave you with
the link for flikr photo-stream of all the un-official photos.
Have a great 2012!!
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