I had a great winter vacation visiting one of my best friends from college Naveen John. The trip was basically two parts: the 9 day Tour of Nilgiris and then a 10 day trip with Naveen around central southern India.
Tour of Nilgiris
This was a 9 day tour/ race. Everyday we rode anywhere from 60-170km and on 5 of the stages there were individual time trials that were fairly short (all under 30km). Since I'm not a very good time trialist I wasn't expecting anything spectacular from the race but I was still hoping to do ok. After the first 2 TTs I was sitting in 6th overall and thinking I could move up a bit but then disaster struck! I got food poisoning and ended up spending all night on the toilet before the one of the big stages and I couldn't ride it. I was pretty sick for about a day and a half and then I stared recovering. After missing one day I was out of the race classification and just rode the other 2 TTs for fun. My friend Naveen (who is a really good time trialist) ended up getting second overall to his teammate Lokesh. Other than getting sick the tour was a lot of fun.
I met some great new friends and got to ride on some amazing roads in addition to seeing a lot of southern India. The riding was half in an area called the Nilgiris which was a mountain area that sat at about 2000m. The mountains however were basically 99% covered in team plantations which made for some pretty scenery and allowed you to constantly have a great view of the terrain around you. The rides we did on the middle stages of the tour definitely rank with some of the best rides I have ever done in my life with awesome roads and tons of climbing. The second to last day finished with a 40km+ long descent which was by far the longest downhill I have ever done.
Riding in India was nice too as all along the road there are little shops selling snacks that are super cheap in addition to other people selling things like coconuts and fresh fruit. The roads were pretty bad in some areas but overall they were much nicer than I expected.
I was impressed by the organizers and volunteers of the tour too. They really put in a lot of effort to make sure everything ran smoothly and we stayed in some really nice places also.
After the race we headed back to Bangalore which is where Naveen lives and got ready for our big road trip! Christmas was nice too, we spent it with Naveen's parents and had a lot of amazing food. Naveen's mom and dad are both great cooks and every day we spent at their house we were completely stuffed from eating all of the amazing food they would make for breakfast, lunch and dinner! The best food I had in India was definitely had there! They also taught me the fine art of eating with my hands which is how most people in India eat!
We set off on our trip together first by taking a night bus to Kudremukh National park. The park is north of Banglore about 9 hours on really bumpy twisty roads. Needless to say neither of us slept very well on the bus however when we arrived at 7am we were ready to go. Kudremukh national park is an old iron ore mining area that has now been turned into a park with great hiking. After arriving at the park office to get some more information we were informed that we could stay at a guest house at the start of the trail. We then took a local bus and an auto rickshaw (three wheeler taxi) up a crazy dirt road and arrived at our accomodation. After dropping off our bags we headed off on the hike to the top which was about 10km each way. The hike was on a pretty tough trail but Naveen and I kept our pace up to make sure we would make it back before dark. The whole hike was on these huge hills covered in knee high grass making for really nice views in all directions. The top of the mountain was amazing too and had about a 1000m drop off one side! We also got to see some wild buffalo along the hike. After arriving back at the house we cleaned up by swimming in a waterfall! For dinner the wife of the owner of the house cooked us the spiciest chicken either of us had ever eaten.
There is a lot more to write but I will have to write it in my next blog! Look at my Facebook page if you want to see some pictures too!
이번 겨울방학나 인도갔다왔어요! 여행부분주개있었어요: 9일동안자전거투어대회타고 10일동안 친구랑그냥여행하고했어요. 내친구 이름 나빈이에요 그리고 방가로루 살고있어요. 친구인도 사람인데 우리 우리 대학교 자전거 동호회에서 만났어요.
자전거대회는 이름투어어브 닐그리스 이얐어요. 닐그리스 가 인도 남쪽 유명한 산 이름이에요. 이대회는 완전 대회이니얐어요. 매일 60부터 170키로 타고 5번 개인 타임트라이얼 있었어요. 나 원래 TT 잘못타지만 이번에 그냥 좀해볼거에요햇어요. 2번재 티티 끝나고 나 6등하고있었지만 그다음날 장염 걸렸어요ㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜ. 배완전 아파서 나 대회날 하나 바졌어요 그래서 내결과끝났어요. 36시간정도 쉬고 자전거 탈수있었어요. 이투어 생각보다 좋았어요. 인도 산이 찐자 아름답고 도로 도 재미있었어요. 7번재 스테이지에 40키로 자리 다운힐있었어요! 이렇게 킨 낼이막 길 처음탔어요. 인도 산에서 타도 왕승이 많았어요! 나 야생왕승이 처음보는거이니까 너무 신났어요! 이투어 너무좋았고 새 친구 도 많이 만날수있었어요 여시 투어 하는사람들 다 영어 잘할수있어서.
나대회 결과없었지만 내 방문하는친구 나빈 2등했어요 나빈 팀메이트 도 1등했어요! 자전거투어 끝나고 우리 다시 친구 집으로 갔어요.
친구 부모님 크리스쳔 사람이야서 우리 특별한 크리스마스 저녁 먹었어요. 내친구 부모님 요리 너무 잘할수있어서 우리 매날 배 아플때 까지 맛있는음식 먹었어요. 그리고 인도 에서 사람들 그냥 손으로 음식먹어요!
크리스마스 끝나고 우리 여행하로갔어요! 첫가는 거 쿠더묵 국림공원이얐어요. 9시간동안 밤에 타는 좌석 버스 타고 아침7시 도착했어요. 도착하고 공원 사무실에서 안내 좀찾았어요. 이공원입구에서 괜찮은 게스트 하우스 있어서 고기서 자야해요 음식 준비도할수있었요. 숙소 도착하고 우리 20키로 왕복등산갔어요. 이공원 원래 철광석 단지 야서 나무 많이 없었어요. 지금 풀많아요 그래서 360 뷰있었어요. 항상 아름다운 언덕 볼수있어요. 정상에도 엄청 큰 cliff 있었어요 한 1000m 낼리막! 정상에도 야생 buffalo 봤어요!! 우리 등산끝나고 숙소옆에 폭포 수영하고 너무 맛있는 인도식 불닭먹고 잘잤어요.
다른 쓸게 너무많아서 다음 브로그에서쓸거에요! 사진 보고싶으면 내 페북으로 가보세요!
Tour of Nilgiris
This was a 9 day tour/ race. Everyday we rode anywhere from 60-170km and on 5 of the stages there were individual time trials that were fairly short (all under 30km). Since I'm not a very good time trialist I wasn't expecting anything spectacular from the race but I was still hoping to do ok. After the first 2 TTs I was sitting in 6th overall and thinking I could move up a bit but then disaster struck! I got food poisoning and ended up spending all night on the toilet before the one of the big stages and I couldn't ride it. I was pretty sick for about a day and a half and then I stared recovering. After missing one day I was out of the race classification and just rode the other 2 TTs for fun. My friend Naveen (who is a really good time trialist) ended up getting second overall to his teammate Lokesh. Other than getting sick the tour was a lot of fun.
I met some great new friends and got to ride on some amazing roads in addition to seeing a lot of southern India. The riding was half in an area called the Nilgiris which was a mountain area that sat at about 2000m. The mountains however were basically 99% covered in team plantations which made for some pretty scenery and allowed you to constantly have a great view of the terrain around you. The rides we did on the middle stages of the tour definitely rank with some of the best rides I have ever done in my life with awesome roads and tons of climbing. The second to last day finished with a 40km+ long descent which was by far the longest downhill I have ever done.
Riding in India was nice too as all along the road there are little shops selling snacks that are super cheap in addition to other people selling things like coconuts and fresh fruit. The roads were pretty bad in some areas but overall they were much nicer than I expected.
I was impressed by the organizers and volunteers of the tour too. They really put in a lot of effort to make sure everything ran smoothly and we stayed in some really nice places also.
After the race we headed back to Bangalore which is where Naveen lives and got ready for our big road trip! Christmas was nice too, we spent it with Naveen's parents and had a lot of amazing food. Naveen's mom and dad are both great cooks and every day we spent at their house we were completely stuffed from eating all of the amazing food they would make for breakfast, lunch and dinner! The best food I had in India was definitely had there! They also taught me the fine art of eating with my hands which is how most people in India eat!
We set off on our trip together first by taking a night bus to Kudremukh National park. The park is north of Banglore about 9 hours on really bumpy twisty roads. Needless to say neither of us slept very well on the bus however when we arrived at 7am we were ready to go. Kudremukh national park is an old iron ore mining area that has now been turned into a park with great hiking. After arriving at the park office to get some more information we were informed that we could stay at a guest house at the start of the trail. We then took a local bus and an auto rickshaw (three wheeler taxi) up a crazy dirt road and arrived at our accomodation. After dropping off our bags we headed off on the hike to the top which was about 10km each way. The hike was on a pretty tough trail but Naveen and I kept our pace up to make sure we would make it back before dark. The whole hike was on these huge hills covered in knee high grass making for really nice views in all directions. The top of the mountain was amazing too and had about a 1000m drop off one side! We also got to see some wild buffalo along the hike. After arriving back at the house we cleaned up by swimming in a waterfall! For dinner the wife of the owner of the house cooked us the spiciest chicken either of us had ever eaten.
There is a lot more to write but I will have to write it in my next blog! Look at my Facebook page if you want to see some pictures too!
이번 겨울방학나 인도갔다왔어요! 여행부분주개있었어요: 9일동안자전거투어대회타고 10일동안 친구랑그냥여행하고했어요. 내친구 이름 나빈이에요 그리고 방가로루 살고있어요. 친구인도 사람인데 우리 우리 대학교 자전거 동호회에서 만났어요.
자전거대회는 이름투어어브 닐그리스 이얐어요. 닐그리스 가 인도 남쪽 유명한 산 이름이에요. 이대회는 완전 대회이니얐어요. 매일 60부터 170키로 타고 5번 개인 타임트라이얼 있었어요. 나 원래 TT 잘못타지만 이번에 그냥 좀해볼거에요햇어요. 2번재 티티 끝나고 나 6등하고있었지만 그다음날 장염 걸렸어요ㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜ. 배완전 아파서 나 대회날 하나 바졌어요 그래서 내결과끝났어요. 36시간정도 쉬고 자전거 탈수있었어요. 이투어 생각보다 좋았어요. 인도 산이 찐자 아름답고 도로 도 재미있었어요. 7번재 스테이지에 40키로 자리 다운힐있었어요! 이렇게 킨 낼이막 길 처음탔어요. 인도 산에서 타도 왕승이 많았어요! 나 야생왕승이 처음보는거이니까 너무 신났어요! 이투어 너무좋았고 새 친구 도 많이 만날수있었어요 여시 투어 하는사람들 다 영어 잘할수있어서.
나대회 결과없었지만 내 방문하는친구 나빈 2등했어요 나빈 팀메이트 도 1등했어요! 자전거투어 끝나고 우리 다시 친구 집으로 갔어요.
친구 부모님 크리스쳔 사람이야서 우리 특별한 크리스마스 저녁 먹었어요. 내친구 부모님 요리 너무 잘할수있어서 우리 매날 배 아플때 까지 맛있는음식 먹었어요. 그리고 인도 에서 사람들 그냥 손으로 음식먹어요!
크리스마스 끝나고 우리 여행하로갔어요! 첫가는 거 쿠더묵 국림공원이얐어요. 9시간동안 밤에 타는 좌석 버스 타고 아침7시 도착했어요. 도착하고 공원 사무실에서 안내 좀찾았어요. 이공원입구에서 괜찮은 게스트 하우스 있어서 고기서 자야해요 음식 준비도할수있었요. 숙소 도착하고 우리 20키로 왕복등산갔어요. 이공원 원래 철광석 단지 야서 나무 많이 없었어요. 지금 풀많아요 그래서 360 뷰있었어요. 항상 아름다운 언덕 볼수있어요. 정상에도 엄청 큰 cliff 있었어요 한 1000m 낼리막! 정상에도 야생 buffalo 봤어요!! 우리 등산끝나고 숙소옆에 폭포 수영하고 너무 맛있는 인도식 불닭먹고 잘잤어요.
다른 쓸게 너무많아서 다음 브로그에서쓸거에요! 사진 보고싶으면 내 페북으로 가보세요!
