Dodabetta- A day well ridden

Ooty the queen of hills is been pretty famous among cyclist specially from coimbatore. The beauty of the climbs is - no matter how many times one does it , ‘IT IS DIFFICULT ‘

One of the famous sightseeing point in ooty is Dodabetta which is the highest point of tamilnadu at an elevation of 2600 m. Ooty to Dodabetta is about 8km and gains an elevation of 400m. The profile based on these numbers looks fine, but what becomes challenging is that last 4-5 km the gradient of elevation is constantly 9%. I and Ganesh (an Endurance cyclist from Bangalore and native of Coimbatore) has been discussing of doing Ooty

Finally, the day arrived we took our bikes in car to the point which was 10 km away from the base of the climb. Parked the car, assembled the bikes, and started. The weather was good for climbing. And as usual, 7/8kms in the climb it starts becoming difficult. Another challenge sometimes is with GPS based cyclometers, these equipment’s shows you the gradient, elevation, calories etc. It’s a good motivation in a way but also sometimes one can become anxious.

On a weekday the roads are less crowded and if it is winter month, then the climbs become more attractive. Moreover, there are 2-3 good waterfalls on route which can keep you motivated.

We were at ooty by 12.15 and by the look of weather, it’s difficult to believe its afternoon time. We decided to take a tea break, one must drink tea if in ooty.

We decided to attempt dodabetta – the highest point of Tamilnadu. Good Roads, difficult climbs.

This was just a day ride, and I have been to the place multiple times. The ride became interesting when we decided to take the downhill route via kotagiri.The showstopper for me was spotting an Elephant in wild .