A bicycle journey to Ooty- I was much thrilled hearing about it. But unfortunately I didn’t have the capability to ride the cycle to such a long distant place and so I went along with them watching the journey.

The Thrilling Ride

It started from Olympian Rahman stadium in Medical College at 4 in the morning. So many people were reached with bicycle from Trissur, Ernakulam etc. the members of Calicut Peddlers were also present from morning itself. At 5:20 am the flag was shown for the journey. In a few minutes it covers 40-50 km per hour speed. We waited near the Pathanapuram church on Kuttikkattoor- Mavoor route. The sun was just rising. Srinath reached there followed by Farish and so many other people too.
The next stop we found was Edavanna Seethi Haji Bridge. From there too many of the bicycles passed. Some of them stopped near the next bridge to buy fruits and water.
Then started the mountain pass and the bicycles got tired. Everyone started cycling slowly through the shades of tiny forests near. One bus got accident there. No one noticed the scene and they went on riding.
On a curve we waited them with the camera for a beautiful frame and we captured the riders in that mountain pass. We provided them the watermelon. Suddenly the phone rang. It was the cycling man from behind. His tire got punctured and the spare tube was in our car. We gave the tube to a lorry and requested them to give it to the rider. The driver in the lorry helped us. The experience was a lesson too.

The Destination

The bicycle reached near us too was puncture but they continued the journey in ten minutes after changing the tube. It was the time for the lunch and the thing was that we need to reach Gudallore to get the food. Then came the first call from Ooty. It was from Sreenath. He has completed the Kozhikode-Ooty route 150 km long within 7 hours. The organizers has allowed fourteen hours, the bus or car also take 7 hours.  Sreenath is a well expert in cycling. Farish too completed the journey in 9 hours which was also a pride moment for the Calicut Peddlers.  He is the member of the Peddlers and also the son of one of the member named Sakir Hussain.
20 people have completed the journey within 14 hours. Some of them took 20 hours. Everyone reached by 8 and we stayed at Y.W.C.A quarters. The building resembles the colonial period. There was much cold as it has rained just before. We gathered at the Conference Hall for food. The hot biriyani brought from Kozhikode was waiting for opening the “dum”.  Everyone smiled with a satisfaction and they were much happy after getting the medals and certificates.

The Troubled Return

 The next day we wandered along the Ooty and took a photo shoot from the grassland located near the quarters. Some returned in the car taking the bicycle along with them and few of them returned by riding bicycles. We climbed down through Kallattigiri- Masinagudi route in car and on the way we saw three of the riders and an elephant too. At Gudalloor we saw another three persons and one of the bicycles got puncture, so we helped them for repairing. Soon one more bicycle got punctured and we were in trouble.
Then we reached at Vazhikkadav with the bicycles and asked fair for the jeep. They said INR 3500. Suddenly we saw the K.U.R.T.C bus to Calicut getting ready for the journey. We asked the conductor for taking the bicycles with the bus .He said okay after getting the permission from the driver. Thus they reached Calicut for just 170 Rupees and followed by us too.

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