A deadly descend After three days at Hotel Accord, I was already sick of the food. It’s not that it was bad. On the contrary, they had served excellent meals. The problem is that I had to cycle after having all that food. I kept a Digene (Aluminium and Magnesium Hydroxide tablet) in my mouth … [Read more…]
Before the round trip I woke up quite early and felt rejuvenated after the much needed rest day. The weather was also very good and the sky was clear. Yesterday, Amit Goyal, a fellow rider had lent me his spare bottle. It was one of the most useful things somebody had lent me in the … [Read more…]
The official photoshoot and the red jerseys There was an official photoshoot in the morning. We also got to know the Kings and Queens of Kalahatty. The Queen of Kalahatty, Lena, is an impressive rider. She rides a Surly steel racer and rides hills like its a piece of cake. The King of Kalahatty, KKR, … [Read more…]
A late start Kalpetta was fully covered with dense fog. Nothing was visible outside the hotel. After a brief session of cleaning my drivetrain, I sat down and waited for the flag-off. We started at 8:00 am. The terrain was unforgiving. There were constant ups and downs. At times I was using my easiest gears … [Read more…]
Flag-off and the importance of being safe We started at around 7 today. Before that we had to deposit our luggage by 5:30 pm. We had about 1 hr 30 mins to take care of our bikes. I had already degreased and lubed by drivetrain yesterday. I pumped my tyres up and I was good … [Read more…]
Re-check and Flag Off I had to leave at 4:00 am in the morning in order to make it to Taj Yeshwantpur in time to drop off my luggage. Luckily Mogit was with me and taking care of some of the logistics became easier with the extra pair of hands. The race organisers fitted our … [Read more…]
An unusual source of motivation Let me put the most obvious thing out first – I don’t think that I have trained enough for this tour. The reason why I had decided to participate in this tour can be attributed to the blogs of Mr. Venkateswara Rao Navasi (also known as Lord Venky or BikeyVenky). He … [Read more…]
How I almost did not make it to Hampi While I was at the Narsapura CCD, halfway through my cycling trip, Mogit called me up and told me that he had booked tickets to and from Hampi. I later asked him about the schedule and he mentioned that the bus would depart from Anand Rao Circle … [Read more…]
Last November, I was informed by my good friend Firoze that AirAsia was running discounts on its flight to Jaipur during this time. I had impulsively booked the tickets. My only agenda was to meet him and have some fun along the way. My stay was only for four days, starting from Wednesday to Saturday. … [Read more…]
We went to Connoor. All we saw were cliffs, valleys and generic tea estates. There is a small botanical garden called Sim’s Park which was in full bloom. Ironically, this smaller sister of Ooty’s Botanical Garden had better flora than its elder sibling. By the time we finished our site seeing tour, it was pretty … [Read more…]
