Goa

Date: 5 March 2015 - 8 March 2015

Total distance: 742 Kilometers

Start Time: 5 March 2015, 3:30 am

Destination Time: 8 March 2015, 5:00 pm

With: -

I wanted to do a long trip on the cycle. I had been thinking of doing Coorg, Chennai or Goa. I wanted to set the marker to test my physical ability. Had a few close calls with respect to doing either Hampi or Belgaum in the earlier weeks but the dates did not work out since friends were busy. The trip was originally planned to be done in February last week, but due to the confusion over Hampi and Belgaum, it was postponed. Finally, in March 1^st week, I was done waiting and decided that I would leave on Thursday, 5 March 2015. I had to decide on the location. Had already been to Coorg and Chennai, so decided that I would cycle to Goa. Read up on the internet about people who have already done the ride. There were only 3 people who had written about their ride to Goa from Bangalore which was very helpful. First thing that happened when reading was that the route to Goa changed. Initially I had planned to go via the Hubli, Belgaum route but on reading, got to know that the route through Sagar, Karwar is more scenic. So I opted for this route. The other important thing that I picked up from reading was that the Altitude profile of the route is available online. I immediately printed the altitude profile for the route (It is preferable to print small distances on the altitude profile, i.e., about 50 kilometers in each section so that the profile is precise, this is something that I picked up after completing the ride).

I was not able to find a carrier for the cycle in time so decided to carry a backpack. I did not want to pack heavy since the weight was going to be on the back. I bought a handle bar bag in which I carried the spare tubes, toiletries, medicines and the altitude profile of the route. The back pouch had the tool kit and the puncture repair kit. The Back pack had three T-shirts, two shorts, one track pant, socks and undergarments. The weight on the back was added due to the electronic stuff, i.e., phone, charger, power bank, torch, spare batteries. From a food perspective, was carrying a liter of water in the back pack and few bars of chocolates. In addition had a liter of water in the bottle fixed to the cycle.

The ride to Nandi Hills when I was able to ride to the peak gave the confidence that I could tackle the uphill sections. And the fact that the ride had already been done by others also gave the confidence that it could be done.

The plan was charted out:

Day	From	To	Distance	Ride Time (hrs)	Departure Time	Arrival Time
1	Koramangala	Shimoga	300	15	4:00	21:00
2	Shimoga	Gokarna	260	13	5:00	21:00
3	Gokarna	Candolim, Goa	185	10	6:00	18:00
			745

Was not too crunched on the time front so was flexible with the schedule and could reschedule depending on how much I could complete. Was confident about completing according to the above schedule and hit the bed full of confidence and excitement. I did have a lot of people telling me that I shouldn't do it, that it would be better to do it in a group, carry a weapon for protection, even statements of "are you crazy" and the look of "it's not possible" were not enough to dissuade me from starting off on the ride.

Day 1:

Start Time: 3:30 am

End Time: 5:45 pm

From: Koramangala

To: Kadur

Distance: 238 kilometers

Altitude Profile:

Was excited about the journey and was up by 2:30 am and started getting ready. I was ready to leave by 3:30 am. Half an hour before the planned start, however, I decided to leave as the additional half hour would be handy in case of contingencies.

It was cold in the morning and the temperature was ideal for cycling. Kept the excitement under control while pedaling, did not want to pedal too hard too early as this was a long ride and it had just begun. So started off slowly and picked up speed gradually. Since I had started early, I had the luxury of going long without a break. I enjoyed the ride through Bangalore City; because of the early hour the roads were empty and riding through the empty roads was a different experience altogether. Even though the plan was to cover 20 kilometers every hour I was not too concerned when at the end of the first hour I had done only 17 kilometers since I knew that I could make up for it when the gradient of the road changed to downhill. Was working my way to Dabbaspet which as per the altitude profile was the highest point of today's ride. Made it to Yeshwantpur, then the Nelamangala Junction, just when I was almost at Dabbaspet the front light fell from the bike. I was carrying two front lights and one of them fell, luckily I realised it pretty quickly and when I looked back could see the light just a few meters back. Quickly turned back, fixed the light again and I was off. Reached Dabbaspet and then the road was mainly downwards till Tumkur. Made up for all the lost time in this stretch. Reached Tumkur bypass and it was sunrise time.

I stopped for breakfast as soon as I had exited the bypass. Was too early and the only thing available was a Thatte Idli with Chutney. Was done in 10 minutes, refilled on water and juice and continued towards Gubbi. Reached Gubbi at 8:30 am and took a break just after crossing Gubbi where I rested for 30 minutes. 105 kilometers were completed in 5 hours and I was right on schedule. The altitude profile showed that the gradient of the road was going to be uphill from here, so decided to rest before I start the climb.

I resumed the ride at 9:00 am. The Sun was out in all its glory and the heat was on. To add to it, there were head winds/cross winds as well which made riding very difficult. So it was uphill, wind and heat all combined to make life difficult, which meant frequent stops. I stopped thrice before reaching Tiptur. The first stop was for Coconut water and Water Melon which was very tempting, second for juice and the third just to rest. The third stop was necessitated only because the wind was getting to me and my patience was waning thin. I stopped even though there was no shade around, just to calm myself and get my head off the wind. Resumed the ride after calming down, however within a few kilometers was back to cursing the wind since it was slowing me down. Managed to reach Tiptur at 12:30 pm and decided to stop for lunch. Kamat hotel vegetarian meal was polished off before refilling on water and resuming the ride. Had completed 160 kilometers in about 9 hours, was falling behind schedule as I should have reached Tiptur by 11:30 am. This is when I realised that I had not planned for the breaks and the breaks will have to be factored into the ride time.

The post lunch session did not have wind, and the gradient also had eased to some gentle climbs and descents. However, I was struggling with a butt sore and was getting off the saddle quite a lot. Reached Arasikere at 3:15 pm and took a break at Coffee Day. I had reached Arasikere quicker than I had expected and the break at Coffee Day was not required, however against my better judgment I decided to stop. Once I had stopped and gulped down the juice, it was difficult to get up and resume riding, the heat being the deciding factor. I spent about 30 minutes at this stop which was unnecessary.

On resuming the ride the heat was relenting but the wind was back and I was struggling on every uphill. Stopped again further up the road for Coconut water and was thinking about how I was going to reach Shimoga since I was struggling with the butt sore and I still had about 80 kilometers to go. Reached Kadur at 5:45 pm. Shimoga was still a further 70 kilometers away, the altitude profile showed that there was a climb coming up after exiting Kadur and I did not want to do that in the dark. Realised that the highway is not lit and it would be risky to try and do it. Also, had the thought at the back of my mind that if I tire myself out on the first day itself, I might not be able to reach the destination. So I decided to stay at Kadur. Searched for a hotel and then requested them that I wanted to keep the cycle also in the room. They obliged after seeing the cycle and by the time I was in the room it was 6:45 pm. Freshened up and ordered for dinner. I took a small walk around the hotel before having dinner.

I had to rework the schedule since I did not reach Shimoga on Day 1. As per the original plan I was to reach Gokarna on the next day which would mean cycling about 280 kilometers on day 2. Based on Day 1’s ride, that looked difficult. It would mean that I would have to start at 2:00 am, however, since the highways are not lit, decided against it and said that I would ride only in daylight and would start at 6 am the next day.

Day 2:

Start Time: 5:00 am

End Time: 4:00 pm

From: Kadur

To: Sagar

Distance: 156 kilometers

Altitude Profile:

Was unable to sleep and was up at 2:00 am. Had slept at 11:00 pm the previous night, however, even after a tiring day of riding a combination of mosquitoes at the hotel and the excitement of riding did not allow me to sleep well. Some part of me still wanted to reach Gokarna as per the original plan. Tried to go back to sleep but it did not work. Watched television and somehow managed to push till 5:00 am by which time I was restless to leave. I started off at 5:00 am even though it was dark outside. When I sat on the saddle I realized that I had a very bad butt sore from the previous day’s riding and I realized that this was going to be a long day. Was pretty much uphill from Kadur for 25 kilometers but the cool temperature made life easy, but the butt sore was making its presence felt. The cool temperature, moon light and small ponds made this a ride to remember.

I was surprised with the amount of traffic in the road at that hour, in a way it helped since I did not feel uneasy riding at that hour through dark roads. I was able to ride at a pretty fast pace. The climb was done easily; there was a railway crossing at the top of the climb. Lot of vehicles were parked since the gates were closed. As I waited for the train was reflecting upon the time that I would have taken to complete this climb if I had attempted it the previous day. Rode on knowing that I would have taken forever since I was tired and the rest had served its purpose. It was downhill after this and I was making quick progress.

Just as I was reaching Tarikere is was sun rise time. Stopped for a quick photo and then stopped at Tarikere for a quick breakfast. On the way to Bhadravathi was surprised to see that the canals were full in March and agricultural activity was in full flow. The green agricultural lands was pleasing on the eyes and refreshing to the mind as well. I pedalled on and as I was approaching Shimoga the climbs began. More than the climb the frustrating part was that the descent after the climb was laced with road humps. It was not one road hump at a place but a series of small road humps, at least 6 small humps at each place. The frustration reached its crescendo when the brake alignment got screwed on one of these humps. The rear wheel brake pads were rubbing against the tire making riding very difficult. I managed to reach Shimoga by 9:30 am.

Was happy to have reached Shimoga by 9:30 am, thought that if I could make it to Sagar by 2:00 pm then I could make it to at least Honnavar by the end of the day if not to Gokarna. What I had not pictured was that I was heading into the Western Ghats and that I would be climbing into the hills and that I would not be able to do 20 km/hr average speed. The altitude profile showed that it was uphill till Chordi before its drops till Anandpura.

This was a very difficult segment since it had steep uphills which had to be done when the Sun was out. The heat was on and to make things worse the road humps continued which was making me lose the speed of the downhill and would have to start the climb from scratch. At one of the last sequence of road humps the brake alignment was again affected. Spent a further 30 minutes to resolve the issue and started the uphills again.

The altitude profile showed that the uphill was till Chordi, so the target was to reach Chordi. I was enjoying the uphill now because I was able to pedal even though the gradient was very steep. I made slow but steady progress. Made a couple of stops for Coconut water, juice and refreshments. From Chordi to Anandpura is a forest area and the dry landscape of day 1 was replaced with the green agricultural lands in the morning at Bhadravati and now the forest area in the afternoon.

Reached Anandpura at 2:00 pm and stopped here for lunch. Lunch was curd rice and juice. The butt sore was getting worse and I had not reached Sagar by 2:00 pm. So knew that I will not be able to make it to Gokarna or even to Honnavar by the end of the day. Honnavar is 90 kilometers from Sagar which would take atleast 5 hours of cycling. Since I had decided against riding in the dark, decided that I would stop at Sagar for the night. Additionally I was not confident of the places to stay in case I continued and would have to stop before reaching Honnavar.

Post lunch started from Anandpura to Sagar which was only 25 kilometers away but had two significant uphills to negotiate. It had long downhills as well which did not allow the tiredness to creep into the legs. I took a brief stop for water at Ullur before proceeding to Sagar. Passed through another forest reserve where I stopped to rest for a while. The butt sore was getting worse and I thought that I would have to spend a rest day in Sagar to recover from the sore. I reached Sagar at 4:00 pm and checked into a hotel.

Same procedure, requested the hotel that I wanted to keep the cycle inside the room. They were not too keen but allowed after looking at the cycle. Freshened up and used Volini on the aching legs, mainly for the butt sore. Replenished the body with juice and then went for walk around the hotel.

There were other tourists checking into the hotel at the same time when I was and were enquiring about jog falls. The receptionist informed them that there is no water as it was summer and the falls is dry. If the falls did have water, I guess that I would have stopped over at Sagar the next day and then resume the ride after a rest day and I would have visited jog falls. However, since the falls was dry, the plan for the next day was to reach Gokarna and then to proceed to Candolim on day 4. So the 3 day plan had now changed to a 4 day plan. Also, instead of going to Honnavar, there was an alternate route through Siddapur which would reach Kumta without going to Honnavar. So I decided to try this route.

Day 3:

Start Time: 5:45 am

End Time: 6:45 pm

From: Sagar

To: Ankola

Distance: 178 kilometers

Altitude Profile:

The night went well. I was able to catch up on sleep. And the best news was that volini had worked and the butt sore was gone, well almost. I started at 5:45 am. It was still dark and faced a few issues with dogs running out of the dark and chasing the cycle. This continued at a couple of places till I exited the outskirts of Sagar. Was excited that there was going to be a downward ghat wherein the altitude would drop from 600 meters to 100 meters over the course of just 5 kilometers. The road was very good and was level with no slopes till I reached the turn off to Siddapura. After this turn, the uphills were very steep but every uphill was followed by long downhills which offset the impact of the uphill. Stopped for breakfast at Vandane where I had the first local cuisine dish, Misalbaaji.

The Hotel owner was pretty inquisitive about the journey and enquired about the cycle, when I had left and was keen to see how I track my location on Google maps. Actually at all the locations where I had stopped for Breakfast, and refreshments, I would get the questions about the journey, but no one got into the details of the cycle, Google maps and Altitude profile. However, after a nice breakfast and chat resumed the journey. I was looking forward to the ghat which was just 30 minutes away.

However, on reaching the ghat, was disappointed as the road was being repaired in certain sections but the worst part came at the end. For about 5 kilometers the road is in very bad condition. For the first time in the ride I felt the weight of the backpack due to the road condition.

Things improved when the road improved, except that the uphills continued to be very steep, but I was enjoying the uphills now. Was able to negotiate the slopes well, it was like I had got the hang of riding the slopes. Was nearing Kumta and the energy levels were beginning to drop because the stomach was empty and was craving for some refreshments. Was close to Kumta and decided to stop at Kumta for lunch. Reached the main road after negotiating another major slope and hit the Karwar-Goa highway. A little distance out on the road came across a Kamat hotel and stopped for lunch, which was the usual Curd Rice and Juice.

I resumed the journey after lunch at 2:00 pm. The sun was belting down and there was no tree cover here. Was feeling the heat and was finding it difficult to ride. The uphill’s are unrelenting as they are very steep and the heat is not making things easy. Came across the first sight of the sea, or was it back water or a river, frankly at that time I did not care as it was too hot and I was very tired (Agnashini River). Continued to pedal and reached a point where I realised that Gokarna was not on the route to Goa, but there was deviation and I had to go in 10 kilometers to reach Gokarna. Took a break at the deviation and was sipping on Coconut Water when I noticed the traffic towards Gokarna, it was a Saturday and people were making a beeline to Gokarna. Looking at the crowd I thought that getting rooms at Gokarna would be a problem. I asked my sister to check online for rooms and to book a room for me at Gokarna. Waited for almost an hour and finally got a room through Travelguru. Headed towards Gokarna, and was shocked when I reached the hotel and the hotel staff informed that they had not received any confirmation of the booking. After trying to liaise between the hotel and travelguru, I realised that I was not going to get the room in time. I was told that the hotel has an issue with Travelguru with respect to payments and therefore will not be able to give the room until travelguru pays, and since it was a Saturday evening the earliest that they can pay is only on Monday. Decided not to stay at Gokarna and instead proceed to Ankola, the next town, which would help in reducing the distance for the next day as well. The anger at travelguru was channeled to the pedaling; also the temperature had eased since it was already 5:30 pm by the time this circus got over, so made it to Ankola with lot of energy left in the tank. Thought of going to Karwar but decided against since it was dark. Reached Ankola at 6:45 pm and checked into a hotel there. Only hitch was that they were not ready to allow the cycle into the room, they assured that the cycle was safe outside and nothing would happen. Took the chance and decided to stay.

The hotel in Ankola was good however the food was very disappointing. Had ordered quite a bit, but was not able to eat any of it since the way the dishes were prepared was bad. The best dish of the day was the ice cream that I had for dessert.

Got back to the room and decided on the plan for the next day. Initially I had thought that I would take the next day being Sunday off, rest the aching muscles. Then, the thought was that I still had to do 160 kilometers to reach Candolim, so instead of doing the entire journey on Monday I could break it into 2, wherein I travel to Palolem which is about 80 kilometers away on the next day and do the rest on the day after. I finally decided that I would do the 80 kilometers to Palolem and then depending on physical condition would decide on proceeding further.

Day 4:

Start Time: 6:00 am

End Time: 5:00 pm

From: Ankola

To: Candolim

Distance: 170 kilometers

Altitude Profile:

Day 4 started perfectly. Relatively easy road except that there were a few small hills which had to be cleared, although not too difficult. Was clicking a photo of the sunrise when I met this person who was passing by me in the opposite direction. He enquired about my journey and then said that he has come walking from Margoa and is returning home. He had just commenced his story about being called to Margoa for a job and had been duped and now does not have money and therefore he is walking, I got back on the saddle and said my good bye. Passed by the Indian Naval base before reaching Karwar and stopped at the Rabindranath Tagore beach to take in the view of the Arabian Sea.

Since the food experience had not been very good except for the misalbaaji, decided to stop at the Palm Grove, not that I’m a fan of star hotels, however, the food here was excellent. Masala Omlette, bread and fruit platter, complete and nourishing breakfast.

Relaxed breakfast, took an hour for it and then left at 9:00 am. Headed out towards Majali, the border town of Karnataka state, before I crossed over to Goa. The road was straight till Majali and was very nice ride. Saw the local market where the fishermen/women were selling their catch. On crossing Majali was at the Karnataka border.

Crossed the border and headed towards Canacona. The first Goan town marked on the kilometer stones. It was about 30 kilometers off. The ride from the border to Canacona was very nice. Passed through the towns, gradient was not steep at all; it was more like rolling hills and was able to cover the distance very quickly. I was at Canacona at 10:30 am. Crossed Canacona and saw the deviation to Palolem, it was still 10:30 am and I was not feeling tired at all. So decided to complete the journey rather than stop at Palolem. Continued on and was approaching the Agonda ghat, which I managed to cover pretty well. Was using the 1 X 3 gears for all the uphills today and it worked well here as well. The downhills are always enjoyable, but the real joy is when we reach the peak of a climb. As the journey wore on, I was enjoying the uphills more than the downhills and was looking forward to the next uphill in the altitude profile. After crossing the Agonda ghat, the road became pretty flat till Margoa. I stopped at Margoa for lunch. Margoa is a lovely town which has retained the old world charm. I stopped at a French cafe for lunch. Lunch comprised of 3 glasses of lime juice and a plate of French fries.

Had a relaxed break at the Cafe and restarted at 2:00 pm. Was left with just 40 kilometers to cover, Margoa to Panaji being about 30 kilometers and Candolim a further 10 kilometers. On all the days the afternoon sessions have been the ones in which I have struggled due to the energy sapping heat, today was no different. The gradient of the road was also steep and the wind had also picked up. Had a headwind to contend with and when I was almost at Panaji, there a huge uphill which was followed by an equally steep downhill. I reached Panaji at 4:00 pm.

I enquired for directions to Candolim which was only 11 kilometers away. Was told to cross the bridge and proceed to the left. By this time it was very windy and crossing the bridge was a difficult task with the wind literally pushing the cycle to the side. On crossing the bridge I missed the left that I had to take and went on ahead, this resulted in me having to go round about to Candolim. The beaches are lined up as Candolim, Calangute and Baga. Since I missed the turn, I had to do Baga, Calangute and then reach Candolim. It was the last part of the journey and the fact that I missed the turn added to the frustration, with the wind also making me pedal on the downhills, I was literally gritting my teeth and pedaling.

Reached Candolim at 5:00 pm and checked into the first hotel that I enquired at. I was allowed to take the cycle inside so was perfect. Quickly freshened up and then headed to the Candolim beach to catch the Sunset. It was a beautiful sunset, especially after having completed the journey.

Headed back to the room and reflected back on the journey. Trip details:

Date	From	To	Distance (kms)	Total Time (hrs)	Ride Time (hrs)	Avg Speed (Km/hr)
5 March 2015	Koramangala	Kadur	238	14.25	11.00	21.6
6 March 2015	Kadur	Sagar	156	11.00	8.25	18.9
7 March 2015	Sagar	Ankola	178	13.00	9.50	18.7
8 March 2015	Ankola	Candolim	170	11.00	8.00	21.3
Total			742	49.25	36.75	20.2

Checked on the transport option and booked the bus to Bangalore to get back along with the cycle. I stayed on in Goa for 3 days till the return journey. The return journey did run into a few issues as the bus got cancelled at the last minute and had to take a taxi to cross the border and then reached Bangalore by train.

Goan Memories:

Old Goa Churches: