On a bicycle - Start from Doddanekundi, Bangalore

With light rain, it was a wet day to begin with. I had put on the raincoat and started my expedition to travel India on bicycle from Bangalore to Himalayas. I was excited not knowing what to expect and how was I going to achieve it.

On the road, I had some guys looking at the bicycle; i guess they were wondering about whats the stuff I was carrying on the rear rack. It was a weekday and  I felt like people on the road were rushing for their daily jobs expect me.

There it comes, the first problem with the bicycle rack. The freeload rear rack mounted was not holding up to the potholes in Bangalore highway service roads. The rack tightening strap had already started to slide down. Seemed like I didn't tighten it correctly. Unloaded all the luggage from rack, tightened the rack strap and then reloaded the stuff again.

By midday sun had brightened up and I was riding on one of the awesome roads towards Tumkur. Met a guy named Parikshit, who was travelling from Bangalore to Tumkur, as part of his job. We had a chat about my bike journey; but I never said to him that I was going till Himalayas. For time being, my destination was Tumkur.

Reached Tumkur by 2:00pm. First day of the ride completed; it was around 80 km and a shock to my body. I never rode this long on a bicycle my entire life.

While taking break under a tree and thinking about searching a lodge for the night stay, I got a call from Mr.Parikshit. He invited me to stay with him. I took the offer. He was also kind enough to take me around Tumkur town on his scooter and also sponser a cup of tea and dinner.