The epic bike ride...

The day had been looming ominously for some time, but by the time the morning of the 105km came around we were all very determined and raring to go. By 8'oclock were were all kitted out with bikes and helmets, suncreamed up and arranging ourselves for a group shot. By 8.05 we were all soaked through to the skin, the heavens had quite literally opened up. In fact, it may be more accurate to say we swam 105km, as the torrential rain continued for most of the day. By the time that we had finished you would have been lucky to find a square inch of exposed skin that was not splattered in mud and sand. The banners that we had attached to the support vechicle had lasted all of 10min's they now resembled abstract watercolours. The first 20km's through Fort Kochi is a route that is terrifying enough in a tuk-tuk let alone on a bicycle. The safest position in the convoy was right behind the 'scorpio' (support vechicle) as it ploughed through the local traffic anarchy.


Once this ordeal was over we stopped for sustenance (peanut brittle) and were warned that for the next leg we would need to take extra caution. EXTRA CAUTION!!!! we were entering the Indian Highway....on bikes! This scenario lacked something essential for Indian traffic flow, a horn! On the highway the rain was so strong that it was difficult to look forwards-not ideal. After passing South India's largest toilet store, a rotting dead cat and a suspected newspaper photographer with a cheapdigital camera and a cheeky smile. We stopped for lunch at the beach, this by the way was not before we had lost the scorpio containing all of our posesstions and water to the police-due to the silly man being on his mobile phone while driving. Lunch brought us a brief interluden of no rain and devoured a plate of biriyani, chicken for the meat eaters and vegetarian for the vege's although much to Alice's dissmay finding chicken in her veg was not pleasing at this point in time, and to top it off finding bits of pineapple which could have caused her to go into anaphalactic shock due to being allergic. If the ride doesn't kill someone lunch will.
Lunch over and now two people down we continued on our way, bums somewhat INCREDIBLY sore after the proceding 5km of horrific potholes. The enthusiasm that i had started with was dwindling over the next 10km as it seemed to get harder and harder. I had been at the front of the pack for most of the way, but now i found myself panting with a BPM that was through the roof and thigh burn like i had never experienced, now i was beginning to lag behind. I had hit my wall and completely exhausted. Then to my absolute horror when we next stopped the noticed that the back tyre was completely flat. I didn't know to either cry or laugh, so i did both.
At this particular rest point, as the tyre was being changed, there were a group of cheasy Indian teenagers who were oogling over Charlotte's (Bridget's) see through shorts and purple thong combo.
Ridhi being Ridhi told the boys (in a very polite terms im sure) to STOP, at which an argument ensued. Luckily the local priest rocked up in his car and the boys got serious judgement and scapered.
We continued pothole , pothole, pothole , gravel , pothole, 20 m of tarmac that got us all really excited, pothole, pothole- for MILES. The rain that had initially seemed refreshing was now slowly turning us mad, comparable to chinese water torture. To make things even more comfortable, none of us had been given the correct gender seats. Liv was on her third change of bike, spirits were somewhat low.
But, we met some wonderful people on route. For example the wan### that Ross managed to dodge but succeeded in standing in front of Liv and smacking her in the helmet, the old lady who chased Bridget asking for money (Bridgets words to describe this were "I had nothing ! I was sodden, see through, and miserable, did it look like I had anything else to give ?" , and the countless strangers who asked how we were. How did we look? ! However, the woman who let us use her toilet was a genuine delight- Liv particularly was very grateful... and might I add that Liv is also eternally grateful to Alice for keeping her motivated at the end when she had "severe stomach trouble".
By around 80kms, and much to our relief the guide told us that we were not cycling 120km as he had originally stated, but 105. This figure was to change continuously from then on (to Priyas extreme annoyance)- we were never quite given a clear answer as to how far was left. We were on our last leap. At each break, conversation was less and less. Ridhi (by this point riding shotgun with a camera in the scorpio) took great delight in documenting this from her comfortable seat.
We finished the ride (miraculously and possibly thanks to Ross' now sopping lucky rabbit) in a fitting fashion- with a final 2 kms of potholes. By this point , my legs were too tired to stand up on the pedals so the arse pain had to be endured. But we were done! 105km later were bruised, battered and drenched with sand in every orifice, byt also with the biggest sense of pride and achievement, and some of the funniest memories yet. the days after of not being able to sit down or walk up stairs were worth every penny we raised for the kids.

Ans so I leave you with my lasting impression of bike ride: pothole, pothole, pothole.

Mariel

The epic bike ride...