This is the so-far longest ride I ever did. An Inter-state ride, starting from my campus at Valiamala, going upto Kuzhithurai in Tamil Nadu border and return.
This is a solo ride I did. The NDD riders, Sreeganesh and Amar told that they have different plans that didn’t suit my timing and location. So, I planned this route yesterday and accomplished it.
I started from the campus by around 05:50 AM, went through Karipoor road to Nedumangad and took the Pazhakutty road to reach a place called Panavila. That place connected me through a good road to the high way at Kazhakottam. There the road condition was good and took me through the Kovalam, I didn’t see the Kovalam beach as that was not in my plan today.
I almost covered 50 kilometers by the time and decided to take breakfast somewhere. Before starting the ride, I took one energy gel to see its effect and it gave great energy boost in the beginning, I also had an energy bar. I was carrying one extra energy gel, one energy bar and a nuts bar, also a big packet of peanut cake so that if I didn’t want to have breakfast at a shop then I can have this.
The highway was empty and filled with good views of city. I saw Lulu mall and Mall of Travancore on the way, these places I visited only through bus. It created an happy moment to think that I can come here with only my effort at any time.
I found a hotel at about 60 kilometers on my ride, had a couple of dosas, a couple of boiled eggs and a coffee. I find dosas and eggs to be good during the ride, not feeling heavy also giving me energy. After the coffee, a new boost of energy kicked in and it pushed me to go further on the highway.
My original plan is to reach kaliakavilai and climb back on the usual bus way towards Thampanoor, but I lost track of my position and went further into the Tamil Nadu state. The road after detour to Kaliakavilai was under construction and I think it directly connects to Kaniyakumari. If so, it will be another superb road to directly go to Kaniyakumari and come back, as it does not have much elevations and my average speed in one of the segments was around 32 kmph.
The distance to be covered as per my plan was around 135 kilometers, but this lost-in-track penetration into Tamil Nadu has added a few more kilometers to my ride. The highway road there was beeing constructed by carving the hills on the way, I saw huge climbs and decents on the sideways that lead us into the nearby towns. It was a great experience to climb and descent on those side roads which I did to reach into Kuzhithurai town.
Before going into Tamil Nadu, I saw the highway sign board stating “welcome to Tamil Nadu” which gave me further boost in my happiness as I am going into one state from another on my own efforts. I took a pic of it and proceeded further.
I reached Kuzhithurai and saw another sign board showing directions to Marthandam and Thiruvananthapuram, which added further hike in my happiness. I took a pic of it and proceeded towards Thiruvananthapuram. On the way, I had tender coconut and that gave another boost in energy and refreshment.
I proceeded further to reach Kaliakavilai, the place I saw when travelling through bus from my hometown. It added another hike to my happiness and I went further on the ride to see another sign board “Welcome to Kerala” which I use to see on my bus ride. I took pic of it and stepped back into the land of beauty.
I refilled my waterbottles at a fuel station, filled one of the bottles with hydration powder from sachets that I have been carrying along. I felt that this road to Thiruvananthapuram city will be tough with climbs, plus the sun started to heat up. But, to my surprise, I didn’t feel the climbs at all only the sun heat was there, but that too didn’t feel when I am moving with good speed.
I decided to take a rest stop at Balaramapuram and I did, where one old man came and talked some rubbish, made me to leave the bus stop. Then, I proceeded further by enjoying the scenes which I was seeing only through the bus journey. I didn’t see the house which will be in the middle of a farm land, which is one of my best houses to see, and also a small bed dam. I think they are in the Tamil Nadu itself, will explore when I try the Kaniyakumari ride.
I reached the railway station flyover, took the detour to Vazhuthacaud road which I travelled yesterday and proceeded further to Karamana. There I took the detour climb road, took a rest-stop and reached Nedumangad. I decided to go to back gate of my instituion. So, I took the Chullimanoor route from Nedumangad and reached the campus in a good way.
On the way from Nedumangad to Chullimanoor, I took another rest-stop due to heat, where I manually paused my ride on Strava app which I forgot to resume when I started to move to Campus. This I realized only after reaching campus and the recording was made only upto 149 kilometers, which should be above 155 if the ride was recorded properly.
Anyways, this ride is the longest and best solo ride I had until now. After reaching campus, I thought that I would be out of energy, but I didn’t. Instead I felt like to take some rest to relax my body and I can continue the ride. I think my body is ready to do the BRM 200 which is suppose to happen on August. I will see to do Kaniyakumari ride before the BRM, which is itself 200 kilometers on the whole.
Below are the pics and videos taken during the ride
Below is the Strava log of this ride.
