This is the first ride for the Virtual Tour de Kaniyakumari 2026 event. I have registered to this event in the start of July, and with Cyclotrivians we had a plan of doing group rides for all four rides to be done in this event. Nigel and other members were planning for a Vizhinjam ride today, which is about 20km for the Neithal landscape. It is a sudden plan from Bharath on Saturday evening. And this is the first actual group ride with Bharath.
I started from campus by around 05:00 AM and the plan is to meet Bharath at Vetoor road junction in the city at over 07:00 AM. I took the Vembayam route, reached Venjyaramoodu junction and started to go towards Kazhakkootam junction. I reached Kazhakkootam junction by 7AM and called Bharath to know that I am there. He told about the other end of the Vetoor road junction towards beach side. So I went there and met him with his bike.
This is the first time I was riding on the coastal road in Thiruvananthapuram. The road was beautiful and flat, covered with sea shores on one side. First, we reached Perumathura, where he showed me the place where he usually sit and relax. The place is a stone road of short distance into the sea. It was amazing. I will go there some time again, to spend time on the single rock that he pointed to.
Then, we continued towards Varkala. On the way, we crossed the first fort constructed by british in southern India, Anjuthengu fort. I saw that and we proceeded towards Varkala. The road was amazing, one side it is sea shore with abandoned houses, and on the other side was the lake. This blog I am writing after a few days, so I couldn’t recollect the feel of the ride. We reached Varkala and took some photos for the virtual TDKK 2026.
We further continued towards Kapil. It is a few kilometers away from Varkala. The place there was awesome. I will go there once again on my own and enjoy it at my own time. Then, we came back to Varkala, had tea, and continuted to the same Vetoor road junction. From there, I split and continued towards the same Vembayam route to campus. While reaching the campus, the back tire had a flat. Luckily it was after reaching the campus. Then I had lunch in the mess and closed the ride.
I will go to the same route once again! Below are the pics and videos I took on this ride.
Below is the Strava log of this ride.
