15/01/2021, Day 2
As I said before I was not a cyclist, hence, I had little tiredness from last day’s ride.
Jibin had no issues because it was not the first time for him. Still, we managed to start the ride at 7 am. Jibin wanted to see the Cycling Mayor of Kozhikode. so we went to the beach, and the Cycling Mayor was there waiting for us.
We talked for a while, discussed our journey, and we had some tea and snacks together. The cycling mayor said that he had seen my flag-off video on Facebook. He wished us all the best and we moved towards Kannur.
We were moving through the coastal road, and @AjithCyclist’s home was on the way. He had told us to meet him while leaving, so we called him. He was gone for taking photos and asked us to wait at a tea shop. After some time he came and we again had tea and snacks with him. At that moment one of @AjithCyclist’s friends came by there, and he introduced us to his friend. That man, Mr. Gafoor was a good runner, he had participated in many marathons. We had discussions about our ride and @AjithCyclist shared his experiences while he was traveling to Nepal, and Singapore on cycle.
Time was 10 and we were late, we had to go 130 km today. One of my friends was in Payyannur, Kannur, and I was going to his home. And I will be staying with him for one day. At the same time, Jibin was also going to his friend’s home in Kannur, to which he had agreed before we met.
We left @AjithCyclist and moved to Kannur. On the way, we had to carry our cycles over a temporary walkway where the road was blocked due to bridge construction.
We wanted to visit Thalassery and have some Biriyani**. On the way, we got a call from Amrita Tv. They wanted to take an interview about our cycle ride**. We agreed to meet them on the way. We were pedaling at an average speed of 15-20 km per hour, as the roads were not flat. At some point, we just stop and sit back for a while. We drank water which we were carrying in our bottles.
We passed Mahe, union territory on the way, and met some police officers on the checkpost.
One of Jibin’s friends was waiting for us at Thalassery and he offered us lunch for today. We reached Thalassery by 1.30 pm, near the famous Thalassery sea bridge(Thalassery pier), where Jibin’s friend had a two-wheeler workshop named “Bikers shield”, especially for Royal Enfield bikes. He took us to his shop. He was also a traveler, and he had visited Ladak and Kashmir.
Then we went to the old Paris hotel to have the famous “Thalassery chicken biriyani”.****
The food was very yummy and tasty, we thanked him for the lunch. We got a call from the television people again, and they said they are waiting on the way for us. So we had to be fast.
We met the people from Amrita Tv on the way, we moved a little away from the highways onto a pocket road and they took some shots of our cycling and asked us to share the details of our ride with the camera. That was my first time facing a camera**.**
After finishing the interview they wished us luck, and we were back on the road.
On the way, we visited the Muzhuppilangad beach, which is believed to be the longest drive-in beach in Asia. We cycled on the beach and spent some time there.
As I told above, Jibin and I were going to different places today, Jibin to his friend’s home, and Me to my friend’s home. Jibin’s friend’s home was only a few kilometers away from the beach. So he had no worries. But my friend was in Payyannur, which was about 51 km. The time was about 5 pm, and I had to be fast.
We moved from there, in some time, Jibin had to take a diversion. Both of us were not riding the next day. We agreed to catch up on the day after tomorrow and ride together.
We understood that we had the same mindset and view. Our perspectives and thought processes were the same. In a single day, we knew that both of us can be good companions to each other. And we decided to ride together for the whole journey.
After Jibin left me, I was in a hurry. Time was about 5.45 pm, it was getting dark. I still have to go 40 km to reach my friend’s home. I took a short break and had a juice, then I fixed the light for the cycle, a headlight, and a blinker for the backside. Then I went straight, carefully because heavy vehicles were passing me at high speed and I had a low vision of the road. And I was tired as I have covered more than 100 km today.
I reached Payyannur, at my friend’s location at 8.30 pm. His name is Rakesh, we were high school classmates. His family moved into Kannur a few years ago. He came to the highway to get me. Then we went to his home. There his parents were waiting for us. I got freshen up. And we had dinner together. At that time our interview was telecasting. Many of my friends texted me watching the interview, and asking about the journey.
I was tired of cycling for 130 km so I went to bed quickly**. I will be staying with this family for one more day, and visiting some places with Rakesh tomorrow.**
(…to be continued…)
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