Hi everyone, Thanks for your support and feedback, happy to know that you are reading my story.
As the official flag-off was done yesterday, I just had to start the ride. It was 14th January 2021. I was all set to go. Everything was packed. It was the first time for me to leave my home for such a trip or for such a long time. My father was a little emotional to send me. Some of my friends were gathered to see me. After a small meetup, I started my journey.
Today I have to reach Kozhikode (Calicut), so I had to travel 80 km from home. As I was alone I started to think of myself while cycling. I remembered everything from the beginning, the very moment how I choose to do this ride. I always wanted to travel. But at some point, I wanted to travel on a bicycle.
As @plavarda commented in my last post, while you are traveling on a bicycle, you look at the world with different eyes. There is not only the fatigue of the journey and the reward of arriving at the end of the day, but it is to observe everything carefully in order to then tell it better to your friends or readers. And so you notice much more the colors, smells, flavors of food, the shape of the landscape, the plants that grow, the flowers, the transparency of the water, and many other things that simply pedaling you would not have noticed.
For this journey I have spent my whole savings, I have resigned from my job, I am going somewhere which I had no idea about, and for the first time in my life, I was having so much happiness.
On the first day, I was very curious to see what happens next. Many friends were texting wishing me all the best.
By evening I reached my first destination, at Calicut, and join with @AjithCyclist for that day.
I was planning to stay with @AjithCyclist for that night and continue my ride the next morning from there.
After some time a young man with his cycle and some luggage came to @AjithCyclist. He was Jibin George from Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), and he was also going for an All India ride on his cycle. We spent some time together with @AjithCyclist. Both of us were alone, going on the same journey, and we thought of moving forward together. And @AjithCyclist suggested that it would be helpful for both of us if we travel together. But we were not sure if we can adjust to each other’s likes, dislikes, and behavior, because we were totally two strangers meeting for the first time and we don’t know each other a little bit.
Anyway, we decided to go together for some days and what happens. ( And my dear readers, that stranger guy and I have traveled together for this whole ride, and we will be together riding the next phase in 2023 together).
On that night, one of my friends came to see me, and we had dinner together. Then he left, and I and Jibin checked into a dormitory for that night. Jibin had started his journey one week before mine. So he told his story to me. He was a very good cyclist, and he had already done All Kerala rides, and South Indian rides on his cycle.
We were planning for our next day and I felt it would be better for me to have someone with such experience.
(…to be continued…)
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