Cycling India

Today is day 4 of riding which finishes up our first week on the bikes. We are in Jaipur for two nights with one day off to “rest” or go out and tour the temples. The one constant on this trip is the air pollution. It’s always there, and that has been a bit hard to take. The smog is here every day, there are no clear skies with vistas that are free of smog. I hope we do eventually get out of the smog at some point. The roads are rough in places, we had long stretches of gravel today, big bumps, potholes steep inclines for a bit, but we made it through. We rode into Jaipur on the freeway, literally the freeway, like riding down the shoulder of I-5. The traffic was intense as we got closer to the city. If it had not been for one of the other tour riders staying by me, THANK YOU John, I would not have made it to our hotel. It gets so confusing when you are in this huge mass of tuk tuks, buses, trucks, cars, motorcycles surrounding you to even see where y...

Day 3 riding. Another long day for me. I’m definitely feeling tired. We stopped to take off our jackets this morning and were instantly surrounded by a crowd wanting pictures and selfies. Jackie was in the middle of it! We saw camels, goats, sheep along the way and of course cows and dogs are everywhere. Tonight at the hotel they gave us a cooking demonstration making naan bread and Dahl with yellow lentils, also a turban wrapping and a sari demonstration. Haha that was a lot of fun. Today we rode 68.6 miles with 1,112 feet of climbing. Find my ride route on Strava

Day 2 riding January 30. Today we rode for about 2 hours in heavy fog with limited visibility. Eventually the fog lifted and we were in bright sun all day. This could be challenging. Very little shade to ride through. Today was a long day of riding for me with 75 miles and 1500 feet of climbing. I’m definitely tired. We passed through many small villages producing huge numbers of cow patties. Friendly welcoming locals. Some wanting to flag you down to get a selfie. Today we rode 75.33 miles with 1,590 feet of climbing. See my ride route on Strava

Day 1 riding. First a Hindu blessing, then a ride through the traffic to the Taj Mahal from our hotel. The traffic is intense but it’s organized chaos. While to the casual observer it seems chaotic it turns out that it’s not as difficult to navigate as it would seem. I have to admit my stomach was in knots before we started. One of the other riders (Margot) picked up on this and offered to be my ridding buddy through the traffic and this really calmed my nerves once we got moving. You just have to ride with conviction and go through it. It almost seems safer than riding in the US. People are focused and aware of what’s around them. There is a flow to the traffic. We left from the Taj Mahal and rode through the traffic for about 10 miles to get out of town. Once on the “open” road the traffic was much lighter. We rode by produce sellers, mustard fields, piles of dung, pottery producers waving children along the roads. Motorcycles passing with curiosity and waves and hellos as they p...

Tuesday January 28, it’s finally our day to visit the Taj Mahal. I’ve been anxiously awaiting this. There were nine of us who decided to hire a tour guide to go see the Taj Mahal at sunrise. A big thanks to our friend Michael for setting it up with a company he had already been using the previous days before we arrived. Commemoration of the 370th death anniversary of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, who commissioned the Taj Mahal began on Sunday and went through today. Because of this the entry to the Taj Mahal was free today which contributed to a larger than usual crowd. The Urs is an annual event organized by local committee to commemorate the death of Shah Jahan, which also includes opening the passage to the basement where the emperor and his wife,  Mumtaz Mahal , are buried. Typically, this passage remains locked, with access granted only by the ASI.   Tomorrow we start riding. Definitely a bit nervous as we’ll be riding through Agra to the Taj Mahal for a group photo a...

We arrived in Agra the afternoon of Jan 27. A four hour bus ride from New Delhi. Nothing really eventful along the way. So far we have not gotten out of the air pollution. The skies are hazy all day. That afternoon we unboxed our bikes and with help from our tour leaders Sam, Doug and Ezil and our tour mechanic Baba, my bike is in tip top shape and ready to ride. Chai Tea Cold drink with what I think are chia seeds, which they call Basil Seed on the label. Getting bike out of the box. Thanks to Andrew at Hutchs for boxing my bike securely with notes on putting things back in place.

Today, January 26 is Republican Day which is a national holiday. This is a big event here in New Delhi with massive crowds of people and traffic everywhere. ” Republic Day  is a national holiday in  India commemorating the adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of India and the country's transition to a republic which came into effect on 26 January 1950” We hire a car for the day and attempt to venture out on the national holiday and find that many streets are diverted and blocked around the major areas of town where the parades and events are happening. There’s no opportunity to get anywhere near it. We still manage to hit a few landmarks. The Qutub Minar is our first stop. The  Qutb Minar , also spelled  Qutub Minar  and  Qutab Minar , is a minaret and victory tower comprising the  Qutb complex , which lies at the site of Delhi's oldest fortified city,  Lal Kot , founded by the  Tomar  Rajputs. [3]  It is...