Day 15 - Ratlam to Mandu - Day off the bike before our next rest day

Today is day 15 of riding which puts us at half way through the riding schedule!

I took the day off so that I could have two consecutive days off the saddle, tomorrow is an official rest day in the town of Mandu. My saddle sores have become so uncomfortable, I just can’t bring myself to get on the bike. I’m hoping two days off the bike will make it better for riding in the next group of riding days.

“Mandu is an ancient fort city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It's surrounded by stone walls dotted with darwazas (gateways). It's also known for its Afghan architectural heritage. Landmark buildings include Hoshang Shah’s Tomb, a domed marble mausoleum, and the vast Jami Masjid mosque, with courtyards framed by colonnades. The imposing, centuries-old Jahaz Mahal palace stands between 2 lakes.”

I feel almost guilty for not riding today. This is one of our longest ride days, 85+ miles of flat highway riding today. At the lunch stop, the few people that came in while I was there said the traffic is horrible and the road noise has been very loud. I got some pics for riders on the road as we passed them. 

Jackie is being true to her legendary self and peddling away. I’m 100% confident that she will be an EFI rider (Every fxxking inch), as they call it in TDA tours. She’s got it dialed in from all her years of tour riding experience.

I realize I have not really been mentioning anything about the food. Well we have had Indian food almost every morning and night, except when we are on a rest day in a large city and you can actually order some western kind of food sometimes. I’ll post about the Indian food in another post when I have some pictures. I am not great at knowing what dish is what so I can’t name things. Lots of chickpeas, with curry, usually some kind of chicken curry or butter chicken (if it’s not a vegetarian place), Lentils, dahl, spiced rice, naan bread, masala chai tea, cooked vegetables, chutney’s. It’s all here every night at dinner.

The star of the meals for most of us is the lunch that’s served by TDA tour coordinators. Every day we ride they prepare a fresh lunch made with a green salad, a bean salad or a tuna salad or egg salad, a big fruit salad and usually some bread. Then there are lots of sauces, peanut butter and jelly, and bananas for riding. Everyday lots of bananas for riding.