Cycling India

It’s been great scenery lately on this part of the trip. Today we cycled through a section of the Western Ghats, a mountain range estimated to be 150-200 million years old. The mountains influence the climate and ecosystem of the surrounding area. As we pass through the on our way to Mumbai, we can expect the plant and animal life to shift, along with the weather. It’s going to get more humid and maybe even hotter, yikes! I ended up riding a full day ride today. We had 3 significant climbs with downhill sections, some good, some not so good, lol 😝  Today’s ride was 54.56 miles with 3100 feet of climbing (for some reason Strava only recorded it as 2603 feet of climbing, but that’s not correct). See my ride route on Strava                                      Red onions being harvested

Celebrating Shri Sai Baba, a Hindu. The temple of Shri Sai Baba was in the town of Shirdi, where we just stayed the night. Sai Baba of Shirdi ( c. 1838–15 October 1918 ), [2]  also known as  Shirdi Sai Baba , was an Indian spiritual master considered to be a  saint , [3]  and revered by both  Hindu  and  Muslim  devotees during and after his lifetime. Short ride today. Nice to have this short ride day as we have 3 big days coming up to get to our next rest day in Mumbai. My ride today was 27.54 miles with 649 feet of climbing. See my ride route on Strava Where’s Waldo? Can you find the two cyclists in this photo below? This is what it looks like when we ride into and out of cities several times a day sometimes.

Back in the saddle again! Riding “half day” first part of the ride is about 60-70% of the total ride. This will keep me from aggravating saddle sores. We had about 5 miles of really rough roads today. Big gravel piles with rocks and dirt with potholes everywhere. Check out my friend Rich’s video of our ride today. “Gravel hell” Today I rode 42.26 miles with 416 feet of climbing. See my ride route on Strava Drone footage of Margot and Dawn riding to Shirdi today!

Rest day to visit the Ellora Caves  a UNESCO World Heritage Site. These 34 monasteries and temples, extending over more than 2 km, were dug side by side in the wall of a high basalt cliff, not far from Aurangabad, in Maharashtra. Ellora, with its uninterrupted sequence of monuments dating from A.D. 600 to 1000, brings the civilization of ancient India to live. Not only is the Ellora complex a unique artistic creation and a technological exploit but, with its sanctuaries devoted to Buddhism , Hinduism and Jainism , it illustrates the spirit of tolerance that was characteristic of ancient India. The rock-cut activity was carried out in three phases from the 6th century to the 12th century. The earliest caves (caves 1-12), excavated between the 5th and 8th centuries, reflect the Mahayana philosophy of buddhism then prevalent in this region. The Brahmanical group of caves (caves 13-29), including the renowned Kailasa temple (cave 16), was excavated between the 7th ...

I chose not to ride again today. I’m not forcing myself to ride. I feel physically better and so far most people are doing better today. One other person did not ride today because they are still a bit under the weather. Now I’m wondering if what we had was a virus and not food poisoning? Tomorrow is another rest day to see the caves of Ellora . After Ellora we’ll be down to the final 10 rides of the trip. We’ve got a five day riding stretch coming up after Ellora which I’m sure will push people hard, then a two day rest period in Mumbai. After Mumbai three days riding, rest day, three days riding and we’re at our final destination of Goa. I’ve chosen to miss rides and I have not been too tired to do all of the cultural outings. Realizing I don’t plan to come back to India anytime in the future. Much of the riding is hot and dusty with rough roads or intermittent rough roads. Not in and of itself a bad thing. It’s been challenging riding for me and I did expect that. My bike has perfor...

Rest day is here, some people on the tour still are not feeling great. We have one day riding and then another rest day to see a second set of caves at Ellora. We had an excellent guide today Abdul Nasir Almohammadi , one of the most knowledgeable guides on the Ajanta Caves. The  Ajanta Caves  are 30  rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments  dating from the second century  BCE  to about 480 CE in  Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district  of  Maharashtra  state in  India . [1] [2] [3] Ajanta Caves are a   UNESCO   World Heritage Site . [2]  Universally regarded as masterpieces of  Buddhist religious art , the caves include paintings and rock-cut sculptures described as among the finest surviving examples of  ancient Indian art , particularly expressive paintings that present emotions through gesture, pose and form. [4] [5] [6] The Ajanta Caves constitute ancient monasteries ( Viharas ) and worship-halls ( Chaityas...

I’m definitely feeling better but chose not to ride today. It was a mixed bag for riders today. Some made it out to ride full day, half day or not at all. I think there is only one rider left (out of 20) in the EFI category. Tomorrow is a rest day to see the caves of Ajanta.   Ajanta Caves The first Buddhist cave monuments at Ajanta date from the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C. During the Gupta period (5th and 6th centuries A.D.), many more richly decorated caves were added to the original group. The paintings and sculptures of Ajanta, considered masterpieces of Buddhist religious art, have had a considerable artistic influence.