I came close to calling it quits today. It was a rough ride from the get go. It started with the initially exotic elephants that belong to the Guruvayoor temple and work in various capacities in the neighboring areas. In the mornings, however, they spend most of their time pooping all up and down the road. If you've never seen elephant poop, let me just say, it's proportionately sized. I almost took a picture of it to show you but I was too concerned about manuevering around it.
There were also a few long parade of wedding cars clogging the morning road. By virtue of the number of wedding halls and brides I witnessed, I could pretty much gather that Guruvayoor was an auspicious place for Hindus to tie the knot.
By 8 a.m. it was 90 degrees, 80% humidity and I felt like I was no further along. I finally arrived at a critical and very busy unmarked junction in Edappal and, despite my better judgement, I followed the directions given to me by 3 different men. I could tell there had to be a side road from Edappal that would keep me off the highway through Tirur and Tanur and eventually reconnecting just outside of Kozhikode. But all men unanimously told me I could access that road by going straight, then right, then left. For the total of 95 kays, the straight, right then left turned into an all day up and down of jack-hammered road surface in the exposed now 95 degree sun. Up until this point, the riding has been largely flat with excellent to fair conditions (with minor exceptions). But just as the hills started to kick in, the road surface got so poor that on several occassions I had to get off Ganesh and walk.
At about kilometer 55, the road smoothed out again and I finally gave into the grind; enjoying the opportunity to shift up and down in my saddle and stretch my back on the declines. Actually, shifting around in my saddle became a little difficult because some duct tape holding it together shifted back exposing the sticky part to my sweaty shorts. It wasn't until I finally got off the bike could I figure out why my butt was nearly super-glued to the saddle.
I tried to distract myself with the scenery but there was zilch so I shifted my focus on world religion. It was really amazing to have gone from the Catholic streets of Cochin to the Hindu town of Guruvayoor and now be passing through a region that is, as best I can tell, entirely Muslim. I know I live in the world's greatest 'melting pot' but India is a close second. More obvious than at home are the outward signs of religion I can detect just from the street: the churches, mosques and temples, the traditional dress, even right down to what food they're slicing up on the side of the street.
Fortunate for me, the Muslims like their fresh fruit juices, served at the frequent 'Fruit and Cool Bars'. So, after 5 hours in the saddle I pulled Ganesh over and refueled on a juicy watermelon, one of my favorite South Asian delights.
It took another 1.5 hours over several bridges and into a stiff head wind to reach Kozhikode, which all the locals still call Calicut. As you enter the outskirts of Calicut the side of the road is really built up with one stall after another in what appears to be a very depressed neighborhood. I rode straight between the afternoon buses to the beach for my directional bearings. I knew Calicut was once a very active and prosperous port town but was surprised to find so much commercial activity still occurring. A line-up of endless trucks and grubby looking men, loading and unloading from the port. This wasn't a place where I could really soak up the typical beach atmosphere so I started asking around about a hotel.
After 7.5 hours on the saddle, I finally found a really pleasant 3-star hotel in central downtown. I nearly scared the reception staff into speechlessness when I walked in the door. These three sareed women had eyes as big as saucers when my entirely soot-covered body asked for a room. Admittedly I got a bit scared too when I had the opportunity to see myself in a mirror. I immediately poured my battered body into a long cold shower followed by a hot curried meal.
Ride Strong!
Ride Summary: 120 km; road surface ranged from 20% good, fair to unrideable off-road; weather was 95 degrees, 82% humidity; terrain was hilly all-day.
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