Finale

So how do you sum up a two week adventure that you have been planning, thinking about, living and training for each day for 10 months? You really can't, but over the previous weeks we gave it a shot posting as much as we could to both reminisce as well as serve as a tool for those planning their next adventure.

I had never been interviewed before, and I thought it would be cool if we thought of questions for one another and then answered them on video. Little did I know I really don't like watching myself speak on video. What has been seen can not be unseen. 😐 In addition to our breakfast time video debuts, we also reflected on our experience by writing our own summaries below.

Videos and final thoughts aka becoming Shakespeare ... or at least the Reader's Digest version

by Matty "Sir Gadgets"
After 700+ kilometers, 7 days of cycling, 15 parathas, 48 pieces of chicken tikka and a bovine golden shower what more could you ask for when cycling through South East India. Having previously cycled from London to Paris back when I was a few pounds lighter and mounted on a road bike with clips, I had no idea what I had put myself in for when Steve and Shruti invited me on this cycling adventure. The first problem I had was to find a bike. Hong Kong has a few bike stores but only if you want to dice with death on the roads and play chicken with the HK taxis. I decided to buy in Chennai as Steve and Shruti needed to buy a truck load of accessories from the store after we arrived. It turned out to be a great bike and also the only bike without a flat!

The trip was memorable for a number of reasons. Firstly the road conditions were ace. I think they were better than my home town in Bristol, UK. We had the odd rough patch i.e salt flats - nothing which of course would have halted the Team USA juggernaut J. Second, the many sights and sounds of South East India were amazing. From 5am full volume speakers on the side of the road pumping out the South East India Top 40 to the ornate and colour temples lining our route from Puducherry to Kanyakumari. Lastly, the welcoming reactions from the local people we passed. As we weaved through small towns and villages, during the early hours of the morning, families would wonder out to the road or stream carrying their toothbrush, rubbing their eyes and look up to see a bright neon colored British guy with wires coming off the handle bars for the GPS followed by Team USA in red, white and blue followed by Shruti and her pens J - an unforgettable experience for both them and us.

Reflections ....... by Shruti

In the last two weeks we cycled around 700kms across the cities and towns of South East Tamilnadu. I haven't been able to fully comprehend this experience yet. Half of my heart is filled with gratitude, I feel so grateful to have cycled through the coastal towns with two of the funniest and down to earth humans. I am also grateful for my freedom, freedom to explore, freedom to be able to go places where I choose to. Throughout the trip I have realized that most of us don't have this freedom because of restrictions from family, society & self.

The other half of my heart is sad and anxious. It is so heartbreaking to see how we humans take the lives of animals for granted. We saw so many goats and donkeys whose legs were tied with ropes so that they wouldn't run away from their masters. They were limping around trying to find food. And as we rode by we saw a dog in an abandoned house most probably left to die, and the dog looked so weak and emaciated that we could see the bones popping out. I hope we stop being ignorant about the situations of the animals and help in making their lives a little better in any way possible. On Day 3 or 4 , the weather got extremely hot. The rivers in the town's we were passing by had gone dry , we couldn't see any trees for miles. Those were the toughest rides for me so far. I am worried for the people in these towns . I can't fathom what the summers are going to be like. We witnessed a long queue of about 50 women with buckets waiting for the borewell water. And it's just January! 2 more months to Summer. Those of us who have the luxury of reading this post, we need to realize we have been blessed and are the lucky grains of this universe. Half of the world doesn't have the privileges that we do. I think it's so important to spend our time talking about ideas on how we could help each other and our communities and also act on them.

by Steve "the mechanic, pack mule & one armed videoer"

After years and years of riding bikes, having mini nighttime adventures riding all over Staten Island for hours in the late 1990s while I was in college, after spending whole days riding around Brooklyn in the early 90s and as a kid with my dad riding around Cesar's bay Brooklyn in the late 80s, I planned and executed a multi day bicycle adventure over seas. Just amazing.

As the trip has completed over 6 weeks ago, there has been ample time to reflect and not get swept away in the emotions of the journey, the climax of completing the adventure or the sadness of it being over and exaggerate, good or bad, how the experience was. With a very clear mind, the one word that sums it up for me is Unforgettable. Although, so many other adjectives apply: Exhilarating, amazing, challenging, fantastic ... I know that each second of every day, every moment I have soaked up in to my memory banks to cycle through at my leisure will never be forgotten. 

So what made it so unforgettable? Everything. India has a special place in my heart and honestly feels like a second home after the US.The Indian culture, people, food, climate gave us an exotic and memorable backdrop. The roads, the planning and my cycling buddies made the actual doing of the adventure a pleasure. The overall freedom of cycling, progressing and being able to enjoy the time made it exceptional. I am really grateful that I was able to do my first multi day cycle in India of all places, and give back to the country in the way of the Bhumi charity donation. As I mentioned in my previous posts, you can always do more, give more and this was no exception. 

I am trying to think of what surprised me. I really didn't know what we were going to encounter on the trip, however given i had been to India 5x previously and had researched and read other bicycle travelers journeys through India, so i had a sense of what it would be like. The one thing that stood out to me was the friendliness of the people. Wanting to practice their English on you or take multitudes of selfies, give high fives and just wave high to get attention. That feeling of acceptance and care was prevalent and overarching in all of the people and all of our encounters. Whether it was the school master asking us if we wanted cold drinks after meeting us for 2mins[ we must have looked like hot messes :) ], or the man delivering bakes breakfast goods stopping on the highway to give us free little muffins or the young girls in the orphan home wanting to connect with us on WhatsApp, there was a real sense of care for their fellow humans. I always knew Indians were fantastic people, but they surprised me even more.

Finally, my two partners on this journey, I couldn't have done it with out them and I wouldn't have wanted to do it with out them. No two finer people in my book. They are both great people and great friends.

Thank you India for being amazing, thank you Matt & Shruti for being you and thanks to the wife and kids for putting up with a bicycle crazy dad :)

So what's next? Scorch #2 planning, lots of training, reminiscing about the trip and lots of bike riding.

Next post Scorch 2 possibilities :)