Cycling 470 km in 1.5 days: Bangalore to Palakkad ride experience

The cycling trip was something I've been dreaming about since 2019.

BHPian narayanang76 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

This is a narration from February 2020, a few days before we were stuck with the COVID lockdown that changed our lives forever.

In the last 25-plus years I would have travelled the Bangalore - Palakkad roads umpteen times by car and by bus. I have seen the roads transforming from a single carriageway to a proper national highway to tolls getting introduced and whatnot. These travels are always associated with the feeling of ‘Going back Home’ feelings of excitement and holidays. Always a nice feeling except for the few ones I had to travel for personal emergencies.

Since I started to cycle from year 2010, I have tended to look at any road I travel to if that’s a suitable road to do cycling. And since the year 2019, the thought of cycling home from Bangalore struck me.

I could make this dream come true and I completed this cycling ride in February 2020. Luckily I found a senior colleague in my office who got hooked on my idea of this dream cycling ride immediately when I told him during a coffee chat. He had one more year to retire and it was his motivation to do it before he retired and my motivation was him, I was almost 15 years younger than him.

The ride summary stats:

• Total Riding: 1.5 days
• km covered: 470 approx
• Saddle time: 18.5 hours approx (for reference we take approx 8 hours by car to cover this route)
• Total calories burnt: 12000 Cal approx
• Number of riders: 2
• States covered: 3
• Supports: None. Self-support only
• Route: Bangalore-Hosur-Salem-Perundurai-Coimbatore-Palakkad-Shoranur (one way) regular national highway

In this thread, I will try to narrate our planning, practice rides, preparations and the ride experience.

To start with a pre and post-ride picture from this epic cycling ride:

Before starting from Bangalore Home:

This one single ride has given me a lifetime worthwhile experience - giving courage and confidence to follow my dreams and aspirations, to face life without fear, to take risks in life, to follow my heart and achieve uncommon things in life and to explore that crazy side of ourselves. I still experience people getting vowed to hear about this epic ride and people in my hometown, Bangalore friends and colleagues tag me as the ‘Guy cycling from Bangalore to Kerala’. I would love to do it again and again given a chance.

Continue reading BHPian narayanang76's cycling journey for more insights and information.