September 5, 2023
Day - 4 (Shankaraghatta to Sagar)
I woke up early at 5 AM but didn't have the courage to ride my bike through the Bhadra Tiger Reserve while still dark. I waited until 8 AM or so before the vehicular traffic made the roads safer from animals.
The ride was uneventful until I hit the outskirts of Shivamogga. I stopped to ask for directions and was again treated with a cup of coffee.
After riding for another couple of hours, I started looking for a simple restaurant to get some food. I stopped at a dilapidated house in the middle of nowhere. I saw some pineapples, jackfruits hung outside for sale. So, I enquired to see if I could get a meal but the owner directed me to the nearest town. I asked if she could sell me some jackfruits. Happily, she cut two and fed me some jackfruit flesh.
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When asked how much they cost, she had lost count. So we guessed I had eaten some 20-30 jackfruit flesh and paid happily. This being past jackfruit season, I was very lucky and happy to have found some ripe fruits.
I hit the road with a stomach full of jackfruits before rain forced me to take shelter. The shelter happened to be a workshop (in Kumsi village) to make Ganesha Idols for the upcoming Ganesha Festival. I had never seen so many Ganeshas and the 3-generation of artists were kind enough to let me see their work. All these were clay Ganeshas and they were of different sizes/forms.
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I was enjoying the occasional sightings of and calls of peacocks while still struggling with the last 8-10 miles when I saw a house whose front yard was flooded with different colored dahlias. I couldn't resist my body's urge for another break. By this point, both knees were bothering and I had gotten enough sores on my buttock, that I was unable to sit on the saddle. That was my own doing as I had neglected to wear padded shorts for the long rides of the first two days.
So, I turned around to visit the dahlia house. The octogenarian gardener happily entertained my interest and mentioned that he'd been collecting dahlias for some 50+ years. At some point, he offered me some water which I happily accepted. His well water tasted sweet like tender coconut water. Shamelessly I requested more and he happily filled my camelback bladder even though he had to walk in and out of his house 3 more times to fetch me 1.5 litres of water (his jug probably held some 500ml).
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After that "electrolyte" break, I happily rode to Sagara and stayed at a lodge. Over these three days of riding, I was relieved to find out that I was not a pioneer (the first one to "have lost it") in long-distance biking. Enough people have done in India. A few had stopped me where we exchanged contact info and the lodge I stayed at in Sagara had hosted some cyclists in the past.
Not being a pioneer/weirdo was helpful because it meant I wasn't stopping traffic..
Today's ride: 98 km (61 miles)
Total: 442 km (274 miles)
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