We survived our first day of cycling!

Date: June 16, 2009
Time: 8:05 p.m. Indian Time
Location: Sitting in a hotel restaurant waiting for something mysterious to arrive, Hotel Amaravathi just past the Sanjo Hospital)

Accomplishments: We survive our first day of cycling about fifty miles from our drop off point just outside of Bangalore to Mandya, India!

I have trouble sleeping-- my first night of sleeping in this strange country. I still have days and nights mixed up, so I toss and turn. Every little while, I take a peak to see, "Is it daylight yet?" Nope, still dark. I feel Steve reach over and touch my wrist to push the light on my cheapo Meijer watch. "It is five o'clock. One more hour." We roll into one another attempting to turn the switch to life off. However, it seems to switch into the on mode all on its own. "How will cycling be?" I wonder. "Will people be nice and accept me as part of their country, riding past? Will the traffic care for this little white girl cycling slow on the left hand side?" (Yes, they drive on the left hand side."

Then finally, I see it-- a ray of light announcing the arrival of day. I thank the grater spirit for it. Once more chance to participate in this wheel of life, constantly moving, effecting all the lives of others, sending each and every soul in movement in unison like the gears of an old grandfather clock.

At 6:40 a.m. our bicycles are fully dressed with one pack on each side. We officially start our first bike ride in India! We cycling down MG road from our hotel to John's hotel to meet for breakfast! Traffic is light, but already a steady flow with rickshaws, taxis, and buses. My directions say to turn right at Miller Road, but there are no street signs. One road branches into three. I am overwhelmed by the mob of rickshaws. When I am overwhelmed, I act as Forest run and I go, go, go forward!
"I think that we passed it," Steve says.
"I am not sure," I say as I keep pedaling forward.
"How would I know where I am at when there are no road signs!"
After ten more minutes of run Forest run, we stop at an intersection. We agree that three kilometers would not take a half an hour. Definitely, we must have passed John's hotel long ago! A large building labeled "Turf Club" is in our Lonely Planet Guide book and helps us locate ourselves. We circle around and finally at 7:45, we arrive at John's hotel. The guards are ready for us and open the front gate. Two managers of the hotel welcome us and vale park our bicycles. Once again, it is strange to meet John half way around the world, but there we are together drinking mango juice together in his hotel restaurant. We sip on chai tea and mango juice that we will never forget because of the friendship that it represents.
At 8:15, Manju, the driver, arrives in his jeep. We take the tires off the front and the back of the bicycles to make them fit in the back. Traffic is heavy now. Rickshaws swerve between motorcycles. Cars, trucks, and buses HONK HONK HONK. It is an obnoxious conversation of the vehicles translating to, "I am coming! Get out of my way!"
The drive is a blurr of women in bright colored sarees complementing the bright range of green, pink, and blue buildings. I contrast the scenery against the dull beige malls and cookie cutter neighborhoods where everything looks the same in suburbia United States. I take a few photographs through the car window, like a spy. The road splits into Mysore road and the city road. Manju pulls over to the side and John helps us pop on the tires and packs. A few more photographs and at 10:00 we are on our own to conquer each mile and take India as our own experience. While it is not overwhelming, traffic is constant and moderate. Each truck, bus, cart, rickshaw that passes, I see the passengers take a double-take, stretch their head way out to take in an extra long stare at the strange white aliens.
"Hi!" I say.
They respond with a big grin and most often, "Hi, how are you!" A few motorcyclists even slow down to ride beside us. "Where are you from?" They ask.
"America!" I reply.
"Good luck!"

At 11:30, it is time for a break. Everywhere there are Veg Restaurants. We pull off into one, guzzle water and order a couple of chai teas. I casually glance at the pictures we have taken so far and casually take some more photographs of the men curious about our bicycles, touching my bike seat gently and touching the grips of the handlebars.

As we ride again, continue forward, we have an uninvited guest-- the sun! It reaches down from the sky with all its rays to paint us red.

At 3:30, we are over cooked toast. A head-ache has my head on fire. We pull into a nice road-side hotel/restaurant. In exchange for 1,000 rupees (twenty dollars), we have our place of rest with air-conditioning, a large super clean room, and of course, a bucket shower. The mystery of the day has been revealed. The mystery food has arrived-- fresh roti wheat round bread and Dal beans to dip it in. The winning four favorite moments of the day are....

1. Friendship, mango juice, and chai tea equals a great recipe with John this morning
2. If you are traveling with a slow moving cart going the wrong direction on a one way traffic road, how would you avoid getting killed? You could drive with cows pulling you, of course! Cows here are sacred. People are really careful to not hit the cows because if they hit one it could bring them bad karma!
3. The "Hi and Hellos" and kind waves really do motivate us and remind us of the good foundation in people.
4. Arriving at our hotel for the day, feeling the satisfaction of survival of day one!