A Memorable cycling trip to attend Shiva Reddy's Wedding

The best way we could give a wedding gift to a Cyclist friend is to cycle all the way to greet him. To attend Shiva Reddy's wedding, this is exactly what we did. It all started off when Shiva shared his wedding date with us. Prasad, Shashi, Sunil and I decided to cycle all the way. It could be one of the rare long rides we all will be riding together as Shashi, our Army Superman will be heading out of Bangalore on call of duty. So, it was an emotional moment as well as we are not sure when next we will ride together. Go Green Rao supported this idea of cycling and was proud of us. Charan from Times of India liked this idea and got an article published on TOI 30-Mar-2018.

Prasad and Sunil were on their Cannondale MTB, Shashi on his favorite Montra Hybrid and me on Twin Single Speed MyBike. We were quite excited to start the ride on 30-Mar-2018.

Plan was to meet at Shashi's house by 3:45PM and start riding by 4:00PM, all night and then reach by next day 4:00PM. Shashi was kind enough to offer me lunch. We prepared ourselves for scorching sun, but the heavy cloud had other ideas for us. We immediately added a few plastic covers to cover our dresses for the wedding. The heavy wind and the rains afterwards tested from the start. By the time we reached Airport, rain subsided and a light cloud meant pleasant ride ahead.

The ride started with a joyous mood with Shashi's never ending jokes. He keeps the fellow cyclists always in joyful mood and we struggle to maintain our balance after hearing his every joke. With rain, the advantage is the roads become smooth with less resistance to tyres, and hence assist in easy riding. We reached a toll booth before Ananthapur, and took a short break.

Shivu was checking our status every couple of hours. He had genuine concern for us and our whereabouts. We kept him informed all along the way.

We reached Ananthapur in easy 11.5 hours. At 3:30AM, I really felt very hungry. Am the one in our group who all the time loves keeping stomach happy :-). We entered into Ananthpur city to find food near Bus Stand. Shashi had rear tyre flat, replaced the tube, fixed the puncture for later use and headed towards Gooty.

 With a quick nap at a bus stop, and then we got all the energy back, we were speeding for next 45kms, and realized we had spent way lot of energy and stopped at hotel Blue Moon for fresh up and breakfast. We started at 8:45am and the sun winked at us to see how we will fair in hot mid-day. We could feel the heat right at 9:30am, we started dreaming of all juicy fruits. After Gooty, we took a detour towards Yemmiganur, this road was small but quite crowded. Climbs, scorching sun and headwind made it hard to pedal.

We reached a place called Bilekal, its such a beautiful town with Rocky Mountains surrounding it.

While we suffered due to heat strokes at 39 degrees, but the hillocks kept our eyes busy.

With all the heat strokes, fruits juices, soda, lemon juice, ice creams, buttermilk, we reached
Yemmiganur and were ecstatic, as the destination was just 22kms away and a smooth highway was waiting for us and most importantly sun was set :-). But, a police team stopped at the junction. They were quite amused at our team riding with GoGreen Jersey and wanted to listen to us about cycling. Traffic ASI Mr Krishna Reddy is one of the favorite policemen in Yemmaginur. Though we had drunk water, they insisted us to drink more water from their bottles, but with a good intention to taste water from their city. And were gracious enough to order a special tea for our team. They were excited to know our endurance rides, fitness and took details of what type of cycles and where to buy.

Vasu had been tracking our progress all the way and was eagerly waiting to receive us at the hotel. A quick shower and we all headed to Mantralaya temple for a wonderful Darshana and then had precious prasada inside temple complex.

At night, the sleep was instantaneous and we woke up at 4:00am to get ready and catch the first bus to Adoni. We were delighted to see Shivu's poster at Kalyana Mantapa and we finally got a glimpse of the groom and the bride. A Happy Shivu was so excited to share our ride details with Meghana. We all wished our heartfelt wishes to Shivu and Meghana for a very Happy Married Life.

Meanwhile, a reporter at Pattikonda saw us and he requested for a quick interview with Prasad and took a photo and published in Andhra Jyothi newspaper 01-Apr-2018.

In all, it was ride that will stay forever in our hearts. We returned back to Mantralaya, packed our cycles into the KSRTC Airavat bus for Rs 250/- per cycle as luggage cost. And a smooth ride back home was assured with KSRTC :-).

We had planned to complete the ride in 24 hours, but a few flats and simmering heat slowed us down to 27.5 hours. Yet, the destiny and the wedding of our beloved friend kept us going. We will work on improving our fitness to better handle summer.

Complete album is here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/fEWSRmCuIR54bK842