Day 5 - Baleshwar to Bhadrak, 85 Kms

I guess the initial excitement is wearing off.. The ride was a little more boring today and we have a feeling that it is not really going to get more exciting than this. We are slowly learning to understand our cycles better and also learning to pace ourselves while cycling.. we are also getting attached to our own cycles, refusing to ride any other. hehehe… Just a mechanical apparatus, but for us, it is like an extension of our bodies for the next one month… Our physical bodies are also getting stronger and we are able to ride without too much discomfort.. Our seats (translated to: backsides) are still a problem but we hope that all those aches will also get sorted out in a day or 2…

Krishna's getting better on the cycle and is at least not having 'landing problems', as we call it :) when we started 5 days ago, she could not stop the cycle without falling down, and sometimes taking one or two girls down with her… It is really commendable that every time she falls down, she picks up the cycle and start again without any complaints… She has stopped falling down now.. :) Our excitement is now in looking forward to the great reception at our rest locations each evening, that we seem to be getting used to.

The concrete roads are over and the regular tar road have started again. The highway is being converted into a 4-lane double road so we got opportunities to cycle on the unused side of the road without having to worry about lorries honking from the back… The roads here are very good.. only problem for cyclists is that it is not flat.. the highway Is built on an embankment about 10 ft higher than the ground below.. and this means that even though the ground is flat, there are constant ups and downs that we have to battle with (the downhills is quiet enjoyable, I must admit).. And there are a lot of places where the local village roads go below the highway.. this creates more uphills for us to cycle on…

Left half an hour earlier today because of the longer distance. Breakfast on the way as usual. We had quiet a few upset tummies today as yesterdays menu consisted of puri's for breakfast, lunch and dinner.. not to mention the kachori's and other fried snacks that we were given in the afternoon… Pudin hara's for everyone today…

We reached Bhadrak at 12.30 pm (much sooner than we had anticipated) and were given a grand welcome by the Bhadrak Rotary Club Midtown and the inner wheel, which is the Ladies wing of the Rotary. Today, being the last sunday of the month, they had their free homeopathic camp (they completed 2 years of this programme today). Great potluck lunch of pav bhaji, kadhi, chutney, pulav and rasgulla.. did i mention that we stopped at a dhaba about 10 kms earlier and ate 30 malpoas? (between the 10 of us).. It was just so tasty and we needed the sugar rush, or so we tell ourselves… we're all food lovers hehehe… and food loves us :)

We had a formal presentation with the members of the Rotary and Inner wheels and they really enjoyed Bimla didi's talk about climbing Mt Everest and did not let her stop talking… All in all, a great day…

early morning...

Massage session in progress...

Just before we saw this board, we asked 4 people for the distance to Bhadrak... They gave us differing answers from 30kms to 5 kms.. we cheered when we saw this board :)

We discovered a new combination: malpoa with lays.. lol.. it was quiet nice..

Bimla didi enthralling the audience...