Cycling on the shortcut... Beautiful views..
Hi everyone...
Happy Republic Day India!!! Sang the National Anthem first thing in the morning before starting our cycling :)
We decided to take a shortcut today. We heard that there was a shorter route that did not require us to go all the way to Savantwadi. Infact, the route was so new that it was not yet inaugurated and it would reduce the distance by almost 15 kms. For us that is a lot and we decided to take it. It is a lovely road, a wide, 4-land double road. The ups and downs however did not stop. They continued all the way to Panaji.
Again, we left when it for a little bright (around 7am). But today we had too many stops. The girls found a cashew selling store on the way where the cashews were very cheap. So everyone bought a whole lot of it. Had good breakfast along the way and got into Goa arond 1.30 pm. The early comers waited for the rest of the team to catch up so that we could all go to the YMCA together, where we were staying for the next 2 days.
As we were deciding where to go for lunch, we got a call from Govind, husband of leader Vasumathi, who decided to visit Goa to meet the team. He was staying with his school friend Fransisco and his wife Vrida and they invited the entire team to lunch at their house. They came over in two cars and brought the whole dirty lot to their lovely house for lunch, where Vrida had cooked a typical Goan meal for everyone. Most of them got to eat non-veg after a long time, and they were thrilled (the meals we eat otherwise if pure veg because of the cost factor as well as to ensure that noone falls sick on the way).
We got to back to the rooms after that and had a good bath and washed our clothes. They definitely needed a lot of cleaning...
Since we had a rest day, it was time to get some cycles worked on. Some of the gears were creating bit of a problem. Especially after the cycles had a truck ride on the day after Mumbai (where the cycles were serviced). A few girls hired a car to go around Goa and a few others took a bus ride. All in all, everyone’s enjoyed the stay here, thanks the Fransisco and Vrida.
The icing on the cake was the Fransisco and Vrida’s younger son, Sahil, is a football player who plays for the Indian team and they were playing the semi-finals against Macau at the Lucifonia Games, held once in 4 years. We got to watch the match live on TV and India won!!! Sahil scored the second goal and it was very exciting to watch. We wish him all the best in the years to come.
We will be having a small interaction with the team at YMCA as well as a cycling club here later this evening. Looking forward to that. Long day tomorrow.. 100 kms to Karvar. Cant wait... Just 2 more segments left to complete. 3 states done. We will enter our fourth tomorrow. Excitement!!
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