Distance: 86.24 km
Ridetime: 4:07:23
Average: 20.9 km/h
Total distance: 4733 km
Even after 10 hours of solid sleep, the hard day yesterday could still be felt in the legs. On days like these it is all about getting started. After 25 km everything is usually back to normal.
At 11 o’clock I rolled into Udupi and met Nagi in the town center. Udupi is known for it’s 13th century Krishna temple. I really like the peaceful atmosphere inside such temples. Afterwards Nagi and his family invited me for lunch in his house. Having the great pleasure of getting to know people and even being invited into their homes is without doubt the highlight of this very trip.
Back on the road I met an Indian cyclist. Well, actually I meet countless Indian cyclists everyday but there was something special about this guy and his bicycle, so I stopped for a chat. Dinesh was on his way from Mumbai all the way down to Tamil Nadu in the far south of India. Quite a ride, especially since Dinesh bicycle had no gears. As he explained he didn’t know how to repair gears if something went wrong, so he had chosen a bicycle without. I admitted that if my gears broke, I would be in trouble as well.
20 km further down the road that potential situation became only too real. As I tried to change gear something went wrong. I knew immediately that I had broken my gear cable. I’m carrying no spare. The bike was still rideable, but only in the hardest gear. I managed to enter Mangalore where I was going to meet Pai, a good friend I also visited two years ago.