[Subbu]

Awesome trip and awesome post. Your writing and your photo did spice up the travelogue. Great show.

[SS-Traveller]

The thoughts, the pains, the learning, the retrospection, the hilarious moments (your grandfather offering you money because he thought you'd lost your job - that was especially delightful!) - all of it made for a brilliant read, with the icing on the cake being the photographs.

You, the lost soul as you describe yourself, rediscovered your soul.Traversing the open highway at 20 kph does that to you. Over 700 km, in fact, it went one step beyond rdiscovery - you reinvented yourself.

Don't stop riding, whatever else you do.

[Queryanalyzer]

Oh I also wanted to comment on the monoliths.
The perspective here, with the visible base, is so very different from what you see in Mahabalipuram. You see the real monolith and that's not something I have seen before. I need to go have a look at them. Thanks for that!

[kaushal21fb]

Very Inspiring! One of the best travelogues I've read in a long time.

I know the feeling of stuck up middle age and I know the feeling of rediscovering something simple as cycling. I ride my firefox around 10 Kms every morning and the max I've ridden so far is around 30 kms. However reading your log makes me want to take the cycle out and push my limits further i.e. towards a long interstate ride.

BTW: Loved your village, really simple and serene. I can only imagine the people and how living there would be.

[amitoj]

I saw this travelogue on Monday and quickly opened it in another tab, as a reminder that I need to read this. I am so glad that I did that.

You have amazing writing skills. I guess biking gave an outlet to that talent of yours as well.

Having recently taken up endurance biking myself, it was very heartening to read your story. Although I am not increasing my miles as fast as you did. I still manage only a 100Ks once a month and 45 miles or so on a weekend.

They say endurance biking is a lonely sport. I guess you and I can agree that we see that as a positive

Anyway, kudos on your feat! Glad that you had the patience to wait for more than two years and make 8 attempts to join TBHP so that you could share it with us.

What other rides have you been upto since this one?

[ganti79]

Very well articulated! I can relate to most part of your story except for cycling. Be it ego, raging blood when someone overtakes, depression, sleepless nights, longing for something else even though I should be content with that I have to selling cars every bit of it. You won't believe that I have put my car for sale and planning to buy some Indian make (SPERO Electric Cycle). With health complications I had to resort to an electric cycle which is due to be delivered. You have become an inspiration for sure. I am no close to write articles the way you have put them. But surely I look forward to share my story as well in near future. Thank you again for sharing your insights, it was really interesting to read through each and every bit of it. Good luck for your future trips.

Originally Posted by vjstanka

EPIC JOURNEY FROM CHENNAI TO KANYAKUMARI

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The END

[LOKSIN]

Very well written and inspiring.
Congratulations for overcoming all your demons and achieving what you had set out for.

[trumpet]

Hi everyone,

I chanced myself on to this thread. I initially did have my reservations on the title, but reading a few lines into the post, but then...

I guess posts like these are the hidden gems of this forum. We can never ever get this experience and feel on an other site. A big thanks to all who toil behind the scenes to keep this running.

vjstanka,

Bro, you're an inspiration. I dont have anything much to add than what's already been shared. You've got such an amazing way of writing things. It was as if I was there with you all through. Cycling so far is no joke, it takes a lot of perseverance, will power and so on. Glad you could complete it. This sure will inspire so many of us.

Could you also post a cost break down ? as in how much would it cost for a similar journey. The expense side of your trip (approx), so that we can know how much it would come to.

I see you are in Chennai, we could meet up sometime. I will PM you.

Regards
Trumpet!

[vjstanka]

Originally Posted by trumpet

Could you also post a cost break down ? as in how much would it cost for a similar journey. The expense side of your trip (approx), so that we can know how much it would come to.

I see you are in Chennai, we could meet up sometime. I will PM you.

Regards
Trumpet!

Hi Trumpet,

Glad you liked the write up. Cost of the entire trip including food, accommodation and return trip was around 8K INR approximately.

Sure we can meet up sometime.

Regards,
vjstanka

[Sting]

What a beautiful, honest to the heart, gritty and inspiring travelouge. Thanks for sharing it with us, vjstanka.

Cheers,
Sting

[mr.sinha]

Thanks for a beautiful write-up, vjstanka. Your writing style is superb.

I got attracted towards this thread as I have also recently taken up cycling again, about 4-5 months ago. Last time I cycled before that was probably 25 years ago in high school. Unlike your road bike, I got a mountain-bike though. Have some serious plans in 2017. I am not on a regular training schedule yet, but try to bike locally once or twice a week, and sometimes do slightly long-distances like 80 kms+.

Thanks for some of your riding tips.

Attaching a photo of my bike. This was during a recent riding trip near a place called Bhangriposa, Orissa, close to Simlipal forest.

Happy riding to you.