Cycling Goa to Udupi during Dussera week

[Mayank Rungta]

Hi all,

We are planning a ride from Goa to Udupi with a bunch of friends - need inputs for the following itinerary -

SL No.	Day	Date	From	To	Distance (km)	Stay option
1	Wed	28-Sep	Bangalore	Vasco	700	Suggestions welcome
2	Thu	29-Sep	Vasco	Varca	45	Suggestions welcome
3	Fri	30-Sep	Varca	Karwar	70	Suggestions welcome
4	Sat	Oct-01	Karwar	Om Beach/ Gokarna	60	Suggestions welcome
5	Sun	Oct-02	Om Beach/ Gokarna	Murudeshwara	70	Suggestions welcome
6	Mon	Oct-03	Murudeshwara	Udupi	95	Suggestions welcome
7	Tue	Oct-04	Udupi	Mangalore	60	Suggestions welcome

Kindly bear with if some of the questions are dumb! :)

1. Is this doable for a beginner used to doing only short rides? We are trying to make this as accommodating as possible. Can we get an elevation profile without doing a Recce? If so how?

2. How do we transport bikes? We have got some bus tickets and can take it in the bus but would prefer train - should be around 6 of us. Will the luggage boggie have restrictions of any sort? We want to avoid boxing to save time.

3. Any suggestions for the places to view at each of these locations - not as much of a bike ride as touring these places - would like to try stuff like snorkling and such.

4. We don't have any support vehicle. What would be good set of minimal spares we shud carry (we did carry for Ladakh but can we count on finding stuff on this route?).

Thanks in advance,
Mayank

PS: Please do a reply all

[SreeHarsha .H .Srinivas]

Mayank

Can we get an elevation profile without doing a Recce? If so how?

Yes, Use www.gpsies.com, they are fairly accurate. Also quite intuitive when it comes to creating the track.

I have just created one based on your Day-2 and Day-3 Cycling Check it out.

Let me know if you need any more help on this

http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=unggbkqhintctips

Another thing,

If you have time for hiking, consider walking from OMBeach towards Tadhadi, there are quite a number of nice beaches (Paradise, full moon, Half moon etc)

The hike might not take more than 2-3 hours.

-Harsha

[Shankar Shastry]

Replied in line..

On 9/20/11, Mayank Rungta <mr....@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> We are planning a ride from Goa to Udupi with a bunch of friends - need
> inputs for the following itinerary -

Why not start from Karwar? The only place I don't like in Goa is Vasco! :P

>
> SL No. Day Date From To Distance (km) Stay option
> 1 Wed 28-Sep Bangalore Vasco 700 Suggestions welcome
> 2 Thu 29-Sep Vasco Varca 45 Suggestions welcome
> 3 Fri 30-Sep Varca Karwar 70 Suggestions welcome
> 4 Sat Oct-01 Karwar Om Beach/ Gokarna 60 Suggestions welcome
> 5 Sun Oct-02 Om Beach/ Gokarna Murudeshwara 70 Suggestions welcome
> 6 Mon Oct-03 Murudeshwara Udupi 95 Suggestions welcome
> 7 Tue Oct-04 Udupi Mangalore 60 Suggestions welcome
>
>
> Kindly bear with if some of the questions are dumb! :)
>
> 1. Is this doable for a beginner used to doing only short rides? We are
> trying to make this as accommodating as possible. Can we get an
> elevation profile without doing a Recce? If so how?

Map it on google maps, save KML, upload on gpsies.

>
> 2. How do we transport bikes? We have got some bus tickets and can take
> it in the bus but would prefer train - should be around 6 of us. Will
> the luggage boggie have restrictions of any sort? We want to avoid
> boxing to save time.
>

One volvo can handle a maximum of 6 bikes in the luggage compartments.
That is if there is absolutely no other luggage. Travel in two buses
or take the train. Boxing is not a necessity of you don't dismantle
bikes and bubblewrap crankset, handlebar and RD+cassette.

> 3. Any suggestions for the places to view at each of these locations -
> not as much of a bike ride as touring these places - would like to try
> stuff like snorkling and such.

Ditch Vasco. Start from Karwar, check out karwar beach, have idlis at
udipi point, ride upto ponda, galjibag beach, talpona beach (Akshay?)
and come back to karwar.

>
> 4. We don't have any support vehicle. What would be good set of minimal
> spares we shud carry (we did carry for Ladakh but can we count on
> finding stuff on this route?).

Depends on what bikes and how loaded really. I'm not too sure if you
can count on anything in this area but you have a bike shop in Goa
called escapades who can help you in case of emergency.

PS : Somewhere near Om beach is a climb I think, do check.
Htedum/Madman might know for sure!

PS 2: I'd rather get down at Panjim, check out all beaches way up
north goa, check out Dudhsagar and ride back to Panjim but I dont know
what the weather is like this time of the year. I'll concentrate 70%
of tour de goa this time towards North Goa.

>
> Thanks in advance,
> Mayank
>
> PS: Please do a reply all
>

> --
> biking conversations on the world famous "Bangalore Bikers Club" :)
>
> are you a part of the bicycle racing scene?
> Visit www.bangalorebicyclechampionships.com for more details

[Mayank Rungta]

Thanks all for the valuable suggestions. Sorry for the delay in response.

We tried for a car as support vehicle but we could not find someone
interested in driving during this time due to vacation issues.

Now we are going to buy the carriers for some of the bikes (that don't
have) but there aren't enough of those that we are looking for. If
someone can lend their carrier for 10 days kindly let know.

Thanks in advance.

--
MAnY thANKs
http://ngopost.org
http://rideacycle.org
https://gist.com/mayank
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vConnect-Blr/
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o__
_> /__
(_) \(_)... Burn fat not fuel - Byke along to a healthier lyfe and cleaner world! :)
Join the club - http://bangalorebikersclub.com

[Mayank Rungta]

Thanks for all the advice and warnings! :)) The roads were good mostly
except for a few patches but the drivers in some stretches were horrible
as we were told but we knew we will take our chances with them. I had a
fall as my handlebar got entangled in a fellow riders baggage - we were
just talking about the trip! :)) It is a just a graze (tire rubbed
against by torso) but burned like crazy due to sweat! :))

We got roasted, toasted, fried, baked, etc in the sun but it was totally
worth it! :) A typical day would be ride, reach a beach, find a place to
stay close to the beach which is economical, hog on some great coastal
food (I am vegetarian so nothing much! :)), go to the ocean and swim for
hours, step out click pics, get into the water again and back floast in
the starry night on some days, I meditated on the beach on most days
which was good fun with the breeze and sound of the waves sometimes
violent and sometimes calm, awesome dinner, chats late into the nights
and then crash! :D

We took a day off at gokarna - om beach (namaste cafe) - one of the
friends wanted to stay in the shacks but since it was off season they
were shut. Half moon beach was awesome. Each day was special in its own
way. A must do for all... Some snaps -

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150421628878714.425685.601093713&type=1
<http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150421628878714.425685.601093713&type=1>

Look forward to more such rides. The newbies did well - we miscalculated
and ended up almost 80 kilometers both on first day and 2nd day. Took it
easier on the other days! :))

The best things about the trip -

1. Fun group - nobody cared about waking up on time and starting early -
we just planed almost everything on the fly and adapted! :))
2. Self supported - we did not need any support vehicle - about 8-10
kilos of weight with each rider. Hoping to carry tents in future
3. Since it was free flow - we stopped at random places for a break -
one of them was a beautiful forest - had great fun there - missed the
beach at murudeshwar but what the hell! :))
4. Invited a lot of friends to gokarna on the weekend and had a lot of
fun - swimming, floating, eating, meditating, cards, dumb charades,
pictionary, a bonfire and salsa lesson around it! :)) Awesome fun!!!
5. Very economical - no fancy stays - shared the rooms most places and
were lucky with choice of place of stay - was easier as off season! :D

--
MAnY thANKs
http://ngopost.org
http://rideacycle.org
https://gist.com/mayank
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vConnect-Blr/
Small Loans, Big Impacts. Invest in www.rangde.org today!
For a greener Bangalore - http://tiny.cc/blrtreeplanting

--
http://www.ngopost.org/story/project-proposal-tree-plantation-gunjurpalya-urban-forest
o__
_> /__
(_) \(_)... Burn fat not fuel - Byke along to a healthier lyfe and cleaner world! :)
Join the club - http://bangalorebikersclub.com

On 09/20/2011 05:17 PM, Shankar Shastry wrote:

[Jaikant Chandra Kumaran]

Thanks Mayank for the ride report, this is one stretch I would like doing as well.

Jai

[Akshay Prabhu Gaonkar]

Oh, So it was you guys. I was in goa too and sped past you guys
somewhere in south goa. Could have met!

[Chiranth M]

Awesome Mayank! You have travelled the coastal stretch the way it is supposed to be travelled.

Regards,

Chiranth

On Tue, Oct 11, 2011 at 1:30 AM, Mayank Rungta <mr....@gmail.com> wrote:

--
- - - - - - -
Regards,
Chiranth

[Mayank Rungta]

Yes we could have caught up! U sped by - were u biking? :))

On Tue, Oct 11, 2011 at 8:54 AM, Akshay Prabhu Gaonkar <akshaypra...@gmail.com> wrote:

Oh, So it was you guys. I was in goa too and sped past you guys
somewhere in south goa. Could have met!

[Akshay Prabhu Gaonkar]

No. Was in a car checking top speed ;)