Cycle India 2010

Would you like to take part in Cycle India 2010?

Well, if you’re not sure, following is the unedited account of what Cycle India 2008 was all about from one of the cyclists who took part - Ian Fulton.

Wednesday 2 January

A group of twenty-eight intrepid adventurers, including some non-cycling loved ones, left Gatwick on Wednesday morning, bound for Hyderabad via Dubai.

We arrived in Hyderabad at breakfast time the next morning, for the start of two days of travelling within India to get to the starting point of the bike ride.

Thursday 3 January

After a spot of food and a freshen up, we boarded our coach and drove east for most of the day. The coach journey was an eye opener to India’s rules of the road – honk your horn at all times and don’t give a second thought to what might be coming the other way!

We arrived at our destination for Thursday night, quite a decent hotel in the town of Bhadrachalam, two or three hours behind schedule at around 9pm, very ready for bed after losing a night’s sleep travelling. This was where we started to realise the interest in our visit, and found that sleep was not on the agenda for a while yet.

After receiving our first garlands of the trip, we were greeted by a group of tribal dancers and musicians who put on a fantastic show for us in the hotel grounds, followed by a spectacular display by the local karate team involving fire, slates and beds of nails.

There was then a press conference and TV interview for some of the HEAL officials, followed by speeches and then an excellent supper. Did we want a repeat performance by the tribal dancers? Rude not to really, so bed eventually arrived around 12:30.