International bikers on spice route odyssey

MANGALURU: The road and

traffic conditions

, as well as the heat physically tested the quartet of internationally acclaimed bikers, including women, enroute to

Mangaluru

from Goa. But for the demanding conditions, the riders who normally cover at least 1,000 kilometres a day, managed to cover a little more than a quarter that distance at 350 kilometres in 14 hours on Wednesday.

Big Biking Commune

, an aggregator platform for the motorcycle community in India, announced their

World on Wheels

(WoW) rides starting with the spice route odyssey. In a first of its kind ride, five bikers embarked on a 3,000 km ride criss-crossing the spice corridor across west and south India to engage with the local motorcycling community across 10 cities, sharing their learnings and experiences and imparting road safety and riding tips, and encouraging more Indian bikers to step out and try new riding routes.

On Wednesday, the ride was flagged off from Goa and the bikers on

Royal Enfield Himalayans

, provided by Royal Brothers, reached Mangaluru in the evening. They are expected to reach Bengaluru on Thursday, and then travel to Mysuru, Kochi, Kanyakumari, Madurai, Dhanushkodi and Puducherry and culminate at Chennai on November 14.

DeClan McEvov from Ireland who has journeyed across 80 countries, on his first visit to India with his wife Jacinta travelling in the support vehicle, told TOI, “The ride so far has been crazy (in a good way) in terms of road conditions, traffic and heat. We generally ride about 1,200 a day. India is probably number two in the world for crazy traffic after Iran. While temperatures can reach a maximum of 22-23 degrees Celsius in Ireland, I was shocked when the gauge recorded 43degrees Celsius in Goa,” he said.

Karolis Mieliauskas from Lithuania has managed to ride to Oymyakon in Russia, widely regarded as the coldest inhabited town on Earth. This is his fifth visit to India, but is exploring the country for the first time on a bike—calling this expedition as the hottest ride so far. He is surprised by the noise around, especially love for honking horns and termed this journey as a creative ride with aroma changing as the ride progresses.

Probably for the first time, Mandeep Kaur Merwah aka Mandy is not riding with women riders. Currently based at Gurugram, she has spent nearly 30 years in Kuwait and took to the road on a motorbike at the age of 45, to spearhead a training academy that trains women to ride motorcycles. “Coastal ride has always been on my bucket list and we were lucky to witness the picturesque sunset at Maravanthe,” she said.

Born in Kundapur and brought up in Bengaluru, entrepreneur

Veena Shetty

has been riding since 2000, and has travelled on a motorcycle across the Rann of Kutch, Bhutan, north-east India, Ladakh, Kanyakumari to Kashmir and other major parts of India. She recently rode the Golden Quadrilateral. She is the founder of Roaring Riderz Club, and conducts workshops to train its riders to fix their own bikes and be less dependent on the roads.