100km of bad road

100km of bad road
Savanur
5:30 was my first alarm this morning with the Hindus and the Muslims doing there best to out do each other on the P.A. systems, I could be wrong but there might have been three of them going at once. Thankfully it wasnt as bad as in
Goreme where the megaphone pointed directly at my bedroom window and I would be awoken each morning with the click, thunk and whoosh of the PA5:30 was my first alarm this morning with the Hindus and the Muslims trying there best to out do each other on the P.A. systems, I could be wrong but there might have been three of them going at once. Thankfully it wasnt as bad as in proceeding “Allahu Akbar”. My responses to hearing that “God is Great” at this time in the morning and volume, Ill keep to myself.
I had good breakfast for a change, toast and banana, though half the toast had spices on it, what can you do?

The road yesterday had been rough and latterly the most uncomfortable surface Ive ever cycled on, and today it just kept going. I was struck by the thought that if the three classes of Hindus issued fourth from various parts of Vishnu(head, hands feet I think), this road surface unquestionably issued fourth from Beelzebubs unholy arse hole and I hope, with the utmost sincerity, that it caused him a thousand times the discomfort on its lumpy evacuation than it has caused me the last couple of days.

The road follows an excellent route through changing interesting scenery, landscape and towns but the surface is a very thin layer of tarmac over poorly laid granite lumps, a steam roller would have made such a difference, as would another 5cm thick layer of tarmac.

Its difficult to describe how bad it is or why, but moving at any speed is uncomfortable and over 15kph feels as though the bike will fly apart at any moment. I spent my time today at the side of the road in the sand, gravel and shit. I would be much happier with an unpaved road and have moved much faster too. I used my first profanity today and thats some going for me, nearly a month, the road surface was of course the target.

Another surprise today was my puncture, about 15km from Mundargi I realised the front was going soft and found a thorn in the tyre, but I must confess Im shocked. Perhaps Ive been spoiled with my other Marathon tyres, I dont think I have ever had a puncture certainly on the front and it lasted around 18,000km. It would have been good if I realised I still had so far to go as I would have fixed the puncture instead of stopping every 3km to inflate it.

This town is quite a contrast to Savanur, the people are ok, but no where near as friendly and the vibe is a little darker.

I was quite badly mobbed today when I stopped for lunch, there were more people watching me eat than were in the Hotel to eat, I spoke to as many as I reasonable could and took a couple of group photographs. Its quite sad actually as they all stand and wave me goodbye, yesterday this happened when I stopped for tea and I was heading up the road when I heard all these screams and it was the school children chasing after me, so I stopped and in ones and twos they came to a stop five meters away, so I went back to them to chat, well not chat just repeat my name and country a lot. Whats quite interesting during these repetitive discourses is that you can give a different answer to each member of the group and they neither notice or care. Ive exhausted my groups of names and hope inspiration will strike soon, movie stars are next and Ive promised myself that Im Clint Eastood on the next asking.