Posted 13/6/04

Hi Neil:

I've finally got around to emailing you about my recent 2,500 km trip around
India! I flew into Bombai (Mumbai) in January 2004 and cycled all the way
around the south coast of India, finally arriving in Madras (Chennai) 6
weeks later, exhausted but happy

The terrain varied from horrendous hills in the first 500 km to dead flat
for the final 1,000 km. I averaged 100km a day but managed 160km on one
particularly balmy day - I also took several days off in Goa and Kerala to
just be a 'tourist' The sights and sounds were amazing and overwhelming -
from the child beggars in Mumbai to the beautiful waterways of Kerala.

Although I tried to go to India in the cool season, I still hit temperatures
of 35 degrees, and quickly discovered that Indian sunscreen lotion is
USELESS!!!! I had three waterbottles on my Trice but I still had to
re-fill them 2 or 3 times a day - this was also supplemented by several
bottles of 'Thums-Up' (horrible Indian Coke) every day, and ice-cream
whenever I could get my hands on it

I travelled extremely light - EVERYTHING was packed into one 20 litre
motocycle top-box which was attached to my rear pannier (hey it works! - its
secure, waterproof, quickly detachable, and goes on a plane as
hand-luggage). This meant that I could only pack two sets of clothes - one
smelly set for biking, and one clean set for wearing in the evenings after a
shower)

The bike generated HUGE amounts of interest and I regularly had crowds of 10
to 50 people around me whenever I stopped for any length of time. I would
also get screams of delight from kids (and adults!) whenever I cycled past
them. .

My XL performed briliantly - the only trouble I had was in adjusting the
gears, which I hadn't bothered to learn how to do before I left. I only
had one (!!!) puncture during the entire trip thanks to my 'Schwalbe
Marathon' and 'Schwalbe Marathon Slick' kevlar-lined tyres - I also only
needed to change each tyre once due to wear and tear.

By the way, thanks so much for all the helpful advice you gave me on the
phone while I was In India - I think I would have been really stuck a couple
of times if you hadn't been so willing to talk me through how to adjust the
brakes etc

I've attached a couple of pictures which might give you a flavour of how the
trip went. I'm off to South America (probably Columbia) next!

Regards

Craig Thomas
Bournemouth, England

PS : I will also shortly be sending you another email , with photos showing
how I packed my Trice into two suitcases for the flight to India