YOUR RIDES
’M raIMa saMuI, a laDy BIKer from Kolkata and the first Indian to cover the entire shoreline of our country riding solo. this was the longest bike trip I had
undertaken, covering nine states and two union territories, riding on the coastal roads of India. For this 16-day-long journey all I had for company was my trusted Bajaj avenger 220; besides, of course, the conviction and determination to prove myself.
since I live in Kolkata, I started from the eastern side of the Indian coastline and rode down to Bakkhali in West Bengal to begin my coastal ride. My trip can be divided into three parts: Bakkhali, the starting point, down south to Kanyakumari in tamil nadu is the halfway point, and the last stop was at Mandvi in gujarat.
My adventurous coastline ride took me to so many beautiful locations of our country as
I rode through places like puri (odisha), Visakhapatnam (andhra pradesh), Chennai (tamil nadu), pondicherry, Kanyakumari (tamil nadu), Kochi (Kerala), udupi (Karnataka), goa, Mumbai (Maharashtra), Diu, and Mandvi (gujarat). to be honest, this was quite a long and exhausting trip, but the whole experience was absolutely worth the effort.
there are so many stories and incidents that I would love to share, but I can’t write about them all due to space constraints. For instance, I had the best time chilling out on the sandy beaches of goa. of course, there were good parts and some which weren’t. I remember when I reached Kerala, I had no idea what to expect. as soon as I left Kanyakumari and headed for Kochi, the four-lane national highway narrowed down to a cramped and, might I add, crowded dual carriageway. this slowed me down significantly. to make matters worse, the people on the road weren’t very helpful either.
there were so many good moments that I still cherish and so many roads that I really enjoyed riding on. India never ceases to amaze. I rode solo and my ride was pretty much uneventful. unbelievable as it may sound, in the last leg of my ride, I met with an accident in gujarat. there was a rider, probably a local, who was riding on the wrong side of the road. He headed straight towards me and we collided. We both fell off our bikes, but, as luck would have it, I ended up with the most injuries. this was the last thing I expected at the end of the trip. But what has to happen will happen!
at the end, I was overwhelmed, having ridden for 6,468 km along the coast of our great country. to say that I enjoyed my ride will be an understatement.