RICKSHAW RUN 2008
Day Five: Saturday 5th January 2008
Today, Team Shatabdi Express taxi service was born. Doing our bit to keep India moving we have been picking up local villagers enroute and dropping them off at their destination along the way. Unlike some teams who 'pimped' their rickshaw to look like they're sponsored by Monster Munch we decided to 'pimp' our rickshaw so it actually looks like an actual rickshaw. This results in people trying to hail us down all day long with us obliging on most occasions.
We still haven't made it to to Hyderabad, but we are only (he says) 200kms short of it. Mainly due to the 12kms tailback for Lorry gridlock enroute to Hampi. After some how missing the road to Hampi we got there for a quick look around.
Tonights hotel is an all time low. Words cannot describe how bad it was. On the ground floor slap bang next to an outdoor party/concert with a toilet that made you want to barf everytime you went.
Day Five: Hiriyur to Raichur
Total Daily Distance: 420kms
Total so far: 1326kms
Total Distance to go: 3174kms
Saturday, 5 January 2008
Day Five: Keeping India moving....
Day Four: A giant penis....
RICKSHAW RUN 2008
Day Four: Friday 4th January 2008
Hurrah, we are not last! - Leaving the hotel this morning we see another team rickshaw parked up at a hotel! Now we're probably just second last.
If we were not any further behind we decided to take a visit to Sravanbelagola temple, the most famous of Jain temples, some 100kms north of Mysore. After scaling a mountain to get to the top we see a giant statue of a man with an equally giant penis.
We are heading cross-country toward the highway linking Bangalore and Hyderabad, through some enchanting little villages all harvesting rice fields with fruit and veg markets seemingly the norm on Fridays. We eventually stopped for the night at an Indian version of Travel Lodge on the NH4 at 11pm.
At times we dare not stop for the crowd control issues. It seems that everywhere we go, be it a petrol station, roadside village, local school or for a 'Jimmy Riddle' by the side of the road we manage to create a crowd. As fascinated as they are with us, it seems the CD and MP3 player complete with hit Hindi tunes is the real draw.
Day Four: Mysore to Hiriyur
Total Daily Distance: 351kms
Total so far: 906kms
Total Distance to go: 3594kms
Thursday, 3 January 2008
Day Three: Everything that could go wrong...
RICKSHAW RUN 2008
Day Thress: Thursday 3rd January 2008
No two days are ever the same, and never has a truer word been said. After a great day on the road yesterday today's day was cut short. We've had a few issues. Here goes:
1. Cracked windscreen (not my fault),
2. Smashed left indicator (my fault), dent to front bonnet (my fault),
3. stolen windscreen wiper,
4. Industrial melody horn no longer making a melody,
5. CD/MP3 player not working anymore.
6. ....and the small matter of the brakes not working anymore (see point 2).
After somehow getting to Mysore without killing ourself and anyone else (see point 6) the rickshaw had a visit to a garage in town. A few hours later and it is as good as new. Only problem is that we are now probably a good day behind every other team because we drove no further than 1pm.
To top it all off, we got pulled over by the Police (not a first for me) and fined 100 rupees for driving the wrong way down a one way street.
Grrrrrrrr.....
Day Three: Sathaymangalam to Mysore
Total Daily Distance: 154kms
Total so far: 555kms
Total Distance to go: 3544kms
Wednesday, 2 January 2008
Day Two: Vindication
RICKSHAW RUN 2008
Day Two: Thursday 2nd January 2008
It seems our decision of taking the route through the mountains of South India was a right one. This mornings drive we were treated to a glorious drive through never ending lush green tea plantations. This would rival the rice hills in Vietnam for some of the most spectacular sights in Asia. Not surprisingly we got seriously way-laid. Forgetting for the most part of today that this is in fact a race, we swanned around like we were on some over 60's coach party to Bournemouth.
Stopping at the living quarters of some of the workers at the Plantations, we were shown proudly round a dozen family houses, including pointing out the toilet, TV and in some really proud instances, a 1970's Hi-Fi system.
We also had two mechanical issues today. Our knowledge knows no bounds. We diagnosed that the reason for the rickshaw coming to a sudden halt twice in 5 kms was due to over heating. So there we were sitting on the side of the road explaining to passer-bys that the engine was too hot when 30 minutes later the engine wouldn't even start. Hence the brain wave - we ran out of petrol.
Pressing on in the afternoon we still didn't make it to Mysore, our intended destination. Instead we rolled into a run down little town at 10pm when the clutch cable broke. But how is this for a bit of luck, at the exact spot where the cable snapped was right in front of a rake of local rickshaw drivers, who within 10 minutes had located a new cable, and fitted it! On starting up the engine we asked if they knew of a Hotel in the town, only for them all to point at the building directly in front of us with a massive "HOTEL" sign! Hurrah!
Day Two: Admali to Sathymangalam
Total Daily Distance: 274kms
Total so far: 401kms
Total Distance to go: 4099kms
Day One - ....and their off!
RICKSHAW RUN 2008
Day One: Tuesday 1st January 2008
This being India, things never start on time. So it was no great surprise that the race eventually got off at 1pm. Two stalls later and we were off with the other 65 teams. 
We have made it some 26kms short of our intended finish point for day one. The mammoth task of completing the 4500kms is starting to hit home a bit. Not helped by our decision to take the mountainous route out of Cochin via the tea plantations, travelling up over 1000 metres on long, winding roads rather than do what probably 80% of the other teams headed up the sensible (flat) West Coast.
So, it's a 6am start for us tomorrow as we hope to make it to a Jain temple in Sravanbelagola, some 100kms north of Mysore by the end of day three.
Day One: Cochin to Adimali
Total Distance: 127kms
Total Distance to go: 4373kms
Tuesday, 1 January 2008
Upsetting to locals....
RICKSHAW RUN 2008 - PRE-RACE
After a mini-shopping spree at the Indian version of Halfords and Sainsburys, not to mention spending hours finding the right lead/adaptor to make the Ipod work, the beast was ready to go. Pumping out the latest Hindi pop hits, and industrial melody horn and painted as requested with a few interesting spellings of some of the names of our indivdual sponsors (it's India!). 
Our first driving lesson went remarkably well considering. Its a bastard to start the thing, and equally so stopping it without stalling. With that in mind we caused (in fact we still are) all sorts of chaos at junctions throughout the city. The idea (according to me) is try not to stop or use the brakes and it's fine!
New Year Eve was spent on some posh hotel lawn getting acquainted with all the other Rickshaw Runners, including (no suprises) the gobby Aussies and over the top Americans. However, the night came to a rather abrupt ending when minutes after midnight three chaps from Scotland lead a mass strip off and sprinted to the pool. Being a holy Hindu/Muslin country the hotel manager didn't take kindly to the actions, with the music switched off and our boat home leaving a lot sooner than advertised.
Posted 1st January 2008
