Couple of Good Cycling Routes Around Ponda

One cannot ride a single kilometer in Ponda without hitting a climb. The roads here are cascade of ups and downs. There are many good routes around Ponda to ride your cycle,provided you do not mind sweating it out. Here are the route mas of couple of rides I do regularly

Route 1 Betoda to Engineering College Via Veling 22Kms loop
This route is a challenge, the 2Km stretch is real grueling climb, in just couple of kms you will be elevated to 150m with 5%,6% and 7% gradients


Route 2 Betoda - Kahndepar Road - Keri - Ponda - Betoda 24Kms loop

Riding Through Chandor

The villages in this part of Goa have still retained their character in the face of rapidly changing Goan landscape. Riding through Curtorim, Maina and Chandor is a delightful expereince. The smooth and flat roads cut through fields and villages. Old houses with Portuguese Architecture give a special character to this region. At the age of 350 years, Goa's largest and India's 4th largest house , belonging to Menezes Braganza is the pride of Chandor.....

   Chandor Church

 

  The Front View of Braganza House

The Braganza House

The Malabar Giant Squirrel

The Malabar Giant Squirrel - this beauty is endemic to western ghats. Common, but rarely seen as it hops on the branches high up in the dense canopy.

On my recent visit to Bondla Zoo, I was in for surprise, this squirrel was feeding on the shoots of some creeper very close to the ground, oblivious to the OOhs and aaaahhhs of the visitors just few feet away.

Ride To Karmali Lake

1.2 at the lake
Karmali Lake is birders delight. The lake is situated 10Kms from Goa's capital, Panaji. During the winter more than 20 water bird species land on the lake to feed.

On 29th November I rode to the lake on my 3 months old TREK 1.2 road bike, covering a distance of 23Kms one way from my home town Ponda.

The morning ride was fantastic, I reached the lake at 8.15am and spent an hour listening to the shrill whistles of Lesser Whistling Ducks. Gull Billed Terns swiftly flew in circles close to the water surface. A lone Marsh Harrier Cruised along attempting to catch its breakfast. More species will land by end of December.

I could only spot Purple Moorhens, Bronze Winged Jacana, Pheasant Tailed Jacana, Large Egret, Darter,


Details of the Birds found on the lake Put up by Forest Dept Goa


Purple Moorhen


Bronze Winged Jacana


Lesser Whistling Ducks

Buying Trek 1.2, the process and the maiden ride story

Sorry for poor image quality!

Being on the forum like Bikeszone can be hazardous! ya…. I mean it…… reading all those posts by the bloxxx road bikers and all… I had to get a road bike for myself …… there is a huge 44K + hole in my pocket now….haaaa ha… (but its worth it………!).

After beating the trails and the tarmac (in equal proportion) for couple of years on TREK 3700 mountain bike, was it time for me to move on in a different direction? there was no real need to move in different direction! But hey I already mentioned the hazardous effect of being a member of the cycling forum ……I convinced myself that this was the right time to move on in …..

Digging the posts on Bikeszone and the likes for a couple of months, I had LA Urbano, Firefox 2200 and 0050, Merida 880 24 and 901,Trek 1.5 and 1.2, Bianchi C2C Via Nirone on my short list

How TREK 1.2 won…….

My Budget – 45K to 50K

What I wanted in a road bike?

1.Pretty low gear ratios, because the terrain where I ride is all hilly and low gears would be good for touring.

2. Provision for racks and panniers

3. Frame size -50cms

The Selection……

1. The LA URBANO

Pros-price 21,000

Cons –Spec details not available no compact or triple option, no reviews available about the material and ride quality, was locally available only against the order

2. FireFox 2200 and 0050

Pros – Price 24,000 and 15,000 respectively

Cons – No Triple or Compact option, lot of riveiws on poor quality material and components, I had a look at 2200 at LBS it does look good, however the quality and the weight (the weight is almost near to my MTB))held me back…

3. Merida 880 24 and 901

The 880 24

Pros – Price 38,000, Triple 52/42/30 and 11-24, looks good, Merida quality, very good review on Bike Radar

Cons – No provision for racks

The 901

Pros – price 45000, Merida quality, good reviews

Cons – No Triple or Compact option, No provision for racks

4. Bianchi C2C Via Nirone

55,000 beyond my budget!

5. TREK 1.2 and 1.5

Trek 1.5

Pros – Price 48,000, compact 50/34, TREK quality, Carbon forks, light weight (9.25Kg)

Cons – no provision for racks

Trek 1.2

Pros – Price 41,425, compact 50/34, TREK quality, Carbon forks, light weight (9.625Kg), Provision for racks

Cons – Sora group set ….. but hey the other things fit my bill

Discussed with others on the forum (special thanks to RNair) and finally decided to go for 1.2,

Contacted Rohan (Bums On the saddle) and placed the order for 1.2, My friend Tulbir who works in Bangalore picked the bike from BOTS and couriered through GATI to Goa. The courier charges roughly 2000/- and no scratches or other damage in the transit. Thanks Rohan and Tulbir!

The bike was delivered on 19^th september. Assembled the bike in 30minutes, only the front derailer needed little tuning, sadly could not go on test ride due to prior commitments. No ride on the following day (20^th) it rained the whole day.

The maiden ride

Finally today morning I went out test riding and did 16Kms loop.

This bike reminded the good ol’ college days, when I rode the Atlas concord (Blue color single speed). The bike felt good and comfy! Fits me really well.

After cruising along for a couple of kilometers, enjoying the feel of light weight frame, slim rubbers and the drop handle bars I picked up the speed……………………………………..only to slow down . . . . after a kilometer to go over the bumpy potholed section and again……………………………….

I have not installed the cyclo comp yet, so do not know what top speed I reached. The bike really aaccceeelerrratttteeesss man! Not only I could pick up the speed quickly, but also I could hold on constant high speeed for much longer time compared to the MTB.

I rode the two steep climbs with ease (I would struggle climbing these on 3700 with much lower gear ratio).

My only concern is the Braking Power of this bike, I was really scared to go full speed on the slopes. After expereincing the phenomenal power of V brakes, these ones come across as very weak (any suggestions on increasing the Braking Power?)

Over all a good ride. I am already planning for a century ride, coming weekend!

Am I a convert (MTB to Road bike)?

Hell no! not an absolute one! Mountain bike for the thrill on the trails And road bike for speed on tarmac, I am gonna enjoy best of both the worlds….

Arrival of my road bike TREK 1.2

Today (19/09/09) At 12.15pm



10 minutes later



30minutes later



First ride impressions and review.... coming soon.......

Chorla

Standing at the edge of the cliff and watching the water fall from great heights into the green valley is the experience I relive, year after year. Number of water falls come alive during the monsoons in the ghats may it be Anmod or Tilari or Chorla.............