9th Day 45 km upto Bhadravathi

There was a reporter from Vijay Karnataka and a police official in the send off party when I left Birur. There was a brief interview by the reporter too. My host, Manjanna followed me for a couple of km on motorcycle & so my riding thru Birur town was recorded.

After a couple of km I had a rest stop and a villager noticed the tire was rubbing the body and he felt it was because the load was unbalanced. There was considerable wear out of the tire sidewall and naturally I was concerned.

I went near a cycle shop in Tarikere and there the cylcleshopwala said it is case of loose axle bolt and he had come with 22 mm spanner plus a hammer. He tightened it after loosening it a bit. He said it is okay & charged me Rupees 20 for that.

I said we will take near his shop and remove my luggage from the carrier and he said there was no need. One of the tirewall is very close to the body and I agreed it must have rubbed there. After few more km I checked the temperature and the tire had become warm once again. So the problem still remained.

In Tarikere lot of people had gathered around the trike and touching everywhere including battery switch which was bit hidden from view. It made me realize that I cannot unload the luggage anywhere on the road for a thorough inspection.

Meanwhile met old friend, filmmaker Abhaya Simha and our families have known each other before we were even born. He spent ten minutes talking to me & introducing his colleagues.

When I realized I cannot pinpoint the problem while on road, I decided to take shelter in a close relatives house. When I reached their house, cousin brother, Dr Shankar Bhat was not in. Immediately I pinpointed the problem after unloading the luggage. The bottom of the luggage carrier was touching the tire sidewall after being loaded. So I changed the position of the suspension bush thus raising the height of the carrier.
After that the computer I carry along started giving problems. Then I felt it is better take it to my computer consultant to prevent repeat of Tarikere mugging. I depend on my net connection for communication and cannot manage without it as my poor hearing prevents sensible dialogue. So left the trike and baggage in Bhadravathi and took a bus home carrying the notebook computer along. I cannot upload any photos or GPS tracks today as all my stuff is in Bhadravathi.

The computer is fixed now & it was just loose contact with battery as we suspected. There is considerable sleep debt which I hope to remedy before being in road once again. Having pedaled almost 1000 km continuously my body needs some rest too. I will resume the journey on Tuesday 31 Aug or Wednesday 1 Sep morning after two days rest @ home.