Getting connected into the tour. For the other cyclists, today is a travel day from Chennai to Negombo, tomorrow is a rest day and Thursday the trip begins.

There is an interesting contrast with previous TDA rides I’ve done as far as communications and routes. Previously there would be a white board announcing key dates/times and just before the ride another white board with the final route.

Communications on this ride need a cell phone. Both to join the WhatsApp group for communications and to download and install routes to follow. So yesterday I contacted the trip leader and plugged in. I met Kathy, another rider over breakfast and others I’m sure in the next days. One channel has a few announcements and a few active on things like coordinating places they want to see or go to eat. The other is for photos. I’ll figure it out…

One announcement was there would be a time tomorrow to put bikes together including the mechanic assistance. I’m already past that step as yesterday afternoon I assembled it and this morning went for a 43km test ride. Initially I had the brake rotor misaligned and rubbing but I found a bike shop on the web made a quick 2.5km ride and they showed me the trick of loosening the mount, squeezing the brakes tight and tightening the position. It worked like a charm and the bike rides well.

My first objective this morning was to find the local fish market. I found some of the boats by the ocean where they were emptying nets of small silver fish about 10cm long. The market itself wasn’t very exciting, this woman on her cell phone and not much else…

So I cycled north along the main A3 highway. At times busy but still wide enough to be reasonable. A mix of truck, motor scooter, tuk tuk traffic with an occasional cyclist or pedestrian. Nothing too chaotic in comparison to India standards but enough to keep paying attention.

Around the 10km mark I turned off onto a very small lane and for a little over a kilometer wound my way along the smallest of streets to the beach road heading along the sea.

A large church at the intersection. I haven’t seen mosques yet but expect them in other parts of Sri Lanka.

While the fish market in Negombo had been disappointing the 9km I rode along the beach had an over-abundance of fish sellers. Little fish, big fish, shrimp, dried fish.

A few hamlets were busy congested with traffic.

These folks were doing an interesting exercise to haul in fish. Some nets had been strung in a wide arc to a boat offshore. From both sides of the arc, they were now hauling in the nets. It was a slow operation so I didn’t stay to see how many fish they got.

After 9km, I turned around, went back past the beach road to A3 and then back to the hotel. This enthusiastic seller had oranges, I believe 200 Rs per bag? I’ll have to try buying some as that seems inexpensive.

Follow up – first white board. A sectional rider meeting tomorrow afternoon. Nice to see flagging tape still used. Late afternoon met a number of other rides as the arrived as well as Henry Gold, founder of TDA

Fun facts: there are 32 riders on this to trip (27 full tour and 5 sectional in Sri Lanka only). Of this only 3 have not done a TDA ride before – remarkable to put on this type of tour and have 90% returning customer loyalty…