19 cyclists set out from the Baptist Mission at 7:00am today and arrived safely at Krishnanagar before sunset and some 125 km later.

The send off from Kolkata was great with many OGB's in attendance - throwing in their support. Anu and Alfred, many thanks for looking after us - your patience and tolerance to our little whims was very much appreciated; even when at 3:00am - Alfred in pyjamas (well....) broke the stores lock so that Ray could access his bag to get his bike ready for a 7:00am start!!

With 14 cyclists riding for the first time in India, the law of averages would point to some incident occurring on Day 1! And, sure enough - we were not let down – barely three hours into the ride - James found himself upended.... and nae an Ambassador taxi in sight! Dusting himself off the ground, he continued cycling nonchalantly but little did he know by falling off his bike – he now inherited the title “Calamity” James - from Ken who in 2008 had a similar earth scraping incident.

The next event of note was Jonathan's puncture..."I couldn't avoid that pothole" he explained, as Dad tut-tutted "I warned you so".. Then, there was Clive and Sandy, fighting to gain supremacy over the Ambassadors and a Del Boy's TIT van – while none the worse for wear - it finally dawned on them that driving on Indian roads is very different to British driving norms...no comparison worth mentioning as a matter of fact – all British road/driving rules simply don’t apply here!

The ride itself proved heavy going with temperatures above normal and traffic levels at its worst..... why weren't the Indians watching the 2nd Test match? As expected, the crowds were intrigued as to why a bunch of foreigners were riding for 7 days to Kalimpong - closely followed by: "What is the price of your bicycle please?!" Well,except for Sandy, who decided to buy a new bike in Kolkata rather than bring one from the UK. His agent delivered the Hero on time and I confess it looked pretty neat....until 20 km into Day 1 and the brakes failed him - immediately prompting us to dub it Zero...like from Hero?! Duh...

Tonight, typing this on my iphone - I feel countless aches and pains in places totally alien to me – my body is stiff and sore; while in the next tent Dave lies in deep slumber.... Lucky chap but methinks he doth snore too much and too loud!

Wake up call is 6:00am tomorrow and we will be on the road by 7:30am. A much shorter ride awaits us on this leg - we will be crossing the Tropic of Cancer and in accordance with the Webster's rider’s code, I gleefully expect the 14 'freshers' to commemorate their first outing by flopping and waddling into the nearby duck pond..... well I can dream, can't I?

Sight of the day: an Indian cyclist pedaling with one leg whilst the other is wrapped around his neck! Cool – what a mean feat? Please do try it in the comfort of your own backyard!

START OF BIKE BENGAL 2010 posts