The fifth edition of Tour of Goa, organized by Cycling Goa was flagged off from the Miramar beach circle. It is a 3 day cyclo-sportive with touring on the country roads of South Goa with a small competitive section of individual time trial each day.
About 40 riders from across the country and various parts of the world landed at, YMCA in Panjim, Goa, to experience the magical beauty of the state along with the amazing hospitality of the Goan Cycling Community, the Cycling Goa!

The beauty of South Goa, far removed from the party buzz of the Northern part of the state, was already evident as we rode alongside the majestic Mandovi river. It was a sight to behold as our peloton rode on with the calm body of water on one side of the road and with the great ball of fire raising from the other.


From there we headed to Madkai ferry to cross the river along with our bikes on a special ferry arranged by Cycling Goa. On the way to the ferry we were made to go up a 1km climb and immediately the climbing legs amongst the group started making a statement of intent.

Shots Fired!
My Spectrum racing teammates, Rajesh Nair and Arvind Bhateja along with Vivek Bhateja were flying up the steep kicker and I tried to follow them dancing away on the pedals. It was a nice warm up to the kickers that followed and the day’s competitive segment which was a 5km 280m climb up Chandreswar climb.

It’s A Ferry Tale!
We enjoyed our packed breakfast on the ferry as we made it across the river. It was quite an unique experience for most of us and was just one of the many unique experiences that the Tour of Goa had to offer.After the ferry crossing we rode for another 16km before we stopped at Anjona bakery to enjoy more local delicacies and coffee. From there the day’s competitive segment, the Chandreswar climb was about another 16km. We got there around 11:30am and we began to feel the Goan heat bearing down on us.

A quick Strava segment analysis from our experts said that the competitive segment of nearly 5km has a the actual climb segment of 4.1km with a KOM at 13:37 held by Rohan Muller. Rohan wasn’t taking part this year. But, for those who knew him, his performance gave us an idea about what to expect from ourselves on the climb.

Competitive Segment! Finding The Rhythm!
I volunteered to start ahead of our skipper Arvind Bhateja to act as his carrot on the climb while Rajesh Nair would start behind him to try and catch him. That way all three of us will end up motivating each other as we gave our best on the climb.I was the first rider to line up and started the flat segment trying to get the feel of the legs and not push too much right away. The legs felt good but I knew if I went too hard at the start, it would be difficult to recover even on a 15 min climb. After nearly 2 mins, I got to the climb portion of the segment and got into a nice rhythm on the climb.

I finished first in Open(under 45) category and overall for the day.In women’s category,
Su Yin Ong finished first on the climb. She was followed by Belinda Mueller. Su Yin must be in love with Goa with another win after her win in her age group at the Goa Ironman 70.3 last October.
Historic Buffet!
After the competitive segment for lunch, we headed to Casa , a Palatial home built by a Portuguese preist in 1780s. It was bought by it’s current owner in 2002 who renovated it and is looking after it.




After an amazing day of riding and mind blowing experiences, we reached our stay, Cuba Agonda Beach Shack on the Agonda beach. The sound of the ocean waves welcoming us was pure music to the ears. It felt like a surreal end to a surreal day. What a day to begin the tour!

A Bumper Hit: Take A Bow, Cycling Goa!
Day 1 of Tour of Goa was simply a mind blowing experience. The tour is a block-buster success already in my view. Take a bow Cycling Goa! You made me fall in love with cycling and Goa all over again. And we still have two more days in heaven. Can’t wait see what you have in store for us!