Feb. 15th - Dambula to Matale - Kim and Glory - Cycling beyond

February 15, 2024

Feb. 15th - Dambula to Matale

Road from hell and rain

I left this morning at about 7:45, but my handlebar bag attachment/string, promptly loosened meaning I needed to adjust it. Grrrr. Fixed it and waited out a bit of heavier rain so actually started cycling at 8:00am. It was drizzling on and off and my dilemma was whether to wear my rain jacket or not. I have a fancy new Arc Teryx so I'd definitely stay dry from the rain, but the humidity is already horrendous. When the rain picked up, I definitely put it on. At one point, it was coming down pretty heavy and yet, I'm still hot!

I really only stopped and took this picture because it was a good excuse for a short rest break on the hill

Taking a break and shelter at a bus shelter. I saw one driver start to take off before an older lady even had both feet the bus. So rude and careless!

Also, you can see how narrow the lanes are. It was not enjoyable biking most of the day. A few times, I just pulled off the road to let the buses/trucks go by as inevitably, there was a line of cars behind them even though they drive crazy!

Figured I'd wait to try and capture a photo of one of the buses from hell

This area is famous for tea and spice gardens a couple of guys tried to motion me in, but I declined. I should also mention, after yesterday's incident, I pretty much ignored every man that shouted hello to me. Unless I'm in your place of business or I think you are genuine, I'm done. I don't want yesterday's incident to dictate how I behave, but I'm obviously still very annoyed at how the men behave in general.

There were a bunch of rolling hills today and it was slow going, but part of that was because of the less than ideal road and traffic conditions. And yes, I can confirm the stair climbing muscles are different from cycling muscles as my legs were tired right out the gate this morning.

I read about this hotel in other blogs and sounded good enough. I had thought I would push further to Cottage 2010 hotel, but when it started raining two miles before town, I was done

When I first saw the above sign I just read the "No Trespassing" sign so assumed the hotel was this nice building through a gate to my left. It wasn't. It was someone's home. Oops!

I go through the gate and up to the hotel. Surprise. No one's anywhere to be found. The place looks deserted, but at least I'm under cover and out of the rain and sitting on some steps. I finally decided to just book it through Booking knowing then I can message or call someone. He's not there, but says he will get a boy who stays there to help me, but warns me he is deaf and can't talk. He wants me to send money through a bank account. Nope, that's not happening. He finally says, "I guess you can leave it with him." Well yes. It's not my problem no one is here. I booked a "twin" room and ask him if there's a double available. He tells me there is only one room made up and it's a double. He's nice enough, but the whole situation is weird.

Anyways, I got settled in my room, showered and rested up before heading to the Food City Grocery store just down the lane and then I made my way to Pizza Hut. Yes, I frequent them a lot and am perfectly fine with that.

I've taken basic to a whole new level today, but the shower was hot with good water pressure

Today's ride: 28 miles (45 km)
Total: 1,048 miles (1,687 km)

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Nedene HennrichWhen cycling in Malaysia I went to Pizza Hut and KFC whenever I could find one. Never go to them in the USA. I'm not an adventureous eater .
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2 months ago

Kim JohnsonTo Nedene Hennrich1ha ha, me neither. Pizza Hut for the win! fyi - there's KFC here too
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2 months ago