My first visit to India was this Christmas past; a three week trip beginning near Bangalore then south to Kerala via national parks and coffee and tea plantations. This was not a cycling tour, far from it, however during the first few days near Bangalore I did manage one outing. Bangalore is huge, the “Silicon Valley” of India but thankfully my friends lived in a small town called Dod Ballapur, north of the city about an hour from the airport. A typical ex- pat compound but easy to access the countryside.