Category: 2026 Tour
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Rock Cut Caves
The British photographer Don McCullin describes India as “the most visually exciting place in the world.” I feel that everyday while bicycling there. Yet somehow the rock cut caves, temples that have been meticulously carved out of or into the living rock, really brings this sentiment home. These interior spaces thrill me; partly it is…
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Shravanabelgola
The Basti (small townsite) of Shravanabelgola is considered the most ancient and prominent sacred place of the Jains in South India. It has also been referred to as “Dakshina-Kāśī,” or “Benaras (Varanasi) of the South.” The seat of several significant temples, it is also home to the world’s largest monolithic sculpture completed in 980 CE. Located…
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Musing on Structure
The Hindu architecture of the Deccan peninsula is based primarily on the simple post and lintel. This form arises out of Egypt almost 5000 years ago and made its way to the subcontinent, as far as I can tell, almost 2000 years go, or in the first century CE. It continued to do the heavy…
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Hampi
Hampi is the name the British gave to the abandoned ruins they discovered in a vast area in the north of the state of Karnataka. Hampi means “forgotten empire.” The real name was Vijayanagara (City of Victory). Although savagely crushed in the Battle of Talikota in 1565 CE, the civilization struggled on until 1646 CE, standing…
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Squinting for Beauty
I’m in the north of the state of Karnataka now, Tamil Nadu and Kerala are distant memories. So is the urbane city of Bangalore, with its stop lights (people actually stop!), microbreweries, fine coffee houses (hard to find tea), public trash cans (no litter on the streets), and pulsing international life. I’ve often heard it…
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Tamil Nadu—A Lithic Assessment
This post is being given as a lecture tonight, February 26, 2026 at GCIL (The Grand Challenge Impact Lab) for visiting winter quarter students to Bangalore from Seattle’s University of Washington. To understand the architecture of Southern India, it is useful to understand how the land was settled and how the various religions left their…
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Sailing Along
It was such a thrill to reach the southernmost tip of India, the accomplishment evident in Danielle’s expression of pure joy. We realized we are both blessed to have stood at the southern tips several of the continents. Danielle and I both have reached the tip of Africa, south of Capetown, and Melbourne, and now India.…
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Kerala, Oh Kerala!
To use a sports metaphor from skiing, if my 2024 west-to-east crossing of India was the “double black diamond” of extreme bike touring, our experience in the state of Kerala in 2026 has been a mostly blue intermediate run, punctuated by moments of inexplicably high intensity. It has been hard to understand how the day…
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Da Brim is Da Bomb!
Danielle writes: All of my fears about biking in India have been for naught. To Matt, Richard’s riding partner in 2024, I am sorry you are missing biking in Kerala. So far, it’s been delightful. Drivers, for the most part, stay on their side of the road. The dogs ignore or are afraid of two…
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Noodling Along
“It’s a game changer!” I yelled to Danielle as we rounded the first blind corner and witnessed the scooters and tuk-tuks veering away from the pool noodles we had strapped horizontally across the backs of our bikes. Having just finished our third day riding, our joint enthusiasm for this strange touring adaptation has grown exponentially. …
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Speaking the Subtext
We have arrived in Kochi, India, a twenty-six hour air transit via Singapore; separated from Seattle by 13.5 hours (13 standard time zones) and 50 degrees F. It feels like we are truly on the other side of the world. Yet Kochi has provided a soft landing. There is meaningful tourist infrastructure here, including a delightful “homestay” accommodation…
Bike Touring India 