Doing anything over a long distance requires patience and a strong mind. Cycling over a thousand kilometres without formal preparation might seem foolhardy to most. But that’s exactly what 16-year-old Silavia from Goa did — riding from Siolim to Velankanni, a distance of 1,066 km, over 12 days, alongside her father, Albert Rodrigues.
Preparation
Typically, such a journey would involve months of cycling to build stamina and strength. But Silavia was in the middle of studying for her class 10 board exams. Her only physical activity was playing basketball every alternate day — and she played hard. “That gave me the confidence I needed,” she said.
Why did she do it?
Albert Rodrigues, a 47-year-old businessman, who rents scooters to tourists in Goa, had completed the same journey to Velankanni the previous year. His daughter, Silavia, had followed his adventure with great interest. So he was taken aback when she told him she wanted to do the same trip in December. “I got my inspiration from my dad. I wanted to go out like him. The thought came to me on a random day in December,” Silavia says. That was it — once she made up her mind, there was no turning back.
The journey
According to both, the journey was largely uneventful — though the weather was extremely hot. At one point, Silavia suffered a heat stroke and had to be taken to a nearby hospital. They checked in for the night and then moved to a hotel next door so she could rest and recover. To avoid the heat, they began cycling early each morning, usually around 4:30 a.m. They passed through forests but had no encounters with wildlife. “The only question people kept asking was where we were coming from and where we were going,” Albert recalls.
They took regular breaks for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and food availability was never an issue. One memorable moment came when Silavia got spooked by a woman in what she thought was a ghostly white saree — only to laugh at herself when she realized it was just a light-colored outfit.
The final day required them to cover nearly 140 kilometres — much more than their usual 90 kilometres per day. “I woke up at 1 am and told myself that no matter what, I would complete the distance. We would usually cover around 90 kilometres in a day so this would require some effort. We managed it coolly and reached Velankanni around 11 am,” Silavia says. They stayed there for two days before returning to Goa by train.