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Journal documenting experiences of a bicycle touring family in California & Mexico

I’ll be hosting a storytime session at the Oakland Bike Festival from 5:30–6:00 PM on May 14th. I’m excited to see some familiar faces and, most of all, to share the joy of riding a bicycle with the little ones and other enthusiasts at the event!
If you’d like a copy of the book for your collection or as a gift, feel free to fill out this Google form.
: https://forms.gle/RiKER4GnxJ7cm6b5A

Also shoutout to @alamedabicycle for advertising such a lovely board for copies of my book that they are selling at their store!
#bikefestival #oakland #alameda #authorillustrator #bicyclelife

I had such a heartwarming evening on April 13th, 2026 at the story time event organized by @alamedafreelibrary for my book, “On the Way to Neptune”. The kids spent a wonderful time following the twists and turns in the story; and the thoughtful flower vase activity was a beautiful memory to take home. If you would like a copy of the book for your collection or to gift to someone, feel free to fill out this form: https://forms.gle/RiKER4GnxJ7cm6b5A
#authorillustrator #alameda #library #bicycle

I’m so full of joy to see my children’s illustrated picture book about a young girl’s bicycle adventures on the shelves of Alameda’s local stores and library. When I gifted the book to the teachers at Neptune Nature Preschool, my heart completely overflowed seeing the unmistakable joy and excitement on their faces. I feel such deep gratitude that I was able to make this happen. @twomarysmercantile , @alamedabicycle , @alamedafreelibrary #childrensbook #bicycle #kidsonwheels @loveourisland #alameda

A post to wrap up the final bits of our Thailand bicycle tour from January 2025. The final days brought out all sorts of tricks and stunts. It was clear, that Dharma loved holding hands while riding: be it with Rudra which was the sweetest thing to witness or Jayaram's so she could take a break and cruise along. And when the coast was clear (no pun intended considering we spent all our time riding along the coast!), the father daughter duo brought out their talents on the bicycle.
Top two songs that we enjoyed listening to on the rides: "A million dreams" from the movie 'The Greatest Showman'. The other was "Rang Lo" by Shankar Tucker.

Riding days : 9
Distance : ~ 100 miles

#bicycletouring #latergram #family #bicyclestunts #amilliondreams #shankartucker #gulfofthailand #thailandtourism #surly #ortlieb #iphone11pro #googlepixelphotography

In front of every home or store in Thailand, one will find a shrine with offerings. Some of these shrines are ornate, colorful and others are simple. These are spirit houses dedicated to provide a sacred space for guardian spirits to reside. Practitioners offer flowers, incense and food to express gratitude and respect and in turn seek blessings. It is a humbling part of the Thai culture to honor the space they occupy with love and respect.
Also, the water front in some of the Thai small town fishing villages we rode through had ornate and seaside themed lamp posts.

#thaiculture #worldbybike #bicycletour #spirithouses

And just like that, on day 5 of our bicycle tour we stumbled upon and set up camp at one of the most beautiful locations. The Hat Wanakon national park is well maintained and has a gorgeous beach access all along. This is the closest we spent the night by the beach.

#bicycletouring #wanakornbeach #wanakornbeachnationalpark #reihalfdome #ortlieb #latergram #sunrise #familyadventures #thailandtravel #gulfofthailand #worldbybike #worldbybike34

On day 4, we happily followed an interior route to avoid highway riding until the road unexpectedly just ended in the beach. Default mode on google maps showed a walking path close enough to the beach that we decided to take. The path was narrow and sandy that we decided to walk and later push our bicycles. We must have walked for about an hour, when all of a sudden there didn’t seem to be any trace of a trail. Default mode on google maps still showed a route, but reality seemed far from the truth. Certain that we must have strayed from the path, we kept pushing through and soon felt more lost.

The vegetation had grown denser around us with thorny plants catching our clothing and skin. My vivid imagination brought out pythons sneaking upon us. Thorns puncturing any of our tubes and being done. Or some other wild animal feeling territorial that we had encroached upon its den. Most importantly, we were almost out of water.

We reached a patch of clearing under low hanging thorny plants and while Jayaram and I tried to figure out how to get ourselves out of this sticky situation, Rudra was busy blowing his bubbles and Dharma was oblivious and just wanted to call it a day.

With the sun about to set soon, we decided there was only one way out and that was the way back. And we needed the cooperation of one key player : Dharma.
(Continued in comments)

#bicycletouring #familyadventures #surly #specialized #gulfofthailand #latergram #ortlieb

The odds of the following happening are almost bare minimal. Yet, day 3 of bicycle touring and here we were. Jayaram was getting the bicycles loaded to get rolling when he noticed his front wheel (which he was already riding without his front disk because it got bent at some point of time) had a flat. Upon further inspection, we found the valve had come right through the tube and the creative patch we tried didn’t hold up.
Atypically, we had packed just one spare tube between four adult wheels for a 10 days bicycle touring trip, thinking we would not be facing too many flats. Wrong call! Jayaram got the only spare tube fitted into the wheel, pumped it up and set it aside to get his bicycle when this newly pumped tube burst flat with a loud pop within few minutes. Examining the patch, I imagine this is what a third degree tear (if you know what I mean) would look like in the bicycling world! We tried to patch up the tear but it was beyond us.
Jayaram spent the rest of the morning locating the closest bicycle shop, got to it (with the kind help from the owner of the place we were staying who let him borrow her scooter), and decided to get his wheel adjusted (with a simple drill) to fit Schrader from the Presta valve tubes that the rest of our wheels have. Eventually we need to get all our wheels adjusted to fit Schrader valve tubes since those tubes are more commonly available (depending on which part of the world one is touring).

Thankfully there couldn’t have been a better place for this situation because the beach was literally at our footsteps. We were in a small fishing town and every morning, fishing boats go out to sea and upon return examine their catch for the day. The large and viable catch get sold, while the small catch get thrown back into the sea which wash up ashore. And so the kids and I were standing at the shore examining and collecting all sorts of sea life creatures and learning a thing or two about the ways of life in the fishing village.

One of the biggest entertainments for Rudra on our bicycle tour: bubbles. I made sure to have a readily accessible tube of bubbles in my handlebar bag at the start of every day’s ride. Rudra carefully held the source of magic with his tiny hands and kept himself and us fascinated on our rides.

Early morning breakfast was steps away from the beach so while we waited to eat, there was always something to look forward to with swings and such.

In the land of Buddhist temples, it was a surprise to spot Lord Ganesha, the Hindu elephant head God in temples and stores. Further reading pointed to Ganesha being considered as a guardian and defender in Buddhism.

#bicycletour #familybicycle #ortlieb #thuleyepp #surlytouring #specialized #thailand #gulfofthailand #watsofthailand #bubbles

Jayaram and I have been looking forward to the day we would get back on the saddle for a bicycle tour. With Dharma on her own bicycle this time, picking a fun route was key to future success.
From what we could see on google maps, and chatting with Thai warmshowers hosts, the east coast of Thailand between Sam Roi Yat towards Surat Thani held the promise of:
flat roads, tail winds, plenty of beach access and good weather.
On day one, we hung our panniers, strapped our helmets, and before the stroke of our first pedal, true to the land of coconut trees, a coconut unexpectedly dropped down from the closest tree, barely missing one of our heads, and quickly disappeared in the bushes! And in true South Indian culture, that was a sign of an auspicious start for us 🥰.
Our first ride was a success with us getting to take breaks by the beach and riding alongside monkeys from the national park along the way.
#bicycletouring #thailandtravel #gulfofthailand #samroiyatnationalpark #surly #thuleyepp #ortlieb

In San Francisco, thanks to our neighbor Vicky, we figured out the logistics of getting dropped off at the airport with all our luggage.
In Bangkok, we quickly got as far away from the city as possible in a minivan (with fancy ceiling decor) to our spacious accommodation.
We got to work right away and put our bicycles back together so we could hit the trails.
In the mean time, thanks to my jet lag, I could catch the new year fireworks!!!

What started off as a desire to be part of a family wedding celebration in Kathmandu inspired a possibility to squeeze in a 10 days bicycle tour in Thailand.
The last few days and nights before we head off into the new adventure look like this with Rudra too excited to fall asleep and would rather camp on top of Jayaram while he tunes up the bicycles. And us transporting three bicycles boxes in our car.
Highlights of this upcoming bicycle tour include:
1) touring internationally as a family of four
2) Dharma riding her own bicycle
3) navigating the logistics of transporting our own boxed bicycles through multiple flights

Quick update: Since we completed our bike tour in 2021, we returned to our home base in Alameda, California, set up home, work and added one more to our family of three. Rudra recently completed one year and we celebrated it the best way we know: embarking on a short bike ride to the nearby Angel Island State Park. Dharma with her own single speed bike climbed hills, pushed the bike where she could not ride and was confident in her downhill cruising. Dharma has been a natural at biking and by the looks of it is ready for her next bike touring adventure.
#familybicycle #kidsonbikes #surlybikes #thule #ortlieb #bicycletouring

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Alameda, California, USA

natarajan.jayaram@gmail.com or aasana28@gmail.com

Journal documenting experiences of a bicycle touring family in California & Mexico

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Our Bike Tour : Part 3

Our Bike Tour : Part 2

Our Bike Tour : Resting in oasis town of Mulege

Bicycle touring southbound from Alameda,CA

Note : This website is designed to solely keep journal records/memories of our experiences while bike touring and share it with friends and family. Subscribers will only receive e-mail notifications of any new blog updates (of which will be around 1-2 times a month)

CONTACT