Taking our fleet from Pune to Belgaum was just the beginning of a great five day road trip. With the second leg of the journey we promised our participants a lot more in terms of driving terrain as well as a surprise workout!
We left Belgaum early in the morning for our 210 kilometre run to Gokarna. It sounds short compared to the 330km we had covered the previous day, however with a long ghat section involved, it meant that speeds would be kept slow as we wanted to ensure that we got to our destination safe.
With the Freestyles all packed and ready to go, we set out along the highway and turned off near Dharward for the drive into Gokarna. The road conditions changed dramatically and we had to deal with some portions where no road existed. Needless to say, it was a good thing that we were in the Freestyle for the ample ground clearance meant that we got through without bottoming out even once! Much like the workouts we had planned for this trip, this leg of the journey seemed like a workout for the Freestyle and it came shining through.
Along the way we stopped for our surprise workout. Since we were going freestyle and weren’t carrying any equipment for this trip, we decided that a great workout would be to push the car up an incline! A pre-decided empty stretch of road was the ideal location for this fitness test and I think that the participants were secretly happy that the Freestyle doesn’t weigh all that much. However, the incline did its bit to give them a nice opportunity to work their legs!
We got back on the road post the workout and the drive took us through a rather scenic part of India. With forests on both sides and a nice stretch of tarmac (finally), it was driving bliss and everyone was in their element. The comfortable cabin of the Freestyle meant that some participants even squeezed in a nap as their colleagues drove!
We reached Gokarna by late evening and immediately headed to the pool for the evening workout session. As challenging as the day had been, the pool at the resort was the ultimate way to end day two.
To read about the first day click here.