Cycling Club Thenmala

About this event

Cycling Club Thenmala is a monthly group bicycle ride that meets at the visitors centre in Thenmala, eastern Kollam. It is a meetup of people who already have bicycles. It is not a race, and it is not a ticket to the ecotourism zones. You do not collect a start number, and you do not buy a zone entry in order to ride.

Thenmala means honey hill. It is India's first planned ecotourism destination, beside Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary and the Parappar dam on the Kallada River. The centre has culture, leisure, and adventure zones, including a butterfly safari. Those are separate visits, with their own gates. A zone ticket is not a start sheet for the ride. The visitors centre is a meeting point. It is not a hire shop, and it is not a mechanic's bay. If your tube is flat, the centre is not obliged to mend it.

The roads include the ghat highway. There are climbs, descents, and bends, shared with buses, lorries, and local traffic. Rain and mist change a bend quickly. A dry morning in the town can still be wet on the hill. Riders bring their own bicycles. No loop length is fixed in advance. The group might stay on the highway for a short out-and-back, or it might go farther if the people who turned up agree. The sanctuary and the dam are not permission to leave the public road. A fence, a forest track, and a dam wall are not part of the meetup.

The meetup is on the first Saturday of the month. A few friends leaving together can be the whole group. There may be no leader in a jersey, and no sweep rider at the back. Brakes, tyres, water, and a way to be seen in poor light sit with the rider. A light or a pale shirt matters if the ride runs into cloud or into the late afternoon. Nobody is assigned to carry your bottle.

Aryankavu railway station is about 13 kilometres from Thenmala. Thiruvananthapuram International Airport is about 81 kilometres away. Buses stop at the Thenmala bus stop. Rooms named for the area are Thenmala Ecoresort, Kandamath Heritage Resort, and Thenmala Heritage. A night in one of them does not enter you in the ride, and the hotels do not supply the bicycles.

A rider who turns up without a bicycle is a spectator, and the meetup is not organised for spectators. Check brakes and tyres the day before. The ghat does not forgive a soft brake on a descent shared with lorries. The first Saturday can be a small group. If you need the ride to be long, ask before you commit. A short out-and-back is still the meetup. Aryankavu is the railway, about 13 kilometres from town, and the bus stop is Thenmala itself. Leave the sanctuary and the dam for their own visits. The visitors centre is only the meeting point.

Zone tickets are sold for other visits. They do not put your name on this ride, and the visitors centre will not lend you a machine. If the first Saturday is wet on the ghat, the sensible question is whether anyone is still meeting, not whether the sanctuary road has opened for bicycles.

Ask at the Thenmala visitors centre whether a ride is meeting, how far it is likely to go, who is leading if anyone is, and whether a visitor with their own bicycle may join. The first Saturday is the day to ask about. It is not a ride every morning of the month, and an empty centre means the meetup is not on.

🚆 Railway: Aryankavu Railway Station — approximately 13 km from Thenmala.

✈️ Airport: Thiruvananthapuram International Airport is approximately 81 km from Thenmala.

🚌 Bus: Thenmala bus stop.

🏨 Stay: Thenmala Ecoresort, Kandamath Heritage Resort and Thenmala Heritage are nearby stay options.

✅ Notes: Thenmala village. Dates in this sheet are the listing window (12/1/2026 to 12/31/2026), not a confirmed daily show.