The idea of cycling came to my mind from the time I witnessed “European" cyclists during my motorbike expedition to Ladakh. So, I eventually made it to Karjat through the village of Saple for a cycling trip of 45kms.
December 20, 2009
‘Nothing beats an early Sunday morning cycle ride amidst trees, sun, and sweat’ is what I thought, as I headed out of my apartment at 5:15a.m. When I got into the car I found the people (Gurdeep, Vinay, Swapnil) to be somewhat sleepy and not that interested to be awake at that hour of a Sunday morning. It was a reasonably straightforward ride out to the main road to the highway. Mind you, things are NEVER straightforward when driving in Mumbai - you'll be given instructions to drive straight ahead, all the way to wherever you want to get to, only to invariably find yourself at an unmarked T-intersection. I really didn't have a clue where we were, till we picked up Vikram and Mitesh from Sion. Now, we were seven of us in the car including our driver for the day.
We were heading towards Karjat and I was quite aware of the fact that the roads in India are tough to cycle. Attempt to overtake and pushing you off the road is common and you're given little or no quarter by the bus & truck drivers (although you'll sometimes get the positive thumbs up from them when they see you struggling while going uphill). Often cars will be zooming past with only inches to spare, almost brushing the bike in their frenzied dash for liberation. With all this running on my mind and several other discussions in parallel with Gurdeep, Mitesh, and Vikram we reached Lucky’s Restaurant, Karjat. It was a pleasant site. After a good and satisfying breakfast we all got onto our bicycles... excitement was at its pinnacle and I could not miss thinking of this line by Gusteau in the movie Ratatouille "If you get stuck thinking about what you left behind or lost, you’ll never see what is in front of you." I guess life is so much like biking... To maintain the balance you have to just keep moving. With a smile on my lips and a spark in my heart I started off along with the group!
For the initial 1km, traffic was banked up in both directions and we quietly pedalled to sneak through the cars, trucks, motorbikes, and buses. The next 25-28km was not a hard stretch of road to cycle, or maybe it was all part of the charm of the place, light weight 24 geared mountain bikes, helmets, and the high energy levels. The road went across bridges over streams, most of which were largely dry and also passed small villages with countable number of huts. Actually after a while it was just us on the road and I pedalled off, enjoying the freedom from traffic behind me. The short, quick breaks, for rest, water, and photography were neat! There's this odd phenomenon I noticed: you'll often hear "Hey!" being yelled out - in an insistent, tone. It'll either be a farmer, yelling instructions to his bullock, or some children waving, and who, on seeing you cycle past are expecting that you'll suddenly stop cycling & immediately head over to them. Sometimes they smile and exchange eye contact if you do stop & look in the direction. Frankly speaking, it was a concerning sight for us when we saw slightly slow vehicles (like a slow truck, or an old man with the bullock & cart) coming towards us.
In parts it was quite stony bitumen with high resistance making cycling seem much harder than it should. Sometimes we even had to pedal hard downhill, as the bike won't easily roll on this stuff. In fact, it sometimes seemed I was in one of those anomalous gravitational areas you hear of, where vehicles allegedly roll uphill (yes, you got it right – ‘The Magnetic Hill, Leh’ haha I have not gotten over my Ladakh trip). Here, some roads seemed to be going uphill, but you find yourself rolling along without need for pedalling; others seem downhill but stop pedalling and you rapidly come to a halt. Spooky! It wasn't too bad though!!!
For the last 6-8km, which was rocky dirt road and the mindlessness of the traffic - impatient drivers not content to wait (perhaps to get to the front), it was a bone-jarring, buttock-battering, ‘why don't they fix this road’, and ‘I wish there was some background music’, kind of wavering thoughts. And then we touched Lucky’s Restaurant again! What a treat (quite amusing)! A warm, victorious smile on everyone’s lips, like it symbolized ‘We did it’!!! Post lunch we headed back to Mumbai. Lunch was good too and is worth the mention.
Now the sun went down, the whole town is quiet - hardly any noise, here I am sitting in the comfort of my home post the adrenaline rush all through the day, I give profound thanks to Sumit (Below Banyan), our guides (Santosh, Bhavesh, and Akshay) and the entire group (Gurdeep, Mitesh, Suruchi, Swapnil, Vandana, Vikram, Vinay, and Vishal) for making this trip an exhilarating one. I enjoyed every single moment of it! There was a sense of freedom, and it was eventful and exciting being among the participants. Hope everyone else did too!
Life is the ’seat’ of all that is manifested for us. Bear it with love and care, for it provides more than what we may or can at times imagine. I feel blessed that I'm fit & well, although a bit sleepy and worm. So, good night dearest all.. remain with me.. you are my strength and I love you!
