Cycling Trip

When I first heard about this cycling trip, frankly the thought of cycling for 50 kms at a stretch tripped me off. Though I enjoy adventure but I thought this was a bit too much for me to handle especially because I hadn't sat on a cycle for last fifteen yrs. I wasn't even sure if I would be able to keep balance leave alone cycle for 50 kms. So I spoke to the organisers , shared my fears and the idea of having a backup vehicle following us gave me some relief. I had almost made up my mind to spend most of the journey in the backup bus enjoying the view in case my stamina gave up too soon.

We had to collect at Shivaji Park at 5:15 am. I live an hr away from that place (by mumbai traffic standards). So I woke up at 3:30 am, showered and got ready for the pre-booked meru cab which arrived an hr later and fifteen minutes after that I stood outside the Shiv Sena bhavan surrounded by policemen. I was half an hr early. It was still dark, slowly people began to arrive one by one and then did a huge lorry which unloaded our sports bikes. These had just come back from a manali-leh trip! We were told to choose our bikes and helmets. I chose the short ladies' bike and thought of pratising a bit. As expected, within a few minutes it felt quite ok. The bikes were sturdy, light, had huge wheels and gears on both sides (hi tech!). We had the roll call and one by one rolled off.

We went along the SV road and reached bandra carter road. By now, it had beautifully dawned. I had also got over my nervousness of cycling and started enjoying the lovely sunday morning. First stop was at Juhu beach and I was the second last to arrive :( They gave us some breakfast packets, fruits and we refilled our bottles with water and tang. The ride continued on posh Juhu Tara road. It all looked so beautiful in the morning, more than it does on a happening weekend night. By now I was one of the frontrunners :)

Next stop was versova beach (dirty! and fishy!). We loaded our cycles onto the jetty and came to Madh Island. The entire route inside the island was very picturesque. Narrow lanes with trees on either sides, lakes filled with lotuses, palm trees, old houses, hills and more greens even till farsight. It did not seem like I was in Mumbai at all. There was a rustic appeal to this small village. The route went uphill and downhill and took all curves. Next was another jetty to Manori island. We picked some mirch, pyyaz and aloo pakoras and loaded ourselves and bikes once again to the jetty. From here I could see the Golden Pagoda. We got down at Manori and biked some more till we reached Gorai beach. Beach was or rather looked clean.

By now it was quite sunny and arond 11 am. I had been cycling for 4 hrs now and was dead tired. Infact more than legs it was my ass that was hurting and same for all people. We all wondered why they couldn't have a better technology for the seats. How long can one sit on a small triangle? Anyways I biked a few more kms and then gave up some 6-7 kms short of the destination (Bhyander) not because I couldn't do it but because I wanted to be practical , not kill myself and there was nothing to prove to anybody and I wanted to be healthy enough to be able to take the local next day to work. I cooly went and sat in the backup bus which already had 5-6 people by now. We were 30 in all. That was the end of the cycling for the day and the bus took us back to where we had started. The trip ended with a sumptuos and hearty lunch at Oven Fresh and I came home to collapse.