The Great Raigad Trip

It was quite some time I had spent planning a cycling trip which intended to go through the routes covering maximum number of Ghats. The route was all decided, and the approximate distance of the journey was 1000km. The next was to rope my two companions yash, Antony and hope that the plan does not change till the day of ride.

The first fallout happened as Yash backed out because of urgent work commitments. However, I and Antony were all set to go for the ride. Now it was just two of us and then the wise words of Antony which made me realize I was not capable of 1000kms even if I am in good shape. We cut the trip to 3 days to cover 500km. Though I was not much happy with this decision, but Antony had logic considering heat weather and being practical.

Day 1- Meet a Friend

The day arrived since it was just two of us, we packed our stuff in our saddle Tour bags and were off from Vasai at 7 am (this was a mistake) on a Monday. The target was to reach Mahad, where the Friend was waiting in his beautiful village. And we rode through first 100km crossing Thane, Panvel and reaching to Pen via all the crazy traffic. By the time we were in Pen the temperatures were 41 degrees and I was particularly dehydrated with an unwillingness to ride. This was the moment I realized how foolish I was to think of doing 1000km and we had probably crossed just 130 km.

After some discussion between me and Antony we decided that I was unable to ride we should go back home, but luck was with us, the Friend called and said rather than “going back home in some transports, why don’t you come over to my place which was just 60 km more and was on highway”.

I had taken a week off for this ride and did not wanted to go back home. So, I convinced Antony to go to Friend’s place.

Now it was 5 pm and we met our friend Sagar who took us to his village, assisted by some of his friends. The moment we entered the place, we were more than happy that we agreed to Sagar’s Invitation. The classic Village has fields, mountains, river and this was no different. It was a wonderful evening, I had recovered and during bed time we decided to visit Raigadh fort the next day and take a break from riding.

Day 2- Raigadh Fort

The day was all about embracing the village life and introspection of Sagar’s grandmother statement “love is everything”. This was no philosophical ride, but my 63-year-old young partner had some good discussion over the night where the grandmother mentioned she has never been outside the village and yet she is so happy in the present. Anyways we were off to visit Raigadh fort. Evenings were spent on a boat ride in the river and in the fields where my Techie Friend. Sagar grows his own food by his bare hands reflecting the simplicity of Life. We were treated with a special dinner, family meet and some discussions over the food.

With the night taking over the charge we had to take decision either to ride or go back by taking Public transport next day. After some discussions we decided to ride on the planned route.

Day 3-The challenge

This was our day, and meticulously planned. We were on our bike by 5.15 am, it was dark but very peaceful at the same time. The road was all welcoming to our next milestone which was the base of Varandha Ghat. After an hour in the ride me and Antony we both realized that all is good we are in good shape and can ride without worrying of distance. This was going to change soon.

Varandha ghat is a beautiful climb and with amazing views. We were on roll on the climbs, pedaling was difficult but still enjoyable and then after good 15 km of uphill riding the roads went bad. The initial thought was this is just a small section because we could see the topmost point of the ghat road. Anyways now we were at the top having tea and enjoying the view without much thinking what's ahead.

Our next milestone was to reach Bhor (which was about 40km). And here we realized the road conditions were not at all for bicycle ride, moreover we were on road bikes with Sleek tires. Though we had spares but how much we would need could not be anticipated, since the next 30 km was same. It was interesting and tiring to ride on these roads. But this was our day, we managed the road without single puncture.

The other challenge which was there was the roads for next 40 km was just uphill, downhill at all sections with no Flat. And one cannot speed on downhill because the roads had stones, pebbles.

For next 40 km it was all about concentrating on the ride and managing the bike to not get a heavy impact. But one thing was common since morning, the scenic views and peace. After good 2-3 hrs of riding, we are at Bhor chowk, expectation of lunch had to be replaced with special Misal thali of Bhor which was amazing on any day but for the day where there is still 60 -70 km of riding to be done, it was not much exciting. However, we had whatever we can and then we were off to pune.

We reached pune round 6 pm and exactly at our destination to Chetan’s place around 7.30 pm happy and tired. Chetan bhaiyya as usual met me like his younger brother with love, affection and treated us with quite a lavish dinner at Restaurant which we would have never gone by self.

Day 4 - Return To Home

The next day started little late with a Irani tea at Baner. At 7 am we were on highway towards vasai, this was going to be just a long day as we had to cover close to 190 km. We should have realized that 7 am is late for a cycling ride, the heat takes on you quickly you never realizing it. And the same happened by the time we reached khandala. We took break to ate heavy at kamat’s while planning what to do next, Now the whole ride was going to be inside the city chaos. There was a part of us wanted to avoid cycling and hop on next tempo, shed some money, and just go home.

But the Cyclist inside voiced it as cheating to self, and we were off on our bikes. However, from this point it was downhill getting down the ghats it was just about tackling the bike speed till khapoli. Once we were at khapoli, then we just pedaled motivated by onlookers and other companions on road appreciating our riding. Some of the bikers, car drivers came close to us hearing about our ride story for a while and respecting it. Some were also like why would you do that its 42 degrees ? Whichever it was, we were motivated and just rode crossing few climbs and finally reaching Ghodbunder road by evening 5 pm. From this point it was all mechanical, just pedal and reach home ,eventually we were at home by 8.30 pm.

This ride was good experience and lesson for both of us. Antony is seasoned rider who rides 200km any given day within 10 hrs on his Steel frame and here we were on road bike tackling the routes and distance. Summarizing Touring is separate concept in altogether, passion drives one, but it would not be cool to attempt without giving it a decent practice.