Cycle Savari - An Adventure to Remember
It came to me as an impromptu invitation to be part of an adventurous cycle trip from my colleague Reyaz. This event plan was spread like a wild fire amongst other colleagues, with their friends and with their friend's friends. It summed up to a strength of 18 initially, including 4 in a car as rescue-team. Dealt with several mail-threads and reminders, the plan ended up as a ride to Manchanabele from IISC Bangalore with latter being the point for our rendezvous on the planned night.
Amidst sleepy feeling we (I, Bheem & Ani with Vikas, Raghu & Naveen) kick-started around 10:40PM and reached IISc Gate precisely at 11:30PM as planned.
The cycle mechanic assembled cycles, we tested one after the other. Bugs on brakes/pedals/wheels/gears were reported & were fixed. Seats with out cushion was accentuated by all, but still we were helpless. It was a major bug that was adamant at taking us down after a few hours. It was temporarily decorated with towels, blankets etc., to save our haunches. We finally started pedaling after an incessant testing around 1:00AM. I realized that I was actually missing my motor-bike. I was either trying to accelerate, look at an imaginary mirror for rear view or honk with the cycle. It took a while for me to get accustomed to it. We had not even completed a Km and there was Naveen fixing his pedal which had come out. Turning the bolt into the pedal was fixed temporarily by a local engineer but later we found out that Naveen had tampered the pedal with dents as he had implemented fix-it-by-hitting-a-stone algorithm. Even the slow moving lorries showed their back by overtaking us unlike the one happens with motor bikes. The initial ride itself is good enough to give you a little massage to your wrists, shoulders and lower-back. Well, you will get used to all of these in a while. Then the pedaling turned smooth until you rest and pedal back. Out of 18 guys among us, we were parted into 4 different groups, in the search of the destination. Kengeri was the first milestone and we had taken four possible routes. I and Ani took the one which was uphill. Due to our helmets, dogs barked and even chased us. We were pedaling at tortoise's pace on uphill no matter how many dogs were running after us. Actually, we had only that much of energy. We both pedaled fast because of the initial zeal and reached Kengeri. We sat near an ATM center and waited for other three teams to assemble. We waited and slept, there was no other thought as we just needed a space to park ourselves.
After an hour of waiting, we got to know that all other teams were reaching our first milestone. We started again. It was then we realized how badly our pelvic regions were damaged. Even the slightest touch of the bike seat reminded us of our parts. Then something amazing happened.
I(looking at surroundings): This is a very nice area man. Developed a lot.
Ani: Yes, this is old, but there is other area which is much better and newly developed. Come this side dogs might catch.
I: Yeah sure. This is very dark man, can't see a thing.
Ani: Careful, on this flyover there is a pothole. It is very big and bad. I am not sure if it is repaired now.
I(riding very slowly): Sure... Ouch!!
I was on ground. Ani witnessed my fall and in another second he too was on ground with his leg struck between handle and brake. We had no idea what had happened and apparently we were the victims to the pothole. We met the rescue car-team and other lost teammates and started again after refreshments and some taunts on my great fall. It was a hard time pedaling on a highway. Wherever there was no light, we pedaled blindly. Whilst we halted for a cup of tea around 4.00AM, Naveen's cycle had given up its pedal. So he had to hop onto the car by parking his broken cycle at a local shop. Lucky guy. Reyaz was pedaling with a team enthusiastically that he had overtaken the right turn we were supposed to reach Manchanabele. He had to find a longer route to reach the destination. Bheem's cycle chain was broken and so we pushed our cycles to the entry of the Manchanabele road and waited for yet-again-lost guys. We were exhausted so much that, I had actually slept on Karnataka's flag pole base watching the sky. It was early in the morning when people came and woke us up reminding me of the pending nightmare. Most of us felt like going back home or to sleep on the ground. I got into the car donating my bike to Zameer and reached the destination. After reaching, the first thing that we did was to install a tent and sleep. I had not realized until other cyclist reached us. I woke up from the deep slumber after extreme heat from the greenhouse effect.
It was then the time for swimming. Chilly water on a scorching sunlight was eccentric as it gave us anti-amphibian feel (stay neither on land nor in water). After a while, water was soothing and took away our pain/exhaustion. Some swam, some tried, some dived, some watched, some splashed and some bathed. We even had breakfast in the lake. Hot idli and fried rice with a cold Fanta was lifesaving. We decided to play games which eventually ended up into jokes. After all these events, the time was just 11:00AM. It was disheartening, we had felt as if it was mid-afternoon. The sunlight drove us from the place, in search of a shady area. That is how we began our retreat from the destination after eating/drinking a lot of things present in the car.
A complete uphill with scorching heat was good enough to give us mild sun-stroke. Sun and Gravity were our greatest enemies then. It took us a long 2 hours just to pedal 4Km. The journey was simple, pedal for 50meters, find a tree, park bikes and rest. Start and repeat it. Pedaling did not work clambering the uphill. So, we pushed the bikes unless there was a down-slope. We drank and ate and drank and drank a lot of fluids, ironically nothing came out. We had lunch at a local restaurant enjoying mockery from the people around on our greatest endeavor and started again. After a short ride, we found Big-Banyan tree. Aha, it was the best place with a lot of shades and Greenery. We rested in a sequential manner. After this 50+Km journey one thing was obvious that we were not in a state to ride any further. We somehow cajoled the cycle owner to come and collect his cycles at Mysore road itself.
At Banyan-tree we witnessed a SERIOUS fun amongst tired-of-waiting-rescue-car-team and tired-of-pedaling-under-sun-bike-team. It seemed ugly and yet enjoyable. The final bug stopped at one thing, non-coordination i.e., at me while I smiling and enjoying the fight. The transcript was similar to this,
Post event effect was not severe. A few faced tiredness and a little body pain. That was it. Everyone expressed that they loved the event, including me. Some came up with suggestions with a better plan for the future. It was one of the most adventurous/memorable thing.
Do's/Don't for Cycling Enthusiasts:
The cycle mechanic assembled cycles, we tested one after the other. Bugs on brakes/pedals/wheels/gears were reported & were fixed. Seats with out cushion was accentuated by all, but still we were helpless. It was a major bug that was adamant at taking us down after a few hours. It was temporarily decorated with towels, blankets etc., to save our haunches. We finally started pedaling after an incessant testing around 1:00AM. I realized that I was actually missing my motor-bike. I was either trying to accelerate, look at an imaginary mirror for rear view or honk with the cycle. It took a while for me to get accustomed to it. We had not even completed a Km and there was Naveen fixing his pedal which had come out. Turning the bolt into the pedal was fixed temporarily by a local engineer but later we found out that Naveen had tampered the pedal with dents as he had implemented fix-it-by-hitting-a-stone algorithm. Even the slow moving lorries showed their back by overtaking us unlike the one happens with motor bikes. The initial ride itself is good enough to give you a little massage to your wrists, shoulders and lower-back. Well, you will get used to all of these in a while. Then the pedaling turned smooth until you rest and pedal back. Out of 18 guys among us, we were parted into 4 different groups, in the search of the destination. Kengeri was the first milestone and we had taken four possible routes. I and Ani took the one which was uphill. Due to our helmets, dogs barked and even chased us. We were pedaling at tortoise's pace on uphill no matter how many dogs were running after us. Actually, we had only that much of energy. We both pedaled fast because of the initial zeal and reached Kengeri. We sat near an ATM center and waited for other three teams to assemble. We waited and slept, there was no other thought as we just needed a space to park ourselves.
After an hour of waiting, we got to know that all other teams were reaching our first milestone. We started again. It was then we realized how badly our pelvic regions were damaged. Even the slightest touch of the bike seat reminded us of our parts. Then something amazing happened.
I(looking at surroundings): This is a very nice area man. Developed a lot.
Ani: Yes, this is old, but there is other area which is much better and newly developed. Come this side dogs might catch.
I: Yeah sure. This is very dark man, can't see a thing.
Ani: Careful, on this flyover there is a pothole. It is very big and bad. I am not sure if it is repaired now.
I(riding very slowly): Sure... Ouch!!
I was on ground. Ani witnessed my fall and in another second he too was on ground with his leg struck between handle and brake. We had no idea what had happened and apparently we were the victims to the pothole. We met the rescue car-team and other lost teammates and started again after refreshments and some taunts on my great fall. It was a hard time pedaling on a highway. Wherever there was no light, we pedaled blindly. Whilst we halted for a cup of tea around 4.00AM, Naveen's cycle had given up its pedal. So he had to hop onto the car by parking his broken cycle at a local shop. Lucky guy. Reyaz was pedaling with a team enthusiastically that he had overtaken the right turn we were supposed to reach Manchanabele. He had to find a longer route to reach the destination. Bheem's cycle chain was broken and so we pushed our cycles to the entry of the Manchanabele road and waited for yet-again-lost guys. We were exhausted so much that, I had actually slept on Karnataka's flag pole base watching the sky. It was early in the morning when people came and woke us up reminding me of the pending nightmare. Most of us felt like going back home or to sleep on the ground. I got into the car donating my bike to Zameer and reached the destination. After reaching, the first thing that we did was to install a tent and sleep. I had not realized until other cyclist reached us. I woke up from the deep slumber after extreme heat from the greenhouse effect.
It was then the time for swimming. Chilly water on a scorching sunlight was eccentric as it gave us anti-amphibian feel (stay neither on land nor in water). After a while, water was soothing and took away our pain/exhaustion. Some swam, some tried, some dived, some watched, some splashed and some bathed. We even had breakfast in the lake. Hot idli and fried rice with a cold Fanta was lifesaving. We decided to play games which eventually ended up into jokes. After all these events, the time was just 11:00AM. It was disheartening, we had felt as if it was mid-afternoon. The sunlight drove us from the place, in search of a shady area. That is how we began our retreat from the destination after eating/drinking a lot of things present in the car.
At Banyan-tree we witnessed a SERIOUS fun amongst tired-of-waiting-rescue-car-team and tired-of-pedaling-under-sun-bike-team. It seemed ugly and yet enjoyable. The final bug stopped at one thing, non-coordination i.e., at me while I smiling and enjoying the fight. The transcript was similar to this,
Only thing you had to do was to wait. We waited and we are friends not some service providers. We missed you while cycling. Can you pedal without lunch in this heat? Well, how would I know, I have never done one. If you want to go, then GO, but without the car. Then, drop me to the bus stop. There it is. Okay. Okay. Angry Face. Angry Face.I had had enough fun and jumped in and terminated it. After the fusillade of words, some car-team guys pedaled to get beads of sweat on their forehead. And we finally reached Mysore road at 5:00PM. We waited for the owner to collect bikes. And a few pedaled another 8Km until exhaustion crept under their skin. We then reached our respective homes by bus/motor-bikes/cars. Freshen Up. Eat. Sleep.
Post event effect was not severe. A few faced tiredness and a little body pain. That was it. Everyone expressed that they loved the event, including me. Some came up with suggestions with a better plan for the future. It was one of the most adventurous/memorable thing.
Do's/Don't for Cycling Enthusiasts:
- Wear padded shorts.
- Select an appropriate distance for your round trip.
- Make sure you get enough rest in between arrival and departure.
- Carry a lot of fluids. A lot.
- Try avoiding to choose hot & sunny day for pedaling.
- Know your bike health properly before you start your trip.
Blogging is the new poetry. I find it wonderful and amazing in many ways.
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