Life moves slow as you
cycle. You get to know every dent on the tarmac and the trail that
you are on; every bit of ascent and descent, every stone and every
small little pothole. You can also feel the muscles working in your
body straining to put in the effort to move on ahead. But, more
importantly you can feel life move in front of you ever so slowly and
you get the time and the urge and the patience to look at everything.
This is the part of cycling that I love; that things move slow and
you get the opportunity to take it in all in and enjoy the fullness
of the picture its all making. And as I write this, I listen to the
beautiful song ‘cycling trivialities’ by José González, its almost got nothing to
do with cycling but it lent itself nicely to the title of the post!
A
few years ago, Elrika and I decided that we would cycle one day to
Goa but couldn’t believe it ourselves. For its quite a long ride
and we had done a maximum of 70 km per day during an occasional
weekend. The thought was revisited when I purchased a bicycle rack
and panniers for my trusty 9 year old rockrider bicycle. Back in
2010, spending twice the amount I earn in a month on a bike itself
was a daring move! But I am so glad I did not settle for any less,
the bike has since done about three thousand km and still rides well. Anyway, back to the thought of a Goa cycling trip. Given our
fitness levels, and the fact that I once tried to cycle from Bangalore to the
neighbouring city Mysore that was 140 km away and fell 20 km short, I doubted we will go.
Couple of sureshot mistakes I made: I carried my 8 kg backpack which
got my back sore and I left at 10 am, so the sun got the better of
me! Yet, the trip to Goa just remained a pleasant imagination to
indulge in for a long while.
Last
month, my friend Mathew (Matty) messaged a bunch of us that he
intends to cycle to Goa and one of us has to come along since
otherwise his family would shelve the plan! I thought it over a few
minutes, chatted with Elrika, and in just a few moments we were in!
It was a 550 km ride that had to be planned meticulously. As the day
approached, Matty suggested an even better idea that we drive up on
the highway till the Decathlon store in Hubli and then bike it from
there to Goa. Using google maps, I planned a route of about 300 km
that passes over the Western Ghats through four wildlife sanctuaries
and a swathe of reserve and unprotected forests in between. One good
hack that Matty knew was that selecting walking directions to a place
on google maps gives good bike route options, given that we wanted to
avoid most highways which are not safe for bike riding. I also made
calls to book places to stay for the four nights during the journey,
we were all set.
I
had to then plan the load I would carry for this journey. Since I had
made the mistake of carrying an overload on my bike the last time,
this time I planned everything well. My list included: Two 1.5
l bottles, 3 sets of clothes + socks, slippers, running shoes(wishful
thinking that I would run in the evenings!), binoculars, bluetooth
speaker and charger, towel, Ipad & keyboard (wishful thinking
that I would work!), medical kit, bike repair and cleaning kit, 2
extra tubes, matchbox and lighter and a bedsheet. All this went on
one handlebar bag, a small shoulder bag and two pannier bags of 15
litres each. All of it together weighed in at about 8 kg, quite a
load! Still, I was happy with my packing.
On
the day of the drive to Hubli and the ride on ahead, Matty arrived at
about 5 am and we packed the frames of our three bicycles on the car
rack meticulously and put all the tyres in the boot and backseat
which took us thirty minutes and we took off for the five day journey planned ahead. Was a pleasant ride full of conversations
and excitement about the bike ride coming up. By 12 we felt a bit
sleepy and stopped over a Coffee Day for a coffee and quick lunch.
There we met Mohammad who has been cycling tens of thousands of km
around India in his Hercules cycle he nicely rigged up for long
trips. Here he is telling us about his logistics and we were awed by
his endurance, strength and perseverance. 
As
I was chatting with Mohammad, I received a call from my mother. I
figured she must be worried since we were driving and she was calling
in to check on us. To my bewilderment, she told me that my
well-packed pannier bags were left by the gate of our home. In all
the packing of bicycles, I had forgotten to put the panniers in! In
my mind, a levee broke and the ideas to fix this came gushing
through. A mental list was being also made simultaeneously about
which of the stuff was crucial; I was throwing away the ipad &
keyboard, bluetooth speaker and some other items from the ‘required
items’ list and thinking of alternatives that can be purchased in
Decathlon, Hubli. In a couple minutes, we all started laughing at how stupid I was! More about the next five days of the trip and experiences coming up soon!
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