A Late Post, But Sinhagad With College Friends, Bike And Hike

Terrain, Google Maps.

So, thanks to Facebook, we came to know about a cycle ride to Lavasa and a couple of friends and I were interested in going. One of us three (Vatsal), is already a pro cyclist and a runner in top form completing marathons after marathons.

I spoke to a dear friend of mine, Kaustubh, who studies at Hyderabad and told him about our plan. He warned me it was pretty difficult. He told me it was roughly twice the difficulty level of going to Sinhagad by cycle. Sure, the one way distance seems just 57 kilometres approximately, but the last ghat is the one that most cyclists fear. Both, upstream and downstream :P, for obvious reasons.

So, I proposed we try going to Sinhagad, and check how we fare there on cycle and then think about Lavasa. However, Vatsal was convinced he was going for Lavasa and we respected his call. So, the plan was made and Yash and I decided to go to Sinhagad by cycle. Rest of my friends decided to drive to the base camp by scooter.

So, we decided to leave at 4:30 AM, since we would be cycling. Yash, came over to my place for the night before and we slept considerably late. Around 00:15. And I'm impressed we were out at 4:48 AM. Hormones are an amusing substances I think. They get you high and pumped when it's time. On a normal day, I won't be able to wake up at 6;00 AM even on sleeping at 10:00 PM but being up at 4:20 AM and out the door shortly was an amazing feeling.

Ignore the estimated time. It is the traffic during the day.

It was pretty dark we thought. The society street lamps were misleading indicators. We both had small lights mounted on our bikes. I had a Btwinn Vio, tail lamp on the blinker mode and a white light on my handlebar ahead. It was hardly bright. I gave Yash my other light and it was considerably brighter. We had to cover a distance of 28 kilometeres and we were pumped. It was my new Merida's first big ride afterall.

We decided to go via Warje. It was pretty cold. Around 17 degree celsius at nearly 5 in the morning.

The main road, Karve Road was decently light. Activities on the road were a minimum too. Early to rise paper and milk distribution teams were getting ready on various corners of the main road. We were smoothly cruising at nearly 25-30 km/h on the main roads. Yash was on his Mountain Bike, Fuji Nevada, a 27 inch wheel rough and tough mountian bike while I was using my Hybrid Merida Crossway, with 28 inch wheels.

We both had our Strava applications on and were tracking our ride. As we entered Warje Village, I began getting a sense of the gradient that we had never experienced whilst driving to our farmhouse from the very same road. So, cycling does indeed give you a feel of the road in true sense.

Then, as we crossed Warje village, the lights totally went out. Not that there were too many cars on the road, but there were civilians on their morning walks, vegetable vendors offloading their produce and even small kids around. We had our White Lights on but the road was a mystery to us. We couldn't see the tarmac so the potholes on the road were another story altogether. I was periodically using the Hydraulic Lockout option on my fork but I advise keeping the fork unlocked when you don't know the road in front of you. The sudden pothole makes you jump off your seat :P, for all the wrong reasons.

The apt way to summarize it for a guy : If you don't have a gel pant or a gel seat cover for your saddle or both, you'd be playing ping pong with your seat, almost every now and then throughout the journey.

ISO 1250 can't lighten this up either.

We then crossed Shivane and Uttam Nagar at a steady speed. The roads were pretty smooth as we started touching NDA Road and we were cruising. We had to take a right towards the bridge across Mutha River and that would connect us to Sinhagad Road. A visit on google just told me it was the Kudje Khadakvasala Link Road. We spotted the intersection in good time and took a left but it was totally dark. The darkest I've ever seen a road. This is how it nearly was. I'm pretty sure Yash won't deny as I was trailing him.

Link Road, Camera FLASH on.

The road was flanked by trees on both sides and it was peacefully scary. We kept on going until we were on a bridge that took us acorss the river and the magnificent Khadakvasala dam was on our right. We didn't stop for photographs but it was a grand sight.

The Sky, ISO 1250, 

We even passed a cemetery on the way to add to the horror early morning. And then, we were on the other side. We stopped by the road to have a quick status update on our phones and we were staring at the backwaters of Khadakvasala.

The road and our surroundings were a spooky feeling, but the sky was A MASTERSTROKE. It was a sight to behold. A sight to sleep and stare it. The perfect stargazing sky. We weren't carrying professional cameras but I made a modest attempt at trying to capture the beauty of the sky. It was 100 times brighter and elegantly lit than my picture portrays.

First halt. That's Yash. Fuji (R) and Merida (L). Say hi.

Then, we met our gang who had reached on their Scooters. They took the lead from that point and would wait at the base camp. So, Strava has a feature called Auto Pause. And Auto Resume. However, even after cycling for another 8 kilometers, Strava was still paused for me. A moment that made me want to throw away my phone but Yash's phone wasn't acting up, so that helped me stay sane.

Wonder why I'm so affected by silly things like electronic gadgets with a magical probability to fail any moment. So, moving on, we reached the base and took a call to cycle up the Ghat to the fort Sinhagad. We were pretty tired, Yash and I and were considering climbing till the top. However, the thought of parking my 4 day old cycle was daunting and I didn't want to do it. Yash accompanied me and we decided to cycle up the 10 km slope.

The curve with the benches. Scenic turn. 

The light had touched the foothills and Yash had hoped to see the sunset at Sinhagad, but we were late. Even our scooter buddies were :P. However, we did manage to see the sun rise to it's glory whilst cycling to the top.

A mini solar glare right below the sun.

The ghat was incredibly tough. But, I don't want to get to the climax just as yet. We kept on going until one of us wanted to rest. We decided to keep walking or cycling till we could. We reached a spot with benches and a great view and stopped there within minutes of our climb to the top. We got moving in another 5 minutes.

And within minutes, I knew Lavasa was a long shot for me. Handling the Sinhagad ghat was turning out to be a nightmare for me.

We stopped at a point to capture the sunset.

Stud on the lookout.

The view was phenomenal as we started climbing higher and higher, getting tired and tired, yet gaining potential energy. Yash and I kept reassuring ourselves, we were getting closer and closer. Google Maps was helping us give an estimate of the distance we had to ride.

The road uphill was steep, rocky and proving to be a test for even gasoline engines. But we were moving anyway. Don't ask how :P, yet. So, in the end, after an uphill journey where we majorly walked, we reached Sinhagad.

Carrying the cycles over flights of stairs.

The parking lot had a lot of tourist vehicles, and only a few cyclists. We had chosen the tougher task of riding uphill while our friends were climbing up. We expected them to reach before us, but, it so turned out that we made it to the top, nearly at the same time. We beat them to it perhaps :P. We could attribute the slow hiking time to being out of exercise. It turned out that Vatsal was climbing with a kilogram weight on each of his ankle and that was a clear indicator of his fitness and strength.

We decided to walk around the fort, but parking our cycles wasn't an option we would even remotely consider. So, we initially carried the cycle. Disclaimer : We - Vatsal and Yash since my shoulders aren't very mighty.

Spot the trail :P. Yes, there's a cycle trail amidst these bushes.

The stairs were atleast 17cm in height and very rugged indeed. I was pretty comfortable when the cycles were in air.

Parth, Chandana, Twinkle, Nupura, Yash, Me, Vatsal, Maitreyi

However, after a while, Vatsal and Yash decided to ride them down the stairs and I almost flinched. I probably didn't tell them, but I was minor level worried. The worry when someone has your brand new phone without a case. The worry when someone holds a laptop by the lid. That kind. Well, since Merida was only a few days old, and a Hybrid, I was initially freaking out. However, they were pretty confident the cycles had it in them.

We visited a famous spot called the 'Vaara (Wind) Point' popularly or the Tanaji Kada, I think, and we ended up taking lot of pictures disturbing the privacy of a couple of couples and families :P. So much fun.

Builder xD

Almost forgot. For the uninitiated, Sinhagad is home to literally dozens of भजी , ताक , दही , काकडी , करवंद , कैरी , आवळा vendors. And, almost everyone wants you to eat at their hut. Everyone makes the nicest offers. Everyone runs to you. "मी छान चटई घालून देतो तुम्हाला. गरम गरम बटाटा भजी घ्या ना पोरांनो !"

Why ride a bike when you can carry it!

We had committed ourselves to a vendor for few of the above commodities and so, dodging and evading the rest of the friendly folks, we found our way to a hut where a table was already laid out for us.

We ate decently and started heading towards the parking lot. We had decided to stop for curd and buttermilk at an old lady who recognised me from last time.

The dahi offered in earthen pots. Fresh, and soft indeed.

Parth loving the dahi!

So, after we were done munching, we decided to head down. I was under the serious impression going downhill would be pure fun and that it would be the best thing ever.

Well, losing PE is an amazing feeling, but the rate at which KE enters our cycles is scary. We could maybe even have touched a 90 km/h had the road been straight downhill! The road was obviously rocky, and we soon realized downhill was no pushover. We had to brake. Pedalling was out of question. Our gears were locked to their highest ratio. 8x3 and 9x3. Our forks were unlocked. It was very scary. A wrong maneuver and we could have been at the bottom of the valley!

The curve.

Yash was leading the way and the moment he applied his rear brake, the wheel skid and the cycle drifted. This was scary to watch and all that I saw ahead freaked me out even further. We even made a micro pit stop and adjusted the tension of his brake calliper.

The turns were almost blind. Speeding was a desire we couldn't afford. Cars weren't keeping in their lanes. We were going considerably slow, but even with the utmost caution, Yash slipped on a curve as a Swift wasn't in its lane and the speed was too much for even the finest pair of disc brakes.

I quickly jumped off my bike and ran towards Yash. He was bruised but his track pants prevented deep scraping. He was pretty shocked post the incident, and I was an eye witness right behind him. I probably never told him, but I was scared. I saw his wheel skid and also saw him fall off his bike. Luckily, his cycle was undamaged thanks to a pedal and he wasn't gravely injured too.

Merida.

We weren't carrying a first aid kit. And we decided we should. Helmets, also a strict must, though I was wearing mine that day. Then, finally, the ghat was over. We made it down in great time though the very tiring aspect of the entire journey made us lose track of our Strava data. However, the moment I was home, it didn't matter to me anymore.

We weren't running a race. We had decided to go have fun whilst also testing our strength against the mighty Sinhagad, and I sure knew I wasn't strong enough.

We decided we would get regular, practice harder and finally conquer a lot more terrains. We witnessed a beautiful sky, an adrenalant ride and touched the heart of Maharashtra on two wheels, and we aren't gonna stop anytime soon ;)