Cycling

My passion for cycling and to serve society...

Monday, February 20, 2017

Cycling in Pune - February 2017

Wow! What a wonderful & memorable cycling I had in Pune from 10th Feb to 12th Feb 2017. Thanks to Amit Agashe who had made the ride itinerary and also took care of my every issues in Pune including food and accommodation in his heavenly abode.

                                               Amit Agashe

Amit is a practising advocate from Pune and an avid cyclist. Both of us had met for the first time in Goa in Dec 2013 when we had participated in Youth Hostel Association of India (YHAI) Goa cycling expedition. Since then we are close friends and have participated together in YHAI Thar Desert cycling expedition in 2014 & YHAI Ooty-Madhumalai cycling expedition in 2015.

I left for Pune on 8th Feb from Bangalore by train no.16340 (Nagarcoil-Mumbai express) and reached Pune on 9th Feb around 6.30 p.m. From Pune railway station I took an Ola cab and reached house of Amit at Kothrud around 7.15 p.m. At the house I was well greeted by Amit, his wife Pooja & mother. Amit’s little sweet daughter Anandita had a staring look at me as I was completely a new face for her.
                                             Amit & his family


I had tied up with ShiftGear a bicycle rental company at Kothrud, Pune for renting a bicycle for me from 10th Feb to 12th Feb. I am happy to say here that Mr.Vikrant who owns ShiftGear offered a good Hybrid bicycle to me at a reasonable rent. Around 8 p.m. as promised to me he delivered bicycle at Amit’s residence. Both I and Amit had a trial round of cycling for an hour around Kothrud area so that I am familiar with the rented bicycle.

On the morning of 10th Feb Amit & I left Kothrud around 6.30 and started pedalling towards Lavasa which is around 55 kms. It was a tough ride as Lavasa is on a height of 630 metres above sea level. En route we had tasty Maharastrian breakfast viz., Usal Pav & Misal Pav at Amrale Misal hotel. 

We reached Lavasa around 12.30 p.m. Though I had heard big about Lavasa it was very disappointing to see the city in a dilapidated condition with lots of buildings half constructed giving a ghostly look. 












At Lavasa we had our lunch in a small restaurant and around 2 p.m. started pedalling again towards Panshet, MTDC Resort which was about 45 kms from Lavasa. 




Initially I thought 45 kms we would cover easily in just 3 hrs. I was completely wrong. Amit did tell me that the road to Panshet from Lavasa was extremely bad. He was absolutely right. The road was totally damaged and there were lots of stones, pebbles restricting our pedalling. At times we even had to lift our bicycles and cover the distance else it would have led to puncturing our bicycles which was not desirable as ShiftGear had not given a spare tube to me for the bicycle that I had hired. The road was so bad that we could cover just average 8 kms per hour. At about 7 p.m. it became dark. As Amit had to take a call, I moved ahead. Later, as a result of poor connectivity Amit could not connect to me and neither could I contact him on his mobile. As it was dark Amit was worried for me as I am a fatherly figure for him. But equally I too was worried for Amit as he was more like my son although I am blessed with two daughters. Panshet was not far from the location where I was. After a while I saw Amit coming and both of us had a sigh of relief. We then moved together and reached MTDC Resort at Panshet at around 7.30 p.m.

On reaching MTDC Resort at Panshet we were extremely tired and were looking for quick freshening up. Luckily we were given a room on the ground floor itself and did not have to walk around in sprawling resort. Both of us got freshened up quickly when Amit’s friend Ninad Deshmukh who is also an avid cyclist joined us as he came alone on his bicycle separately from Kothrud by the shortest route.

We had great satisfaction of day's ride. Although it was tough riding since morning, once we reached the destination viz., Panshet we had great feeling. All three of us had dinner in the room itself. As we were extremely exhausted we had sound sleep.

On the morning of 11th Feb we had breakfast at MTDC Resort and started back pedalling to Kothrud, Pune which was about 40 kms. After pedalling about 15 kms 2 more cyclist friends viz., Ms.Tejasvita Bawkar and Ankit Wankhade (fierce cyclist) joined us. After having chilled sugar cane juice we all started pedalling together. On our way we had lunch together which was memorable as we had quite relaxed time together. We all reached Kothrud around 4 p.m.
With Amit & Ninad Deshmukh

With Amit, Ninad, Ankit & Tejasvita






On day 3 (12th Feb) Amit, Ankit and I pedalled to ARAI Tekdi / Vetal Tekdi which is just about 8 kms from Amit’s house. The term Tekdi in Marathi means a small hillock or mountain. Although it was not a big mountain, the road to top of Vetal Tekdi was good. There were lots of cars, bikes and morning walkers going to top of mountain. As we were pedalling up on bicycle it was giving us nice feeling when people used to acknowledge our efforts by waving at us. It was great moment for us. 
                                               
On top of ARAI /  Vetal Tekdi   
With Amit

Ankit 

With Ankit

With Amit

With Ankit

Once you reach top of mountain, there are few spots which are flat. The view of surrounding area from the top of Tekdi is beautiful. We had individual as well as group photographs along with our bicycles. 

                Three Musketeers
Me with my bicycle

      Amit with his bicycle



Ankit with his bicycle


By 9 a.m. we pedalled back to Amit’s house where Amit’s family greeted us with sumptuous breakfast. After breakfast Ankit said good bye to us and left. My return train to Bangalore was by Coimbatore express train no. 16613 leaving Pune at 22.30. In the afternoon I and Amit’s family together went to an Italian cuisine restaurant and we had our lunch there. We then had Ice cream & Kulfi at famous Ice cream parlour Sujatha Mastani.

At Italian Restaurant

At Sujatha Mastani Ice cream parlour

In the evening Amit took me to a nearby famous Chitale Bandhu shop where I could buy some dry snacks for my family. It was then time to bid bye to Amit & his family. I have no words to express my sincere thanks for the unforgettable hospitality that the trio viz., Amit, his mother & his wife Pooja gave me at Pune for 4 days. Today we see everywhere nuclear family with dwindling sociological contacts where own relatives are seen as unwanted guests. In this scenario I am really overwhelmed to see Amit’s family extending hospitality to me with great love & care.

With little lovely Anandita

On the whole I had wonderful time in Pune and I would cherish the time I spent with Amit & his family at all the time.

Sunday, February 5, 2017

Bangalore - Mangalore Cycling





Itinerary Bangalore to Mangalore Cycling Expedition

25/01/2017

6:00 pm to 6:30pm :    All participants reach Nelamanagala Junction (Yatri Comfort )
7:00 pm to 7:30pm :    Guidelines and details will be given about the Ride
7:30 pm to 9:30pm :    Cocktail Dinner.

26/01/2017 - Nelamangala to Hirisave (99kms)

5:30am to 5:45am :     Assemble with get Cycles ready for start of Journey
5:45am to 5:50am :     Brief on Day schedule will be updated
5:55am to 6:00am :     Flag off ... Ride Starts
7:15am to 7:30am:      Coffee Break
8:30am to 9:00am :     Flag Hoisting & Distribution of Books at Thippasandra Govt School (about 34km from start point )
9:10am to 9:40am:      Packed Breakfast             
9:45am                :      Continue the ride  
11:30am to 11:45am :  Hydration Break
2:00pm                  :    Reach Hirisave. End of Ride for the day and Stay at Shree Ganesh Lodge
                                 Lunch @ Hirisave at participants choice

27/01/2017 - Hirisave to Sakleshpura (98kms)

5:30am to 5:45am :     Assemble with get Cycles ready for start of Journey
5:45am to 5:50am :     Brief on Day schedule will be updated
5:55am to 6:00am :     Ride Starts
8:00am to 8:30am :     Breakfast @ A2B (30km from Start point)
10:00am to 10:15am:   Hydration Break
11:00am to 12:00pm :  Distribution of Books at Mavanoor and Byrapura Govt School (about 70km from start                                        point )
2:00pm                  :   Reach Sakleshpura. End of Ride for the day and Stay at Pushpagiri Comforts
                                Lunch @ Sakleshpura at participants choice

28/01/2017 - Sakleshpura to Mangalore (101kms)

5:30am to 5:45am :     Assemble with get Cycles ready for start of Journey
5:45am to 5:50am :     Brief on Day schedule will be updated
5:55am to 6:00am :     Ride Starts
7:15am to 7:30am:      Coffee Break
9:00am to 9:30am :     Distribution of Books at Nelladka Govt School which is about 48km from start point
9:45am to 10:15am :    Breakfast @ Malnad Pure Veg
11:30am to 11:45am:   Hydration Break
01:00pm:                    Reach BC Road Junction. End of Ride for the day.
1:15pm to 1:45pm :     Travel in support Vehicle to Summer sands Resort.


29/01/2017 - Return to Bangalore after Lunch by bus / car


          Participants for Bangalore - Mangalore 
                          Cycling Expedition
S.No.
Name
1
R.G.Bhat
2
Srinivas Kumar
3
Prasanna V
4
Ajay Bansal
5
Sandeep Mittal
6
Bindu Mittal
7
Bharath
8
Vincent
9
Dr. Ganapathy
10
Ravi Gowda
11
Ram Prasad Reddy
12
Ramu N
13
Hari Prasad Reddy
14
Shyam Sunder
15
Shyam Jagini
16
Shekar
17
Roshan



It was a fun-filled ride. We assembled at Nelamangala on the evening of 25th January 2017. We had excellent interaction with the members of Rotary club of Nelamangala. Club flags were exchanged. On the night of 25th January we stayed at Yatri Comforts, Nelamangala. We commenced our cycling journey on 26th January early morning at 6.00 to Hirisave.  It was 99 kms ride. En-route our journey we visited Thippesandra Govt School and participated in Republic Day celebration and flag hoisting ceremony along with the children. Note books were distributed to all the children. We reached Hirisave by afternoon around 2.30 p.m. Night stay was arranged at Hirisave.

On 27th January we left Hirisave at 6 a.m. to Sakleshpur. It was 98 kms ride. On our way, we visited 2 Govt Schools viz., at Mavanoor & and Byrapura and distributed note books to students. Byrapura Govt School has excelled in sports. When recce was done a month back by RBWC team, the School had expressed to us if we could donate some sports equipments. Considering their request some donors from RBWC club had come forward and donated few sports types of equipment like, Volley Ball, Weighing scale, Sports shoes etc. Accordingly, these were donated to the Byrapura Govt School which was well appreciated by the School authorities. We reached Sakleshpur around 3 p.m. In the evening there was interaction with the members of Sakleshpur Rotary club. Club flags were exchanged. 

On 28th January we left Sakleshpur at 6 a.m. for Mangalore. Sakleshpur to Mangalore one has to go through Shiradi ghat section. Sakleshpur to Nelyadi - around 50 kms was completely downhill. Although due to downhill one does not have to pedal much but has to be very cautious as any fall can be dangerous. We all really enjoyed this ride as it was very memorable. As we were coming down weather gradually turned humid. On our way we visited Nelladka Govt School and distributed note books to students.

Nelladka Govt School to BC Road was another 50 kms. The Mangalore humid weather was already catching up participants and it was not easy and pleasant to pedal. Finally, around 3 p.m. we all reached BC Road. Stay for 28th January night was arranged at Summer Sands Beach Resorts, Ullal, Mangalore with beautiful cottages. The distance from BC Road to Summer Sands Beach Resorts was around 28 kms which we covered by vehicle while the bicycles were ferried by a tempo truck. We had wonderful & memorable time on 28th January night at Summer Sands Beach resorts as we had great feeling of pedalling around 300 kms from Bangalore to BC Road.

This ride brought lots of friendship and fellowship amongst participants besides leaving us with great feeling of service and achievement.




 At Nelamangala with members of Rotary club-Nelamangala



Rtn Sandeep Mittal with Ann Bindu Mittal

Tea time
 
 Riding through beautiful Shiradi ghat
Me riding in Shiradi ghat

Teachnical problems being attended to by Srinivas Kumar & Prasanna

 With Govt School children
 Presenting Weigh Scale to HM of Byrapura Govt school

Presenting Volley Ball to HM of Byrapura Govt school

 With Govt School students - Distribution of note books / atlas / disctionaries

At a Govt School


Participants relaxing at Summer Sands Beach, Mangalore

At Summer Sands Beach Resorts, Mangalore


IFCR - Own vehicle - Brand image