40 Something CYCling TRIP

Last week I took part in a cycling trip organised by Go Cycling GO Green  Vol 3 to mark the environment day , it got that VOL3 along with the title because it was  3rd such event organised by Buzzintown in association with BTC this time. So as the event splashed on my Facebook and lurked me to register myself   I was in double mind because of multiple reasons like the distance that said 40 kms ( I haven't cycled  for last 10 years ) , the fact that after this  my legs and parts of my body wont be of any use for few days altogether, plus there was Ananda Run the same day  and yes the last one  what if I embarrass myself by being the slowest rider in the group!!
So I would visit the registration page every alternate day ,check the last day for registration and give myself more reasons to say NO. Finally one fine day, that was 27th may I registered ( no I wasn't drunk , I did it in my senses).

Saturday arrived in no time and I reached the venue much before time out of excitement . Met my friends who have  also registered, I've  sent them  the invite hoping I ll get few  more legs to get embarrassed along with me , that's how we all get satisfaction , don't we???
There was a good mix of people, the youngest rider being 12-13 years old , lots of youngsters ,  2 beautiful ladies and quite a few experienced Male Riders.

So we filled the form, got our T-shirt with GOCycling GoGreen logo
( I loved the shirt as I can flaunt it..heee) ,hogged on the delicious breakfast ,the spread had  healthy stuff  but who cares when Aloo puri is in competition , Aloo puri it was and for me the event was successful already :) ,chose our cycles and were all ready for the flag off to be done by  Bangalore's fitness Queen Wanitha Ashoka. And as we all started the journey with lots of enthusiasm , smiles, I pods  we hardly knew the journey would become a memorable one.


On the way we got lot of smiles, thumbs up, cheering and almost everyone seem to stop to make way for us, starting from the Autowalas, to the mighty young riders ,the lorry drivers and our very friendly the bus drivers , it was indeed overwhelming  to see such support from our fellow Bangloreans. The volunteers kept on cheering us all the way through, had introductory session with few fellow riders while riding and bumped into few while trying to make use of the breaks!.

Our first break was more of a meet up then a break, people started interacting and clicking pictures( yeah, this didn't happen all this while..phewww), shared the frame  with quite a few people while sipping on a mango juice, replenished our energy .As we hit the Kanakpura road  the traffic increased ,the condition of road got worse
( though its consistently bad across Bangalore ) , our speed decreased and in no time it was
Another BREAK time.
This time it was Coconut water , energy bars and  biscuits, I literally felt we have come for a picnic rather  then a cycling trip, the photography sessions started again along with the "Getting to know People" sessions (We cant get to know 60 people in just 1 break, at least 10 are required averaging you give 4 minutes to each person* 60=240 ) and finally after little request from me, the youngest cyclist  and  Darius ( The famous RJ) we finally started again.

The ride was enjoyable as the weather was beautiful , no sun  , no rain , only cool breeze to support our enthusiasm .Few kms before the resort handful of us decided to ride for few more kms and take the fellow riders to Art of Living Ashram ( we AOL volunteers don't leave a chance to visit the ashram, and as Guruji was there we had even more stronger reason.)

At the Art of Living Ashram

Visited the ashram , met Guruji (I couldn't), finished the much needed ritual of clicking pictures and rode back to the Resort , people were relaxing , splashing water in the pool , few revisiting school days and enjoying the rides meant for kids and after a quick analysis as to what I want to do I  saw bunch of guys playing volleyball and there was no need of options anymore.( I lobbb volleyball, most of you know this already)




And as my legs pleaded and asked for some  rest my  passion for volley asked them to shut up and in no time the lunch was ready , obviously the brain did listen to the need of  empty stomach and aching legs .

I filled my plate with all that sumptuous  food and shared few conversations with the fellow riders , lots of interesting people, lots of stories and most importantly I got bunch of new friends :)
By the time all of us got over with the lunch it was time for all the planned activities 1) An activity with the drums, people had good fun beating the drums and singing along in their awful voices 2) Stand up comedy by Praveen Kumar and sharing of  interesting facts by Environmentalist and Scientist Harish Bhatt.


It was past 4 already and me and my friends decided to leave , I didn't have the energy to cycle back another 20 kms but all thanks to the RED BULL I was energetic again( It did wonders)

The journey back was pretty tough as I was tired , it was uphill for few kms ,was in a hurry to reach back and hit my bed , to add to this it started to pour , the traffic got worse and the otherwise lovely  bangloreans became irritating as they walked on the wrong side of the road . Because of the traffic and different cycling pace we were little ahead of 2 other friends and I was riding along with Shiva who had a tough time handling my tantrums ( I was heartily sorry later).

"THE RED BULL Pose"

The situation got bad as it started raining heavily, got dark, had mud splashed all over my clothes ( the stupid cycle didn't have a mud guard and stupid me didn't notice this while choosing this bike) and I started cursing the day I registered for this  event
( It was all temporary)

As my dear friend Shiva kept his temper under control and tried figuring out the way I craved more for my bed and some Iodex !! Finally after 3 hours of struggle and cycling we reached the hotel and what a feeling it was, cannot be expressed and cannot be written . I changed into new pair of clothes ( I would have died of hypothermia otherwise , who would have shared this with you then, eh??) , opened the last packet of biscuit and prayed hard for the rain to stop. And as the Rain god listened to our otherwise aching legs and empty stomachs it was time to go back home, eat at least 4 plates full of food , increase revenue of Iodex ,slip into the warmth of my blanket  and have the best sleep I have had in a very long time.

The question was " Will I do this again"???
Hell ya.

The dates are already booked  for September.
Hope to see you this time

Here is the link for the Photographs clicked by official photographer of the event "Anthony George"
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.473553282720198.1073741838.406864292722431&type=3