The Joy of Riding
(Our Bike trip to Himalayas)
As a child, I was always fascinated by bikes. The idea of riding backseat @ a speed of 120 km/hr would always excite me. But as I grew up, somehow the opportunity never came, most of my long distance travels would be through the more traditional means of transport.
Just a few days before we actually set out to Rishikesh, suddenly the idea of going by bike occured to us. The plan was to ride all the way down from Gurgaon to the Himalayan valley and back. My love for adventure told me this is going to be fun. I could sense the thrill that it created, but my experience of going on a bike to even short distances told me that it will be painful to ride all the way.
We both had mixed feelings, the child in us was excited and the adult in us was a bit skeptical and it kept repeating to us ‘don’t be a fool. It’s too long.Your backs will go for a toss and so on…’
Almost all people including our family members felt we should take the car. ‘How are you going to carry your luggage?’ was a common question. We did’nt have answers. There was no riding bag or carrier fitted on the bike for the luggage.
To add to this, both of us have been eating only homemade food for years, so we wondered if we could manage to carry our little kitchen including a few theplas, salt, some ghee, raw veggies, plates, spoons and the endless list! LOL !!
Our friend jokingly commented as we were preparing that this is ‘rasoi (kitchen) on wheels’. Neverthless inspite of all the discouragement and mockery, something deep inside was prompting us to just go ahead and ride all the way down to the valley. Our gut, instinct which we always have trusted. The innermost innocent self, beyond the analytical mind, which is always right and aligned with the flow of life, that voice said to us ‘just go ahead’. Don’t think. The universe will take care.
So as always we followed our hearts & set out for the 310 kms ride from Gurgaon to Shivpuri ( near Rishikesh). We set out at 4:30 a.m. carring just a pair of clothes each, our laptop, camera and a bag containing our journey food as well as other basic ingredients of the ‘rasoi’.
To my surprise, my body responded extremely well to the long ride. With a bag in front, camera over my shoulders, bottles of water tied near my legs, I had just enough place to sit still throughout the journey.
As we rode in the early dawn, with cool breeze gushing around, we could feel ourselves being carried by the wind. The rain Gods were very kind and poured all night the previous night giving us a very pleasant weather to ride in. Since we started early, we were able to escape the traffic, pollution and heat. Our journey had several halts, where we would stop briefly, capture a few scenes around with our camera, munch something, drink water and set out riding again. We managed to click the sleeping city, the empty roads, the green fields on Meerut bypass, the rising sun; basically life around us.
The biggest benefit of a bike ride is that you get good space for photography. Stop at will, explore and continue further.We halted briefly at the banks of the holy Ganges at Haridwar. We felt a sense of relief on arriving at Haridwar.
We then proceeded to Rishikesh riding enroute the beautiful Chilla road which is bordered by the lush green Rajaji national park on one side and a stream of the holy Ganges on the other side which flowed through the chilla dam. The speed and the winds hitting and slapping my body made me feel so deeply at one with everything around. It was a very meditative joy ride. We arrived at our destination, a beautiful camp @ Shivpuri @ around 5 p.m. A feeling of enthusiasm prevailed and though the body did ache a bit, the mind was ever fresh.
On our return journey we took the longer route through Lansdowne via Kotdwar reaching U.P. We rode all the way up the hills via Paudi district which was complete with curvaceous roads around the hills. The tar roads were excellent for riding and seemed to lead into nowhere. There was a very alive and present stillness that could be felt as we moved uphill with the morning sun shining brightly and warming us up.
We halted at several spots throughout the way for photography and relaxed on the large white stones that laid in the corners of these steep yet strong roads. It was also a pleasing sight to see young local boys training for Armed forces selection in the broad daylight as they kept sprinting up the roads. The pine and cidar forests on higher altitudes was an absolute feast for the eyes and soul.
We not only had fun but this little experience of riding a total of 800 kms with over 300 kms on the hills gave us the confidence to take on longer journeys and explore other beautiful corners of the country on the bike — our beautiful Royal Enfield thunderbird .
