Saturday, when the whole world in Pune was going huff and puff over W.E.D (World Environment Diwas) I was riding the “Godfather Ghat” in local lingo “Bapdeo Ghat”, which is enroute to a place called Saswad in Pune.
The highlight of the ride was an opportunity to ride along a BZ regular who logs an average of 500 km per week , rides a cross breed MTB with drops and is an inspiration to all the bystanders like me. No prizes for guessing ….
The meeting point was Kondhwa Road where two of my colleagues, who, like me are regular commuters and weekend riders in spurts had already reached. All three of us waited for Boni to come by and he arrived soon enough and after the sundry introductions started our ride.
The whole of Kondhwa, I suppose, is also on a hillock as the inside roads are Rolling as well and the base of Baapdeo ghat is just a few kms away. The June morning is bright even at 6:15 and the early monsoon breeze hit us as well and had me fishing for my glares from the waist pouch. Soon we were riding inline until Parag and Nitin were left behind, Boni was steadily increasing the gap and I could see him on each switchback doing a steady state effort . I had already shifted to the biggest rear and had the granny as a fall back. The wind assisted us at some sections but became a side wind threatening to blow us off not to mention the occasional truck. The roads are fairly good compared to Pune standards, some sections have gravel strewn as the road widening work is in progress. There is a temple at the top and the descent to Saswad starts after that. I reached the temple, without having to resort to the granny in probably 45 minutes and Boni was nowhere in sight, wondered whether he had descended down Saswad to climb from the other side. Then noticed him coming down off road from behind the temple.
Parag and Nitin followed in ten, fifteen minutes. We started the descent soon after a short hydration break and passed a cyclist who just reached the top. The descent was scarier because of the side wind now but managed to come down in one piece hitting a top speed of 52 kmph once. Also I usually lower my seating during any descent and forgot to do it this time. I always have this imagery of me going over the handle bars in a descent with the high seating that I use. Boni stopped at intervals to snap a bird’s view of Pune city whereas the others made good head and reached the meeting point to part ways. Before which we took short trial rides on the now famous drop barred Trek and admired the difference, no wonder he left us all behind during the climb
Later I passed the WED rally, the participants were enroute to a club for a breakfast session, then I passed another rally who had culminated their’s at Empress Garden (a huge Botanical garden – a welcome relic of the Raj days, like most of our relics), thankfully not yet renamed by our sycophant you-know-who.
Reached home before 9 AM, beaming at the wife for having kept my promise, which, is an exception. Next weekend ride seems a good possibility now with the wife in a good mood.
The last I heard Boni repeated the ride next day, Sunday, bettering his previous day PR, while I was lazing. Keep burning those miles, Boni ! Way to go !!
The Top
The climb
The fruits of labour
