Deoriatal Chandrashila

Its 2 am in the morning and I can see some moonlight reflection from inside the tent roof. It’s not cloudy I think to myself as I slide out of the sleeping bag. My son is still in deep sleep. My wife stirs a little and asks me the time. Today is summit day.
This is our second Himalayan trek - Deoriatal Chandrashila through Indiahikes. We hope to start in the dark with our headlights at 3:00 am and trek  past Tunganath temple to climb Chandrashila in time to catch the first rays of sunrise light up Chaukhamba and Kedar dome. Will we ?

We -  are a team of 23 people in this group spanning a wide age group. Aarush, a bubbly 8 year old having the wisdom of a 70 year old to Brahmanand Sharma, a 70 year young man with the enthusiasm of an 8 year old. All of us have bonded and become family during the past 5 days. We have been through hail and storm (well not quite the storm) on the first day. Hauled our bags and run for the forest rest house shelter abandoning our tents. We have spent that night holed up in a room 10 apiece and warmed up to each other in the cold of the morning. Shared chores and washed up after meals and looked up for each other’s missing items. Trekked up Jandi top which was part of the aborted 2^nd day trek of Rohini Bugyal and played together while sharing notes of our personal lives. We have been through thick and thin of the trails surrounding Deoriatal and Bhrujgali in Chopta. Explored Bhrujgali meadows and forests while the children played. Most of us were first time trekkers and adjusted remarkably to the ways of life that a stay in wilderness brings. The biggest change was the toilet tents and the soil flush. The sleeping bags were warm and cosy but the washing of the dishes in the biting cold needed some mental courage.  But yes, we have had fun amidst all the undoing of city life habits. And we were in for more fun as I, lazily, made my way out of the tent. The other tents had stirred too while our faithful support group must have been up long back to make us our breakfast.

We hastily got ready as Vyshak, our trek leader rallied us around to start at 3:00 am. Fortunately we had some moonlight as 23 of us synced up to march with headlights on. It was different from trekking during the day. The only thing visible was the ground beneath our feet and the silhouettes of the mountain and trees. The occasional cracking of radio set broke the night silence.

Soon we reached the paved road to Tunganath from Chopta. Now we were sure of the footing but not the gradient. The darkness helped as it hid the climb and distance left. Soon our eyes got accustomed to the lack of light and I could switch off my headlight. We passed small tapris and settlements stirring to start the morning for pilgrims coming in and finally reached the Tunganath temple. This was the end of the paved road and the trail past this temple winded up to the top. The faster members had moved ahead. We were as strong as the weakest member of our group as we labored up. The heart was beating faster than ever, the breathing was shallow as 12083 ft altitude loomed ahead. A bell and a small stack of stones for a temple top with a flag suddenly came into sight. We had done it. 

When you want something the universe conspires to help you achieve it - Varma, my friend and fellow trekker aptly quoted Paul Coehlo . He could not have summed this up better. 

The universe in this case was undoubtedly Indiahikes and its fantastic support team. Vyshak Nair our indefatigable, charismatic Trek leader who had his hands full with inclement weather and first time trekkers. Manoj, the local guide, full of anecdotes and riddles enthralled us with stories of Deoriatal and Badrinath. Dhansingh, who was the liason guy at Sari came to Deoriatal with additional ponchos and was always in touch on the walkietalkie. I could sense his concern for little Aarush as I heard his voice over the radioset during summit, enquiring with Manoj about the kid's well being. The kitchen team was fantastic, backing us up with simple, delicious food, packed lunches or waking up at midnight during summit day to cook our breakfast. During the 1st day rain washout they had to move the kitchen from the tents into the rest house and cook us food. They did all of this with a smile, ever courteous, obliging to our constant requests of warm water in the wee hours of all mornings. The ginger water and lemon tea was something that I yearn for back in the city. 

And I yearn for more, dreaming of the mountains, the birds, the meadows, the people, the moments ... 

"We do not remember days, we remember moments" - Cesare Pavese

- some moments in pics are here ,  birding moments are here

   

Chatting on the highway

My cycling commute is on the busy Nagar highway towards office. It is a hot day. 2 pm in the afternoon

Sun beating down mercilessly overhead. The concrete road sends heat waves from below.
I have a short commute of 3 kms. And the mechanical grinding of the pedals and its creaking sound accompany the noisy automobiles whizzing past me.
A cyclist overtakes me. I am usually offended and in the normal course reel them in and go past to establish my dominance. Arrogant me. Not this time. This is a school boy increasing the gap between us with feverish cadence.
I glance at his run of the mill cycle, his wiry frame and the school bag bouncing behind his back.
My gaze catches a contraption of two metal pipes welded to his rear frame near the rear wheel spoke. Its an attempt to imitate
an exhaust of a high end motor bike. I am curious and increase my pace to catch up with him. And strike a conversation

"Kute challas" (Where are you going ? )
Wadgaonsheri
"Kutoon" (from where ? )
Moje shaala -  Moje School. This is 2 kms further from my place.
"Cycle la pipe kashala welding kela." (What is that pipe welded to your bike ?)
Khaalli jatana speed marte. (Gives me speed while going downhill)
We had just started a downhill and I rolled away from him
"Bag mee fast ahe tu slow ahe" (See I am faster than you)
Tumchi cycle racel ahe ani tyres moti ahe ( You have a racer bike and big tyres - he was on a 26 ") - smart answer
I also saw a plastic box under his seat with some wires hanging out and connected.
"Te kay ahe ? Battery pack ?" (What is that ?)
Magcha Brake lavla ki light pette. (The rear brakes when actuated turns on the rear lights)
"Tu kelas ka" (Did you make it ? )
"Ho, Ek wire brake la lavla and ek Rim la ani circuit purn hote." (Yes, one wire to the brakes and another to the rim completes the circuit)

I was impressed as we reached a junction where we had to separate. 

"Tuza nav kay ?" (What's your name ?)

Bharat !

"Bharat Mata ki Jai"

Paradise in Sinhagad

26th Jan 2016 found me heading towards Sinhagad Valley for the birds and to make the most of my brother's telephoto lens that I had borrowed. With winter upon us, this is the peak time for birding as many Migratory birds from the Himalayan region as well as Europe come to the Indian subcontinent to escape the harsh winter.
Most birders from Pune visit Sinhagad for the elusive Asian Paradise Flycatcher (APF) Male with its prisitine white long tail. It is the prize catch for any self respecting birder in Pune. In my past two birding trips to Sinhagad I had only got a glimpse of the female and did not carry much hopes.

As I walked towards the narrow dried up stream the place was occupied by a lot of birders positioned with their tripods waiting for sunlight to hit the water puddle area where some twigs and man made perches had been setup. I preferred walking around and planned to go into the valley and check the interiors before coming to this spot. Immediately spotted the Long tailed shrike and a Black Drongo. A white breasted King Fisher had a frog in its beak and was about to devour it for a sumptuous breakfast. The light was not enough for capturing the moment. A Paddy field Pipit was flitting around tempting me to take its picture while an Ashy Prinia foraged in the shrubs below. A male Indian Robin had plumped itself up and seemed different at first glance, made its way across the bushes into the fields. Yellow throated Sparrows (Chestnut shouldered Petronia) were aplenty and flew together away when I made my way across the fields. A local was coming across with a group of buffaloes and their bells tinkling added to the singing of the birds all around. I let them pass and made my way around, back to the birding studio. The Verditer Flycatcher was already posing for the photographers while I spotted a Female APF as well. It seemed to be a lucky day as this female APF, Oriental White Eyes and Bulbuls made their way to take a water sip from the puddle in the dried up stream. The clicks from the cameras around me were firing away like AK-47's.

APF Male

A Rufous APF Male was also spotted but did not bless us on the perch. This indeed seemed to be a lucky day. It was almost 9:30 and some of the crowd dispersed. Some persisted and I made my way to an empty spot. And guess what - the White Male APF decided to gift us a special republic day. In all its glory there he was about 12 feet away from me in the shadows. The air was filled with the collective gasp of all the birders and then the familiar gunshots of the shutter. I joined the trigger happy crowd and prayed that I get a sharp shot. The bird shook itself with the long 30 inch tail waving like a ribbon it was Paradise in Sinhagad as we stood ground and waited for more. He took a dip in the pool and went back to another perch.

A full minute of his presence and he had enough. He went into the foliage never to come back again. The female was still around and a few Brahminy Mynas came down as well.

APF Rufous Male

I decided to take a walk back into the Valley and saw the White browed Fantail. This is a very hyper active bird and difficult to shoot as I attempted some shots. A Pied Buschat was perched atop a hay stack and posed for me. As I made my way back a Rufous Male APF flew past me. Luck could not have got any better. I followed him but the Male is always very elusive and I managed to get a record shot of him. I was now thirsty and hungry as well it was past 10 am and getting hotter. There was a small bird behind a leaf I gambled with a long shot of this bird which turned out to be a Male Red breasted fly catcher. Another Lifer for me as I made my way back to the eating shacks where my car was parked. I glanced up in the sky and saw two Crested Serpent Eagles riding the thermals and soaring higher and higher. Too far to get a good shot and I started the drive back.

Red Breasted Flycatcher (Male)

Birding was far from over as a stop at Khadakvasla lake gave me a nice shot of the White breasted Kingfisher and some Indian Spot Billed Ducks. A horde of River Terns with these ducks were Roosting on a shallow island in the middle of the water while Common Coots were swimming effortlessly. With the Binoculars, I also spotted a Male Northern Shoveller and a few Red Wattled Lapwings in the middle of the crowd. Some Egrets were meditating in the groves near the shore while a White Breasted Water Hen hurried for cover as I walked along the mud track back to the car into the traffic to get me home. I made the count of birds, it was just around 27 birds close to the special date of 26th Jan. A very satisfying birding day out !

Directions to reach there - Walk till the start of the Trek point at the base of Sinhagad fort. Take left before the last eating shack, where two wheelers are parked and the concrete road ends. On this trail look out to your left and see a dried up stream below and lot of tripods with humans waiting for the birds. This is the bird studio :-). One can keep walking on the trail into the inside of the valley. The sun starts lighting up the valley and gives ample photo-ops for bird photographers.

The  bird list below and some more photos at this link

Plum headed Parakeet (Male and Female)
Ashy Prinia
Black Drongo
Pied Buschat
Red breasted Fly Catcher (Male and female)
Oriental White Eye
Purple Sunbird
Yellow Throated Sparrow
Asian Paradise Flycatcher Male / Rufous Male / Female
Verditer Fly Catcher (Male and female)
Fantail -White Browed
Paddyfield Pipit
Red Vented Bulbul
Red Whiskered Bulbul
Crested Serpent Eagle
Indian Robin (Male and female)
oriental Magpie robin
White Breasted Kingfisher
Yellow Spot Billed duck
Commom Coot
Northern Shoveller Male
Intermediate Egret
Cattle Egret
Cormorant (Indian or Little ? )
White Breasted Water Hen
River Terns
Brahminy Myna
Common Iora
Red Wattled Lapwing
Long Tailed Shrike

Birding in my backyard

Plum headed Parakeet Male (Sinhagad Valley)

Birding - I was introduced to this during my visit to Pangot in the North of India in 2010. Following this visit back home in Pune I started noticing the wide variety of birds outside my window. 

These winged angels are all around us and one just needs to be sensitive to their presence and I was immune to them so far. This hobby has taken me to many places around Pune as well. Some of them are

Pashan Lake, Sinhagad Valley, Bund Garden bridge, Kalyani Nagar- KP bridge, Aundh IT park river side, Tarkeshwar mandir hilltop at Yerawada and Kavadi Pat 20 km from Pune on Sholapur road. 

The following list of birds were seen in my backyard

1) Asian Koel
2) Common Myna
3) Brahminy Myna
4) Jungle Myna
5) Oriental White Eye
6 Greater Coucal (Bharadwaj)
7) Green Bee Eater (Veda Raghu in Marathi)
8) Gray Horn Bill
9) Copper Smith Barbet (Tambat in Marathi)
10) Golden Oriole
11) Common Iora
12) Great Tit
13) Red Vented Bulbul
14) Red Whiskered Bulbul
15) Purple Sunbird
16) Purple Rumped Sunbird
17) Ashy Prinia
18) Common Tailor Bird
19) Plain Prinia
20) Shikra (just once)
21) Common Kite
22) Black Drongo
23) Small Minivet (just once)
24) White Browed Fantail Flycatcher
25) Red breasted Flycatcher (Female) - just once
26) Blyth's Reed Warbler
27) Jungle Babbler (Seven Sisters - because they are in groups of 7 to 10:-))
28) Rose Ringed Parakeet
29) Bay backed Shrike (just once)
30) Laughing Dove
31) Rock Pigeon
32) Common Raven
33) House Crow
34) Sparrow
35) Pond Heron
36) Black hooded Oriole (from 2015 - sometimes)
37) Yellow Wagtail (once)
38) Oriental Magpie Robin
39) Indian Silver Bill
40) Scaly Breasted Munia



There are many more yet to be discovered, till then, enjoy the below pics from Pune
( more here )

Shikra outside my window

Blue capped Rock Thrush (Sinhagad Valley)

Brahminy Myna (Sinhagad Valley)

Rose Ringed Parakeet Male (outside my window)

Scaly breasted Munia (outside my window)

Gray Hornbill (outside my window)

Indian Robin Female (Tarkeshwar Mandir)

Asian Koel Female (outside my window)

Red vented Bulbul (outside my window)

Verditer Fly Catcher (Sinhagad Valley)

Har Ki Dun - our first Himalayan Trek

With great trepidation we embarked on our first trek to the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand. A place called Har ki Dun, which means Valley of the Gods.
The trip started on the wrong foot with Sona getting a vicious dog bite on the previous evening of our journey. Lot of speculations, phone calls to my brother and ifs and buts preceded our travel. Finally we all reached Mumbai, from where we had booked the evening train to Delhi to meet the other trekkers in the group for the train to Dehradun.

The trek to this place brought us closer to nature, the God that I believe in, and the people living here. Simple living, where power and internet connectivity has not yet touched their lives, where happiness is measured in "toffees" that the village children ask when you encounter them, where life is entwined with nature and the weather. Rain, hail, snow storms or a clear day with fluffy clouds kissing the mountain tops we got it all in this 5 days of bliss. Enjoy the pictures

Har Ki Dun - Valley of the Gods

Travel to Tadoba

Birding in the mangroves

As inconspicuous an area as it sounds, the "Bhandup Pumping Station" is a treasure trove for birders. A small left diversion after the Mulund - Airoli junction on the Eastern Express highway leads one into the mangroves lining Mumbai's coastline.

Waiting for the sun

I ventured into this birding spot after some googling. Took the morning BEST bus no 373 from Mulund (W) where I had stayed overnight till the Airoli-Mulund Flyover. Reached the bustop while it was still dark and started walking along the well lit road. I could see two morning walkers ahead of me and that gave me confidence. There were a couple of shanties on the left probably housing the salt pan workers. The tar  road reached the gates of the treatment plant and the walkers turned around to go back. I was at a dead end until I saw a trail on the left. This went around the treatment plant and further into the mangroves and finally to another tar road along the perimeter of the plant but from outside it.

Trail leading to a small temple of the local fishermen (Kolis)

There was a water body with some Egrets to the left. I decided to take the trail to the left of this road instead of going on the tar road. This trail got narrower with dried grass lining the trail and water on both sides of the road. A Common Kingfisher flew off on hearing my steps. Daylight had started breaking in and I was getting more confident.

I was not in shoes and some part of the trail was wet with muddy slush which made it worse. I could see a small temple at the far end of this trail without a soul. Two large water bodies on either side of this temple had some Black winged Stilts and Egrets.

White Cheeked Bulbuls - lots of them in these mangroves

Lot of White Cheeked Bulbuls were singing occasionally disturbed by a Black Drongo. I waited for the sun to make its way up and light the whole scene. The Common Kingfisher from the trail road had followed me here too. The water body was bereft of any waders other than the occasional Egret and the Stilts. As I waited patiently alone with only the Bulbuls and Crows to give me company, I wondered whether to  go back. Was also not sure if the tide affected the narrow trail and the wet portion of the road could actually disappear under water if that was the case..

Little Egret

Suddenly I saw a local coming along the trail that I had taken with some load on his head. This gave me some confidence and soon after another person with a camera and binoculars materialised. Advait Marathe, was to be my companion and guide for the rest of the morning. He had come here before and knew the trails. I was lucky to have him and we waited together for some time. A Bayshrike and the Common kingfisher came back as the light got better. Advait suggested that we go back to the other side and I gladly agreed. We made our way through the same trail and got an Ashy Prinia along the way. A Little Egret had landed on the this road and foraging on the ground giving us some good snaps. I could see the yellowish green feet which is one of the difference between the Little Egret and the Intermediate or Great Egret apart from the black beak.

Baya weaver Female

A flock of Black headed Ibis and Spoonbills flew overhead without any plans of landing nearby. We reached the other side of the mangrove back to the tar road. Advait led me to another trail which was more walkable and spotted a Purple Heron far away on a tree top craning its neck straight out of the dense foliage like a dinosaur.

Red Avadavat (Munia) male and female

Spotted a group of female Baya Weavers in a bush along the right. Another birder with a huge Zoom had stationed himself to get flight shots of the  gulls. But the large water body to the right of this trail was without any Flamingoes or Pied Avocets. Some Terns / gulls were hovering around and occasionally landing on the water. Advait suggested going back along the Tar road to the end of the Pumping station periphery as there was a possibility of getting some water birds there. As we walked back we saw a group of small birds foraging feverishly on the ground. We dropped down on all fours and spotted the Red Avadavat (Munia)with his harem. What luck !! A lifer for me.And some good shots as well.
This was total vasool until a crow scared away this bunch into the bushes.

Garganey (far left) and pair of  Yellow Spot billed ducks

It was getting hot and we made out way to the last spot, the dead end of the tar road. Saw some Wood Sandpipers, Plovers along the stream to the right of this road. The end of this stream and road had dense foliage on the other side and a Spot billed duck pair with a Garganey. Well, no luck with any other waders.

It was 10:30 AM and an end to a productive birding session. We made our way back to Advait's bike parked near the Pumping station gate, sparing me a walk in the sun to the highway. It was a treasure trove of birds hidden in the teeming Urban city of Mumbai and at such close proximity to the highway.
The Pied Avocets and Flamingoes had been missed but I was in for a surprise the next day.

Sunday afternoon, as I drove from Mulund, en route to Kalina, with my brother's 150-500 mm lens next to me (which I had borrowed for the Karnala - Uran session earlier in the day) I decided to take a quick 15 min. diversion into the Pumping station. I now knew that the road was good to drive and got tempted. More importantly wanted to try my luck with the 150-500 mm lens.

As I reached the water body a flock of more than 50 Lesser Flamingoes were cruising on the far end !

No Where to Go ! As rapid construction is displacing
the mangroves and water bodies around Mumbai.

Could not believe my luck and tried to get the best out of the lens. There was a flock of Stilts who flew off on my approach otherwise not a soul in sight as I thought of trying my luck again till the far end where we had seen the Garganey and Spot Billed ducks. Saw a Western Reef Egret and the same Spot billed ducks. I was getting late as I made my way back to the car, an Ashy Prinia and another bird attracted my attention. The other bird was ID'ed by Advait later as a Yellow Eyed Babbler which I had only heard the previous day. Another lifer for me.

Yellow Eyed Babbler

The lonely road. Far end of the Pumping station

I reached the car and reluctantly made my way back to the highway, back to where we humans reside, pollute, multiply and destroy.
This brief diversion had transported me again to the wonderful world of birds and I wanted to remain here.


More pics here

Sunday's Karnala Uran pics here

Mumbai Meri Jaan !

Strange as it may sound, it is my 6th year of running SCMM and never once did I blog about this..

Having shifted to Pune in 2000 I am still a Mumbaikar at heart and mumbai marathon lets me experience Mumbaikars at their best. Lining the whole route, cheering and lending support with all the help that they can, most outstation runners remember this part of the run vividly and encourage other runners who have never run Mumbai to attempt it at least once.

Therefore SCMM 2015 once again found me at the start point, albeit without my friends, Umesh and Parag, who have accompanied me on so many outstation events. Umesh lost his mother three weeks back and was not prepared mentally to join us although his training had been top notch. He would have definitely burnt the tracks and done a sub 4:00 if not for the personal loss. Without their company the train journey from Pune to Mumbai wasn't the same but was nonetheless made interesting by others from PTC.

Coming back to Mumbaikars support, some of the unforgettable moments, of the many, worth mentioning are,

• Three senior citizens on the harmonica playing "Saare Jahan Se Accha ..."

• A group of residents in the parking lot of their apartment with one person singing classic Bollywood numbers sans music " Chalte chalte mujhe koi mil gaaya tha ..."

• The Indian Navy band and "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag in the still of the dawn at Marine Drive gave me goose pimples.

• The sad look on a small girl’s face standing at the divider when nobody took her bottle of water. Brought a shy look to her face when I stopped and patted her and the parents opposite the road clapped at her J

• "Aap ko medal milenga, Bhaago " screamed another Mumbaikar with a medal around his neck at the 41 km point as I was walking and saving energy for the final 500 m sprint :-)

• The plates of salt and oranges, glucose biscuits, chocolates. 

• Small girls dressed in cheerleader attire with pom poms

• My brother's neighbour, Shakila, from Kalina supporting her Topgear MIG club flagging me and supporting with ice and cold water to drink.

• The lady holding this placard "Run ! I just farted !"

and many more.

Wish I had a camera to capture all this. Maybe next time.

Hats off to all the people from Mumbai coming out to cheer us. Without you SCMM would be just any other marathon event across the country. Thanks for making it special !

Madhe ghat - story in pics

Satara Misal - Stage 3

Homeward bound

All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible. ~T.E. Lawrence

Umesh is the dreamer of the day. I dreamt of the return trip at night.

Here's the scene at the Satara Hill run endpoint

Umesh : "Let's go back to the room, get fresh and start our return on the bike"
Me: "Hmm .... give me some time. Let me eat something and recover"
Me:  (after sometime) "Umesh, lets use the bike rack and catch a bus or take a lift"
Umesh : "What happened ? Not feeling like it ?"
Me:  I am fine except for the ankle pain which does not come up during cycling. See the weather. No clouds. We will be starting latest by 12:30 / 1:00. There will be headwinds.
Umesh : The weather will be ok. We will start early.  But your call. I will go by your decision (But I could see his heart was bent on going back the way we came - cycling)
Me : "Hmmm ... Let me go get fresh. My mind will be a lot clearer then"
Bhari : (concerned) "Guys, Lets not risk it. The bike rack can be setup for all three bikes. You have already stretched the limit."

12:00 noon : Both of us are ready outside the hotel to return

And thus we embarked on the return. Not before fixing up the rack on Bhari's car with Vijay's bike. That had its own share of trouble as it was the first time I was setting this up. We lost a nut from the strap harness and Vijay biked down to the nearest hardware shop and fetched another one but we did not have anything to tighten it. Finally Bhari and Vijay put the rack into the car went to the same shop got it tightened and were back.

The bike rack and bike all setup for the return

I wrapped the reflector around the bike to be on the safer side and told Bhari to get down and check the rack whenever they stopped or hit some bad road patches.

We also told them to start a couple of hours after we started, in case one of us needed to discontinue.

Typically after I run a marathon I drink water at frequent intervals until I flush out all the toxins. I also eat at regular intervals. This time we were burning fuel as well as needed refuelling. I had filled a litre of Enerzal. Umesh and I had also eaten Upma and Poha after the run at a hotel near the bus-stand.  Bhari had dropped the others to the hotel and come back to pick up to take us back to the hotel. He had been giving us VVIP treatment throught out as well as in the hotel room.

The moment we hit NH4 towards Pune, I told Umesh we will stop at a decent dhaba and eat some solid food.

In 30 min we came across a hotel and refueled with a Roti each. The dal fry was very spicy (for my palatte) and I ordered and Egg bhurji without chillies. Washed this down with cold water and refilled my camelbak with cold water. i felt much better so much better that I told Umesh that I was ready to climb Khambatki now :-)

The road back is all rolling and mostly downhill, except for a steady gradient at at Shindewadi. I kept it easy and  we took turns at leading. We were faced with cross winds all along and the downhills were not all that fast. Umesh was doing strong and if riding alone would have reached home faster. But he slowed his pace with mine and stayed together.

We were passed by a couple of marathoners in their cars who cheered us. This added to the motivation. Soon after another car passed by gave a left indicator and a hand came out with a camera to shoot us. The same car stopped ahead at some distance and continued shooting us as we approached the car. It turned out to be Venkat who took some great snaps and told us we were crazy. He was driving down to Bombay after all the hard work of organising as well as pacing as a 3 hr bus.

Venkat took this snap as he passed us

A selfie was the right thing to do at the moment

We took another break for cold water but this restaurant did not have any. I ordered some sandwiches as we had stopped anyways and a cold drink. I was also stopping by for urinating and was checking on the urine colour. Pale yellow to white was a good sign and I managed to get this in sometime. 

We approached Wai Phata and another 5 kms before we hit Khabatki tunnel which was a beautiful downhill all the way even after the exit. We stopped before the tunnel approach road and fished out our head lamps. Checked our tail lamps and got ready for the dark tunnel ride and the downhill. 

I was leading as we entered the tunnel with the other vehicles noise deafening us and some of the bikers honking all the way and I noticed I could barely see my head light or the road ahead. What was wrong ? !!! Decelerated and slowed down. Dang ! we had forgotten to take our sun glares off. Stopped immediately and Umesh asked me the reason. He too had his glasses on and was wondering the same. We removed it and put it back into our jersey pockets and continued on. There was a missed call from Vijay on Umesh's cell when we were approaching Shirwal after Khambatki. They had started and were also approaching Shirwal. we stopped for them and they reached us in a couple of minutes. 

Shirwal - Meeting our support car

Bhari and the others were concerned and wanted to know whether we wanted to continue. Of course we were in great shape. the sun was now past its worst and the breeze was cool although I would have preferred a better direction. I told them to carry on ahead. Our next stop was the Vitthal's restaurant which I like because of the filter coffee. I wanted some caffeine 

Vitthal's on all highways

We took a long break at Vitthal's with Masala dosa and coffee. Called up home. It was probably 5:30 pm and I anticipated another 2 hrs more

Soon the gradient towards shinde wadi and the Toll naka started and we continued on. And the Katraj hill came in sight, we decided to take the Katraj tunnel by pass instead of the ghat to avoid the city traffic on the Katraj -swargate road. 

the tunnel and the road after was a long downhill and we got paid back for the climb that we had done the previous day morning. We did remember to remove our glares for this tunnel :-)

As we approached the Sinhagad road phata the road turned bad and the traffic worse. This was the Sunday evening city traffic. We had to stop and start quite a few times because of the bad traffic as well as traffic signals. Umesh parted way to go to Pimpri while I stayed on course to reach East street and Camp. Finally home was in sight and knocked the door at 8:00 pm. 

Siddhant is all smiles and beaming on my return

An eight hour ride after a half marathon was like running a full marathon ? Maybe not :-).

Thanks to Umesh for dreaming in the day. Venkat P from youtoocan run for the wonderful pictures and motivation. Bhari (Bharadwaj Keesra) - a friend whose support and care is unconditional.

Vijay Chavan for having the courage to start and stretch his limits and the spirit to stop and take the support for the return and Brijesh, Prashant and Ashish for the company and motivation.

More of our pics from Team PTC are here

Satara Misal - Stage 2

Hill Finishers

Bhari with the rest of the PTC friends reached at around 4:30 pm. The others got the hotel room. Bhari got our bags and settled himself as our third room mate. We had washed our cycling shorts and Tee shirts and kept it out to dry, optimistic about riding back after the run.

Elevation map

Now it was time to prepare for Stage -2, running the hills. The route 's elevation is as shown in the pic . I had no dreams of doing a PR here. And the journey back was uppermost in my mind as we discussed the next morning's ritual.

We had tea at a tapri in the city and then scouted around for some bread and bananas for the next morning pre-race fuel. Bought some bottled water and returned to the room planning for an early dinner at the hotel restaurant.

The hotel was some distance away from the start point and we were mulling over the best way to reach. Bhari volunteered to drive us down and make two trips as we were 7 of us. Fortunately two of us got a ride in another car as Sudhir a colleague's husband and his son were going to the start point as well.

The organisation of this event is impeccable and has grown from strength to strength over the past couple of years. With Warm up sessions, DJ Music, Drone cameras and water station at the start point,  it is clearly an event organised by runners (Dr Sandeep Kate and his team). The atmosphere is electric and the crowd was energetic and raring to go.

Brijesh, Sudhir, Rishabh, me, Vijay, Ashish, Prashant, Umesh.
Bhari is taking the pic

No political speeches and at 6:00 am and we were flagged off. We had pacers (bus) for the 2 hr, 2:15, 2:30, 2:45 and 3:00 hr finish . Venkat P and Nikhil Shah from Pune running group were the 3:00 hr pacers

I kept a slow pace while Umesh, Vijay and Prashant moved ahead. Prashant is a fast runner . I had predicted an easy sub 2 hr run for him. He dissappeared in no time. I had hopes of finishing between 2:45 to 3:00 hr.

Umesh and Vijay were running barefoot. I admired their resilience despite the unpredictable terrain. I had decided to run in Vibrams. There are many runners from the Satara Athletic Association running barefoot on this course and tearing downhill at high speeds.

panoroma - pic credit - Venkat P @youttocanrun

Ashish Arora was debuting his first run event and Brajesh and Bhari were behind me. The route was an uphill right away and snaked its way through the town into the road leading up to Kaas.

Uphill walking for some

Motivation

Music, cheering locals (a big difference from the inaugral edition) and water stations lined up the route. There were running related quotes which motivated the runners and kept their heads up.

Adequate supply of Music, water, energy drink and medical aid

The water stations had enthusiastic volunteers. They were opening up the bottles and handing it to the runners. Energy drink holding volunteers made themselves visible by extending their arms.
The medical personnel had aprons and pain relief spray with them. Perfect support and further evidence of a "by the runners" event.

Some runners were littering the beautiful roadside with their empty / half filled plastic bottled. Although the rag pickers are around to pick these up, runners should be sensitive to the ecosystem and hold their bottles / waste till the next water station. This becomes easy for the rag

A veteran runner does an impromptu jig with the music

picker to collect. Some runners w
ere throwing the bottle away from sight. I wish the organizers message this out BOLD in the goody bag next year.

I passed the 2:45 pacer on my way up and then saw familiar faces coming down. Umesh and Vijay followed on their down route.

Finally reached the half way mark, grabbed a banana and set myself for the down hill. Down hill does seem easy. Easy for the heart but takes a toll on the legs. I had no plans of hurtling down. Venkat, with the 3 hr bus was coming up and he stopped to click me and many others. I soon passed another 2:45 pacer going downhill. Bhari was enjoying the uphill run with his phone camera. He noticed me and turned his camera to record.

Bhari selfie with quote :-)

Sometime before I had started getting pain on my right ankle bone. This was an injury which I had recovered from a couple of weeks back. Any attempt at increasing the downhill pace hurt the inner area above the ankle bone.
I took a spray at the next water station. and got a little relief. Reached the base and the town area. A corporator had put up blaring music and announcement of his name along with his welcome message.

Venkat P@youtoocan run took this pic

The town road was now lined up with kids and their family. I like to hi-fi the kids standing with outstretched hands . Made suer I did not miss anybody not even the tiniest as some of them giggled and others shyly acknowledged my touch.

Another water station came up I paused for a second shot of pain relief spray. After this started increasing my pace as the road gradient had eased out although still downhill. I could hear the music at the end point and suddenly saw a huge group of  runners coming towards me. Enthusiastic kids in costumes joined me. This was the Dream Run equivalent of SCMM (Mumbai). Now the half marathoners had to look out for the small children and make their way. I was in no hurry and advised a kid whose lace had come undone to retie it. There were other finishers with medals walking up, encouraging their friends and relatives. Soon the last turn and the red carpet came in sight as I turned in to the finish point. saw the clock showing 8:36 and realised that I had out run my estimate. A satisfying run as I made my way to the refreshment area to get the medal.

Met Rafiq Somani who was with his Bombay gang. Some people were enjoying an artifical rain shower. The atmosphere was festive. Umesh and Vijay had finished and clocked a sub 2:30 while Prashant had made a blistering 1:50 finish. The others soon followed as we waited and rested.

The weather was sunny, no clouds, the body had endured a half marathon and there were headwinds on the highway back to Pune. I was in two minds - To bike or take the easy way.

on to Stage 3 - if you have reached this far :-)

Satara Misal - Stage 1

The idea of making a misal of cycling and running was borne in 2011 when Umesh and I were travelling from Bangalore to Mysore for the Kaveri Trail Marathon. There was a cyclist that we passed on the highway and he was soon out of our minds as we enjoyed the drive and small talk. Later in the evening while we relaxed in the hotel balcony in comes Mr Cyclist and checks into the hotel with the Kaveri Trail Bib bag. Next day after the run he loaded the cycle on car bike rack and checked out. 

Soon after Satara Hill Marathon announced its first edition in 2012. I recalled the above and thought this was the ideal event for the Misal as the place is around 130 km from Pune for a half baked randonneour like me to indulge in. It took two more years for the actual attempt, read on ....

Short of Long distance cycling practice I had to take out my Masi for some rides and ended up doing Chandani Chowk and Pirangut. The running training wasn't going good either with the house renovation taking its toll on me physically and mentally. I planned to space out my reserves and not go all out for each of the stage (cycling to satara , Running the half, Cycling back - 130 - 21 - 130 )

Umesh was all geared up with numerous trips to the just opened Decathlon store at Wagholi. He had also bought the Merida Crossway and invested in the right accessories. His training during the last week before the D-day was also way above his usual preparations for any event.

Checklist

The two of us made a long list and shared notes. I was skeptical about the return and ordered a Bike Car rack for a hatchback / Sedan from BikerZ which arrived just a day before leaving me no time to try it out.

BikerZ bike car rack

Bharadwaj (Bhari) was going to drive down to Satara in his car with 4 others. I gave our bags (with the running clothes) and rack to him on Friday.
One of the runners in the above group, Vijay, changed his mind and decided to join us on the bike ride. We were a little apprehensive but one never knows the other person's capacity to stretch his limits. It was a risk that each participant needed to evaluate for himself.

Kiran Revankar, a long distance rider decided to accompany us in the morning and turn around at the 40 km mark. We had good company when we met at Rajaram bridge at 6:15 AM

At Rajaram bridge 6:00 am

The start of the ride is always great with the body fresh and dawn breaking out with less traffic. We reached the Bombay- Bangalore bypass and hit the false flat road approaching Katraj tunnel at steady pace. Umesh and I were leading the pack and I was trying to introduce Umesh to paceline riding :-) while Kiran and Vijay followed. We took a break at the start of the tunnel for a fuel break and to attach the headlights. We saw a runner approaching us and he was a veteran looking very strong on the uphill.

Paceline :-)
Photo credit - Venkat P@youttocanrun

We resumed the ride with me taking up the rear this time and Vijay in front of the group into the tunnel which was still uphill. Exiting the tunnel was an exhilarating downhill till the Toll and we could cover the lost time as we hit top speed with a nice tail wind to assist us

Kiran at Katraj

3 idiots at Katraj

Our next planned stop was the MacDonald at 36 km. We gorged on some Egg Muffins and I packed another one, advising the others to do the same. I needed the second after the Khambatki climb.

Kiran parted ways soon after and took a U-turn back home while we rode ahead. Vijay was faltering behind and we stopped after some distance to let him catch up with us. The weather was partly cloudy and it showered slightly and I prayed this to continue till Khambatki top. Umesh led the way now with Vijay in the middle and me bringing up the tail. the distance between Umesh and us was increasing and Vijay was at a slower pace than mine. The clouds had cleared and we needed to cover 30 kms more to reach Khambtki base before the sun hit us. I passed Vijay and caught up with Umesh as we approached Shirwal and Khandala.

The ghat was approaching and I mulled over the thought of suggesting Vijay to go to the other side and walk across through the tunnel from the wrong side and save the climb. Would have been dangerous. Umesh was doing strong as he pulled ahead of me and overtook a groaning truck. I kept a high cadence and kept it easy, watching my breath. Soon Umesh had powered his way to the top and started capturing my ascent on his camera. This would soon be his routine for the rest of the journey as well :-)

We decided to wait on the top as I refuelled with the egg muffin. I had also carried a couple of bread sandwiches. Umesh took one of them and I kept the other for Vijay. Both of us made calls and selfies and enjoyed the scenery around for a long time with no sign of Vijay.

Khambatki Top

I got worried and tried flagging motor bikes passing us to see if they had noticed another cyclists. Finally one guy said he saw a cyclist at the base walking up which meant a another 30 mins. Umesh called up Vijay who told us to go ahead. We got ready for the descent and zoomed down encashing our climb effort till we reached Wai phata and stopped for buying some water.  The road surface was getting bad as the six laning work is in progress with lot of diversions and bad surface patches. The sun was hotter without any clouds or breeze and we were around 35 kms away from our destination - the Marathon Expo Hotel. Traffic had become denser as we reached the NH4 crossing to enter the city and stopped to ask for directions. Reached the expo at around 12:30 pm and started the formalities of collecting the Bib. Met Divya Tate and Veloscope photographer Brijesh Nair who spotted the Team PTC - PMC bike jersey. Venkat P from youtoocanrun was in one of the booths for the Bib verification and we bade him bye as we needed to check into our Hotel Lakeview as soon as possible.

The bikes parked outside the Expo had some locals interested.  They had the usual queries for long distance cyclists :-). After satisfying their curiosity we found our way to the hotel. After some usual lethargic moments from the hotel management (or lack of it) got a Room which was adjacent to a Reception hall and called the "Bride's room".

"Vadhu" is bride in Marathi :-)

This is the changing room and temporary resting room given to the Bride's family for any Marriage function hosted Well, the room was big to accommodate three of us but the toilet was an Indian one. I dreaded the thought of crapping and cramping together, not to mention the getting up after the job was done. But that is for another post ... :-)

We had packed a spare change of  shorts in the handle bar bag, as the Car with our bags was to reach in the evening. We removed the Satara marathon t-shirts and put that on much to the bemused look of all the others in the hotel wondering why these guys were wearing the next day's event T-shirt.

Vijay followed us soon after by 1:30 pm in the Hotel restaurant for a well deserved Curd rice, more rice and some more rice and we remembered our Rice eater Bhari who was to drive down and reach by 5:00 PM.

Stage -2  running the half marathon follows ...