back on the Peddle ....:)

This week rhea is back, and as anticipated, complete nirvana has not happened under the 21st century pepul tree. Otherwise I presume I would be cycling with a companion in orange robes……jai mata di…
Back on the peddle was exciting. Moving into the lift and peddling out of princton took us barely 2 minutes, and the first conversation was of how I’m having my first attacks of alzimer’s, only to realize at the first traffic signal, that my forgetfulness is worse than predicted………I HAD FORGOTTEN TO LOCK THE HOUSE DOOR……PUFF!!!!!!
So back again we went to Princeton for the necessary doings. But here, with just a 2 minute break after peddling for 5 minutes, the sweat pores opened up like a dam bout to burst.
This time we just turned where our mind took us. Ofcourse, Rhea is still the navigator, but like other times, we did not analyze directions. It had rained in the afternoon, (which almost cancelled our plans to hit the road), so most of gurgaon was puddled. So we had to find a way not to hit the regular roads, and this gave us a new view of gurgaon.
Since we had a puddle situation we rode into the by lanes of our intended route. Very less traffic and thus less pollution and less noise from the unruly gurgaon motorists. Gurgaon is green and not actually as parched as it looks from the main roads. One thing I noticed during this ride was that most of the carwalls of gurgaon only know the MAIN roads to drive on and seldom venture into the side lanes. Well, the roads are usually bad, so I guess moving that 10 grand tyre over those 2 grand roads might pull up a 20 grand maintenance bill.
There was loads of gossip and newz to catch up on after our 12 day hiatus. As we were well early into the evening we had loads of time before it gets dark. So with enough news and enough time at our disposal, we kept cycling into the various bylanes of gurgaon, till we reached our regular pit stop a.k.a hang out point…..the icecream/panipuri/paniwallas, at the Leisure Valley.
I instantly decided to pick my regular orange bar, but, Miss return from nirvana, was contemplating on whether to take one or not. Thanks to some divine intervention I guess god said buy the mango bar…..hahahahaha….(rhea, I know I will have to pay for this…hahaha.)
Here everything seemed normal like our usual visits……..people watching us…..some gaping at our bikes, and the tapori kids, faffing around…….except for one……there was no music around. Our usual bollywood item numbers were not to be heard…….i decided to give the benefit of doubt to the IFFA awards that just finished in Toronto. Character dheela Zarine Khan must be in some rehearsals and other item heroines must be busy there, trying to literally crack their next movie deal on some fluffy 5 star bed….:) Thus we had to make do without our bollywood dose.
By now we had finished a good two hours on the road as we headed back to princeton. Back on the peddle was exciting, fun and liberating. More joy was in the fact that we had company again…
Before I start my next days experience, I should bring to notice, that we have another silent fan in our cycling dairies…….Ms Ruchi Singh………she does get to hear most of our cycling experiences before it turns into a blog. During our usual meets in the evening, she keeps saying I look bored, so I rattle… Keep the encouragement coming Ruchi, and we shall keep the cycling goin…. :) Better still, join us….:)
In between all this, the other good newz is that Mr Himanshu Anand is fairing better after his ligament tear and hope to see him up and about in couple of weeks.
The next day of cycling, I was informed of a time constrain. So we had to be quick and had to finish between 5pm and 6:30pm, as airport duties were called for after.
On this ride, we rode into the super elite area of Gurgaon……THE DLF GOLF CLUB. Rhea with her high connections rattles off some names and numbers to the security guards at the main gate. The poor guys were for the first time in their jobs, allowing two cycles into the gate. Before most of the guards realized, the gate were open and we rode in. I’m sure, they were wondering for the next couple of minutes, wondering how to register two cycles in their entry books. If they did, then the entries, would read like…….BMW/Lexus/Mercedes/ Porsche/ cycle1/cycle2/Audi/Bentley/Honda/ BMW/Volvo……
The ride here was bliss…….well laid roads, pruned hedges and plants, a green golf course on one side and super expensive apartments on the other side……nice….nice…nice. We peddle out of rear exit of the property into a nice asphalt pathway with elephant grass on either sides. From here, Gurgaon surly looked green and clean as the government claims it to be.
We reached the main road, and rhea decides to ride on the wrong side of the road against oncoming traffic. Though it was for just bout hundred meters, I’m dead scared of riding on the opposite direction. Because, here in Gurgaon, any chunk of metal on wheels can pop up from anywhere, at any time. And the last thing the drivers care bout, are the cyclist on the road.
On this ride the talking was less and we kept looking at our watches more often. Due to the time restrictions, god know why, but we were cycling fast and in the process covering miles quickly. Imagine this……we head out of Princeton, into the golf course, into phase one market, onto golf course road again and into phase 2, turn into turn into turn and reach Iffco Chowk all in a matter of 35 minutes. The RPM on the peddles were high this evening.
At Iffco Chowk, the traffic at the signals had crammed up. We cool people on our bikes decide to cross the road and cycle inbetween the cars. We were on the otherside of the road in less than a minute. The carwallas would take atleast 25minutes to finish that distance.
No pit stop breaks on this day. We ride down …fast…towards Gallaria mall and ride on a foot path along a embankment and up to the main road. We have actually started discovering many a off road paths in Gurgaon.
We reach Princton well within our time limit, sweating and drenched like we had walked out of a pool. Legs aching we make our way up the lift, but completely happy with the days outing.
Ruchi and Aanchal, keep the comments and encouragement coming……as for me…….the woods are lonely dark and deep and I have mile to go before I sleep and miles to go before I sleep….:)