Golden Triangle Odyssey

 

कौन कहता है आसमान में सुराख नहीं हो सकता, एक पत्थर तो तबीयत से उछालो यारों!!

How it all started?

Three years ago some of my friends went on a bicycle trip to the Golden Triangle. Photography has been one of my hobbies, so I took along my DSLR, some of my favorite lenses and the travel baggage in my SUV and joined them for the fun. I was fascinated by the मस्ती they were having during the ride and I wanted to join in too but I was very well aware of my limitations. In fact at that time, the sole reason for my cycling was to maintain my fitness. After doing a 50-100 km ride I used to consider myself as a big तीसमार खाँ. It was clear to me that such treacherous rides were not my glass of vodka but मन में कीड़ा तो बैठ गया था. 

आज मैं स्पेक्टेटर हूँ कल दुनिया होगी ........

Now what is Golden triangle in the cycling community?

Real Strava map recorded byone
 of the co-rider Mr. Rahul Kapoor

It basically refers to the cities of Delhi, Jaipur and Agra which when located on the map of India form the shape of a triangle and the total distance that is supposed to be covered is 750 km and that too in three consecutive days i.e. on an average 250 km in a day. So the next question that one may encounter is, "How long does it take to prepare for 'Golden Triangle Ride' for an average person?" Interesting question demands an interesting answer and hence was stated by one of my cycling buddies Mr. Sagar Vashistha that "Average person does not do such things."

The number one antidote to fear is preparation.

This year I did some small but difficult (at least for me) mountain rides and they could be accomplished only because of my self-reliance and the constant thought in my head "Trying and failing is better than failing to try". Now पुराना कीड़ा Golden triangle was in my bucket list and as they say जहाँ चाह वहाँ राह, One day I shared my desire in front of one of my known Mr. Tarun Wadhwa (Director of a well known adventure tour operating company 'Dare2Gear'). He not only readily agreed to take me on this trip, but also took the responsibility of making me complete it. His way of challenging me was differently unique, "सर आप अगर सरेंडर कर दिए तो कंपनी से आपके पैसे रिफंड करा दूंगा". अब ऐसे बेइज्जती भरे पैसे से तो गरीब रहना ही अच्छा था, so I took his challenge head on and got myself registered for the much awaited event "GOLDEN TRIANGLE ODYSSEY".

If you go for it you either win or lose..... 
but if you don't go..you definitely won't win

Here's where my insecurities began to unfold. I consulted some of my experienced cyclist friends namely Awdhesh Goel, Dr. Sunil Kumar and Mohit Mendiratta for their expert advice and टिप्पणी. All three of them showed confidence in me but I was still very nervous. I was more afraid of failing लेकिन अब ओखली में सर दे दिया, तो मूसलों का क्या डर? Thanks to these guys for imparting stretching and hydration related ज्ञान which later proved to be very useful.

I was innocent, then my best friends came along.
 Now we all are innocent!! 

A day before commencement of the ride, I packed my luggage as per the list given by Dare2Gear. During packing I was very anxious and it could not remain unnoticed by my wife Usha and both the sons Ayushman and Agastya. All of them suggested me to not overstretch myself during the ride. They advised me to discontinue the ride too in case of excessive fatigue but internally all of them had utter confidence in me and knew that I would be able to complete the challenge. That is how a family is!!

When it's the time for a test, Family stands the best!

Day 1 (Delhi to Jaipur)

Usha (my wife) dropped me at India Gate (flag off point) at 5.30 AM as ride had to start at 6 AM. At Flag off point my cycling friends Awdhesh Goel, Nitu Goel, Dr. Sunil Kumar, Micky Max, Debina Thomas along with a dozen other cyclists gathered to cheer me up. We took some snaps over there. Awdhesh and Nitu gave me some dry fruits which proved to be very useful during my first day ride.

I feel the need to endanger myself every so often.

We began our ride at 6 AM sharp from the India Gate. We were a team of total 20 riders and five Marshals (All from Dare2Gear). Two  marshals (Tarun and Ritesh) were leading the troop in a Toyota Innova  and two  of them (Surya and Gurpreet) in a Pickup truck (capable of carrying cycles) were moving after the group. One marshal on a bike (Mukesh rotating his duty with Gurpreet) was moving to and fro taking care of each rider. All support vehicles were loaded with hydration items like water, ORS, Energy gels, Energy drinks, Chocolates, Sweets, banana etc including repair kit and spare parts for cycles too. 

मंजिल से बेहतर लगने लगे हैं ये रास्ते .... 

My initial century ride was super smooth and I did it in just 4 hours including breakfast. At around 11 AM one of my co-riders informed me that my rear wheel is having alignment issue and it was bubbling abnormally, later I found out that one of the spokes was broken. I took it as a my luck sign because during most of my long rides I encounter such hurdles and I presume that my determination is being tested. अब तो ऐसे शगुन के बिना मैं अपनी राइड्स कम्पलीट ही नहीं मानता. I contacted marshals and I was advised to continue pedaling till the lunch point where this issue would be resolved. My speed stepped down slightly but I kept moving and reached the Lunch point by 1 PM. My bike was on Repair mode, I was on Rejuvenation mode and post lunch I switched to Resume mode. (As it is said that we should follow the three R's, I had an eco-friendly sorry a Biko-friendly ride).

If you can find a path with no obstacles,
it probably doesn't lead anywhere. 

I began my second half of first day's journey. I was keeping myself hydrated and was doing stretching after around every 25 km and things were going as planned though my ride was delayed by an hour due to the spoke repair. Around 50 km before the hotel where we were supposed to stay, rear tire of my bike got punctured. The issue was again resolved by Mukesh (the marshal on bike) but the entire process consumed one more hour of my first day.  Here I was slightly demotivated but kept on riding.... अब साइकिल की सीट ने तकलीफ देना शुरू कर दिया,  होटल पहुंचते पहुंचते शरीर का वो हिस्सा जहां से दोनों टांगें निकलती हैं करीब करीब pink हो चला था और मुझे समझ आने लगा था कि क्यों जयपुर को pink city कहते हैं। Reaching Jaipur never felt this satisfying ever before in my life except the burning sensation in the pink city. All I could do with the leftover energy was my very own S3 Principle – Shower-Supper-Sleep. 

Day 2 (Jaipur to Agra)

The flag off time for the day was 6.30 AM. We had our breakfast at the hotel itself and started timely. Initial patch was a steep downhill and the road was एकदम से मक्खन मलाई. After taking lunch after 130 km I rode for another 20 km and took a 30 min nap in a nearby Dhaba. I again carried on my ride but after around 15 km पहला शगुन बोले तो first flat tire occurred. Today Gurpreet was on bike duty. He repaired the puncture but आज तो शगुन की बरसात हो रही थी, one after the other five Punctures in a stretch of 10 km were sufficient to spoil my mood. Thanks to the support system of team Dare2Gear, had they not supported and cheered me up in time, I would probably have abandoned the ride. 

Today I guessed the reason for keeping the size of bicycle seat so small... actually जितना छोटा सीट होगा उतना कम area में तकलीफ होगी. अगर शरीर के कुछ महत्वपूर्ण स्थानों में स्थायी क्षति होने का डर नहीं होता तो शायद सीट की जगह पर सिर्फ रॉड ही रखते. Day 2 was successfully completed. Pink city आगरे के लाल किले में नहीं तब्दील हो पायी...... हां रात को सपने में दिल्ली का लाल किला जरूर दिखा जो की बहुत डरावना था.

Day 3 (Agra to Delhi)

आज तो साइकिल क़यामत ढा रही थी........ चमक रही थी ....... तलवार दिख रही थी, Dare2Gear टीम ने साफ़ सुथरी करके ये सुनिश्चित कर दिया था कि जितनी मर्जी राइड कर लें ... बस सिर्फ छिलेगा..... टेटनस पक्का नहीं होगा.

आओ चलें डार्लिंग दोनों डबल सीट..

After breakfast we went to Mehtab Bagh to take some pictures with the Taj Mahal but the visibility was poor due to fog. Now we started moving towards Delhi with the slogan अब दिल्ली दूर नहीं !! लेकिन दिल्ली अभी भी दूर थी because the journey now onward had much more pain awaiting us.

अब तो इतने थक गए कि प्यार की निशानी भी धुंधली दिखाई दे रही है...

अब दिल्ली दूर नहीं !

Similar to Indian constitution, Indian traffic system is also borrowed from many countries. In fact it is an amalgam of 'Europe's right side driving' and 'England's Left side driving'. We choose our driving directions as per our convenience. This driving style is more prevalent in North India especially in UP. So we were facing two way traffic on the same lane. Roads too were very uneven, the sun was hurting separately, ऊपर से Headwind was the icing on the cake. I was finding it difficult to maintain my speed even at 20 kmph. कुछ रिकॉर्ड वगैरह तो नहीं तोड़ पा रहा था ..... हां! आज भी दो स्पोक जरूर तोड़ दिए, और सपोर्ट सिस्टम को repair के लिए इन्फॉर्म कर दिया. 

All you need is love .....
but sometimes lunch works too.

Vaseline like Petroleum jelly is a boon for long distance cyclists. It is recommended for all rides which are 100 km or more as Anti-Chafing cream. It prevents rashes due to rubbing of shorts. (Warning - Never use Vaseline on your face or lips after borrowing it from a cyclist) One of my co-riders was struggling with his saddle while riding, I guessed the issue and provided Vaseline to him. After applying the Vaseline he speeded up like a rocket. He overtook me and within minutes he was out of my sight.मुझे थोड़ा शक हुआ, मैंने वेसलीन का इतना तेज़ असर पहले कभी नहीं देखा था, Later I realized my mistake .... actually वेसलिन के बदले में उनको गलती से अमृतांजन दे दिया था. 

एक रास्ता है ज़िंदगी, जो थम गए तो कुछ नहीं!

Last 70 km were relatively easier, because The sun had almost set and the headwind also calmed down. The part of my body which was in contact with the saddle became completely numb, समझ नहीं आ रहा था कि शरीर कहाँ समाप्त हो रहा है और साइकिल कहाँ से शुरू हो रही है. तकलीफ बता रही थी कि I am very close to the destination. As I was approaching towards the finish point, it was getting very difficult for me to control my emotions.

कठिन है राह गुजर थोड़ी दूर साथ चलो।

When I reached at the finish point, Usha (My wife), Ayushman and Agastya (my sons), Avdhesh Goel, Vivek Dhal and Dr. Sunil Kumar (My cyclist friends), Tarun, Amandeep, Varun and many others (from Dare2Gear team) were already present to congratulate me on my achievement. All my tiredness disappeared as soon as I heard the thunderous applause of these people. I couldn't believe that the journey which never seemed to end was completed by me so easily. My 13 year old son Agastya was continuously looking at me and I could sense the pride in his heart for his father's achievement. I was in nirvana. Nothing has ever felt this satisfying ever in my life. I am thankful to Tarun Wadhwa who made me discover a new me.

रास्ते कहाँ खत्म होते हैं ज़िन्दगी के इस सफ़र में;
मंजिल तो वही है जहाँ ख्वाहिशें थम जाएं!!

तुमलोग फिर आ गए, चलो फिर नए ख्वाब देखते हैं .........