hey....
I've been waiting for the cyclothon to happen ever since i got my firefox fusion..wanted to take part in the critical mass rides that happen but somehow never managed to join them...so I registered the very day it was announced....was from a few lucky ones who managed to register online without any hassles...
Cut to the D-day...
I was so exicted about gettin there, BTW the cyclothon starts from bandra reclamation thats a good 13 kms from my place...i was initially thinkin of riding till bandra but thank god i didnt..it wouldn't have been apt for me if i did that, considering that I am still an amateur rider....
so...drove my bike till station and hired a cab with the carrier and there u go!!! i was on my way...everything was fine till we reached the bandra junction where we take a left to reclamation, but there the roads were blocked for the cyclists (ofcourse)....so then started the turns and traffic..i couldnt find my vehicles carrying cycles like i did till vileparle...which made me think that am I the only one...but once i approached bandra-mahim causeway...i saw a lot of guys like me, putting their bike on the carriages...i dropped the taxi mid-way and cycled my way to the venue...and THERE I WAS....a good number of people were gathered to have a view of all the cyclists...Mummies n papa's of kids who took part in 2km ride were on with their cameras and camcorders...
so I finally went in for Amateur ride start point, I saw a huge number of participants who were in for that segment...obviously understandable considering that SEA LINK was the part of our route..most of them i would believe didnt have their own helmets, so thanks to the reebok helmets that came along the goody bag, most of the cyclists were on with their yellow coloured reebok helmets....I managed to buy one for the me the same day that i got my bike...
the ride starts...wow...we were on the roads with all the cameras flashing and poeple wishing us good luck when we were passing through the start point...the good point was i wasnt feeling tired when we started, considering there were a good 24 kms to be covered it was indeed a wise decision to take my bike on cab till bandra(thanks dad for that advise)....
twists n turns we were just roaming about in bandra lanes...i overheard some cyclists whispering that sea link was off the route for security concerns, i was disappointed to hear this...but was still njoying the ride....the roads were all for us...all u could see is yellow heads...some taking their own sweet time cycling and some speeding up like there was no tommorow!!!
I chatted along with fellow cyclists, was quite amazed and exicted looking at the exictment of other guys....with us were our own MUMBAI DABBAWALAS who were on their doodhwala cycles...they beat all of us...they zoomed passed us in a flash...and were so determined to complete the race...obviously,cycling was their daily routine, it was funny and exicting to watch them...
then came the killer the SEA LINK...whohooo...the best part of the cyclothon..most of us didnt miss a chance to capture ourselves cycle on the sea link, being on the sea link cycling was some thing man...I enjyed each moment i cycled...everyone on the route was cheering each other up....the winds on the sea link worked against us for some part, but for most of it, it was smooth....i cant forget how i asked that DAILY newspaper photographer to click my snap...he was literally sleeping on the road while taking my pic...no wonder that pic turned out to be a great one...
after the sea link there was hardly 4 kms and we were back on the finish line, which again had loads of people, congratulating each other on actually completing the 24 kms ride...kuddos to all who were a part of it and completed it...post the ride everyone was treated with bananas, biscuits and water to recharge...i saw some guys clicking snaps with Actors from tarak mehta....
Sodhi was passing by, so i just asked him to freeze and clicked him..he was sporty enough!
I was thinkin of cycling my back home but was too tired, so hired a cab again till my place...
All i can say is "What an Experience".....it was damn good! hope a lot more people take inspiration from this so that cycling can be used as an alternate transport for short trips...
Cheers.....
J
