Cycling Trip: Kalka to Kasauli

It's time for more fun(Trip from Kalka to Kasauli)

June 13, 2009

It’s been a long time for us (Manasij, Aadhar and I) travelling to Greater Noida from Noida via our terrain bikes. It’s a round trip of 32miles each day and we were getting bored of our daily routine. We always wanted cycling to be fun and don’t want to get anchored it as a boring activity. This was the thought that engendered the cycling trip to Kasauli (Himachal Pradesh, India), a small town nested at Shivalik range of Himalaya.

Two cars loaded with three bikes and amateur bikers were rushing down to reach Chandigarh (from Delhi) before 9.00pm, so as to have ample amount of time for dinner and sound sleep before they could head to Kalka next day. It took 4 hours to reach Chandigarh from New Delhi, attributed to Manasij’s super duper driving.

Cycling is fun but getting early in morning is like shit. We need to reach Kalka railway station at 6.00am and assemble our bikes to get started. We just missed our schedule by 35 mins:-), of course nothing new for a lazy guy like me. While Manasij was busy assembling his bike, I and Aadhar had a photo session for pics to be uploaded on Orkut. Later, we too got our bikes assembled and were ready for action.

ON THE MARKS JET SET GO…

Someone whistled and we moved ahead. Except 10mts from railway station any thing and every thing seems to be climbing. Never trained for HIGH hills (uphill), but THE Confidence was high above the head which didn’t lasted more than a mile and need to break for tea. This break had something special that made our trip a complete fun. We received a STRESS BUSTER, and Aadhar heard the weirdest ever thing in his life. A baba at dhaba in his typical style (raising his hands up in the air) advised Aadhar, “HAVE LESS SEX AND REST BE ASSURE THAT YOU WILL HAVE WONDERFUL LIFE AHEAD”. It was me who fell laughing while adjusting my front derailleur which had a problem while shifting from second gear to first, a common problem while moving uphill. It was a Kodak moment, and I still repent that I should have captured Aadhar face at that instant. Well, the only thing that kept Aadhar boggling through out the trip was, "How come baba knew the truth?"...haha ;-). Anyways, we moved ahead and took another break at Parwanoo a small town on NH22 on the way to Kasauli to check route from localites.

Parwanoo provides two options, take a route via Dharampur or directly climb to Kasauli. Route via Dharampur is even with wide roads and comfortable gradient on contrary to direct uphill climb to Kasauli from Parwanoo. Against the advice, we choose the tough one; of course we were there to test our limits. This route is of 17mile and has lots of blind turns and hair pins but with less traffic, exactly what we wanted, but gradient was f**king tough.

I started with gear combination of 2(front) * 3(rear), and had a comfortable ride for next 2 miles. Later, I went to 1(front) * 3(rear), as it was getting tougher and tougher. We were continuously breaking after every 2 miles and I was second throughout the trip, and use to stop where ever I find Manasij waiting for us. He was carrying a borrowed GPS with him and was testing the precision of the device against the stats mentioned at number of places enroute ;-).

We took a meal halt at about 4600feets above the sea level, on a road side Dhaba, a place from where we could see the Monkey Point at Kasauli. There we had omelets, 5 bottles of cold drinks and refilled our sippers with 2ltrs of mineral water (with glucose and ORS). Refueled with lots of calories, we again started our journey, which was getting tougher with height and heat.

Just 4 miles before Kasauli, my bike broke (flat front tyre) and we decided to move back. Breaking the silence, Aadhar denied and did want to complete the trip any how. Another exciting moment in the trip, I had to move ahead by taking lift from a truckee, who supplies water to hotels at Kasauli with a thought of getting my bike repaired at the height of 6000feets. While moving up with steep blind turns, I was gearless but truckee was fearless. At least there were three moments where I remembered my parents and god and thanked them for what they did for me. Somehow I reached Kasauli, but next was to find a cycle repair shop. I believe cycling at this height with such a gradient had never excited locals of Kasauli :-(.

ANOTHER TOUGH SITUATION…

Where to find a cycle repair shop?

All you can find there were air pumps with nozzles to supply air to bus, trucks, scooters, mo-bikes, cars etc etc but not to bikes. Some one advised me to move to a small village name Garkhal, about 2 miles downhill. With no other option left I had to. People at height are most of the time helpful and correct with their advices. I knew the exact problem with my bike, but needed air pump any how. Valve of my front tyre had a cut, needs replacement.

After getting my bike repaired, I had to move uphill again to meet the guys with me. This time gradient was toughest, and only one thing that motivated me was, “I will earn 17 miles of downhill after reaching up the crossing at Kasauli”. This means a pedal free journey back to Kalka. I reached the crossing where the truckee left me and called up Manasij and Aadhar to reach the same place before we could move back. If you are inquisitive about what Manasij and Aadhar did when I was busy getting my bike repaired, do read out Manasij's Blog.

Team was there within 10 minutes and we decided to move back. In the mid of the way back, cold shower welcomed our trip to Kasauli and made the weather fundoo pleasant. Complete return journey was pedal free. It didn’t took more than an hour for us to reach Kalka railway station, but this time I was the person who came last. Without loosing any more time, we crushed our bikes and put them into cars and then headed for Chandigarh to our friend Akash's place, who provided us the bed last night. I was the person who resisted going back to Delhi on the same day but majority won :-(. We were back to Delhi by 11.00 pm and I was on my bed by 11.30 pm.