Bike trek to Rajmachi with Trek Mates India on 5th Dec '10

It is always said that a successful leader is the one who is followed by all his followers. But at the Rajmachi bike trek, I never wanted anyone to follow me, as i was the first to slip on the road. Managed the bike somehow, not letting me and meenu hugging the muddy roads of Rajmachi. I slipped once and then saw people slipping and a few sleeping in the road.


All this started with a total count of 23 that responded for the event, and 3 ppl who turned out at the last minute (missing the fun).



6.50 am: i was amazed to see a few people already waiting for me at the Kalamboli McD, 10 mins before the scheduled time. Felt nice to see a few faces after a long time. We had to wait here till the others came, and so many of us chose to have some fast food in the McD. I had already started my call centre till then, and was busy on the phone enquiring about the remaining members. We also had our introduction round here so that we could start as soon as the last person arrives.



7.30 am: The last member arrived and we were off the road, just to know a few of us had their bikes empty stomach and had to fill the up at the next petrol pump. A few were already moving. So we had to divide into 2 groups and reach lonavala at the specified spot. The first group reached lonavala at 8.45 am. The second group faced some probs in their way but managed to reach lonavala at 9.30 am. Here we also met the remaining crew and now the group was full. We all had a heavy breakfast here and then moved our way towards the destination.



10.00 am: We had already left the smooth roads of the hill station and were on the rough roads to find that the roads are getting bad to worst with the distance covered. It is now that everyone realised that their and their bike’s performance will be tested enroute.


We had a few photo sessions on the way, some information sessions, discussions, lots of slippery patches, and a lots of dhamaal before reaching the top i.e. Udhewadi village at the base of Manranjangad.



12.30 pm: We reached the village, ordered for the lunch, and were off for our trek to Shrivardhan. I am sure people would have cursed me for not letting them rest even for 10 mins before we starting the ascend.

Some information, some photography, and siteseeing took us 2.45 to get back to udhewadi village for lunch. We had a heavy nonveg meal (except the 7 ghass-pooss eaters.) and then started for the lake and temple visit towards the west of the fort. Back by 3.45 pm, had tea at the same place, and started at 4.00 pm for our back journey.



04.05 pm: Everyone was excited but carefully making their way towards Lonavala, when we a heard some sound from Umesh’s bike, just a perfect sound to know that something has gone wrong. We checked the bike to find that the bike chain had a breakdown and so the bike. A heavy discussion on what is to be done next got us to the conclusion. Soon the bike had its chain and the chain cover packed in a plastic bag, was tied up to another bike with the help of a chunari, and was getting towed. This wasn’t possible wherever it was a steep ascend and in the puddle roads. So there had to be two well built people, who helped the bike push itself.

This process was repeated for 17 long kms, which saw some slippery roads here and there, change of ppl to push, change in the towing bikes, changing riders, a fall where both the bikes and the riders were flat on the road....etc etc. This also included one spectator bike, parked wrongly coming down and meeting the dusty roads, without anyone helping it in doing so.



06.45 pm: We were finally in lonavala... 45 mins behind the schedule, but everyone was at ease with the timing, and happy with all what they had experienced in the whole day. The bike was given to the mechanic followed by two more bikes; one for a punctured tyre, and one more for some checking.



We had some refreshment till then, passed some time and finally started our back journey from lonavala by 8.00 pm.