A Rocking.. err.. Pebbling.. err.. Pedaling Trip. IIT Bombay, Powai to the Gateway of India. I simply loved it!
The original plan was to land somewhere near Chowpatty beach, but I had some useless landmarks and I got lost. I was not too particular about going to a particular place, so didn’t try too hard to stay on track and was happy to end up at the Gateway. Thanks to the Mumbai local, I don’t know the road routes. But, again thanks to the Mumbai local, I have a general idea of the direction.
I woke up a bit later than scheduled, but almost made up for the delay until I reach my cycle to find the rear tyre fully flat. I quickly diagnosed the problem to be with the valve. But, I had no spare valve, unless, I “borrow” it from a cycle near-by. I replaced my valve with Vattam’s cycle’s and was good to go!
I didn’t have a big enough water bottle, and carried along only half a litre after drinking one half litre. The first half hour was a breeze; possibly the best part of the whole ride. High on energy and enthu. Then, my groin/ass started to hurt a bit. I pulled out my music player to drown the pain in music. This kinda worked and I pulled on pretty well until King’s circle. That’s when I emptied all the water I had. I hoped to find water along the way, if I badly needed it.
Sometime later, I had to take a right turn, but I never knew where. I didn’t bother to ask anyone, nor did I look at the landmarks I had scribbled down. I was happy to go straight ahead. :)
And by the time I reached CST/Fort, I did need water; badly enough. I stopped at the next open shop (that was not a pan-ki-dukaan) and got myself some Nimbu paani and a litre of water (for future).
The Gateway of India was just 10 minutes away from here. Loitered around there, for about 40 minutes. There were a lot of Policemen all over the place. After about 5 minutes of me reaching there, they cleared the whole area right next to the Gateway of India. I don’t know why. (Also, all along the way, there were a lot of men in Khaaki. I guess there’s some rally or some such thing scheduled)
On the return, I lost my way almost immediately after starting. There was a one way road that I avoided and took the adjacent road but ended up going off-track. I had some doubts about this but they weren’t confirmed until I reached Mahalaxmi station! But there, a Taxi driver gave me rough guidelines to get back on my track. I turned back and soon was “back-on-track”.
I’d planned to have breakfast at Idli house, as soon as I saw it during my onward journey. So, I went directly to Idli house, and treated myself to a Rava idli and some wonderful Kaapi. The waiter got tipped well, too. ;)
From Matunga, back to IIT was straight forward; except for the growing traffic and the PITA (literally). The traffic signals were a bit annoying, too.
On the whole was an awesome trip! I loved it. Hope to go on more such rides. But, I guess I’ll head north-ward, the next time.
By the way, it was approx. 60kms on the whole and took me 5 hours (including the time I spent at the Gateway of India) with about 3 hours 40 mins of pedaling.. err.. rocking. :D
Here is a photoset
“Plan”
IIT to Chowpatty
Route
Actual
Onward
Route
Timing
- IIT-Bombay
- Matunga
- Gateway of India
Return
Route
Timing
- Gateway of India
- Reach Idly house
- Start at Idly house
- Reach IIT Bombay
Stuff I was carrying
- water
- ID
- some cash
- paper, pencil
- mobile phone
- music player, ear phones
- digital camera
- rough map
- Geetanjali - Tagore