If Reliance really want to make money out of the new Gurgaon-Faridabad Road they should figure out a way of charging recreational cyclists for using the road. I went for a solo ride and on the 20 km stretch met with at least 20 other riders, chatted with five of them and saw many others I didn't recognize. Some of the faces I did know - Ranjit, Naru, Luis, Nitish + 3 others, Ashok Mehta + his 2 kids, Steve + 3, Satish, and about 4 other lone riders. It's nice to see road biking coming of age in Gurgaon and there's probably no better place to do this in the entire NCR than the new GFRd.
Only down side is that you get this crazy tail wind (which you can never feel) as you head towards Faridabad, so you think you're in great shape and will cruise back over the hills. But when you turn, it hits you and you realize the trip back will be harder than expected. Ranjit, who does this route about 50 times a week, says it's seasonal for summer.
Ride details
This ride has always been one of those that has an interesting ending. This third attempt was no different. The plan was quite simple for a 65km ride. We would ride up to Pathways School, and find the trail that eventually emerges at one end of a 5km straight and wide road on the top of an abandoned ridge. We had christened this road the Airstrip for this is what it looks like when you see it on Google Earth. On either side of the road are plots for farm houses that will probably get built when the Supreme Court’s not looking. The road rolls along the ridge giving you great views of the surrounding countryside and eventually descends into a village called Saab Ki Nagri near Sohna.
The first of four punctures was Luis's with a tubeless tire spraying sealant all over the place. When we got the tire off, it looked like a hedgehog had been having a fit in the tire.
We operated on the tire and took out about 30 thorns before fitting a tube and prayed that Luis didn't get any more thorns on the trail. He was riding a 29er and the other 7 were riding 26 inch wheels, so no more spare tubes.
All said and done, it was a very beautiful place to stop to fix punctures, and Baba Blackberry (a.k.a. Rajesh Kalra) and his disciples conferred about how places like this deserved to become pilgrim sites for weary city dwellers and how we may go about setting up an ‘ashram’ in the wilderness.
Having mentally plotted the area for the ashram and adjacent rest house, we hit the trail. Against all expectations, no punctures, and all smooth sailing over the rocky terrain that eventually led us to the Airstrip.
On road we picked up speed and reached the village at the bottom of the plateau where we stopped to fix puncture #2 on Nachiketa’s bike. It was getting hot now so decided to move ahead and stopped in the shade in front of a farm house, again a nice spot for a little tube change, and some of the nicest tasting water straight from the tube well of the house.
Finally we reached a tea shop where we consumed large quantities of sugar and just as we were about to set off, discovered another two punctures. Clearly we were going to be late getting back and the reading on Luis’s bike comp was already showing 35 degrees! Punctures fixed and two more rounds of chai and thanda later we were on our way and making good speed with a tail wind on Sohna road.
Alas the dehydration caught up with 3 of us and we stopped and struggled to keep those twitching muscles from completely clamming up. To make things worse, my rear derailleur wire snapped, and at that point I decided to get into the shade, get something cold to drink and call the cavalry.
25 minutes later Rajesh’s wife Seema came to our rescue and we were on our way home, chilling with the a/c on full blast, sipping iced tea and thinking – no more long rides till the monsoon hit.
