This ride has an interesting twist all throughout.
At first, we had decided to ride to the Windmills ahead of Thoseghar waterfalls, called Chalkewadi Windmill Farms. Usually, our group is very punctual, and we arrive on time. On this day, even I was running late and reached the meetup point after the agreed time.
Once everyone arrived, after our usual group pic, we started and found that one of the bikes had a puncture. Luckily, we hadn't ridden too far, so we all stopped, got the Tyre fixed, and restarted our ride. Our original destination was about 180 km one way, and since we were already delayed, I wasn't sure when we would be back.
As it had rained the previous night and there was a constant drizzle in the air, everyone's visor was being splashed with mud and dirt. That hampered our progress. By the time we reached near the town of Satara, it was past my breakfast time, and I got hungry.
Luckily, everyone agreed to stop for breakfast. We stopped at \[South Aroma Cafe] (https://maps.app.goo.gl/fponKSMsk85uu64C6) and had a good breakfast. But since we were delayed quite a bit, we collectively decided to change the destination to Kass Plateau and not really go all the way to the windmills.
That was the right decision, as we climbed up the Kaas Ghat, the clouds and fog engulfed us. Although the weather turned beautiful for riding, it also meant we had to slow down our pace. We stopped at multiple spots to get some awesome pics and made our way beyond the Kaas Plateau down to the lake. After a tea break and some visor-cleaning activity, we started our return journey, and that's when the excitement began.
All of us were extremely happy to have gotten rainy weather, good pics, and full tummies, and we were eager to get back home. As we reached near the Satara -Pune border on the highway, we saw a police barricade and them asking everyone to get onto the service lane. We requested, and they agreed to let the bikes go.
One down, but at the next one they didn't allow us to use the highway and asked us to get onto the service lane. The Highway was free, but local people were agitated for some unknown reason (unknown to us until today). Somehow we managed to squeeze past the buses and cars already on the service lane, get ahead, and get back on the highway where the barricades ended.
We thought we had overcome all of it, only to be stopped at the next barricade at Karphol. This time, they weren't allowing anyone to go, even on the service lane. We were asked (as was everyone) to take a detour or stay put for an unknown amount of time.
We decided to take the detour. It was the cycling route that I had ridden before, so we took it. But our troubles had just begun.
As everyone took the detour, cars, jeeps, and larger vehicles clogged the narrow countryside roads. The cycling route goes through villages and can barely squeeze 2 cars side by side. Every road, every turn, was jammed with waterlogged roads and inexperienced drivers getting stuck in mud or unable to manoeuvre through narrow roads.
At every intersection, we were asked to go straight and not turn towards the state highway that would lead us back to the highway. Every bike was low on fuel, and these villages don't have fuel stations nearby. A school van that was also taking the detour was leading us, and after a while we were sure we were being kidnapped (Joke; it was not the case).
We were simply relying on the jokes on the cardo to keep everyone engaged and not worry about the low fuel. We even planned to spend the night at some villager's house and call for backup from their mobiles, since none of us had any mobile network coverage. The roads weren't the best as well.
Narrow village roads, filled with potholes and water from the overnight rains. Some sections had slush that scared us too. Anyway, after what seemed like ages, we were back on the state highway, and I recognised it, and that gave us confidence.
As we saw a fuel pump, all of us just jumped at it. A few of us thought we could risk another few kilometres, and while others were pumping fuel, we decided to head to another pump on the highway. Phew, we made it.
We fueled up our bikes and fueled our bodies with water and electrolytes. What was a 10 km straight highway turned into a 25 km detour. You can see the detour in the pic.
After a much-needed break, and after getting our thoughts and breath back, we headed back to the city. Some of us decided to have a late lunch at 2 PM, and then head home. What started as a regular Sunday breakfast ride turned into an adventure where we hit every possible road condition in every possible weather condition. But what's a Sunday ride without a little adventure :D? All good, as they say.