Many moons ago, I knew nothing about cycling. For that matter even now I just about balance my bike and life! This story is about how I got into serious cycling after giving it up in my school days.

Previous episode recap:

*With zero experience, I climbed from the flatlands (Kalka) all the way to the hill town of Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, India. Kalka rests at 656 metres above mean sea level, while Shimla is at 2300 metres! I probably climbed about 2000 metres and 90 km on the first day. You can read the full log here.

Day 2

On the second morning, I woke up in bed with my legs numb. The left protested and the right went on a murderous spree. I rolled off the bed and landed on my feet and felt a searing pain go through my entire body. Clearly I had gotten off on the wrong side of the bed!

The ultra-cheap hotel I stayed in had an Indian style loo. For those who don't know, you need to squat to use the loo and not sit as on a chair! And when your quads, glutes and hamstrings are crying blue murder, squatting is a mite painful business!

After much cursing and venting of anger at my stupidity. I rolled out of Shimla. Rolled for the first 10 kilometres which were downhill. Oh, heaven! And then the climb started. I couldn't pedal, I couldn't breathe. All that I wanted to do was sit down and cry. This was supposed to be a vacation, it was turning out to be a sufferfest. I stuck out my thumb and tried to hail passing buses, cabs and even dogs. I was desperate.

Fortunately, no one stopped for me and I was forced to push my bike up the slopes and coast down them. A hot plate of Maggi and a cup of steaming hot chai did wonders to bolster my flagging spirit. Then a couple of cars passed by, waving out and giving a thumbs up and the pain in my legs lessened.

Even when one wants to be alone, the support structure offered by society is a blessing.

After a major struggle, more mental than physical, I reached the town of Narkanda at 2700 metres AMSL. But the hotels were way out of my budget, 1500 rupees for a night. Dang, I wasn't going to pay that much, pain or not!

From Narkanda, the road descends steeply all the way down to the river bed of the Sutlej River. On the descent, my joy was cut short, as the broken asphalt, loosened up the bolts of the luggage rack. I was fortunate, as the rack almost knocked out all the spokes in the rear wheel. I needed the luck to balance out my foolishness!

Fortune doesn't always favour the brave, at times it favours the stupid as well!

When I was completely exhausted a beacon of hope sprung up in front of me. It was a bar. And below the bar there were a couple of rooms to stay the night for cheap. Finally!

The pain was so tremendous, that it was the only highlight of the day. I didn't even notice the beauty of the lush green mountains in the monsoon. The day was spent head down, grinding away on the pedals. Continuously question my decision of cycling in the Himalayas.

Along the way, the road overlooking the valley from where I had come

A milestone telling me that I had ridden 40 km from Shimla. Quite a distance in the mountains!

The selfie before the existence of selfies!

Between a rock and...well another rock!

Cannot count to 10 correctly. Running towards the camera on timer, before the photo had been clicked!

Day 3

5 kilometres is not a lot. Especially if you are in/on a motorized vehicle. 5 km is a lot more on a cycle. Much much more in the mountains on a cycle. And an infinite times more, when you have ridden 5 km from your hotel and forgotten your papers there. If my legs had not been so stiff, I would have literally kicked myself because of my stupidity!

The road till the town of Rampur was along the Sutlej River, nice rolling terrain with a beautiful view of the raging river flowing alongside. It was also a perfect reprieve to my aching legs. The sound of the flowing water, the greenery which enveloped the road and the motorcyclists whizzing past honking and waving at me were a perfect boost to the spirit.

Rampur was a crowded little town and I didn't waste time there and moved onto the 10 building town of Jeori. From Jeori this a detour to a town at the top of the mountain called Sarahan, which has a beautiful temple. Even from the toilets in the temple complex you have the view of snow capped mountains! But I had been there the previous year on my motorcycle, so I didn't go there on my bicycle. What with the aching legs et al!

At Jeori I once again found a bar with rooms below and stayed the night there. While carrying my bike down into my room, I took a tumble and both bike and rider were damaged. A rusted piece of metal railing cut through the skin on my chest and the front derailleur cable of my bike. There was nothing that could be done about the bike, I was stuck in the first gear for the rest of the trip, which wasn't a terrible thing because even otherwise I was stuck in that gear!

A painful tetanus shot was balanced out by a plate of steaming hot mutton momos. Momos are dumplings served with a spicy red fire breathing sauce!

There is a hot spring behind the temple in the town of Jeori. A perfect place to go after cycling and dip your legs and feel all happy and relaxed.

Thus endeth my third day on the bike and things were beginning to look up.

Riding along the River Sutlej

If you down, you go down hard!

The river makes a nice spot to stop for sandwiches

A small bridge which can take light vehicles only. Fortunately, a cycle is a light vehicle!

Mountain dogs are super cute and friendly as well

The people, food, natural beauty of the place, were mesmerising and easily made me forget the tiredness of being on the bike for the full day. I had got into the cycling groove and the joy of a roadtrip was giving me the high that I sought!

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You can read the first part of my cycling story in the Himalayas here.

You can read about my recent ride in Goa on a bicycle in the monsoons here, here, here and here.