Hotel Fountain to Talasari
We 5 of Friends had planned to cycle from Mumbai to Ashapura Temple, Kutch, Gujarat. However on the day of event only 4 of us kicked off the ride from Hotel Fountain, Mira Road. Kiran Kotian, Kartik Mistry and I cycled from western suburbs while Santosh Subudhi came from eastern suburbs. We had a back up car with all our important stuff related to cycling.
It was 7 pm we officially kicked off the ride and rode till 11.30 pm in the night with out reflective vests, front and tail lights. Our first break for the day was at Hotel Araam on NH-8 and sleep halt at Hotel Citizen on the Maharashtra-Gujarat Border.
Talasari to Karjan
We started from Hotel Citizen at 6 am and decided to have a late breakfast with current energy from enerzal, dry fruits from back up car. Breakfast halt was at Hotel Sugar and Spice near Navsari. The NH-8 is predominately flat with infinite flyovers. We then continued in the afternoon barring the September heat. The late evening ride was slow due to the traffic on the Narmada River bridge.
The moment we crossed the bridge, santosh had a puncture. We had lost our back up vehicle due to traffic and had to fix the same manually. Post that we buckled up and finally took break at Karjat, 40 kms before Vadodara. The dinner is always sumptuous which included standard Dal Khichadi, Roti and Aloo Jeera followed by Chaas.
Karjan to Chotila
This day was going to long one since we had targeted to ride till Chotila. This was almost 180+ kms. The road from Karjan to Tarapur Chowkdi was interiors and we could actually witness two big trees roofing the entire road. No breakfast was available and hence we had rely on biscuits and dry fruits in the car. The road further became isolated till we hit the main highway. In the evening we took a break at a Food mall. And pulled again to reach chotila. However Kartik cycle broke down in the last 20 kms and we gave him the task of finding Hotel along with the back up car. The day ended similar to what was yesterday’s and standard dinner menu.
Chotila to Bhuj
Today the target was to reach Bhuj which was 200+ kms. So that the last day of our ride would be a relaxed one. We crossed the city of Morbi post starting from Chotila. The target was to cross the rann of kutch before lunch but the heat killed our plans and we had to stop right before the rann of kutch at Village Malliya. We sat in an AC restaurant from 12 noon to 3.30 pm.
Santosh had a big tyre cut and hence we out a new tyre to his hybrid bicycle.
The rann of kutch kick start actually helped us to cover the next hour with a cold breeze along the highway. Evening we crossed Bhachau. The really challenge begin post that when we had to ride the interior Road to reach bhuj.
The interior roads were good but with roads going up and down we were getting good momentum. 50 kms before Madhapar, ( a small village right before bhuj), Kartik’s bicycle had a flat. Hence he decided to hop on the back up car and Santosh did the same with 35 kms to go. They both went ahead with the car and found out Hotel in Madhapar.
Bhuj to Ashapura
Early morning, Cyclists from Bhuj cycling club met us and treated us with breakfast. Chai, Fafda and Jalebi. Post that we started the last 100 kms of our ride to Ashapura temple. The road was super smooth to the temple. We had lunch right before we reached. At 12.30 pm we finally reached and finished the distance. 4 pm we packed up everything and reaching back to Mumbai. It was a wonderful trip full of memories.
