Pune, it seems was once a city of bicycles. This non polluting environment friendly vehicle was a prime mover in this city. But not now! Now Pune is a highly polluted city bustling with two wheelers and cars. There are close to a million two wheelers in this city. Many economists may look at this as the great Emerging India Phenomenon, but that is so myopic.
To come to the point, a few weekends back, your truly decided to take a tour of the city on my Hero Ranger Swing. It was a cool 25 Kms trip that lasted around 4 hours with a lunch in between.
I started from my apartment at around 12 in the noon and was back by 4 in the evening. Starting from my apartment in Bavdhan, I climbed and descended the small hill of Chandani Chowk. Then just around 4 Kms away from home came my first break. I felt dehydrated immediately and understood how important it is to carry water with you while cycling. Ater cooling off for 5/10 mins and having a glass of lassi, I pedalled further. With minor interruptions from rains, I managed to take Paud road, Karve road, diversion at SNDT college, KNP, Prabhat road and coming out in Good Luck chowk from Bhandarkar road. This was one leg of the journey. A fact worth noting was that despite the halts and the cycling speed, it took me just 5 minutes more that it would have taken me in Car.
Wadeshwar is a restaurant you must eat at when you are in Pune. They server authentic South Indian food. Especially their Appes are just yummmmm!!! Having a good meal at Wadeshwar with the better half, I proceeded further. This time on a different route.
I crossed the entire length of FC road and touched the University road near Sahakar Sankul Junction. From here, it was a relatively flat road via E-square, University chowk, DRDO, Pashan circle and back home. I had decided on may way back that having consumed sufficient fluids at lunch, I need not take any breaks. Thankfully, I stuck successfully to my resolution. Not to mention I was all dead tired at the end of this journey. But the effort was really worth the exhilaration it provided.
Update: I found this sexy website that allows me to post a map of my rides. Not only that, it also calculates the distance I have cycled. Isn't that amazing!!!
Check out the route I took:
