MOUNTAIN BIKING AT RAJMACHI, LONAVALLA
March 1st 2015, SundayEver since we were kids we've wanted to take an off road trail on a high end bike, to get as dirty as possible. When you grow up loving to ride, riding to school, doing some crazy crap on the cheap heavy but sturdy steel frames, single speed bikes that were gradually upgraded to a 6 speed or 7 speed Hero or Hercules bike when you went to middle school, falling off and coming home with nasty scrapes with mud and gravel stuck in the wounds, a broken limb, chipped tooth or worst of all a totalled bike! The freedom when you get your first wheels is a feeling like no other.
Both Shokedh and I had BMX bikes with the trademark coaster brakes in our younger years, but after outgrowing those bikes had to be content with the bikes available in the Indian market which are cheap, reliable and great fun, but they lack the quality of International brands the possibilities and tech on those foreign( European and American especially) was something we could only dream of in India. The closest you could get was watching them on T.V or youtube. The last 10 years has seen a huge change, wide range of very high quality bicycles from renowned manufacturers were now available at local bike stores! These bikes do come at a cost! not chap at all, but if you are into bikes, its a great investment.
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| AT DELLA PARKING LOT |
A little about our bikes now......
I had a Firefox Sniper D a hardtail MTB bike 18 inch frame, a 24 speed shimano levers with Shimano's Acera Derraulliers, 26er with tektro disc brakes with adjustable and lockout front forks, totally weighing in around 15 kilos( aluminium frame).
Shokedh had a GT Aggressor 3.0 hardtail MTB 17.5 inch frame, a 21 speed Shimano with a Mega drive, Shimano levers and Shimano's Tourney TX55 Derraulliers, 26er, with V brakes, adjustable front fork, totally weighing in around 12kilos( aluminium frame).
Both trail worthy bikes can be dismantled with ease, a 10 minute job which makes them easily transported and so compact you could fit 3 of these in a hatchback. We drove from Pune to Lonavala with the bikes packed in nice and snug in the boot of Shokedh's Dad's hatchback a Fiat Palio. We parked the car at Della adventure and resort, unpacked the bikes assembled them and were off at 1120AM.
The trail is a beautiful one especially in the Monsoon but we did it during the summer, however as our luck would have it it rained the previous night and most of the morning of the ride! temperatures dropped to a very pleasant 17 degrees C, perfect conditions we thought..
It was a constant drizzle and experience warned us that the trail would be slick with mud freshly formed and not washed off, this mud at Rajmachi was thick and had the consistency of clay it clogged the derraulliers, the shocks the brakes, this muck was soon picking up leaves twigs and rocks literally stopping us in our tracks, we had to pick it out on numerous occasions, I made a huge mistake on keeping my fenders on which acted like a rake clogging the mud in my wheels. We later removed them.The rest of the ride was uneventful except for the mud being slung onto our clothes, both of us staring at each other and laughing comparing ourselves to pigs enjoying a mud bath!!
There was not enough rain for the waterfalls but that was expected.
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| PUMPING AIR, VERY IMPORTANT |
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| WATERFALL DROP OFF |
What you need: Biking gloves, protective eyewear, shoes, a backpack, atlas 2 liters of water and some ORS or sports drink, Bananas and some high carb foods, a repair kit, a first aid kit, loose cash, a camera.
CONTACT GANESH: 0888190854, this chap will arrange lunch or an overnight stay at Udhewadi village, make sure to give him a call a day ahead of your planned trip.
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| DRY RIVER BED AT THE HALFWAY MARK |
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| VIEW POINT NEAR THE FORTS |
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| LUNCH AT UDHEWADI THANK YOU GANESH! |
