Pandharpur cycle-wari 2023 ....When its your calling - Part 3

Day 2 – 04/06/2023- Pandharpur to Pune -200km

We ended out day with Vittal Rakhumai Mukh darshan on previous day and hoping that almighty blessings will give us strength next day. Thanks to Neha , Archana and i had good sleep in Hotel. unfortuately rest of the gang was not that lucky.

Raji left on day 1 as plaaned and Tushar and Neha were supposed to leave later by car to Mumbai. Thanks to them our luggage was dropped at hotel in Hadapsar 

So with little to no sleep , group of 7 out of 10 decided to ride back to Pune.

Started around 5 am with plan to cover max before sun goes up , but प्लान तो प्लान होता है 😀. 

We had been informed that day 2 of the ride is tougher than day 1 and we started to get that feel after first 10 kms . 

I was definately low on energy , but it was just the start. 

Sachin was giving us pep talk and asking us to only concentrate on next 10 km not more . But we were taking frequent breaks and that was slowing down srong riders like Sachin, Naresh, Abhijit and Nayan.

By the time we reached breakfast point , i was certain that i cannot push myself beyond 100 km.

Post breakfast we tried to be together as much as we could by drafting each other to fight the headwind , but strong sidewind was not helping at all.

After a point we asked Sachin, Naresh and Abhijit to move on and not to wait for rest.

Previous days fatigue, less sleep , gradual inclines and very strong headwind  and sidewind resulted in aborting the ride for Me , Archana and Milind @100kms. These were the toughest 100km so far.

Milind could have completed few more kms , but he chose to support me and Archana. 

Once we decided to break at 100kms , we were taking it easy and slow, as much as we were taking breaks after 5 kms . 

By the time we completed 90 kms , Archana had clocked 300km (day 1+2) and after that we started looking for resataurant. After 3 days we had good nonveg meal and we were happy 😀

when we completed 100kms on day 2 , we looked for tempo or truck to take us to Hadapsar. 

It was typical "Dil hai ke manta nahi" moment . Milind was trying to stop vehical and ya you guessed it right, no one was intersted in stopping 😀. I told Archana , we wil give him 3 chances else you take a lead and the formula worked 😀 

Truck driver dropped us at Bhigwan and also helped us get the tempo to reach Hadpsar.

We were safe in tempo but then you are presented with a mighty storm , with almost zero visibility and we saw high end cycles being swept away like a feather. 

After reaching Hadapsar we rode in Pune’s traffic and rains in next 10 km to reach hotel.

Nayan completed 160km inspite of long waiting due to storm and kept pedaling as much as she could , but fell short on time.

Excellent riding skills does not make one cyclist, but the determination and attitude does. Beating all odds 3 musketeers passed with flying colors. Hats off to Abhijit, Naresh and Sachin to complete 200km and becoming worthy owner of the medal. They rode like a team , start to end , helping each other reach the goal.

All in all, it was wonderful experience. In spite of being tired we laughed through the night... so much that security guard had to ring a bell and inform us about the disturbance.

PC :- Sachin , Abhijit 

Pandharpur cycle-wari 2023 ....When its your calling - Part 2

Day 1 - 03/06/2023- Pune(Hadapsar) to Pandharpur - 200 km.

10 of us started from hotel at 4:15 am which was 7 km away from the flag off point. 

1500 participants started from Noble hospital at 4:30 am, we were late by 10 mins but that gave us room to cycle, and we avoided crowd.

It was pleasant in the morning; everyone was excited and as per plan we only stopped at the hydration points with idea to cover max distance before lunch. 

We had 4 marshals Abhijit and Sachin leading the way , also because they are excellent riders as well as photographers 😀.

Naresh and Milind tailing to make sure that slowest rider is not left out of sight. 

Let me mention this that riding fast is easier than riding slower than your usual speed to support other. And we did follow this arrangement for good 90% of the time which helped the group to finish the ride together.

It was beautiful road, and we were enjoying the ride. Indo athletic society, the organisers of cycle wari had done excellent job in support / hydration and even water sprinkler when we needed it the most 😀.

By 12:30 or so we reached lunch and we took decent break till 1:45 / 2 pm and resumed the ride .

By this time we had covered good 135 km and 65 more to go. But now sun was testing our endurance and the road also started with decent ascends. 

All in all it was getting tough… but that’s what endurance ride is all about. 

Finally we reached last support point just 4 km before the destination. It had huge but beautiful Vittal Murti and that was perfect spot for photo session 😀

4 riders completed their first 200 km in challenging conditions... Kudos to them.

Finally after approximately 14.5 hrs of total elapsed time out of which 9.5 hrs was actual cycling with 900 mtr total elevation, 38+ temperature , we reached Bhakt niwas Pandharpur and collected our well deserved medal🏅.

All in all people are amazing, especially when they gather all they have left in them at the point when it almost feel like giving up. 

Chandrabhaga river

PC :- Sharpshooter riders

Pandharpur cycle-wari 2023 ....When its your calling - Part 1

(art by Rucha Mandar Gadre)

Few years back my school friend had done Pandharpur wari and since then it was on my bucket list. I immediately agreed when Tushar shared the details and convinced Milind as well and registered as soon as it was open. 

Thanks to Nayan (she has done Kashmir to Kanyakumari k2k in 28 days) for inspiring and helping with things related to event.

We tried the cycle stand on 1st june as trial as this was the first time using it. Thanks to Punitji and Sandeepji for lending it to us.

We started on 2nd June to Pune at 11 am. With 2 cars we carried around 8 cycles , adjusting it on stand and inside car. 

Our day ended at 10:30 pm. Pleasant surprise visit by diploma college friend Prashant from Pune … we met after 27 years 😀.

Well just 4/4.5 hrs sleep to start the adventure.