A weekend of thrills

I went for a medium distance ride on a fine Saturday a couple of months ago, to a temple on the Bombay-Pune highway (not the expressway), about 50 km overall, on my all-new Bullet :-D New bikes require a run-in period when you have to closely follow the prescribed speed limits, and this is particularly true of the Bullet family, which boasts the best and most powerful bikes in India - a situation that's not likely to change soon. The ride was pleasant, made even better by the fantastic weather, though my prescribed top-speed was only 50kph.

The next day, I went for a trek organised by a group of trekking enthusiasts at office to Dhak Bhairi, which is - no points for guessing - another fort built by Shivaji in the hills. We had breakfast at around 9:45, and started the climb by around 10:15 in the morning. The group was pretty excited, with some of them never having done any treks earlier. Ten and a half hours later, we reached the base village, exhausted by the climb, the physical danger - we climbed a sheer rock ascent using ropes and our hands and feet, a height of nearly 80 ft (I think), then climbed back down the same stretch - thirst, and anger at the poor estimation of the time involved by the trek leaders. The descent down the hill seemed never-ending, thanks to our guides, in their all-knowing wisdom, having chosen a longer route coming down (longer by about 50%). At one point, I was ready to give up, as were so many others. However, it was a move or get-left-behind situation, the alternative to reaching the base village being a night on the hills, with absolutely no food, no water and only the moon for any lights. We all chose life, water and food and in that order :-) Our decision was helped in no small measure by a timely reminder by some wise guys that leopards were not uncommon in those areas. And that helped in hastening our faltering steps!

Without doubt, it was the toughest trek I'd ever done. It was also the closest to mortal peril that I've ever put myself, not to mention the Survivor-like situation we were in during the latter stages. But now that I've overcome the fear, I'd do it again, not because I wouldn't be afraid the next time, but because I now know I have it in me to come through successfully, with little or no danger to life and limbs.

A weekend of physical thrills! However, no gains without pains. My hands, shoulders, thighs and legs ached every time I got up after a period of sitting. I walked for a couple of days with a bit of difficulty, but it was a kind of delicious pain, if you know what I mean. Getting up from bed the next day was a struggle, and walking a few steps, even more, but I doubt if I'd ever exchange it for anything else! In a sense, I'm paying for pain in these "adventure" trips.