My personal Tour of the Sahyadris

It all started when, due to some reason the trek to Tung Fort, planned by a group called 'Pune Trekking Partners', got postponed by a week. There was also a Ride to Tiger Point in Lonavala planned by a cycling group called 'Ride On Pune' on the same Saturday. Woot!! Great for me :D I combined the two events from Facebook to enjoy my personal Tour of the amazing Sahyadris.
 
Having made up the brilliant weekend plan, I had set my alarm for 3 am to get ready and join up with the Ride On guys at around 4 at Somatane Phata, about 15kms from my place. As might be expected with such an ambitious alarm, I must've automatically shut the alarm and ended waking up with a start at around 4. So I had to rush and push hard in the morning cold to reach the meeting point. Thankfully the others had also got late and it was all fine.

It was my first ride with the Ride On guys and it was a pleasure riding with them. A nice bunch of guys who enjoy spending time on the saddle. The ride till Kamshet ghat was easy paced and I was chatting up and getting to know the guys. At the climb I met up with a colonel who was doing his daily ride to Kamshet from Khandala and back. He was riding a really strong ride and I enjoyed his company and the conversation with him. The others soon caught up and we reached Lonavala in good time.

Following a sumptuous breakfast, we resumed the ride towards Tiger Point. There was a fair amount of hard climbing involved and I felt quite satisfied with my effort on that Ghat section. Little did I know what was to come, cause I hadn't checked the terrain of the roads around Tung village. It was time to say goodbye to the others who were returning to Pune to complete the coveted Century Ride.

From Tiger Point, I had just around 25kms to cover, to reach Tung village, from where the trekking trail to Shivaji's outpost at the summit of the Tung hill began. I decided to head out towards the famous Amby Valley City, which was a short ride away. The roads leading to the valley are very well maintained. The city has a small airport which I saw is primarily used by stunt air crafts that let tourists enjoy the thrills of flying upside down at break-neck speeds.

Then all that was left to do was head to Tung village and I got my first sight of our destination for the evening - Tung Killa.

 After a nice doze at a hut in the village, I met the group from the Pune Trekking Partners, led by the charming Ms. Nandini, at the base of the hill. After quick introductions, we started scaling the steep slopes and within 45 minutes we were at the top. It was a pretty easy climb and I was happy that there was no sign of pain from my IT band, which had been killing me a year back during the Kumara Parvata climb. The view from the summit was breathtaking to say the least. To top it, we were just in time to witness an amazing sunset. 

 And of course we took a lot of selfies :D

It was a memorable evening, getting to know the others over dinner (Maggi cooked on a choola :) ), sitting around a cozy fire that Vishesh and Prabhu painstakingly built up. Then we unrolled the sleeping bags and cocooned ourselves up, to sleep peacefully. Come morning and it was time to pack everything up, clean up the place to restore it to its pristine condition and descend down the steep slopes back to our vehicles. It was time for Goodbyes and then back I was on my Orbea.

I decided to take the route that went all around Pawana lake and joined up with the Mumbai Pune highway to return back home. Boy, what a wonderful decision that was. The route had everything in it - from treacherous climbs where you had to lean forward to prevent the front wheel from lifting up to dangerously steep descents where your rims heat up and you have to stop once in a while to let it cool down or run the risk of your tube bursting. They weren't the tough Nilgiris type category 1 climbs, but the entire route with climb after climb having steep sections made it a nice challenge that any cyclist would feel proud conquering.

The steep descents have also prompted that compulsive thought of riding on the same route, in the opposite direction some day in the near future. Lonavala to Lonavala clockwise and counter clockwise around Pawana lake - that would make a great stage on the Tour of the Sahyadris.

The rest of the ride after leaving the hills behind was more like a formality and I was already feeling sad that the trip was over.