India - Part 5 - The road

Ultimately, touring cycling is about the road.  However big or small, slick or potholed, paved or not, the road frames your choices, and once made, populates your day with the vistas and people that you interpret and interact with.

Sunrise, somewhere near Pune, sparsely vehicled, morning cooking fires smudging details that clarify as you close.  There's something so special about the start of a day; all its sights and promises and challenges, so sequentially arranged, along the road.  Breathe light; low, gentle cadence, warming you slowly, to the marrow of your muscles, potential energy waiting to be unleashed into the deep meditative rhythm that all long distance bikers seek - the zone - melting the kilometers away, bringing the experiences rushing.  Oh to be alive!

The strangest things about being on a supported tour, especially with people building a media account is that suddenly you are a subject, rather than the centre of the universe from which everything is perceived.  So the photos below I have Govind to thank for.

In the zone in the countryside, pushing the big gears, cadence up in the 80's, hammering it out in the 30s. 

Cranking a pass pass, Hong Kong hills and loaded bikes have made me the king of the climb. Looking for the screaming descent.

Masked up, roads are a shared thing, many and varied vehicles mean passing is a regular thing.

Passes mean trucks; following Raj as we take a grinding sooty on the inside.

In the zone, hammering the flats past a beautiful lake, vineyards on the other side of the road.

Cresting a climb in Gujarat - still love that feeling of riding over the top, and blowing the sweat off on the way down

The road is full of colour, help and joy.  Hanging onto the back of a vehicle is cheating.  Drafting in the slipstream is totally allowed (though requires hyper-alert break fingers one yard off at 45kmh.  There were plenty of vehicles, on long flat stretches, inviting this practice.  This is a hand-held phone shot of my favourite slipstream of the tour.  It produced a fantastic drafting pocket, and was so delightfully colourful.  

 The road is also defined by what's immediately along it, and in India there is plenty to cheer the weary traveler.  If, for example, you have a truck, what better way to brighten the grind than some cheerful decorations?  In the world that I come from, truck driving is about as macho as it gets; grizzled men, usually armed, confronting the elements to get their loads home.  In India, I'm sure its the same, but why be so dour about it when you can go in colourful style?  You could do a whole series on the beauty of Indian trucks, and vendors along the road support this with mobile stalls featuring a rainbow of possibilities.  Of course the road is also hungry business, and in India, fear not.  There's no waiting for the next Ultra-city.  The road is dotted with dhabas, food stalls with chairs and tables; tasty food and fantastic chai.

Masked up, stopping with Shreenivas to take a picture of a truck decorator's mobile stall.

This dhaba is one of the best places I've ever stopped on a bicycle ride.  The photo is only of the delightful rows of chips.  What you cant see is that it had a host of tables, some shared platforms for a kip if you needed one, and fabulous food.  The owner had also installed rows of containers along the edge of the roof for sparrows to make their nests in.  And the sparrows were entirely obliging, filling the space with chirping music, and acting as constantly vigilant vacuum cleaners, instantly swooping down on the smallest morsel of food dropped on the gravel ground.  Brilliant.

A driver wrests himself from the welcoming arms of  a dhaba.

Big Blue, joining automotive friends as their owners chug back the chai.  On the subject, no-one can drink more chai than I.

A shadow selfie, out on a beautiful rural highway, Amit in the lane up ahead.