Pedal to the metal along the East Coast River/Road

The planning started several weeks back. The gym regime was enhanced one week ahead. Traversing forty kilometers without the help of an internal combustion engine just seem like a far fetched task. I decided to do it for the hell of it. I'd done it before(albeit eons back), surely I could get back to that? Friday night. I tried sleeping early. alas. 4 hours of sleep was all I got as I awakened to the bright tubelight of my room at 3.55 a.m. A short figure towered in the distance. Prateek of course. "5 minutes dude", I said and went back to sleep. Of course, the rest of the story would usually end up with me waking up later to find that I had overslept by a few hours as usual thus rendering all my plans defunct. Not this time though. I woke up two minutes later. Waited for my phone to start ringing for the 4 a.m. alarm and switched it off with great satisfaction. Phase one complete. I was awake.


As I was starting to get set, I thought I heard a loud noise from outside. A peek revealed that Zeus and Indra had decided to have a party. Problem was, it was an after party or more like an after party for the after party, considering it was 4 a.m. Prateek came out of the bathroom. "Is it raining he asked?"."Quite heavily infact", I replied as I pondered over how exactly we would reach the venue. Deval my flatmate, entered the room then. He had woken up too as he had a train to catch at 6.50 a.m. "Would you like a poodle, lab or perhaps a Siamese?", I asked him. He of course stared at me like I had gone nuts. I followed it up with,"it's raining cats and dogs you see". He left the room. His exit was accompanied by the message tone of my mobile phone. There are times when you realise that the fancy sounding IPL horn doesn't exactly work well as an sms tone. This was one of them. "Due to rain, the start would be delayed to 5.45 a.m." I read the message out loud. Prateek jumped into his bed. Another hour of sleep. :D


5 a.m. I had to drop Deval at the Saidapet station before leaving for Thiruvanmiyur. A quick shuttle was all that it was meant to be. Except the streets had something else in store for us. What was supposed to be a 3 minute ride, became an agonising 10 minute ride in 2nd gear at 10km/h thanks to the newly created lake Saidapet. Despite the slow speed, it also involved getting my shoes and socks wet. Cut to Thiruvanmiyur.


A constant light drizzle ensured that Prateek and I reached Tiruvanmiyur in quite a damp condition. It was still dark and we somehow made out the activity that was happening in the distance behind the bus depot. Quickly finding a parking spot we joined the crowd, only for Zeus, who simply refused to go home after the party, to start the music again. One of the organisers immediately told everyone to board the bus. I looked around for the bus and was surprised at what I found. CRX(The organisers) clearly had snicked Toby from the sets of Thomas the Tank Engine and put it on the road. We got on board and awaited for the rain show to end. After 15 minutes of fruitless waiting, it was decided that the first leg would be covered by bus, thus bringing us out of the city by which time it would have hopefully stopped raining as well. And so it did.

Getting out at the toll gate after having spent about 30 minutes in Toby the speedboat(Ex- tram) as we Cruised along the East Coast River(After effects of an overnight rain party), we revelled in the cool climate the morning start afforded us. Our equipment soon arrived and the 60 plus crowd geared up with helmets et all and mounted our stallions. Nope not 4 legged whiney yet majestically maned creatures but Eco-friendly two wheeled mechanical contraptions; Bicycles. We had missed the sun rise being within the confines of the bus but we soon set off along the coastal road taking in the fresh morning air as we pedalled our way towards Mahabalipuram. Yes that was the task of the day. Cycling to Mahabalipuram. Due to the rain, the actual target of 40km came down to 26km. Still formidable for a person whose physical structure has by the months, been replicating a slow motion version of the big bang theory. Me.

It was an eventless trip after that, doing speeds of around 15-18 kph, enjoying the picteresque views, chill breeze and the attention of pedestrian crowds as they observed several brightly clothed people pedalling their asses off. They of course assumed it was some race of some sort and duly went back to their work. Pretty soon, The distance was covered. Approximately a little less than an hour and a half. Pretty good I said to myself as I hardly felt the strain. Entering the picteresque campus of Radisson Templebay, our final destination, we soon parked and headed out in anticipation of the buffet breakfast that awaited to be devoured by us.


The breakfast spread was fantastic. Just what you can expect at a Radisson.We took a few moments off to rest as the breakfast had clearly tired us more than the journey itself (I live to eat folks. :P). The beach was the next destination and man, what a sight greeted us. The amazing weather coupled with the angry sea, beautiful beach and historic shore temple in the distance just proved to be a sexy alluring combination. An amazing end to a short but awesome trip. I was short of words. Pictures below. Be awed.

P.S. 1. Picture credits for bus,crowd and blue sky to the pretty photographer who was with the organisers.
            No idea who she is, so no specific name. :P
       2. Picture credits for the fantabulous Mahabalipuram pics go to Prateek Rungta. Pictures link directly to 
            his website.
       3. Panorama picture was taken by me. :P


P.P.S. CRX conducts a trip down to Mahabalipuram on a monthly basis. To participate join their community on Facebook and register when they announce the next event. "Reaxion cycling - Chennai" is the name.