Mutha Khind - Kudje Necklace Ride

          Just back from a 60 km, 4.5 hr ride via Chandani chowk, Pirangut top, Mutha Khind, Kudje, Warje and back. I had planned to do this ride ever since I went on the route two weeks back. Last week Anil Bhide who was the only one interested in the long ride was down with fever so the ride was postponed and we (Parag, Shriram, Rahul and self) went on a short  ride to Deccan, SIMS, behind Pune University, through the University and back from Law college road. It was a rather boring ride but for the fall I had in University in the most odd fashion resulting in smashing the rear view mirror and bruising my ego. And all I was doing was circling on the spot waiting for the others to catch up!! My first not counting the almost one while descending Sinhagad. The ride ended as usual at Sheetal Restaurant for a cup of coffee.
      
           Coming back to the topic of the day . . . . . . . .

            I was up at 5 much to the irritation of a sleepy wife. Got a piece of chikki and Kokum sherbet as survival rations. For a change took along my cycle repair kit. Both Anil and me started at 0610 hrs. The sky was clear which meant that we had to make haste as the later part of the ride would be in sunny weather. This was my first long ride(>40km) since my back injury, which was still not fully cured as niggling pain continued. The ascent at Chandani chock and Manas was done without a hitch but slowly on my Dahon. At Pirangut top we took the left turn to Lavasa. The ride to Mutha khind as expected was a slow grind. Anil who was on this route for the first time enjoyed it and liked it. We had made it to this point by 0800 hrs and it was 21 km of mainly ascent. Took a couple of snaps here as evidence!  Going down towards Mutha we turned left towards Bahuli village and the cycling experience had a dramatic change!

Reached Mutha Khind(Pass). Below in the background you can see the hill range in front of which our route lay

Me and my Dahon and cycling goggles below.

Anil on his Hercules at the bottom

          The road which was smooth till now, thanks to Lavasa was now a rough road without surfacing or rather whose asphalt wear coat had eroded exposing the wheels to potholes, stones and the base layer. We were rattling our way ahead at 10 km/h. My Dahon must have suffered a lot here followed by my rear and my neck. This unpleasant bumpy ride continued for the next 8 km with intermittent patches of road suitable for cycling. Another interesting aspect of the route was the up and down gradient present throughout the route exercising my limbs thoroughly. Enroute Anil spotted a 7 ft long Rat snake in a roadside ditch.We stopped to admire its beautiful yellow coloring with black designs. The poor thing spotted us and was in a dilemma about its escape route. Some villagers also gathered to admire it. On my asking them not to kill it I got the reply " Who wants to kill a Dhimman?" that pleased me no end. We passed the entry to Davaje village and Nilkanteshwar which looked majestic atop the hill on our right. We carried on ahead and on one of the ascents I had to get off and walk for the last stretch of 25 mtr which was far too steep for my Dahon or me, Anil however negotiated it on his Hercules. The Dahon as usual succeeded in attracting kids attention with calls of "Arre te cycle bugh!" which I would promptly reply by honking cycles horn much to their delight! This has never failed! Else if anyone looked curiously at me on my Dahon I gave the same treatment which invariably raised their eyebrows or I would say " Jhakaas na?" which always got a smile.

           Soon we reached Splendour County and the road improved. We decided to have Tea at Splendour County but were told they only catered for bulk bookings, so we carried on. We stopped at small hotel and had a cuppa tea each(Rs7/- each) to fortify us for the last stretch.
            The route to Warje was good and was completed quickly but thereafter we were enveloped by the traffic. Till Warje junction it was choc a bloc but the cycles helped us get through unlike the four wheelers which had to literally crawl. We reached back home at 1045 hrs - a good solid ride of 4.5 hrs.

The biggest climb shown in the picture (Taken from Endomondo details of Anil's acct) is that of Mutha Khind.
 It was one of the tougher rides I had and could have been a great ride if the road condition had been better. Lets hope the Govt does something about it - a tall order till the hills on the wayside were taken by developers and they develop it like Lavasa! This bigger Necklace ride still remains one of the most interesting rides I have had.