::ThoughtFarm::

Enduro, India’s one and only adventure race, was conducted on 8^th and 9^th Feb across the spectacular theatre of the National Defence Academy Campus, the Sahyadri Mountains and the Panshet Backwaters. Ever since I heard about the Enduro race from a friend Gurdeepak last year, I wanted to participate in it.

The picturesque countryside, the surrounding water bodies, the beautiful landscapes and one of the most difficult terrains create a stark geographical contrast.

I met Aditya on Orkut, who was also looking for a partner. Me, Aditya and Tanu, his friend together formed a team which we named as “Against All Odds” and participated in the Amateur Mix category which had about 29 teams.

The race consisted of 4 events – Cycling, trekking, rifle-shooting and river-crossing.

The flag-off was from Bharti Vidyapeeth grounds, Kothrud. The energy of the participants was amazing. There were around 230 teams ( 690 people) in total competing across 20 categories ranging from all women to Juniors to IT to Open category. The ground had become a virtual bike fair with bikes ranging from Imported Treks, Firefoxes to Hero, Hamilton and even Atlas GoldLine “Bhaiya” cycles.

We had a unfortunate start to the race since both Tanu and Aditya had a nasty fall from their bikes very early in the race. Tanu got a bruised wrist while Aditya took a hit on his left leg. Thankfully Aditya had got a first-aid box with him and after the dressing, we got back on our cycles.

The cycling route was from Kothrud- NDA – Peacock Bay – NDA Air Strip – Panshet Water Sports Club.

The route was punctuated with TCs(Time check) where we supposed to submit the time-sheet which marked our timings as a team and PCs(Passage Check) which ensured that we followed the route marked and not any short-cuts !

Cycling inside the NDA campus was an awesome experience. I had cycled quite regularly on the NDA road from Chandni Chowk, but was always stopped at the NDA main gate where outsiders are not allowed. This was my first time inside NDA and the hugeness of that place sinks you in.

The road from NDA campus to Panshet Water Sports Complex was quite scenic and interspersed with dirt trails & tar-road . We reached the Water complex at around 5:30 pm. Immediately after depositing our cycles we started the trek.

The trek route was along the ridge-line with the beautiful Panshet river flowing below. We must have climbed some 4-5 mountains up and down before reaching the base camp – TC(5).

The trek was route was however not without its casualties. The organizers had planted Enduro flags throughout the route at regular intervals so that teams can know they are in the right direction. However many a times, we would reach a crossroads and the flag would be missing. 50% teams would take a direction and the other teams would take alternate route. This meant that a lot of teams got lost in the trek. Also it dint help that it started to become dark there as early as 6:30pm and by 7pm the torches were out.

Finally we reached the camp at around 10pm in the night. This was followed by River-crossing , which was a stretch of 250mts and one had to run around back to the starting point. After that was dead time which meant that the teams were not timed till the flag-off which was at 2am in the night.

We managed to get some rest in the night, ate some parathas that Aditya’s mom had made for us. Even though we were tired as hell, the sight of 300-400 people lining up to start the race in the cold at 2am in the night was encouraging. Though we dint sprint like some others, we again started the trek back to the Panshat Water Sports Complex. The organizers had changed the route which involved an additional 10-15kms.

At around 3:30 – 4 am, we took a wrong turn and were lost for around 1-1.5 hours. My legs were aching with pain. We were running short on water too and there were few water bodies on the way. A lot of teams actually decided to rest for some hours before embarking again. Though we dint stop, we continued at a slow pace. Finally at around 3:30pm in the afternoon we reached the finish point. The last 1-1.5 kms from the last TC(Time Check) to the finish point was the most difficult and we were glad that we completed the race.

On 10^th evening there was a ceremony held by the organizers of NDA where we are awarded certificates, followed by dinner. There we learnt that out of the 230 teams which participated, only around 120 teams were able to complete the race. In our category (AMX), we finished around 5-6^th.

The Enduro was a an experience which teaches you a lot of things. As the organizers had mentioned, its more about mental toughness than physical. I saw a lot of bikers on their TREKS, Firefoxes, etc. imported bikes who abandoned the race while those on HERO & ATLAS cycles finished on the podium. I guess its not about what bike you ride, but always about how you ride.

Photo Courtesy - Bangalore Pedals

 

Tags: Cycling, Enduro, NDA, panshet water sports complex, river-crossing

After completing Jungle Safari at Jim Corbett and Skiing at Auli, the next adventure on our list was was Rishikesh – white water river rafting.

We took a lift from a TATA Sumo that left Joshimath (Auli) at 5am in morning. At the outset I had almost given up on rafting. This was basically for two reasons. After speaking to a lot of tour operators in Rishikesh, I discovered that in February the Ganges water is very cold and plus entire India was in a grip of a severe cold wave in the period around Jan-end to Feb 1^st week. Secondly Amit was suffering from a severe cold and fever and it meant that I was alone for rafting and hence it was important for me to find a group who I can join for rafting.

One good thing that we did on the entire trip was solid planning and it helped us. We knew that rafting takes place along the Rishikesh – Devprayag road starting from Kaudilaya, followed by Shivpuri.

I had called up at least 5 tour operators the night before and all of them said that there weren’t any groups for rafting. Still I decided to take my chances and got down at kaudilaya. The sight was horrible – the entire camp was deserted.

We took a lift and reached Shivpuri. There all the tour operators had closed their shutters and were sitting near a small campfire. When I enquired them about rafting , again got the same reply. I was disappointed and we decided to head straight to Haridwar , just when one of the operators said that around 500mts from that place, down on the banks of Ganga ,is the starting point for rafters. It wouldn’t hurt to have look and try my luck there.
I decided to give it a last try and went and couldn’t believe it when I saw a group of rafters who were about to move the raft in to the river. I stopped them , requested, begged them to take me along and they agreed.

Puneet, Rashmi, Deepak, etc were from a Delhi and worked for Dabur. After the introductions , the instructor explained the basic strokes and we set along.

River Rafting is done mostly in imported rafts made of vulcanised rubber bodies reinforced by nylon fabric beneath an exterior of neoprene thus making it tough enough to withstand the battering it gets when it rams across the rocky boulders in the water. Rafting is done on rapids which is a white patch of foam on a flowing river caused by sudden gradient or by the river breadth getting constricted while flowing through a gorge between rocks or by a sudden increase or decrease in the volume of the water. Rapids are graded from 1 to 6 depending on the ease with which they can be negotiated, with 1 being the most easy.

Our stretch was of 20 kms in all up to Laxman Julla. We crossed around 5-6 rapids all of which have been given very interesting names like Golf Course, Double Trouble, Three Blind Mice, Daniel’s Dip, Sweet Sixteen, Marine Drive, Cross Fire and Roller Coaster.

Our instructor was also quite a cheerful fellow and before entering each rapid, we would shout “Ganga Maiya ki Jay”. After the 1st rapid, the instructor signaled to me and Puneet and asked whether we want to flip the raft. To do so, the raft has to be steered sideways in to a rapid instead of head-on and then one big splash of water and it over-turns. We tried it secretly in the 2^nd rapid, dint work out but we were able to do so in the 3^rd one.

One dip inside the river and I realized why there were hardly any rafts that day. The water was freezing cold and plus it was drizzling too.

After about an hour or so, the instructor parked the raft near a huge stone and explained to us that the stone was famous for jumping in to the river.

Jumping from a 30 feet high in to ice-cold Ganga river was the highlight of the rafting experience. Only me , Puneet and Deepak did the jump while the rest stayed back.

After completing the rafting which lasted for about 4 hours from 12 to 4pm, the instructor suggested me to take a dip in Ganga instead of going to a hotel and taking a hot water bath.

Contrary to me belief that Ganga is polluted at these places, I found it very clean. After the dip, met Amit at Laxman Julla where we had some food and then  roamed around the place admiring the beauty of the temples situated on banks of Ganga.

Tags: double trouble, ganga, rapids, rishikesh, white water rafting