A Quick Ride Together

After the ride near Laltu's house

Chenka and I cycled together today. Apparently after some 30 years. I started from home on my Merida at around 6.15 and reached Elgin Road-SP Mukherjee crossing. Chenka came from his house and joined me. He was on time, for a change. 

We turned left from Exide and again right from Rabindra Sadan. Turning left again from Planetarium, we went past the Victoria Memorial towards Fort William. Took Red Road and then took Council House Street. After crossing HSBC, GPO and Reserve Bank we turned towards Strand Road to come back. The section of Strand Road was pretty bad for a racing cycle here. Near Babu Ghat long distance bus stand the traffic situation was pretty bad even in the morning. But after that it was pretty clear. We went towards Prinsep Ghat and then towards the RCGC main gate. One needs to cross a small bridge here. After this it's a straight road upto Rabindra Sadan where we turned right into Harish Mukherjee Road. From Elgin we took the main SP Mukherjee Road and went upto Southern Avenue where we turned left towards the Lake. From Lansdowne crossing we turned right towards the Lake Gardens flyover and finally reached Laltu's house. This journey for me was 20 km. After this coming back home was another 3 km. 

I kept the Garmin Forerunner 15 on and here is the result from Strava.

At Laltu's we had a small adda session with tea from the road side stall below their house. Finally after about 20 minutes we parted our ways and came home. 

Chenku rode my refurbished Hero. I took the Merida. We swapped our bikes near Fort William but he soon returned it to me saying he was feeling uncomfortable and uneasy with the dropped handlebars. 

The last time he and I rode together was apparently in 1987 when the two of us went to our village Kuberpur near Madhyamgram for a day trip. That would have been a good 80 km ride. I am sure we can do it again. If he buys another bike we can go again this winter. I cannot go to Kuberpur with the Merida because the roads are really bad but with the Hero, I can.