Before I start giving an account of this story I want you to know where I was planning to go. Well, I planned to reach Kedarnath, Standing magnificently at an altitude of 3,580mts and enveloped in the mighty Garhwal Himalayas, the Kedarnath Temple is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva. Kedarnath forms one of the four sites of the Chota Char Dham Pilgrimage.

This temple lies in the state of Uttarakhand and the geography of Uttarakhand is filled with dangers, you may face landslides and bone-killing weather. To reach Kedarnath by cycle one must have to face many challenges, I am supposed to start my ride from Delhi & the distance between Delhi to Kedarnath is 452 kilometres You can cycle all the way to Gaurikund but after Gaurikund you have to trek for 16 km to reach the higher Himalayan range where the mighty structured temple is established.

All these details I knew from the very beginning so I started my practice one month before my expedition because without drill you can not set things right in a war & that’s why a drill has to be practised. I started commuting with my bike to work every day, I was riding 30 kilometres every day and I continued this loop for a month & on week offs I go for a century rides this made me a lot more confident cyclist. 

My first stage was pretty much clear after that I proceeded to the second stage where I have to plan for things that I might require, The second stage was a bit challenging for me because it was affecting my psychology, I was afraid because I had an endurance road bike and on the other, I am going to ride this road bike on mountainous terrain, but somehow I manage to cope with the situation.

I decided to carry an exceptionally light touring saddle bag with the things that are appropriate for this expedition. I made an itinerary for myself I planned everything like, where I am going to stay, Breakpoints and things like this. now I was just waiting for that day to come. 

29-08-2020  [ DELHI TO RISHIKESH] 

I woke up at 4:15 am, to be honest, I was so excited that I couldn’t even sleep, I checked my bag just once to make sure everything was okay, said goodbye to my family and got on my ride. The first day was easy as the roads to Rishikesh are paved and flat. Initially, I planned to take my first break at Rishikesh, but around 7 pm my bike got punctured at Muzaffar Nagar and it took me 20 minutes to change the tube, this incident wasted my precious time and due to this delay, I reached Rishikesh at 9 pm.

31-10-2020 [ RISHIKESH TO SRINAGAR]

I continued my ride from Rishikesh but today I planned to reach Srinagar without any delay but the road was under construction so obviously dust and dirt made my ride hell, also I faced heavy traffic jams on my way but also had a good experience too I met some Himalayan bikers, we wished each other well and went our separate ways. I reached Srinagar at 7 pm. But as I encountered a heavy amount of dust that could be seen in the mud and dirt coming off my cycling jersey when I was scrubbing it.

1-11-2020 [ SRINAGAR TO GAURIKUND ]

The next day on 1st November I started my ride from Srinagar, today I planned to ride to Gaurikund as Gaurikund was my last stage after that I had to climb more than 16 km to reach Kedarnath Dham.

The road to Gaurikund was not that pleasant, I was very careful about the tires of my bike as the road was completely off-road. When I was in Srinagar a few local people told me to be careful of tigers on the way as they told me that there are some deserted sections of the road where there is especially less traffic so the tiger might attack me. But this didn’t bother me in the first place, As I was thinking about my bike tires as I knew that if my bike tire gets punctured on a deserted road it would spell disaster for me. But thank God nothing happened to me as I somehow reached Gaurikund safely without any mishap.

2-11-2020 [ GAURIKUND TO KEDARNATH] 

On reaching Gaurikund I booked a very pleasant guest house for my night stay, yes after three days of continuous riding I needed to give some rest to my legs as I knew the Kedarnath trek would be a bit challenging for me, I Had a good sleep and next morning I was ready to leave for Kedarnath. I started my trek at 7 am I had an amazing experience which I will never forget, I met other tourists who came here to have a glimpse of Kedarnath After riding more than 430 km I felt that trekking was like a cakewalk for me and In just 4.5 hours I reached the place I used to dream of, I took some rest and immediately after that, I felt a sense of accomplishment. But it doesn’t end there because I can see those snowy peaks right in front of me, I knew if I trek more I can reach Chorabari Glacier and I tried but I suddenly thought that This is not the right time because I had no equipment to go further, I only had a few energy bars, and a down jacket from point zero and nothing else, then I made a promise to myself and to the Himalayas that one day I would come back again as this is where I belong. After that, I worshipped Lord Shiva at Kedarnath Temple.

I always had a dream of exploring different places with my bike and this dream came true when I first went to Kedarnath with my bike, in 2020. 

This was the year when I turned 20 & when I first told my parents about this cycling expedition my parents assumed that I was kidding, but later when they got to know that I mean it, they got disturbed and said: “If you want to take a tour on your own, you are free to do so but there are numerous ways to travel then why cycle?”

I still don’t have any answer to this question because there are some things in this world where logic doesn’t apply, it’s just you and the thing you want to do.

I went to college, and institutions and even though I worked for a multinational company but none of these things was able to give my life meaning. 

For me, exploration is the door to salvation.