Pedaling all the way...

It was 4’ clock in the morning. I was hurrying up my clothing, backpack and filling my water bottle. It was not that, I’m rushing to catch the train or flight but to join these three some journey to Evansdale from Cedar Rapids through the Cedar Valley Nature Trial on my Bike! The trail is a 51-mile linear park created from abandoned railroad between Evansdale and Hiawatha and has connectivity to trial systems of greater Cedar Rapids and Waterloo areas.

Waiting at the 1st Avenue Alley were two Rajs (Rajkumar and Rajesh) who joined me from 5th Avenue. Rajkumar was very much enthusiastic about the Ride and which he is doing since his school days. Rajesh is not much in to cycling but being his neighbour, he got hooked on to the mission.

It was pretty cold than usual .We packed food, water and all necessary items to cover the 112-mile journey (56 miles To and Fro). Rajkumar had checked the air in the tube for all the three cycles and made fixes wherever needed. When I said 1, 2 3 and ready we all pressed the pedals and were on the move.

When we were approaching the lake Rajesh unpacked his new MP3 player he brought specially for the trip. I was following Rajkumar closely trying to over take him but could not do so. But I was ahead of Rajesh that gave me some consolation. I felt good since I was not doing any exercises when compared to Rajesh and Rajkumar. I was surprised and happy with my performance, as I wasn’t doing any physical exercises of all these years. The last the time I did was during my participation in Vizag District Boxing Championships in early 90’s.

It was fresh in the morning; I could see the deer leaping here and there. We were just zipping through the trail, when we reached the 42nd street we stopped after seeing a faucet for the drinking water. I had some water there and when I looked up I saw a billboard, which had information about the fresh water trout found in the stream of water that was running parallel to the trail. Pedaling from there we reached Collins Road Junction. From there on the trail was uphill. I wondered how I was going to pedal my way up. I got myself off the seat and pedaled as hard as I could. Finally, I reached the top. But when I saw down, I could see Rajesh riding with ease and without any effort. I wondered if it was YMCA work out!!

Forgetting all those Y’s which cropped up in my mind I said to myself “y should I think about ‘Y’ “and continued on. We were cycling comfortably and stopped for a while to rest after finishing 5 miles. We had some energy bars and bananas and took some pictures. After relieving ourselves, we checked air in the tires and discovered that Rajesh’s tire was flat. He waited for Rajkumar, who was busy answering nature’s call to assist him. Realizing it was going to take a while, he helped himself to pump the air. Finally after Rajkumar returned from his break, we threesome started our journey. We continued on the Cedar River Trail and discussed where to take the next break. We agreed to take a quick break at Center Point

We were all in a group for a while, as everyone was energized after the refreshments. With the Sun peeping its head slightly from the horizon, I could see clouds gathering over the harvested cornfields. It was an awesome sight. I wanted to take some pictures, but the camera was with Rajkumar who was far ahead of me. As I was cycling my way up, I saw Rajesh and Rajkumar standing near a garden chair waiting for me to catch up with them. When I reached them they were having juice and peanuts. I also joined them and had some. Rajesh was bit faster than earlier because he had his tire fixed. It was then I realized the reason for his slow pace. Hmmm. I took a deep breath.

Leaving all those thoughts, I was on move. Rajesh passed me and Rajkumar came along and pumped up my spirits and gave some tips for continuing on. When my legs started hurting I told Rajkumar that we could stay at Evansdale for the rest of the day and return the next day or ask someone to pick us from Evansdale. It looked like he was not comfortable with my suggestion. I whined for a little bit. He put up with me for sometime and couldn’t take it any longer and started to speed away telling me to join at Center Point.

Pedaling slowly, I reached Center Point. The other two guys were already waiting for me having had their snacks. My back was totally ruined by that time. I was so tired I got disoriented and started cursing myself for getting in to this. Those too were busy talking and sharing their experience till then. I looked at my bike first and then looked around and started to think what I was doing there!. I was not sure whether I wanted to go further or to return. I was completely whining within myself so as not to disturb the other two enthusiasts.

The next stop was decided to be at Urbana. I somehow managed to position myself on my bicycle and started after them. I was pedaling as much as I can. I heard a voice saying ‘On to the Left’. I didn’t realize at that point what it meant. After that I heard a couple of times and realized that they are cautioning me that they are coming on to the left of me from back. I was murmuring within myself and continued on. The spasm of pain now started spreading towards my thighs and limbs .I was sweating like a pig. No one was in the vicinity.

The trail was narrow in the woods, sounded like a buffalo trail of Yama’s path of Hindu mythology. I decided to call off and stopped. I called Rajkumar who was further up somewhere and told him that I’m returning. He sounded disappointed, but he had to let me go. He was kind enough to ask me if I needed some help. I told him that I would take short breaks in between and ride slowly. At around 11:30AM, I returned back.

The places that I saw in the morning looked different now in the hot scorching sun with a cool fall breeze. I was finding it all the more difficult during my return journey. The seat was so hard and I was just not able to sit on it for a second. Then I started riding cycle more like a rickshaw. I thought to myself that I would never reach Cedar Rapids in this manner. All of a sudden a new object has attracted my attention. It was a pillow! I couldn’t believe my eyes!!. It was something like what doctor has ordered. I am a hard core atheist, but this incident has provoked me to think otherwise. Whatever it may be, I placed the pillow on the seat and started relaxing and rode back with ease and reached home at 4:30PM. Later in the night, I called the other two and came to know that they reached Evansdale at about the same time and were in no position to return back the same day. They decided to rest in a motel for the night and went searching for a motel along the highway, but Alas!!!! They did not find a motel but were stopped by a Cop (Mama). I believe that officer got suspicious seeing these brown skinned desi’s and asked their identification. I understand that officer ran a quick background on these desi’s and found nothing against them. (Did you ever hear a desi background come negative, No chance. Desi don’t even get traffic tickets). He questioned them about what they were doing on the freeway. These desi’s told him about their cycling trip gone wrong or whatever. I don’t know what he felt about these miserables when he heard there story but gave them directions to get to a nearest motel and left warning them not to ride along the freeways. These two cyclists finally found a motel and went to reception to book a room for the night. I don’t know what went through the receptionist mind when he/she saw these desi’s without any laguage checking into a single room. He/ she gave them a room.

Finally these desi’s checked into the room took a shower and had dinner provided by the motel. After the dinner they called it a day and went to sleep. They woke up around 6.30 A.M and got ready for the journey back home. It was then Rajesh realized that he was in no position to ride the bike back home. So he called a friend to come pick him up but Raj Kumar was all pumped up to ride back home by himself. He started at around 7:00 leaving Rajesh in the motel. Rajesh’s friend came at around 9:00 am and gave him ride home. Rajkumar ride the bike for over several hours before reaching Hiwatha.He was totally exhausted by then and could not ride anymore and started walking home from there. He finally reached home at around 4:30 P.M.

Even though I didn’t complete the trail, pedaling all the way up to 50 miles (25 miles To and Fro) is a wonderful evergreen experience in my lifetime. Catch you guys on the trail the next time!!.