The tea stall below the pass at first light
Thirty-eight kilometres in the dark, then a steel tumbler of chai and a cooling engine.
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Tamhini Ghat, Maharashtra
Malshej Ghat, Maharashtra
Eleven hairpins in the first dry week
After four months of rain, the road is clean, and I finally count the bends.
Mahad, Maharashtra
A night in a garage behind the petrol pump
The owner moved a scooter so my bike could stand, and I slept beside it.
Kundalika River, Maharashtra
The river bridge at the end of the monsoon
A stone bridge, brown water just below the arch, and an hour spent listening.
Varandha Ghat, Maharashtra
Oiling the chain on a wet shoulder of road
What I carry, how long it takes, and why I never skip it.
Pune, the desk
What goes in the journal at every stop
Three lines, one pressed leaf and the odometer reading, before I touch my phone.
Amba Ghat, Maharashtra
Fog on the pass, twelve kilometres at twenty
Visibility of one bike length and a truck horn somewhere above me.
Bhor, Maharashtra
The tea stall that opens at five
A woman, one stove and a wooden bench, and the best biscuit of my year.
Pune, the garage
A tool roll, a spare tube and the saddlebag in the rain
Everything in the left bag, and what stays dry only thanks to a carrier sack.
Koyna, Maharashtra
The stone bridge where I waited out a flood warning
Two hours of watching the river rise, and a decision to turn back.
Ghat Road
Get the next stop on my ride, from the road, the garage or the tea stall, every other Saturday.
Pune
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