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Awesome Weekend Rides: Gadheshwar Lake & Dam Panvel

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One upon a time someone remarked, ‘You can’t buy happiness but you can buy a bicycle”. How could that be possible, I asked myself? What kind of happiness can someone derive out of pedaling furiously on the smoke filled and the back-breaking roads of our city? The answer to this, I thought needs to be found out first hand. And after a few weeks I was the owner of an awesome looking and equally awesome to ride modern day two wheeled geared wonder to ride bicycle. And after my first ride I realized why riders or cyclists referred to them as Bikes instead of Bicycles, given the amount of technology that went into these ‘Bikes’.

The Bike

TO cut a long story short I have been riding almost for two years now. Even changed or upgraded, as they call it, my Mountain Bike (MTB) to a higher end model. I am now in my mid thirties, and having ridden for about 6,000 kms in these two years, I have to admit, I loved every minute of it. I am one of those who have been called ‘Weekend Warriors’ or MAMIL or short for Middle Aged Men in Lycra. See a seasoned cyclist in his riding attire and you’ll know why, the term MAMIL.

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These two years of riding have been very eventful. I usually ride alone or solo and rarely do group rides with the few Bicycling clubs that are existent in the city. Living in Navi Mumbai, where I shifted to 2 years ago, after almost 25 years in the suburbs of Mumbai, I discovered a Cycling Heaven given the easy access to open highways and wide expanse of space in the upcoming suburbs of navi Mumbai. The areas around Navi Mumbai, Panvel, Uran, JNPT, Khopoli, Karjat, and Karnala are a part of the Raigad district in Maharashtra and the places are abundant with small hills, lakes, Dams, villages, hiking and biking trails. Naturally this meant that I ride more cross country than on the city roads. Often when I ride on the Mumbai pune highway and odd driver or a biker will stop and ask me about my Bike and if it’s safe to ride on the Highways with zooming cars, speeding Volvos and reckless ST and Truck drivers. I tell them that its much safer than the drivers in Mumbai, one given the fact that drivers on Highway rarely do drink and drive, second, the drivers on the highway I have encountered usually respect the fact that a cyclist is on the road, miles from the city pedaling his heart out to reach some God for saken place. And thirdly, I always ride with safety gear, meaning Helmet, Rear Blinkers, and Front Blinkers, safety or a yellow reflective jersey that ensures that I am always visible to other drivers on the road. Of course I am also prepared for any eventuality so I also carry spare tubes, a small frame mounted pump, puncture repair kit and most important, identification that I may require in case of emergency. Readers should believe me; it’s much safer outside the city than within it.

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The past two years I have been to a lot of places riding on my own. I usually plan the whole week for the ride with the kind assistance of Google Maps and ride out on Saturday. The planning is very important as an extra half hour taken during the ride can mean the strong Indian Sun beating you down. The rides usually begin at 6.00 am in the morning, sometime even earlier. (Call us crazy)

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Among one of my rides, the most memorable one that I have and also the place where I have done multiple rides (almost 5 times till date) is a place known as Gadheshwar, near Panvel. This is a small village about 22 kms from Panvel station or the Mumbai Pune Highway. Gadheshwar is located quite close to Navi Mumbai and from Belapur one needs to keep going straight beyond the Kalamboli circle towards Panvel. One has to be careful not to get on to the Expressway. In Panvel keep going straight crossing the Khanda Colony Signal and then cross a small bridge over the railways tracks to come near Garden Restaurant. From here on keep riding straight and then turning left will bring us on the New Panvel road and further on to the road leading to Gadheshwar. This road is incidentally called the Panvel Matheran Road because further on from Gadheshwar the road leads to a village called Maldunge which is the base for a Trek to Matheran, from the other side of Neral. That of course is another Blog Post altogether.

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Well, after taking a left turn at Panvel, continue riding on the Panvel Matheran. The roads at that time are almost empty being a Saturday and you might catch a few village kids walking to school and if you wave to them you might catch them smiling back at you. The road is a two lane road without any dividers in the middle and caution is advised considering the bikers and rickshaws sometimes drive at breakneck speeds. But keeping to the left is a good idea always.

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The ride itself is awesome in the early morning warm sunshine and after crossing the village of Koproli the road takes a sharp left on Nere village. From here on the road is beautiful with fields and small houses dotting the landscape. The road down to Gadheshwar is a little bit of rolling terrain but all in all mostly flat and can be attempted by even novice riders.

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Riding along the route you will cross the Gadheshwar Temple. Now, Gadheshwar is another name for Lord Shiva and the temple although small yet beautifully constructed like the older temples and is starkly empty. We stopped at the temple on our return ride though. Moving along further you catch the first glimpse of the Dam channel. The lake also has a Dam surrounding it that supplies water to the villages in the vicinity. Soon after a few small climbs and amazing drops you can see the first glimpse of the Gadheshwar Lake glistening in the sunlight.

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The entrance or the mud trail leading from the road to the Dam is built in such a way so as to prevent cars and motorbikes to be go there. The Water Works Dept. that also maintains the Dam and surrounding areas have literally dug a trench before the path begins and we had to get down and life our bikes over. Of course it’s not too big a trench or more like a ditch to cross but quite thoughtful. Having crossed the ditch and walked down the path we suddenly came to the most beautiful sight and suddenly the tired legs feel springy again. The Lake was there before us gleaming in the morning sun and you can gaze upon it till eternity. There is a small hut where the security guy and maintenance guy sit and laze around the whole day (I would). Tip: It’s always a good idea to befriend these men and show them some respect and trust me they’ll welcome you into their lives telling you all sorts of stories and the history of the place. We, me and my riding partner that day, spend close to an hour at the lake not wanting to pull ourselves away. We usually pack biscuits on longer rides so we sat there sipping water and eating biscuits and just gazing at the lake while the trees over head swayed and gave us the much needed shade. After spending an amazing hour we decided to head back to Navi Mumbai and bid adieu to the security guys promising to return again. The return rides are also equally good if you can live with the traffic that increases while you were out towards your destination. The total ride was around 48 kms to and fro and we started at 6.30 am in the morning and returned back to Kharghar at around 10.00 am with just two stops en route both ways. The route is easy to medium grade and can be done on MTB, Hybrids as well as Road Bikes although the former two are recommended.

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The equipment I use: • Btwin Rockrider 5.3 MTB from Decathlon India • Btwin Urban Helmet • Scott half finger gloves • Cateye Nima rear blinker • Quechua Hydration Backpack 1 L • Sigma wired bike compute or cyclocomp • Btwin dri fit cycling jersey • Btwin XC MTB shorts • Btwin Padded cycling tights • Btwin Schrader valve spare tube • Park Tools Puncture kit • Btwin Multitool • Btwin Saddlebag 0.4 l • Btwin Mini frame pump • Respra anti pollution mask (for the return ride) • Lumia 730 with 6.7 mpix Zeiss Lens

About the Author:

Partha is in his mid-thirties and works as a Credit Manager with a leading NBFC working five days a week in Mumbai. Other than cycling he also enjoys hiking, trekking, nature walks and active sports. And when he is not doing any of these you can find him hooked on to his Kindle or listening to Progressive trance or simply shooting random pics on his Lumia 730. A Greenpeace follower and a staunch Save-the-Earth activist, Partha loves connecting with people.

One thought on “Awesome Weekend Rides: Gadheshwar Lake & Dam Panvel”

  • H Sadhak

    Its good article of personal experience of a cyclist of immense potential.
    Pictures seems to be work of an accomplished photograper

    Reply
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