Cycling from Delhi to Rishikesh

Your bike is a discovery; your bike is freedom. It doesn’t matter where you are, when you’re on the saddle, you’re taken away.

My first 200+ km ride and that too in my way, that is, Free & Solo.

Frankly this wasn’t planned at all until the morning of the ride.  As a matter of fact, I took this decision in the cab on the way back home from office. And for me that was the hardest part of this entire ride.

There are two ways of reaching Rishikesh. The first is directly through Delhi Meerut Expressway and the second through the Upper Ganga Canal road which I took.

Believe me you’d want to go by the Upper Ganga Canal road only, as it’s the best way to reach Haridwar without any highway toll and traffic. Plus, it offers the continuous view of the Upper Ganga Canal all the way till Haridwar.

In the entire 10.5 hrs of pedalling it never felt that I had taken a wrong decision because of 2 reasons.

The first being that the views on the way were as mesmerizing as they were upon reaching! And 2nd and most adventurous one is that I cycled in heavy to moderate rain throughout the 248 km journey!

At some point I got annoyed because I could not take my phone out for recording anything. But nothing compares to what the eyes see. I guess that’s the beauty of my state, that it calls you but also tests you at the same time.

I mentioned 248 km, but my Strava activity shows 217 km only. That’s because the Upper Ganga Canal Route is secluded and the GPS went off. So the distance wasn’t recorded.😅😂

The one thing that motivated me throughout the journey was the river Ganga. I don’t even remember the last time that I saw a river of this might! But Ganga is something else.

The amount of peace and serenity the flowing waters of Ganga has, is incomparable and the constant Temple Bells ringing in the background in Rishikesh add to the serenity even more.

This time as the water level was quite high due to rain. There are no rapids forming in the river in Rishikesh, so sitting next to the river alongside my bike, was the only thing that I did after reaching Rishikesh. ☮️☮️

With that being said I would like to request everyone who sees this post to please try to travel to Uttarakhand in a way that doesn’t harm the Mountains!🙏🙏

You can start by not bringing your personal vehicles to the mountains. Because there is sufficient public transport facilities for tourists in Uttarakhand and if this continues the mountains are going to succumb to this!

This had already begun, the amount of unforeseen rainfall for continuous days, landslides, has resulted in lots of people losing their lives, homes and empty villages!

Next time when you plan your trip to the mountains please think of the mountains also!

And after this ride one thing has become sure to me that, no matter where I go in future or how many cities I visit, Uttarakhand is always going to find a way to bring me back home 🏡🏔️

If you liked this article, read about fellow Uttarakhandi, Shivangee Rana, who went riding to some of the highest motorable passes in the world! Also, watch the video of Cycling in Uttarakhand for a fortnight.