cooksinindia

Thoughts on the bike race...

Quite the day of sport and bonhomie. Started at 4:00 am with tea and cereal. Then a ride up to National Stadium, near India Gate, for the Hunooz Dilli Door Naist bike race. The purpose of said race was to kick off preparations for the Commonwealth games, which will be held here in Delhi in 2010. Might be worth a visit…
Anyway, we rode up to India Gate…got lost once or twice trying to find the stadium, and about fifteen kilometers later were waiting for the race to begin. The race itself was about 35 km. And the mix of participants was a feast for the eyes. There were guys riding barefoot, guys on old Indian bikes like mine, only with no seats…they sat on the rack. Guys with slick, modern bikes. Mostly Indians, but a couple of white faces here and there. And everyone was just happy to be a part of the show. Really fun. I’ve included a picture of a couple of guys I rode the second half of the race with. Somehow the dude next to me appeared larger in real life. The camera seems to have taken a bit of height off the lad, but trust me when I tell you that guy was fast. Mind you, I nipped him at the end, but it took every ounce of will and experience gleaned from years in the saddle.
After the race we visited with some acquaintances through the Fulbright program that live in Delhi. They fed us breakfast, then we sat around for an hour, and they fed us lunch. We ate all of both before riding another fifteen km home.
It is now Sunday afternoon and I need to do some chores before calling it a day. Later.