An impromptu bicycle ride, that went horribly wrong!
I always loved going on long bicycle rides back in India. The first thing I bought with my salary was a Schwinn mountain bike. I was absolutely in love with it! On weekends sometimes I would go on a ride from MG Road in Bangalore to the international airport, have a subway sandwich, and return back. That is a total distance of 70 km, and the road was mostly flat. I even went to office everyday on it (8 km one way), avoiding the horrible Bangalore traffic. But after I traveled abroad for my Master studies, I hardly had any money or the time to continue with my passion for bicycling.
After my master thesis, I received an internship offer in Crailsheim, Germany. This place is beautiful and a perfect location to go around on weekends for bicycle rides. So, obviously, the first thing I did was buy a bicycle so that I can commute everyday from my room to work and back. I checked out online for any used bikes and found one for 200 Euros. But this seller was staying in Schwäbisch Gmünd, which was around 60 km from my place, Crailsheim. So I decided to take a train to that place, reach at around 10 am, have a look at the bicycle and buy it if I like it.
So I wake up at 10 am the next day and miss my train (Yeah WTF!). There, the obvious sign that this day is truly determined to screw you up! I had to be back by evening so that I can cook some food, get some good sleep and wake up for my first day at work. I go ahead with what I had planned in total oblivion of what the day had lined up for me. I wouldn't cancel my plan since I was very excited of having a bicycle finally, and more because I was a stubborn piece of shit!
Everything seems fine, I buy my bike and get a helmet along with it as well. Like many times and of course this time as well, a ridiculously stupid idea crosses my mind. Why not bicycle all the way back to Crailsheim? After all the distance is just 60km and I had my camera with me (I am an avid photographer). I could take beautiful photos of the countryside, after all it was spring and didn't have to worry about the weather going all nuts on me (which it didn't, it just went all fuckin dark!). It was already 3 pm and so I got my ass outta there like Millennium Falcon on hyperdrive, soon realizing I was no more horizontal. The entire way was lined with steep ups and downs, small hills, big hills, fuckin big hills (No, not mountains now please!). I had never accounted for all this because of my stupid Geography teacher.
Anyway, I got tired within 5km of cycling. Moreover, I had nothing to eat and only a bottle of water. No spare tubes to fix any flat tyre, not even a bloody pump. There are only very few tiny towns in between and no way to take shelter for the night. I didn't even know the language to ask for directions. My phone gave away (Yeah, forgot to charge my phone the previous night. How cute!). So now I had no sense of direction as well. Got lost, in the middle of nowhere. Came across a cabin in the woods (not the horror movie, although I did fantasize being Chris Hemsworth for a while). I had watched way too many scary movies to not be scared. It was straight out of the Wrong Turn movie, minus the hot chicks! It was also starting to get darker very soon, I was shit scared, had to pee! My only option was to guess one of the routes and just keep riding. That is exactly what I did and luckily I found the main road and kept myself going along wherever it lead me. I finally found the right way and after hours of drudgery I finally reached my room at 12pm and woke up at 6am for my first day at office (6 hours of sleep, like a boss!)
Here are a few pics I took on that dreadful night. Yes, probably going to get lost tonight in the woods, but first let me take some photos first.
RE: What is the wildest thing you have ever done?