I left Kiratpur Sahib at 5:45 am and was in the third phase of my cycling tour. I was entering the lower spurs of Himalayas today. I have found the roads at state borders in too much of bad condition everywhere. Same was with the road near Punjab and Himachal border but this time, it was really in a bad shape and trucks passing by made the experience of the starting of my day trip into Himachal Pradesh really annoying with the dust going into my ear and mouth.
I had no knowledge of the climb I had to do but I shifted my gears so the paddle became light but exhaustion was more. I sweated like anything. One thing that brings the morale down in mountains while cycling is that you see the road going up to the other side of the valley and you know that you have to go there. But I just can not keep thinking about that else I will make it hard for myself only.
Just enjoy the view around and keep paddling even if the cycle is moving too slow. I intentionally kept the daily cycling distance less in mountains as it will take almost twice the time to cycle the same distance than what I take in plains and it was my starting only so I had to be easy. From here, altitude will gradually start increasing.
Himachal Pradesh roads are not much of that up slopes as what I found in Sikkim. Roads in Himachal are broad and in good shape, well maintained. If I cycled up, then there were times when it was down as well and this brings the smile on my face. Whole tiredness vanishes. I crossed few mountains and valleys and reached Bilaspur. I stayed in a Gurudwara at Bilaspur and it had a lake as well behind it but it was almost in dried condition. Bilaspur is situated in a broad valley and its temperature is not that low what I thought.
So, cycling from ocean, sea, hills, desert & fields, I was now in between mountains and my mind will take it from here now when my body get tired.
