2010-11-15 28 77

The Place

Who Went

Felix Dance - by bicycle.

Expedition

Felix Dance

Knowing about this particular geohash a few days in advance, thanks to the lack of stock trading on weekends, I had plenty of time to prepare. Setting out by bike after a frustrating internet session of frequent power outages I navigated the wild and curvy streets of New Delhi across the sacred Yamuna River towards the hash location.

With me I had my camera and GPS and a few snacks in my backpack. I thought about bringing my bike repair kit with its allen keys but decided it wouldn't be worthwhile for such a short trip. BIG MISTAKE!

Across the Yamuna, where I'd never actually been before (geohashing is good for going places you've never been), I was happily riding along a major freeway when I suddenly felt my left leg give way. My left crank had disconnected from my trusty bike, hitting the ground after coming off my cleat. Only a couple of days ago I'd taken this bike to a bike shop and they'd tightened my crank up - obviously not very well.

Stuffing the disconnected crank into my bag I continued towards the hash undeterred - since I had cleated shoes I could passably ride with only my right leg. I must have looked like a total idiot to the local New Delhians.

About 5kms later I came across a roadside bike shop and asked them for a hand. They didn't have an allen key (a bike shop with no allen keys!) but sent someone to borrow one from somewhere else and managed to re-attach my left crank to its rightful position.

The next couple of Ks were fairly uneventful, dodging goats and swimming through dust along a large and busy street towards the hash. Eventually I got to within a hundred metres - my GPS arrow pointed to the inside of what looked like a garden.

I locked up my bike and ran through the gate before anyone could stop me (and they tried too). I still had 30m to go when I reached the back wall, but luckily there was a dirt ramp and a gap in the wire allowing me to get through. Quickly taking a few blurry photos on the hash point on the other side of the gate before the wheels could get stolen off my bike I ran back through the gap in the fence and to my ride home. Annoyingly, I'd left my SD card at my hotel so I could only take a few photos on internal memory.

Also annoyingly, the way back proved much more difficult than the way TO the hash. For some reason a massive goat market had sprung up in my absence. This blocked up the traffic on the entire road passing it and I was forced to dodge and weave around traffic, prospective goat buyers and the goats themselves as I made my way slowly forward at less than walking speed.

And then something even worse happened: I was riding alongside a bus when I felt a splotch of liquid land on my arm - I'd been spat on again. But no! More splotches! It was raining! Desperately I raced between cars, goats and peops on my way to dry safety.

On the bridge back over the Yamuna the rain eased off a little, but it was at that moment that my left crank decided to extricate itself from my bike in one more bid for freedom. Not having any nearby bike shops to reattach it I right-legged it home the last 15 Ks or so, seriously straining my thigh muscles.

Back at my hotel I celebrated another hash well done with some apple and yogurt. A favourite of mine in these parts. Not looking forward to my confrontation with the bike shop though.

Time of hash: 3:15pm
Total time for geohash: 3 hours.

Here is my route.