cuppa chai on a rainy morning...

Inertia is a very strong force...at times, inertia of rest is stronger than that of motion. After a few weeks of gap it was herculean task today to get up early for the ride...I must confess that lately I have not been waking up early in the morning on weekdays, as I used to do earlier. I snoozed the alarm and turned on my bed...I had almost collapsed back to sleep but managed to pull myself up and drag myself to the balcony. It was about 5:20 am...there was no way I was going to reach the starting point by 6:00 am as planned. I quickly texted my riding buddies and started gearing myself up...managed to ride out of the gate half an hour later. At this time of the year, I was expecting it to be brighter at this hour of the morning. Probably it will be a while before it starts getting brighter so early in the morning. I thought I was running late so pushed the pedals with all my might...the severely under-inflated tyres were like a rubber leash...I chugged along like a steam engine on a steep hill, emitting more smoke but hardly gaining any speed. When I got down from the saddle at the meeting point and checked the time, it was 6:15 - dot on time (revised). I was soon joined by another rider and I actually had to call and wake the third rider up :) The two of us had some time in hand, waiting for the third to join. I looked at the pitch dark horizon and realized why the morning was not bright. It was going to rain badly today. I enjoy rains and riding in the rains can be absolutely delightful...I was worried about the camera though...I was carrying it in my backpack without any raincover...as we were talking about the rains and contemplating either cutting the ride short or just turn around and go home, we felt raindrops falling on our head...the rain was not hard but the drops were big and thick...we spotted a small tea joint across the road and ran to shelter...the rain slowly changed into a slow but steady drizzle...we decided to ride, the third rider had also turned up...like always, we ended up on some unknown trails that led to some known roads and the ever so popular lake...almost all through the while we were riding, it was drizzling - enough to drench my shirt, the backpack and the saddle bag...it was such a beautiful morning, we could've ridden all day long today...all the lethargy from lack of overnight sleep and inertia that had piled up over the weeks slowly got washed away with the rain...a short but really enjoyable ride after a long time...

...had I known that a mammoth cleanliness drive is waiting for me at home, I would've made it a much longer ride :)