Nirvana Roadies: Nirvana Roadie in Monterey, California

Hi Guys & Gals:

Greetings from Sunny (supposedly) California. Although I had plenty of sun the weather was cold with strong winds in Monterey. This is small tourist twon about 2 hours south of San Francisco and is famous for the lovely beaches and gorgeous coastlines. It is right next to Carmel and the 17-mile drive, which is probably one the prettiest drives you can enjoy in the world. It is also home to the legendary Pebble Beach Golf Course.

Although I was in Monterey for a very intense Conference, I deceided that like all good roadies, should go for abike ride and also share the scenery with my buddies. So the second day I was there, I woke up very early in the morning and walked to the Fiesherman's Wharf and took some pictures of the sunrise. I sure am glad I did that. Despite the biting cold weather, it was amazing to watch the dark sky turn orange/grey to pink/grey and finally a gorgeous blue.

One the third day there, I finally had some free time on the agenda and designated that for a ride. Located a place for renting a bike and got details on the scenic bike trail - yes there are special bike trails there unlike good old Gurgaon. The trail is beautifully marked and is about 7 miles (11 kms) from the center of town and leads to "Lovers Point" from where on rides along the 17-Mile drive road past gold courses etc. My plan was to try about 15 kms each way - really aggressive for me. The plan was also to carry the camera and take some good pictures along the way.

I happened to mention this to a couple of my friends and I soon had four other people join the group. Looks like some of Hemant and Amrendra's recruitment skills are rubbing off on me also. Joining me were Kristof from Belgium, Sonja from Los Angeles, Judy from Beijing and my colleague Rachna from DLF Phase I. So we all met in the hotel lobby and headed across to "Adventure Tours" to pick up our bikes and ....... the darn shop closed at 4:00pm! That was a bummer.

Everyone was in the mood - so we decided to just walk the trail and look for another rental shop that was a few miles along the trail. The shot will show how wonderful the trail was. In all we had to walk probably around 4.5 kms before we got to the second bike rental shop. Before I tell you what transpired at the shop, let me share with you some of the wonderful views that we enjoyed along the way. We had plenty of seagulls, seals, seal lions and otters for company.

OK - now rental. We walked into the rental store at 4:28pm and - yes you guessed it - they were closing at 4:30pm. However, due to the soft US economy, everyone is willing to bend over backwards these days. Although they were unwiling to set us up with 5 individual bikes, they rented us a "Surrey" for $30 for one hour. Now - what the heck is a surrey - well it s a yankee rickshaw that is pedaled by all four riders. We fit five folks into it and took oof down the bike path for the remainder of the trail. It was slow going since it was very windy and we had five people - also we kept stopping along the way. One particular seal was extra friendly with us almost wanted to slide all the way up and say hello to us.

We did not make it all the way to the end of the trail since the rickshaw needed to be get back and all of us had meetings to get to. But it was a decent workout and the scenery was spectacular. The camaraderie that we all enjoy came into play and all of, although global colleagues, became better friends due to the ride. I am sure all of you will not object tomy awarding them an honorary Nirvana Roadies award for their assitance in making my ride special.