Around 'Bombay' on a bicycle

“I want to ride my bicycle” once crooned Freddie Mercury and Woodside Inn seems to have taken it to heart. This charming Colaba eatery, together with Odati Adventures, started their Old Bombay Bicycle Tour several years ago. Provided you are not vying to be the next Lance Armstrong and do fancy a leisurely bike trip around South Mumbai, then this tour is made for you.

ABCs of the tour
South Mumbai is a dizzying palimpsest of the city’s rich and diverse history, with bustling bazaars rubbing shoulders with grand neo-Gothic buildings and manicured lawns. Twice a month, a guide sets out from Woodside Inn to take a small, jostling crowd of cyclists for an early morning spin–from the Taj Mahal Hotel to swanky Cuffe Parade and Marine Drive and onwards to bustling Bora Bazaar, VT station, Ballard Estate and the well-laid out lawns of Horniman Circle. The tour seeks to revisit and unravel history as the guide attempts to peel away the historical layers–pointing out forgotten landmarks and offering interesting nuggets of information about them. For instance, hiding behind the art deco swells of Dhanraj Mahal lies one of the largest and most expensive buildings of its time, built for the actress Zubeida; the crumbling Mahendra Chambers was once the splendid Watson’s Hotel, where the Lumiere Brothers Cinematographe held Bombay’s first ever film screening; and the Bombay duck was named after the ‘Bombay mail train’ (daak) in which it was transported.

There are plenty of pit stops along the way–one of the best of which comes halfway through the tour. A break at the quaint Yazdani Irani café, where every mouthful of their famous brun maska and cutting chai comes suffused with heritage and flavour. The morning’s exertions culminate in a delectable breakfast within the cool confines of Woodside Inn, with hippies and hipsters alike digging into eggs, fluffy pancakes, waffles, French toast and baked beans on toast.

Cyclists’ take on it
Kaustabh Kamat, restaurant manager at Woodside Inn in Colaba, tells us that the tour has been operating very successfully since the time it began. Slightly surprising, as rising with the sun and trundling around Mumbai on a wintry morning may not be everyone’s cup of tea. But it has its share of advantages. While the city slowly uncoils from its slumber, the roads are smooth and free of the usual annoyance of cars whizzing past. Besides, the morning air is crisp and cool. At any other time of the day, in spite of the current nip in the air, the sun dances mercilessly overhead.

“I’m not a morning person at all. My friends forced me into it,” laughs Harsh Jhaveri, a food blogger and founder of www.mumbaifoodlovers.in. This Walkeshwar resident took the tour a couple of months ago and enjoyed it thoroughly. He shares, “I have been born and brought up in South Mumbai but I did not have a clue about its history. So all the information on the tour was new and fascinating to me.” Even though the tour starts in the wee hours, all the traipsing across Mumbai roads can get quite tiring. Jhaveri suggests drinking plenty of water to stave off exhaustion.

If you are a die-hard cyclist come to drool over fancy cycling kits provided, then you are probably in the wrong place. Sujata Biswas, who used to live in Worli, took the tour last year. “I loved it,” she gushes, “I am not a veteran cyclist, but I like cycling and it was a good break for me. I got to meet a lot of interesting people. At Yazdani’s, we met the old Parsi owner. He was a lot of fun! My only advice? Take a camera along.”

If you are thinking, why not just buy a Mumbai guide, hop onto your own bicycle, and wheel around town on your own? In fact wouldn’t that be more cost-effective? Nishit Shah disagrees vociferously.
“All my life I have lived in South Mumbai and never once been motivated to go around the landmarks on my own.” Besides, Shah, a resident of Altamount Road, felt that it was a lot more fun taking the tour because “I got to hang out with a bunch of cool people, learned a lot about my city and enjoyed an excellent breakfast at the end of it. Plus, since Woodside Inn provides the bikes, I did not have to be bothered with the raft of problems that can plague bike-owners.”

Old Bombay Bicycle Tour
Time: Starts at 6:45 am and ends at 10:30 am with breakfast at Woodside Inn, Colaba.

Days: Second and fourth Sunday of every month, except during the monsoon, between June and September.

Payment: There are a limited number of people per tour. Reserve your spot by paying Rs1,650 (an all-inclusive amount, covering the cost of the tour, the bicycles, the safety equipment and breakfast) on the Thursday preceding the Sunday on which the tour is to be held.

Website: www.woodsideinn.in

Contact: 022 2287 5752