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Thursday, January 2nd – Amritsar to Moga, 15,639 km
Our route today is quite simple. We ride due south on Hwy 15 from Circular Rd in Amritsar, through the towns of Tam Taran and Sarhali Kalan. At Harike, we cross a tributary of the Indus River that flows towards Pakistan. On the other side, we leave the highway at Makhu to take a side route that leads directly to the town of Moga. Our route is flat and does not lead to any major centre so the traffic is not heavy.
Frank stays with me, no more than a hundred metres or so ahead or behind me. He frequently catches up with me or drops back to chat with me, just to vary our day. It is easy in this flat environment with straight roads to zone out and get into a quasi-trance while riding. I would probably do this if I was alone, but Frank keeps me interacting. He makes the trip fun.
There isn't much in the way of scenery here, but the riding environment is different from what I am used to. There are many kinds of vehicles on the road, the smaller ones being bicycles like ours. Many locals ride bikes here. They are heavy steel bikes used as utility bikes. I have seen several today where the rider has a pole balanced on his shoulders with heavy kegs of milk on either end or other similarly heavy loads. There are occasionally motorcycles, scooters or motorized rickshaws passing us and slower farmers' carts that we pass. Large bapelos (oxen) stroll along side the road and cross whenever they want to, knowing that no one will ever hurt them. They are ugly but sweet natured. Trucks speed along the roads here, some of them overloaded with loads of cotton, their cargo looking like a microwave popcorn bag that has grown too large for the vehicle. When a truck wants to pass another vehicle, it will cross to the other side of the road even if there are vehicles approaching in the on-coming lane. Small vehicles in the on-coming lane are expected to leave the road to accommodate what the larger vehicle is doing. If they don't, the truck will win out and they will die. Having vehicles leaving the road suddenly when a bicycle is riding by them can be extremely dangerous. Being smaller, bikes are expected to get out of their way when they leave the road. It is survival of the biggest so it best to stay alert at all times.
Ironically in the reverse situation, where a speeding truck roars up from behind blaring its horn aggressively, I just ignore it. I have picked up that they are not allowed to hit you and you don't have to get out of the way if you are not looking at it. If you understand these two rules you might survive here. Fortunately, there's not too much traffic on the side roads. Like Pakistan, they drive on the left here. I thought that might confuse me but I seem to have adjusted to the change very smoothly.
I can't get over how green it is on this side of the border compared to the dusty fields near Lahore. The vicious civil war in 1947 at the time of partition destroyed most of the infrastructure in Punjab. The Sikhs have a reputation for being talented in engineering skills, much like the reputation Germans have in Europe. Since 1947, they have reconstructed irrigation canals throughout Punjab, and while Punjab has only 2% of India's population they are responsible today for 15% of its gross domestic product. We have passed several of the main irrigation canals on our ride today.
Moga is a rural agricultural hub with not much of interest to look at. There are a couple of inexpensive inns. The first we check out has a room with twin beds and storage for our bikes. I am a little tired tonight as this has been my first day cycling 100 km in quite a while. It is exciting to be venturing further into India, towards the capital. I have the impression that I could spend a whole year cycling here, if I had the time.
Frank's rear wheel has a broken spoke when we arrive in Moga. There seems to be no reason for it since our route today was smooth. He had his rear wheel rebuilt in Rawalpindi and isn't sure if that has had something to do with it. He spent the late afternoon while there was still light replacing the spoke and truing the wheel. I get so frustrated over mechanical problems but he is always mellow and methodical.
PHOTO 1: south of Amritsar along the road
PHOTO 2: Moga
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