A countryside Cycle Ride to Rihe Dam near Pune

This cycle ride is dedicated to my uncle Raju Mama on his retirement from Tata Motors after 42 years of dedicated service in the Pimpri, Pune plant.

Weekend Cycle Ride destination near Pune

If you are looking for weekend getaways near Pune & like to explore the countryside on your cycle, you may be interested in reading more about this unexplored destination ‘Rihe Dam’. A peaceful location surrounded by scenic beauty just 21km from Pimple Saudagar & around 33km from Shivaji Nagar, Pune. 

Plan for the Cycle Ride

Yesterday Raju Mama retired from Tata Motors after completing 42 years of service. He loves to travel & explore new places so I decided to ride 42km to give a tribute to his 42 years of hard work. I immediately recalled the destination which is exact 21km (42km round trip) from my residence, ‘Rihe Dam’ which was on my bucket list since long.

Cycle Ride & Route

For this ride, I  did not prepare well. No extra water bottle, no snacks & no idea about the route, the only thing I knew that it is towards Hinjwadi & Google baba is always there to take us to the right destination.

Usually, I start my cycle rides at 5.30 am, today I was a little late. Started at 5.41 am. It was 17-degree Celsius & quite chilly. It was cold even though I was wearing a full jersey. This time I did cover my ears and face as the cold really gets into gets into the head if you ride without the face cover & headgear.

Reached Hinjwadi flyover, it was still dark & I was getting a feeling If it will be safe to ride on a lone road. I had made my mind so paddled further towards Hinjwadi IT park. Now, I was not sure where to head from the IT park, Google Maps comes handy.

Getting to know the Route

Taken a wrong turn but fortunately, it was not far off, took a u-turn and headed toward Maan Village. Though It was still dark I could see some vehicles passing-by, so I kept moving & reached MaanDevi Temple. Asked a villager if I am heading in the right direction of Rihe Dam & is it safe? He said, Yes, but its on mountains.

Kept paddling on the lone road. Urbanisation has already reached the countryside many hi-rise buildings are coming up on the roadside. I was ascending on the terrain, the road was good.

Nearing Destination

I took a right turn from the main road to a small countryside and saw a shop was opening. Stopped there to ask If I am heading towards the right direction. Rihe Dam was just a few km away from that location. It was already 6.45 am the countryside was calm, quiet & peaceful. Fresh air, greenery, mud-brick houses on both sides, a typical village set-up.

Rihe Dam – Waterbody

6.58 am, reached Rihe backwaters, no one in sight because it’s an unexplored destination as nothing fancy about it. I liked the place. Serene, peaceful and calm are only a few words to describe what it was like on the water this morning. A perfect place to meditate.

I sat there for some time looking at the beautiful landscapes & calm water, recalling last 20 year of friendship with Raju mama, listening to the birds chirping & waiting for morning to start to unfold with the beautiful Sunrise. It was already 7.30, the Sun was still behind the clouds. Thought today I’m not going to be lucky to see it.

Farmhouse at the banks of Rihe Dam

Decided to head back & I saw a villager just arrived on his bike and headed towards the motor starter box to put on his motor to pump out the water, may for his agricultural use. I saw a couple of pipes left in the water body to pump out the water, one of it belonged to him. 

I moved on something caught my attention. It was a beautifully decorated entrance door of some kind of resort. I was wondering if it is a resort, guest house or some government training centre.

Waited for the gentleman to arrive and I asked him what is it? He said it’s a farmhouse, belongs to a powerful political personality from Maharashtra. It was a huge property right on the banks of Rihe Dam, I tried to sneak through the entrance, could manage to see only the entrance road with a beautiful garden on both sides.

Swans & Sunrise

Suddenly I could hear the whistling of swans. An employee from the Farmhouse left the Swans for morning swim. I wanted to click some pictures, but they were quite far. Meanwhile, it was Sunrise. I quickly grabbed my phone and ran towards the waterbody to take some pictures.

I was happy that I had made it to this destination, spent some quality time with self remembering some good times & experiencing the beautiful Sunrise.

If you like cycle rides, want to spend some quality time with self & explore Pune countryside, Rihe Dam or backwaters is the perfect destination for you. Reach before Sunrise. You will thank me later.