25th morning 230
am, am out of bed, no point trying to sleep, where there is no sleep, n more
excitement for 2017 Rider Mania, a group of us will be going to KUNDAPURA, 114 Km before Mangalore, and 900 odd km from Mumbai to party and hang out for 2 day
is the plan.
So was up and showered and
ready to go on a 4 day ride, Messages on whattsapp group fly around as people
are up and getting ready, n trying to make sure we were all ready to go on time
I head out at 357 am, saddled
up n off to JVLR to meet 2 riders and then to Panvel where we plan to start our
ride from, meeting time was 0500 hours,
En route as I start out n
switch on the LED lights that I had gotten fixed the previous day, n was too
lazy to test out, well the moment I switched it on, the bike stalled, tried it twice
n realized it was not to be, I had goofed up
NEVER DO MODIFINACATION TO
BIKE JUST BEFORE A RIDE ( wisdom )
The Odometer read: 03824 time: 0357hrs
As I headed to JVPD, our
first rendezvous point, I hit the highway, n as I took a right to head to JVLR,
there was a object that landed on my left foot, it was a soft feel, looking
down I say a large dog had gotten excited and was trying to eat my boot, I
never do know why Dogs like to chase cars and wheels, what do they think I am
curious, anyone knows what that is all about?
3 of us, Punit, Mihir and Me,
we met at JVLR and headed to Panvel where we were meeting the other riders
starting out on that day, I realized I had travelled a extra 20 Km for no
reason, was on a bike ride, still,,, OH well, we took a longer route to Panvel
along the famed Palm beach road, n I ran out of Gas, well the bike switched to
reserve, I just hoped I would make it to Panvel, I have a paranoia, of running
out of gas always, and mostly fill my tank when I think I should run out of
gas, and not as it hits reserve.
Thankfully yes we did reach Panvel and tanked up, 12 lit of fuel ready to start out,
We met up at Panvel: Dutta
vadapao place n headed out at approx. 0600 hours, approx. 12 of us,
The Sun just about peeping
ODOMETER: 3894
Next stop we planned was at
Lonavala, where 2 of the riders managed to get lost for a while, landing up on
the expressway and getting challenged for riding on the expressway, Shyamal and
me the slowest of the pack were the tails, or sweepers as we reached Lonavala,
and then started again, the idea was to beat the Traffic in Pune and do a
Breakfast stop, another 50 Km ahead of Pune,
OD: 4125 km
Time: 0930
We stopped for breakfast, all
of the 12 were there, without getting lost any further and some more thumpers
joined us from Pune.
The empty roads beckoned us;
helps when the roads are smooth and not much potholed like Mumbai roads that we
are used to.
OD: 4256
Time:1300 hrs. At Karad and
lunch followed, a good hearty meal of Mutton thali, Kolapuri style food and it
sure made us sleepy to ride, not that we did not try, but all were too sleepy,
so we pulled over and took a nap on the bike itself .
Some more time off n finally we started at:
1530 hours, following the nap.
After being entertained by
some wonderful goat herders and their goats and bikers riding on wrong side of
the road,
the day was fairly uneventful
Made a fuel stop as we exited
the ghats at Nippani,
OD 4356 we had another 60 km to go for the day,
before darkness set in sunset time is when we stopped at 1821 hrs. At Belgaum.
A good meal of Appam, mutton and chicken ( keels style) for the
night and stay at RK hotel as we entered Belgaum city cost us Rs 1500/ head and
was a good peaceful stay and chit chat session later , we retired early for the night,
we planned to be out of the hotel as the daylight broke, so saddle up time at
0645 and on the road by 0700 hrs. hopefully.
It had been a good first days
ride, we had covered:
480 km on day one, that left
us approx. another 300 the next day, some of the other riders had continued onwards
for another 100 km on 25th itself, around 2340 hours they had all
reached for there night halt, good for them! the night riders had made another 100 Km this day, something we had to cover the next day, they could start 2 hours later then us the next day.
Great read it was rajat.
ReplyDeletea pleasure to relive those days ! ;)
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