My first solo ride and the torture

This will not have any pics as this was not intended to be a tour, this was a ride with a reason. The main intent of this blog is to highlight what I went through before the ride and how it ended.

Why the ride? Well I was looking for a used wide angle lens for my Canon SLR, and I found one a very good one infact through JJMehta forum. The owner stays in Hubli and I had to go get the lens from him.
Why used lens? Wide angle lenses are the costliest of the lot after the L series of lenses in Canon. So used one made more sense to me rather than buying a new one for double the cost.

The lens had eluded me from last one month due to either my commitments or due to the sellers commitments. So I decided that by any means I am going this Sunday even if it takes me to go alone. For the folks who dont know me, I ride a lot, but I have never ridden long solo! There is a mental block when you are deciding to ride solo versus the freedom you feel in a group. Riders must be familiar with the feeling.


Another problem was that my CBR was in service center and I had to use my friends Karizma ZMR. Though Karizma is a very good machine, but since you are used to your own bike, adjusting to another machine and the bonding are problematic.

I informed Lohith, lens expert on the journey and he told me that he will join me as a pillion. I was relieved, my biggest fear of riding alone was taken out! But he is expecting to be a father soon and ride meant he had to stay away from his family. He was in two minds and I understood his problem. Family first isn't it? He was also low on confidence for riding such a long distance since he has not ridden for couple of months now. I being the philosophy master gave him lecture on how mind plays games and how you need to over come that and blah blah and more blah..

It was final, I was to ride alone and the problems started now. I informed the seller on my plans and I told him that I will be there by 8 am Sunday. He was worried to hear that I am riding alone and said, there are buses, trains from Bangalore why do you want to ride? This was the first question that made me think about riding alone.

Second one from Lohith, you have not ridden for a month and now you want to ride alone? Don't go alone we will go next week. Coming weeks were not possible for me as I had a few commitments scheduled and I had to ride or somehow get the lens this Sunday.

Third one from one of my good friends. She was angry, and said have you gone mad? Go by bus.

I assured all of them that I will be fine, but deep within I was thinking should I do this? Am I taking a big risk? The plan was to leave home by 2 and reach Hubli and then head back. There was no hurry, I was free to take as much time as I wanted, but still the question was should I ride ALONE?

I did not, for the records could not sleep. Close my eyes and all I could see was images of me going and crashing into something. I was never scared of riding, but the prospect of riding solo was the one that triggered these emotions. I packed my tank bag, readied all the required things and tried to sleep again. I was successful this time, but the sleep was a disturbed one and I woke up at the first ring of the alarm.

Thoughts that came to my mind were:
1> Should I ride? Why should I take the risk?
2> Should I call up the seller and say that I have a flat tyre and postpone the date?
3> I have not slept, I am tired, should I ride? Let me cancel this..
4> Will ZMR be able to see me through the journey? I dont have my trusted CBR with me.. Should I do this?

I was really confused and a little scared too. I badly wanted to put the ride off and sleep happily. But somewhere deep down, I wanted to do this. I wanted to see how I ride solo and this would be a very good practice run for some of my future plans.

I decided that what ever the case, I am riding and also decided that if at any point I feel that I cant continue I will head back. Freshened up and set out on the journey.

Karizma did not start for the first 2 attempts. Was this a sign? Should I get back in and stop all this madness going on in my head? Let me try again, and she starts and goes into her silent idle. I start slowly, wade through street dog madness and I reach Tumkur toll gate.Got myself a cup of tea, informed Lohith and the seller about the star of my journey and set out on the amazing roads.

I was feeling confident now, and I was thinking.. it only takes effort to start anything and once you start all the fears go away and you are a confident new man ready to take on what ever comes your way.. Wait, is that a lorry turned upside down? Shit, is that a sign? Should I go back? ..
Let me continue a little bit more and I head on.. Shit, is that a lorry and a car? Is that blood! Is that a sign..??

I had it enough and I said to myself that if I ride safe, I could do it and hence chugged ahead. I was cruising at 90's and reached Chitradurga quickly. Updated Lohith on the location and a tea later I was riding again. The same continued as I cruised along and I reached Hubli by 7! In 5 hours I had reached Hubli a distance of 430 Kms riding alone! I was happy sat for a while with a cup of tea watching the morning sun. Met the seller and bought the lens.

Return journey was the same. I left Hubli after breakfast at 8:30 and I reached home by 1:15PM. All this on a ZMR, cruising at 90-100. I was happy and had a real sense of achievement. I had done my fist solo ride of 850Kms in ~11 hours. It was time to put all the fears to rest. I have done a solo ride, now I can do many solo rides if I want, it was just the first step that put me through troubling thoughts and made me hesitant.

Here is the lens and I had accomplished two things and overcome my mental blocks for this beauty. Hope this is of some help to the first time solo riders. I am really thankful to Lohith who stood by me and was constantly in touch, asking me to ride safe and for the valuable suggestions for selecting the lens.

Captivating Charmadi to the Divine Dharmastala

This was a special ride, I had to visit the place where I grew up, studied and had all the mischievous fun that a young teenager has. Yes, apart from the charming beauty of Charmadi ghats, it was also Ujire that where I spent my teenage days which makes this ride special for me. Read on at your own risk as this involves a few sentiments when we reach to Ujire part.

As usual, it all began with an urge to ride and the destination was fixed as Gandikota in Andrapradesh. Due to political turmoil in Andra, we had to change the destination and there were many suggestion flying around. Now I dont know how or why but I wanted to go to Charmadi and come back via Dharmastala and everyone in the group agreed!

We left Bangalore on a chilli Sunday morning at 4AM and headed on the smooth Bangalore Mangalore highway. I was leading the troop and we were covering good ground and all was well. Rather all was cold, everyone was shivering down to the bones inspite of having warm clothes and a tea break was in the cards. Stopped for a cup of tea and stop means camera time.

 Found lit up fire to warm the frozen self.

Continued after the short break and I am not a person to miss a sunrise or a sunset from the road, so the next stop was to capture the sunrise and also moon set for a change.

A group pic.

We reached Belur by 7:30 AM and it was time to settle the fight with growling hungry tummies. The road from Belur cross till Belur was fantastic, with fast sweeping curves and amazing views. We were really enjoying this ride and this was to get better.

Windmills!!

And my love 

Plantations on the other side of road

Just another day for him, where as we have to travel miles away from the concrete jungle for such views.

After breakfast, we headed on towards Moodigere. The tarmac was freshly laid. Smooth, curvy, scenic, inviting. We were in no rush and headed on in leisurely pace. Stopped at few places for monkeying around and clicking pics.

And some fake babaji who got kicked

And the poser me showing off

The beautiful roads

And the surrounding scenery

We were enjoying this ride, and to add further to our already overfilled plate, we hit the ghat section. It is a delight to be on this ghat section any time of the year. Though post monsoon makes it gleam with beauty, it is not even an inch lesser in the scorching summer. 

Breath taking views all around, tried to take home all these in the form of pictures. I was gearing up to catch up with the others while a group of kids came along. They were so happy to see the bike, they took their group pics with the mobile they had, and they took a snap with me too. It was fun to see excitement in their eyes and I was happy to let them take pics.

Carried on to reach Ujire, the place where I did most of my schooling! What a feeling it was to be there after close to 6 years. Lots of changes to the place. A sleepy village with few shops has grown to be a small city! The masalapuri shops which we used to frequent, the cyber cafe which we used to go to play counter strike (most off the time bunking classes), the secret head out place form the college campus jumping the fences, seeing all this at once had me in, I dont know an inexpressible state of awe. The cricket stadium where I spent cricketing days (and the days when I was suspended), the shop where we used to frequent all the monkey stuff, the library and in final the school and the college. Golden days!!

I wanted to stop and recall all this, I had no interest to move ahead, but given the fact that many of my relatives stay there and being spotted would only spell trouble, I rode slow. As slow as possible to give myself time to sink all this in. Emotions, though I am not very emotional kind of person, I could not stop recalling those childhood and teenage days and compare them to the life I am leading now.

Continued to Dharmastala, had lunch at a road side place. And then set on with our journey towards Bangalore. Somewhere close to Sakleshpur, Saquib's clutch cable snapped. Got it repaired quickly as the bike stopped exactly in front of a mechanics shop.

What followed this was carnage. We re grouped at Sakleshpur and we were ready to hit the amazing Bangalore Mangalore highway which transforms to a 6 laned beauty from here. We were enjoying oursleves and quickly split into 2 groups. Myself and Ashish were way ahead and we were doing constant 120 kmph with ease and cruising happily. Saquib was close by and rest were at their own speeds. It was fun watching i10,s and swifts dissappearing in the rear view mirror, but what was appaling was that few of the car drivers would not let us overtake them. Even though they were doing much lesser speeds, they would constantly block us, and we had to wait for an opening to push ahead. We covered good ground and did it quickly, which saw us in Bangalore by Sunset. Met everyone at Nelamangala toll, sipped few cups of tea and headed on to homes.

PC: Suvrajit Ganguly

While it was a fun immersive ride which had all the aspects that a rider looks for, from curves that surprise you to the highways that let you use the vehicles potential, this was special for me due to one place Ujire and the memories associated with it. I really wish to do the circuit again and visit few more places. Till then ciao.