A ride for the rider re uniting with his ride

Restless, bored, irritated, yes I was feeling all this. She was away from me for over 2 weeks due to an issue and here I was at home waiting for here with crossed fingers hoping for her return, longing to see her, touch her. I was missing her and finally when she arrived I was happy, very happy. So happy that I did all sorts of antics that I did when I had brought home for the first time 5 months back. Yes, I did open the doors often to take a glance, peeped from the window to see if everything was fine, went out to see if the new set of eyes she got were fine. Now we were back together and that meant that we had to go out on a date and the date for the date was set as 11/05/2014.

I was not able to sleep as usual before a ride and this was special. I had not ridden for over a month and I was longing for one. Headed out on the cool morning breeze at 5AM, fully geared up to meet one of my colleagues who wanted to join me for the ride. The ride was a smooth one, we quickly made to Nelamangala, sipped a cup of tea and headed out towards our destination. I mentioned to him to stop at the first sign of sunrise and we carried on. He on his bullet was leading and I was enjoying the traffic less Bangalore Mangalore highway. 

The first glimpse of a new day



The mighty bull



And my love with her new set of eyes 



The beautiful sunrise



A new day for them too



It was a breeze to ride on. Stopped at Mayura for re fuelling the hungry tummies. Carried on and the village road after the diversion was beautiful.

The first glimpse of the temples and the Gomateshwara statue



The surrounding coconut farms



We parked the bikes and started the climb up. Yes, huffing and puffing and dragging our lazy asses, we somehow made it to the top climbing nearly 700 steps. This is what greeted us.



Lots of kids around, these 3 were very happy to pose



Another pro poser



Copied pose fail



And my favourite subject



On our way back



It was a comfortable ride back too save for the Yeshwantpur railway crossing. We had to wait for 4 trains to cross and reached home drenched in sweat. Was a short and sweet ride with weather gods favouring us 

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.

A ride to windmills and awesome hills

Everything has a reason, and the reason for this ride was Suvra's fetish for windmills. He was so desperate to go stand below a wind mill that he had already drafted a plan for windmills of Chitradurga. I shot down the idea straight away as I have been to that place more than twice and the long boring stretch of smooth NH tarmac is not fun, especially on a Sunday morning. So I decided to do a solo trip to Yercaud and some nearby places. As fate had it, we came across a few pics of windmills in the Pollachi stretch and Suvra wanted to visit Pollachi now. In his words, "Bhai, I want to play with windmills and hang on one of the blades and rotate". Just imagine how desperate he must be.

It was decided that we visit Pollachi and the windmills. I have been there during the year end ride that I did, and I have also been to Valparai. An amazing amazing hill station with 40 hairpin bends to the top. I am a sucker for curves and I proved it by saying, lets do Valparai as well and come back. The total round trip came to 950Kms.

Now the questions, can we do it in a day started to fly around. We almost scrapped this plan but decided that we will go ahead and do it, all this on Saturday night! Time of departure was set at 1am Sunday morning and the meeting point Suvra's place. Neither me, nor Suvra got sleep on Saturday as we very super excited. I reached Suvra's place at sharp 12:55 to see Suvra cleaning his steed. We were all set to leave, then Suvra got down from the bike, went running to his house. Apparently he had forgotten his bike keys. Now he comes back and sits on the bike. I start the engine all set to roll with a big grin, and Suvra gets off again, this time more animatedly hitting his head and runs back. He forgot the keys the second time too! Now don't ask me what the heck! It must be age catching up or he must be super excited, though I think it is the first reason.

We head out, to the petrol station, Suvra gets his steed filled up and we hit the Hosur road. It was smooth sailing till Krishnagiri, yes, a few diversions due to road construction, but we were constantly gliding at 85kmph. We stopped for a tea break at Krishnagiri and Suvra in no time got his camera out. He is very enthu about photography and clicks some awesome shots.

Few clicks and a cup of tea later we were ready to hit the road, I had songs playing with the ipod and that was helping me enjoy the ride at an unearthly hour. We reached Salem real quick and stopped at the tollbooth for a fuel refill. Yes,I need a refill every 270 Kms.

We were really enjoying the ride and we were cruising at a leisurely pace of 85 all the way. Never faced a place where I had to use the brakes and we were doing good time. Reached Pollachi and took the road towards Thiruppur. And at around 6:30 we were able to reach the first destination. Exact time when the sun had decided to show himself and these are the pics that show the beauty of this place.

This place was filled with windmills, like mushrooms in monsoon. I was confused on what to do. Which windmill to click, what next, and you know the dilemma of framing a pic. Then decided to take a pic with as much as I can fill in the frame.

The bikes starred in a few pics.

Close-up of sun rising behind one of these beauties.

We had fun here, found a road that took us to the base of these wind mills. Clicked pics, I tease Suvra chatting, having fun. Once he was happy and satisfied, we decided to head to Valparai which was further 140Kms ahead.

Cruising happily on the smooth TN state highway which was curvy and full of greenery and yeah, windmills, we reached the foothills of Valparai by 9:30. We decided to skip breakfast and have it on our way back and started for the ghat section. The terrain that was dry and hot, immediately changes to cool and breezy once you enter the hills. I was giggling inside waiting for the ghat section, to ride on those 40 hairpins. We took a lot of snaps, stopping when ever we came across beautiful scenery. Rode at will and we were in no hurry as this ride was to be a relaxed ride and we did not mind reaching back late.


The backwaters from the dam. It was a little dry but nonetheless a beautiful view glammed up by gentle rays of rising sun

Wonderful views throughout the ride, this one felt like a welcome decoration specially made for us

From Loams viewpoint. Good that we reached early, on the way back we saw a security guy brandishing a cane at everyone who considered stopping here and shooing them away.

Curvy twisty roads that are amazing especially for the corner craveing lot.

The tea gardens at the top of the hill. No view can come even close to these in beauty

My Ceeber completed her 8888Kms in 4 months, so thought I will present some red flowers to my red beauty.

Misty, cloudy views all around at the top

He couldn't resist stopping and staring at all the beauty for few minutes.

Another view while descending

One shy little stream

Way back was as beautiful as way up, I know I know it was the same road, but I never get enough of this place.

We were in no mood to leave, but it was 12 and we were hungry. Had one of the best biriyanis in a roadside shack. With a happy tummy, we headed back and once out from the hills, it was like being thrown into an oven. It was hot and we could not find shade in the 6 laned highways to stop and take rest. Heck, I would ride on but not stop in the burning sun, not at all with all the riding gears, you will be cooked from inside.

We stopped somewhere near Thiruppur for a quick water break. Return leg also was the same. We maintained a constant 85 all the way to Salem, stopped for a fuel refill and a cup of tea.

Clicked the sunset pics from somewhere near Krishnagiri.

Majestic mountain range as seen from the highway.

The setting sun and the streaks of clouds.

The moment I clicked this photo, 3 guys appeared on what I was doing, and the tone was not soft at all! Had to show them the pics to convince them that I was clicking the sun and not the property below! They were the owners of the property apparently and were suspicious that I am planning some stuff

We reached Electronic city toll booth at 8pm and we were ecstatic that we had covered 930 odd kms in a day. We had this crazy idea of roaming around and make the number 1000Kms, which we decided was silly. This was the longest trip for both of us in a day and we were very happy. Not only we had done 930KMs, we had done it with ease. I think the destination and the roads played their part too in this. The amazingwindmills, the scenic beauty of Valparai will be etched in memory for ever. We headed home, happy, satisfied and with a feeling of accomplishment from this wonderful ride.