Ride Logs

NERM 2011 - Babies head start

2011-11-22T06:15:00.001+05:30

NERM 2011
24th, 25th and 26th of Nov 2011 and ofcourse the ride around North East...

Bikes have been packed and sent.

What a beautiful feeling... The point of no return....

The bikes have already gone to the other end of the country.

I like to trap myself like that.

Now the only prayer to GOD is, not to let KF cancel our rescheduled flights.

Macha Malya, please concentrate. Don't sink so fast. Please...

Devarayanadurga Ride

2011-11-19T05:50:00.000+05:30

Oct 2011

Devarayana Durga Ride

Nice to have a ride after a long time!

Though a short one, had a nice time raving up on the Tumkur road and climbing the small hill at Devarayanadurga.

I expected it to rain and have a cloudy day, but it turned out to be just opposite.

I don't like sunny days though...

Thanks to Meppa and vijay for the company.
Meppa had a good time with his new possession 550D and Vijay sure will remember his first "Ride*" experience for a long time.

*Ride means riding to somewhere else other than office/glossary shop/wine shop

Goa Ride

2011-07-21T19:43:00.003+05:30

08.07.2011, I’m on my way to Goa.

On NH4, somewhere between Tumkur and Chitradurga, it happened again! Fuel is over. This Jan, while on the way from Pune to Bangalore, I had to buy less than 200ml fuel for Rs.50 from a local when it got over. There is that long stretch without any bunk, I hate it. I knew it, but this time the bike proved to be a real drunked. Thanks to the heaviest of cross winds I have experienced and speed.

Due to circumstance the reserve could not fetch me till the next bunk. Engine is dead and the bike is rolling to a standstill. I saw someone on bike coming from behind on the rear view. Just to try my luck I waved my hand and he stopped. I said petrol is over, will I be able to find fuel anywhere around... To my surprise he said “let me go and get some fuel. let me hurry up, else I’ll be late to office”. Before I could dig in for my valet, he’s taken a U turn and is gone. In another 10 min he is back with a bottle (1ltr) of petrol. I took out 100 bucks and gave it to him. He said its 78 (since black). I said, don't have to search for change. He said NO. He gave me Rs. 20 back. He couldn’t fine 2 rupees coin. Or else he would have given that too back.

I am speechless. He is rare breed- almost extinct in today’s world! Lucky to meet that gentleman...

Started at around 6 in the morning from Bangalore, had a 12hr ride through heavy and moderate rains...

Hit and finished a dog after Tumkur (thankfully it was quick, no suffering involved)

Luckily I stayed steady- Thank god. Thanks to the new front shock absorbers.

I haven't seen this kind of weird rain before. It starts heavily and by the time I have the rain gear on, it stops. As a precaution if decide to keep them on, it wouldn't rain again until I remove it out of suffocation. This drama continued till reaching Goa.
In the confusion, one turn was missed and the route had to be altered and ended up doing another 90km more making it 700km total.

Thanks to Jaising Bhandari and Guru for the planing and company at Goa.
Who thought in Goa I'm going to meet Dominic who lives in Chennai. World is so small.

Did spend nice time roaming around in Goa, unlike the last time. Good to meet the local boy Dominic.

Return at night proved to be the most straining ride. God knows how i got rid of sleep - splashing water into eyes and on head, taking tea breaks every now and then... Made it by around 6:30 morning at Bangalore.

Memorable 3 days...

Kodai - Munnar Monsoon Ride

2011-06-25T05:34:00.003+05:30

Unexpectedly the idea of going home via Kodai and Munnar got developed all of a sudden.

Visiting Bobby’s place is a long due. Now is the time- when that kick to ride is irresistible. By the time I hit Kerala, monsoon will start. Scope for a wonderfull experience too...

Through the moderate temperature of KA, hot planes of TN, chill of Kodai and Munnar and the rains of KL.
It all happened as expected.
Welcome rain drenched me at Kodai itself, did not even get time to put on the rain gear. Thanks to Bobbychayan for hosting me at his home. Cooking and having food with Bobby is always homely.

Riding through the misty Munnar was as the most blissful ride as usual.

Return ride from Tdpa to Bangalore via Selam...

Fish curry and rice Lunch at somewhere between krishnagiri and Dharmapuri, wish I remember the name of that fish. Only thing I remember is that I tripped on the taste of that fish curry.

Started at 5:00, hit home in Blr at 2:20
Odo read 571km
Two stops- breakfast and lunch.
Another butt breaker...

And back to office in the evening after a nap... What an irony... Life is like that!

My encounter with stray dogs!

2011-05-01T14:40:00.017+05:30

JP Nagar, 5th phase. The very next signal after the telephone exchange building on the right side. There is a small restaurant next to the exchange building. I'm riding towards home. It's around 1 pm , last Monday. I was hungry. I took a U turn at the signal and headed towards the restaurant. There there are... Three stray dogs... tongs outside, waiting for their prey's approach on the roadside... The prey was asked to pull over.
One dog : There is no right turn here
Me : Yes I know, I did not take the right, I took a U.

The dogs made other preys pull over too. One on a Maruti 800 started shouting at them. They barked at him back even louder. 800 stopped yelling out his point. That is useless anyway.

The dogs were not hungry, they were greedy. This is how they operate. (I can't say that is how they make their living, coz its not about making a living. Beggars on roadsides and at signals make their living very decently. There is nothing for comparison at all.)

They checked and verified all the originals of my vehicle documents.
One who looks around 50 yrs old saw my KL no. plate and became so happy. He saw my office Id hanging on my jeans' clip too. These two things attract the blood suckers... He opened up his pan rich mouth and started spitting out something like this "People like you enjoy in so and so big companies and make huge money...." (And these "poor" ones struggle hard on the road side to "serve" the country.)

I checked my wallet. There was only 130 bucks and some coins. I said this is what I have, I'm going for food, but you take it. I need to go and sleep atleast, coz I have to go to work at night. Another older looking one said, NO, the fine for non KA vehicle is 600. He is raising the bar. (God, have mercy on this *******)
Alright, then I will sit here with you guys dreaming about that 600 bucks.

Meanwhile the strays were busy gathering more and more preys. Some escaped, some got caught up in the trap.

I didn't have time to waste. So, that was it.... 130....
I didn't have lunch that day. I went home and slept. I did not feel hungry at all...!

PS:

I respect the ones who do their job faithfully, they are less in numbers though

Pune - Bangalore Ride

2011-01-06T13:08:00.006+05:30

Pune - Bangalore

Relocation from Pune to Bangalore and a ride to make it memorable... I did it my way.

Started at 7:30 in the morning, I saw sun rising up on my left side and saw it going up slowly and finally setting on my right side. I knew that is when I'm going to hit Blr. I saw the progress looking at my shadow. I enjoyed the shadow dancing on the road with the background music of engine. I've never noticed that combination before!

Thankfully the road hardly had any bad patches. Long stretches without turns were boring. Did I feel sleepy... I doubt so...

926km including ride inside both cities took more than 12 hrs of continuous riding.
Three full tanks of fuel completely emptied, the lady proved to be a drunker this time. Can't expect anything better at high cruising speed anyway. Had to manage an empty tank situation as well. One very "generous" villager sold me 250ml petrol from his bike for Rs. 50 to reach the next bunk 2 km away from where I got stranded and proved to be the most "helpful".

At 100+ consistent cruising speed bike behaved simply awesome. Slightly weak oil rings did not fail, half dead battery did not die, The Lady proved to be trustworthy again.

Photos

Happy New Year 2010: Pune – Goa

2010-01-16T15:01:00.000+05:30

Happy New Year 2010: Pune – Goa

A long ride after starvation of many months…
Though it's been 2 months after the ride, not worth skipping it without making a note here...
Ride reminds me of New Year ride in 2007…

Solo, almost nonstop to Goa…
A solid crash at Amboli ghat (riding gear, the real life saver. I’m in one piece. Learning- honk at hairpins)…
Return on the longest route with longest ever time possible…
What a nice package…

Morjim beach is cool.
I’m visiting this lovely peace of land for the first time. It’s not just the fact that booze is less than half the price compared to other place, attracts people to this place. (Btw, old monk full is just Rs.110 compared to Pune’s Rs. 252 and KF premium is Rs. 44).

Shallow water on beaches is inviting. The combination of beach on side and hilly terrain on the other side is totally awesome.

Good to meet moshaii... He’s done a great ride from KL to Goa and then back to Bangalore. And ofcourse final leg of Sam’s south west India exploration turned out to be exiting.
Return with Sam and Binoy…

The saddest part of this ride- no camera and no pics… only memories…
Bike performed like a monster. Lovely… I’m thinking of getting a pair of earplugs. Goldie is going to blast my ear drums one day on some highway.

Thanks to the riding buddies for the amazing company.

A Day out to Gopalaswamy Betta

2009-04-15T12:02:00.000+05:30

There are times when you wish if you could breath some fresh air. That’s exactly when you feel that the unnatural, processed, chilled air inside your office room is slowly killing your natural instincts. That’s the right time to take a break. The nearest Sunday is the answer. Then its all about making up your mind, saddle up your motorcycle and twist the throttle. For me, nice times always come in the form of getaways to hill stations and that too on two wheels.

Gopalaswamy Betta is the highest peak in the Bandipur National Park. This hill is fully covered with green grass. Though I have heard about this place as a picnic destination, I’ve ever had a chance to visit the place till last Sunday.

Gopalaswamy Betta is approximately 85km from Mysore. 10km. after Gundalpet, there is a small village where there is a very much visible right turn that leads you to Gopalaswamy Betta. The final 8km stretch is the true reward of the trip. Rough narrow patch, tempting curves and wilderness all around- this is the perfect recipe for adrenaline pump when you are on your motorcycle. Heart tries to repeat the same beats of the motorcycle with every throttle twist.

I don’t know how many times I have passed Gundelpet during my rides to Kerala. But I never had the fun of climbing this hill. This time, unfortunately I didn’t have a camera with me to copy the moods of this beautiful hill. As soon as you enter the peak, the mountain welcomes you with a chilled breeze and it never stops until you get down. Its worth spending few hours on the peak doing nothing. Your mind is calm and your thoughts are positive when you are close to nature. That’s one magic of mother nature. When you are surrounded by hills, greenery and trees no sorrows and worries bother you. I don’t know if this is the case with everyone. Its pretty much true in my case.

It’s been few months since I have seen rain. Gopalaswamy Betta blessed me with cold showers after almost a couple of dry months. I was so happy that I did not have any rain gear with me except the jacket which hardly covered my head and very minimal parts of the body. I have enjoyed many drenching experiences and this was one of them.

I have added Gopalaswami Betta into my favorites’ list. I leave a favorite place only to come back. We both will see each other again.
Oh, Let me not miss to mention about this fellow. My hearty wishes to the cop who looted 100 bucks from me for having an outstation registered motorcycle. Hope he multiplies that amount and becomes a millionaire in the near future.

PS:
Thanks to Aishwarya for information about the place and directions.
Thanks to Sameesh for accompanying me as pillion.

Ladakh

2008-09-29T17:09:00.000+05:30

Ladakh - 2008
Motorcycling around Himalayas

One of the toughest terrains to ride in the world- Ladakh is every biker’s dream. I’m not an exception. I did my ride to Leh and places around and I’m really proud to complete it successfully.

Except Delhi to Leh and PangongTso I was all alone. Completely on my own, barren land around and broken roads ahead, with the company of just the motorcycle and music of the engine, heart filled with the excitement of the hundreds and thousands of miles covered and the sweet memories of hospitable native people I could interact with… it certainly is a very different and personal feeling… a pure Ladakhi feeling…

The bike doesn’t have a complaint about the heavy dead weight loaded on it. Even the machine seemed to enjoy the new terrain it took for the first time and felt like asking for more. It was a dream ride; ride of a life time. Like the rider even the machine had all the excitement of a first timer to Ladakh. I’m proud of my machine for that matter.

About this ride, nothing went according to my plan, but everything happened very well and smoothly. Plan to enter Kashmir via Srinagar got changed because of the regional and political issues and curfew at that region. Reach Kargil first and do Zanskar before Leh was the initial plan. Anyway Manali - Leh route was still open and no one could impose curfew on that option.

Delhi to Leh
Ride started from Delhi with two pals from Delhi RB- Kam and Rajan. After a late start we could do only till Bilaspur on the first day. Heavy showers welcomed us to Manali on the second day. Old highway to manali doesn’t look so bad. We reached early in the evening and the rain stopped on our arrival. My friends did some shopping and I too had a ride here and there in the city. Before Leh, Manali is the last place with ATM facility.

Third day offered the most exciting part of the ride till then. Climb to Rohthang pass (13050 ft) seemed to be a cakewalk for LB5. Down shift happens only when the speed has to be reduced at hairpins or broken patches. Anyway the fully broken patches and slushy stretches of Rohthang pass climb added more excitement. After Rohthang the motorcycle never looked 'chromy' and clean again.

We did not miss the tradition of taking photos at the Tandi petrol bunk, under the board that says 'next filling station 365km ahead'. I haven't seen any Leh ride album without that photo!

For the reason that we spent more time on tea breaks, we actually were behind schedule (we actually didn't have one). Our plan to reach at least till Sarchu did not work out. We had to halt at Zingzingbar. Three tents were what that place had. We three and two other riders from Mumbai whom we met on the way settled at one of the tents. The tents were not water proof and it rained that night. It was waterproof tarpaulins that helped us survive that night.

Fourth day is going to be tough. There are 310 km to Leh. Considering the road condition, the terrain and the no of stops we are going to take, it’s a bit tough. But we have to make it and we did it comfortably. We were in Leh by around 6:30. That day we crossed four high altitude passes.

First one- Baralacha La (16000 ft) came within 15 km from Zingzingbar and that was the first time I had to open up the carburetor and down size the main jet. Bike started to miss at around 14000 feet+. Ride further was smooth with the proper jet. 75km from Baralacha La is Naki La (16250 ft). It is the ever exciting Ghata loops that makes the climb to Naki La interesting. It is a combination of 21 continuous hairpins. Few kilometers further is Lachung La (16600 ft) and then we decent to Pang. Pang is ideal place for a tea break. The excitement awaits immediately after Pang is the plain surface that stretches for 60km known as More plains. It is 40km wide and is part of Great Tibetan Chamathang plateau. End of more plains is the climb to Tanglang La (17500 ft). Road is in bad shape with few water crossings and climb is a bit hard. Tanglang La is the highest pass on Manali – Leh road. 28 km further is Rumste and from there the road is good till Leh.

Distance in km - Delhi to Leh via Manali
Delhi – 203 - Ambala - 57 - Chandigarh – 116 - Bilaspur - 69 – Mandi – 69 - Kullu - 40 - Manali - 35 - Mahri - 16 - Rohtang - 20 – Khoksar - 16 - Tandi – 08 - Keylong – 21 - Jispa - 11 - Darcha - 30 - Zingzingbar - 11 - Baralacha La - 36 - Sarchu -40 – Naki La – 16- Luchung La- 23 – Pang - 35 – Debring - 40 - Tanglang La 28 - Rumste - 32 - Upshi - 13 - Karu - 36 – Leh

Ladakh ride is all about reaching Leh first, taking permits for the sensitive regions from the DC office and do the detours. Most wanted ones are Khardung La- Nubra valley and Pangong Tso.

1. Khardung La – Nubra valley
That was my first ride from Leh and beginning of my solo rides. My pals are resting at Leh. I had an early start with minimum luggage and one jerrycan of reserve petrol. I wanted to go to where ever is ridable in Nubra.

Kardung La was covered in snow when I reached there. It is August 15th and what an ideal location to celebrate independence day! Few kilometers before reaching the top itself I could see small patches of snow all around. The mountains around looked like Dalmatians. K-top offered a good time with snowfall happening intermittently. Hardly three or four tourists were seen around. I was literally excited. When it snowed I took shelter at the highest tea stall or at the memento shop. And when the snowing stops I am out. I was roaming around there like a kid. I did not even realize that I spent around 2 hours there. K-top started to become crowded when the snowfall settled. On everyone’s face there is this feeling of having achieved something even if they have come there inside the safety of a four wheel drive. One cyclists gang lined up in front of the Kardung La board and singing ‘we are the champions…’ Another group of Indians celebrate Independence Day singing Vande Madaram and Janaganamana… Few bikers are in a dilemma whether to proceed further to Nubra and get stuck in the snow or go back to Leh… The atmosphere is getting more crowded with different people and different thought processes and it’s time for me to head further.

Few more kilometers of snow filled roads and then suddenly everything is clear much before reaching Nubra valley. Nubra means green and vast green pockets in the valley are prosperous villages. This valley once was the famous Tibetan – Turkistan trade route.

77km from K-top is the village Diskit. Diskit is famous for the largest and ancient gompa in the valley. Diskit gompa is 350 years old and is home to around 70 monks. It was interesting to hear that one of the statues there holds skeletal arm and skull of one of the invaders who was slain 500 years ago.

I stayed at Zambala guest house owned by Mr. Nawang at Diskit (Ph: 01980 220418). Nawang family stays in the same building and the guest house is an extension of his house. What a nice family to stay with! I was served food at their family dining area. The next day morning Nawang offered a free lunch parcel and water bottles. He and his kids helped me carry my stuff to the bike and saddle up. That stay was one memorable experience. The faces I met there and the hospitality I experienced are hard to forget.

Though I once did the climb to Diskit gompa in the previous evening, I visited the gompa for the second time in the morning since prayer room was opened in the morning which gave access to more rooms and activities in the gompa.

About 7km further is Hunter which is the last point a civilian can go. Further from Hunter is the sensitive and expensive real estate for India and Pakistan – Siachen glaciers. Hunter is famous for the sand dunes and double humped Bactrian camels. These camels are believed to have been abandoned by the passing caravans centuries ago and have flourished there. Tourists can take a ride on these camels for Rs. 150 for half an hour and for Rs. 300 for one hour. I was interested only in clicking some pics of those animals and headed back.

32 km on the way back there is a left deviation that takes you to Sumur and Panamik. The deviation is around 15km before Khalsar when we come from Hunter side. 3km ride along the river bed to cross to Sumur side is one exciting experience. You can open up to even 90kph+ there. Panamik is famous for the hot springs. Once I touched the water I couldn’t hold on for more than a second. It was really hot.

I headed back to Leh in the afternoon. It is a 160 km ride till Leh. I did not resist the temptation to take another stop at the Khardung La top. There was a long convoy of army trucks waiting at K-top and there is this jawan jumping out of the first truck and walks up to me seeing a KL registered bike. Mr. Srikumar from Adimali was excited to see an adventure rider from Kerala for the first time during his 3 months tenure there. We had a chat at the tea shop for some time and I left to Leh to reach there before sunset.

Distance in km
Leh - 40 - Khardung La - 52 - Khalsar
Khalsar - 25 - Diskit - 7 - Hunter
Khalsar - 52 - Panamik

2. Pangong Tso
This was my only ride as group at Leh. It was a two men group to Pangong Tso- myself and Kam. Though it is doable in one day we preferred to halt near the lake and come back only on the second day.

The deviation to Pangong Tso from Leh- Manali road is at Karu. Total distance from Leh to pangong Tso is 118km. One of the toughest passes Chang La comes at 88km from Leh. The roads are comparatively fine except few bad patches close to Chang La on both the sides and few water crossing areas before Pangong Tso.

Chang La top welcomes you with a board at the army settlement ‘Free tea for every one’. It’s really tasty. I did not miss it while my retunr too.

Around 10km towards right from Lukung, through the road close to the lake is the village Spangmik. The road is in very bad shape with fully broken patches and a couple of big water crossings. Spangmik is the last village on Indan side. Further ahead is Tibetan region (China). Spangmik’s population is only 45. But it is considered to be one of the sensitive places considering the location. Spangmik doesn’t have electricity or phone facility or even postal service. Villagers rely on Army for any sort of communication with the outside world. Further from Spangmik one needs to have a permit to ride through the lake side road to find beautiful beach like locations.

It is a fantastic experience to see the lake at different times of the day. Moon rise and sun rise by the lade side are beautiful views. Clean and light blue look of the lake with the black and snow covered mountains in the back ground is one of the beautiful moods. Deep blue looking lake with the brown colored mountains in the background is another pose of the ever photogenic Pangong Tso.

We pitched tent at the backyard of Stenzing who served us food and rode with us to guide us to beautiful spots at the lake side. It was nice to listen to the china war time experiences from the villagers. Those are information we wouldn’t get on googling or from any history books.

We started our return at noon. The climb to Chang La from Pangong side seemed to be harder than that from the Leh side. Pangong side climb is steeper. No wonder why Chang La is called as Mighty Chang La.

Distance in km
Leh - 15 - Shey - 4 - Tikse - 31 - Chemre - 8 - Taktok - 30 - Chang La - 22 - Tangste - 8 - Luking - 10 - Spangmik

Leh experience
During my Himalayan ride I had real good times with the native people at many places. Meeting Spulzang was great experience. It was after a long search in the city with the photo of him taken by GK two years ago, Spulzang was finally located at his internet café. He has expanded his business in two years and opened a restaurant too. He is the one who taught us the local name of ‘Old Monk’- Largan (it really means old monk in Ladakhi language). His gift –my name etched on a stone plate- was one big surprise to me. That is one example for how Ladakhi people value friends

Places in and around Leh
I initially doubted that time spent at Leh is actually waste, But visit to few places around changed that opinion. It was intersting to know that Leh used to be an extremely busy city in the olden days when it was a major trading center. Leh is quieter nowadays! It's interesting to visualize those days with caravans from far away lands parked in the market and people from different cultures together in the background of that old world charm… Even today another version is very much noticeable at Leh- international tourists out number the nationals.

I feel it is worth staying two or three days in Leh to see the historic places around. I visited few places.

Shanti Stupa, close to Changspa is one beautiful place to visit. The stupa is made by a Japanese with the help of Japanese government. It is part of his effort to spread Buddhism around the globe. The view of Leh from the stupa is awesome and the stupa itself is one hot spot for photography.

Leh Palace too is worth a visit just for the views from top of the palace and the gompa nearby. Namgyall Dynasty ruled from this palace from 1553 till 1834. The palace is a nine storey structure with projecting wooden balconies. The palace is said to have been abandoned in the year 1834 after an attack and defeat by Dorga and the royal family was moved to the stok palace where they live to date.

Stok Palace
Stock palace is around 10km from Leh. Built in 1814 this palace is occupied by the royal family to date. It has a small museum that has few royal artifacts on display. The gradual ascent to Stok is amazing. Places in rear view mirror gradually goes down and finally at Stok you have a good view of the stok village with the mountains in the background.

Shey Palace and Gompa
15km in the Manali road, this summer palace was built in 1645 and the gompa in 1655. Ruins of an old fortress too are seen nearby. 12m high statue of Buddha inside the gompa is the biggest in Ladahk. The statue is gilded with gold.

Zanskar
After the detours to Khardung La, Nubra and Pangong Tso and the visits to different historic places in and around Leh I was still in full excitement about Zanskar. I did full preparation at Leh for Zanskar.That included a bike service.

20th Aug 2008. I’m supposed to head to Kargil and from there to Zanskar, the next day. I had to sit at the garage till noon to finish issues with the shock absorbers etc. Again time spent on arranging two more jerrycans delayed me further. So I had to stop at Lamayuru that evening.

Next 5 days were the most memorable riding days of my life. I have written separately about the Zanskar days- ‘Zanskar- A solo Pilgrimage’

A night at the Army camp
After coming back from Zanskar I was in a kind of ‘ride is all over’ mood. What remains now is the return to Delhi via curfew bound Srinagar that will not even let me take a stop in between. So nothing colorful is left. I am even going to miss Dal Lake.

From Kargil I’m heading towards Drass. I was a bit fast to reach Drass before sunset and find a place to stay. It was only 25 km to Drass when the mishap occurred. The clutch box hitting an unnoticed stone in the middle of the road and the resulting fall and damages to the bike left me with no other option but to stay with an army camp. The damages were broken and oil dripping clutch box, fully bent foot peg and a broken rod that holds the side stand and the silencer. The riding gear saved me without a scratch. It is hard to forget the faces of those three army men who treated me like more than a guest. Their hospitality is beyond words.

Kargil to Delhi via the curfew bound Srinagar
I had to go back to Kargil to fix up the bike the next day and I filled extra petrol in jerrycans before heading to Srinagar (Thanks to the advice of those Jawans whom I stayed with). That was one basic necessity since there was no petrol bunks opened on the way due to curfew.

First stop was at Drass. Visiting Vijay path- Kargil war memorial was an honor. The huge stone with the names of Jawans we lost in the war is right infront of you and the places that took most of their lives- Rhino’s horn and the (in)famous tiger hill stand in the background.

That day I stopped at Sonamarg and stayed with few other riders met there who were reluctant to enter the curfew bound areas in the day time. Plan for the next day is to cross the Srinagar region which is under curfew. I was stopped at least 20 times on the way by police and military. Thankfully army rules the entire highway. Sight of army guys at each and every corner of the highway gave a safety feeling.

One incident is unforgettable. This army officer –Sandeep and his Jawans controls a specific region and I was stopped there and Mr. Sandeep has no intension to let me proceed further. It was after 10-15 min. his intentions came clear to me. He wants to listen to my ride stories and wants to know about my bike, how I maintain it for such a long ride etc. Even I enjoyed that break. I saw in his eyes, the desire for rides while inspecting my bike and the set up. Doing all these rides alone was one thing that confused him.
So, you are not married?
I said, ‘no’.
You don’t have a girlfriend either?
I again said, ‘no’.
Hmm, so it is clear… No wonder…
I just smiled.
After a long chat he wished me good luck and I opened the throttle and wished him back.
Before leaving I asked him what to do if someone else again stops me like this.
He said, no, no one is going to stop you like 'this'!
Yes, that was true. No one stopped me anywhere else like 'that'!

Rest of the journey was eventless. By around 6 I reached Pathankot. I spent that night there in real heat after around 20 days. The next day straight to Delhi and that was the end of my 20 days’ expedition.

I haven’t heard good about north Indian cops. But this incident proved that there are exceptions. I was shot with speed gun on the way to Delhi twice. First time I pulled over with other over speeding four wheelers by cops at the next barricade. I was the only two wheeler and the cop wondered with the reading in his hand- 98kph!… The allowed speed for two wheelers is 55kph. But when am I going to reach Delhi if I go at that speed. Amazingly he left me me with no reluctance. What a relief... The second time I was 100+ and I was not stopped. That was real luck.

Distance in km - Leh to Delhi via Srinagar
Leh – 35 – Nimmu – 29 – Alchi – 63 – Lamayuru – 51 – Mulbek – 47 - Kargil – 56 – Drass - 30 – Zojilla pass – 25 - Sonmarg – 63 – Ganderbal – 21 – Srinagar – 178 – Patni Top - 55 – Udhampur – 60 – Samba – 77 – Pathankot - 116 – Jalandhar – 59 – Ludhiana – 106 – Ambala – 120 – Panipat – 85 - Delhi

How may days for Ladakh
If the ride begins from Delhi, it will probably be 4 days to reach Leh via both Srinagar and Manali routes. So 4 days to reach Leh and 4 days for the return.
Two days in Leh to arrange the permits and to see places around.
Two days for Khardung La and Nubra
Two days for Pangong Tso.
And there can be atleast one day buffer.
That means atleast 15 days for the traditional routes.
Optional:
If Marsimek La is added to the itinerary then that's going to add one day.
For Tso Moriri and Tso Kar one day, if the circuit is done while on the way back from Leh or on the way to Leh or else it is going to be two days.
On Leh - kargil route if the Dha - Batalik route is an option, that will add one more day.
If Zanskar is part of the plan add 4 more days.

Places that need Permit for entry
1. Pangog Tso - beyond Spangmik.
A permit and extra fuel will let you do the Chumathang - Tso moriri - Tso Kar circuit from pangong Tso.
2. Nubra valley ( Diskit, Hunter, Sumur, Panamik )
3. Tso Moriri
4. Batalik (Skurbuchen - Dha - Batalik)

Tips that I learned during my trip for a smooth ride on the mountains:
1. If the vehicle is running in the plains with up-jetted carburetor, keep the stock size or even lower size jets as spare. You might end up with a missing carburetor on mountains. (Spare jets carried with me helped me during the ride)
2. Clean the air filter once in a while. The dusty terrain clogs the filter faster and the lack of oxygen at mountains will lessen the air intake into the carb drastically.

PS: There are few guys I can't miss to mention about here. Those are the guys who helped me whatever way they could in my effort to make arrangements for this ride.
Tools and spares contributed by JSR, Moshaii, Sashi, Meppa...
Thanks to JSR for the carburetor tips and loads of information about Ladakh. Your previos experiences made things easier for me.
Kam and Rajan from Royal Beasts, thank you for being my hosts in Delhi and for giving me company till Leh.
I thank every one who supported and helped me directly or indirectly.

Photos: Leh, Ladakh Sign boards, Nubra, Pangong Tso, Zanskar

Zanskar

2008-09-15T18:21:00.000+05:30

Zanskar - A solo Pilgrimage

A ride to an isolated region in Ladakh and see a piece of virgin land- that was one secret agenda I had when I planned my Leh ride. And Zanskar happened to be the ideal location for my pilgrimage. An isolated valley in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by mountains, less explored by tourists, a beautiful and peaceful valley to experience the real peace of mind- That is Zanskar.
Area: 5000 square Km
Road Access: June mid till Oct mid

Place and people
Zanskar lies south- west of Leh and south- east of Kargil. As of now this is the most isolated valley in Ladakh surrounded by mountains and the only road to reach there is from Kargil which is one of the toughest in the region with 240km of gravel/sand roads with lots of water crossings.

With less than 1500 population, Padum is the administrative headquarter of Zanskar. Apart from few places closer to Kargil there are no options for even food or water on the way to Padum.

More than 50% of Zanskar population is Buddhists, but Muslim population is very close to that of Buddhists’. People here are warm and friendly in approach and trust the stranger travelers. The reason probably is that the kind of travelers come to Zanskar today are different from other parts of our country.

My host family had this story to share with me. 21years ago one trekker from Europe (I forgot his name) visited Zanskar on foot from Lamayuru. He came back next year and started a school at Padum. That is the most prestigious school in the region now. Last year 20th anniversary was celebrated; the founder couldn’t come due to old age though. Many Padum kids are sponsored by travelers to Zanskar and their associates.

In winter when the roadway is blocked, the best option to reach the outside world is to walk the frozen Zanskar River and reach Nimmu and Leh.
And thankfully people are not literally isolated even in the winter. In case of a medical emergency district administration can even initiate an airlift.

Route
There are two valleys to be covered in this route. First one is Suru which starts at Kargil and ends at Penzi La (155km from Kargil). There it is the beginning of the Zanskar valley.

If I describe the route from Kargil to Padum with Km readings it can be like this:-

000 Kargil
041 Sankoo
072 Panikhar
092 Parkachik
124 Rangdum village
130 Rangdum Gompa
145 Beginning of climb to Penzi La
154 Beginning of Zanskar valley.
156 Penzi La Top
161 Drang-Drung Glacier and beginning of descent to Zanskar valley
173 Beginning of Abrang region
193 End of Abrang region
215 Ating hanging bridge and check post
225 Tungri (Bridge to west side of Stod river)
230 Sani
239 Padum
(Readings as per my bike’s odo)

View Larger Map

Ride Preparation
Zanskar ride is a detour from Kargil. To and fro distance is 480 km. Adding the detours from Padum, the total distance from Kargil to Kargil will be 700km+ (I did 715km). During this ride there is no scope for petrol or spares or mechanics until you reach back at Kargil. The road condition is pretty bad. No tarmac except hardly 15 km found at Parkachik and another 15 km found after Padum on the way to Zangla (bumpy Zangla tarmac is not in good shape though).

The road is not impossible to ride anywhere. But there are challenges. It’s all about knowing the conditions and be prepared.

Few challenges:-
1. Riding gravel/sand road with uneven and unpredictable surface for a no. of days.
2. Riding the bike with the extra dead weight of the additional 15 ltrs of fuel and the extra care to protect the petrol cans. If you damage one and lose fuel, your trip is cut short. Anyway I carried a fourth can as spare, never used it though. (getting fuel at Padum in black market depends on pure luck)
3. The unpredictable water crossings- Those at the Zanskar side are relatively easier compared to the ones at the Sure valley side. At suru valley side you will see mother of all the water crossings you have encountered in the entire Ladakh. Some with depth and some with heavy current and some are combination of both. The challenge is more on the way back. Suru valley will be cleared during afternoon and that is the time when the glaciers melt more contributing more water to these streams.

Few Tips:-
1. Motorcycles condition should excellent. The shock absorbers are going to take all the beating thought the ride.
2. Rider should be comfortable doing rough road for longer periods with extra load. Unless you ride very slowly, the duration you need to be on foot pegs is obviously more in this route. So better be prepared physically.
3. Riding with a pillion is the last thing you would want to do.
4. Keep an extra jerry can. In case if one of the cans cracks/breaks, the spare one will be your savior, or else your journey is cut short.
5. Your natural instincts will take you diagonally through the heavy current water crossings.
6. I followed a strategy of keeping two cans of petrol (10ltr) untouched till the morning I started my return ride to Kargil. How much ever I burn there, as long as I have those cans saved for the final day, my ride is safe. Those precious things were kept safe inside my room till I saddled up for the return.
7. Keep food parceled.

The ride
My bike was loaded a bit heavy with the additional fuel cans. Two cans on each side close to the side box and the third one and the spare one on top of the rear carrier. The rear carrier one slightly altered the CG, but was manageable. Riding a terrain like this is a very different experience. Stones hit the mud guard and silencer quite often and the central stand itself hits stones making huge sound. The smell of petrol fumes trying to escape from the cans is always there in the air. I wished that the shock absorbers withstand the impact till the end of this ride. Eyes are in full caution and body is fully alert. I did not even want to think about a break down- not even a puncture and I was lucky enough to complete the ride without any. This is the summary of my ride experience.

Day1
August 21st, I had an early stop at Panikhar and halted at Mr Ali’s guest house. That was a very much needed halt for me to do some laundry. Panikhar has a J&K tourist banglove and a couple of guest houses around. Stay would be in Rs.100 range.

If there is no plan for a halt at Panikhar, the village could be bypassed. After the police check post close to Purtikchey there is a left turn that bypasses Panikhar and Tangole and land up at Parkachik. One big advantage is that you can ride the only tarmac stretch of around 10 km in this route.

22nd August- I geared up comparatively early that day and started rolling in the excitement of hitting Zanskar.

On the way from Panikhar to Rangdum and even further the great mountain pair NunKun is visible on your right side (south). The day I rode to Zanskar it was too misty for a good view and I am not sure which ones I saw were NunKun. I never found anyone to ask either.

Rangdum Gompa
This gompa is in Suru valley, 130 km from Kargil. Ragdum gompa has around 50 inmates. The prayer books at the gompa are more than 250 years old and are brought from Tibit, says the monk who accompanied me. There is a school nearby for future monks. I met few kid monks. All are naughty types. It will take more time for them to become real monks.

Penzi La
This wasn’t just another mountain pass. At all the high altitude passes we cross in the routes connecting main tourist places there will at least be a small crowd clicking, chilling, admiring, relaxing etc. Penzi La turned out to be a very different Pass crossing. There’s no colorful stone marking the height and place with distances, but a very basic pwd board and a bunch of old and dirty prayer flags tied to the board. There wasn’t any human or inhuman being around and the cloudy sky and fogy atmosphere added more to the solitude feeling on top of this high altitude pass.

Drang-Drung Glacier
It’s just another 5 km from fthe Penzi La top we get to see the magnificent view of this beautiful glacier. Drang-Drung is considered as the second largest glacier in Ladakh after the mighty Siachen. Stot River originates from this glacier and gives us company till Padum till it becomes Zanskar River.

Zonkhul Gompa can be visited on the way to Padum if the man and machine are still feeling mentally and physically healthy. There is a hanging bridge at the Ating police check post that takes you to the west side of the river to Ating village. From there the road goes further west to the cave gompa. The hanging bridge will welcome you with a violent swing when you reach the middle of it. I’m not sure if that was a welcome or a protest against the excess weight. The climb to the gompa is a combination of different challenges as in a computer game. Loose and sharp gravel at one mountain face, big round white rocks leveled for a path at the next stage and most of the times steep grandniece remains as a common factor to other challenges.

The gompa is a worth a visit. It is built on the rock face. Almost all the rooms inside has rock faces. Even the statues are places on rocks carved on the mountain faces. The drinking water source is the water dripping from a rock slit. The guest book reveals that this gompa hardly gets visitors from the outside world because of the remote location and toughest approach road.

There are two cops on duty near the gompa and one of them even accompanied me to show places at the gompa. West side to Zonkhul there is a walkway that reaches the east side of the infamous Doda district. Once few terrorists came through this walkway and tried to mingle with the local monks and that created a big mess resulting in deaths of few monks and cops. From then cops stay at this post to prevent such mishaps.

After coming back to Ating village I tried a shortcut road to Sani. But better avoid this one. The stream and pool crossings in this shortcut were too much for the day. Some areas are sand dunes too. This combo challenge gives an out of the planet ride feeling. To add fuel to fire all the action is happening when the daylight is absolutely absent. Finally it was 8:30 when I reached Padum.

Sani Gompa, 9 km before Padum, too can be visited on the way to Padum or on the way back. It is on the roadside and is on the ground. Yes, it is not on any mountain top. Even I was a bit surprised to see one gompa on ground.

I visited the gompa on my way back for obvious reasons. While on my way to Padum it was around 8 at night when I reached Sani. So the main objective was to reach Padum asap and find a place to stay.

Stay at Padum
After my late entry into the town, I was lucky to find Mr. Tashi in the town who owns Chang Tang Guest house in the middle of the town, not noticeable from the road though. There are few guest house options at Padum in Rs.200 range. Tashi's guest house is an extension to his own house and his family stays there. It was my luck to have this opportunity to stay with Tashi family. They are people who speak from their heart and treat you like a family member. They will not let you feel like going back from their place. Tashi runs a restaurant too, but was closed for some reason at the time of my visit. But I did dine at their family dining area.

Day2 - Detours from Padum
Padum – 15 - Stongde – 26 – Sangla
Few kms of this route is tarmac, but is very tricky. Apart from the bumpy surface there are unexpected pockets left with no tar and in very bad shape.

Fully broken road or fully conditioned road is bliss, but a good looking road with bad pockets is ‘Trap’. Several times I had to jam breaks.

Stongde Gompa is literally in heaven. It’s a real steep 3km climb from Stongde village. Anyways the view from the top is priceless- Stongde village and Zanskar river with the mountains and glaciers in the background.

And same as in other Zanskar gompas, I was invited for tea. The road from Stongde goes further to Zangla that was once the end of this road. But now we see the road goes further and one day it will meet Nimmu at Leh side.

Zangla has a beautiful river bed to spend time and relax. There is a bridge to cross to the north side of the river and there is the option to come back to Padum through the villages including Karsha, visiting some more gompas. But I decided to head back the same way. How many gompas can I digest!

Padum – 10 – Karsha
Karsha Gompa is the biggest one in the region. It’s on a mountain face seen from a distance- even from Padum. There is ridable road till the entrance of the gompa. The view from top of the gompa is amazing. A very vast region is visible with the glaciers on the opposite side of Padum and view of many small villages here and there.

When I headed to Karsha gompa in the after noon, it was a bit cloudy and the wind speed was on the higher side. The dusts that dance with the wind made things worse for the ones who trek. Two foreigners on trek had to make parda like things with their towels to cover face.

I had a quick visit at the gompa and came back at the guest house before sunset.

Padum – 05 – Stagrimo Gompa
By the time I came back from Karsha, my host Montek was back from school. She was more than happy to accompany me to Stagrimo Gompa, close to Padum. I did not have to search for this place or put in much effort for communication with the monks.

The activity attracted me there was construction of a new gompa. It’s been happening for some years. Basically nothing much is happening at construction side. But it’s all the paintings inside that take time. One monk on duty said one side of the wall took an year for completion. All the minute details are done with hands. They are working hard to finish the second wall before this winter.

Day3 – Detours from Padum
Padum – 10 - Bardan – 08 – Munu -06- Reru
Today (Sunday-school holiday) also Montek hung around with me. We had one more company- her cousin Chottu.

10km South of Padum is Burdan gompa. It is placed on top of small mountain (or should I say a big rock) by the side of Lunak river. It’s a very scenic location.

The monks of this gompa are very hospitable. They made me drink tea and then offered food too. We had parceled food and couldn’t accept their offer.

The road further is scenic. Villages ahead do not seem to have seen much of outside life. Everyone is working on fields.

Reru is the last point we can ride to as of now. The extension of this road will one day reach Darcha.

Village visit at Karsha
September is the beginning of harvesting season and all the villagers are in that mood. I was lucky enough to visit one very small village near Karsha. There is no road to this village. If a vehicle has to come there it has to make its own way. My host navigated me through a ridable path. It is her father’s village. She took me to one house there. That was one unexpected chance to visit a typical Ladakhi house that has not been changed much with time.

The first activity I noticed in that village was threshing of grains by having cows and baby yaks walked over the harvest. From the front one wouldn’t be able to see who controls the pack of animals. When one semicircle is complete I saw a short figure, shorter than the shortest of the cows in the group, hardly 10 years old doing the job with full josh. What an energy that kid has!

I kept on watching that small jockey until the job was taken over by one adult. By then the lady of the house arrived from the field and I followed her to inside the house. Though slightly modified, it still sustained the features of an old Ladakhi house. Most of the windows are very small in size- hardly 1ft x 1ft. small entrance door and narrow corridor to the living area, traditional methods to circulate hot air in winter etc.

I was treated as good as she could with ‘namkeen’ tea and regular tea with snacks.

Day 4 – Return from Zanskar
This is the hardest part of the ride- Return from the place. I started from Padum at around 8:30 and visited The Sani gompa on the way back. Apart from this stop Drang-Drang glacier was the only plac I stopped. I was back at Kargil by around 4 after a long break for food at Sankoo.

How many days for Zanskar?
Two days are necessary for the to and fro rides. And for the detours at Padum another two days are ideal. But if you really wish to have the gompa visits and photography in detail, then better stay longer.

I initially had plan to halt for only one day at Padum and then extended for one more day when I found out that spending time at places makes big difference.

The Future
Now most of the travelers to Zanskar are foreigners who are keen on trekking and mountaineering. Ride to Zanskar is a ride through the heart of paradise. No one bothers you from your opposite side or behind. On your own, away from all hassles, taking terrains paved by nature and not much rearranged by man… to reach a place which is more isolated that the valleys you have covered… it’s a ride to isolation. The more you ride into the valley the more you go away from the outside world.

This is the story of today’s Zanskar.Constructions of two roads are underway to save (!) Zanskar from isolation. One follows the Zanskar River till Nimmu that makes it the shortest way to Leh. The distance to Leh would be mere 168km after the completion of this road (Note that currently it is 490km with half of the distance on gravel/sand roads).

The second one is to Darcha which will make Keylong –Padum approximately 200km. Anyway the construction of this one seems to have been stuck at a place called Reru, just 23 km from Padum. But the first one is way past Zangla. Around 20km or more have been tarred too. Scheduled completion of the roads is supposed to be 2008/2009. But the small window of 4 months is what GREF (General Reserve Engineer Force is part of BRO- Border Roads Organisation) have to do the job every year. It looks like it will be few more years before opening the gates of this beautiful valley to the mad crowd.

Visit this place if you really want to see this place in its real beauty- if you are a real traveler/rider.

Zanskar Photos

Kalhatty Revisit

2008-07-17T19:40:00.000+05:30

Kalhatty Revisit- SB

12th of July 2008 was same as other 12ths. But this 12th had few specialties.
-Moshaii woke up before sunrise.
-JSR rode with pillion.
-Meppa had his first ride after he shifted to USB (United States of Banaswadi)
-We could flag off before sunrise as planned.

This time Kalhatty was the proposed venue for TVM guys to meet Blore gang. Making them ride all the way from TVM, around 500km- almost 12 hours of butt breaking ride was one criminal offence. Bangalore fellows escaped with less than 300km.

Bangalore gang: JSR, Moshaii, Meppa, Conductor, Shre, Karthik, GK, Sassi, Keeny and myself Jo.
TVM team: Jay, Crank, Anil and Venu.

I was excited to take out the white lady for a long run for the first time after the overhaul and modifications. MuneerDa kept his word and delivered the bike the night before the ride. When I took the test ride, I felt the extra kick of the additional CCs along with the convenience of operating levers at the ‘right’ sides as those used to be in my old 350.

Expectations are high when Kalhatty visit is planned. Many of us who’d been there before had wild dreams about the Kalhatty climb. Starting at 5:45 seemed a bit impractical considering the punctuality of our men. But noone came much late. There we go again to SB’s most visited Kalhatty for the Nth time. Few of us pushed hard and some like JSR kept their cool.

JSR wouldn’t have ridden like this before. Like a ‘just licensed’ rider, medium rev/speed in all the gears, dead slow in cities and almost in Hanuman gear on speed breakers and even on zebra lines… Our respected madaam AntaGulika seemed to enjoy every bit of the ride. Experimenting with the camera in different angles, sometimes stretching hands wide, thinking whether to put on sunglasses in the darkness or not, wondering if sunglasses are removed that’s gona affect the glamorous pillion look… Gulika, I think was under the impression that holding something while pillion riding is the sign of fear and a daredevil like me shouldn’t do that… Evidently JSR seemd fed up with this myth riding. His eyes started to pop out saying ‘yeh dil mange more’…

JSR finally stops before eyeballs touch the visor. I continued riding on JSR’s assurance that he and the stopped pack will start soon and catch up. But, by the time I reached Mysore people were scattered everywhere. People took different routes to bypass the city and I took the city route and since no sign of anyone, had breakfast too from Kamat alone and headed straight to catch up with others. But amazingly the confusion made most of them stuck here and there and just before Kabini I could realize from Meppa’s call that I’m atleast 15km ahead of rest. What an irony! Anyway I got reunited with others at Nanjangud. Breakfast at Nanjangud was great. Moshaii and Meppa had a dosa which was longer than moshaii.

JSR kept his cool for some more Kms and then an unexpected twist… I’m talking about the throttle twist child… He couldn’t control his emotions seeing the wild ghat curves. JSR flies like Luttappi flying the spear with Dakini as pillion. Our pillion daredevil started to shiver for the first time and was seen holding the rear carrier tight praying for life. (That rear carrier was found lose on reaching Kalhatty and JSR had to tighten all the nuts and bolts on it.)
Bits and pieces overheard by co riders on the way--
Dakini: Entahda Kunthathinoru virayal? (Dai Lutt, why does the bike keep wobbling all the time ?)
Luttappi: No problemo Dak, That’s not issue with the bike.
He then explained about the banking and other technical stuff about taking curves at high speeds.

This time noone’s bike gave up on the Kalhatty climb and everyone made it to the top safe and sound, but to see the ‘Kondi’ waiting there. Pattambi Satyan is almost an Anaconda. Earth, sun and other smaller particles rotate around him. What comes out of his mouth is pure spirit fume. Noone dared to light a cigarette near him. Pattambi is 100% inflammable.

Ride to Ooty after Lunch was eventful. There we had the next ‘Kondi’. Sassi’s chain gave up and fixing it took around 2 hrs limiting our plan to visit one place- the beautiful landscapes at 9th mile. It’s an awesome place. Coonoor is dropped.

We headed back to reach Kalhatty before sunset and the TVM guys too reached there almost at the same time. Crank was stuck in the middle of the final climb when I passed him. Anyway he need not worry about the bad performance of his bike on climbs. That is a road runner with unbeatable top speed. Though there were minor issues on the way all TVM guys, Jay, Crank, Anil and Venu made it on time in style. They would really have enjoyed the last part of their ride- the ghat section.

Eventful night…
To be honest, this time the camping was disastrous. Two more teams share barbeque and dining, not enough space to accommodate such a big crowd and on top of all Pattambi is fully out. Result: everything out of control.
Then the unthinkable, unacceptable happens. Blue Grape, specially brought for TVM guys vanishes in a matter of few minutes! GK rose up to handle the situation. He played double role as Sherlock Holmes and the drunken fist. In an amazingly choreographed climax GK kisses the villain and villain kisses the ground multiple times. THE END. Issue solved. Whoever has that bottle, keep it as a memento.

Next day during the ride two more ‘Kondies’ were in the list waiting to happen.
Sashi’s battery cover flew off and scares the car behind him. He amazingly avoided running over it. Conductor who was behind him did manage to sweep it and then to his amusement the battery itself comes flying off. This time our hero had no other option but stop and fix up with others help before heading further.

Mappa’s break down added icing on the cake. I could see big fire balls coming out from bikes exhaust. Bike stalled with no spark. Thankfully it never started again. Problem lied in the clutch box cover- a broken soldering from the coil to the CDI unit- the only thing we did not open and check. Anyway one carrier auto got a good ride to Bangalore. Keeny deserves a special thanks for staying back till bike got parcelled.

Without paamban pattambi's Anaconda performance… sasi’s chain and battery kondi… the great blue grape incident… Meppa’s bike's breakdown…
there wouldn’t have been much to learn and remember from this ride. But what I’m wondering is how come all the “Kodies” happened on this single ride.

Finally, how many of us would return to Kalhatty once again. I don’t think anybody will do that unless it is to give pattambi a ‘kickback’ on his undercut.

Each and everyone had their own contributions to make this ride a memorable one. Thank you all for being a part of this wonderful group event and for the nicest company.
I owe few guys special thanks.
Meppa, Moshaii, Jsr, GK..... those who offered me their pillion seats when my bike's delivery was in doubt.
Sasi even offered his bike....
Thank you..........

PS:-
Kondi: Disaster
Anaconda: Fully drunk state of a human being or the heights of drunkenness.
Hanuman Gear: 1st Gear
Luttappi and Dakini: Cartoon characters in one of the Mal publications. Luttappi has a flying spear. He takes Dakini and another character Kuttoosan to places on his spear. Lutt is their driver/pilot.

Photos (Few from my clicks)

Ooty Coonoor revisit

2008-06-20T22:27:00.000+05:30

Ooty and Coonoor revisit
7th and 8th of June 2008

Bike: Chingismo :)
Agenda:
Ride through the Bandipur forest once again and of course the mountains roads of Ooty and Coonoor
See some of the tourist attractions- Pabbu wanted it.
Accommodation: At Ooty Gate. They hold the award for the lousiest service provider in the entire subcontinent. Only rate seems BIG at the gate.
I can’t forget Pabbu walking to the reception lobby where ‘distinguished’ guests wait, asking for a mug in the bathroom after waiting in the room for more than half an hour. This can be called ‘heights of escalation’.
Food included accommodation package got changed for some technical, hidden reasons. Anyway we did not want to pay them for food. Instead, explored Ooty town and could find some real nice biriyani and mutton.
Two “nuts” crossing the town on Bike to find a particular restaurant in the middle of the night, wearing shorts and T shirt, ignoring Ooty’s cold weather…. that cop on duty at the signal wearing a no. of sweaters, but still shivering… I’m sure he wouldn’t forget the scene for a long time.

Started from Bangalore at 4:15am, this was the earliest start I’ve ever had. Pabbu was a decent, calm and quiet pillion. Thankfully he does not add much weight to the rolling (thunder motorcycling) system and alter the center of gravity much.

I took the roads through inside the Mysore city for the first time and had a glimpse of the Palace after a very long time. It’s really a charming view in the early hour of the day- golden sunrays of early morning reflects on the golden minar of the palace.

I did not forget to stop at Kalhatty and have a look at the Dutchy’s den. It is newly painted and seems that the road to there is repaired. Proof is the Innova seen on top. Once again I felt the Mudumala route a steep climb- this time because of the extra pillion weight on the bike. Anyway Chingismo did a fantastic job giving no issues on the entire ride.

Pykara lakeside visit was just for the sake of it. Lousy crowd have destroyed the charm of that place. But the trek in the forest from the drinking water reservoir site was the experience of the day. On the way, from some spots the Dodabetta Peak is visible. But we could never go closer to it, coz finally there wasn’t any idea on which direction we were walking. There was the first time monsoon rain decided to pour on us. Anyway wet chickens could return to the base without much causality, but chingismo’s one slip and slide for few meters at the unused most slippery forest road (well, almost a road) and a near fall was inevitable.

Security cops sent us back from the Dodabetta Peak’s entrance check post. They shut at 5pm and opens only at 8 in the morning. So we had to go back in the morning again. Aha, what a traffic in that narrow road… and the smell of burnt clutch plates and break shoes. The atmospheric temperature at that narrow strip of road is much higher and doesn’t come par with Ooty climate at all.

Coonoor railway station and loco shed were revisited again… and the 1904 railway tunnel and bridge too.
Sunday afternoon:
Lamb’s rock and Dolphin’s nose- two good view points and decent enough places to spend some time because of very less no of visitors.

After a real good sleep we started back to Bangalore on Monday morning at 6:15 and reached home at 11:15, just took a half an hour break for food. No rain and no sun- the ideal climate for a ride… Thankfully the rear breaks improved after the slopes in the wet morning conditions when it was a real big concern.

Thanks to Pabbu and his bike Chingismo for the nicest company.
Photos

Kick starting the AVL Bullet

2008-03-10T19:42:00.000+05:30

Kick starting the AVL Bullet

Kick starting the old Points ignition CI engine is a beauty.
But the newer avl500, Machismos and Thunderbirds- Kick starting is a nightmare for some. Harder kicker on these TCI avl machines is a known issue. One needs to literally stand up on the kicker and risk more wear and tear to leg joints than that to the bike parts. Right foot slipping of the licker lever and getting jammed between the lever and the foot peg giving the toe a one of a kind strike and tissue damage is one major risk.

Let me share an observation to make kick starting a smooth exercise. This basically depends on the effective use of the decompression. The decomp in TCI avl bullets are said to be ineffective and useless. It doesn’t decompress at all, the lever doesn’t even get pressed… few myths.

Try this-
Press the decomp lever. Yes, it’s obvious that the lever is kind of stuck and doesn’t move. Keeping your thumb pressed on the decomp lever, push down the kicker lever gently. You might feel that the kicker also rejects with the normal tension initially. What I do is stand up from the seat and apply the body weight on the kicker. Then, it gently goes down relieving the decompresser too. Now the depcomp is applied fully and the kicker is totally free. Now release the comp lever and kick start smoothly as in a points CI bullet. The gentlest push on the kicker and the engine fires up.

LED Tail Lamp for Bullet

2008-03-05T21:02:00.000+05:30

Thought of posting this an year ago when I did and installed this circuit on my bike, but then forgot. I’m a living example for procrastination.

This is one arrangement I thought of when I started using extra headlamps on my bike that drain battery very fast. One solution I thought of was to cut the power to other bulbs that are frequently in use- tail lamp and break light. I think a tale lamp bulb rating is 10W and 21W for break light.

I replaced the bulb with an LED setup same as that in most of the newer vehicles (not on any Royal Enfield though). This one is not as exclusive as those come from the factory, but it serves the purpose and when the tail lamp cover is fixed we don’t see the setup inside but the light. This alteration has been done on a TB tail lamp that has more than enough space inside to add a circuit board. Same setup is possible inside a regular tail lamp too, but need to reshape the circuit board a bit which is not a big deal.

Components:
Line Circuit board - 1
LEDs (bright and focused type. Ordinary ones are useless) - 8
Resistors (4K7 Ohm) - 2
Wires (about 6 inches in length) - 3 pieces
Bulb that suits the socket of the tale lamp, glass and filament removed - 1

There are two different circuits for the tail lamp and the break lamp. A set of 4 LEDs are used for each. The LEDs are connected in parallel with the resistor in series to them. Ground is common for both circuits. Wires are soldered directly to the terminals pop out from the broken bulb, which are insulated with sleeves or insulation tape.
Two small aluminum clamps are soldered to the board and is fitted on the base tightening screws.

Tips
I have used red colored LEDs for the break lamps and are pointed straight (The top row in the pic). Two of the tail lamp LEDs are connected straight and are red in color. The other two are pointed down and are white in color to illuminate the number plate.

Gain
Instead of 10W/21W the new set up draws only a fraction of a mW. (I haven’t calculated the correct value though)

PS: The circuit can be improved by designing a bigger and shaped circuit board and by adding more LEDs to improve brightness.

This is a new design I have tried on my new bike. The setup has more LEDs. The illumination is not very impressive. It would have been better with reflectors.

Kalhatty

2008-03-03T20:20:00.001+05:30

01.03.2008 – 02.03.2008
Kalhatty (Kalhatti) Ride

Few days before the ride, I’m sitting on a bean bag at Moshaii’s home with a half emptied glass, contemplating the issues of my bike; JSR is busy filling his second round and Moshaii multitasking with one hand on the computer keyboard and the other one holding his glass, at the same time two fingers reserved for a cigi smoking away the mosquitoes and other small creatures with weak hearts and lungs. Do those mosquitoes die of sudden heart attack or lung cancer? God knows.
JSR is looking at the short lived bubbles popping up from bottom of his glass and said to himself, ‘Poor things, they don’t even live long enough to finish their first ride’.
Anyway before finishing that round he raised his head, looked at me and said, “Why you worry Jo, you can take my 500 next week if your bike doesn’t get fit by then”.
Wow… What a consolation… Problem solved… Game on…
But the 500 got some viral fever or flu, coughing continuously and getting unconscious; so I took my bike. That’s the uncertainty of life…
JSR proposes and God disposes.
The lifeless 500 is still lying in my porch.

01.03.2008; Morning
Moshaii rose up to everyone’s expectation and did not rise at all. History repeats… Moshaii was completely ‘fit’ the previous night and woke up very early morning at around 11am. Confused Moshaii chose not to pick any call on his phone and not to respond to any of our sms’ and headed solo expecting a second chapter to the Mannavanoor experience. To reach the camp before the rest, he would have ‘missed us’ purposefully if seen us on the way. Anyway the solo dude reached Kalhatti at around 5, almost 4 hrs after us. By then we were in Ooty and Conoor.

He hit and killed a bird (or the bird hit him and committed suicide) on the way; one monkey had a narrow escape. Moshaii strongly justifies himself with the point that the monkey crossed the road where there wasn’t any zebra line. Also that inhuman thing abused Moshaii loudly till he disappeared from the sight. Thankfully since he was busy, Moshaii did not stop to deal with it; or else one monkey would have joined the camp later in the evening on a black MH registered bullet.

The ride through Bandipur was awesome. I don’t know why, but the ride through that forest has always been breath taking for me and I love it. This time the lush greenery of the forest seemed faded with the autumn effect though.
And... Oh Boy, the two km off road ride to the camp… A stretch where a weak machine will never obey whatever we ask to do.

GK rode from Cochin and joined the camp within half an hour after we reached- His LB500’s maiden ride. His entire mass seemed to be very happy with the new babe’s performance. He seemed doesn’t want to remember those days and nights with the old divorced 350 who always complained about his weight and could never keep up with him.

Conoor visit proved to be ‘full paisa vasool’. Visited the loco shed at the railway station and the driver allowed us to enter inside the engine cabin (!) of one of the century old steam engines. I’m sure one will be thandoori if one of us stays there for one hour.

Meanwhile we got a distressed call from Caption Satyan from Kalhatty with the news that someone calling himself Moshaii crash landed at the camp claiming to be one of us, raided the kitchen and finished all the left over food leaving nothing to feed the elephants, tigers, cheetahs, cats, rats etc (prefix ‘wild’ with each creature and read).

Jumbo belong to the bat family, I doubt. At night, while coming back from Ooty he zoomed ahead leaving us behind… seems darkness boosts his eye vision. The sad part is that one cop misguided him at a turn and sent him in a different route for a very simple reason- to avoid the elephant trail at night. It wasn’t less than half an hour before we could recover him.

Night at camp was awesome. By the time we reached, bonfire, tent, barbeque, refresher liquids… everything is ready. Rest is history.
I slept peacefully in the tent; Jumbo and JSR on both my sides (don’t relate this to Jesus Christ between those two gentlemen). The misery was the rumbling thumping roaring sound from both the sides that woke me up several times at night with the fear that it’s some wild animal circling the tent and I’m gona be a piece of Kabab in the morning. Anyway later I got used to this horror and slept peacefully.

02.03.2008
Sunday morning we visited ‘Duchy of Kalhatty’s Palace’. That’s how the Duchy calls it; a nicely constructed one decorated with antique furniture, old photos, animal skulls etc. All the rooms with balcony and the tree house with fascinating view of the nearby mountains and clouds, JSR says all these seem designed to have ‘thanny’ party (thanny means Liquor in English) at chilling nights. Moshaii seconded him. What to do… These ‘liquefied’ souls don’t have anything else to think of.

We left the camp by noon. The heavy breakfast gave us no option to think about lunch before leaving.
Nice ride.
Finally Moshaii is riding with others.
GK, running in, trying hard to control his instincts and emotions to open up a bit but listens to the bike and cruises slowly…

Thanks to all the riders for this amazing ride and nice company.
JSR, Moshaii, GK, Jumbo and JSR’s colleague Uday (this was his first long ride and he enjoyed it. Uday rides very well too.)

Route to kalhatty from Bangalore (Map added by JSR)
Bangalore- Mysore- Nannjangud- Gundalpet- bandipur- Kalhatty
Distance : ~280km

Kalhatty Photos

PS: One horrible sad scene on the way back on Mysore road- one man run over by a truck. One can imagine how that scene would be. I need not explain that. Pathetic, it’s pathetic again to see that he is still conscious. From the scene it looks like he followed his own rules and crossed the busy highway on his bike… probably a straight entry from one side of the road or probably from the opposite lane.

Galibore

2008-02-12T15:30:00.000+05:30

Galibore report
Weekend ride to Galibore on 10.02.2008

10.2.2008
Morning 7:00, attendance marked and found 5 of us present at the BTM petrol bunk as planned earlier. Meppa, Moshaii, JSR, myself Jo, and our very well wisher Kar to ride with us till our breakfast point and see us off. The Bypanahalli railway crossing delayed me and moshaii for more than 15 min. One soul did not pick the phone and JSR recollected from his previous experiences that it’s the sign that the soul is still “resting in peace” and is a go ahead sign for others.

Decided breakfast point was kanakpura. JSR was found trying to stop much before that, responding to the call for refueling. His personal fuel level seemed much bellow the reserve. The previous day’s alcohol would have melted down and gasified whatever possible solid fuel he’s had and would have gone like fumes out into the free space. But he moved with the crowd to stretch till Kanakpura for breakfast. At the restaurant 5 idli vadas and one extra vada each for all but JSR... That’s the amazing part of the breakfast story. Anyway he was in full throttle after that. Kar took a U turn. We headed straight.

Few stops to ask for directions and we are at Sangam safe and sound with full energy and enthusiasm. The roads are tempting.. Narrow stretches, full of potholes and rough patches.. Most of the time leaving us up on foot pegs…

The pack stopped at sangam. Me followed by JSR headed to the sand and then close to the water. Moshaii and Meppa’s wtf look did not last for long. They too are there in the $#it. I can’t forget JSR’s comment when I got down to guide him to cross the river… “Da, are you going to send me to other side and you guys going to stay here?“ That suddenly reminded me of the procedure of abandoning unwanted kittens and puppies mostly at the other side of some river or stream making them impossible to come back and find the owner's house. I said, “No Duda, we follow you to any hell“. Good, the photographer is now on the other side and we followed. Moshaii counted the “phishes” he went over while crossing. The latest information is that there are few final calculations to be completed before publishing the final count.

The next stage seemed quite eventful. The sand dune didn’t seem like letting us through easily like the river did. Few events there are beyond explanation. Moshaii’s left right left right bike dance step is inspirational to any choreographer. He made some offerings to the sand dunes – few crystal glass pieces in return to the nicest time and experience.

The other side, a watch man at the check post to the wilderness asked us 100 bucks each under the table to go past the check post with bikes. We imagined one of our fingers raised up in the air and kissing him good bye. Crossed the river back in search of “non check posted” wilderness and found very good ones. That was Galibore area. That was a good decision. I had been to the check posted area and that is not different from the Galibore wilderness and off roads. Probably Galibore is more apt for biking and more exploration. The sangam side is crowded with tourists and lover couples all around like those mosquitos at JSR’s house porch in the evenings at HSR Layout. No place for a biker to open the throttle of his heart with peace of mind.

On the way we had to squeeze pass thorough few Wipro (office team outing) busses blocking the narrow road. Moshaii recollects one girl who was about to step down from one of the busses, seeing JSR popping out from the wild and coming straight to her, suddenly put herself into reverse gear and disappeared back inside the bus. She would have recovered from her initial shock after we all passed by and would have asked others “why are these maniacs riding baked in those space suits when there are air-conditioned busses with push back seats to travel”… We saw the local civilization (probably) welcoming the wipro civilization with drum beats same as that happenin in some funeral processions. (They would need to do things like this and more... After all the package to stay there for one day is around 1600 bucks)

The mud road offered us a wonderful time. We put our anchors at a shore. There Meppa was found flirting with few dogs… Oh let me correct myself… he was found with few dogs and what he was doing with them is still a debatable subject. Let me not get into that now. That all I leave to human imagination to interpret.

We had our lunch back at sangam, a decent restaurant with good food, facility and staff with the right attitude to serve. It was when we all finished our lunch and chilling under the trees, a group of Xboys emerged out of nowhere and got pissed to see our bikes line up. Thankfully it seemed they all were too hungry for much show offs and soon disappeared inside the restaurant.
The return ride… as exiting as the morning ride… around 4 or 4:30 we are back at JSR’s place for the much awaited golden colored drink comes in bottle labeled with some king bird on it.

One fantastic ride;
Everyone kept the rider behind in his R Mirror;
Effective signaling;
Small group with a good formation ride;
Everyone fully ‘armored’…
I enjoyed it very much.

And, those who missed may come out to the terrace at night, lie down looking at the sky and start counting the stars from one side to the other and keep repeating it till you get the same count two consecutive times. This exercise should give good relief to the pain... :D

Photos (courtesy JSR)

A bullet to the Himalayas

2007-12-15T20:41:00.000+05:30

(Translation of Bala's write-up in Fast Track - Malayalam Car& Bike monthly Dec 2007)
Prologue:
Hi Bala, Translation was a bit difficult. I'm sure that this doesn't do 100% justice to the your write-up. But I have done my best not to lose the essence of the original article.

A bullet to the Himalayas

The Royal Enfield Bullet cruises at 80kph. There is a sharp turn to right. One side is a steep gorge thousands of feet deep and the other side, ice glaciers waiting to fall onto the road anytime. Keeping to the left hand side, footrest almost touching the road, taken a lean angle and what waits there after the curve is a water fall from the glaciers. It's a 50m wide water crossing. No time to get confused. In no time the gear is down from 5th to 2nd ; crossed the stream 2 feet deep , splashing water on either side...

This is one of the many adventurous moments from the bullet ride through the Himalayas. The ride was with a group of adventurous people.

Royal Enfield has been organizing this adventure bike ride called Himalayan Odyssey every year from 2004 and this year I too was a part of it. Trivandurm to Delhi by train… but not alone; my KL01 AM 245 bullet too. From Delhi to Khardungla via Chandigarh, Manali, Kaylong and Leh. From Khardungla the route taken was Manali- Mandi- Dharmashala and reached Wagah boarder in Amritsar; turned off the engine, flicked the side stand with left foot… the odometer has run 2300km in two weeks.

The Himalayan Odyssey (HO) starts every year on 24th of June. This year there were 55 participants gathered at the New Delhi International Youth Center. Kashmiri to Mallu, College students to DGP, 20 year olds to big boys in their 50s… people from different cultures, status and age group were present. Amount them were 6 mallus who speak pure mal and 3 half mallus from Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi.

Adjusting the short tight T-shirt quite often and exhibiting the balloon biceps, Hollywood star Sunil Shetty flagged off the ride from Delhi in the morning on Jun 24th.

The climate is extremely hot, we rode between the speeding trucks and buses to Chandigarh covering Karnal, Panipath, Kurukshetra and Ambala. The road is NH1 which is called as GT (Grand trunk)

Today, when I look back, I feel that the first day's ride was the most dangerous one. Chandigarh to Manali road is very beautiful. Leaving the wheat fields behind the road enters the footsteps of Himalayas- the Shivalik ranges… and nature has already transformed herself into a beautiful Himalayan Girl. Crossing Bhilaspur and Mandi, when we reach Kulu we are at the Himalayan ranges. Now we have a lady escort till Manali- the river Biyas.

Whether you like Manali or not depends on your personal taste. Further on from Manali is Rohtang pass- an average tourist ends his Himalayan journey there. They just get themselves satisfied with a walk through the narrow Manali streets, shopping from those looters there, bath at the hot streams of Vasishti, a journey till Rohteng pass to see the snow and have a ride on the yak or snow scooter. The journey ends there.

Rohtang is 1300 feet from sea level. Need to open the airscrew half a turn for the bike to breath well. Here on oxygen is less and climb is more.

It's not easy to ride through the Himalayas just because you need to be physically fit. One needs to be mentally prepared too. Also the bike too has to be in the very best condition. Need to carry spares like cables, tube, oil, bulbs etc. – parts most likely to go kaput. A good helmet that will never irritate you, a sunglass inside it, Jacket, gloves, boots etc. for protection from the cold and wind are some essential gadgets for a Himalayan rider. Also knee and shin protectors are needed. The rest of it- things what we normally take with us when go for a ride.

If you are someone like me in the 50s, better take a back support belt and some karpooradi tailam. Leave those youngsters who hesitantly ask 'Uncle, can I have a little of that oil please'.

Kaylong is 85km from Rohtang. Through the Lahaul valley and the banks or river Chandra- the barren land.

Chandra River at a distance, beautiful girl, seemingly still, unaffected by climatic changes, covered with a gray blanket, flows silent turning her face away from you.

8km before Keylong, You could see something that you may not be able to see anywhere in the workd- A board that says 'next filling station 356km ahead'. This is Thindi village. Here river Pamba joins Chandra and becomes river Penab.

Kaylong is a beautiful Himalayan girl who could probably be a victim to tourism; she could probably be ruined in the next five years or so. It's a small valley at the banks of river Bhaga, few houses here and there and step farming everywhere. Though a district headquarters, Kaylong is a small village.

Water crossings start in the Rohtang- Kaylong route. It's just a beginning; Lots to come on the way ahead… but, no issues with those other than icy cold water splashed from toe to chest.

By the time you reach Sarchu for the next day's halt, everyone would be suffering from AMS (Acute mountain sickness). Headache, giddiness and sleeplessness are the symptoms. Drink more water and reduce the usage of alcohol and cigarette; nothing much can be done until the body gets used to the lack of oxygen .

We need to cross Barachala (Known as killer pass) which is at 4892 meters from sea level to reach Sarchu. Staying at the pass for long is dangerous. Sarchu is like a wide passage. The road ahead stretches without end- mountains on either side stand like a gallery. You are the only riders of this road except few local shepherds and their sheep packs.

Stay at Sarchu is in tents. Though rent is high, there is no other alternative in this desert. Leh is approximately 250km from Sarchu. It's possible to cover this in one day, but better go slow. Only then will you be able to enjoy the beauty of Ladakh.

Sarchu - Leh road promises the most thrilling ride of this journey. Gattalups, Nakila and Lachungla stretches are like roads to heaven. By the time these are covered, both the bike and the rider would become dead tired. Next obstacle is the most challenging Moray plains. At some places the roads doesn't exist at all and we need to ride through sand for kilometers. Falling is fun and reaching the other side without a fall is super success.

It's when you think that the thrilling part is over; you reach the world's second highest pass after Khardungla– Tanglangla. Weather is too cold and it's too difficult to get breath… There 350ccs struggled to catch up with their big brother 500ccs.

World's highest airport is here crowded with foreigners who start their Himalayan expedition from there. There is one more road to reach Leh; Srinagar- Sogilo – Kargil route. That is comparatively the easiest one. But due to militant issues restrictions and risk too is high.

Good old tradition is seen challenged in Leh. Military and Tourism now rule the city.

There are many traditional monuments for visitors to see and explore in Leh and surrounding areas. Shay Palace, Lamayurugompa, Stock Palace, Alpi gompa and the Buddhist monasteries at Thikse and Hemis are the important ones. The Pangongso Lake 154km away is another attraction.

Khardungla is 42km from Leh. Not just India's, but it's the worlds peak of adventure motorcycling. Though Khardungla is the world's highest motorable road on earth, some believe that Marsmikla is higher than Khardungla. But very few are able to make it to there. The road to Khardungla is a very steep climb. But compared to the roads that've already been covered, this is fine.

It was snowing continuously in Khardungla. Being there with friends is satisfaction beyond words. Reaching here riding my own bike, spending thousands and overcoming lots of difficulties and obstacles, gave life's most precious moments.

If all the wishes and dreams come true in life, how would that be? There should be some left unfulfilled which will be the fuel for the rest of our life. There was a similar situation in this ride too. Initial plan was to return to Amritsar via the Sach pass and Champa which hasn't been attempted by anyone before. But an unexpected landslide ruined that plan. For one day we stayed at Udaipur on the banks of river Chenab, and then headed to Dharmashala via Mandi and from there to Amritsar via Pathankot. In the evening I left the Wagah boarder after 'beating the retreat' of course with my heart full of satisfaction.

What we gain from journeys is knowledge- about our mother earth who gave us birth and brings up all of us- and of course about ourselves. Love for nature and us makes our lives bright.

-Balachandran V

The author who did this adventurer ride to Himalayas is an employee of Punjab National Bank.

Hogenakkal Ride

2007-12-02T19:21:00.000+05:30

Hogenakkal

02.12.2008
Nice refreshing ride. The place is a mess though…

Hogenakkal is one dirty face of domestic tourism.
Don’t these people have any other place to wash cloths!
Others seemed like washing their sins off as in some sacred river.
Good that we didn’t spend much time over there.

The roads as usual offered good off-roading, on the foot peg for very long…
Few kilometers before Hogenakkal, the the place we chose to get down looked peaceful is a nice Kaveri shore to chill. The remaining ride to Hogenakkal proved to be just a formality except that we got some nice fish fry and meals.

Attendance: Moshaii, Kar, Conductor, Parvi and myself.

Photos

Mannavanoor

2007-10-24T18:46:00.000+05:30

20.10.2007 – 23.10.2007
Mannavanoor (Kodaikanal)- Silver Bullets 5A

“Silver-Bullets” is 5 years old. Looks less than one year old though…
Celebration is at Mannavanoor- around 35km from Kodaikanal. It was like a private family gathering. No guests or invitees… it’s just a club meet…
Originally known as Tvm-Riders, the club is now home to many bullet enthusiasts and riders.

On 20th early morning both Tvm and Bangalore guys started their rides to meet up at Koadikanal before sundown. Total of 20 riders… TVM guys had to wait long for us. Continuous rain delayed us and we made it to Kodai like wet chickens. Rode the 35km forest rode to Mannavanoor together in the darkness. The road was wet and the small leaves made it real slippery. Each step (!) has to be careful.

Overslept Moshaii’s late start and solo ride…
reaching the place first, amazingly missing everyone on the way…
runaround at Mannavanoor to find the camp in the darkness…
the mixed emotions that run through his mind with the doubt that he is at some wrong place…
the decision to go back to Kodai through the forest alone at night…
and finally the life he got back when the line of 20 headlamps popped up one by one at the next hill side…
Priceless…

The food served at the campers club is truly appreciable. The name campers club suits the place very much. The accommodation is basic with few brick cottages with bare minimum facilities. I liked that. No one wanted anything more than that. The view from the camp… simply wow… great view of the valley and mountains… The chilling climate proved to be the icing on the cake. Bonfire seemed to offer its effect at a very less range.

The people who had to head back the next day missed out the nicest experience of this ride.
The short rides to inside the forest, to explore the old Munnar route which is useless now and is road to only mules and 4w drives only when land is dry… I could hardly walk up in slush to have a look at the condition of the road further up.

Return on Monday proved to be one of the most exciting rides.
Through the forest till Kodai town and then till Palani negotiating the awesome mountain side roads negotiating countless twists, turns and hairpins in chilling climate with clouds around…
then the ride through the valley and to Thoppur bearing the intense heat…
From there to add flavor to the party a nonstop rain till Bangalore…
Whew… Oh Boy… What a day that was... Thankfully there wasn’t any puncture or breakdown to anyone to add fuel to the party.

Ride in Shre's Perspective

Coonoor Ride

2007-08-16T11:56:00.000+05:30

Coonoor Ride
11, 12 Aug 2007

After almost three months, finally, last weekend I got out on my ride for a long one. I felt the free flow of fresh air all over me after a long time... The welcome to road was an awesome one with a rain. It was a wet start but thankfully we didn't get sunk. It was just a matter of few Kilometers and rain got disappeared somewhere leaving us a wet road.

We three guys and two bikes- Swami, Piston and myself rode to Ooty and Coonoor. I took the full luggage and Swami took Piston, the pillion. My bike is in the final stage of its running in and that was the only constrain for me - not to let the engine overdo.

Ride through the Bandipur forest in pitch-darkness, 36 continuous hair pins, steep climbs, a couple of stops in the middle of the forest to cool down the machines... a bit risky but exciting ride. Thanks to the guard at the check post who let us inside the forest at night.

I don't have words to thank our host at Coonoor, Biju. Opportunity to stay at his more than 100 yrs old Banglov was unexpected; Sorry for making him wait for us till midnight. Thanks for the special tea in the morning; I can't remember its name, but remember Biju saying that the leaf costs $600 per kg in the market.

If you don't plan anything, things happen unexpectedly. That is why seeing the old railway bridge, just headed to it, had a walk on it and spent almost an hour on it and around. Wow, more than 100 years old construction is perfectly intact.
Our Coonoor railway station visit too happened just like that. Good to have the majestic century old steam engines visited at the loco shed. The staff there is more than happy to let us in and explain things.

I can't forget one face we met outside the railway station. While walking back to the bikes...
"Hmm... it's nice to have all these protection gears when you are on a ride and especially when you ride a bullet"
On my right side, a foreigner... talking about bullet...
The gentleman is from Switzerland, touring India; we, bulleteers caught his attention. He looks almost 70 years old, but the energy in him is that of a teenager. Believe it, he did Leh from Delhi few weeks ago on a Bullet 500. He owns a Norton/Triumph at home in Switzerland and is an active member of one ride group there.

Seeing our enthusiasm about the old steam engine displayed outside the station, he asked us, "do you know where this engine was made". I thought it is somewhere in England. But he says it is from Switzerland and the old factory is just 20km away from his hometown. Interesting...

Unfortunately we didn,t have much time left to have more conversation with him. We wanted to finish the forest at daylight in the return ride. The ride was an experience- one of kind; saw elephants, peacocks and lots of other animals.

Reached home after midnight.
Oh... let me not miss this. An accident... but this was a very funny one. In the Mysore highway, on our way back, one plastic biker with a pillion overtakes us and forgets to take the curve to the right side. I don't know how to explain what happened after that. But if you have seen the motor cycle diaries and remember their first fall with the bike to outside the rode into water and slush... you know what we saw there. It was hard to hold our laugh till moving out of their sight.

The memories will stay evergreen. An unplanned ride and this unexpectedness was the thrill and that made this ride memorable. Thanks to Swami and Piston for the wonderful company and Biju for being a wonderful host.

Route: Bangalore - Mysore - Gundalpet - Bandiur - Mudumalai - Ooty - Coonoor
Photos: Mine and Swami's

A cool Coorg ride.

2007-05-16T00:57:00.000+05:30

12.05.2007
A cool Coorg ride

Weather is still hot, but it was a cool ride to Coorg.
This ride witnessed lots of events and most of them were eye openers.

Cloud valley in Coorg, Uday's guest house is an old one restored (without losing the beauty) for guests. The feel of staying in a traditional home with homely food itself was worth the ride. Old coats, chairs and even the 'divan' -short in height, almost like a dining table, is retained as it was. In the first room (say, drawing room)the wooden stairs going to the wooden roof is a rare seen nowadays.

Atlest 10 times I feel I should comment on the food we had at cloud valley. Almost all the items had a traditional Kerala touch. The pork at lunch was simply awesome. The traditional veg items added the flavor. The dinner too rocked.

Let me just recollect the ride.
Day1:
Started from Bangalore in the morning, with lots of delayed pit stops, reached Coorg in the after noon. Kicker return spring went kaput on my bike. Thankfully got a bullet mech at Coorg and decently job was done in 15 min. The time of arrival at the cloud valley- 3:00pm wasn't the ideal time for lunch. But all were hungry and so nothing got wasted.

In the evening many of us got wet in the pouring rain. I was in the middle of a solo, round the villages ride and got struck somewhere when it started raining. The boy I was talking to, introduced himself to me as the son of Uday- the owner of cloud valley guest house. He just got disappeared to his house just before the rain started when someone called him from home. His name... oops I forgot. He goes to a school 30km away from home and spends lots of time travelling in the school bus.
Anyway he reappeared again just before I could start the bike and rush to a shelter.
Uncle, Uday is calling you , don't get wet and come inside.
Aahaa... Lucky Jo is Happy Jo now.
Rain poured for almost half an hour and I spent there talking to them, sipping the tea offered by Uday, clicking snaps of them, their dog, cow, rain... what else will I do..
Uday still remebers Prashi's Jawa he came in last time and asked me if he still has it.

When the rain stopped, I rode back to cloud valley and saw many wet souls and envy eyes on the way who were wondering how come this one still dry. I saw Moshaii who was on an evening walk with few others, who earlier asked me to get down from the bike and walk with them, now walking like a wet chicken.

RTMC rocked the night in its usual style. The guest house didn't have capacity to give sheltor to all of us. Some had to find sheltor inside sleeping bags.

Day2:
I got the plan in mind that I'm not going back to Bangalore without having a ride around there and visiting the Buddhist monastery.

Morning, after a tea, 5 of us left to take a ride around. I and Moshaii enjoyed the river crossing on bullet, Kam who joined us there and we had a ride on the other side of the river(stream). Beautiful experience, reminded me of the Kaveri Sangam (Mekadath) ride where we had the river crossing and ride in the forest.

After breakfast and the photo shoot out we left the guest house. Mr. Uday and other hosts seemed happy with our company.

I'm happy that I could visit the Buddhist Monastery for the second time (my first visit was around 3 years back). We, five of us formed a seperate group and headed to the monastery when others headed straight to Bangalore. The place is truly serene. The combination of red, golden and green color is a real feast to any photographer. Wish I had an SLR. Anyways my small digi did a decent job.

The return ride was eventful...
Had to witness a major accident, other issues on roads, many eye openers- co-ordination related...

A nasty fall by one of our pals and an inspiring escape without any injuries and his notes on the events- "The bird will fly again"...
Eye opener: This happened when I had little concern about protective gears other than a helmet, gloves and a jacket (some times I take that too off to beat the heat).
I have seen lots of accidents on roads. Heard lots of stories from friends about accidents of different levels- ranging from minor scratches to death. But this one, seemed a bit different- proved howuncontrollable an accident can be sometimes.
When the fellow riders on road side signalled for a stop, I didn't expect more that a usual regroup or pit stop on the way. While walking to them casually, seeing a bare back wheel rim, I smelled an incident, but never thought of anything serious. When someone asked me to have a look at the bike, only then did I see the vastness of the picture. A tube failure on the rear wheel at high speed on the Mysore road, bike hit the concrete divider and road (don't know how many times) and finally came to a stall with total damage to the bike, but minor injuries to the pillion and negligible scratches to the rider.

Learning:
1. Not having proper protective gears means taking a big chance on road.
2. Need improvements on co-ordination.

Before I wind up
Thanks to BabuMoshaii for the petrol shared from his bike when mine almost ran out and the nearest pump seemed unreachable with the reserve.
And I don't remember how many times he helped me push start the bike while riding with the broken kicker spring
Thanks to Chandra for transferring me the ride slot which was earlier booked for him.

Coorg Album

Munnar called, I said Yes

2007-05-10T17:34:00.000+05:30

Munnar ride from Bangalore

The thought of having a ride through the hairpin narrow roads of Munnar has always fascinated me. This week I was lucky to have a ride to Munnar from Bangalore and I enjoyed each and every corner of Munnar I rode, every curve I took lean angle, every frame I clicked, every moment I spent there.

06.05.2007, I started early morning from Bangalore hoping to reach Munnar in the evening at bright light. For the first time I travelled through Mettur at day light and had a good view of the place for the first time.
The wind mill fields on the way between Palladam and Udumalpet too will catch anybody's attention.

I got some nice snaps clicked on the way and was lucky that it started raining in Munnar only after I reached the town.

About Munnar roads when you ride...
Good: You can trust the banking of curve. It's been properly done with appropriate slope which helps you in safe lean angles on bike.
Bad: Roads are narrow. Better have a good horn and your left thumb on the horn button, honk at every curve, don't expect all the drivers coming opposite to you are disciplined and experts on such road conditions. Most of them are first time visitors struggling to negotiate the roads and doing it with little control.
And or course beware of sand or gravel on curves. A skid and fall can ruin the entire ride. Keep eyes wide open and see it from a good distance.

At Munar, I never felt like going again to the places- so called tourist destinations I have visited several times- Rajamala, Mattupetty dam, Top station, Kundala lake, Swiss project etc. I even hated to the queue formed at the Rajamala check post, seemed like gold rush. What pleasure does that give to be in a crowd pushing each other rushing, amidst the long line of vehicle on one side struggling to move their way ahead. It looked like a queue outside a movie theater or a at the entrance gate of a stadium.

My visit to Munnar had a different purpose this time. So just wanted to sneak out and have a ride around few unseen corners.
There is a fresh water lake around 15km from Munnar town where few people go. Also since the place is under TATA's control, permission may not be given for groups and of course for four wheelers. Thanks to my friend for info about this place. The place is called Davi Kulam. It is not the place Davikulam near Munnar. This is a real 'Kulam' (Lake) with the same name as that of the place. I was the only human there and my bike the only machine when we got there. I fount few 'bike marks' there and could make out few more 'animals' would have visited there before. Oh, talking about those Bike marks... I think it's the advertisement of Apache where those guys trying to impress the lady by taking spins on ground and draws a flower with the rubber burn marks. What I saw at the Davikulam were such marks but on grace, impressive effort, though not well drawn as in the advertisement, but looked like some symbols.

Around 2 km before the lake there is a settlement and a beautiful ground (not the one in the album, that is another one on the Rajamala road side). I'm not joking, I was tempted to take a roll on that ground like a kid. Some guys play football there. Later I heard from my friend that some movies were shot there and at the lake side. If you are looking for a cake walk ride to reach the place, you will be disappointed. It is an off road. Some are gravel roads, some tarred but not anytime recently, some concreted and of course a few stretches of mud roads too. There are no proper directions written anywhere to guide to the place. If you lose way you take more off(offer) roads. If you don't you will make it in less than 15km. I was in the first category. But certainly I liked ride through those few extra unnecessary rounds to touch the nose. According to some leaf plucker I clarified the route with, I was in the silent valley route and they saved the day by diverting me to the destination through some not so inviting (not for me) narrow strips (can't call them roads).

Just before reaching the lake, the mud road will check your skills if rained and wet (mostly it will be). At certain places it was pure black slush which invited me. Once i took a 90 degree spin too. A different off roading experience. Spending time at the lake side, no one to talk to and with a feel that I'm some where in the middle of nowhere is of course the feeling of all feelings. The place around is forest and you are alone, sun is down and light fading slowly giving a feel of TV award movies... Only sounds we hear are those from the wild. It was almost dark when I realised that I have to go back in a different route which I don't have much knowledge about since I took the wrong route to reach there. If I take the same route, It may take ages to reach back and this time I may reach Silent valley in the dark. Anyway I headed back to taking the correct route. I'm riding with just guts feeling. No sense of direction Chandran'sMunnarcoz no straight road on a hill and after a few turns we lose direction when no light. Anyway I reached the main road, saw no human being on the way, and thankfully no animal blocked my way. Also I feel lucky to have myself corrected coming back from a wrong turn and taking the correct one- did it just on illusion.

At the hotel, only when I saw the security staring at my shoes I realised I'm making black shoe marks over the clean marble floor, black mud brought all the way from Devikulam lake side. Ooops...

Ride back to Bangalore was at night. Started from Munnar at around 4:30 in the evening and stopped at several places for snaps and enjoy the scenary which delayed the ride further.

Route: Bangalore- Hosur- Krishnagiri- Dharmapuri- Mettur- Bhavani- Perumdurai- Vijayamangalam- Tiruppur- Palladam- Udumalpet- Marayoor- Munnar.
Distance: From Banglore to Munnar- 440km.
Mobile coverage: All the operators give coverage at Munnar.

Before I wind up
Thanks to Kam and Karthik for detailed Bangalore- Munnar route info.
and
Sorry to the bird who tried to fly through the front wheel and died on the spot.
and
Hats off to the cop at Dharmapuri high way who tried to loot me on the way to Munnar saying that there is no black spot on the headlight, I escaped diplomatically though- long ride, why don't you leave me...
(It's become standard that when ever I go for a long ride/drive cops will catch me at least once. This time while coming back also one cop tried to stop me at night calling from behind but I didn't stop, was half asleep.)

Munnar Album

Yelagiri Ride- MadBulls 5A

2007-05-01T07:19:00.000+05:30

Yelagiri Ride- MadBulls 5A
28.04.2007
Yelagiri in Tamil Nadu stands at 920m above sea level. It is a hill station with healthy climate prevailing throught the year. There are 14 villages in Yelagiri and the are mostly tribals.

Mad Bulls (MBMC- Madras Bulls Motorcycle Club) celebrates their 5th anniversary at Yelagiri and RTMC has been invited to participate.
Mad Bulls rode from Chennai and RTMC from Bangalore... Few club members from other places... And of course two riders from Trivandrum- those were the longest rode ones.
The pain MadBulls have taken to make arrangements for the event is truely appreciable.
Arrangement of the track for some fun events... Arrangement of the DJ's place inside the transport container near the track... etc. etc etc...

Day1
28.04.07; 8:00 am
Departed from Koramangala as a group of around 10.
Breakfast from Reliance A1
Ride was good.
Trishul, Chandra, Kam, Jaggu, Dikso... those are few whom I rode with.
We all reached yelagiri before noon. I liked the final 9km uphill ride with lots of hair pins to reach the hill top.

Checked in at the Country club resort and headed to a track arranged by Mad bulls, 7km away from the resort. I'm not sure if Nithin is happy that no one knew him as Nithin at the check in counter, even heard from them that there is no booking for Nithin.
"What about Al Pissino?"
Oh Al Pissino... Why didn't you say that before?
Way to go Pissino :)

Track was noisy. people taking rides on the track... Photographers covering the action... DJ Dosai blasts the air with music...

Now comes the event 'beer picking'. Beer cans are placed at different places on the track and riders need to pick it while riding without touching their feet on ground. The beer you pick successfully is yours. Wonderful... I could pick it after a few unsuccessful attempts. It's beer and cant miss it.

Food was served there brought in a pickup. Chappathi, Biriani, chicken... Good stuff...
Some went for short rides, but most of them got back at the resort after food.
Chit chat time, meeting new people who've met and known only in the net...

Evening, Madbulls started preparation for the night bash.Events were colorful. MadBulls 5A cake cutting followed by the party.
I don't remember when I went to sleep, surely it was after midnight.

Day2
29.04.2007
Nothing is scheduled for the day except the return ride. I wanted to have a ride around in Yelagiri. Got Kams company and we headed for some site seeing through the narrowest village roads. It's hard to believe that there is that much level(not flat) area on top of that hill. Anyway cant say that the climate is too good considering that Yelagiri is considered as one hill station with cool climate, but cant forget the fact that down under it's hell hot.

We had breakfast from an outside local hotel and the hotel guy came running with a copy of that day's newspaper with the coverage on the 5A event. The bullet group's visit became so popular there that most of the people were aware of the event happening there.

We headed back to Bangalore after others too finished their breakfast from the resort. We had a solid ride back, had an early lunch from the A1 and got back home after noon.
The pain behind all the arrangements deserve much more than mere appreciation. MadBulls did it fantastically well. I counted 75 bullets, not sure exactly how many were there for the meet.

I can't miss to comment on two guys who had the longest and most painful ride. Jay and Venu rode from Trivandrum to yelagiri. Jay had to do a complete engine reassembly to resolve issue with the floating bush on the way with an unknown mechanic, that too in 12 Hrs. Hats off to you guys... Your spirit is truly admirable.

Distance: Yelagiri is about 175 km from bangalore.
Route: Bangalore - Hosur- Krishangiri (Left turn at the second fly over) - Vaniyambadi (right turn just before the town) - Ponneri Junction (left turn) - Yelagiri

Yelagiri Album

Another solo to Bangalore, it was hot!

2007-03-20T20:32:00.000+05:30

14.03.2007
Oh my god…
This world is no more a better place to ride in summer! - atleast this part of the world...
I'm sure it was, at its younger age. Then it never used to test the endurance of men or machines much. May be both are supposed to become harder as time passes by.
Want to feel the extend of global warming?
Just have a ride in the summer. Believe me its hell hot.

I rode back to Bangalore from home- Thodupuzha. Took off at 1:00 pm hoping to reach more hot Tamilnadu roads by evening and not get roasted much. But felt how chicken gets grilled in an oven.

Basically i dont like sun, i dont like heat, i dont like the sun glare...
Oops i rode the first 250km. without a jacket too. Riding with jacket on, in humid Kerala means getting (s)wet and boiled.

I had my dinner at 10:00. It was somewhere between Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri, I found a place in front of a closed shop to settle down and have the parceled food. Meanwhile one old begger lady came with her dog to see someone else claimed their place. Both gave me suspicious looks. Noone likes intrusion, even I don't. Before me thinking about retreat, it seemed like she understood that I'd just borrowed the place for few minutes and this begger is leaving in any moment :) The success lies in exchanging the thoughts silently but effectively by both the parties . A potential clash has now melted down. This is a million dollar lesson for Musharaf and Manmohan Singh. But they don't seem lo learn and I can't force them too.

Apart from the initial heat issue and the usual loneliness the ride was good without any events; Reached Bangalore at 12:00 midnight.

A Long Solo Nonstop Night ride

2007-03-05T11:43:00.000+05:30

Bangalore to Kerala (Thodupuzha)
22.02.2007

Last Thursday was the day saw the heights of loneliness. Though I’ve been staying alone for years I’ve never felt this much lonely ever in my life. I did a solo ride to Kerala from Bangalore on my bullet. Always I ride in group, no matter it is a group of two or three or a big one of 30 to 40.

I decided to ride home this time. Though driving the entire stretch is not new to me, a ride, that too alone and 75% at night would definitely be a different experience altogether. My Bullet has never seen Kerala before. And I haven’t ridden such a distance alone too. The issues I had were the severe heat at day time and the loneliness of solo riding. Somehow I’m confident about the bike. The reason, I don’t know though… I still remember the incident when I had a flat tyre on reaching Bangalore after a long ride of around 350km. I can’t even imagine what could have been done if it happened in any of the deserted areas through which we rode. A narrow escape…

Issues with the KL ride: Heat and the sun.

Solution: Ride at night. Chandra gave me the idea, long live Chandra. And there is no solution to the loneliness issue, so just bare it.

But I always had that concern… How will I be able to ride alone… I expect someone to talk to and crack jokes when I stop... Even before starting I visualized myself standing all alone on the roadside looking at strangers and passing vehicles like a kid got lost in a crowd. I felt pity for myself… Ohhh this isn’t the time to have such thoughts… Suddenly reality stuck me and I’m back to normal.

Around 3:30 I felt the heat got settled a bit and got the idea to reach Mettur by sunset and take the first stop there. Full tanked from Reliance in Tamilnadu (saved Rs.2 /liter) after which I never felt like stopping for tea or food (if it’s a group ride we stop every now and then for coffee and chit chat). I remember reaching Mettur at 6:50 I didn't even want to stay there for a minute. The place is filled with all kinds of small flies and bugs, when I rode I could hear the sound of those senseless (or may be poor is the right word to use here) creatures smashing onto the headlamps. And the real stop happened later, forced to take a break at 9:00 by cops at Perumthurai in Tamilnadu.

That was funny experience indeed. Highway cops, 3 of them waiting near a speed breaker with a quails, stopped me with high expectations. Someone with Karnataka registration bike, Cramster bag on tank and back, two extra fog lamps… as a whole a different genus, worth stopping…

The first question when stopped… “Enthada ithu… ange ingeyellam romba light ellam fit panni… enge poneda…” (All these extra lights here and there… where are you going)

Sir, from Bangalore to Cochin…

Alright, show the documents… I started a conversation with one of the cops asking which place that was and how many km to Coimbatore from there etc. (just a diplomatic approach) while another one went on talking in tamil about different offences I’ve committed which I couldn’t understand fully. Few which I could catch with a lot of probing were…

1. No black eye sticker on the headlamp…

Sir, this rule is no more there in KA and KL.

No no, its still there in TN

2. Extra fog lamps which are not permissible…

Antha Bangaloru full romba fog sir…. Cant ride without fog lamps…

3. Over speeding…

Oh my goodness, what would I say… Don’t make me speechless…

“Appadiyellam sollath sir…” I am riding all the way from Bangalore to Cochin and if trouble comes on the way, how will I complete this with peace of mind… What I need is encouragement from you all. I'm sure I could do a good dramatization and did deliver all these in a typical tamil movie tone. That worked, I could sense smiles with respect on them… Now I don’t see a Mullaperiyar or Kaveri barricade between us. One cop himself folded and put the vehicle documents in the cover and handed over to me. They wished me a safe ride and I left the place happily exchanging lots of “Nandri”.

I remember passing Trissur at 11:50 and close to Angamali bike got reserved. Ooops, that was something I forgot to keep in mind. Reserve is only 1 ltr and failing to find an open bunk in the middle of the night is the definition for disaster. Thad didn’t happen, found one Indianoil pump before Perumbavoor.

The guy who came out to fill petrol looked at the KA registration plate and then looked at me and asked me if Im riding all the way from KA. When I said yes he stopped for a while and tried to pass on his concern… why don’t you come by bus…

Oh... that’s fine and I like to ride and I do ride a lot.

Hmm... How much petrol did u fill?

I said one tank full got over and now I’m filling from you.

He did a quick calculation and exclaimed… oh god, petrol worth almost Rs. 800. !!!

Again his instincts couldn’t stop him deliver a few words of advice… asking me to come by bus next time, riding such a distance is dangerous… that too at night…

I will remember his face for a very long time, I’m sure.

Finally…

544 km

10 hrs and 10 min

16 ltr petrol

6 bread jam sandwiches, 2 boiled eggs, one black tea and one ltr water

Almost nonstop

At 1:40 I reached home.

Route: Bangalore- Hosur- Krishnagiri- Dharmapuri- Thopur- Mettur- Bhavani- Coimbatore- Valayar- Palakkad- Trissur- Angamali- Perumbavoor- Muvatupuzha- Thodupuzha.

Thanks to Bullet, she once again proved herself reliable and trustworthy.

Now let me think about riding back to Bangalore…

The bike’s given for service today morning. Here we have someone called Mr Willi, respectable person for all the bullet owners here in the town. Though he doesn’t do the job himself anymore for health reasons, the job is still done by his disciples.

The gear box seal has taken the toll and is broken… can see grease leaking… will be ready before the return ride back to Bangalore.

Kanva- A day out with RTMC

2007-02-21T12:10:00.000+05:30

Kanva Dam is a minor irrigation project dam spanning 776 hectares and is about 15 kms in length. Built way back in 1946 across the River Kanva (a tributary of the River Cauvery), the dam is also a fisheries center with a number of trees and wooded hills surrounding it.

I was excited to go for this announce ride. I haven’t been to that place before. Moreover this is my second announce ride with RTMC and is going to be the gateway to RTMC membership.

Chandra, Piston, Kam and Sriram are the only guys I know in the ride group. For them too this is the second announce ride with RTMC. Piston again proved himself to be Mr. Late. This guy won’t pick up the phone in the morning. I am trying to wake him up as requested by him. Amazingly he kept his hands and ears away from the phone. 7:30 am, we all are ready to start the ride and I’m getting a call from Piston… sorry dude, couldn’t get up early, but don’t want to miss the ride, his friend also is ready to come with him for the ride as pillion. The option for him now is to join the ride at the breakfast halt. Thankfully the ride route is through the place where Piston stays. Finally before we finished the breakfast Piston makes it to our table.

Piston is more enthusiastic about doing laying his hands on his bike than taking it out for rides. Finally even that lifeless object started complaining about pathetic situation. It’d been in his own ‘personal garage- his porch’ for more than a month. Whenever we wanted him to come out for rides with us the only thing which pulled him back was the fact that the bike is not in running condition. I and Swami used to make fun of this quite often. I’m sure, Piston got fed up with this or not sure if it’s because of the bikes prayers, finally he decided to take to Farooq (his mechanic). Now, a few hours with the mechanic and the bike is ready.

We headed to Kanva after breakfast. There were more than 20 bikes for the ride; I don’t remember the exact no. though. Mysore road is in excellent condition to ride, a glance at the Speedo meter will prove it. The right deviation takes you to Kanva reservoir. It is difficult to figure out that turn. The road from the high way till the dam, I would call it an off road. Better you have a nice butt to take the impact or stand up on the foot rest.

One good thing about the reservoir area is that the place is not commercialized and of course it is very beautiful. You can take your bike close to the water; No shaky muddy cover to trap you or your bikes. I have memories of Marconahalli, another dam, where we had to put in our best to bring a 4x4 off a trap.

The dam site is very picturesque and tempting for any activity on the bike. I and piston took a round the lake ride close to water, a kind of off track ride. Different sides look different. One side we found few boats with no human being around, an abandoned brick furnace etc. giving the place a ghosted look. Chandra should have joined us and his camera would have a feast.

By the time we completed the ride and joined the group the usual introduction part was almost over. Being our second ride with RTMC I checked the procedure for induction to RTMC and I found the right guy to have a chat about this- Sid. He came for the ride with his Java 350cc, white colored bike, a solid restored piece of machine. Sid rides with his wife who is very passionate about riding. When she said she is still waiting for a ride to Vayanad that her hubby has promised to take her once, I felt unbelievable. Sreeram too came with his wife, nice to meet him for the second RTMC ride.

We returned back to Bangalore by noon without going for any more activities other than a line up before leaving the place. Chandra, Kam and I took lunch on the way back while piston split up on the way and ended up in some pub in Rajarajeswari nagar.

A Successful Sunday- Sangam Ride

2007-02-18T19:40:00.000+05:30

28^th Jan 2007; Swami, Piston, Chandra, and myself planned a ride to somewhere outside the city. As usual there was no specific plan. Everyone left it to someone else to plan where to go. But in the morning somehow ‘Sangam’ idea came up. There is something behind that decision too. Mr. Piston doesn’t want to go in Mysore road… Reason… last evening he’d already been there and is a very much explored route for him. All right, who has issues… no one… when there is no plan at all there wouldn’t be issues in choosing a place.

Piston doesn’t sleep, as far as I know, He spends most of the day as well as night at his office cursing his manager ‘Sardarji’. By the way he is one of the very good admirers of sardar jokes. As usual the day before the ride he spent the night at office hoping to go back to sleep after finishing the work which didn’t happen and this sweetheart slept on his chair sometime in the night, may be some time in the morning. We, all set to go are calling him to get no answer. We took the decision. The ride will be to Sangam against Piston’s wish as a protest.

Myself, Chandra and Swami started our ride to Sangam after a good breakfast from a restaurant at Swami’s area in Bansankari at around 8:00 am. Chandra is my pillion. His bike’s been taken by one of his friends for a short time use. I picked Chandra from his home at somewhere close to the ‘Kemp Fort’. Anyway at around 8:30 we got a call from Piston with lots of apologies and willingness to join us. He had just woken up from his ‘office chair’. We waited for him at a place close to the ‘way of life’ ashram. There Swami's and Chandra’s cameras happened to have some promising shots. Swami even went up on a tree to shoot a nest found there.

Piston meets the rest of the gang… Ahh… What a meeting… At 10:00 (against the preplanned 7:30) in a roadside restaurant, gentlysipping juice, Piston came and rests (in peace). We gave him a warm welcome by kicking his ass and few nice ‘pats’ on his back. Had some snacks from there and we headed to Sangam

The route is Bangalore- kanakpura (take a left turn from the city) – sangam. Total of around 80km. We took a right deviation about 20km before reaching sangam to have a small ride to an abandoned quarry which is a hill top through steep rough gravel road. Myself and piston went up while Swami and Chandra waited down photographing some microscopic creatures and unknown plants there in upside down professional angles.

The ride to the hilltop was awesome. The gravel road with hair pin curves surely will test anybody’s skills. The hilltop is fully deserted with no sign of any life. There is a pool with a cubical stone laid in the middle and empty area with few rock pieces laid here and there.

Piston had a nice idea and didn’t hesitate to deliver it… Why don’t we come back with a JCB and a truck for those stones!!! Let him do it… Anyway we spent some time roaming around there and took some snaps (though not as good as Chandra’s double barrel Nikon and Swami’s ‘puttukutti’ my lil powershot too did a decent job.) Coming back negotiating the gravel road- down hill was an exciting experience.

We grouped again (Chandra was standing down in the main stream and Swami was found in the nearby chilly field) and headed to Sangam. Had a late lunch there. There, to go to Mekedatu there are two options. Cross the river and board a bus like vehicle or cross the river on bullet and headed to Mekedatu on bullet riding the off road with kavery on one side and scenic hill view on the other. We didn’t have to think twice to opt the second. Shoes and socks taken off and hung on the bike, jeans pulled up, a bare foot ride…

The most exciting event of the day was crossing the river on bullet and the ride to a settlement in the forest via Mekedatu, around 8km off roading through the forest. My bike did a good job carrying myself and Chandra as pillion with our luggage. The photo captured by Swami gives a nice memory and feel about the ride through the forest. Swami, this is one of your best photos…

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have a ride to finsh.
A river to cross before I reach.
And miles to go before I reach.

Oh, I can’t miss to narrate this incident… Piston had a slight scratch on his hand while trying some gymnastics on an eaten up stand at a view point on the way. Not good, there was rust everywhere on that iron frame. Piston wanted some alcohol to apply the scratch to avoid being septic. No alcohol available in the forest, neither the wild animals nor the 'nonwild' animals drink. Piston had a backup plan which we found very extreme- apply some petrol and burn the area to kill the ‘enemy’… wow… (We could stop his efforts to apply grease). Anyway the burning step was dropped, couldn’t stop him applying petrol though. Later he gave us a lecture on first aid in military style. We listened with eyes wide open and ears tightly closed.

In another exiting moment for Piston, he got the golden opportunity to prove himself a mechanic. He successfully solved a tuk tuk sound coming from the back wheel of his bike on breaking. Later his attempt to lay hands on clutch got prevented by us. Reason: we wanted to reach Bangalore the same day.

If you ask Swami about his take on this ride, he has a very specific answer. His childhood dream came true on 28^th Jan 2007 evening on the banks of river kaveri. Swami wanted to explore the chances and his caliber in nude photography. A volunteered model, swami’s photographic skills and quick reaction to capture the event without wasting a millisecond… everything paid off. Swami is the happiest man on earth. Way to go swami… (Don't ask me who this model is. It's not me or Piston or Swami)

We had coffee at the same place where we had lunch (sitting on the steps of the restaurant). While the return ride Piston got the golden opportunity to demonstrate his mechanical skills, something which he always wanted in his entire life… A nut is loose at the rear and he tightened it. Good job Piston…. Awesome... Anyway we successfully stopped his efforts to do something on the clutch. We wanted to reach Bangalore the same day and wanted Piston too with us in one piece.

How can I miss Swami’s Yoga on the way back... I didn’t feel anything strange when swami stopped on the way and wanted to take a 5 min break. But within a flash of a second swami is in Yoga mode on the road side. Swami ‘Asamayathu Yogananda’…

We reached Bangalore at around 9 O’clock, Had dinner together and bye byed.

I call this one of my best riding experiences for some reasons. Apart from the ride experiences mentioned earlier, there was a very good advantage of having a very good company. We formed a very good group to ride together, always stick to the same common agenda, or should I say, we made sure that there wasn’t any agenda at all. Thanks to Swami, Chandra and Piston for a wonderful day. Let’s meet again…

Sangam ride albums: Jo's Swami's

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You might feel the narration a bit funny and exaggerated about characters and some incidents in a few occasions. Intention is to prevent losing the spirit of the trip. Thank you for taking it in the right sense.

Horsley Hills

2007-02-11T10:37:00.000+05:30

10.02.2007

The hill station is situated 1265 meters above sea level. The climate is cool and pleasant throughout the year.

I rode with:
Muthu and Tiger...
I missed the pack and started alone from KR Puram, but within a few km met with Tiger and later joined Muthu who was waiting on the way- waiting for one of his friends who got issues with his bike who later had to leave the bike somewhere and ride with Muthu as pillion.
Muthu's (500cc) and Tiger's goldies rocked the way and reached HH after sunset.

HH ride was a preplanned, prearranged meet by RTMC and MadBulls. Though this wasn't any special occasion like an anniversary, I joined the ride to have a hang of the meeting and the party.

Ride to HH was smooth, the final stretch of course is a hike with several hairpins to the hill top.
Punnami AP Tourism Hill Resort is a good place to stay- Neat and nicely arranged cottages spread around in a hilly terrain with full of greenary.

I'm not happy that I missed to ride to places around where there are some caves and landscape sceneries, had a short ride to the other side of the resort to have a ride on the rocky surface and have a good view from top.

One important thing I learned this time was to keep a spare tube. Thankfully this happened when reached back at the KR Puram hanging bridge.

Route: Bangalore (KR puram) - (NH4) Hoskote - (SH) Chintamani - Madanapalli - Horseley hills
Distance: ~170 kms

Happy New Year 2007- Jog Falls, Honnavar

2007-01-11T13:15:00.000+05:30

Happy New Year 2007
A much wanted break for me… Going for a long ride on my Bullet and check how the newly fitted CV carburetor works on tough conditions. I missed a ride on the Christmas holidays since busy with relatives to celebrate X’mas. So I was waiting for this ride to happen. Well, I’m talking about the New Year ride to Jog falls and Honnavar. The group was Swami, Chandra, Sandeep, KK and myself.

As usual I did not want to be a part of ride planning. We have experienced guys with us; Experienced on route, place, distance, road conditions etc. Chandra has a very good route map of India. By the way this ride was the first time I had real close contact with Chandra. A good opportunity to have some close contact with good photographers like him, Sandeep and Swami…

We planned the ride/trip for 3 days- Started from Bangalore on 30^thDec 2007 morning and come back on 1^st Jan 2007 evening or probably at night. We assembled at the Cubbon park gate. I and KK reached there first. KK is coming for a long ride for the first time. He is going to be my pillion. When I spoke to him about the ride plan he showed interest for two reasons. One: He doesn’t have any other program for the New Year. Two: He wants to have a feel of the so called rides people do on bikes. Though I warned him of the difficulties of going on such a long ride he felt like adding a new experience to his credit.

Chandra and Sandeep came together and joined us at the cubbon park. That was the first time I’m meeting Sndeep, skin headed and looking bold but happy looking chap, never even heard of him before. But he was in touch with Chandra and Swami and made himself available for the ride. That was his first long ride on his new bullet. Sandeep is much into activities like site seeing, trekking and photography. As far as I know he doesn’t waste a single weekend or holiday without an adventure trip or a drive.

We felt a bit impatient coz swami is yet to join us. When we called swami to know the status, he is still at home struggling hard to come out in that cold December morning. Anyway he made it fast and reached us within half an hour. I always admire Swami for the beautiful works he’s done with his Canon S3. He is keen on photographing objects which others don’t find anything special about when seen around, flowers and small creatures like ants small flies etc. Sometimes I even feel that he's started turning his camera towards living objects and human expressions. I don’t know if it is because of my requests or influence.

We started the ride at around 7:45 from Cubbon park, filled the bikes from the Shell on the way and 'thumped on'. I and KK were feeling a bit hungry and so we too felt like filling and did the same a little far from Shell. That wasn’t necessary if we knew that there was the plan to stop at Kamat for an exclusive breakfast. But I found that idli’s at Kamat doesn’t come par with that at the local shop where we had the first fill up. Anyway when others had breakfast I and KK just topped up while going through the reports on Saddam Hussein’s execution in the morning daily. We pushed off after Chandra and Sandeep had a final check on the map for the correct route. Sandeep had been to Jog falls before, I heard from him later.

Swami jammed his breaks when he saw a Stone Age machine on road side which produces some kind of a cream colored liquid which people around seen drinking. Sugar cane extractor which produces sugar cane juice… Swami has discovered sugar cane juice... Hurray... He had two glasses while we had one each. He wanted it ‘without sugar’!!!. Swami had already fallen in love with the machine at first sight itself and as a result the operator earned 10 bucks extra. Had we got piston with us, he would have measured the rpm torque and bhp of the machine precisely. Swami took some pics of the machine and we left the place.

The next pit stop was on the high way side, on an old bridge, seemed abandoned as the traffic’s been diverted through the new bridge. When somebody wanted to lie down to stretch out, Sandeep brought out a plastic floor sheet to every body’s surprise. After taking rest for some time Swami was found performing some special Yoga there. No one has ever seen such a practice anywhere. We were the only lucky ones to witness that rare performance.

We stopped at Shimoga to watch sunset and take some snaps. Our initial plan was to stay at Shimoga and head to Jog falls in the morning. A phone call to Jog falls KASTDC changed all the plans. Rooms are available there and we are not sure abut the same at Shimoga. At sunset we are 105km away from Jog falls. Though it was risky to take the ghat roads at night we decided to do it; didn’t want to take chance on availing rooms for stay. Though different riding styles made big gaps between the bikes, all got sorted out on a ‘pit stop’.

The last stretch before reaching Jog falls was the ride of the day. The ghat roads taking to Jog falls, I think it was approximately 50km, was one of a kind stretch which any biker will love to take. Bullet produced the thump at its max while taking the uphill with the pillion, most of the times requesting one shift down from the top.

Had dinner on the way and reached Jog falls at around 10:00pm. KSTDC guest house there is an old building which is maintained in a very good condition. We even had a view to the falls from our room. A wonderful place to stay...

31^st Dec 2007; we had break fast from the nearby cafeteria and as per the plan had a trek down to the falls; Chandra and Sandeep did not join the trek though. The water down was chill cold, but couldn’t resist the temptation to take a bath under the falls. Swami and KK were found busy clicking after the cold bath. The place is filled with rocks carved in different shapes by mere ‘water force’. Swami clicked lots of rocks for one reason- he is gonna rock the New Year. After some time I found him ‘flat’ down on ground clicking something else. Does that mean he is going to be flat after the so called rocking? I don’t think so. It took time for the return trek to the top. Oops... it was tiring. It is advisable to have the trek to and fro in the morning since the later hours of the day will be sunny down there.

I was waiting for the ride to Honnavar. The plan was to start at 3:00pm and reach there before sunset. Sandeep, KK and myself did the ride while Chandra and Swami preferred to visit the other side of the falls. (Chandra didn’t want to strain his right foot after he got a kick back on the bullet and Swami received a call at his 6^th or 7^th sense and decided to stay back listening to it) The 65km stretch to Honnavar through ghat roads seemed to take a bit longer than expected. But we pushed a bit hard to reach there before sunset. Sandeep had a very valuable time there, I think. He was too busy with his cam and wide angle lens, found him taking shots even at almost zero visibility. I won’t forget the dinner at Honnavar with delicious fish items... can’t forget a mishap too… I lost a 512MB card and my cam cover there. I still can’t figure out where exactly I lost it. While the return ride, Sandeep was in full josh, enjoying a moonlight tide only with the park light and the eye bulbs. Damn… my bikes fuse is gone and I can’t do that. We reached back at Jog falls at 10:00pm and joined Chandra and Swami.

At midnight I and KK ‘cheersed’ the New Year when others were sound asleep.

Morning at around 9:30 we left Jog falls and this time we took a different route via Chikmagalur and Mangalore NH. The route is picturesque. We rode with ease with much needed pit stops and reached Bangalore at 2am, 2^nd Jan 2007. We straight rode to MG road, had tea and Bye Byed. A 1050km beautiful ride, I enjoyed every bit of it.

This story doesn’t end without mentioning what happed to KK after the ride. KK had a little fever while the return ride in the evening which was ignored. The next day I got a call from KK with an unfamiliar voice. Da, please come home and take me to hospital. Ooops... KK was hospitalized for one week nothing serious though… Fever and throat infection... I don’t publish his sick photo here for health reasons. KK just had another holidaying in the hospital for one week, that’s all…

KK got what he wanted from this ride… An entirely different experience which he won't forget in the near future...

By the way the CV carb on my bull works better compared to the old one which had 101 issues.

Jog falls ride albums: Jo's Swami's

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Markonahalli

2006-12-20T20:14:00.000+05:30

Markonahalli

01.11.2006
Markonahalli reservoir is a beautiful place away from the city to have a relaxed ride to.
My first ride with RTMC
All started with an internet search for a riding club in Bangalore and a yahoo chat with Karthikeyan Perumal whose id I got from the group and who was fortunately available for chat at the same time.
An announce ride is happening after almost two months since joining the announce group.

I just wanted to have someone whom I know before with me and just invited piston. He happily joined the ride as my pillion.
Piston is new to this riding stuff and he just wanted to try it with me as a pillion. My rough rear shock absorber and pillion seat gave him enough torture.

Two bikes broke on the way. One was towed back to Bangalore and the other ones’ broken clutch repaired by a fellow biker. Don’t know his name though.

I remember only few RTMCian names
Bamboo on a red machismo, Bakery who keeps one full bakery stuff inside the saddle bag, Sam on BMW650, Dicso... others… forgot names but remember the faces.

Oh yeah… Dutta brought his family too in his Chevy forester. Unfortunately the 4W drive got stuck in the slush at the markonahalli dam site and it was really a himalayan task to bring it up even with the help of some locals.

Few faces I met who are new to RTMC:
Sreekanth- the bearded guy running in with his new electra,
Chandra- the photographer with a Nikon D80 and
Kamalesh on his new TB.
Jagdeep on a DL std bull.
Sreeram Iyar on his Machismo

It was nice to have a new experience with a new ride group- comparatively big in size and entirely a new riding culture and attitude.

Looking forward to do the second announce ride and join the RTMC main group.

Route:
Bangalore - Neelamangal - Kunigal - Markonahalli. Distance : 90km aprx.
Left turn from Kunigal from where the reservoir is around 10kms.