Ride to Mysore

Well this one was my first ride. Till now I had never travelled more than 150 km on my Caliber Croma at a stretch. It has almost been 5.5 years now. So before persuading my passion I just wanted to test the endurance of my bike as well as myself. I chose the day as Saturday(obviously) 21st Dec 07 for the first long ride in my life. Mysore is just approx. 150 km from Bangalore.
Saturday morning I made a quick dash to office as had to complete some urgent work. I was done by 1000. I had a nice heavy breakfast of bread-omelet and juice. I started at 1030 from my office at Electronics City. Filled up the petrol worth 400 bucks which was enough for my bike. As soon as I reached Silk Board, the traffic was as usual horrific at its best. Some cynical feeling creeped into my mind. But I was going to do this time around. It took me almost 1 hour to hit the Mysore Road. If you are starting a long journey, start before dawn so that city traffic wont spoil the beginning for your journey. Anyways as soon as I hit the highway, I could feel the difference. No more toggling of the gears. I just put in on 4th(unfortunately that is the top gear on my bike) and zoomed ahead. I knew that my bike wont be able to withstand high speeds for a long time. So I decided to play it between 60-70 /hr. I just looked at my watch it was about 1145. Milo read Mysore as 125km. When I was travelling I encountered quite a beautiful views on the way. A series of small mountains was accompanying me for quite some time. I just stopped for a break and then I realized that I have missed out my Camera. SHAME ON ME! I forgot such a vital thing. As I already had quite a heavy breakfast before leaving, I didnt stop on the roadside dhaba. But just I was midway between Bangalore-Mysore, I saw a coconut-water guy. Immediately I stopped. Had good two coconuts full of water. That's the beauty of SOuth India, you can get rehydrate anytime, anywhere with this wonderful source. That was enough for me to get going till Mysore.
On the way I saw a group of bikers on their ZMAs, Pulsars and all. They just zoomed past me. I was helpless. Anyways soon I would be having one of those. I gave myself some consolation and moved on. The road was just awesome and I reached Mandya in no time. I saw the clock and it was 1300. Mysore was still 60km away. Well almost 65 km in 75 mins. It was OK. I had a small break there as I am not used to such long rides and I already started having some butt-ache. I headed towards Mysore. Just as Mysore was aout 25 km, there was one big procession and one side of State highway was blocked. Suddenly my speedo dropped from 70s to 20s.. It was blocked for almost 1 km and took about 5mins. Whoa!!! Again I hit on accelerator and reached mysore within half an hour. The time was about 1415. Now the big question? Should I head back or go somewhere in Mysore???? I decided to visit my office campus in Mysore. Well 2 years ago, I had my training there and just wanted to reminisce those old days. Got the directions for the campus in no time. It was about 8 km from where I was. Reached there within 10 mins. The time was 1430. I decided to have a glass of juice at my favorite swimming pool-side juice center. Had a nice Pineapple juice. Took a small walk around campus and decided to head back as I was running out of time.(?????) (Just wanted to get back before evening as had a party with some friends at 1930)
Started at 1515. This time I wanted to travel non-stop for 1 hour. As soon as I left Mysore, again encountered the procession. This time I had to take the wrong way as my lane was closed. I dropped the idea for non-stop 1 hour in this part of ride. Kept on continuing till I encountered the Hotel Amravathi just before Mandya. When I was in Mysore, every time I used to travel to Bangalore, the KSRTC bus would stop at this restaurant and I loved the Curd Rice there. Immediately I stopped and had one Curd Rice and a Idli-Wada (Actually I wanted a Dosa, but it was not available in afternoon and I had really heavy breakfast for a full-fledged South Indian meal)
After that I decided to have the non -stop ride till Bangalore almost 90 km away. At 1615 I started from Hotel Amravathi. Again ZMAs, Pulsars, TBs were zooming past me. And not to forget the super fast Lancers and Mercs. Volvo buses were giving them a tight fight. I kept on continuing at my pace but I gradually saw it increasing to 80s. I didn't worry as Bangalore was approaching near. Almost at 1700 I was not able to take it anymore and I had to stop. My bike's sitting position is a bit awkward which led to the strain on my shoulders. Took rest for about 5-10 mins and headed back towards the Silicon city of India and reached by 1745.As soon as I entered Bangalore, I was greeted by enormous traffic jam. Finally managed to reach home by 1900 as the Saturday evening traffic was really very bad.
Well the trip was quite event less but I really enjoyed the ride. Surely will be having many more in the times to come. In all a very satisfying day for me..
Statistics:-
Distance :- 350 kms
Route :- Bangalore - Mandya - Mysore - Mandya - Bangalore