Bangalore to Pune ride

Date :- 26/27 Jan 2008
Route :- Bangalore - Belgaum- Kolhapur- Pune
Distance :- 898 km
Time :- 20 hrs(Riding Time)

0430 hrs
So finally this was the time what I was waiting for so desperately for quite a few months. Me and Aditya were at the gate of my room in HSR layout, ready to start our trip from Bangalore to Pune on my bike, the 2002 Caliber Croma. I was kind of pensive because the bike was quite old for a 900 km trip. But as I was getting transferred to Pune, my bike also needed a transfer. And what better way other than riding it all the way to Pune. I had traveled many times by NH4 by bus. So I had a feel of the road. It is by far one of the best highways of India, dare I say. Almost 800 km was a 4 lane highway, so it was quite safe from driving perspective. We already had analyzed the whole route on net. I didn’t knew how the bike would be respond as this was the first time I was going to ride her this long. Before that, my longest trip was just 350 km. So we decided to play it safe and slow. Considering the frequent stops we would be taking in between, our aim was to reach at least Maharashtra-Karnataka border [Nipanni] by day break which was almost 580 km. The odometer read 48403 km. It wasn’t quite chilly but we had donned ourselves with jackets and gloves [I thanked myself for this. Will explain in detail very soon.]
Straightaway headed to Yeshvantpur from my house. This was the last time I was going to drive on the Bangalore roads and I was surely gonna miss the good moments which I had here. The roads were empty and in no time crossed Yeshvantpur and were on NH4. We made our first stop at about 0530 at a roadside Dhaba for a hot cup of tea. We were so much raring to go that we didn’t stop much. It was still dark. Our next stop was at about 0630 and Pune was 740 kms from there. So it was almost 130 km in 2 hrs. Well we were pretty much on track.


Destination => 740km still...


We continued till the sun showed up on the horizon and then we again decided to take the break. And that is when we got the first shock of our trip. The rear wheel rim was being sprinkled upon by oil. I checked the engine oil level and to my horror it was just above the minimum limit. The oil was leaking from somewhere. We got hold of one mechanic. As expected, he told us that he was a 4- wheeler mechanic and he couldn’t repair a bike. But he told that it doesn’t seem to be a serious issue. We just filled up some oil from him and continued on our way. At that time Chitradurga was just 20 km away. Had a nice breakfast at A1 Plaza.
Then started a long ride towards Hubli- Our next destination for lunch. Taking the occasional breaks for letting the shutterbug inside us to get free, we continued till again the oil leak problem started. We tried to find out the exact source of leak. But failed miserably. We decided to carry on as the issue was not of high concern and we had plenty of extra oil with us
Some thoughts on the way
We continued. Shooting snaps all the way long. It was this patch from Harihar almost till Hubli which can be termed as bad along the entire NH4. No milestones and sign boards. We almost kept traveling for about 100 km without any guarantee that we were heading to Hubli. So we occasionally used to ask the locals. As this was our first ride of this kind, inexperience was clearly evident. At that moment I realized that what it must mean to wander into no man's land. Anyways we were far away from that. Road construction was stopped at almost all the bypasses on the way. So the roads were dug up, no roads at all at some places. Till almost 1400, we made our way through the dusty and crowded raods of Ranibennur, Harihar and all the cities lying on the way. But soon we were greeted by the excellent roads once again. Now it was almost 1430 and we were nearing Hubli. We were damn hungry and started looking for any restaurant. Soon we saw an A1 again. Had a nice break there and relished some good heavy lunch which made us a bit drowsy. Adi said that he needs to drive some more other wise he will fall asleep if he becomes a pillion. Well I could understand his position but I decided to fight my sleep sitting behind.
At about 1530 we crossed Hubli and then I took the driving honors again. The roads were at the best and we cruised as we crossed Dharwad and some small villages. Till that point my bike was just awesome apart for some loss in power when it came to any steep climbs. At our stipulated break time of 50 km I just checked the oil level and again it dipped low and this time oil was dripping heavily. Suddenly our plan of reaching Karnataka-Maharashtra border before sunset seemed bleak. We had to find out a mechanic. Thankfully the next village was very near. Found a mechanic pretty soon. After some RnD by him, he quickly found out the root cause. The culprit was the Oil filter casing. He told that during some previous servicing, that revered personnel must have by mistake slashed the filter casing which was the root cause for the oil leak. I felt relieved that the problem was not a big one. We got it replaced and lost some 30 min in that.
It was almost dawn when we crossed Belgaum. Had a hot cup of tea as it was getting quite chilly. The Belgaum to Kolhapur patch was just simply awesome. The roads are wide as a cricket pitch. The vast plains surrounding this road and the sun going down was an awesome sight to watch. We kept on cruising and the odo kept on rolling. At last we reached Nipanni at about 1930. So we were one hour late of our schedule. Still it was fine.

One that made it all possible.

Earlier we had decided to break at Nipanni for the day. We decided to change the plan. Actually we had to leave from Pune to Bangalore the very next day itself at 1600. Both of us needed at least some time with our respective folks at Pune. We really would have made it to Pune that day itself had we kept on continuing. But thought it would be better to have a overnight break. We kept on moving and once we crossed Kagal, Pune's distance came below 250, we thought that this much distance could be covered next day early morning and we can manage a heavy brunch at Pune. At last we stopped at 2030 at a highway lodge just some kms after Kolhapur Bypass. We covered about 650 km that day after a long 14 hr eventful ride. We checked into lodge and had a nice dinner of Egg Curry in typical Kolhapuri style.

Next morning we had again decided to start at 0430 morning. We were just 15 min late. As we started, soon we realized that something was not fine. It was really damn cold and we were really fighting hard to keep the cold off. Anyways, we didn’t want to stop... so we continued. But our first break came very early at 0530. And we had two cup of teas and still the cold refused to budge. We were wondering that what should be the temperature, but thanked ourselves for donning us with jackets and gloves. [Next day we came to know that the temperature was nearing 5 Degrees that morning. ]

We kept moving and at about 0600 I just glanced across the horizon. On the west was a small hillock basking gloriously in the moonlight and towards the east, far beyond the plains I could see the sky getting reddish orange. I have to admit that this was the best sight I have ever seen till today. The scene was really amazing and I just kept gazing at this marvelous sight of nature. And the saddest part was that both these scenes could not be captured in a camera together. Maybe some magnificence of nature is supposed to be experienced in real only!!!!!! This helped me forget the cold weather for some time.

When we stopped for our next break at 0700, we were already closing in towards Satara and the bike just refused to climb a small hill. The cold had had taken the better of the bike. We decided to give it a good break. As the day was breaking in, we took some beautiful snaps of the vast mountainous plateaus. In between we stopped for one more cup of tea. The owner enquired from where we were coming from. I still remember the reaction from him when we told him that we came all the way from Bangalore. I called up at my place and told that my esteemed arrival at Pune will be happening by 0930 in Pune. Well I expected some sparks flying at other end. But everything went cool (considering I hadn't informed them about this so-called adventure). Finally we started at 0720 with Pune about 130 km away. This last part of ride was really an impatient one. We just wanted to reach Pune soon and reached did we.... finally at 0900 I had a hot Vada Pav at Joshi's on the highway. Adi refused to have it as he hates it. But I just love it. Shot some last snaps of our memorable trip. I dropped Adi at Chandni Chowk where his friend had come to pick him up. I continued till Sus Road and finally made it to my didi's place. I checked the meter and it showed 49301. So it was 898km. Not bad for my first long ride.

In the End............

I just recollected Iron Maiden’s Total Eclipse >>>
“It’s not the journey's end, it has just begun........”