Hyderabad to Pune Ride

Date: - 3rd July 2009
Route: - NH9
Time: - 1030 to 2045 [10 hrs 15 mins]
Distance: - 547 kms

So finally I came back to Pune after a year in Hyderabad. I was on so-called riding hiatus more because of non-availability of good riding destinations nearby. I came back on a Wednesday leaving Red Stallion in Hyderabad. Joined the office in Pune and again on Saturday took a bus back to Hyd so that I can ride back all the way to Pune.

Sometimes people do make a mistake of over-estimating themselves. This time I was one of them. I was so sure that I can leave Hyd by 1000 and reach Pune by 1900. I was wrong indeed. After confirming with the mechanic that bike was in a good shape to make this trip as silencer was making some noises, I headed towards Lingampally from Madhapur at exactly 1030 hours. Not even out of Hyd and heard some weird noise from somewhere. Again a stop at mechanic and did some cleaning of disc brake. Started off again but noise still persisted. I decided to carry on. The bike was loaded with almost 20kg of load in form of saddle bags and a backpack fastened on the back seat. So I started real slow occasionally touching 90s. I had to watch the Germany-Argentina encounter in the evening that was about to start at 1930. So I planned accordingly. That means only body-respite breaks and nothing else.

But this trip turned out to be a lot different than other trips. As I left Hyderabad city and entered countryside, I really didnt cared about time and speed and just watched the cities, villages, pastures, people I passed by. Initially I was about to take break after every 2 hrs, but soon I didnt mind the time intervals between breaks.Sometimes, it was 2 hrs, sometimes 30 mins. Was calling up my fiancée/mother alternatively updating my status (read "Read I was OK or not?"). I crossed AP without hassles.
Even about 50-70kms stretch of Karnataka was eventless. Then I entered Maharashtra and a homely feeling crept into me. I was sure now that even if something happens, at least I can communicate with people around me. And then eventually came the rains I never had ridden in such torrential rains. So this was a complete new experience. I just loved every part of its.. I loved the way nature changed its colours around me from time to time. At a time it was pitch dark and cloudy, then it started raining. No sooner than few kms and I could see sun some out and shine upon fresh greenery all around in a perfect magnificence. I loved every part of it. I didnt even notice when did my speeds dropped to meagre 60-70 as I was absorbed enjoying the beauty around me. And just when I was appreciating and thanking rain gods for showing me such a wonderful view, came another spell of rain. I didnt even notice the clouds gathering and all I saw was that people running helter-skelter in the next village I saw. The rains caught me unaware and I was drenched to the core. The visibility was very low and I was moving at 40s. Now being drenched back to reality I remembered the football QF in the evening and suddenly wanted to reach home early. Guess I was too late. I reached Solapur @280 kms in by 1600. Quite unlike me. On some other day I would have been there by 1400 itself.
Took a long break for body to get some respite. Already came to know that I gonna miss the match. But still tried to give it a go to reach Pune by 2000 at most. But the traffic increased and the road conditions degraded exponentially after Solapur because of 4 laning process of the highway. It was becoming pretty difficult to maintain the constant speeds. Moreover single lane bad NH was not helping either. As usual the ST buses never give a damn to bikers along with the innovas and scorpios. Wet roads worsened the situation. But finally found an able ally in a Sumo that was overtaking the slow moving trucks in all the fury. Got hold of that one and rode non stop was almost 2 hrs again untill my bum gave up and I had to take a halt. The roads were bad for almost 150kms from Solapur and by the time I hit good roads at 1900, it was already dark and as I am not that a good rider in dark had to follow a ST bus to avoid oncoming uppers. So finally reached Hadapsar at 2015 I guess. The last 15-20 kms inside city felt like the previous 500kms. But nonetheless reached home by 2045 and guess what saw that Germany was 3-0 up on Argentina. Quite unbelievable!!!

Hyderabad Nagpur round trip

Date: - 23rd Dec 2009
Route: - NH7 Hyderabad - Nagpur
Time: - 1345 to 2215 [8 hrs 30 mins]
Distance: - 497 kms
1345: Started from Hyderabad. Took NH9 as a bypass towards Bowenpally and off to NH7. The first 130kms are superb 4 laned along with electronic display boards for warnings. Was pleased to see that max. allowed speed as 100kmph. Didnt disappoint the authorities. No breaks for 3 hrs and managed to cover 220kms.

1645: Suddenly before Armur road changed to single lane and bad roads started. Again a small patch of 4 lane between Armur and Nirmal for about 40 kms and then started the worst roads. Firstly a small ghat section with a lot of monkeys on the road. Need to be careful, as there are monkeys all over. Even saw an unfortunate dead one lying in a pool of blood.

1740: I had crossed Nirmal and it was getting darker. My P200's stock light failed to help me. Took a break for tea at a dhaba. The road condition further worsened after ghat as there were practically no roads for about 20kms. Had to follow an APSRTC bus at meagre 30s.

1900: The last 20kms took me almost 45 mins and I reached Adilabad. A left turn inside city and I was again heading towards Nagpur.

1945: Once I crossed Bori, I was into Maharashtra. The roads again are no better here too. The complete NH7 is under 4 laning preparation. So one side of road was working and other under construction. So had to cross innumerous diversions. It was total dark around and at one point of time no one was following me too. So I decided to stop for a while as the night sky was too inviting. I have never seen so many stars in my lifetime till now becuase of the light pollution inside cities. It was scary as well as exciting to stop in middle of nowhere in complete darkness. A break for 10 mins and I started off. Found an Indica moving at some 60ish. So started tailgating. Very soon one more Indica overtook us and I started following that one as it was moving at 80-90s. It was getting damn chilly as night progressed. The Cramster jacket was keeping the torso warm but cargos didnt help much for my lower body.

2145: A small scary incident on outskirts of Nagpur. One dumb cyclist was crossing a crossroad on a 4 laned National Highway as if its his backyard without bothering about the oncoming vehicles. Sadly it was only mine. I breaked so hard that my front tire skidded. But thanks to P200s superb grip, I managed to keep it straight. The tires made sucha huge noise that we became a show for the others at that chowk. That dumbo smiled sheepishly and went ahead. I was also in no mood to get into an argument. So I made a move too.

2215: Home sweet home

Date: - 28th Dec 2009
Route: - NH7 Nagpur - Hyderabad
Time: - 0545 to 1345 [8 hrs]
Distance: - 494 kms

0545: Started from Nagpur and planed to reach by 1300 if my luck was good. Nothing special as kept on riding till AP-Maha border.

0730: Heard some strange noise from my bike's lower portion. As if someone had put a spoon inside an empty tin can and shaking it vigorously. I stopped and checked if some nut bolt had loosened or what. But no signs.

0815: Reached Adilabad. Tried searching for some mechanic but none of the shops had opened. Moreover the bad patch from Adilabad till Nirmal was about to start. I took the risk and moved ahead towards Nirmal. The noise was still there and I was not able to make out what was causing it. Most probably it was something related to silencer as I didn't notice any change in bike's performance.

1015: Reached Nirmal and found a mechanic. He said some part of silencer had fallen inside and making noise and it was not a major problem. I suspected catalytic converter. Now as the noise was really distracting me I put on my IPOD and started ripping as the road conditions bettered.

1100: A few kms after Nirmal encountered a road block on highway. I tried to negotiate from sides but everything was blocked. Reason... Separate Telangana.. The protestors had put about 8-10 bikes across the roads and also a Tata 608 after that just to ensure that no one escapes. It was nothing to worry about. They sang some songs and raised a lot of slogans. As I dont understand Telugu, I didnt get even a single word except that one of them involved the named Chiranjeevi..

1130: After half an hour they released the block. A commuter besides me told that now there will be a blockade after few kms.. Maybe more. As good patch had started, I ripped my bike as if devil was chasing me. And as a matter of fact, some guys were planning a blockade after some 30kms too. I made out this was the next batch of protestors. But they were just preparing and one out of the 2 lanes was not blocked. I didn’t bother to stop and sped away.

1300: Reached outskirts of Hyderabad.

1345: Finally reached at home in Madhapur.
Now as soon as I get time need to show the silencer to any decent Bajaj service station. Hope it’s not a silencer replacement.

Pune Hyderabad Ride

Date: - 8th Sept 2009

Route: - NH9 Pune - Solapur - Hyderabad

Time:- 0415 to 1300 [8 hrs 45 mins]

Distance :- 547 kms

Again my bike needed a transfer along with me to Hyderabad. Reached Pune on 5th Sep. Immediately gave the bike for servicing and all the marammat thing. Costed me a whooping 3k as bike neared 20k kms in almost an year. And as its a Bajaj I prefer to service it and replace parts as per manual because dont wanna take any risk on highways.

So my bike was ready. This was first time I was gonna sport my brande new riding gear. That means Cramster jacket, gloves, knee pads and my brand new Vega helmet .

Started from my home in Pune at 0415 after saying tata to aai. I left early because I planned to reach Hyderabad early afternoon so that I can attend office as I didnt have a leave for Tuesday. For first 50kms from Pune, road was a 4 lane with dividers. But as soon as it changed to single lane, my speeds dropped to as low as 60s. The upper light coming from oncoming vehicles was making life miserable for me. I had no option but to trail behind any big vehicle that can shadow me from the lights. For some time I was trailing a truck at meagre 40. Found an able ally in a pickup truck that was moving at respectable speeds of 70s. But soon he may have gotten suspicious about a bike following him at a close distance for such a long time and he too slowed down. I had to overtake him anyhow. So I trudged along the highway slowly till the daybreak.

At about 0545 the horizon lighted up and I took a small tea break. Feeling fresh from the break I started to rip the bike.By ripping I seriously mean it. I dont remember any instance when my bike was below 90 when I was on trafficless roads. Most of the times I was 100+.

Reached Solapur i.e 265 km by 0845. Tanked up my bike and also my stomach by sandwiches mom had prepared early in the morning. Well cant miss "Maa ke haath ka bana khaana"

Then started the ultimate part of the ride.

I started at 0900 from Solapur with Hyderabad exactly 300kms. Continuing the high speeds, I averaged almost 75kms per hour and managed to reach my room in Hyderabad @ 547 kms exactly at 1300. So that last 288 kms I covered in 4 hours with only 4 small breaks for water.

Yeah sometimes in between it did get monotonous. At one point of time I almost fell asleep. Stopped the bike immediately. Relaxed for 10 mins by just sitting down and closing my eyes and I was ready to go.

NH9 road condition is not great. But bikes, yeah they wont feel much brunt as they can easily ditch most of the potholes swiftly. Unlike cars that had to bear the brunt of the bad ditches on the roads. Also when a long lane of trucks comes in front of you, bikes can easily overtake and such is not the case with cars as they loose precious time behind stubbornly moving slow trucks.

So my take is that this route is doable by car as well as bike in 9 hrs considering road conditions. If the conditions improve, it maybe done in only 8 hours by car I guess. Need to try that too..Maybe next time