Ride to Bhimashankar

Date: - 7th July 2012
Route: - Pune - Manchar - Bhimashankar - Pune
Time: - 0630 to 1700
Distance: - 236 kms

June had already passed, but monsoon was still eluding Pune city. So we, Bladerunnerzzz decided to give a visit to Rain Gods simultaneously visiting the Holy Shrine of Lord Shiva at Bhimashankar.

On 7th July at morning 6:00 am, all the BRZZZ met at Bremen Circle. I was surprised to see the number of bikes that had turned up for the rides (19 in total with 2 new joinees). A couple of days back we had heard about a certain Mandhardevi temple, the route to which passes through some scenic ghat. So a poll was arranged whether to carry on with our plan for Bhimashankar or explore this new destination. As majority of people had not been to Bhimashankar, the former was chosen.

This time we tried a new technique to ride in formation (and it worked very well). The whole bunch of 19 bikes were divided in three groups with a lead and sweep for each sub group. Ayush, myself and Rachit were the leads while Sarthak, Sharath and Alok were the sweeps for sub groups 1,2 and 3 respectively. Each and every rider was given a number and it was decided that everyone will follow the sequence. We left Bremen Circle at some 6:30 am. Riding in such a huge formation of 19 bikes did command attention for each and every passer-by we crossed. I wont deny that it felt good :) . Initially being slow, we picked up our speeds after crossing Bhosari, although we never went above 80s as that would have disturbed the formation. Within an hour or so we reached Hotel Purohit for the breakfast stop. the 2 newbies Kinshuk and Sayan introduced themselves and vice versa received the intro of our good ol' BRZZZ.

At 8:30 we left Purohit and diverted off the NH-50 from Manchar to take the state highway. We were expecting rough roads, but thankfully the surface seemed to have been tarred recently, so it was almost pothole free road except a few bad patches that went unnoticable. The surroundings were not very enchanting untill we started ascending the ghat on the way after a small town village Mapoli. We were greeted with the familiar sights of monsoon in Sahyadris with hazy grey clouds kissing the mountain tops. Intermittent drizzles were accompanying all the time. Some 60kms and 1.5 hrs after Purohit, we took the first break to relax and had the regular group photo session. The weather had turned cloudy and everyone had gotten into the enjoyment mode. Cracking jokes, lying on the roads, blah blah.....We started and after some time just when Bhimashankar was some 7-8 kms ahead, took one more break as the visibility has reduced to a few meters. Time for another photoshoot. We could see only for 3-4 m ahead of us. Reached Bhimashankar and were stopped by a check post (not police) for entry fees. Each bike was charged 5 bucks.

Once we reached temple, the visibility reduced further to hardly 1-2 meters. Everyone was enjoying the foggy atmosphere to the core as it was welcome respite from the sunny days in Pune. A descend of few foot steps and we approached the entrance of temple. It was 10:30 am and crowd was growing. We had to wait for some 20 mins in queue for the revered Bhagwan ke Darshan. Once done, we climbed back to parking and there was no point in wandering here n there because of low visibility. Anyways trekking to Gupt Bhimashankar would have taken lots of efforts and its not very comforable to trek carrying the heavy riding gear.

So we started back to Pune. Time for photo shoot of the guys with their rides. We chose a spot where road was passing through middle of the jungle for the photo shoot. I bet whenever anyone passed by us ( be it a car or a bike or a bus),  he/she must have been hell scared of seeing group of 19 guys on their bikes almost blocking the way ahead of them. Although that was not our intention. We just wanted to have a good snap for our next month's calendar page.

As soon as we started back, it started raining and this time it was heavy .... damn heavy. We got completely drenched in a matter of few mins. But doning ourselves with riding jacket, helmets, knee gaurds and gloves, we hardly felt any rain beating us. We cruised along cautiously at speeds of 30s-40s. It was an unbelievable experience. This was not th first time I had ridden in such a torrential rain. But everytime I do, it gives a sense of enormous satisfaction. We kept of riding for next whole 1.5 hrs in this rain and managed to cover 40kms only. Once we descended the ghat and crossed the village Mapoli, the rains subsided, but I bet it was still raining up beyond the ghat. We stopped for a small petrol break and decided to take a somewhat different routeback home. Instead of going straight to Manchar, we took a right to directly catch NH50 at Peth. No one knew the condition of the road and everyone was a bit thrilled to take this route. After taking the detour, hardly after a couple of kms, the road ended and we ended up on the gravel track. Asking a few construction workers on the way, they told that the road is good ahead of this small patch. A small ghat was staring ahead of us. But the torrential rains had taken toll on one of the R15s chain. It literally came off and it had to be fixed like the one we do for a cycle. It kept of slipping off the sprocket and we had no other alternative that to carry on like that untill we find some mechanic on the way. Once ghat was over, the chain behaved properly and we were able to reach Peth very soon. Just before Peth, we found a mechanic. Abhishek(R15 rider) was fixing the chain with mechanic and suddenly looking at the Vada pav kiosk opposite to the mechnic shop, everyone's hunger pangs increased the intensity a hundred times. We had not eaten since the breakfast in morning at 8:30 and now it was almost 3 pm. we ordered that guy some 20 vada pavs, and 20 bread pattice. He had to fetch some essentials from nearby shops so as to cater to us. In short, uski Lottery lag gayi. The mechanic was unable to repair the chain and there was no other alternative than to carry on till Pune and show the bike to Yamaha ASC. So Abhishek and
Sourabh started ahead slowly approacing Pune. Meanwhile, we discovered that we had eaten more than 35 vada pavs and 15 bread pattices. Typical BRZZZ again. With our tummies satisfied, we made our final dash to Pune kindoff impatiently. Reached Nashik Phata by 5 PM and bade goodbye to each other leaving behind the memorable moments we had.

This is only the second ride this monsoon and we are already are drowned in the intoxication of riding. Hoping so that many more are coming........

Ride to Jog Falls & Murudeshwar

Dates: - 21-23 August
Route: - Pune - Dharwad - Yellapur - Sirsi - Jog Falls - Murudeshwar - Sawantwadi - Amboli - Kolhapur - Pune
Distance: - 1400 kms

Day 1 : Saturday 21st August
0530 : I am ready. The bags are packed and hauled onto the Red Stallion. I am a bit nervous like I am before every long ride. But this time its gonna be 1000km+ adrenaline gushing ride through mountains, jungles and beaches. I just cant wait to start. My mother is in the parking to wish me a happy journey. She is as usual cynic about why I am going for such a long ride again. I don’t have an option to kick start (it feels so good to kick start a bike) so have to push the start button to bring the RS to life. Start from my home at 0540 to meet the rest of fellow bikers at Chandni Chowk. When I reach there, I find only Faiz along with his yellow FZ-S. Ayush comes after a few mins on his black Thunderbird. Sagar astride his black P150 is waiting for us near Sinhgad bypass.
0545 : Rest of the team is going to be late so we three decide to start the journey and head towards Satara leniently so that others will catch up soon. Sagar starts on his own.
0730 : We reach Satara without any break leisurely cruising on dear NH4. (NH4 has went on to acquire highly sentimental value among bikers in Pune. Such is the beauty of this road). Sagar joins us too. Come to know that Bharat is not gonna make it to the trip because of his tooth surgery and Royd will be catching us up on his Red Fazer very soon. Ankur and Arti join us on his black CBZ.0800 : 5 bikes start from Satara. Hardly after 40 kms I notice Faiz’s rear tyre is low on air. We stop to check and find that the rear tyre is almost flat. Sagar goes ahead to find a puncture-wala. The guy says he will not be able to mend tubeless tyre. So its decided that Faiz will walk back some kms and mend the puncture in that village. Meanwhile Royd joins. Enthusiasm somewhat subsides because of this event but still we decide to move on.

0900 : Faizs heads back and we move on. Decide to stop at Sai International before Kolhapur for breakfast and reach there by 1000 something.
1130 : After a good and heavy breakfast, we target Hubli straightaway 230kms ahead. Top up the fuel tanks and start the ripping. The NH4 stretch after Kolhapur till Belgaum is heaven. Sparse traffic. Excellent roads. Even speeds of 100+ feel like its nothing. Stop in between for some photoshoot while crossing some random lake on highway.

1300 : Reach Belgaum and rains start. They start as if there is no tomorrow. We keep on continuing but speeds drop a little.
1415 : We are in between Dharwad and Hubli where we find a turn straightaway going to Yellapur by passing Hubli. 15 mins gone but Ankur fails to turn up. Ayush goes back and both the bikes re-appear after few mins. Ankur’s bike is not picking up speed. Try a lots of stuff. Also my bike shows low battery. I ignore it. A couple of good hearted villagers come and help out by cleaning the spark plug. But still that doesn’t help. To worsen the matters, rain starts again. We take a shelter under a bridge as Ankur shows the bike to a mechanic we find luckily. He is unable to help and tells us to go to Dharwad to mend it. After half an hour of rains, we start towards Dharwad towing Ankur’s bike (actually pushing it with our legs). I go ahead to find a mechanic. Luckily find one just 2-3 kms ahead. Tell him the problem. He goes back on his scooter and somehow manages to bring bike to his shop. When he opens spark plug, he smiles and just resets the distance between two point at head of spark plug and voila!!! The bike is up again. Then it strikes that we are hungry and have skipped lunch. So munch on bananas at the shop besides the mechanic. Now its my bike’s turn as it refuses to start. The mechanic suggests a battery shop 2 blocks ahead. He says starter relay is gone and needs to be fetched from a Bajaj shop on other side of town. Royd takes the guy as we are new to the city and I sit at his shop to man the counter (Yeah!!! This is what he requests me to..). After almost 25-30 mins, he turns up and fixes the new relay. The bike is working again. Look at watch and its 1730. Our plans to reach Jog Falls that day itself falter. We decide to target Sirsi.
1730 : We start for Yellapur. The state highways are in a pretty bad shape and somehow we reach Yellapur and fuel up the tanks again.
1845 : Catch the road to Sirsi. Now this road seems to be a single lane without street lamps and completely submersed in a jungle. We decide to ride in formation. 1. Royd. 2. Sagar. 3. Ayush . 4. Ankur .5. Me. The ride through jungle starts. Its pitch dark and nothing else except 4 sets of tail-lights before me and sinister night behind me. Some occasional vehicles pass by. Otherwise its just dark. After almost 60 kms, and more than an hour we reach Sirsi. Decide to take a halt and find a suitable hotel. Find it very soon.
2030 : The owner says dinner will close by 2130, so quickly change and come for dinner only to find that the menu consists of Rice Plate and nothing else. Being grateful that at least some food is there and we pounce upon rice plate like anything. After super heavy meal, just head to the rooms and crash on beds. Even before I hear something its already bright outside window.
Route: Pune – Dharwad – Yellapur – Sirsi.
Distance: 560 kms

Day 2 : Sunday 22^nd August

0800 : Packing up we decide to head to Jog Falls straightaway as breakfast will eat up most of the time in Sirsi. Nitin + Gita are gonna catch us at Murudeshwar from Pune astride Red P150 .
0900 : Leave for Jog Falls from Sirsi. Some directions from locals and we are on way to Jog Falls. And that is where I find the shit-iest road I have ever rode upon. For every 50m, I could find loads of dung cakes happily lying on road waiting to be cut across by not so fortunate wheels of the tourist vehicles. I am finding it pretty hard to avoid cutting these (dung) cakes as I don’t want any part of those things upon my riding gear or my bike. At last reach Mavingundi on the SH towards Jog Falls. Reach there by 1030 something.
1045 : Security guards tell us that we cant go to the base of falls during monsoon and also they cant keep a vigil on to the bags we have put up on our bikes using bungee cords and all. Again a super heavy breakfast. The bill amounts to some 600 for 6 guys and what we east is only idli-wada, dosa and omlettes. Roam around Jog Falls. The water level in falls is at normal level so do not find the views as breathtaking as we saw on internet. But still the view is amazing. We laze around for quite some time.

1500 : Start towards Murudeshwar. The roads are straight i.e. no diversions but there are lots of twists and turns and we all enjoy them to the core. Encounter ghats and fog reduces visibility. Stopover for a photo-session.

1545 : Start again and fog disappears very soon. The twists and turns are too good to resist and our speeds increase. But the roads are not so good and we really cant rip off. One scary incident when I almost go offroad on the wrong side while negotiating a left turn. I come back to my senses and reduce my speed.

1600 : A similar S turn ahead and I take it easy this time. After the turn watch the RVM and don’t find Ankur. My heart skips a beat. I turn back nevertheless and as I approach the S turn find 2-3 people around Ankur and Arti. He has hurt his knee but thankfully she is fine apart from a sprain in ankle. But the bike has lost a lot. The visor, headlight dome and RVM are gone. To top it off my battery again is low and I find out that the battery is about to go.

1630 : Reach Honawar and make some amendments to Ankur’s bike. My battery is gone and it requires push start every time (courtesy – no kick). Start for Murudeshwar and reach there by 1730. Get to hear from Nitin that Gita is not feeling well, so they halt at Yellapur itself.

1800 : Check in RMS residency at Murudeshwar. A beautiful resort overlooking beach on one side and Arabian Sea on other side. Feels really peaceful. After a walk on the main road, decide to have dinner at Naveen beach resort. It is for those tourists staying in RNS residency who wanna booze and have non-veg. Both these things are not allowed in RNS as it is adjoining the Murudeshwar temple and also a gigantic statue of Lord Shiva resides in RNS as well. Funny indeed!!

2000 : A nice dinner at Naveen beach resort. Come back to rooms and celebrate Ankur’s birthday as well.

2300 : Sleep off after another eventful but satisfying day.

Route: Sirsi – Jog Falls – Murudeshwar
Distance: 160kms

Day 3 : Monday 23^rd August

0600 : I wake up and start packing my bags. I am gonna head back to Pune alone as I need to be home for Rakshabandhan the next day. The other guys gonna head to Goa for a day and then to Pune the next day. Royd has to attend an important call at 1300 and he decides to accompany me till Goa so that he can reach his uncle’s house before the call.
0700 : Push start the bike (I keep on doing it till end of trip) and head towards Goa. The roads are bad from Murudeshwar till Honawar (30kms). After that the good stretch starts and we keep up the good speed. I call up Nitin asking should I come to Yellapur in case he needs any help as Gita’s health is still not so good. She has high fever running. We decide that they can take rest that day and head off to Kolhapur / Pune next day depending on her health. Push start…
1030 : Reach South Goa border and take a break to tank up as Royd’s Fazer has hit reserve. We continue together till Panaji.
1130 : Reach Panaji and Royd bids good bye. I continue towards Sawantwadi. As soon as I hit Maharashtra border, bad roads start and continue till Sawantwadi. A right turn and I head towards Amboli ghat. Once again rains decide to accompany my lonely soul. Even if I need to take a break to drink water, I search for a slope so that push start will be easier.
1230 : Start ascending Amboli ghat. Rain is pounding. I feel thirsty so I just open up my visor and taste the sweet rain. The water is sweet indeed. But decide to stop nevertheless as quenching thirst through raindrops means I will require rain all the way till Pune. Just before Amboli waterfall, witness a part of road battered by a landslide. It scares the shit out of me. Its like I am travelling on a road climbing a ghat and suddenly there is no road. On your right is a huge mountain, a muddy stretch of 100m in front of you about 3-4 meters wide and a plunging valley on the left without any barricade. I just halt there although I know that is the way I have to go.  I see a vehicle coming after some time and entering this patch from other side. So I start again and make it to the falls and decide to have hot bhajji- wadapav, etc. The stall owner explain me regarding the landslide and how I wont encounter rain after crossing Amboli. Push start…

1330 : Start from Amboli towards NH4 near Nipani. The roads are boring, bad, monotonous, etc. Moreover I am completely drenched. So open up my jacket a bit to let some fresh air in. I take a bad decision for the route ahead. Instead of heading towards Sankeshwar via Gadhinglaj, I take the internal route to Nipani to save a few kms. Road quality worsens intermittently. I cross into Karnataka and I loose track of route as all sign boards are in Kannada. So I use Indian GPS i.e. locals at every next village to ask directions.

1445 : At last I hit NH4 and I feel relieved as if I have reached home which although is almost 300 kms ahead. Deciding not to waste time I hit the accelerator and reach Kolhapur.
1530 : A stop at McDonalds for lunch. I want a dal-roti kinda thing but settle over here as I need to move quickly. Fast food literally. Push start…
1630 : The battery is almost discharged and my horn is working infrequently. Indicators are dull . I fear for headlight. So I forget everything and make a point to reach Pune before daybreak. Practically impossible. But still I can try. Again fuel up the tank and I am off to Pune. Push start…
1715 : Reach Karad. Make mental calculation that I covered 83 kms in last one hour. Its amazing as the bike has been seriously battered in last 2 days and still its running this good. But however I try its not hitting top speed in excess of 100. So I cruise along at 90-100.
1800 : Reach Satara. Lubricate chain as its making some noise. The mechanic gives me a stare looking at my bike, me, my attire, my body language. I am hopelessly tired and ignore him. Push start…
1900 : Reach outskirts of Pune and cross Katraj tunnel. Traffic starts.
1930 : I reach home. Notice that I did Kolhapur-Pune in just 3 hours including a couple of breaks.My fiancé is dead worried for me so she comes home to visit me. As usual mother is happy to see me. Manage to change and take a bath. Have dinner.
2100 : I am dead asleep.
Route: - Murudeshwar - Panaji - Sawantwadi - Kolhapur - Pune
Distance: - 680 kms
Total Distance :- 1400kms (Approximate as trip-meter got reset during the battery fiasco..)

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!!!

Ride to Warangal

Date: - 31st Oct 2009

Route: - NH202 Hyderabad - Warangal - Hyderabad

Time:- 0630 to 1410 [7 hrs 40 mins]

Distance :- 345 kms

After a long hiatus from my riding trips, finally found a well deserving weekend off on 30th October. I had already decided the destination for my next ride and that was Warangal(… what is that???). It is only famous for its NIT and nothing else. Maybe I wanted to confirm this universal fact. By the way, it is also supposed to have a Fort and a thousand pillar temple(people make a big issue out of nothing..)

I sleep early on Friday night so that I can catch some good sleep before my ride. Saturday morning I wake up damn early – thanks to the bedbugs in my bed – I see that clock says 0415. Cursing the bedbugs I open my laptop and see that a live show by Iron Maiden named "Death on the Road" has been downloaded. Start watching the show. Next I look at watch and its 0545!! Man. I am late. This is what Maiden has done to me again and again. Make me forget time. A quick bath and a glass of milk and I am ready to go.

Leave my house at 0630. As usual I am always excited before my ride begins.Warangal highway is at other side of city. I prefer taking Uppal ring road instead of traversing in narrow lanes of Nampalli and Koti. Just near Warangal highway someone gives me wrong directions and I am almost 7-8kms ahead on the junction to Vijaywada. Ask the directions again and I take a U-turn. Don’t miss the Uppal circle this time and by 0730 I am cruising towards Warangal. Roads are quite empty for a NH. Catch a glimpse of Bhongir Fort on the way. It is built atop a big hillock. Don’t know its significance. Need to surf net for that.

I try hard not to rip through. But guess my instincts don’t allow me to. Soon bike is doing 110+ and I set my top speed of the day at 122kmph. But I did that with the help of a road with slight slope and that too with me fully ducted on tank.

At about 80kms from Hyderabad, find an unusual site on my left. The time is approx 0830. Two small hills, they seem to be wearing out on account of very old age (maybe thousands of years). Fortunately I find a detour that I feel that will lead me towards those hills. Take the detour and some photo session for my baby. I never get bored of these snaps.

The curious keeda inside me leads me inside the kutcha road. I can find no sight of any living creature. I go inside for about 5 kms and still no signs of getting any closure to the hills. I stop for one more photo shoot. Get off the bike after putting it on side stand. Hear a thud!! I look back and my bike is kissing the ground. Am still puzzled why it fell down??? I had put it rightly on the side stand. Don’t know, but some cynical feeling sinks inside me.(Maybe I am nervous because of all this loneliness and this bike falls for no apparent reason at all makes me more nervous) I take this as a sign to make a U-turn and head back to where I am supposed to go – Warangal . Lift my heavy Rosie with lot of effort (thank God there are no saddle bags.) Check what’s the damage. The leg guard has gone into its favorite position … inside where it is not supposed to be. Pull it out with some effort. Gear lever is just saved from breaking it seems. Not able to put my bike in the gear as it has also gone inside. But good news is that its not bent and just slipped inside. Do some hara-kiri and then finally its working. No more damage!!! Take the snaps and then head back to highway.

This is where bike fell down and I gave up chasing the mountain(in the background)

Civilization!!

Now no more timepass giri as clock is almost 0900 and I am still so far away from my destination. Get into top gear and start ripping.. Non stop I reach Hanamkunda at about 1015 hrs, the sister twin of Warangal @ exactly 170 kms. Make way to Warangal through crowded streets. Start asking locals for directions. Then I realize this is not Hyderabad and almost nobody knows Hindi. People want to help, but they just can’t. Also I start getting many weird looks because of my riding gear. Take off the gloves and the knee pads. Finally find a guy who knows Hindi and he tells me the route to temple as well as fort.

I really wanted to see 1000 pillars inside one roof. I thought it would be huge. But that was not the case. Most of the pillars are broken and it is after that I think Archaelogical Survey of India declared it as a monument of historical importance. Such a shame!!! I hardly spent 10 mins at the temple as some renovation was also going on.

The 1000 Pillars Temple.

Feeling dejected, I start finding route for fort. As usual, after many a wrong turns, I finally manage to reach the fort and guess what!! There is no fort. The fort has been destroyed long time back (similar to Tipu Sultan's fort at Mysore) and the whole fort has been converted to a part of city. Just in one corner, a small part of fort still stands that is also half park and half fort. I make way through the park towards a small old building that seems to be part of the fort at some point of time in history. Almost all the corners and secluded spots are pre-occupied by the couples. I feel like a fool roaming alone there in the lovers den. Take a few snaps to make myself believe that I was at fort. Eat up an energy bar as I didn’t have any breakfast. Wash up my face and I am ready to head back. .

Finding way out of city is a relatively less pain than earlier as I had marked a bypass from fort to highway in the google maps. Once out of city limits I again wear my riding gear. With Hyderabad reading 120kms, I start off non stop. I don’t even break for water. Keep going on and on. A Santro gives a challenge for a race. Accept it. That guy whips his baby with all the disdain. Whenever traffic comes, I lead and on empty roads he leads. This goes on for a while before he takes a turn somewhere and then there is no one to challenge me. Apart from the train. Oops! Where did the train come from. Most of this part of highway is parallel to a railway track. So I challenge the train. Unfair on my side as the road keeps on zigzagging while the rail enjoys a straight route. Somehow I manage to catch last 2 bogeys and then the road turns and I see train taking off like anything. Reach the Uppal circle and my bum is sore now, as I didn’t have any break since 120kms and almost 100 mins. Still carry on saying a break now will disturb my riding rhythm (as if city riding requires some kind of rhythm??). Trudge through the Uppal ring road but as soon as I hit Secunderabad, traffic hits like a bolt. I drain almost half of my battery only in honking till I reach my home by 1410.

Semi Ashtavinayak Ride

Date: - 4th April 2009
Route: - Pune -Daund - Siddhatek - Theur - Pune - Khopoli - Mahad - Pali - Khopoli - Pune
Distance: - 485 kms
Time: - 10 hrs

Long weekend!! Pre-planned that will be going out to Matheran for two days along with my parents in our new cage "Chevy Spark". On Thursday night, get a shock that trip-plan needs a change and finally decided that will be going to Mahabaleshwar for one day trip on Saturday.
Now I am left high n' dry. With nothing to do on Friday with a holiday.
Suddenly I remember that I am supposed to take my mother to Ashtavinayak (a set of 8 Ganesh temples in Pune/Mumbai/Nashik area which are considered highly important from religious point of view) in coming month. So I decide to get my P200 to some temples before I take our cage there. I did some homework on the maps through wikimapia on Thursday night.


On 3rd April morning 0630 I set off for Siddhatek on Solapur Road.
No sooner than I cross Hadapsar, I just get a rude morning alarm on the highway.
"A slow trailer moving in front of me. Being the single-lane road, can't overtake from right side as I see a long line of trucks coming from opposite side. Decide to overtake from left hand side. While I am overtaking the trailer, hear a huge bang and see debris flying all over me from the truck on my right. I don't understand what is going on. See the trailer wobbling and I get shit scared because there is a almost 5-6 feet pit on my left. I rev my throttle to get out of this as soon as possible.. anyhow. Again hear the bang on my left and again some debris flying over me. This must have lasted only for 5-10 seconds, but seemed like an eternity to me.
Finally cross the trailer. Get my bike on the left side of the road after some 100m and look back. The trailer had stopped. The truck driver either had lost control or went asleep or must be drunk. He had hit, I think, 3-4 trucks sideways coming from opposite lane one by one. The driver side windshield was shattered to pieces. I couldn't make out the condition of driver. But I don't think it was serious as the truck was quite slow. See people gather around the
spot. I am just numb for a couple of minutes and keep on looking at the sight before me. I made out that the debris that fell on me must be some stuff from the load the truck was carrying."


After some time I gain my composure and start off to Siddhatek. A good 100 km from Pune towards Daund.
Clicked some snaps on way to Siddhatek. I am not that good of a photographer. Just always keep on trying ;)

Bridge just before Siddhatek temple

Pune Solapur Road

Reach Siddhatek by 0815. Dist. covered :- 110 km.

Now next destination being Pali near Mumbai. For that I again need to go back to Pune. Start back for Pune. Reach Hadapsar by 1030. The curious keeda inside me leads me to the Pune bypass from Hadapsar via Saswad road. And I end up in Chandni Chowk by a good 10 kms long route but traffic conditions still same. Disgusting.

At 1100, I am at the the common tapri we all BNers hang out at before heading for any ride towards Mulshi. Have a cold coffee which is anything but cold.

Dist. covered:- 230 kms.

If I have to go to Pali, I need to cross Tamhini ghat. The roads arent good and its getting quite hot. My home is just kms away and I almost leave for home when I decide that I will go via NH4 and Madh Ganpati temple. I am happy because I just love NH4. Soon I am hitting triple digits. In meantime, take some snaps of expressway as seen fom Old NH4 near Khandala ghats.

Reach Khopolo by 1245. Dis. covered - 312 kms

End up at Madh Ganesh temple which is just 1 km from NH4.

Its damn hot and I drink whatever I can lay my hands on - Limca, coconut water, sugarcane juice on the way.

Start searching for the way to Pali temple. Stop for purchasing a water bottle and ask the shopkeeper for directions. He says"Go straight. You will hit a bridge and then take first left."

I again hydrate myself as its very hot and start for Pali. Soon I reach the bridge and then head for Pali. After sometime I notice that the roads are really good and somehow I didn't expect such good roads for Pali as its not even a state highway. I see the signboard reading Penn. Shit! I am on my way to Alibaug and I forgot to take that left after the bridge. I am almost 15 kms ahead. Take a U-turn and come back to that bridge and there I notice a left heading towards Pali which is now at my right. As expected road conditions deteriorate. Pali is 33 kms. Make to the Pali temple. Start back to Pune. Again decide to skip Tamhini ghat and come back via same dear NH4 route. Take a small break for some refreshment

Time:- 1415 . Dist. covered :- 377 kms

First time I think about getting my snap. Somehow manage to get it, happily munching on the Horlicks energy bar. The energy bar is a recommendation from my side. It substituted for my lunch.

The water from the bottle is so hot that I would trade it for a hot bath on any chilly morning. Don't even want to taste it, but have no option as heat is at its peak.

Head back for Pune. Soon touch NH4 and am off to home sweet home. Surprisingly I don't at all rip off and happily cruise on 70-75. Maybe I subconsciously want a good mileage from my bike.

On the way in between see a patch of land on my left and decide to test my photography skills, again failing miserably.

Reach home at 1640 clocking 485 kms.

Tapola (Mini Kashmir) Ride

Bladerunnerzzz, my corporate biking club sent a mail citing that next trip would be to Tapola which is often cited as Mini-Kashmir of Maharashtra. I was up and ready for yet another ride. After my Nagpur trip, I really never went to any decent ride.
On Sunday 18th Jan, I picked up my cousin from Swargate, as she also wanted a break from her college routine. She was pretty much excited to hear that she would be going for a 300 km trip.

After much of delay, we finally started from the Katraj by-pass. In all, there were 5 bikes and 6 people. After some pet-puja in the way, we reached Panchgani at Harrison Folly. This point is famous for its paragliding. But as it was not scheduled in our trip, we just shot some snaps and were off towards Tapola via Mahabaleshwar.

On the way, I again saw the marker on board saying Tapola(Mini Kashmir) some 40 kms away. I have never been to Kashmir and all I have seen is what Bollywood has shown to me. So I was kind off excited to see a replica of the Earth's Heaven pretty soon. But as we reached Tapola, our excitement soon died down. The place was so hopeless that we just wanted to leave that place right away. Although after some discussion, we decided to atleast have some photo shoots at this place as this was the prime destination for our ride. (What the heck!!!) The surrounding topography can be termed similar to Kashmir with a serene river surrounded by hills and small boats seen moving along water.The restaurants had a setup like Kashmir too. I mean when we were seated on the porch, all we could see around us was water...............

but........

-the hills that surrounded river were not at all green.. they were yellowish with all the grass dried down
-the boats were as hopeless as any boat can be
-the restaurants were small tapris which were just extended with the help of a porch just to be above water.
A thorough disappointment.

This spot is supposed to visited in monsoon. Maybe we will try again I am really that how can someone name this place as mini kashmir???

My second ride when I came to a place at wrong point of time in the year.

On our way back, we stopped at a strawberry farm and picked up fresh strawberries from the farm itself. The farmer was happy to share with us the information as to how the strawberry farming was done.

We headed back to Mahabaleshwar where we did some boating. I got a chance to row a boat for the first time in my life. Again some pet puja at highly bragged Mapro's restaurant before Panchgani. The place is too costly although I love the hot-chocolate brownie that they serve.

Now the only good part of this ride. I was approx 140 kms from Swargate. I covered that distane almost in 2 hours (maybe 5 mins late). Those 140 kms included 20 kms of Mahabaleshwar ghat and again 15-20 kms of hopeless Pune evening traffic. One helluva ride back which saw me taking my bike to extreme limits for a first time with a pillion. My cousin Preshu was a silent spectator, she didnt chose to speak much until we reached her home. In the end, but she confessed that it was exhilirating for her cruising at triple digits. I think girls make really good pillions instead of guys.


Statistics:-
Distance :- 326 kms
Route :- Pune - Mahabaleshwar - Tapola - Mahabaleshwar - Pune

First Milestone for Red Stallion

On 20th December, the Red Stallion completed 10000 km.

Hmm it took me exactly 6 months to complete the 10K, although I had planned in less than 5 months. Maybe none of the things you plan out materialize. Also my riding schedule has gone a bit awry because of heavy office work load.

Anyways, the icing on the cake was that I touched the personal best in terms of top speed.

130 km/hr near the new Katraj tunnel on NH4. Sounds fast right!!!!!!

I know this is way beyond the top speed claimed by Bajaj (which happens to be 121). But I cheated and took the help of slope and also I fully ducted on the tank. Man! Things move too fast at 130. I was in a dual state of mind whether to look on the road or at speedo and I gave preference to former (obvisouly). But last thing I saw on speedo was 130.

Nitrogen works

I had heard on lot of motorcycling forums that filling up the tyres with Nitrogen greatly helps the performance. I had even heard that there is an improvement in mileage as well. So me the curious buff, decided to test the nitrogen myth on my bike. Results.....

• The only advantage I found was that in last 5 months I checked the air pressure only twice after interval of 2 months each. Surprisingly the air pressure was low by only 1 or 2 psi. I wikied and found that the nitrogen molecules are bigger than oxygen and hence the air escape ratio is lower in case of nitrogen. This is a great news for a lazy bone like me.
• Increase in mileage thing is a bluff. The truth is, people normally do not think that tyre pressure is an essential thing to check. So they do not care to check the psi level frequently which should ideally be done every 2 weeks which results in lower mileage. Now as they fill Nitrogen, the air pressure remains as it is so they fell that mileage has increased. But as a matter of fact, that is the mileage which they should be getting in normal circumstances.
• Now the main thing... Price (Every Indian's criteria of judging the things). I filled up Nitrogen for 30 bucks in both wheels. Seems quite expensive!!! Well, I dont think so. Every fortnight, I end up paying 2 bucks to the puncture wala for checking tyre pressure. So eventually , in 7.5 months I will spend 30 bucks. The difference is that I will have to visit the local puncture wala for 15 times whereas for nitrogen, I will visit him just 3 or at max 4 times.

So final verdict is.. Nitrogen in tyres is good thing to have.

It is available with the HP pump in Hinjewadi (one having Crossword).

Mahabaleshwar ride

29th Nov 2008
We4 people --Ravi , his wife Trupti, my friend Devyani and me went to a ride to Mahabaleshwar on 2 bikes. Sadly, we chose a wrong day as it was pretty cloudy, but me and ravi were planning for this trip for quite some time and we didnt wanted to cancel the trip again. The decision proved a bit costly.
We started at 0630. The clouds became darker and darker as we approached Mahabaleshwar and mild showers were accompanying us all the way. And then it started raining heavily. As we approached the ghats, we were completely drenched by 0900. Started ascending ghats and the visibility started getting shorter and shorter. And in the end we were not able to see each other's bikes also. Visibility was almost 5 meters. Reached Mahabaleshwar by 1030.
There was no point in going to any tourist spots as visibility was next to nothing. All we saw was clouds. We were almost eating clouds. But then for sometime, the Rain-Gods showed some mercy upon us and the weather cleared a bit. Quickly we made our way to elephant point and clicked some snaps. As we were all drenched up, a hot cup of tea became order of the day. We had tea wherever we could lay our hands upon. But again the clouds got darker and rains...
Finally decided that not point in roaming around here and there. Even a tourist spot like Mahabaleshwar can become a ghost town. We lost our way in the town while returning back to Pune and we were really not able to find any people on the road to help us out. Finally some by passer appeared and showed us the way.
We purchased some strawberries and started back to Pune. On the way, decided to have lunch at Mapro's at almost 1500. Hmm, I had heard a lot about it,, but experience wasn't that good. A bit overpriced and way to over hyped is all I can say about Mapro.
Reached Pune at almost 1930 and I was shivering all the way back as I was completely drenched from head to toe. Making way through hopeless traffic of Swargate and Solapur road, I dropped Devu at Magarpatta City(one corner of Pune). Again making my way back through the same dumb-ass traffic, I reached my home at Pashan (other corner of Pune) at 2130.
Decided I will never ever pick a pillion from the other corner of Pune from here after.
Those final few kms in the city traffic are way more tiring than the hundreds of kms I cover during the day.
I didn't even have a dinner and slept of almost instantaneously as I was dead tired.
Statistics:-
Distance :- 323 kms
Route :- Pune - Mahabaleshwar - Pune

Pune Nagpur Pune Ride

Date : - 8th November
Route : -

Pune – Ahmednagar – Aurangabad – Jalna – Mehkar – Karanja – Amravati – Nagpur
Distance : - 725 kms
Time Reqd. : - 12 hours 45 mins

Route Map:-

View Larger Map

0500 hrs

I was ready for my ride to Nagpur. The one I was dreaming since long. My Red Stallion (P200) was going to see my home at Nagpur where I was born and brought up. Gosh!! I miss Nagpur sooo much!!! As usual I was a bit pensive at start of ride because this was my first solo ride for such a long distance. I expected to reach Nagpur somewhere by 2000 hrs. I wanted to hit NH6 near Amravati before the dusk so that I do not need to search for routes in dark. From Amravati it was all the way straight to Nagpur.
The Nagar road was empty unlike NH4 where I have done most of my rides before. I was waiting for dawn so that I can start ripping off. The stupid drivers on Indian roads like to ride with headlights in UPPER making life miserable for oncoming traffic especially the 2 wheelers. After 0600 the horizon started to lighten up. But still I was in no mood to start ripping. Also the road wasn’t that good. Still I made it to Ahmednagar by 0715. The tank wasn’t anywhere near empty but still I topped it up as most of my route wasn’t a National Highway and I was not sure of number of petrol pumps on the way. Having small breakfast of cakes and cookies which I had brought from home, started towards Aurangabad. I was not at all expecting a good road, but brilliant stretch just after Ahmednagar was a sudden jolt to me. Here the roads were so inviting that I couldn’t stop the urge to rip off. I told myself to make the most out of good stretch which will compensate for any bad roads further. Soon I was travelling at 100-110. The bike was responding like anything. I just fell in love with my bike again. During the whole ride I do not recall how many times I did.
The next 100 kms to Aurangabad I covered in less than 1.5 hours which raised my hopes of reaching Nagpur earlier than I anticipated. Now I was hoping to reach Nagpur by 1900 instead of 2000 as scheduled. The next stretch was towards Jalna. The roads are not so good. I was going so fast as compared to other vehicles on road that I always ended up with my rear view mirror empty. I am used to riding on traffic heavy roads like NH4 or NH17 which always had some Safaris, Mercs to make you realize that your bike is underpowered. But as this route was a State Highway (SH), the traffic was altogether different. I encountered only a handful of taxies on the way and the brainless State Transport buses. And not to forget the local town guys on their 100/125cc bikes. I got some weird looks from onlookers because of my attire. I was covered from head to toe with gloves and a heavy jacket because of so-called winter.
Just before Jalna, I missed the bypass somehow and ended up in a mess called as Jalna city. I started asking locals for Mehkar, my next stop. One auto-driver told me way to Mehkar. Somehow I felt that he was not telling the right way. I asked another auto-driver and then I came to know that there are two Mehkar towns, one in Beed district and other one in Buldhana. I wanted the Buldhana one. After maneuvering my way through small lanes of the city, I finally ended up on way to Mehkar. The road from Jalna- Mehkar is OK-good kinda road. Time was almost 1030 and heat started to rise. It was never unbearable though. This stretch was really lonesome and ironically my Ipod started playing “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Green Day.
So I walked(rode) alone... I walked alone....... :-)
I reached Mehkar and this time I made a point not to miss the bypass. I was quite hungry by now. The funny thing was that in this part of Maharashtra, not many people travel by personal vehicles. So absence of good restaurants was quite evident. There was not even a decent restaurant on the way. All were just makeshifts from a house to restaurants. Just few kilometers from Mehkar, saw a restaurant named Pariwar. After one look at it, I felt there must be a good restaurant inside it. As my bike was all strapped up, I had asked the security guard to just keep an eye. He responded enthusiastically. While leaving I handed a 10 bucks to him and he was really surprised. As this place was quite small, 10 bucks seemed to be a grand tip. I asked him the route forward to Nagpur and he was more than happy to help. He almost explained me the nature of next 2 diversions, one near Malegaon and next near Karanja. Those helped me a lot.
Wait a minute. This is not that Malegaon where recently some bomb blasts happened. I really wonder did Maharashtra villages run out of name during their naming-ceremony. I already know 4 Malkapurs, 2 Mehkars, 3 Khandalas and now 2 Malegaons in Maharashtra itself. And on the way I encountered 2 different Karanjas too. Phew!!!!The SHs in Vidarbha are excellent. Nice signboards on smoothly laid tarmac. Although the road was single lane, sparse traffic made the ride easy. Again I hit 100+ all the way till Karanja. I crossed Malegaon and then cruised towards Karanja.
Just before Karanja, I found 2 routes going to Nagpur, one via Wardha and other via Amravati. I stuck to my plan and took a left turn towards Amravati. The high speeds continued even after Karanja. I couldn’t believe I was going so fast. I had covered almost 500 kms since morning. The breaks were limited to just 5-10 mins after every hour or so. The bike was at its phenomenal best. It was performing as if it was built only for such rides. It was as if the city commutes don’t interest her. The growl at first gear, the half switch start, the pick up at any gear and on and on and on. I can go on writing about her pros.
At about 1450, I took one break just in middle of nowhere. I decided to take a good look at my bike and me. Washed up my face as I was feeling sleepy. My right knee had started to pain. I was using the right leg a bit too much as rear brake of Pulsar 200 is not very good and at every stop I had to apply a great deal of pressure for braking. I decided to purchase one of those elastic crep bandages for my knee in Nagpur for my return trip. The pain was there till end of ride. All I could do was to stretch my legs during the breaks.
I decided that I am going to rip all the way till Nagpur and see how fast I can reach there.At last I hit NH6 and was greeted by traffic. The road conditions degraded. But I was well before my scheduled time when I reached Amravati. The Amravati bypass is stunning which reminded me of NH4. I had last fuelled up after Jalna; the tank was more than half empty. I started searching for petrol pumps. Co-incidentally none of the pumps were having petrol. After searching for almost 50 kms, encountered a Petrol Pump which was overflowing with vehicles. As I made it the point to reach Nagpur before sunset, I didn’t want to waste any time. I decided to skip that one and headed forward and found out another pump hardly few kms ahead and it was totally empty. Took one 15 mins break there at a dhaba besides. The dhaba boy enquired about the bike and was pretty pleased to have a look at red P200 coming from Pune. Nagpur was about 100 kms of which first 50 kms from Talegaon- Kondhali was world class 4 lane road and then from Kondhali- Nagpur was worst class.
Just before Kondhali when the 4 lane -road was about to be over, I spotted a stationery police jeep at a long sweeping right hand turn. I was doing more than 100 at that time. I braked immediately but couldn’t slow down much and I saw a policeman waving at me. My heart skipped a beat. Last thing I wanted was a stoppage and that too by Police. As I neared him and I was about to stop, he just said loudly in Marathi “Halu re pora” (Slow down son). I apologized with a wave of my hand and was greatly relieved that he was just advising me. No further than 50m, I saw the reason for his advice. A heavily mangled bike was carried away by two people. But I couldn’t see the other vehicle though.
Suddenly I was brought back to the reality. I had made sure to take at most care while driving. I never overtook from wrong side and always gave side to bigger vehicles specially coming from the other side. Abruptly, the words of some of my near and dear ones about hazards of riding recalled automatically. It’s not that I am not aware of them. But the passion and craving for riding is much stronger than the fear of something untoward.
It is said by Paulo Coelho in THE ALCHEMIST
“If you really wish to achieve something, the whole universe conspires to help you in your endeavors”.
So I know as long as I have passion, I will always be guided in some way or other. Anyways I am now habitual of seeing accident sites during my rides and I always take them as a reminder and try to drive as safely as I can.
I finally made it to Nagpur by 1745. There I met my buddy Vishal whom I was updating my ride details since morning. He was also very well excited about my ride. He is one of my friends who loves riding as well and never questions me when I say I am gonna go for a ride. And it was he who suggested me the Mehkar- Karanja route instead of the Chikhli one and I ended up in Nagpur almost 2 hours before expected.
I took just 12 hrs 45 mins. Heck! I beat the Pune- Nagpur Super Fast express (15 hrs 30 mins) and also the Khurana Volvo (13hrs 30 mins). Feeling proud of myself for this small achievement, me and Vishal opted to party out in the night. Although I was tired, I didnt mind it.
One of the best days of my life and the my best ride till date.
HAIL! THE RED STALLION

*******************************************************************************

Date : - 13th November
Route : - 

Nagpur – Amravati – Khamgaon – Chikhli – Jalna – Aurangabad – Ahmednagar – Pune
Distance : - 746 kms
Time Reqd. : - 14 hours

Route Map :-

View Larger Map

As expected, I forgot to purchase the Crep bandage for my knee. And I was to suffer because of that in the later part of my ride. I decided to start after dawn because the initial 50 km from Nagpur to Kondhali are not at all good. The 4 laning of the road is underway and as usual the upper lights of the oncoming vehicles would have created problems. So I started at 0600 taking the Hingna Road towards Wadi. The stretch till Kondhali was as expected very rough but at least most of the vehicles had switched off their head lamps so I made it to Kondhali just by 0700.
I saw a bunch of guys and girls on their bikes heading out for a trip or something. It made me remember my college days. Man!!! Those were great days.
The awesome Kondhali- Talegaon stretch was off in a whip. I was in some experimenting mood. I decided that I will break only after 100 kms and no way before that (just stopping for emergency leak breaks in between). Also this time I took different route back. I didn’t go to Karanja after Amravati but straightaway headed to Khamgaon via Akola. The trip was quite eventless till Khamgaon. Except that I tasted one of the worst teas at one of the dhabas on the way. I had to throw away the tea as I almost got nauseated because of its taste. I had a long day ahead and didn’t want to experiment with my health.
Till Khamgaon for almost 300 kms I took 10 mins breaks only after each 100 kms. The road used to switch from good- bad- worse- good. I made it to Khamgaon by 1100. A left before Khamgaon and I was off towards Chikhli. This time around I never encountered any problem for directions as the sign boards were quite helpful. However I miscued one of the turns and was on the way to Dhule before being corrected by a local. He asked me for a lift till Chikhli but sadly my back seat was all packed up with bag.
The stretch from Khamgaon to Jalna was quite lonesome but kind off scenic. I said kind off because the landscapes were not as beautiful as the any of the ghats in Sahyadris. It was just a barren patch of land for almost 100 kms with farmlands in between. There was quite upheaval in the land level which resulted in formation of small tekdis along the way. But somehow I really like such kind of places. All deserted with no remote human movement. Just a village after few tens of kms otherwise everything just silent.
The traffic was very less. The cattle and bullock carts were more of a menace on this road as compared to vehicles. Yeah, also the red ST buses. They never ever give a damn to bikers. During this trip I never encountered a bad truck driver but I also didn’t encounter a single good bus driver. Several times I had to go off roads because the ST bus in front of me wanted to use the entire road for overtaking without acknowledging my existence on the road. Well, I never had any other option. I decided to keep it cool and voluntarily go off road if I see any overtaking ST bus coming in front of me.
Well, I just didn’t took any major breaks till Jalna though I wanted to. I was stubbornly adamant that I won’t be having lunch before Jalna. At last I crossed Jalna at 1330 and now Pune was 300 km. I thought it was time for well deserved break. Got hold of one decent hotel where I thought the security guard will guard the bag on my bike all strapped by bungee cords with great difficulty. I didn’t want to repeat the process again. But he straightaway refused. I would have generously paid him for guarding the bag. But he was in no mood. I had to remove all that stuff from my bike and carry it in the restaurant.
Lunch break took 45 mins and I was feeling refreshed. But my bum had become sore and for the first time I felt as if I should stop for the day. I never had any option as I was supposed to be in office on FridayL. Strapping the bag again on bike took me another 15 mins. I started off with IPOD blurting Iron Maiden and AC/DC numbers so that I should not fall asleep after a good lunch.
Jalna- Aurangabad stretch is again a mixture- good-bad- worse. I reached Aurangabad by 1530. The city traffic hit me like a bolt and I was finding it difficult to carry on. The traffic was not heavy as in Pune, but still the ride was departure from the one I was doing since morning. I somehow managed to crawl off the city. I filled the tank up to the brim so that I could take a break and also be free of petrol worries. Pune read 220 kms. After starting, I had not even covered 40 kms and I had to stop otherwise my bum would have fallen off. Took out one T shirt from my bag and spread it on the seat so as to provide some cushion. Washed my face and started off. The heat was getting better of me. Thank god it was winter (although it didn’t felt like one, thanks to Global Warming).
At last reached the good stretch between Aurangabad and Nagar. Soon I was doing 100+. I had realized that I was not going to make home any sooner than 1930. So there was no question of bettering my personal best of Pune – Nagpur under 13 hours. I crossed Nagar at 1700. Took a long break and had one ice cold Thums Up at a dhaba with my bum resting on the stringed beds we typically find at dhabas. By now it was getting dark and again I feared the uppers from oncoming vehicles. So I started off quickly and tried to make as much distance as possible before complete dark.
But the Nagar- Pune road is a serious joke I think. There are so many lanes under various stages of completion. It reminded me of the Need For Speed 3’s one track named Lost Canyons. I thoroughly used to enjoy that track as it provided ample opportunities to overtake with lot of crash-boom-bang. But any of the crash-boom-bang here means I am off for good. Suddenly my prayers were answered and I saw one beige Baleno in front of me hastily overtaking all the vehicles ahead. “Bakra mil gaya” I thought. I started tailgating him at a safe distance on 50-100m and soon it was only 2 of us on the road with no one in rear view mirror. I have to admit he was one hell of a driver. I found it very hard to keep up with him as he was doing almost 80-90 on that stupid road. Tailgating at safe distance provided me 2 advantages:-
· I got to know about the diversions
· As I was driving on the left hand side of the car, it avoided the glare of the oncoming headlights.
But as all good things come to an end, a toll gate came and that car got stuck in the long queue. I don’t know for what they were collecting the toll, it was not for the road I am sure. I know I am heavily criticizing the road—maybe it wasn’t that bad. But at that time my mood was bad and the road just added to the irritation. The road was not having many potholes, but there were abrupt diversions and too many.
As I had lost my ally on the road I started searching for any other fast car to tailgate. But no car was going anywhere above 70. So I had to carry on alone. Soon I saw something flashing in my rear view mirror and I was more than happy to give side. And it was the same Baleno. Man!! This guy was a maniac. He cleared the queue at toll gate and still managed to catch me up in less than 10kms. Again I happily started tailgating him. This time my sore bum eventually made me stop and let that car go. Pune was less than 60 kms now and thanks to that Baleno, the last 60 kms seemed to be nonexistent. (The feeling for which I was hoping since last 200 kms). As it was complete dark now, my speed dropped considerably and reached Ranjangaon by 1815. From there it was traffic all the way to Pune. At last I reached Kalyani Nagar where again I encountered that Baleno. Poor guy!! Got stuck behind a PMT. I reached my home on Sus Road exactly at 2000.
Although the last few hours of the trip were kind of torturing for me, but still I enjoyed the trip immensely. First thing I have to do now is to get the seat covers changed and put some cushion inside it. Needless to say, mom was happy to see me back. Called up all of my worried friends and told that I have reached safely. Accepted bricks and bats from most of them and praises from them who are aware of this wonderful world of biking.

The trip meter clocked 1673 kms which included commutes in Nagpur as well.