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Showing posts with label Ride Story. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ride Story. Show all posts
Thursday, June 09, 2011
Leh Ride Route
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Saturday, June 04, 2011
Leh Ride preparations
There is a news from my side. Bike ride to Leh-Ladhakh region is on cards. As per the latest revision in the travel plan, the ride will begin on 11 June from Delhi. We plan to have three bikes. One Bullet Machismo 2003 model, one Standard Bullet 1986 model and one Bajaj Discover. The bullets were booked at Chennai Central this afternoon for transportation to Delhi . We expect them to be loaded in a suitable train on Sunday. The bikes will reach Delhi (station code - NDLS) by Wednesday. The discover will be sent to NDLS from Aurangabad on Monday, June 6. The discover is kept ready for transportation.
The bullets needed some repair work, which was done at Royal Enfield's factory owned service station in Thiruvanmiyur. The bikes were taken for repairs on 14 May after some ten day's of waiting. The service station returned the bikes, one on June 2 and one on June 3 after a lot of persuasion, cajoling and eventually after applying some pressure from the top. A few issues which were left unnoticed by REL service station were addressed till the morning of June 4, which is the date today. The rim replacements for Standard'86 was completed at 2.30 am this morning and at last both bikes came into our possession, together.
We, Shri Vidyadhar Tagade and myself went for an early morning ride to Mahabalipuram. Total riding of around 100 km was a blessing as we were running short of time. We still found front fork oil leakage on my bike, which we managed to get rectified at REL service station en route Chennai Central. The culprit turned out to be the loosely tightened screw. There was also an effort to tune the Standard'86's carburettor. Thus were over our pre-tour preparations of the bikes. Ideally we would have like to have the bikes repaired at least four days in advance before dispatch so that we could test them enough to have a good confidence level.
Never the less, the day has been fruitful otherwise. The two bikes have been handed over to Railway Parcel Office at Chennai Central. This matches perfectly with our plan. As per the original plan, we were looking for sending them to Chandigarh but found out today that the direct train runs only on Thursdays which wouldn't have suited our schedule. Upon knowing this, unanimously it was decided that the bikes would be sent to NDLS thus adding a few more kilometers to our desired odometer reading! We are only too happy to ride the extra distance.
Sending of the bikes would not be so hassle free without help from Shri Kannan Dhanushkodi and my friend Kumar, both natives of Tamilnadu. Among the two, Kannan will travel with us all along in a utility vehicle which will be hired from Chandigarh. The hiring arrangements are done in advance. But we might end up in getting a friend's Innova after actually reaching Chandigarh.
I have managed to take snaps of Machismo but I could not manage it for Standard'86 due to scarcity of time. Will upload them once we get the bikes in Delhi.
Bullet Machismo 2003
Shri Vidyadhar Tagade and Shri Kannan Dhanushkodi
Veiled Machismo
Veiled Standard'83
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Story of a ride to Alamparai fort
(A candid account of the ride on 25th morning to Alamparai Fort in Kadapakkam village near Cheyur in Tamilnadu as told my friend and co-rider, Jam. I am sure you're going to enjoy this lucid narrative. - Prasad)
A superposition of strokes of icy cirrus, splendid and dark heap of cumulus, and the rhythmic rhyme of bell from a nearby church marked the beginning of my Christmas day. The joyous cycle ride from my hostel to the Institute's main gate in cold and crisp air bring in some soothing experience that ended up with a cup of "hot" chips coffee. It was while having my coffee that I self-assessed my health condition - "Should I go for it?". Its only a couple of days back that I caught cold and I have been on medication which had drained all the energy that was left in my body.
A superposition of strokes of icy cirrus, splendid and dark heap of cumulus, and the rhythmic rhyme of bell from a nearby church marked the beginning of my Christmas day. The joyous cycle ride from my hostel to the Institute's main gate in cold and crisp air bring in some soothing experience that ended up with a cup of "hot" chips coffee. It was while having my coffee that I self-assessed my health condition - "Should I go for it?". Its only a couple of days back that I caught cold and I have been on medication which had drained all the energy that was left in my body.
"I still can stop all this", I told myself, "by calling Prasad and come up with an excuse". "Sorry yaar, my cycle tyre got punctured...I overslept and just got up...my brother is coming to meet me..."and so many such excuses came to my mind while I aimlessly browsed for an application on my mobile. "Why not I facebook one more time?, or I can check the weather forecast for today", thinking this I opened my application folder from the menu. Something odd caught my eye that time, ya... it was the application I downloaded previous night, but din't install and configure as I slept while the downloading was in progress. What is it? Nimbu or something? No...Nimbuzz. Is it from Google (because it has "buzz" on it)? No! It seems to be a chat application.
Well, its asking me for a tag line! What shall I type here? What's coming in my mind at this moment? Concentrate...Think hard...
I think my inner voice told "Let's do it"! Is this a tag line? Or is there a hidden message that tells me what I should decide upon that moment? Ok...here we go, "Hello Prasad! This is Jam, I just reached main gate. I'll catch bus to Tiruvanmiyur now. I'll call you once I reach the bus stand. Please guide me to reach your place from there on".
No...it's not about visiting my friend's place. Its a different thing. Its a thing that sounds like "motorcycle diaries" of Che. It was decided a week ago that me and my friend Prasad will go on a motorcycle drive in his Bullet to Alamparai Fort and the date was fixed to be on the Christmas day. I didn't ask Santa Claus for a gift, but little did I expect that time that there was indeed a gift awaiting for me to come and pick it up! My confused beginning soon started to evaporate like mist on grass in a sunlight and soon the enthu of the drive overwhelmed me completely. And thus we started our drive, from the periphery of Neelangarai, a drive that will last for a little less than 2 hours with a break in between for breakfast and tea. A drive that would take you to the road that is frequently traveled; the East Coast Road drive to Muttukad and Mahabalipuram; the road with a view of silvery reflection of the rising sun on the tropical waters in front of Nithyakalyana Perumal temple, the road that is used to frequent between Chennai and Pondicherry, the road which is simply used to exploit the pleasure of driving. It requires a different level of enthu to search and find a location such as Alamparai fort through the road that is less traveled by, and such is the enthu my friend Prasad posses, who had frequented to this fort a number of times in the past.
The entrance
Once a magnificent fort, but now its nothing but ruins, Alamparai fort is located in a village called Kadapakkam, about 50km down south from Mamallapuram. The fort was used during war time and also as a port, thus I came to know from the numerous sources on the internet. When I heard the name for the first time, I thought its "Alam (banyan) + Parai (rocks)", meaning the fort with a banyan tree. We did spot some banyan tree rooted on the dilapidated walls which, once upon a time served as the walls of the fort.
Prasad (left) and myself (right) with Prasad's Bullet
Set in a typical village background, the village of Alamparai fort is a scenic beauty with lush greeneries on one side, and backwater fisheries on the other. The people here are found to be either at the fish market bargaining for the catch, or playing cards under a shady banyan tree. We reached the entrance of the fort, parked our Rajdoot in front of a modern day structure that housed a village family, asked them to take care of our helmets while we are on for the venturing. I should mention the hospitality of those village people here, for only they can not only agree to take care of our helmets, but also asked if we were coming on a long drive without having our lunch. In none of my world would I offer a stranger a meal and hospitality that we experienced!
The ruined remains
After taking photos of the ruined fort from various positions, we went on a boating trip to the beach through the backwaters. The view of fort from the backwaters tell us how the fort would have looked like once upon a time. In fact, the highlight of this trip is the boat ride through the backwaters, which has got us two new friends, the boat drivers Ranjith and Kumaran, both localites who survives on fishing and taking the fort visitors on a boating trip.
A portion of ruined fort wall lying on backwaters
It's not the "road less travelled" thing, nor the fort or the backwaters, nor the hospitality shown by the village people, nor the drive on long stretches of the traffic less road on which you could not spot even a single bumpy drive or potholes, nor the scenic beauty on both sides of the drive that highlighted our trip, but a simple and extraordinary experience of having a siesta in a temple premises in some remote village located on the ECR road! The nap refreshed both of us and we both could feel the reborn much needed enthu in us that helped us to complete the trip. As my friend said, "If you aren't enthusiastic enough, you can't enjoy the ride".
Srinivasa Ramanujam aka Jam
***
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Sangharsh Bindu
I found a notebook with my late father's hand writing just two day back. For me it was a lost-treasure-found. I oversaw the content and found many notes. Several of them were elaborate. A particular one was a short story based on a real incident in his life. He has narrated his feelings and general atmosphere around him during those days. I think that the story is a mirror that reflects his mind and also the subtle ways, in which he has reacted to his son's adventures. The story also reflects how he has fought over concern arising out of some risks and has replaced it with a welcoming enthusiasm. It also plays a mirror for his son! I am posting the original Marathi script here.
संघर्षबिंदू
विनायक मोरेश्वर दुधगांवकर
विनायक मोरेश्वर दुधगांवकर
संघर्ष हा कथेचा आत्मा असतो. कथेत निर्माण केलेला प्रश्न व त्याची सोडवणूक यावरच कथेचा गोडवा, औत्सुक्य अवलंबून असते. हे कथेचे तंत्र आणि कथेचा मंत्र. महाभारतातील प्रत्येक प्रसंग आणि संपूर्ण महाभारतच त्याचे सार्थ उदाहरण आहे. पण आपल्या ही छोट्याशा सीमित जीवनातही अनेक प्रसंग येत असतात, घडत असतात. ते मोठे नसतात. पण त्याची कथा मात्र बनू शकते हे निश्चीत.
आमच्या प्रसादने (मुलाने) बुलेट घेतली. घेतली ती मद्रास मध्ये. लहानपणी ल्यूना वर तो बसला, माझ्या पूर्वीच्या लॅंब्रेटा स्कूटरवरून तो पुढे उभा राहूनच फिरला. मग सायकल शिकला. मग घरी M50 आली. ती त्याने चालवली. M80 आली. अवंती (ऑटोगियर) आली. आणि त्याच्या आईने ख़ास त्याच्या साठी त्याच्या मामाची इंड सुझुकी घेवून दिली. तेव्हा तो I.I.T. मध्ये M.Tech. करीत होता. पुढे तो टेल्को मध्ये आल्यावर त्याने सुझुकी घरी पाठवली व नवे सुझुकी फिएरो घेतली. मोठे भारदस्त वाहन. भरपूर वापरले आणि Ph.D. साठी मद्रासला गेल्यावर ते मद्रासला नेलेले इकडे आणले व दिले. सायकल वापरीत होता. पण वाहन न वापरण्याचा उत्साह ओसरला असावा. प्रसादचा एक दिवस फोन.
"बाबा, मी बुलेट घेतोय. आई, ऐकतेयस ना?"
"किंमत किती?" मी.
"एकूण ८० हजार पडतील," प्रसाद.
मी गप्प. फोनवर त्याची आईशी चर्चा. मी गप्पच.
"बाबा बोलत का नाही? गप्प का?" प्रसाद.
मी हसतच सांगितले "कर्ज काढून तू घेतोस, घे. हे धाडस तरूणपणातच शोभते." वगैरे वगैरे.
प्रसादने बुलेट घेतली. तो कुठे कुठे गेला हे फोन वरून कळायचे.
६ फेब्रुवारी २००४. प्रसाद आज मद्रास वरून निघणार असे फोनवर काही दिवस आधी बोलला होता. सकाळ पासून त्याचा फोन असा नव्हताच. मी ही दोन तीन वेळा फोन केला होता पण फोन लागत नव्हता. लागला तेव्हा कळाले, तो मद्रासहून निघाला आहे. सकाळी लवकर. फक्त... बुलेटने निघाला आहे!
वार्ता घरात पसरली. किती मोठे अंतर. नवीन गाडी. एकटा येणार? वगैरे वगैरे. M80 वरून फार तर एका खेपेत मिरज, कवठे, तासगांव, भिलवडी, आष्टे, वडगांव करून परत गंगानगरी आलो की मोठा प्रवास केला असे मानणारे आम्ही. विचारानेच छाती दडपून जावी. झाले! सर्वच अस्वस्थ झालो.
सायंकाळी त्याने चित्रदुर्ग मधल्या एका हॉटेल मध्ये मुक्काम केला. दुसरे दिवशी सकाळी सव्वासहा वाजता मी त्याला फोन करून उठवले. तेथून हुबळी-धारवाड, बेळगांव व निपाणी मार्गे सहा पर्यंत सहजीवनमध्ये, असे त्याचे नियोजन. दुपारी फोन आला की हुबळीत जेवण केले आहे आणि तिथून निघतो आहे.
बेळगांव मध्ये पोचलो असा चार वाजता फोन. पुढचा फोन साडेसहा वाजता. "मी निपाणीजवळ आलो आहे. उशीर झाला आहे. वाटेत छोटासा अपघात झाला होता. मला व गाडीला काही झाले नाही. रस्ता ओलांडणार्या गुरांच्या कळपाला ट्रकने धडक दिली होती. आल्यावर सविस्तर सांगतो."
सायंकाळी अप्पा नुली आलेले, मिलिंदही आलेला. प्रथम मीही कशाला हे धाडस केले म्हणणारा. मात्र नंतर मीही पेढे आणले. हार सूर्यवंशी मेस्त्रींनी आणला. आरतीची तयारी केली. कशाला हे धाडस केले हा सर्वांचा सूर मी थांबविला व आता तो इतक्या लांबून येतो आहे, त्याच्या धाडसाचे कौतुक करुया म्हणून सांगितले. प्रसाद तसा उशीरा आला. पण त्याचे उचित स्वागत आम्ही केले. 'नवी बुलेट' हार परिधान करून आमच्या घरात विसावली. आम्हालाही आनंदाचे भरते आले.
प्रसादने प्रवास फार व्यवस्थित केला होता. गती नाही. ६०-७० किलोमीटर नंतर थांबायचे. काहीतरी खायचे असल्यास खायचे. दुपारी थोडी विश्रांती. त्यामुळे तो आला तेंव्हा फारसा कंटाळलेला, थकलेला नव्हता. कशाला धाडस हा संघर्षबिंदू संपला होता. उकल ही झाली होती.
आमच्या प्रसादने (मुलाने) बुलेट घेतली. घेतली ती मद्रास मध्ये. लहानपणी ल्यूना वर तो बसला, माझ्या पूर्वीच्या लॅंब्रेटा स्कूटरवरून तो पुढे उभा राहूनच फिरला. मग सायकल शिकला. मग घरी M50 आली. ती त्याने चालवली. M80 आली. अवंती (ऑटोगियर) आली. आणि त्याच्या आईने ख़ास त्याच्या साठी त्याच्या मामाची इंड सुझुकी घेवून दिली. तेव्हा तो I.I.T. मध्ये M.Tech. करीत होता. पुढे तो टेल्को मध्ये आल्यावर त्याने सुझुकी घरी पाठवली व नवे सुझुकी फिएरो घेतली. मोठे भारदस्त वाहन. भरपूर वापरले आणि Ph.D. साठी मद्रासला गेल्यावर ते मद्रासला नेलेले इकडे आणले व दिले. सायकल वापरीत होता. पण वाहन न वापरण्याचा उत्साह ओसरला असावा. प्रसादचा एक दिवस फोन.
"बाबा, मी बुलेट घेतोय. आई, ऐकतेयस ना?"
"किंमत किती?" मी.
"एकूण ८० हजार पडतील," प्रसाद.
मी गप्प. फोनवर त्याची आईशी चर्चा. मी गप्पच.
"बाबा बोलत का नाही? गप्प का?" प्रसाद.
मी हसतच सांगितले "कर्ज काढून तू घेतोस, घे. हे धाडस तरूणपणातच शोभते." वगैरे वगैरे.
प्रसादने बुलेट घेतली. तो कुठे कुठे गेला हे फोन वरून कळायचे.
६ फेब्रुवारी २००४. प्रसाद आज मद्रास वरून निघणार असे फोनवर काही दिवस आधी बोलला होता. सकाळ पासून त्याचा फोन असा नव्हताच. मी ही दोन तीन वेळा फोन केला होता पण फोन लागत नव्हता. लागला तेव्हा कळाले, तो मद्रासहून निघाला आहे. सकाळी लवकर. फक्त... बुलेटने निघाला आहे!
वार्ता घरात पसरली. किती मोठे अंतर. नवीन गाडी. एकटा येणार? वगैरे वगैरे. M80 वरून फार तर एका खेपेत मिरज, कवठे, तासगांव, भिलवडी, आष्टे, वडगांव करून परत गंगानगरी आलो की मोठा प्रवास केला असे मानणारे आम्ही. विचारानेच छाती दडपून जावी. झाले! सर्वच अस्वस्थ झालो.
सायंकाळी त्याने चित्रदुर्ग मधल्या एका हॉटेल मध्ये मुक्काम केला. दुसरे दिवशी सकाळी सव्वासहा वाजता मी त्याला फोन करून उठवले. तेथून हुबळी-धारवाड, बेळगांव व निपाणी मार्गे सहा पर्यंत सहजीवनमध्ये, असे त्याचे नियोजन. दुपारी फोन आला की हुबळीत जेवण केले आहे आणि तिथून निघतो आहे.
बेळगांव मध्ये पोचलो असा चार वाजता फोन. पुढचा फोन साडेसहा वाजता. "मी निपाणीजवळ आलो आहे. उशीर झाला आहे. वाटेत छोटासा अपघात झाला होता. मला व गाडीला काही झाले नाही. रस्ता ओलांडणार्या गुरांच्या कळपाला ट्रकने धडक दिली होती. आल्यावर सविस्तर सांगतो."
सायंकाळी अप्पा नुली आलेले, मिलिंदही आलेला. प्रथम मीही कशाला हे धाडस केले म्हणणारा. मात्र नंतर मीही पेढे आणले. हार सूर्यवंशी मेस्त्रींनी आणला. आरतीची तयारी केली. कशाला हे धाडस केले हा सर्वांचा सूर मी थांबविला व आता तो इतक्या लांबून येतो आहे, त्याच्या धाडसाचे कौतुक करुया म्हणून सांगितले. प्रसाद तसा उशीरा आला. पण त्याचे उचित स्वागत आम्ही केले. 'नवी बुलेट' हार परिधान करून आमच्या घरात विसावली. आम्हालाही आनंदाचे भरते आले.
प्रसादने प्रवास फार व्यवस्थित केला होता. गती नाही. ६०-७० किलोमीटर नंतर थांबायचे. काहीतरी खायचे असल्यास खायचे. दुपारी थोडी विश्रांती. त्यामुळे तो आला तेंव्हा फारसा कंटाळलेला, थकलेला नव्हता. कशाला धाडस हा संघर्षबिंदू संपला होता. उकल ही झाली होती.
(11/02/2004)
*** ***
Sunday, February 01, 2009
A day long excursion in the Kolhapur region
Fine morning on Miraj Kolhapur State Highway earlier in the day.
Statue of Bajiprabhu Deshpande at Fort Panhala. Photo taken in the evening.Exposure: 30 sec, f5.6, ISO400
Exposure: 30 sec, f5.6, ISO400Note my blurred face! Late to arrive at the position.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Photograph of the day - Travel
Ride to Gingee will prove to be an extra-ordinary excursion to me. I would like to compare the joy from this ride with a ride on Suzuki Fiero down NH17 on 1st May 2001 during my stay in Pune.This photo is taken at Gingee (and posted here as a proof for 'the curious reader') in front of Krishnagiri Hill at 8.10 am. In this ride I travelled 355 kilometers in 7 hours of actual driving time. I rode to Pondicherry via Thindivanam in stead of via Viluppuram, actually by mistake as I could make out little from sign boards for the directions at the main road junction in Gingee.
Camera: Canon Powershot A80
Exposure: 1/500 s, f/5.6, ISO100
Friday, December 22, 2006
Gingee Ride Plan
It has been a long since when I have hit the roads with my sweetheart. In last eight weeks the circumstances made me travel a lot almost close to 12000 kilometers as per the rough estimate. This travel was done with all means but water using all types of vehicles! And my Machismo was a little too much neglected barring its eager company to numerous destinations in the city. So I have thought of spending some time with her on road. Plan is to go to Gingee which is almost 150 km from Chennai. Gingee is also called as Senjee by locals. Name of Gingee striked to my mind when, in the afternoon, I was watching famous Marathi epic play "रायगडाला जेव्हां जाग येते" on Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, son of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The title of the play can be translated in English as When Raigad Awakens.I have been to this place twice earlier but both times I have travelled by bus. This time I may return via Viluppuram - Pondicherry if time permits; or will join East Coast Road at Marakkanam and then will return to Chennai by dusk. Let me try if I can leave the campus at four am, four and a half hours from now.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Belated happy anniversary to my Machismo
In last few days, my mind was occupied by too many things and that might be the reason that I forgot about my Machismo's third anniversary which was on 5th December. I bought this motorcycle, which is often termed as the beast, three years back and started was a new chapter in my riding experience and an altogether new philosophy of living life. Sooner my dear beast, musculine should it be called, was labled as the beauty because of her enviable looks (Neighbours envy. Owners pride!). I know it's strange combination of virtues but then those who have seen this beauty will understand what I really mean. The adjecent picture, taken at some a distance of 500 odd kilometers from Chennai on the way to Munnar, will give you an idea for sure. Since when she has come in my possession, she has been a very loyal and very realiable (and only) companion of mine on roads measuring thousands of kilometers. Thanks for everything Machismo! I am sure that my association with my you will last till my last breath and till we cover at least a million kilometers together!!!
Monday, August 28, 2006
Machismo Back in Action - Story of the Breakfast at Mahabalipuram
The wonderful morning started with reaching the parking area on bicycle at six am. In no time I was on the way to Adyar on Machismo. I joined ECR at Thiruvanmiyur in the next couple of minutes. I was getting a flat spot when opening up the throttle but the bike was doing well when cruising. It was pretty early and the road had sparse traffic. It took some twenty five minutes to reach Uthandi and I found the road further was almost empty with vehicles occasionally crossing me on their way to Chennai. My speed had reached almost 80 km/h and it was sufficiently high to overtake most vehicles going in my direction.
I increased speed carefully only after a while. I was cautious for many reasons. Stiff wrist of my left hand which was injured exactly three months back in Ichalkaranji was first reason. I was on ride (not exactly a long one - but it's matter of keeping the throttle pulled for a few more hours and any of the ride can become long ride!) after a long time and bike had regained its shape just two day back. It was the second reason. The third reason was the frame of my mind in recent days that made me, perhaps, even more cautious. What ever be the reason one has to be careful all the time when one hits roads.
Anyway on the way I had to stop near Toll Gate to attend a phone call and then to make one. I opened throttle to full after Kovalam. By the time I crossed Crocodile Park I was cruising between 115 to 125 km/h quite comfortably. I thought, at that time, the wind was assisting me probably. I used my sitting posture to control the speed. Lean forward flat on the petrol tank, you gain speed. On the other hand, sit upright and the increased wind resistance slows you. At seven am I was in Hotel Mamalla checking the carburettor which was spilling petrol through the overflow vent. I closed the fuel valve and the leakage stopped. It was sure that I had to get the carburettor overhauled as the float operation was not going well. Albeit I had a good brakefast comprising of idlie-sambar follwed by tea.
I left the hotel at seven thirty with a steady speeds of 70-75 km/h. On the way back I had to meet my friend Amol who was flying model aircraft on one of the grounds near ECR. After spending some twenty minutes with the group I left the place. By that time the road had become busy slowing my speed down. I directly reached REL's Service Centre on Kalakshetra Road at eight fourty five am only to know that it opens at nine thirty am. On the thought of going to another mechanic who was just nearby, I left the Kalakshetra Road. I was to take a left turn after taking a U turn near Thiruvanmiyur Bus Depot. On this left turn I saw a motorcyclist in my front suddenly applying brakes and at the same time two cyclists turning to their right from the wrong half of the road. That meant they were coming into me. I applied brakes. I avoided motorcycle, which was almost standing by this time, stopped just in front of the bicycles. Rear brake is never useful for such occasions whereas front brake locked the front wheel and the bullet skidded (on tar road!). There is one thing about this machine from REL factory, that is, you can balance this machine only as long as it is bearing its own weight. The result was, in a second, the bike was flat on the road on its right side and I was sitting on it with my right leg trapped between bike and the road nicely twisting it at the knee. But soon I got myself standing on my legs. A gentleman lifted bike. Some oil spilled from the air-filter container over the hot silencer. Petrol also started leaking from carburettor. I quickly closed fuel supply and signalled all telling everything was fine. I started the bike and left only to see the mechanic's shop still closed. I had felt deep pain in the right knee when kicking the bike. Despite that I decided to go to REL's station again in order to leave the bike for a general checkup and reached there. It was still five past nine in morning.
Although it was a minor fall without any major damage, it emphasizes the need to remain careful at all speeds and at all the places. Nothing happened at 120 km/h and I had a fall at 20 km/h. It was my first fall in last six years of riding a little more than 53000 km.
I was told where I had the fall, the motorcyclist in front of me was driving with side stand on. Somebody pointed it to him when taking the left turn. He reacted to it by quickly slowing down. Then servicing centre I could press my thumb against the tyre. The air pressure in front was lower than required. And there was no air-filter in the box enabling me to drive at that 10 km/h extra speed! ... hmmm... I'm learning. :-)
I increased speed carefully only after a while. I was cautious for many reasons. Stiff wrist of my left hand which was injured exactly three months back in Ichalkaranji was first reason. I was on ride (not exactly a long one - but it's matter of keeping the throttle pulled for a few more hours and any of the ride can become long ride!) after a long time and bike had regained its shape just two day back. It was the second reason. The third reason was the frame of my mind in recent days that made me, perhaps, even more cautious. What ever be the reason one has to be careful all the time when one hits roads.
Anyway on the way I had to stop near Toll Gate to attend a phone call and then to make one. I opened throttle to full after Kovalam. By the time I crossed Crocodile Park I was cruising between 115 to 125 km/h quite comfortably. I thought, at that time, the wind was assisting me probably. I used my sitting posture to control the speed. Lean forward flat on the petrol tank, you gain speed. On the other hand, sit upright and the increased wind resistance slows you. At seven am I was in Hotel Mamalla checking the carburettor which was spilling petrol through the overflow vent. I closed the fuel valve and the leakage stopped. It was sure that I had to get the carburettor overhauled as the float operation was not going well. Albeit I had a good brakefast comprising of idlie-sambar follwed by tea.
I left the hotel at seven thirty with a steady speeds of 70-75 km/h. On the way back I had to meet my friend Amol who was flying model aircraft on one of the grounds near ECR. After spending some twenty minutes with the group I left the place. By that time the road had become busy slowing my speed down. I directly reached REL's Service Centre on Kalakshetra Road at eight fourty five am only to know that it opens at nine thirty am. On the thought of going to another mechanic who was just nearby, I left the Kalakshetra Road. I was to take a left turn after taking a U turn near Thiruvanmiyur Bus Depot. On this left turn I saw a motorcyclist in my front suddenly applying brakes and at the same time two cyclists turning to their right from the wrong half of the road. That meant they were coming into me. I applied brakes. I avoided motorcycle, which was almost standing by this time, stopped just in front of the bicycles. Rear brake is never useful for such occasions whereas front brake locked the front wheel and the bullet skidded (on tar road!). There is one thing about this machine from REL factory, that is, you can balance this machine only as long as it is bearing its own weight. The result was, in a second, the bike was flat on the road on its right side and I was sitting on it with my right leg trapped between bike and the road nicely twisting it at the knee. But soon I got myself standing on my legs. A gentleman lifted bike. Some oil spilled from the air-filter container over the hot silencer. Petrol also started leaking from carburettor. I quickly closed fuel supply and signalled all telling everything was fine. I started the bike and left only to see the mechanic's shop still closed. I had felt deep pain in the right knee when kicking the bike. Despite that I decided to go to REL's station again in order to leave the bike for a general checkup and reached there. It was still five past nine in morning.
Although it was a minor fall without any major damage, it emphasizes the need to remain careful at all speeds and at all the places. Nothing happened at 120 km/h and I had a fall at 20 km/h. It was my first fall in last six years of riding a little more than 53000 km.
I was told where I had the fall, the motorcyclist in front of me was driving with side stand on. Somebody pointed it to him when taking the left turn. He reacted to it by quickly slowing down. Then servicing centre I could press my thumb against the tyre. The air pressure in front was lower than required. And there was no air-filter in the box enabling me to drive at that 10 km/h extra speed! ... hmmm... I'm learning. :-)
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
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Saturday, June 10, 2006
Solo ride to Ichalkaranji on Machismo - Part 1 of 4
It has been quite a time after I decided to write about details about ride, yet another solo ride on Machismo, to Ichalkaranji. During my stay at home I decided to write but my laziness and pampering by my parents and sister just did not allow me to put any paragraph. But now once I have come back to Chennai, I have decided to post them as and when I get any time from work.
I was talking to my friend in his showroom of REL motorcycles (bullets) on Wednesday where he told me about his desire to participate in Himalayan Odyssey, a bullet rally arranged by REL. I offered him my bullet for the rally. It was decided that I would continue my return journey to Chennai two days later and then work out arrangements to send the bullet to Kolhapur or to Delhi for him. That whole day my Baba was accompanying me. It’s a great pleasure to take your father on a ride on your motorcycle. We got some work done on bike; it was re-doing electrical connections for the two auxiliary lamps on bike, at the showroom and returned to Ichalkaraji later in evening. When I parked my bike in front of our home, I noticed a sudden muscular pain in the left wrist, severe enough to make me restrict its movement in any direction. The pain remained in the next morning also and I was forced alter my plan for return journey. I could not get any berth in Haripriya Express on Friday and Saturday. So I booked a bus ticket in a bus for Bangaluru. Saturday afternoon I left the home for Kolhapur with my bag on bullet, left the bullet at REL showroom for my friend, and visited CPR to see Satish. His mother had undergone surgery the previous day. After spending some time with him I boarded bus near Central Bus Stand 6 pm. Satish came to see me off. I reached Bengaluru on Sunday morning where I boarded on bus for Chennai which took me to the Koyambedu at 4 pm. Overall it was pleasant journey, but without my bullet.
It was in the beginning of the third week of May, I felt that I wanted a break. My routine was well tuned my post-April-17 life since when I had jumped back into role of a regular Research Scholar. It was quite some time since when I had not visited my parents. Last time when I visited home, was on 30th December for an hour when I was on way to Pune with Dr Vivek driving back his car. It was too much brief visit. Before that it was in November when I rode Machismo taking circuitous routes during my visit to Ichalkaranji. I had visited Raigad, Chinchwad, Walawal, Panaji, Jog Falls and my journey was interrupted by rain at Arsikere after covering total ~2850 km that had taken 17 days.
In that impulse, anticipating my guide’s approval and smooth working of all other necessary things, I left the Machismo at REL’s servicing centre in Thiruvanmiyur on Monday morning with necessary instructions for checkup that is to be done before going on a long ride. The two – three days passed in uncertainty lingering over the plan. But some how on Thursday evening all the uncertainties vanished and I reached the servicing centre to get delivery of bike. It was still not ready. The mechanic had just discovered that the liver that indexes the gears was half broken but was just functional in last few months. It could have broken completely any time during travel. It took one hour to fit new lever. They had fitted a new halogen bulb. After usual checkup I left the centre with bike. Then, only thing remained with my mind was an exciting ride ahead.
I planned to take a circuitous route to reach Ichalkaranji and a straight route for return to Chennai. For going I thought of riding along NH4 upto Kolar, reaching Tumkur via Vijaypura-Dodballapur, then riding along NH206 to Honnavar, then reaching Panaji along NH17 and Ichalkaranji. It would have taken three days to complete this journey. Interestingly I had followed this route in my ride in last November but in the reverse order. But on 19th May, something else was to happen!
Continued in part 2 ...
I was talking to my friend in his showroom of REL motorcycles (bullets) on Wednesday where he told me about his desire to participate in Himalayan Odyssey, a bullet rally arranged by REL. I offered him my bullet for the rally. It was decided that I would continue my return journey to Chennai two days later and then work out arrangements to send the bullet to Kolhapur or to Delhi for him. That whole day my Baba was accompanying me. It’s a great pleasure to take your father on a ride on your motorcycle. We got some work done on bike; it was re-doing electrical connections for the two auxiliary lamps on bike, at the showroom and returned to Ichalkaraji later in evening. When I parked my bike in front of our home, I noticed a sudden muscular pain in the left wrist, severe enough to make me restrict its movement in any direction. The pain remained in the next morning also and I was forced alter my plan for return journey. I could not get any berth in Haripriya Express on Friday and Saturday. So I booked a bus ticket in a bus for Bangaluru. Saturday afternoon I left the home for Kolhapur with my bag on bullet, left the bullet at REL showroom for my friend, and visited CPR to see Satish. His mother had undergone surgery the previous day. After spending some time with him I boarded bus near Central Bus Stand 6 pm. Satish came to see me off. I reached Bengaluru on Sunday morning where I boarded on bus for Chennai which took me to the Koyambedu at 4 pm. Overall it was pleasant journey, but without my bullet.
It was in the beginning of the third week of May, I felt that I wanted a break. My routine was well tuned my post-April-17 life since when I had jumped back into role of a regular Research Scholar. It was quite some time since when I had not visited my parents. Last time when I visited home, was on 30th December for an hour when I was on way to Pune with Dr Vivek driving back his car. It was too much brief visit. Before that it was in November when I rode Machismo taking circuitous routes during my visit to Ichalkaranji. I had visited Raigad, Chinchwad, Walawal, Panaji, Jog Falls and my journey was interrupted by rain at Arsikere after covering total ~2850 km that had taken 17 days.
In that impulse, anticipating my guide’s approval and smooth working of all other necessary things, I left the Machismo at REL’s servicing centre in Thiruvanmiyur on Monday morning with necessary instructions for checkup that is to be done before going on a long ride. The two – three days passed in uncertainty lingering over the plan. But some how on Thursday evening all the uncertainties vanished and I reached the servicing centre to get delivery of bike. It was still not ready. The mechanic had just discovered that the liver that indexes the gears was half broken but was just functional in last few months. It could have broken completely any time during travel. It took one hour to fit new lever. They had fitted a new halogen bulb. After usual checkup I left the centre with bike. Then, only thing remained with my mind was an exciting ride ahead.
I planned to take a circuitous route to reach Ichalkaranji and a straight route for return to Chennai. For going I thought of riding along NH4 upto Kolar, reaching Tumkur via Vijaypura-Dodballapur, then riding along NH206 to Honnavar, then reaching Panaji along NH17 and Ichalkaranji. It would have taken three days to complete this journey. Interestingly I had followed this route in my ride in last November but in the reverse order. But on 19th May, something else was to happen!
Continued in part 2 ...
Solo ride to Ichalkaranji on Machismo - Part 2 of 4
On Friday, 19th, I got up early so that I could be ready with my bag, first aid kit, some snacks, packed fruit juice and driving gear. I was happy to see Santosh coming to help me in preparation. We loaded the bag on bike, arranged all the material, some in side carrier and some in various pockets of bag. I kicked off the ride at 3.10 am from Kaveri Hostel in presence of Santosh and a security guard. I even remember Santosh taking my photo by his camera phone. But hopefully it is still in his phone.
Odometer: 20645.1 km, 0310h (0 km, 00h00m)
From Guindy (in Chennai) I joined NH4 and noticed that the four-laning work was still unfinished. One good thing was that every where at least one side of the road was ready but the lane-strips were not painted. Absence of lanes poses some inconvenience to the motorists however good the road surface may be. The road was ready for cruising at 70 – 75 km/h with a little extra care. It was almost dawn when I passed by Kanchipuram. NH4 bifurcates at Walajapet, some 100 km from Chennai. The road via Krishnagiri - NH46 - has four lanes and is a part of golden quadrilateral. The road via Chittoor goes to Bangalore and continues to be NH4. I joined the road to Chittoor. By this time the day almost broke and the traffic on road started increasing. This road passes through a national park and warning signs of elephants crossing can spotted at some places. Till half past six there was no stopping. When nearing Palamner I started feeling hungry and I stopped near a roadside dwelling of shops. The tea shop, run by a wife-husband pair, was just opened. They welcomed me with warmth and prepared tea quickly. They offered me biscuits also to have with tea. After three cups of tea and six-seven biscuits, and after paying bill of mere 12 rupees, I set off for further travel. My log sheet indicated that I had covered 180 km non-stop in 210 minutes. Till the date this was my longest distance covered in single strech and also 210 minutes was the longest time spent riding at a stretch. During this stretch I never exceeded 85 km/h.
Within half an hour, I started feeling drowsy and I decided to take a few minutes rest. I slowed down and started looking for a suitable place. I spotted a bench made of stones at some 50 feet away on the right side of road. I reached the bench, parked bike, removed helmet and lay back on the bench. I got a sound sleep of fifteen minutes. After getting up I felt completely refreshed and very energetic. Looking around I realized the beauty of the place. The bench was situated in line with an array of tall coconut trees along clay road emerging from a river bank at distance of 200 feet and then joining the highway. The surroundings were full of green farms and sun was just showing-up himself behind a small cloud. I made entry in log-sheet and started riding.
Odometer: 20864.0 km, 0800h (218.9 km, 4h50m)
I entered Kolar which is a couple of kilometers away from the highway. I wanted to confirm the road to Vijaypura and so asked an auto-driver the same. He gave me a nice smile and showed me a small crossroad on the right and asked me to follow it all along. I thanked him, entered the road and soon realized that I was in the middle of white buildings apparently bearing a look of some administrative office complex. And that’s it, it was the end of the road! I appreciated the sense of humor the auto-driver had exhibited and returned to the main road and followed the road that was in my memory. Before starting to cruise, I verified it with a gentleman. This incident confirmed two things; one, my memory can be sometimes trustworthy; and second, you find this type of auto-drivers every where, even in Kolar! After riding a fifteen – twenty kilometers I realized that the roads were in extremely bad condition. It had hampered my speed significantly to the extent I started feeling that the decision of taking this route in order to avoid busy traffic of Bengaluru was not a wise idea. But then rides have to have such elements to surprise you in order to add to the excitement!
I had brief lunch after reaching Gauribidnur that is just 15 km before Tumkur. When I resumed journey at 12 pm I was already two hours and a quarter behind schedule. But it was all right. Only thing that was troubling me was that the signboards for directions and the distances were written in Kannada and I had to rely upon the native people and sign language for knowing directions. And then a goof-up took place. At a cross-road I could not find directions mentioned in Hindi or English. I turned to right. I drove some 20 km and enquired about road to Tumkur. I was told that Tumkur was 40 km away almost in the opposit direction. This meant I had missed the road in big way and was on the way to Sira which is on NH4 towards Mumbai. This was the moment when I decided to drop plan to reach Honnavar that evening. In stead of that I decided to continue my journey to reach Ichalkaranji directly. In some way I wanted to enjoy biking so I was not particular upon following only one plan. Here two things went wrong for Honnavar plan, one was decision of bypassing Bengaluru. Though it gave me a wonderful experience of riding through countryside, it pushed me behind schedule by more than three hours. The second thing was deviating from the desired route. I accepted this divine instruction to reach home directly to meet parents waiting for me in stead of roaming hither and thither!
I joined NH4 at Sira at around 2 pm. A glassful of tender coconut water energized me. Hubli was around 280 km away and I had four and half hours available before sunset. So Hubli became destination for the night’s halt. I had so far covered 443.4 km in eleven hours.
Odometer: 21088.5 km, 1410h (443.4 km, 11h00m)
Continued in part 3 ...
Odometer: 20645.1 km, 0310h (0 km, 00h00m)
From Guindy (in Chennai) I joined NH4 and noticed that the four-laning work was still unfinished. One good thing was that every where at least one side of the road was ready but the lane-strips were not painted. Absence of lanes poses some inconvenience to the motorists however good the road surface may be. The road was ready for cruising at 70 – 75 km/h with a little extra care. It was almost dawn when I passed by Kanchipuram. NH4 bifurcates at Walajapet, some 100 km from Chennai. The road via Krishnagiri - NH46 - has four lanes and is a part of golden quadrilateral. The road via Chittoor goes to Bangalore and continues to be NH4. I joined the road to Chittoor. By this time the day almost broke and the traffic on road started increasing. This road passes through a national park and warning signs of elephants crossing can spotted at some places. Till half past six there was no stopping. When nearing Palamner I started feeling hungry and I stopped near a roadside dwelling of shops. The tea shop, run by a wife-husband pair, was just opened. They welcomed me with warmth and prepared tea quickly. They offered me biscuits also to have with tea. After three cups of tea and six-seven biscuits, and after paying bill of mere 12 rupees, I set off for further travel. My log sheet indicated that I had covered 180 km non-stop in 210 minutes. Till the date this was my longest distance covered in single strech and also 210 minutes was the longest time spent riding at a stretch. During this stretch I never exceeded 85 km/h.
Within half an hour, I started feeling drowsy and I decided to take a few minutes rest. I slowed down and started looking for a suitable place. I spotted a bench made of stones at some 50 feet away on the right side of road. I reached the bench, parked bike, removed helmet and lay back on the bench. I got a sound sleep of fifteen minutes. After getting up I felt completely refreshed and very energetic. Looking around I realized the beauty of the place. The bench was situated in line with an array of tall coconut trees along clay road emerging from a river bank at distance of 200 feet and then joining the highway. The surroundings were full of green farms and sun was just showing-up himself behind a small cloud. I made entry in log-sheet and started riding.
Odometer: 20864.0 km, 0800h (218.9 km, 4h50m)
I entered Kolar which is a couple of kilometers away from the highway. I wanted to confirm the road to Vijaypura and so asked an auto-driver the same. He gave me a nice smile and showed me a small crossroad on the right and asked me to follow it all along. I thanked him, entered the road and soon realized that I was in the middle of white buildings apparently bearing a look of some administrative office complex. And that’s it, it was the end of the road! I appreciated the sense of humor the auto-driver had exhibited and returned to the main road and followed the road that was in my memory. Before starting to cruise, I verified it with a gentleman. This incident confirmed two things; one, my memory can be sometimes trustworthy; and second, you find this type of auto-drivers every where, even in Kolar! After riding a fifteen – twenty kilometers I realized that the roads were in extremely bad condition. It had hampered my speed significantly to the extent I started feeling that the decision of taking this route in order to avoid busy traffic of Bengaluru was not a wise idea. But then rides have to have such elements to surprise you in order to add to the excitement!
I had brief lunch after reaching Gauribidnur that is just 15 km before Tumkur. When I resumed journey at 12 pm I was already two hours and a quarter behind schedule. But it was all right. Only thing that was troubling me was that the signboards for directions and the distances were written in Kannada and I had to rely upon the native people and sign language for knowing directions. And then a goof-up took place. At a cross-road I could not find directions mentioned in Hindi or English. I turned to right. I drove some 20 km and enquired about road to Tumkur. I was told that Tumkur was 40 km away almost in the opposit direction. This meant I had missed the road in big way and was on the way to Sira which is on NH4 towards Mumbai. This was the moment when I decided to drop plan to reach Honnavar that evening. In stead of that I decided to continue my journey to reach Ichalkaranji directly. In some way I wanted to enjoy biking so I was not particular upon following only one plan. Here two things went wrong for Honnavar plan, one was decision of bypassing Bengaluru. Though it gave me a wonderful experience of riding through countryside, it pushed me behind schedule by more than three hours. The second thing was deviating from the desired route. I accepted this divine instruction to reach home directly to meet parents waiting for me in stead of roaming hither and thither!
I joined NH4 at Sira at around 2 pm. A glassful of tender coconut water energized me. Hubli was around 280 km away and I had four and half hours available before sunset. So Hubli became destination for the night’s halt. I had so far covered 443.4 km in eleven hours.
Odometer: 21088.5 km, 1410h (443.4 km, 11h00m)
Continued in part 3 ...
Solo ride to Ichalkaranji on Machismo - Part 3 of 4
Odometer: 21088.5 km, 1410h (443.4 km, 11h00m)
I left Sira riding along NH4 and felt that the traffic on busy NH4 was friendly and familiar. The heavily loaded trucks were cruising fast but they were giving side to a little two-wheeler in their rear-view mirror that was requesting a side. The roads had many diversions but their occurrence was much less than November. I left Chitradurga behind at 3 pm. This was some three hours before time if compared with my February 2003 ride, the first ride to Ichalkaranji where I had started from Kavery Hostel at 3.30 am and reached Chitradurga at 6 pm. Tea break in Ranibennur gave me a surprise as the roadside tea-stall cum snack shop owner offered me plateful of tasty Pohay. That was almost like home coming! The tea also was good. And all this was in mere 8 rupees. I always prefer roadside small tea-shops or eateries as I don't have to unload the bag and other material from the bike. In stead I can park bike and can have tea/snacks on a nearby table. This way the bike remains in sight. In case there is no open space, the owner of shop is invariably kind to keep a watch on bike and bag while I have snacks/meal inside. And then these eateries give good food at very low charge.
It was quite clear that I was able to reach to higher cruising speeds than usual. But I was losing time mostly at diversions and on two-lane stretches when following slow moving vehicles. But it was nothing but natural and I was enjoying that. Most of the time I was overtaking the same trucks and buses after each of my stops. I remember from my November ride that the stretch of some 100 km before Hubli was horrible. Here I have a solid reason to say, "I remember", and you have to remember what I had written in one of the earlier paragraphs to say about my memory! To my surprise the road was repaired well although four-laning was far from completion. It seems that this stretch will be the last one to be ready. I almost reached outskirts of Hubli at 8.25 pm where straight road takes you to city and a left cut takes you to the bypass of Hubli and Dharwad.
Odometer: 21367.3, 2025 pm (722.1 km, 17h15m)
It was the first time in my life I had covered 700+ km distance in one day. There were 230 km to be clocked. I still had energy to continue and started feeling that I could save a whole day if I continued riding. The proposition of saving a day looked very attractive to me and there I decided to continue the journey. I got the left auxiliary lamp tightened at a roadside workshop. But it took more than twenty minutes.
Initial 20 km were along the bypass. It was a two-lane road with good surface. The road passed over a number of hills along steep inclines surprisingly straight. When going downhill on this road, first time in this ride, I crossed 110 km/h and later often my speedometer needle flirted with this speed range whenever I could find a right situation and the situations came in plenty. The bypass takes you directly to the four-lane NH4 which is at near completion. Occasionally diversions came along the way. These sudden diversions were a matter of concern. Here my new head lamp fitted with halogen bulb proved very useful. With this new bulb, I could get a very bright beam that was penetrating at least four hundred meters. This meant I had a minimum of 14 seconds of reaction time when cruising speeds nearing 100 km/h which was reasonably good. But my bike’s braking time for 100 km/h to a complete halt was 15 to 20 seconds so I still had to be watchful. On the way I noticed that the left auxiliary lamp was not working and found it swinging near the crash guard hung with its power cable. Thanks to the road with minimum of humps that it had not fallen in the way. I stopped immediately. I had to cut its wire and keep it in the side carrier. After resuming the riding, I realized that the other auxiliary lamp was emitting a brighter light beam, being the lone load on the battery.
I crossed Belgaon and stopped to call at home and to inform them about the changing plans. Even earlier I was communicating with my parents during stops and sending messages to Rani, the sweet sister. I had not informed them about continuation of journey from Hubli. Actually I had sent message to Rani from Hubli telling I was coming directly, which she received when I was talking with them over phone in Belgaon.
Odometer: 21474.0 km, 2235h (828.9 km, 19h25m)
From Belgaon starts the longest stretch of highway completed with four lanes and it is a joy to ride along. The towns with familiar names were going past in flash. I found the traffic was significant. How different it was this time, as during my first ride I used to be caught in traffic jams at every few kilometers! I had a quick dinner at Nipani. I think I forgot to make an entry of this stop in the log sheet. At around twelve past thirty in night I must have reached Kolhapur. This new road just doesn’t give any feeling of a passing town as it bisects the town and goes over its cross-roads. After Kolhapur I aligned to the road to Ichalkaranji, last 25 kilometers. It is a narrow road with amazingly dense traffic even in those late hours. The pace was lowered naturally. When I reached home, Rani, Aai and Baba were waiting for me at the gate. They were all excited about my covering this distance in one shot. After pulling the bike in parking and changing cloths, I feasted on the Haapoos Mangoes, also known as Alfonso by some people. It was a real home coming!
Odometer: 21564.3, 0110h (949.2 km, 22h00m)
My log sheet readings returned a driving time of 18 hours and 18 minutes and 51.9 km/h average driving speed. I found myself quite comfortable after journey. That time crossing one thousand kilometers didn’t seem impossible. In fact it seemed to me that the home came too early. Machismo underwent a whirlwind endurance test. No doubt she performed exceedingly well. I wish my parents lived in Satara or in Pune!
Petrol receipts in Part 4 ...
I left Sira riding along NH4 and felt that the traffic on busy NH4 was friendly and familiar. The heavily loaded trucks were cruising fast but they were giving side to a little two-wheeler in their rear-view mirror that was requesting a side. The roads had many diversions but their occurrence was much less than November. I left Chitradurga behind at 3 pm. This was some three hours before time if compared with my February 2003 ride, the first ride to Ichalkaranji where I had started from Kavery Hostel at 3.30 am and reached Chitradurga at 6 pm. Tea break in Ranibennur gave me a surprise as the roadside tea-stall cum snack shop owner offered me plateful of tasty Pohay. That was almost like home coming! The tea also was good. And all this was in mere 8 rupees. I always prefer roadside small tea-shops or eateries as I don't have to unload the bag and other material from the bike. In stead I can park bike and can have tea/snacks on a nearby table. This way the bike remains in sight. In case there is no open space, the owner of shop is invariably kind to keep a watch on bike and bag while I have snacks/meal inside. And then these eateries give good food at very low charge.
It was quite clear that I was able to reach to higher cruising speeds than usual. But I was losing time mostly at diversions and on two-lane stretches when following slow moving vehicles. But it was nothing but natural and I was enjoying that. Most of the time I was overtaking the same trucks and buses after each of my stops. I remember from my November ride that the stretch of some 100 km before Hubli was horrible. Here I have a solid reason to say, "I remember", and you have to remember what I had written in one of the earlier paragraphs to say about my memory! To my surprise the road was repaired well although four-laning was far from completion. It seems that this stretch will be the last one to be ready. I almost reached outskirts of Hubli at 8.25 pm where straight road takes you to city and a left cut takes you to the bypass of Hubli and Dharwad.
Odometer: 21367.3, 2025 pm (722.1 km, 17h15m)
It was the first time in my life I had covered 700+ km distance in one day. There were 230 km to be clocked. I still had energy to continue and started feeling that I could save a whole day if I continued riding. The proposition of saving a day looked very attractive to me and there I decided to continue the journey. I got the left auxiliary lamp tightened at a roadside workshop. But it took more than twenty minutes.
Initial 20 km were along the bypass. It was a two-lane road with good surface. The road passed over a number of hills along steep inclines surprisingly straight. When going downhill on this road, first time in this ride, I crossed 110 km/h and later often my speedometer needle flirted with this speed range whenever I could find a right situation and the situations came in plenty. The bypass takes you directly to the four-lane NH4 which is at near completion. Occasionally diversions came along the way. These sudden diversions were a matter of concern. Here my new head lamp fitted with halogen bulb proved very useful. With this new bulb, I could get a very bright beam that was penetrating at least four hundred meters. This meant I had a minimum of 14 seconds of reaction time when cruising speeds nearing 100 km/h which was reasonably good. But my bike’s braking time for 100 km/h to a complete halt was 15 to 20 seconds so I still had to be watchful. On the way I noticed that the left auxiliary lamp was not working and found it swinging near the crash guard hung with its power cable. Thanks to the road with minimum of humps that it had not fallen in the way. I stopped immediately. I had to cut its wire and keep it in the side carrier. After resuming the riding, I realized that the other auxiliary lamp was emitting a brighter light beam, being the lone load on the battery.
I crossed Belgaon and stopped to call at home and to inform them about the changing plans. Even earlier I was communicating with my parents during stops and sending messages to Rani, the sweet sister. I had not informed them about continuation of journey from Hubli. Actually I had sent message to Rani from Hubli telling I was coming directly, which she received when I was talking with them over phone in Belgaon.
Odometer: 21474.0 km, 2235h (828.9 km, 19h25m)
From Belgaon starts the longest stretch of highway completed with four lanes and it is a joy to ride along. The towns with familiar names were going past in flash. I found the traffic was significant. How different it was this time, as during my first ride I used to be caught in traffic jams at every few kilometers! I had a quick dinner at Nipani. I think I forgot to make an entry of this stop in the log sheet. At around twelve past thirty in night I must have reached Kolhapur. This new road just doesn’t give any feeling of a passing town as it bisects the town and goes over its cross-roads. After Kolhapur I aligned to the road to Ichalkaranji, last 25 kilometers. It is a narrow road with amazingly dense traffic even in those late hours. The pace was lowered naturally. When I reached home, Rani, Aai and Baba were waiting for me at the gate. They were all excited about my covering this distance in one shot. After pulling the bike in parking and changing cloths, I feasted on the Haapoos Mangoes, also known as Alfonso by some people. It was a real home coming!
Odometer: 21564.3, 0110h (949.2 km, 22h00m)
My log sheet readings returned a driving time of 18 hours and 18 minutes and 51.9 km/h average driving speed. I found myself quite comfortable after journey. That time crossing one thousand kilometers didn’t seem impossible. In fact it seemed to me that the home came too early. Machismo underwent a whirlwind endurance test. No doubt she performed exceedingly well. I wish my parents lived in Satara or in Pune!
Petrol receipts in Part 4 ...
Ichalkaranji Ride - Part 4 of 4 - Petrol receipt and log-sheet
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Petrol reciepts taken on the way (after filling petrol!) for reference of curious people. :-)
Log sheet - In its crudest form.
Monday, May 08, 2006
Mahabalipuram Calls Again - A Travelogue
Sometimes it happens. Suddenly an uneventful day concludes with an extremely exciting event. Something of that sort happened last evening.
As usual Nitin called and we fixed up a visit to Elliot Beach. Santosh and Raman also were to join us. So we decided to take out Rajan’s car (Thanks Rajan!). After a stroll on the shore we settled at Khana Khajana, had some parathas and got up to call it a day. It was nine thirty when we left Elliot Beach for home. And then Raman said, “Hey guys, how about a drive up to Mahabalipuram?” Myself and Santosh looked at each other and then towards Nitin, who with a Q mark on face had already gone on defensive and was trying to negotiate for mid-way view point for destination. He, sitting in car later, was heard telling his fiancée, “Hmmm, I am kidnapped, again, and don’t know when will be relieved!”
I pushed car in a petrol filling station near Adyar signal, filled petrol and air and left to join ECR. When passing through Adyar, Thiruvanmiyur, the road was busy even at that hour of evening. I kept a modest speed passing one vehicle after another and also allowed many vehicles to pass me. Before leaving Chennai, this road goes through crowded suburbs and one has to be alert enough to notice people crossing the road, bikes - without lamp - running into you from opposite direction; not to forget resting cows near median! The traffic was sparse after we crossed Panayur. It started with my car interestingly overtaking a bus. In no time we reached toll plaza. The car was responding well and also I found myself reasonably comfortable with the glare that was caused because of diffraction of light through not so clean glass panes surrounding me. After crossing Kovalam I could accelerate to 110 kmph. This speed is good enough to forget about any other vehicle trying to overtake you as against a speed of 80-90 kmph of my usual speed of bike. I have found that even at this speed on bike, faster cars zip past you from a distance of one or two feet from you which disturbs the riding rhythm. This time I was in a speeding car and really did not want to commit that mistake of scaring any bike rider. Despite the care I took we could manage to reach our destination, a mid way View Point, pretty quickly. To Raman's disappointment there was nothing although we stayed there for some six – seven minutes. Anyway I had expected that from my past experience! Raman wanted to continue with drive to which, it seemed, nobody had any objection and we got going to Mahabalipuram.
East Coast Road turns sharply to right just before M’puram and a straight road takes you to the town where one has to pay vehicle entry fees. The guy who collects this fees must have seen a car approaching him lazily takes a sudden U-turn and disappear in thin air! It was all funny as we had decided not to enter M’puram and wanted to have tea on the way back. We spent a few minutes in going back and forth from Hotel Mamalla and one more asking for tea which was not available in either place. Thus we left M’puram. It was 2245h by that time.
The traffic had become even sparser. The curves, sharp at some places, the glowing reflectors in the middle and both sides of the road, the road signs, all was exciting. Obviously I wanted to cut loose. I was enjoying negotiating turns as I found the car also enjoying it. It was clear from the fact that it maintained a firm road grip and responded brilliantly to my steering wheel. Although some vibration in 100 – 120 kmph range was noticeable which disappeared when the needle crossed 140 kmph. Santosh had kept an eye on speedo continuously. Here he exclaimed in sheer excitement,"One fourty now!" Very less often one gets such stretch of road where you can push your vehicle to its limit. Here I was amazed to know that with air – conditioner ON, the car had some more power in reserve at this speed. I did not expect this car to cross 140 plus speed but it had done and had overtaken a racing gray Ford Icon also much before the Icon driver realised that he was left behind by kilometers. This speed did not last for more than 30 - 40 seconds for obvious reasons of the traffic. Retarding where ever required and accelerating on stretches where my side of road was empty, I could maintain speed of 110 – 130 kmph.
I never had enough time to look at the wrist watch so can not recall exactly when we reached toll plaza. I am sure no one did look at his watch as the dynamics of wheels and road surface kept our sights locked to the scene through the wind shield over the bonnet. At toll plaza I noticed a dip in the fuel indicator position to the red zone and decided to enter the economy zone. Most drivers will know that after cruising at 130 – 140 kmph, economy zone driving, @80 kmph is like taking a walk after dinner. Later we saw the Icon, metioned earlier, going ahead. Filled petrol at Valmiki Nagar to ensure that we didn’t have to ‘push’ her at the end of the journey. We didn’t want our car to give us a run for her drink after we’d given her a run to extract an exhilarating experience for ourselves. Reached Gandhi Nagar (Adyar) in the due time, dropped Nitin and Raman and returned to campus at 1130h.
I remember a similar drive; here I am inclined to call it a ride, on Machismo on one fine Sunday morning some two years back. But as one can guess my speeds were limited to cruising at 95 – 110 kmph. We had planned a decent ride on East Coast Road but eventually ended up reaching Aurobindo Aashram in Pondicherry (Puduchchery). A reminder of a day-night one-day cricket match with Australia drove us back to campus for lunch at 1230h. I think I should recollect the details and share with you here. Watch out for that.
So was the long story of a short trip. Hope you enjoyed it and you will come back again to critically view newer photos and post comments. Till then good bye!
* The car that Rajan owns is a Maruti Alto with a 1061 cc, 64 hp engine. Now this model is not available in the market.
As usual Nitin called and we fixed up a visit to Elliot Beach. Santosh and Raman also were to join us. So we decided to take out Rajan’s car (Thanks Rajan!). After a stroll on the shore we settled at Khana Khajana, had some parathas and got up to call it a day. It was nine thirty when we left Elliot Beach for home. And then Raman said, “Hey guys, how about a drive up to Mahabalipuram?” Myself and Santosh looked at each other and then towards Nitin, who with a Q mark on face had already gone on defensive and was trying to negotiate for mid-way view point for destination. He, sitting in car later, was heard telling his fiancée, “Hmmm, I am kidnapped, again, and don’t know when will be relieved!”
I pushed car in a petrol filling station near Adyar signal, filled petrol and air and left to join ECR. When passing through Adyar, Thiruvanmiyur, the road was busy even at that hour of evening. I kept a modest speed passing one vehicle after another and also allowed many vehicles to pass me. Before leaving Chennai, this road goes through crowded suburbs and one has to be alert enough to notice people crossing the road, bikes - without lamp - running into you from opposite direction; not to forget resting cows near median! The traffic was sparse after we crossed Panayur. It started with my car interestingly overtaking a bus. In no time we reached toll plaza. The car was responding well and also I found myself reasonably comfortable with the glare that was caused because of diffraction of light through not so clean glass panes surrounding me. After crossing Kovalam I could accelerate to 110 kmph. This speed is good enough to forget about any other vehicle trying to overtake you as against a speed of 80-90 kmph of my usual speed of bike. I have found that even at this speed on bike, faster cars zip past you from a distance of one or two feet from you which disturbs the riding rhythm. This time I was in a speeding car and really did not want to commit that mistake of scaring any bike rider. Despite the care I took we could manage to reach our destination, a mid way View Point, pretty quickly. To Raman's disappointment there was nothing although we stayed there for some six – seven minutes. Anyway I had expected that from my past experience! Raman wanted to continue with drive to which, it seemed, nobody had any objection and we got going to Mahabalipuram.
East Coast Road turns sharply to right just before M’puram and a straight road takes you to the town where one has to pay vehicle entry fees. The guy who collects this fees must have seen a car approaching him lazily takes a sudden U-turn and disappear in thin air! It was all funny as we had decided not to enter M’puram and wanted to have tea on the way back. We spent a few minutes in going back and forth from Hotel Mamalla and one more asking for tea which was not available in either place. Thus we left M’puram. It was 2245h by that time.
The traffic had become even sparser. The curves, sharp at some places, the glowing reflectors in the middle and both sides of the road, the road signs, all was exciting. Obviously I wanted to cut loose. I was enjoying negotiating turns as I found the car also enjoying it. It was clear from the fact that it maintained a firm road grip and responded brilliantly to my steering wheel. Although some vibration in 100 – 120 kmph range was noticeable which disappeared when the needle crossed 140 kmph. Santosh had kept an eye on speedo continuously. Here he exclaimed in sheer excitement,"One fourty now!" Very less often one gets such stretch of road where you can push your vehicle to its limit. Here I was amazed to know that with air – conditioner ON, the car had some more power in reserve at this speed. I did not expect this car to cross 140 plus speed but it had done and had overtaken a racing gray Ford Icon also much before the Icon driver realised that he was left behind by kilometers. This speed did not last for more than 30 - 40 seconds for obvious reasons of the traffic. Retarding where ever required and accelerating on stretches where my side of road was empty, I could maintain speed of 110 – 130 kmph.
I never had enough time to look at the wrist watch so can not recall exactly when we reached toll plaza. I am sure no one did look at his watch as the dynamics of wheels and road surface kept our sights locked to the scene through the wind shield over the bonnet. At toll plaza I noticed a dip in the fuel indicator position to the red zone and decided to enter the economy zone. Most drivers will know that after cruising at 130 – 140 kmph, economy zone driving, @80 kmph is like taking a walk after dinner. Later we saw the Icon, metioned earlier, going ahead. Filled petrol at Valmiki Nagar to ensure that we didn’t have to ‘push’ her at the end of the journey. We didn’t want our car to give us a run for her drink after we’d given her a run to extract an exhilarating experience for ourselves. Reached Gandhi Nagar (Adyar) in the due time, dropped Nitin and Raman and returned to campus at 1130h.
I remember a similar drive; here I am inclined to call it a ride, on Machismo on one fine Sunday morning some two years back. But as one can guess my speeds were limited to cruising at 95 – 110 kmph. We had planned a decent ride on East Coast Road but eventually ended up reaching Aurobindo Aashram in Pondicherry (Puduchchery). A reminder of a day-night one-day cricket match with Australia drove us back to campus for lunch at 1230h. I think I should recollect the details and share with you here. Watch out for that.
So was the long story of a short trip. Hope you enjoyed it and you will come back again to critically view newer photos and post comments. Till then good bye!
* The car that Rajan owns is a Maruti Alto with a 1061 cc, 64 hp engine. Now this model is not available in the market.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Trip to Thirukkulkundram and Vedanthangal
Finally I am sharing something. This is regarding my visit to some places near Chennai.
Nitin and myself had decided to go on outing on 12th June. We were joined by Amit and Vinay. We started from the campus at 7:00 am in the morning. Headed straight towards ECR in a car and stopped at Tamilnadu Tourism Development Corp Resorts for breakfast. It is nice place to spend time. Very calm! It is covered with many trees. There we decided to go directly to Thirukkulkundram, popularly known as Pakshi Teerth. The road was known partially. We had no trouble in reaching the place. Anyway we did not decide to go to the hill temple. There is an ancient but well built pond at some 200 m from the foot of the hill.
It took us almost 12:30 am to reach Chengulupetu. This is on NH45. We braked for lunch in one of the restaurents. Ironically we had to pay 95 Rupees for lunch of four as against 120 Rupees paid at TTDC Resort for breakfast in morning.
After some traveling a little back-n-forth on the highway we found way to Vedanthangal. It’s a nice bird sanctuary. This is not an ideal time to go there. Anyway it wouldn’t matter as we were out to just to be there at the places in our mind. This time we spent a longer time in the Sanctuary compared to my last trip there with my lab-mates. This time there was less crowd and less birds also. Still I would say all of us enjoyed the two hours we spent there. After some refreshment at the gate of the Sanctuary, we started journey back to Mahabalipuram.
We did not enter the town. We reached to Tiger Caves in the outskirts. The place was looking shabby with two guys reclining at the cave with cigarettes in hand. Anyway we headed directly to the seashore. Had some great time there!
It was pretty early than expectation that we reached the campus. It was a very less tiring visit and so was a different visit.
Nitin and myself had decided to go on outing on 12th June. We were joined by Amit and Vinay. We started from the campus at 7:00 am in the morning. Headed straight towards ECR in a car and stopped at Tamilnadu Tourism Development Corp Resorts for breakfast. It is nice place to spend time. Very calm! It is covered with many trees. There we decided to go directly to Thirukkulkundram, popularly known as Pakshi Teerth. The road was known partially. We had no trouble in reaching the place. Anyway we did not decide to go to the hill temple. There is an ancient but well built pond at some 200 m from the foot of the hill.
It took us almost 12:30 am to reach Chengulupetu. This is on NH45. We braked for lunch in one of the restaurents. Ironically we had to pay 95 Rupees for lunch of four as against 120 Rupees paid at TTDC Resort for breakfast in morning.
After some traveling a little back-n-forth on the highway we found way to Vedanthangal. It’s a nice bird sanctuary. This is not an ideal time to go there. Anyway it wouldn’t matter as we were out to just to be there at the places in our mind. This time we spent a longer time in the Sanctuary compared to my last trip there with my lab-mates. This time there was less crowd and less birds also. Still I would say all of us enjoyed the two hours we spent there. After some refreshment at the gate of the Sanctuary, we started journey back to Mahabalipuram.
We did not enter the town. We reached to Tiger Caves in the outskirts. The place was looking shabby with two guys reclining at the cave with cigarettes in hand. Anyway we headed directly to the seashore. Had some great time there!
It was pretty early than expectation that we reached the campus. It was a very less tiring visit and so was a different visit.
Friday, June 03, 2005
Bangalore visit on cards
When went on the dinner Kulkarni Sir asked me if I was free I could come to Bangalore with them in car. It could be helpful for them also. I never decline such offers. I promptly said, "Yes! But on weekend. I will come to Bangalore in your car and come back by bus or train." Thus the visit is fixed. I just visited his home and has confirmed also. We will start at 6 am tomorrow.
Saturday, May 08, 2004
Chennai-Kochi-Chennai on Bullet
I own a Bullet Machismo that I bought some six months back. It is equipped with a newer version of the engine with a gearshift lever on the left side and rear wheel brake on the right side. Also, its got a front disc brake and gas-filled rear shock absorber.
I have had many trips till date. I would like to share my experience of this trip. I had to visit my uncle and cousin in Kochi and thus I had another opportunity of going on a long drive. Most may know about Kochi. But for the sake of the others, Kochi, formerly spelled as Cochin, is one of the twin cities, Ernakulam-Kochi and is based on the west coast of India in Kerala. The city is blessed with a natural harbour and is a base for Indian Navy.
While going to Kochi I followed the following route: Chennai - Villupuram - Thiruchirapalli - Dindigul - Teni - Munnar - Kochi. This route is very much enjoyable for riders of my kind since, after Teni, one starts traveling westward and the route passes through mountains. Enthusiastic bikers must have this ghat driving experience.
27-04-04
Odometer: 4309.0 km
I left IIT-M campus at 0610h. Had breakfast at Villupuram. Reached Thiruchi at 1300h and did the first petrol fill-up. I did not have lunch. Instead I relied upon soft drinks and biscuits that I was carrying with me. At 1515h I had some snacks at Dindigul and started towards Teni. I must have passed Teni at around 1730h. Then started one of the most exciting journeys towards Munnar. There I realised how much one can miss the judgment of the distances read from the map, which does not have a third dimension and also the paths are smoothened! It was already dark. This journey up to Munnar consisted of a 100 percent ghat road. But it was not a problem at all! I've always enjoyed ghat driving more than anything else. I reached Munnar at 2035h. I had covered 620 km since morning.
Had dinner and found that no hotel had a room suitable for me. Good hotels could provide me double rooms but at a cost of at least Rs 700. And I was not a typical tourist and wanted to stay only up to sunrise. At the same time for me the safety of my bike (and myself) was of prime importance. A lodge owner, who was also an MBA student, tried at various places in vain. When it was the time I started my bike in order to continue the remaining journey towards Kochi, one Mr. Gopi appeared and assured me of a double bedroom and safe parking at Rs 200. I could get hot water. A desperate need of that time! It was a new cottage with RCC construction. The facilities were at least as good as any other good hotel provides.
28-04-04
Odometer: 4932.9 km
Munnar is at an altitude of 4000 ft. And wherever I could see were tea gardens. I left Munnar at 0630h. On the way I stopped, took photographs, and enjoyed nature. It was a heavenly atmosphere. Also to my surprise, the ghat never ended almost up to Kochi. It was never a straight road. Had breakfast at Puthen Cruz at 1040h. It was 1215h when I entered the Naval Base in Kochi, where my cousin stays. The distance covered was 142 km from Munnar and 762 km from Chennai.
During my stay at Kochi, I drove a little. On 1st May we all went to Cherai Beach, some 25 km Northward from Ernakulam. It was a great time. I changed the route for the return journey, which became: Kochi - Trissur - Palakkad - Coimbtore - Salem - Kalakuruchi - Ulundarpet - Cuddlore - Pondicherry - Mahabalipuram - Chennai.
02-05-04
Odometer: 5184.0 km
The return journey was a journey of usual excitement. I crossed Salem at my usual pace. Then a special excitement was added when it started raining at 1500h in Magudanchavali some 75 km before Attur. But it stopped soon. I had a nice tea at this place. During this time it was as if the rain was following me. Had snacks at Attur, 1700h, then after covering only few kilometers it started raining heavily. It immediately came to my notice that the front, disc brake, became less effective as soon as the rain started. Although my jerkin was ok for a drizzle, I was not prepared for continuous rain. So not only had I to be careful but also had to break my journey. There was certainly a thought at the corner of my mind to drive up to Chennai if possible!
I then could find a lodge in Chinaa Salem and I call off the day. It was raining continuously. The lodge charges were Rs 50. Also there was an assurance of my bike's safety. This was the time I had to trust those people on the basis of my intuition. My bike was parked in a movie theatre, just near the chairs! That night I had dinner, though a light one, for just Rs 10! I had covered 444 km on this day.
03-05-04
Odometer: 5628.0 km
I woke up a little late. At 0915h I started driving, covered fifteen kilometers happily on dry road. And then, again the rain started, this time heavily. I reached Kalakuruchi and enquired for a raincoat. The boyish shop-owner peddled his bicycle in the rains and brought one, which I thought, was a nice one for Rs 160. Here started my continuous journey under rainwater pouring. Then I almost did not stop anywhere. I crossed NH 45, crossed Cuddlore, Pondicherry, and near Marapakkam I stopped for a while and had some snacks. Under rains I maintained a steady speed of around 55 kmph and never exceeded 60 kmph speed. Somewhere near Kalpakkam I found that it was not raining and the road was dry. It must have been around 1630h. This enabled some increase in my speed. Next brief stop was at Hotel Mamalla in Mahabalipuram. It was 1810h when I reached Cauvery Hostel, which was the final destination! In the day's journey I covered 289 km and a total 733 km from Kochi. Odometer: 5916.8 km
On the way, I filled petrol at Thiruchi, Munnar, Kotumangalam, Kochi, Selam - total (33.49 liter). The bike did well throughout, at 36 km/liter, although I expected more on the basis of the claims by M/s REL. Another thing, it is not that I did not foresee the possibility of rains. Weather.com already had predicted on 25th April that there would be thunderstorms in and around Chennai. I decided to take a chance because I thought I could manage. And thanks to the Almighty, I indeed could do!
I have added some of the photos taken during the drive and during the stay in Kochi. There are many photos of the Machismo since 'she' was my only travel companion! This time I've used Canon Powershot S20 camera. You can watch the photos at http://www.geocities.com/prasad_ichal
Mr. Gopi (Munnar) can be contacted at (04865) 209346.
I have had many trips till date. I would like to share my experience of this trip. I had to visit my uncle and cousin in Kochi and thus I had another opportunity of going on a long drive. Most may know about Kochi. But for the sake of the others, Kochi, formerly spelled as Cochin, is one of the twin cities, Ernakulam-Kochi and is based on the west coast of India in Kerala. The city is blessed with a natural harbour and is a base for Indian Navy.
While going to Kochi I followed the following route: Chennai - Villupuram - Thiruchirapalli - Dindigul - Teni - Munnar - Kochi. This route is very much enjoyable for riders of my kind since, after Teni, one starts traveling westward and the route passes through mountains. Enthusiastic bikers must have this ghat driving experience.
27-04-04
Odometer: 4309.0 km
I left IIT-M campus at 0610h. Had breakfast at Villupuram. Reached Thiruchi at 1300h and did the first petrol fill-up. I did not have lunch. Instead I relied upon soft drinks and biscuits that I was carrying with me. At 1515h I had some snacks at Dindigul and started towards Teni. I must have passed Teni at around 1730h. Then started one of the most exciting journeys towards Munnar. There I realised how much one can miss the judgment of the distances read from the map, which does not have a third dimension and also the paths are smoothened! It was already dark. This journey up to Munnar consisted of a 100 percent ghat road. But it was not a problem at all! I've always enjoyed ghat driving more than anything else. I reached Munnar at 2035h. I had covered 620 km since morning.
Had dinner and found that no hotel had a room suitable for me. Good hotels could provide me double rooms but at a cost of at least Rs 700. And I was not a typical tourist and wanted to stay only up to sunrise. At the same time for me the safety of my bike (and myself) was of prime importance. A lodge owner, who was also an MBA student, tried at various places in vain. When it was the time I started my bike in order to continue the remaining journey towards Kochi, one Mr. Gopi appeared and assured me of a double bedroom and safe parking at Rs 200. I could get hot water. A desperate need of that time! It was a new cottage with RCC construction. The facilities were at least as good as any other good hotel provides.
28-04-04
Odometer: 4932.9 km
Munnar is at an altitude of 4000 ft. And wherever I could see were tea gardens. I left Munnar at 0630h. On the way I stopped, took photographs, and enjoyed nature. It was a heavenly atmosphere. Also to my surprise, the ghat never ended almost up to Kochi. It was never a straight road. Had breakfast at Puthen Cruz at 1040h. It was 1215h when I entered the Naval Base in Kochi, where my cousin stays. The distance covered was 142 km from Munnar and 762 km from Chennai.
During my stay at Kochi, I drove a little. On 1st May we all went to Cherai Beach, some 25 km Northward from Ernakulam. It was a great time. I changed the route for the return journey, which became: Kochi - Trissur - Palakkad - Coimbtore - Salem - Kalakuruchi - Ulundarpet - Cuddlore - Pondicherry - Mahabalipuram - Chennai.
02-05-04
Odometer: 5184.0 km
The return journey was a journey of usual excitement. I crossed Salem at my usual pace. Then a special excitement was added when it started raining at 1500h in Magudanchavali some 75 km before Attur. But it stopped soon. I had a nice tea at this place. During this time it was as if the rain was following me. Had snacks at Attur, 1700h, then after covering only few kilometers it started raining heavily. It immediately came to my notice that the front, disc brake, became less effective as soon as the rain started. Although my jerkin was ok for a drizzle, I was not prepared for continuous rain. So not only had I to be careful but also had to break my journey. There was certainly a thought at the corner of my mind to drive up to Chennai if possible!
I then could find a lodge in Chinaa Salem and I call off the day. It was raining continuously. The lodge charges were Rs 50. Also there was an assurance of my bike's safety. This was the time I had to trust those people on the basis of my intuition. My bike was parked in a movie theatre, just near the chairs! That night I had dinner, though a light one, for just Rs 10! I had covered 444 km on this day.
03-05-04
Odometer: 5628.0 km
I woke up a little late. At 0915h I started driving, covered fifteen kilometers happily on dry road. And then, again the rain started, this time heavily. I reached Kalakuruchi and enquired for a raincoat. The boyish shop-owner peddled his bicycle in the rains and brought one, which I thought, was a nice one for Rs 160. Here started my continuous journey under rainwater pouring. Then I almost did not stop anywhere. I crossed NH 45, crossed Cuddlore, Pondicherry, and near Marapakkam I stopped for a while and had some snacks. Under rains I maintained a steady speed of around 55 kmph and never exceeded 60 kmph speed. Somewhere near Kalpakkam I found that it was not raining and the road was dry. It must have been around 1630h. This enabled some increase in my speed. Next brief stop was at Hotel Mamalla in Mahabalipuram. It was 1810h when I reached Cauvery Hostel, which was the final destination! In the day's journey I covered 289 km and a total 733 km from Kochi. Odometer: 5916.8 km
On the way, I filled petrol at Thiruchi, Munnar, Kotumangalam, Kochi, Selam - total (33.49 liter). The bike did well throughout, at 36 km/liter, although I expected more on the basis of the claims by M/s REL. Another thing, it is not that I did not foresee the possibility of rains. Weather.com already had predicted on 25th April that there would be thunderstorms in and around Chennai. I decided to take a chance because I thought I could manage. And thanks to the Almighty, I indeed could do!
I have added some of the photos taken during the drive and during the stay in Kochi. There are many photos of the Machismo since 'she' was my only travel companion! This time I've used Canon Powershot S20 camera. You can watch the photos at http://www.geocities.com/prasad_ichal
Mr. Gopi (Munnar) can be contacted at (04865) 209346.
Monday, March 01, 2004
Driving new Machismo to Ichalkaranji
Photograph taken by Nitin before I set out on a drive to my home.
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