4 states, 3679 kms, 16 days

Bangalore to Pune

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Before I started the ride multiple thoughts were flowing in the mind, how would I spend my first 2 weeks’ vacation?  Too many things to do, lot of places to visit, lot of friends to meet. Man this was one awesome feeling to start with. Reached home back from office by 1:15, wanted to start by 2:00 am so that I can reach Pune by 1 pm. To my bad luck last minute packing took a lot of time and finally started at 2:30 pm.

2:30 to 3:45 am: Covered 120 kms and crossed tumkur to reach a toll gate. Here I had my first break, taking a break early and then covering longer distance before the next break has been helping me a lot of the previous rides. I followed the same technique this time as well.

3:45 to 7:30 am: ODO was reading around 320 kms from the time I left Bangalore, met one of the fellow Bangalore biker member on the way who was also heading to Pune, took a nice 30 mins break and got to each other well. We both didn’t had enough sleep in the night, even though I was used to this it was proving to be a problem for the other biker. Had breakfast and it was time to move as the sun was becoming brighter and it will become more difficult to ride during the day.

7:30 to 10:45 am:  Crossed hubli and belgaum, I was getting a feeling that I am almost home as this stretch was very familiar to me. Thanks to all the earlier rides I did when I was in Pune. But due to the heat we decided to cover the distance asap, started ripping the bike at a constant 95-100 kmph, but somehow I lost my companion somewhere near Kolhapur. Was feeling hungry, so stopped at a toll gate and had the first vadapav on this trip. Man what a feeling it was, remembered the old days.

3:30 pm: Reached home, parked the bike and thanked god for safely reaching the destination. Visited the HH showroom on the way to get the chain loosened as it was already making noise, thanks to the potholes and speed breakers on the way. It took almost 20-25 mins as it was there lunch time and has to wait. One of the service center guy recognized me as I used to visit the showroom to get my older ZMA serviced. But as the chain was taken care it was time to head back home.

Covered almost 850 kms on that day to reach Pune. Had food when I reached home and took some rest to meet an old friend in the evening.

Pune to Nagpur
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After spending 5 days in Pune Dad told me that he got transferred to some place in MP state, so wanted to spend more time with him. Decided to start for Nagpur on Wednesday night to reach there on Thursday morning. Later realized that we have a India-Pakistan clash in the world cup semi-finals. Made sure the fridge is filled up with soft drinks and snacks to support team India. As India won the match I have also decided to begin my journey.

11:35-12:45 am: Started off from my place and saw that the scene out there was electrifying. As I approached the University Circle the traffic was increasing and it was almost a dead lock with the traffic coming from bhavdhan and Aundh. Log Nare laga rahe the “bharat mata ki jai aur Pakistan ki haar”. Joined them with the slogans and suddenly people realized that there is an alien amongst them. People started asking where I am heading too, when I told them to Nagpur everyone starting patting my back J. Finally crossed the traffic and covered around 100 kms to take my first break.

12:45-4:20 am: Crossed Aurangabad and Jalna on the way and took a good 20 mins break after a smooth ride covering 360 kms. The tarmac was butter smooth with almost no traffic. But the last 20 kms stretch the road was real bad and sometimes with no road as well. But all in all the stretch was good.

4:20 to 9:30 am: Crossed Mehkar and Wardha, with road being good and bumpy in some places. Now the destination was almost close which means I get to meet my parents after almost 4-5 months. Truckers on the way were surprised to see how a person can travel such long distances on a 2 wheeler which they mainly use to get vegetables and monthly house hold goods. First question you can expect is how much the vehicle cost and what’s the fuel economy :P

10:45 am : Nagpur hasn’t changed much, same old wide roads and slow moving traffic. People were in no hurry and you can easily zoom pass them. Covered 718 kms to reach home at Nagpur.

Wake up and ride to Wayanad

It was a nice weekend because the plans for an overnight was already on the cards. Came back from office and didn't had the time to sleep even though this trip logs title says wake up to ride.. :(, Didn't had an idea how many guys are coming, where are we staying ect thanks to office work. But here i was at mysore-nice road junction. To my surprise we already have 3 more bikers waiting there for the past 5 mins. Got to know that we are a total of 11 bikers till Gudulur and 8 there after as couple of guys are planning to hit ooty and will be back the same day.

The ride started at 6 am and it was feeling pretty good with 1 zmr, 1 zma, 2 apache's, 2 ninja's, 3 r15's and 1 pappa R1. All eyes were starring at us, thanks to the big heard of bikes zooming past them. Took a long breakfast break and moved on towards mysore after a brief photo session. To our luck there was not much traffic, so were able to cross that one pretty quick. But the real bad roads started from mysore till nanjangud, took almost an hours time to cross those 30 kms.

Reached gudlupet and it was the CCD calling. Had nice cold coffee's and sandwiches. Moved towards bandipur national park and to the bad luck there was no elephant or deer this time. Took a small photo break, as 3 of the guys were gonna split off at the next town. From bandipur to gudulur it was a real nice ghat section, we also had two of the riders who were racers, tagged along with them and was taking curves at 80 kmph comfortably. Took a lunch break and it was time to move towards the destination, were greeted by rains for some time but the road was real awesome. After drivin for almost 12 hrs finally reached wayanad.

After chilling and relaxing there during the night it was time to start back. Not many pics during the way back except for a group pic, had to meet a friend. So after bidding adieu to everyone after crossing mysore city i zipped towards the city. covered the distance of 156 kms in 2:05 mins, thanks to the nice road. Spending some time with friends and having dinner came home and slept tight.

Overall it was an amazing time, will go one more time to kerala and this time its time to visit the backwaters....... :D

Bangalore to Pune

Bangalore-Pune

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It was thursday evening and i was all packed, ready and excited to head to pune after a long time. Got the bike serviced and changed the engine oil, but to my bad luck i still had to go to office. With a heavy heart i started for office with only 1 thing in mind, had to leave by 12:00 so that i can start for the ride by 1 am atleast.

00:00- sitting in the meeting and cursing everyone for not wrapping it early. Finally the meeting got over by 12:10 and i was running to get my bag, went to cafetaria loaded some supplies as there was no hope for any shops to be open on the highway. Started from my place at exactly 1:15, i know the route so headed straight towards it. Found the new bangalore-Nelamangla stretch completed and in good shape. By the time i was about to reach tumkur found a 5 km long traffic jam. some how got passed it, but still don't know what caused such a big mess.

2:30 am: still just by passed tumkur, has a long way to go. Crossed chitradurg and reached ranebennur where i knew that the road was bad. By the time i reached davangere it was 5:30 and i have just covered 300 kms. But the road from now on is pretty good, the aim was to cover the distance in under 12 hrs, so more riding and less breaks.

Some place after Hubli

9:00 am: Reached Kolhapur with only 1 break in between as i was starving. Had nice vada pav after crossing belgaum, it was fun having vada pav after a long time. took one more hydration break and had to cover 240 kms in 4 hrs, with ample time in my hand i started slower, but the people started going haywire over the highway, so decided to go a little faster.

12:20 pm: Pune was in sight but before heading home wanted to get the bike ready for return trip, fueled the tank up and greased the chain. Finally reached home, feeling excited with the plans for the next 2-3 days. Had good lunch and it was time to take some rest.


Roaming in & around Pune
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Met with old buddies, Nalin and Chinmay over Friday night dinner, decided to do a short ride on Sunday. So nailed the destination down to Lavasa with meeting point being the usual CC(chandni chowk). Sunday morning and it was Dussehra, decided to ride only after performing puja for the bike. Got up at 5:30 and got ready by6, did th puja and was on the road so that i can reach the meeting point well in time. I was shocked to see Nalin already at the meeting place, usually he is the person who always 2nd last... :P. Even Chinmay came in the next couple of minutes and we were off towards Lavasa.

pooja time

As soon as we took the deviaton towards pirangut ghat my sister who was my pillion was amazed to see the beauty, she's never been on a bike trip. Our first break was Temghar Dam, there was a lot of water, thanks to good rains in and around pune in this season. Clicked couple of snaps and we started again towards the destination. Infront of the gate for Lavasa, saw the tapri where we had some garma garam poha and vada pav. It was real nice as its almost 9 and we didnt had any thing to eat. Also learnt that they are now allowing bikes inside the facility. After roaming around for some time decided to head back as i had to go and meet my childhood buddies at JM road. Spending some time with them thought of getting back home, to my badluck it started raining heavily. But finally came back home at around 6, had dinner and was off to bed by 8 pm (thanks to the tiring day).

Pune-Bangalore
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9:00 pm: Return trip was really simple, as it was raining in pune for the whole day on Monday, decided to take it slow with ample time in hand. started back with heavy heart, took the ring road and suddenly a scorpio guy came storming from behind. Decided not to let him overtake. Eventually this turned out into a race, started ripping the bike at 120 kmph.

12:00 Crossed belgaum and finally saw that the scorpio took a by pass towards the city. It was real fun as i covered 340 kms in mere 3 hrs. Decided to keep the pace as i was looking at a time record for this stretch.

2:15 am : Crossed hubli and davangere covering 550 kms from pune, now i knew that the road will get worse. So took around 2:20 to cover 150 kms of bad roads.

4:35 am : It was almost 7:35 mins total in the ride after covering 700 kms the destination was in sight and the record, started ripping off back again at 120 kmph. Reached malleshwaram by 6:00.

some place before bangalore

It was the time to decide, if i take city route through ulsoor lake then i am spending more time due to traffic. So instead took the outer ring road towards hosur flyover and international airport. the road was almost clear except for couple of vehicles.

6:18 am : Reached home and parked the bike as i wanted a garage to garage record, it was 9:18 and i damn happy with the bike performance. But then i got down the bike and din't feel my bums. Double checked to make sure they are still with me :P.

Satisfied soul, perfoming white knight which deserves all the kudos, all-in-all an amazing trip.......

Gear used:

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Jacket : Speed and strength(devil in the details)

Knee gaurds : Alpinestars Bionic knee gaurds

Gloves : DSG and Fieldsheer

Tank bag: Cramster

Haversack : Mountain one (main reason, need some protection for the back for such long ride)

Helmet : AGV & balaklava

Total kms : 1957

Fuel burnt : 53.5 ltrs
Avg: 36.57

All  pics at http://picasaweb.google.co.in/vrksin7784/BangalorePune#

zip-zap ride to hognekkal

Got a call from Parth at around 10 in the night when i was busy working with a customer with his server screwed up, as didnt planned for any rides over the weekend I quickly agreed for the hognekkal ride. I have ridded with him on one of the earlier rides and he is a good rider who can maintained speeds. So even though i had another meetup on sat afternoon, i was fine with the long morning ride. Finshed work, got freshned up and left for the meeting point. It was me, parth and his room-mate on a black ZMR. All set and we started off at around 5:30. As it was early morning didnt encounter much traffic on the busy hosur road. Crossed hosur, the tarmac was butter smooth for crusing at 3 digits. Managed to cover the first 105 kms in 1:30 hrs with couple of leak breaks.

Crossed krishnagiri and took a snack break. Anna at that dosa shop only speaks Tamil, so after struggling for some time we finally were able to place and order and get over with it. By the time we left that place it was almost an hours time (total waste of time...grrrrr). Started towards the destination by 8 and reached the place by 9:30, covering another 80 kms of good and bump roads. The view on the way was breath taking,

After spending some time it was getting hotter, so decided to head back to bangalore. Started at around 10:30 and reached home by 12:30, the return journey was almost a sprint covering 185 kms in mere 2 hrs. Parth's room mate got stuck in traffic before the electronic city fly over, so was parted ways there as i need to attend one more get-together. But it was one awesome ride that i can definately say......many more to go btw.

All pics at : http://picasaweb.google.com/vrksin7784/HognekkalTrip

Ride with the Knights

It was like a wish come true, riding with people with similar thoughts and machines. We were 4 guys, all with the new Karizma ZMR. Planned to drive to Kanva Dam that was around 65-70 kms from Bangalore as one of the machines was pretty new. So the speed limit was around 50-60 kms/hr, but it was fun as my bike gave me an avg of around 70-75 kms/lt. I was really amazed because a bike of 225 mill gave that much efficiency.

Reached kamat Upachar at around 8 am and had sumptuous breakfast as it was an unlimited buffet for just 80 bucks. After the nice 45-50 mins moved towards the Kanva dam. It was a small dam with just 4 batteries. But it was fun, clicked couple of snaps with bikes parked up properly.

At around noon we decided to head back to Bagalore. Reached the outskirts at around 1 pm but to my bad luck got stuck in the traffic. The last 20 odd kms took me around 1:30 mins. Reached home and it was dead tired, but it was one trip to remember.

Complete pics: http://picasaweb.google.co.in/vrksin7784/KnightsMeetUp#

1st trip bangalore-hyderabad-bangalore

Bangalore to Hyderabad
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3:30 am: Came back from office and the bags were packed. As the trip was for 4 days took out my saddle bad to accodmodate more luggage. It was my new ZMR so was a little tensed as well to avoid scratches on my new bike.  Finally got the saddle bad and tank bag on, tank was already filled up, air checked, jacket and gloves on and it was time to leave.

7:00 am: Took my first break after driving 250 kms and tackling blinding rains for more than 30-40 kms. As I got the new NB the road was properly illuminated. I can find the difference in the stock and NB pretty easily. Road was a complete 4 lane till now and it was butter smooth.

7:45 am: Finished breakfast and was busy warding off the extra water on my shirt and socks due to the rains. The SUN came out and no rains after this one, there were couple of streches where construction was going on except for that prett neat road. Bike was zipping at 90-100 constantly. Road between Kunool-hyd was really good.

11:40 am: Reached my sisters place after struggling for more than 45 mins in traffic. There was a nice express way from International airport to close to banjara hills, but unfortunately 2 and 3 wheelers were not allowed.

Time taken (total): 8 hr10 mins
Distance covered: 575 kms
Avg speed: 71 kms/hr
Fuel used: 13.5 ltrs
Efficiency: 42 kmpl


Hyderabad to Bangalore
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1:00 pm: Started back after waving good bye to my parents and sister. Spent some quality time with them in the last 3 days and was not really in a mood to come back. It was sunny outside but still preferred to wear the raincoat.

3:00 pm: Took a lunch break as I was really hungry, had to skip the lunch at home due to some heavy breakfast. Had rotis and dal fry due to non-availability of anything else at that place. By this time I had already covered 150 kms and it was a nice feeling as there were no rains.

5:00 pm: After taking a nice 30 mins break got back on the vehicle. By the time i crossed kurnool i saw some nice sun-flower farming, it was a really nice view.

6:30 pm: Reached Anantpur after riding 365 kms, the rains started an hour back but it was manageable. So was able to maintain the same speed. Had a refuel break at that time as the gas was a little cheaper than bangalore. By the time i moved a little further the rains also increased and it was not hard to maintain speeds with rains and low light conditions.

9:30 pm: Reached the bangalore international airport and  the bangalore traffic played a spoil sport, it was a real mess as there were rains, traffic and an aching butt because of 6 hrs of constant riding.  Tackled the traffic and took almost an hour to cover those 37 kms. Overall it was a nice ride with a satisfied soul.

Time taken (total): 8 hr 30 mins

Distance covered: 585 kms
Avg speed: 69 kms/hr
Fuel used: 15 ltrs
Efficiency: 39 kmpl

Gear used:
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Gloves: DSG
Jacket: Speed and Strength
Helmet: AGV
Balaclava
Cramster: Tank and Saddle bags
Shoes: Woodland

Bangalore-Somanathpur-Talakad

This was a real unplanned trip. Was Sitting alone on a Friday night on the terrace and something just clicked the mind that how about a rainy ride someplace near. It was also a long time that I and White Knight haven’t been on a long ride. Plan was simple, start early in the morning and be back by 4ish to Bangalore.

All packed and ready by 5:15 in the morning as I wanted to avoid the morning traffic on the Mysore highway. Was sure about the road till Malavalli but from there to Somanathpur was completely new for me. I reached my first destination at 9:00 as the roads were a little confusing.

After spending around 30 mins clicking lot of photos it was time to move towards Talakad. This is actually a religious and also famous for river Cauvery taking a nice turn towards other direction. The road from Somanathpur to Talakad was non-existent. After travelling for more than an hour just to cover those 34 kms I was finally at Talakad. After a nice 1 km long trek in sand completed the visit to all the 3 temples.

By the time I was back to where I started from the time was already 11:45 and I was feeling like I didn’t had food for more than a weeks’ time. But to my disappointment the road from Talakad to Malavalli were not that great, so by the time I reached Mcdonald’s it was almost 1:30. Had nice Burgers and French fries and it was time to head back home. By the time I reached Bangalore it was almost 3:30, thanks to the between two ZMR’s(white knight and another black ZMR) . All in all a nice trip, except for the rains that were missing this was actually my main idea for the long drive.