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.

Shivanasamudra

After 2 weeks of no rides finally planned to visit Hognekkal falls in Tamilnadu. People who were accompanying me were a little scared of the distance and wanted to choose a similar place which is a bit closer to Bangalore, so decided to go to Shivanasamudra. Did some research on it as we changed the destination on Friday. Just wanted to make sure about the road to be taken so as this was a day’s trip with amateur riders.

On D-day there were a total of 4 bikes and 7 riders. Meeting point was next to Karnataka bus stand on Mysore road. We started at 5:30 with quite a number of pit stops in between for refueling and nature calls. Finally took the first big break at 7 am for breakfast after crossing Chennapatnna village.

Reached the first point Gaganchukki falls at around 9:30. It was a splendid view even though there was less water in the falls. Nice view with humid weather and cloudy day. Left for the 2nd fall Barachukki, took us around 1 hour and a nice trek to reach that place.

After spending some time in the water it was finally time to go back. On the way back had some nice lunch at kamat food plaza on Mysore road before finally reaching home at 3:30 pm. A nice day spent with some good company.

Lepakshi

There was no plan for a weekend ride this time as I had my cousin visiting over on Saturday. Spent the whole day roaming in scorching sun , came home around 9ish. Tried sleeping but there were a lot of bloody mosquitos that spoiled my sleep. Got up in a hush at 3 am with lot of bloodsucker bites on my arms. Now as I was not able to sleep and getting bored decided to go to Lepakshi which was anyways on my mind. Thought about friends, but didn't find it suitable to wake guys up at 3 am. So took bath and left for office at around 4:30am. Had a look at the route and had breakfast.

                                                                     Miles to go .....

Left office and hit the road towards Old Madras at around 5:12 am and straight away took NH7 towards Hyderabad. It was a straight beautiful 4 laner till Bagepalli. Met couple of bikers on the way at kamat hotel. Did a quick photo session on the way and took almost 3 hours to reach Lepakshi.

The road condition was bad when we take a diversion from NH7 towards Hindupur. But with a 2 wheeler we can easily manage 60-80 kmph speed. As soon as we hit Lepakshi we are greeted by Basavanna(nandi), its a monolithic skulpture made out of single big rock and is now a heritage icon.

Went to the temple, it was cool even though it was hot outside. Spent around 30 mins, clicking pics and admiring the beauty of the architecture. Mind was all refreshed, but as it was getting hotter it was time to leave. Started from Lepakshi and did a non stop route back in 1:20 mins covering around 133 kms. Overall it was a good one dayer and completed it in overall 5:30 hours.

Bangalore – Yelahanka(25 km) – Chikaballapur(63 km) – Bagepalli(111 km) – Lepakshi (128km)