Sorry am a little lagging in the trip-logs for the rides..... but will be posting them one-by-one. Nandi Hills - 3rd Time..... Another trip to Nandi Hills ;) Well… this time it was due to a new BN guy – Vinay Kumar Shukla. He had a AVI 200 and wanted to go to Nandi Hills. Me & Ritesh (my old room-mate) were the other 2 guys. We as usual had to stay awake the entire night so as to reach there on time for the sunrise etc. So, 12th December we were awake, gup-shupp and beers :) We left from my place at 3:30 am on 13th. Went via Hebbal – as that is the only way I knew as of then for the Hyderabad road. Hit the highway at 4:45 am !!! I felt that we’d get late as sunrise was sure by 6 – 6:15 am. But then bless the new airport (only reason I like it), the road till it is made so amazing that we crossed the airport by 5:15 am. From there the Nandi Hills are around 1 hour ride till the hill-top. So, we made good speed (doing an average of almost 70 – 80 kmph except while going uphill). Reached the top at 6:20 am exactly. Lucky for us that the sunrise was a little late. So, we were able to capture some awesome shots of the cloudy sky & then the sunrise as well :) Then proceeded on for breakfast at the regular joint – omelet, maggi etc. Started back for Bangalore at 9:30 am. Ride back was boring due to heavy traffic & regular traffic-signals (while going to Nandi Hills you don’t encounter any of these ;) ). Anyways, reached back home at 11:30 am and then took a bath, had lunch & went off to sleep.
Finally the loong awaited Trip Log....... Most is done (atleast i got the route info right ;) ) Anyways..... finally posted upto the 3rd day of the ride.. not gonna post more for this ride !!! 4th & 5th days were ok kinda... had fun but already this post took a lot of my time. Will be posting about the other trips soon !!
Update 31st July: Was talking to Santoosh the other day. Seems i have forgotten some parts of the 2nd Day. Will be correcting that soon enough, bear with me ;)
Now for the longest BN Trip I have been on – 5 days. There was planning going on for a long trip, something like 3-4 days trip to a place and then roaming around there and coming back to Bangalore. It finally came to a 5 day ride with a few bikers joining in from Mangalore :D
Total Kms Covered : 1300 kms
Date of Ride : 1st October 2008 – 5th October 2008
Route Taken : 1st Day - Bangalore – Neelamangala – Tumkur - Shivamogga – Sagara (Halted at Sagara)
2nd Day - Sagara – Jog Falls – Back to hotel in Sagara
4th Day - Mangalore – Bekal Fort – Panambur Beach – Mangalore
5th Day - Mangalore – Hassan – Bangalore
Troupe : From Bangalore – Vasanth (ZMA), Santoosh (R15), Sachin (P150), Saai Pradip (TB) & Me (ZMA)
From Mangalore – Sujay (P200), Rajat (Dio :P), Zahin (RD350, ZMA) (met us in Mangalore)
1st Day –
Vasanth & Santoosh had planned to meet up at Neelamangala at 6:00 am. Saai & me did not exactly where was Neelamangala and how to reach there. We were still new to the Bangalore roads :( So, we reached the Neelamangala junction at 6:30 am. Thankfully Vasanth and all were ok with that and were still there, waiting…….. otherwise they would have left ;) We all had a tea / coffee there and started for Shivamogga at 6:45 am. Santoosh was the lead (he has R15 so its quite obvious). But then he was going steady at 80-90 kmph. If we needed to catch up someone or check for someone left behind, he was assigned the task ;) Initially the road was not too good, but after the initial 20-30 kms it improved and we were able to do an average of 70-80 kmph :)
Reached Shivamogga around lunch time i.e. 1:00 pm. Had a light lunch and then moved on towards Sagara. The roads were ok types…. bends and all. Some places it was patchy but we made good speed and reached Sagara at 2:30 pm. Checked into the hotel, freshened up.
Opening the faring of ZMA was one experience :( hell of a task. Vasanth & Santoosh did the major job…. I was looking how to do it. Vasanth had an extra 55/60 W bulb, wanted to try it out…. The ZMA stock bulb is such a crappy bulb :PFinally got a good enough headlight bulb ;)
Then thought ‘why not roam around a little’. So, out with the bikes again. We took my ZMA, Santoosh’s R15 & Saai’s TB. I was solo, Santoosh had Vasanth as pillion and Sachin was riding TB with Saai as pillion. Went to a nearby place which was supposed to be a Dharamshala types (as per Vasanth). When we reached there, came to know that we had the wrong info, that place was someplace else LOL. Had a great laugh, but the location was great, had a small lake, temple and a small trek-path into the forest. Had reached this place around 5:00 pm. Took our bikes i.e. my ZMA, R15 and Saai’s TB inside the forest on the trek-path itself ;) Found 2 kids there…. they were just roaming around. They were all ga-ga over our bikes :) clicked a few snaps with them !!! Returned to the hotel around 6:30 pm. Had to tank-up…. Santoosh had a good idea about Sagara and he took us to a reliable petrol bunk. Got a full-tank there :)
We had dinner etc at the same hotel. It had a nice garden open-types restaurant and we had a great time together !! Were awake till almost 2:00 am, just yapping away and pulling each other legs ;)
2nd Day –
Plan was to cover Jog Falls and look around some places near-about Sagara. Left the hotel at Sagara around 6:30 am types. Had our breakfast on the way itself. Jog falls was approx 60 kms from Sagara. The road was not that good, in fact it was almost like off-roading :( At places there was no road at all !!!! We had left early as you are supposed to cross the Jog falls reservoir in a barge (they load all the vehicles even a bus ;) in it). That launch/barge has timings. Its available every 30 mins. We had planned to board that launch at 12 – 12:30 types so that we can be back by latest 6:00 pm. The early morning sunrise and the light mist was lovely. Took some great snaps of our group while going.
The road upto the reservoir was HOPELESS :( all broken road….. ‘road’ sorry to use that word…. There was no proper road and at a few places it was only mud and sand. We did our breakfast at a small village shop on the way. Initially we were able to do 40-50 kmph for 2 hrs and then had to slow down to around 30kmph. Still made it to the barge boarding point at 12:30 pm. A barge had just left so we had to wait for the next one to come through. The reservoir was amazing and huuuggggeeee.
Finally when the barge came we were surprised to see a bus loaded in the middle and all other vehicles on the sides ;) There was another bus waiting to load onto it after the previous one got off. We all had to wait for this bus to get on the barge and then the cars etc were loaded on. Finally our bikes were allowed to get on. Thankfully we were able to fit all our bikes in.
After crossing the reservoir it was another 10-15 kms to the falls. Again the road initially was pathetic…. In fact there was no road at all. Still made it to the Jog falls by 2 pm. Parked our bikes and went on to the view-points for the falls. Amazing falls, I did not know that they were the 2nd highest falls in the world. Total drop of 963m. People were at the foot of the falls as well….. we did not have much time so could not go there…. But it was worth taking all that trouble in the morning and going there. We had to get back to the hotel and for that we had to take the barge back latest at 4 pm.
So started back for the barge at 3 pm. Somehow made it back by 4:30 pm to the barge boarding point, battling all that lovely path (not gonna call it a ROAD :P ). Photo-shoots were really great. We found an abandoned barge while waiting to board the barge. Climbed on it ;) Santoosh posed as Duryodhan and we even played cricket on that barge :) Finally were back to the hotel by around 6:30 pm. Day was great and had a lot of fun. Dinner and drinks were light as we had to leave early morning the next day. We had planned to reach Mangalore by 3rd October evening.
3rd Day –
Woke up at 5:30 am, had a bath, put on our riding gear, saddle-bags etc all and hit the road at 6:30 am :) Vasanth was really happy that we kept the timing of starting early !!! Had to cover a lot of distance today… plan was to reach Mangalore by evening 6:30 – 7:00 pm.
From Sagara, the road was ok kind of….. but as we got nearer Kollur the road kept on getting better & better :) Took a small tea & breakfast break around 8 – 8:30 am, no idea where we were at that time ;) Vasanth & Santoosh said that we were going through a small stretch of Kerala so that roads would be really good. Believe me it was like butter as we got near Marwante Beach.
Reached Marwante beach around 12:30 pm. The road was beautiful, sea on one side & backwaters on one side. Had some fresh tender coconut & then moved on the Turtle Bay Beach Resort for lunch. We were told that the lunch preparation would take approx 30 – 45 mins. So we had to wait till then :( So, we ordered a mix variety of sea-food & vegetables and decided to roam around a bit on the beach :)
Meanwhile, Santoosh decided to try his bike in the sand :( to his back luck, the portion of the beach he chose had fine sand and the bike got stuck in it !!! We had to rush there for the rescue, and the best part was that, that portion of the beach had fish spread out for drying… the stench was really really bad :( Also the bike was so badly stuck that revving it was of no use, we picked up 2-3 planks of wood & literally lifted the bike’s rear wheel onto it. Then slowly revved it and moved the planks as the bike moved forward. Took us around 1 hour to get the bike out !! Got back to the resort and by this time the lunch was already being served. Had a great lunch :) the food was good & nice cool air from the sea added to the fun.
After lunch relaxed a bit and then started to get ready to leave for Mangalore by 2:30 pm. Left Marwante beach and headed for Mangalore. Nothing much…. Just straight highway…. Reached the outskirts of Mangalore around 6pm, unfortunately there was work going on so, lost each other and had a tough time gathering together. But finally met up and then checked into a guesthouse.
I think that is quite enough for this ride :P 4th day we went to Bekal Fort and then spent the night in Mangalore. Left for Bangalore on the 5th day morning at 6:00 am and reached by 4:00 pm !!! Nothing much to tell there !
It was a good experience, 5 days out on a ride :) Lots of gelling and fun. Have left out some of the fun part, but then everything can’t be written, has to be felt ;) So, next will be posting about my other rides soon. At least was able to finish this ride log after a loonnnggg time ;)
Hi Guys..... sorry have been busy with office for some days... but have a surprise for all !!! Will be posting the 5 day trip we did from 1st - 5th October 2008 very soon. Its half - cooked, just finishing the final draft. ;)
Sorry guys..... yet another apology ;) The 5 day trip details are still going on :( Will be posting it this weekend most possibly. Sorry for all the delay !!!
