Bulls of Shimoga - 1A (First Anniversary)

The riding season in Chennai atleast had begun during August and it has already been almost 2 months since the Ooty ride in October. I had also missed the Raid de Kodai, by Kovai thumpers. So the urge for riding has been built up and a certain ride was on the cards before the RM 2012. Then was when BOS 1A invite had come. No postponing and we registered one after another.

The route:

No big planning was done as we decided to complete the Bangalore stretch by Friday night so that riding 250 km on Saturday would not be a big deal. All went by plan and met by 7ish @ Motel Highway just outside Poonamalle and geared ourselves for a night ride. The gang was Sailesh aka B-ro, Dr. Raja Saravanan aka 1gm, Ratheesh, Rajith and I. I moved ahead to tank up while the group started 5 mins later. I joined the group as sweep.

Rain gods had just dripped a bit, and the roads were wet and all 4+ wheelers started spitting slush everywhere and the view was getting disturbed which eventually will slow us down. After crossing Arcot I had to pull over to clean my visor, which by the way was thestupidest thing as the slush had come back again on it. It has been drizzling for some 10kms. We regrouped just after the toll booth before Vellore for chai. By then plans to reach Blore seemed to be bleak and it will be at least 3 AM by the time we reach there. So decided to settle down in Krishnagiri for the night and take on Blore by riding out early. The motive behind the whole ride plan was to reach the venue by afternoon since we have been always missing lunch at events. So it was around 150 kms to Krishnagiri now. We started to ride but the rains got heavier and we pulled over again to safeguard mobiles and cams. Decided to stop @ Ambur for buying dinner and moved forward. But by the time we crossed Ambur, shops seemed to have closed. With no other option we proceeded to Krishnagiri hoping for some parottas and egg dosas.

All 5 of us rode in a perfect staggered formation with no issues and it was a beauty to watch as a sweep. Indicators were flashing synchronously during overtakes and the movement of the group was a lovely sight from the back and it was a small show on the road. As it was Friday night we dint have any car troubles except for some Lorries scattered here and there. The ride was perfect and satisfying as we have been completely drenched. I have previously tried to ride during the rain but either the rain would not deceive or I would have not woken up for the ride. This time it came as a blessing.

We reached Krishnagiri by 11.45 PM and checked into TTDC. Everyone was in hunger but none of us wanted to go n fetch food after saddling down. Rajith and Ratheesh went ahead to hunt for food but in vain. They came back with packets of chips, snacks and bananas. Then ran a small session till 2.30 AM where plans for RM 12 and previous RM stories kept the table amused. Meanwhile as per the original plan we had to meet Amith aka Itham and Ashok aka Aunty Hero @ Blore for the night, so texted them about the change of plans and crashed for the night.

Woke up @ 5.30 and started saddling up with hunger in everyone’s eyes and a bit of hang over. We planned for breakfast @ Shollagiri McDonalds 30 kms from Krishnagiri. 

Had filling breakfast and informed the Blore team to meet us up in Nice Road just after the toll. Time had crossed 8 AM and traffic was building up very bad with people jaywalking all over the highway near Hosur and all way up to Blore. Stopped for the regroup in Nice road after paying a worthless toll of 10 bucks and the time was 8.45 AM. Waited there for more than half an hour and guys dint turn up still. Highway patrol pulled over and started abusing us for waiting in Kannada. We would not give a damn even if it was Tamil, so we kept waiting but then he got frustrated and we had to move out. Started crawling the Nice road hoping the guys would catch up with us. By this time we reached the next toll. Pulled over to the service road and started waiting again, and they turned up after another half an hour. Paid another 40 buck for each of the rides and proceeded towards Tumkur.

Itham, famous for falling correctly on your blind side was tailing me for some time before he finally broke off, I was relieved. We paid 40 bucks but still followed the service roads. All thanks to Aunty for guiding us through some 25+speed breakers along a 5 km service road which finally merged with the highway. We took a break at Gubbi for chai and fuel. 

Next destination was Tiptur, which we reached in no time and fell into the State highways of Karnataka, met RTMC club members en route to Arasikere. Felt like we are riding for a long time for a short distance and noticed the speed was dipping to 60 due to road conditions. After a bit of off-roading for we reached the venue around 3.00 PM. 

The venue was in the Ballavara Rangers camp, close to some beautiful waterfalls and scenery. But we had then decided to stay back in the resort to enjoy the evening. By now beers were afloat. Aunty for the first time used his beer coupons in the event venue. He dint like it though, much to the likes of Rajith and B-ro. They had now shared his share of the beer. Had a sumptuous lunch and it was just awesome. Chatting started, met other club members, shared a small ride story and we settled in the room. I had dozed off for some half an hour and guys woke me up for the party. Get set and go. Cake cutting happened and BOS hosted it very gracefully. It was a small crowd but great hospitality. Sides were provided on all tables amidst liquors galore. We were chatting, dancing, posing all through the night. After a while KTMC had made a late entry along with Hari & Partner from Madbulls. Spent some more time with the guys and finally went to sleep at 12.

Planned to wake up @ 7 finish breakfast and ride out. Ride back plan was simple, take the other route to reach Chikmagalur – Blore – Krishnargiri – Chennai. The group was Rajit, B-ro, 1gm, Ratheesh, Partner and I. Got up @ 7 and rode out @ 9.30 AM. 

There were no roads in the range. Badly damaged and it was a complete offroading experience. 1gm, Partner and B-ro moved ahead as I was waiting for Rajith and Ratheesh to finish taking snaps. We dint want to waste time to stop and pose but took some pics of the valley and moved ahead, but after a couple of kms we couldn’t resist to get down and enjoy the wonderful landscape. It was sheer beauty, full of mountains and it was green. Then again finished clicking and went ahead to see the guys waiting for us besides a view point. 

Again took some more pics and we could see the route we had come by. It could be seen just a thin line from the view point. Immediately we were on nicer roads. Not much of width but enough to drive and turn. Roads were getting better and we felt we are nearing a town. It was a T- junction and there were no sign boards. 

Asked a local guy for the route and he showed left. It was almost 2 hrs since we started from the venue and we had covered somewhere around 50 kms. We entered a ghat section which was amazing to drive. 1 Gm asked me to move forward as he was riding slow. Rajith took the sweep and was caught up in the middle. After a series of turns I was leading and took off with Ratheesh and Sailesh tailing me.

After a couple of kilometres the ghats had stopped and we could see one straight road. The road leads to Arasikere. WTF ????? After spending 80 kms and 3 hrs on the road, we were right on where we had started from. Still we are 600kms from Chennai and it was 12.30 pm. After swearing the guy who showed us the wrong route, we all pushed off. Rajith was sweeping with Partner and I ahead of him and the rest of the gang had flewn already. We maintained a constant 80 and caught up with the group near Tiptur. We had missed Partner in the traffic in one of the towns. Planned to have lunch @ 2.30pm and stopped at a dhaba waiting for Partner. Partner showed in no time. Had a heavy lunch and planned to move, when everyone of us were tired and needed some rest. Planned to start by 4PM and caught up with a power nap. Chai was ordered and we rode out. 

Reached the Tumkur highway in no time and it was already 6PM. We are still 50kms to Blore. Refuelled our bikes and pushed off. Partner and 1gm dint stop for fuel and headed ahead of the rest of us. After all negotiations we crossed Blore and reached Shollagiri McDonals (again) for dinner. Had a good dinner and pushed of @ 9 PM with 300 kms to go. 

It seemed the last 300kms was the tiresome stretch. One straight highway and not much of a traffic will make you sleepy and it did. Took a chai break 30km before Vellore when B-ro and Ratheesh missed our signal and darted towards Chennai. The 4 of us took a small break and decided to break @ Gurwinder dhabha for masala chai. As it happened spent some time there and reached Chennai @ 1.30 AM and reach home @ 2 AM.

Wonderful ride after a RTMC XA, thanks to the guys and the babes, all reached safe. And thanks to Ramko for being a wonderful base contact all through the ride.

P.S: This blog was written with the best of English that I know

Where to next?????

It will be Rider Mania 2012 to Delhi.

Planned route:

http://maps.google.co.in/maps/ms?hl=en&vpsrc=1&ctz=-330&vps=2&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=204810131663240174630.0004b0a9f1d158f8ffd30

God's own country ride - Waynad

Wayanad District in the north-east of Kerala, India, was formed on November 1, 1980 as the 12th district by carving out areas from Kozhikode and Kannur districts. Kalpetta is the district headquarters as well as the only municipal town in the district. The region was known as Mayakshetra (Maya's land) in the earliest records. Mayakshetra evolved into Mayanad and finally to Wayanad.The Folk etymology of the word says it is a combination of Vayal (paddy field) and Naad (land), making it 'The Land of Paddy Fields'. There are many indigenous tribals in this area. It is set high on the majestic Western Ghats with altitudes ranging from 700 to 2100 m.

I had called for the ride in the club and had good response for the same. Amith and I had planned to extend the trip for two more days and ride to Kolli hills. But due to various personal reasons only Sailesh and I could make it to the trip. As this ride was being planned for a long time, we decided to carry on with the plan and I had to cancel the trip to Kolli hills.

The Route:

Sailesh (CI500) and I (TBTS) started at 5.30 from DLF Porur, Chennai and hit the highway hard. As there were not much of traffic, we cruised along the way and reached Vellore for a Tea Break. Breakfast stop was @ 9 in Krishnagiri. We had a good breakfast and started towards Bangalore. Expecting rains on the way we had carried tarqualin sheets to guard our saddles, but I dint have the patience to tie it over the saddle so folded it and kept it under the saddle. Sailesh had it over the saddle, and when we were about to take off, we found Sailesh’s saddle had torn due to the tyre kissing. So spent some more time in arranging the stuff and off we flew. 

As we took the right, we could feel the long weekend on the highway as the number of vehicles has increased tremendously along with the trucks and the failed Schumacher’s of India (Respective State Transport drivers). We crossed Hosur and saw the traffic grow even bigger than we had experienced. Was like driving in Anna Salai around 2 in the afternoon. We were starting to feel the heat by the time we reached Bangalore. We picked up some booze there and headed straight to Mysore through Nice Road. 

From this point till we reached the outskirts of Mysore was full of traffic. Seems the whole of Bangalore was on the highway with hotels overflowing, so we proceeded the ride without lunch. We stopped on the way to Gundlupet for chai and proceeded further with the feeling that there is gonna be traffic all the way long. 

To our surprise the traffic eased out after Mysore and there we were again, cruising happily and meeting highway standards. As we had crossed Mysore we were on state highways which made the ride even better. We reached Gundlupet and proceeded to Sultan Bathery, which will be the entry into Kerala from Karnatakka. The route from Gundlupet to Sultan Bathery takes us into the Bandipur Forest for some 50 odd kms. We were stopped in the Karnatakka Check post for having the head light on. The police man came directly to me and asked this “What driving manners?? Head light on?? “. Then I had to get explain him the reason, don’t know if he understood but lets us go.

The drive through Karnataka forest range was not that entertaining, but the minute we drove across the Kerala check post we could find a vast difference.

      It was green all over and lovely swindling roads with black tarmac. 

Felt blessed and drove through the woods, spotted a few tamed elephants which were being taken for a walk. 

The baboon was a common sight. As we felt bad for not being able to snap photos while riding, we hit the first Kerala T shop. Had hot chais and some vada. 

We then moved forward to Kalpetta through some damaged and dented roads and the time was already past 6 in the evening. We had to call the resort and asked for directions and we ended travelling 25 more kilometres in the dented roads all the way to the resort. The road which leads to the resort had some off roading to do which includes a steep incline as well as a decline. As we reached around 8, the place was pitch dark and we could actually find where our tent was located or its background. 

We know its a lake but dint know how good it was. The resort Manager Sathish was very courteous and helped us getting settled in one of the tents. The bon fire was getting ready for some party and dinner was getting served. We settled down and made our drinks and left for the party. Group of guys who were part of a family and another bachelor group were dancing mercilessly to Tamil and Hindi hits being played. Thats then we missed our gang and we soothed ourselves reminding of the RTMC 10A party we will be having in October. We finished our drinks and left for dinner. By now all have gone to sleep. Satish came over and asked about the food and showed some pics of a group of 50 RE’s which had come to the resort sometime back. Done for the day and went to sleep in our tents.

            I woke up by 7.30 and saw the view from our tent and it was magnificent. Took some snaps of the ladies and the location, refreshed ourselves and set out for the lake.  

It was a small trek to the lake downhill from the resort. Touched the lake for some snaps and climbed up. 

Started the bikes and went to the Banasura Sagar dam. This is the second largest earth dam in Asia. Was lovely as usual in Kerala and then went to Meenmutty waterfalls. It included another trek into the forest. This one was more tedious (atleast for me) than the previous one. We climbed our hearts out to find that we could not take a shower in there. Disappointed that we came this long to just see the waterfall, we could have googled it. 

We started our descend and headed towards the resort for lunch as there are no places available for a decent lunch. Had briyani in Kerala style and headed to rest for some time. 

Woke up @ 4 PM and started out to Kalpetta for fuel and cash. After topping our purses and ladies we took them for a spin around the place. We went directly to Pookot lake in Vythri but it was closed by then. So we decided to reach back to the resort for the evening party. The road from Vythri to 10^th Mile was in excellent condition with agmark twist and turns that Kerala boasts of. I loved the 20+km ride and when we had reached the resort we found that we had totally drove around 60kms for just petrol and cash. We missed out seeing a lot of places like Chembara Peak, Kuruva Islands and Edakkal caves. Had we planned a bit more, we could have seen some more places. But that was secondary, we loved the ride the most so this dint bother us much and we settled with our drinks and found a couple of Tamil guys from Bangalore there. So session was started and discussion widened out to roads routes rides and bikes. Slept @ 12 and planned to get up @ 5 for ride out.

            As usual the ride out was late and happened only @ 7. 

We had to follow the same route till Gundlupet and branch out to Chamrajnagar to reach Sathyamangalam. During the past two days my wrist had been paining due to some issue which i could not figure out. Thought the new handle bar was causing the damage. But by the time we started riding back to Gundlupet, it became evident that my clutch lever was a bit down than usual. Pulled over after negotiating the traffic and crossing Kalpetta and adjusted the clutch lever. Had some chai in the nearby shop and started again. The ride till Gundlupet was as explained earlier. Neat roads with windings all over the route, it was the best part of the ride. We reached Gundlupet and headed to Chamrajnagar. We wanted to try a different route other than the one which we used for the onward.  We were doing speeds of 80 – 100 on State highways which were mostly deserted. Out of the blue stood a herd of cows in a dilemma whether to go left or right, braking could not be applied completely as there was some gravel in the path. Was able to dodge the first 4 and then came the last one swaying here and there and finally targeted me to hit it. Thank god that my lady and I dint even touch it, slowed down for a full breath and started again. As a small fall can also cause a lot of damage to your bike and the small modifications will be hurt well. Regained the composure and drove ahead. Topped up fuel for the ladies as we were not sure about bunks in Sathi. We reached Sathyamangalam soon from Chamrajnagar as the roads were clean and without much of the traffic except for school students returning home after the I – Day celebrations. Entered TN border and roads to Thimbam from Sathi was great along the forest and ghats. Again we experienced a lovely ride for the 50 odd kilometres from Sathi to Thimbam. Stopped for a T break and sensed a huge amount of lorry traffic. 

 

Asked for the best route to Mettur from the T Shop and geared up for the descend down the mountains. Immediately when we started to drive down there was huge traffic with cars and buses parked on either side of the roads with no space to ride the ladies besides them. A truck had found a shorter route down the hill after the 25^th hairpin and was dangling out of the ghat roads with an broken axle. This was the main reason for the traffic.  A KSRTC Volvo dint have enough space to take the hairpin. So we needed to shuffle a bit to let him pass by. 

Most of the cars had to reverse themselves and off he went which gave way for some bikes to pass by and from there no turning back and with all gears placed we were sweating. Stopped off in the plains to cool off a bit and then started again to be stopped by Thimbam check post for having the lights on. Explained them the reason and started to Mettur via Ammapettai. Roads were neat and as we dint have breakfast and lunch till now, decided to reach the Ghar Dabha for lunch neary Dharmapuri. Given motivation of food we sped past Mettur and reached Thoppur and joined the NH. Was relieved in a sense that we can ride faster from here. We reached the Ghar Dhaba to find it unusually super crowded so had some tender coconut break and left searching for other shops nearby. 

As it was almost past 3 all shops were closed and which meant no lunch also today. We encountered rain in a place after Krishnagiri where it has been raining for all my rides through that place. Quite unusual, but this time it got heavier. Asked Saliesh if he needs to stop but he was alright with the visibility. So carried forward and the rain stopped in another 10 mins. We found Muniyandi Vilas open for service. Stopped there gulped some dosas and by the time we started it was 4.30 PM. The thing is the ride seems longer in the last return than in the onward. Thinking of office the next day gives a bad feeling to the ride. Having another solid 230+ kms ahead of us and considering the weekend traffic we thought we might reach by 9 PM. So drove at good speeds to leave all fast moving vehicles ahead of us. All of a sudden traffic was building so much that cars could not cross 70kmph and had to brake constantly. The bad part was bikes were not left to overtake them and they covered the whole road on both the lanes and started obstructing our movement. No indicators were on when they take rights and lefts. Got really pissed off and zoomed ahead past them and reached Vellore faster than expected and asked Sailesh to lead.

From that point I could not find him, he was gone. There was a grey swift I loved to fight with all the way till Chennai. He would overtake me easily and go forward but to find him in the middle of traffic and I would get past him. This happened for the last 100 odd kms and kept me entertained. Happily reached Sriperumbudur and topped some fuel and sped for chai in the usual shop. And no signs of Sailesh. left him a message and reached Poonamalle to find him waiting near the flyover. Then rode together into the city and bid adieu near DLF. Reached home @ 8. Thanks to the Swift for bringing me home earlier. Had a wonderful ride and stay @ Wayanad and planning to go there for 3 days stay to enjoy the whole place. Obviously, its Gods own country. Thanks for reading the blog and will meet u on the highway soon someday.

Where to Next ???? It will be Ooty during Oct 7 – 10, for RTMC 10^th Anniversary event. Will be a kickass ride as the number of riders and ladies will be very high. Take care till then. Ciao