[This used to be posted on my favorite site, RoyalEnfield.com, they removed it, so I am posting it here... it's old, but pretty interesteing...]
Vivek, who just came back from US, after long stint there, was itching for ride and so was I. I had plans for Goa on this 4 days weekend, including leave on Monday and 15th Aug as Independence Day on Tuesday, so the leave was already taken well in advance. But when Amboli ride was floated I changed my mind from Goa to Amboli to invite wrath of many colleagues, who were depending on me to take(?) them to Goa. But let me tell you, I think I took very right decision.
Vivek and Darshana, Rohan and Aditi, Ram and his wife, Eklavya, Param, Sanket, Ra’JAAT’ Gandhi, Navin and me were the people who shown interest. List was long and it’s a really good head count.
But by Saturday many of the riders could not confirm the plan, Ram was unsure as his bike’s health is little dicey, though he already had planned to get the sick leave, for him not for his bike. There is no employeer in India right now, which gives sick leaves for bikes…hehehehe. Param’s boss love him so much that he just don’t want to miss him even for a day. L
1. Home 15317kms 0745hrs 12/08/2006
[Place, Oddo reading, Time and Date format]
Citypride Satara Road 15324kms 0805hrs 12/08/2006
Thus finally only 4 of us, Vivek and Darshana, Sanket and me, rolled out from CityPride Satara road at 0830hrs on 12th Aug 2006. Starting early was only to get past crowded Katraj ghat before it gets traffic jammed. Eklavya was able to get leave for Monday and will be catching us up in Satara.
Riders and their royal steeds:
a. Vivek and Darshana – Bullet Electra 4s
b. Sanket – Bullet Electra 5s
c. Eklavya - Bullet 350 Campus Ed.
d. doc (me) – Bullet500 (ESDB)
2. Shindewadi-Shirval 15368kms 1025hrs 12/08/2006
As decided while starting from Pune itself, we rode slowly and leisurely, so that we can enjoy the scenic beauty more and give some time to Eklavya to catch up with us. Vivek was leading and me sweeping. Sanket is newbie, recently joined RoadShakers and have earned reputation of making all the RS rides so far J, lucky him. While we stopped for first butt break, he noticed that the fuel tube is little loose and there is leakage of petrol, so we stopped at Shindewadi and he got that tube replaced. We had been riding for about 2 hours to cover only 40odd kms, you can imagine, how slow we were.
3. Sai Sahara Khambatki 15384 1045 12/08/2006
Then as a mandatory stop for all RS guys, we stopped at this hotel, just before Khambaki ghat toll booth, had some chai-biskuts and at the time of starting we checked for any loose screws or nuts, hopefully none was there, only my bike was out of engine oil, so $hit scared, and got it tanked-up at the next possible stop. Only problem is, on the highway, it’s very tough to find 20w-50 oil, what’s available everywhere is 20w-40, which is used for general bikes. Yes! I don’t consider my Bullet as general bike, she is really special and I know you will agree with me. So advice is always keep some oil handy, and better check it before starting for ride itself. Khambatki ghat is the one where one really want to rip and we did J. We had a small photo session also. While searching for engine oil, we stopped at one petrol bunk and then Eklavya came ripping from behind and overtook us. He took us by surprise and only thing we could do was to SMS him that we are behind him, which he mistook very well…hehehehe. He reached Satara an hour before us and kept searching his behind for us (pun intended).
4. Satara 15435kms 1330hrs 12/08/2006
Thoseghar 15462kms, Windmill 15465kms
It was not raining and we were fairly dry till Satara. After reaching Satara, we booked rooms in Rajatadri hotel, in the main square itself. It belongs to friend of Param. We had light lunch in the restaurant attached. After relaxing for some time we decided to ride to visit well-known Thoseghar waterfall. But it started raining incessantly while we were riding to Thoseghar and we were drenched till the bone. The waterfall is very beautiful and all the falls in Mulshi, Bhushi, etc are really puny in front of this one. It was raining continuously and we were soaked wet, we had nice cuppa of tea at the shack nearby and then came the funda of earth’s rotations and the surface speed of the earth.
*- We found out that earth rotates about itself and being on earth we also with it, so what’s the speed of that rotation? After some brief calculations it turned out to be 1675kmph. That’s too much, for us to imagine, but considering we generally ride at 75 to 95kmph, our actual speed becomes 1750 to 1770kmph….interesting hmmm….and hence the name of the ride story J. Well, you can contest the claim, but that’s the best we could come up then…
While returning from the falls, we decided to take a look little ahead to catch the windmills installed on the mountain tops…So we headed there, the windmill was really huge and we were not able to see it completely as it was very foggy there. Then, at that moment, the “most reliable”, as proclaimed by her owner, bike started giving starting problem. Little moisture went into the spark-plug cap was doing nasty things and WD-40 from Vivek’s toolbox came handy. It saved the ‘remaining’ day for us and we rode back to hotel. While coming back, we got the news that Param is also coming to Satara to meet us. Thanks to his above mentioned ‘loving’ boss, he could not make for the ride, but he tried to wash away his sins by being there with us for dinner along with his lovely niece, who to my great surprise do not like chocolates muchJ. After full-tummy dinner, we decided to retire for the day, only to plan early next day for Amboli, our final destination.
5. Satara 15494kms, 1000hrs, 13/08/2006
As decided, we got up early in the morning at 7, yes that’s early for most of us, particularly for a guy like Eklavya, who had worked whole night and then rode to Satara without sleep, kudos dude! Then he realized that he needs to replace the foot-peg nut and again Param came to rescue, this guy sure is very resourceful. As it is seen as delay to all, Eklavya decided to ride afterwards and will try to catch us, we rode on towards Kolhapur. We took first break only after 90 odd kms, and eventually Eklavya joined us in no time.
6. Reliance petrol bunk 15589kms 1200-1220hrs 13/08/2006
We spent some time at the Reliance petrol bunk and had tea. Our next stop will be little after Nipani, from where we were supposed to take right turn to Ajra road.
7. Nipani-Shippur 15666kms 1340-1430hrs 13/08/2006
Amboli via Ajra 15742kms 1620hrs 13/08/2006
At the junction where we were supposed to take turn, the place is called Shippur, we had our lunch. Now onwards the road is not National Highway, it had pretty bad patch at couple of places. Otherwise the road was like Tamhini road. In the meantime, at one petrol bunk we tanked up the bikes and as usual, my bike asked for the least quantity to stun all the 350 guys. We reached Amboli in the afternoon.
Point to be noted, 28 people, mostly school-children and young guys, told us that our headlights are ON, which we kept ON intentionally, while going from Satara to Amboli.
8. Amboli waterfalls, Mahadevgad, Chaukul gaon, Shirgaonkar point, Kavlesaad point, Hiranyakeshi river origin
In Amboli after booking the hotel rooms and putting down the entire luggage, we decided to ride down to the Amboli waterfalls, which are the main attraction of the place. The waterfall is magnificent and one can actually get into is unlike the Thoseghar. We had really good time there and after some buttas and tea, we came back to hotel, only to plan, what to do tomorrow and what to see. I got up early in the morning and went for the walk for almost couple of kms, then came back, woke up other guys, had breakfast and decided to go for site seeing. We went to Amboli waterfall again to catch some pics. Then we went to Mahadevgad point which is a ridge which overlooks a beautiful valley, but everything was under wraps of fog and mist. It used to open for only couple of minutes and then again used to go under wraps. Then we rode to Chaukul village and took nice detour to some unknown place also, where the scenic beauty was breathtaking. Then we decided to come back for lunch and then proceed for other points. After lunch, next stop was Kavlesaad point, where the water falling into the valley gets uplifted due to high speed wind flow and fall upwards. The place was so fantastic that we were almost in no mood to leave the place. But then there were couple of more places to be visited. We went to a place where Hiranyakeshi river originates. The place has small Shiva temple and the pond of freshly emerging water. We sat there for some time and came back to hotel, pretty tired of riding bad roads and no roads whole day. Next day, Eklavya have to catch office by the evening so he decided to leave early that others.
9. Amboli 15817kms 0800hrs 15/08/2006
Next day, after breakfast of ghavan and chutney (local delicacy), again we started off from Amboli. The route was scenic and we could meet and greet lot of school children coming back from school after celebrating 60th Independence day of our beloved country. They waved at us, at all the places and we waved back. This kept on repeating at all the villages and stopped only after we took to National Highway at Shippur near Nipani.
10. Kale (7kms from Karad) 16001kms 1135-1230hrs 15/08/2006
Our first stop after leaving Amboli was Kale village just 7kms from Karad. We rode for 180 odd kms before this lunch brake. The ride was fast and hard. We enjoied it thoroughly. After sumptious lunch and receiving whereabouts of Eklavya, we started off again from the place. Our main aim is to cross Katraj ghat before 1600hrs, so that we can avoid the evening traffic jam there.
11. Nagewadi 16074kms 1400hrs 15/08/2006
As we started off directly after lunch, we were bound to feel little dizzy after some time, so we did and took a hot tea break at Nagewadi. Here we decided to ride directly to Pune without even single stoppage.
12. Home 16172kms 1600hrs 15/08/2006
We crossed Katraj ghat well before our self-set deadline of 1600hrs, and rode through all the slush, dirt and bad road conditions of Katraj. We decided to disperse from where we started off together, so we rode together till CityPride Satara road and then after usual, hugs and good byes, we dispersed. I reached home safely around 1600hrs and so did Sanket, Vivek and Darshana. It was one fantastic ride and we all enjoied it thoroughly. Eklavya on his way back met Capt. Krish, who was riding to Tapola sanctuary and reached Pune around 1330 or so. It was sort of record time he had clocked, yet to be confirmed.
There is no point in counting hundreds of kids, who waved at us while coming back from school after Independence day celebrations and told us that our headlights were ON.
The ride pics can be found at:
http://vivekrides1.fotopic.net/c1055183.html
http://photos.rediff.com/bn/emph/prasad_bhangale?path=%2F%2FAmboli%20ride&key=c2b2c3688e878006696307ca8b35d568&exp=HYGDEBCDAB%3FC%3D%3A%3B7957%3B57%5Eo%5D&funcname=showthumbs
Place to stay at Amboli:
Hotel Shiv-Malhar
Vengurla-Belgaum Road, Behind Datta Mandir
Tel/Fax: 02363-240301(Amboli)
Apart from this, there are many hotels.
http://www.nivalink.com/greenvalley/contact.html
Green Valley Resort [MTDC]
Sawantwadi-Bemgaum Road,
Police Out-Post, Amboli, Maharashtra
For Reservations, Travel Assistance Contact:
NivalinkG-32, Lokmanya Paan Bazaar,
Next to Godrej Coliseum,
Somaiya Hospital Road,
Off Eastern Express Highway,
Chunabhatti, Sion, Mumbai - 400022.
Phone : +91-22-24042501 (5 lines)
Fax : +91-22-24042792
Email: greenvalley@nivalink.com
Lessons learnt:
- Always check engine oil before starting on ride, and always carry handful of it.
- Keep WD-40 spray in toolbox as necessary equipment.
- You tend to feel sleepy on National Highways, as they are straight and sometimes down-right boring to ride.
- My bike always need less fuel to tank up than even 350s… hehehehe
- Eklavya Mahapatra’s middle name is Enthusiasm
- I need to get new muffler.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
RoadShaker’s rock Malshej...
It all started couple of weeks back, when Manish announced that we are going to ride to Malshej Ghats from Pune and going to meet Mumbai IndieThumpers there. To start with we had the headcount of 18 from both sides and Saturday 7th July was the day to ride there and we start back on the next day.
The day started on the hectic note as my horn was not working and Alex was not in town. So Baljeet agreed to help me with it and I got the new relay fitted which didn't solved the problem, only to be found that not the relay, but the switch has the problem. The problem was nothing but just dirt which was settled there while previous weekend Tamhini ride.
We were planning to start the ride at 2:30pm, but due to certain delays we could push-off only around 3:00pm towards Malshej. The route was simple as Shivaji Nagar, Pune to Nashik diversion, Bhosari, then to Alephata, left turn to Sushant resort, Malshej. Finally 9 bikes turned up, and to our great surprise, 7 out of them were 500cc, only 2 were 350s, moreover 4 were in the process of running-in. Overall classification of bikes and riders is given in the end anyways.
The ride till Bhosari was pathetic as Mumbai-Pune highway had a traffic jam as usual, but once we took turn towards Nashik, the highway was like dream and as we had decided to keep the speeds under limits, we were enjoying the constant thump and every where people were looking at our bikes in awe. Nine big Bulls riding in tandem, in zigzag manner generating good amount of thump and pomp was a sight to watch. Kids waved their hands and we waved back. We had very less minimal breaks while riding on the highway and reached Alephata, from where we were supposed to take left turn. Sushant resort was around 40kms from this place, and we had come almost 80kms from Pune, so it was short ride as per RoadShaker’s standards.
Till now all our efforts to wear the raingear had gone waste as we had not met any rains so far, but the further road was looking very promising. I remembered this road as I had been to this place few months back for the trek to Harishchandra Gad. And I knew that the mountains and hills on this side of the Sahyadri are very capable of changing the weather and get us drenched in no time we could sense the clouds all around and road is superbly covered by flora on both sides with ample number of mountains on both sides. We kept the steady speeds around 70-75kmph and were enjoying the ride. Baljeet was leading the pack and he opened the throttle on that empty road and all followed him.
As Manish and Eklavya were running in their new steeds, I preferred to stay back with them and what happened next was magical experience. All of us, 3 Bullets with constant thumping music rode through that jungle which had got darker due to thick clouds in the sky and approaching evening. The wind was very strong and chilled but still no rains. We stopped at one bridge where the wind intensity was so high that we feared that bikes put on the stands may be pushed to fall off by the wind. After few photos and some fags of smokers we decided to push off. By the time we reached, it was quarter to 7 and the resort was already waiting for us, thanks to Manish who had taken extra pain to be there previous weekend to make all the arrangements. We decided to occupy two out of 6 cottages and be at home while waiting for Bombay IndieThumpers to arrive. We were chit-chatting and ordered for cold-drinks, which were not cold, IndieThumpers arrived, and my God, how many of them, almost over 30 we could see all the long trail of headlights and thump resonating the atmosphere.
The Resort manager and few of us helped them to park their vehicles and then the series of introductions and long-time-no-see kind of hugs and kisses. Manish and Baljeet knew many IndieThumpers guys. I was seeing all of them first time, but it was great time to meet Rajiv, Kaka, Shyamal and none other than Keve. I knew him for long, but only through online ways, chats / emails / sms / orkut scraps.
As we could manage to book 6 cottages, we decided to leave one more for our Mumbai counterparts. It was great atmosphere filled with fun and frolic.
The electricity at the resort kept on playing hide-n-seek, but the place where the resort is situated is great. We could see the clouds actually falling over the ridge in front of us. It was not raining, but the whole stage was set to heavy downpour. We were having good time and saw many new guys being introduced and inducted in IndieThumpers group. Unlike RoadShakers, their induction program was noisy and little less well-planned. I was surprised to see that even after 2 hours the main big group arrived, every now and then couple of Thumpers keep on arriving till pretty late in the evening.
They even found out that 2 of them had gone missing, which were caught and brought back. Then in usual hype and hoopla, Manish and Baljeet addressed the whole gathering, while JP Shetty, former RoadShaker and current IndieThumper kept on clicking as many pictures as possible. Rajiv and Kaka also acknowledged the contribution of RoadShakers in building their riding club and overall riding community across the country. I felt very proud to be a RoadShaker.
After nice dinner with all the fellow riders, we went on small distance stroll and retired to our cottages. Morning came with all the allegations about who was snoring whole night and disturbing others and all kind of claims. After hearty breakfast, we decided to push-off for small ride down the Ghats with Thumpers and then return to Pune while they will carry on. That was great experience as over 40 Bulls, roaring with their unique throaty grawl, riding slowly though the Ghats, where one side was mountain and other, not valley but clouds. It was breath-taking moment. We rode few kilometers down and parked our bikes to have final rendezvous. I clicked lot of pictures and captured many VDOs on cell-phone. All the passing by vehicles were in awe of the congress and the expressions of great surprise and appreciation can be easily seen on the faces. After spending some time together there we decided to start back to Pune.
While returning we took a detour which consists of broken road and no road kind of route. By now, everyone might have understood that this is the road RoadShakers like more than tarmac. It was steep climbing to start with, and after a brief halt to top-up Baljeet’s bike's engine-oil and few clicks, we ripped through this jungle road and reached Junnar. We had hearty snacks cum lunch of Vada-pav, missal-pav and tea. After reaching the Nashik-Pune highway, it was all same as it used to be and not worth mentioning after such a nice experience we had. We reached back to Pune around 3:30pm and I was home by 4pm.
It was awesome ride, and based on the success of this combined ride, we are planning one more similar ride to a nearby place to Pune in two weeks time.
Riders and their noble steeds:
1. Manish Kothari - Machismo 500
2. Baljeet Singh - Citibike 500
3. Ekalvya Mahapatra - Machismo 500
4. Amit Nangare - Machismo 500
5. Raza Hamid - Citibike 500
6. Yuvraj - Std500 ESDB
7. Ajit Pathak - Electra5S
8. Simron Singh - Thunderbird
9. Doc, the LeadFoot (myself) - Std500 ESDB
The pictures of the ride can be seen at Raza's album on http://picasaweb.google.com/razahabitat/Malshez7n8OfJuly
And can be downloaded from JP Shetty's site http://www.jpshetty.com/2007_07_07_malshej_part_01.zip
http://www.jpshetty.com/2007_07_07_malshej_part_02.zip
RideHard but RideSafe...
- Doc, the LeadFoot... :)
The day started on the hectic note as my horn was not working and Alex was not in town. So Baljeet agreed to help me with it and I got the new relay fitted which didn't solved the problem, only to be found that not the relay, but the switch has the problem. The problem was nothing but just dirt which was settled there while previous weekend Tamhini ride.
We were planning to start the ride at 2:30pm, but due to certain delays we could push-off only around 3:00pm towards Malshej. The route was simple as Shivaji Nagar, Pune to Nashik diversion, Bhosari, then to Alephata, left turn to Sushant resort, Malshej. Finally 9 bikes turned up, and to our great surprise, 7 out of them were 500cc, only 2 were 350s, moreover 4 were in the process of running-in. Overall classification of bikes and riders is given in the end anyways.
The ride till Bhosari was pathetic as Mumbai-Pune highway had a traffic jam as usual, but once we took turn towards Nashik, the highway was like dream and as we had decided to keep the speeds under limits, we were enjoying the constant thump and every where people were looking at our bikes in awe. Nine big Bulls riding in tandem, in zigzag manner generating good amount of thump and pomp was a sight to watch. Kids waved their hands and we waved back. We had very less minimal breaks while riding on the highway and reached Alephata, from where we were supposed to take left turn. Sushant resort was around 40kms from this place, and we had come almost 80kms from Pune, so it was short ride as per RoadShaker’s standards.
Till now all our efforts to wear the raingear had gone waste as we had not met any rains so far, but the further road was looking very promising. I remembered this road as I had been to this place few months back for the trek to Harishchandra Gad. And I knew that the mountains and hills on this side of the Sahyadri are very capable of changing the weather and get us drenched in no time we could sense the clouds all around and road is superbly covered by flora on both sides with ample number of mountains on both sides. We kept the steady speeds around 70-75kmph and were enjoying the ride. Baljeet was leading the pack and he opened the throttle on that empty road and all followed him.
As Manish and Eklavya were running in their new steeds, I preferred to stay back with them and what happened next was magical experience. All of us, 3 Bullets with constant thumping music rode through that jungle which had got darker due to thick clouds in the sky and approaching evening. The wind was very strong and chilled but still no rains. We stopped at one bridge where the wind intensity was so high that we feared that bikes put on the stands may be pushed to fall off by the wind. After few photos and some fags of smokers we decided to push off. By the time we reached, it was quarter to 7 and the resort was already waiting for us, thanks to Manish who had taken extra pain to be there previous weekend to make all the arrangements. We decided to occupy two out of 6 cottages and be at home while waiting for Bombay IndieThumpers to arrive. We were chit-chatting and ordered for cold-drinks, which were not cold, IndieThumpers arrived, and my God, how many of them, almost over 30 we could see all the long trail of headlights and thump resonating the atmosphere.
The Resort manager and few of us helped them to park their vehicles and then the series of introductions and long-time-no-see kind of hugs and kisses. Manish and Baljeet knew many IndieThumpers guys. I was seeing all of them first time, but it was great time to meet Rajiv, Kaka, Shyamal and none other than Keve. I knew him for long, but only through online ways, chats / emails / sms / orkut scraps.
As we could manage to book 6 cottages, we decided to leave one more for our Mumbai counterparts. It was great atmosphere filled with fun and frolic.
The electricity at the resort kept on playing hide-n-seek, but the place where the resort is situated is great. We could see the clouds actually falling over the ridge in front of us. It was not raining, but the whole stage was set to heavy downpour. We were having good time and saw many new guys being introduced and inducted in IndieThumpers group. Unlike RoadShakers, their induction program was noisy and little less well-planned. I was surprised to see that even after 2 hours the main big group arrived, every now and then couple of Thumpers keep on arriving till pretty late in the evening.
They even found out that 2 of them had gone missing, which were caught and brought back. Then in usual hype and hoopla, Manish and Baljeet addressed the whole gathering, while JP Shetty, former RoadShaker and current IndieThumper kept on clicking as many pictures as possible. Rajiv and Kaka also acknowledged the contribution of RoadShakers in building their riding club and overall riding community across the country. I felt very proud to be a RoadShaker.
After nice dinner with all the fellow riders, we went on small distance stroll and retired to our cottages. Morning came with all the allegations about who was snoring whole night and disturbing others and all kind of claims. After hearty breakfast, we decided to push-off for small ride down the Ghats with Thumpers and then return to Pune while they will carry on. That was great experience as over 40 Bulls, roaring with their unique throaty grawl, riding slowly though the Ghats, where one side was mountain and other, not valley but clouds. It was breath-taking moment. We rode few kilometers down and parked our bikes to have final rendezvous. I clicked lot of pictures and captured many VDOs on cell-phone. All the passing by vehicles were in awe of the congress and the expressions of great surprise and appreciation can be easily seen on the faces. After spending some time together there we decided to start back to Pune.
While returning we took a detour which consists of broken road and no road kind of route. By now, everyone might have understood that this is the road RoadShakers like more than tarmac. It was steep climbing to start with, and after a brief halt to top-up Baljeet’s bike's engine-oil and few clicks, we ripped through this jungle road and reached Junnar. We had hearty snacks cum lunch of Vada-pav, missal-pav and tea. After reaching the Nashik-Pune highway, it was all same as it used to be and not worth mentioning after such a nice experience we had. We reached back to Pune around 3:30pm and I was home by 4pm.
It was awesome ride, and based on the success of this combined ride, we are planning one more similar ride to a nearby place to Pune in two weeks time.
Riders and their noble steeds:
1. Manish Kothari - Machismo 500
2. Baljeet Singh - Citibike 500
3. Ekalvya Mahapatra - Machismo 500
4. Amit Nangare - Machismo 500
5. Raza Hamid - Citibike 500
6. Yuvraj - Std500 ESDB
7. Ajit Pathak - Electra5S
8. Simron Singh - Thunderbird
9. Doc, the LeadFoot (myself) - Std500 ESDB
The pictures of the ride can be seen at Raza's album on http://picasaweb.google.com/razahabitat/Malshez7n8OfJuly
And can be downloaded from JP Shetty's site http://www.jpshetty.com/2007_07_07_malshej_part_01.zip
http://www.jpshetty.com/2007_07_07_malshej_part_02.zip
RideHard but RideSafe...
- Doc, the LeadFoot... :)
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Faith-Full ride to Kolhapur
It was long time due to visit Kolhapur Mahalkshmi Temple. In fact I remember while we were coming back from Tarkarli in Nov-Dec last year, while tanking up at the highway near Kolhapur, Darshana said to Vivek that lets get into the city and visit the temple. Then somehow we decided to push off and make it to Pune before 4pm to avoid the traffic jam in Katraj ghat... and come back in the early next year... Lots of time gone after the new year started and lot of workload and few changes left this wish un-fulfilled... It was coming to my mind lately that lots of problems I am facing in this years are due to this, so finally decided to go for it, even if nobody will be there to accompany me...
Fortunately that didn't happened... Amol, the son of my landlord was also eager to come along, and we decided to head for Kolhapur in the early morning on Saturday 7th April.
As we had planned to complete this pilgrimage in a day, it was necessary to start as early as possible in the day...
Date: 7th April 2007; Odo reads: 29842kms; Location: home; Time: 0610hrs [This format will continue]
As per decided we woke up early and after all the morning chores, we were ready to hop on my machine to set off for Kolhapur, but how much we planned to push off on or before 6, we could manage it by 6:10, but nevertheless, it was quiet well in time... :-)
The new Katraj tunnel and the whole by-pass road is like a dream and my babe's favorite spot is the tunnel...where she loves to do over 110, last time we did 120, this time 115 as we were riding double seat... i just love the way she roars in the that tunnel and how everyone makes way for her ;-)... we kept on ripping all the way as the road is smooth and deserted in the morning...
7th April 2007; 29907; Sai Sahara; 0720:
After riding for almost an hour, which we enjoyed very much due to initial chill was there in the climate, we decided to take a tea break at the usual place where RoadShakers take a break, Hotel Sai Sahara, just before the toll booth before the Khambatki ghat...
As discussed already, gave a missed call and sent SMS to Param, who is currently in Satara and wished to meet us en route...
But just after leaning my babe by the fantastic twisties of Khambatki, Amol was dead scared... I just told him to sit tight and go with the flow...We took a small site seeing break in the ghat and admired the beauty of nature... It was only at this place we realised that we had forgot the camera in the hullaboo in the morning :-(
On the way, somewhere around 20kms from Satara, I noticed some sound coming from bike, every time she passed rough patch... so we got down to check it... it turned out to be broken plate of the chain cover... so we need to find some mechanic, rather welder to get that fixed as soon as we reach Satara...
7th April 2007; 29955; Satara; 0815 [0815 to 0955 at Satara]:
After reaching there, we searched for the mechanics/welders which were closed for sure as its pretty early in the morning...one more call to Param and he said, he will reach to us in 10 minutes... he came with his newly done-up metallic green 500 which is undergoing the running in under his watchful eyes... the babe looked superb and within no time, this resourceful guy found out the welder's workshop and got it opened and the things fixed... :-)
We had misal-pav as breakfast in Satara and after spending over an hour and half, we headed towards Kolhapur, after formal goodbyes and invitation to Satara for overnight ride... :-)
Param advised us to wait till 1600hrs before we start back as it will be very hot and engine may get overheat in lesser time to make us stop every now and then...This advice was little tough to follow, but still we kept it under consideration.
On the way I shown Amol my odometer as the numbers were running and my babe crossed 30000kms mark... BRAVO!!! still we have very long way to go together.. ;-)
7th April 2007; 30077; Kolhapur; 1120:
We didn't took any break till we reach Kolhapur... and kept on ripping as the road was smooth and straight...
After reaching outskirts of Kolhapur, we started asking for directions to the temple and it was always go straight and turn left... so we thought, it will be simple while coming back straight and turn right ;-)...which obviously was not true...
Traffic police were generous enough to call me as "Sir" and were very friendly, but that was all because of my babe, its very obvious that people get subdued by her very easily... :-)
After having leisurely darshan at the temple and spending some time in the courtyard, we decided to start off from the temple complex... We headed for Prarthana Hotel, we had our fill there and around 1345 started heading back to Pune.
7th April 2007; 30095; Started back from Kolhapur; 1410:
It tool us almost half an hour to get out of the city as our initial smartness of straight and turn right had backfired...hehehe... nevertheless we were on the highway and riding towards Pune at 1410hrs... one more thing remaining was fuel tank-up and oil top-up...
7th April 2007; 30141; Tank-up Reliance bunk; 1455:
So finally looking for decent petrol pump ended when I saw this Reliance bunk... and there I tanked up, also checked the oil-level, which was okay, but still added 250ml of engine oil to be on safer side...
Surprisingly, this tank up happened in 9ltrs, which means 306kms of distance in 9 litres and that's amazing 34kmpl... nothing can beat the satisfaction of getting such a good mileage, that too while I was ripping and was riding with a pillion... but I guess all the credit goes to steady riding, as I didn't fluctuated the speeds too much and abstained from over-revving...
7th April 2007; 30220; Satara; 1615:
As decided we took our next break only in Satara... called Param again and updated him about us, had sugarcane juice to restore the fluid levels in our bodies... and headed off to Pune, feeling happy that we made it to Satara in around 2 hours... and Pune was 110kms which also can be easily covered in 2 hours... Best part of this ride was we met light showers and they kept us and the babe cool...so we didn't cared about the temperatures and they didn't soared as they were supposed.... and even the road towards Pune also looked under similar shadow of rainy clouds and nothing could beat that great feeling...
7th April 2007; 30324; Home; 1755:
Only one butt break for Amol after around 60kms from Satara and we reached home before 6pm... We met light showers even in this patch as well so we kept on ripping continuously. As usual we did 115 in the Katraj tunnel and had good fun on Khambatki ghat also as we could manage to reach 125kmph due to downward slope...
I generally face some problem or the other on this Satara road... 2 times I got the ignition coil failures and this time the broken chain-cover... It's sort of jixed for me, I guess, hehehe...but all is well that ends well...
Riders and steed:
1. Doc, the LeadFoot on his Bullet500
2. Amol as pillion
Vital Stats:
1. Total distance covered gate-to-gate = 482kms
2. Longest ride (distance wise) I had done after Goa to Pune
3. Total time taken for the ride ~ 12 hours
4. If we exclude the 4 hours (1 extra hour in Satara and 3 hours in Kolhapur), we maintained good average speed of 60.25kmph
5. Tank-up to tank-up mileage 34kmpl, Continuous riding at 95-100kmph, double seat
Adios guys...keep thumping...
RideHard but RideSafe
- doc, the LeadFoot ;-)
Fortunately that didn't happened... Amol, the son of my landlord was also eager to come along, and we decided to head for Kolhapur in the early morning on Saturday 7th April.
As we had planned to complete this pilgrimage in a day, it was necessary to start as early as possible in the day...
Date: 7th April 2007; Odo reads: 29842kms; Location: home; Time: 0610hrs [This format will continue]
As per decided we woke up early and after all the morning chores, we were ready to hop on my machine to set off for Kolhapur, but how much we planned to push off on or before 6, we could manage it by 6:10, but nevertheless, it was quiet well in time... :-)
The new Katraj tunnel and the whole by-pass road is like a dream and my babe's favorite spot is the tunnel...where she loves to do over 110, last time we did 120, this time 115 as we were riding double seat... i just love the way she roars in the that tunnel and how everyone makes way for her ;-)... we kept on ripping all the way as the road is smooth and deserted in the morning...
7th April 2007; 29907; Sai Sahara; 0720:
After riding for almost an hour, which we enjoyed very much due to initial chill was there in the climate, we decided to take a tea break at the usual place where RoadShakers take a break, Hotel Sai Sahara, just before the toll booth before the Khambatki ghat...
As discussed already, gave a missed call and sent SMS to Param, who is currently in Satara and wished to meet us en route...
But just after leaning my babe by the fantastic twisties of Khambatki, Amol was dead scared... I just told him to sit tight and go with the flow...We took a small site seeing break in the ghat and admired the beauty of nature... It was only at this place we realised that we had forgot the camera in the hullaboo in the morning :-(
On the way, somewhere around 20kms from Satara, I noticed some sound coming from bike, every time she passed rough patch... so we got down to check it... it turned out to be broken plate of the chain cover... so we need to find some mechanic, rather welder to get that fixed as soon as we reach Satara...
7th April 2007; 29955; Satara; 0815 [0815 to 0955 at Satara]:
After reaching there, we searched for the mechanics/welders which were closed for sure as its pretty early in the morning...one more call to Param and he said, he will reach to us in 10 minutes... he came with his newly done-up metallic green 500 which is undergoing the running in under his watchful eyes... the babe looked superb and within no time, this resourceful guy found out the welder's workshop and got it opened and the things fixed... :-)
We had misal-pav as breakfast in Satara and after spending over an hour and half, we headed towards Kolhapur, after formal goodbyes and invitation to Satara for overnight ride... :-)
Param advised us to wait till 1600hrs before we start back as it will be very hot and engine may get overheat in lesser time to make us stop every now and then...This advice was little tough to follow, but still we kept it under consideration.
On the way I shown Amol my odometer as the numbers were running and my babe crossed 30000kms mark... BRAVO!!! still we have very long way to go together.. ;-)
7th April 2007; 30077; Kolhapur; 1120:
We didn't took any break till we reach Kolhapur... and kept on ripping as the road was smooth and straight...
After reaching outskirts of Kolhapur, we started asking for directions to the temple and it was always go straight and turn left... so we thought, it will be simple while coming back straight and turn right ;-)...which obviously was not true...
Traffic police were generous enough to call me as "Sir" and were very friendly, but that was all because of my babe, its very obvious that people get subdued by her very easily... :-)
After having leisurely darshan at the temple and spending some time in the courtyard, we decided to start off from the temple complex... We headed for Prarthana Hotel, we had our fill there and around 1345 started heading back to Pune.
7th April 2007; 30095; Started back from Kolhapur; 1410:
It tool us almost half an hour to get out of the city as our initial smartness of straight and turn right had backfired...hehehe... nevertheless we were on the highway and riding towards Pune at 1410hrs... one more thing remaining was fuel tank-up and oil top-up...
7th April 2007; 30141; Tank-up Reliance bunk; 1455:
So finally looking for decent petrol pump ended when I saw this Reliance bunk... and there I tanked up, also checked the oil-level, which was okay, but still added 250ml of engine oil to be on safer side...
Surprisingly, this tank up happened in 9ltrs, which means 306kms of distance in 9 litres and that's amazing 34kmpl... nothing can beat the satisfaction of getting such a good mileage, that too while I was ripping and was riding with a pillion... but I guess all the credit goes to steady riding, as I didn't fluctuated the speeds too much and abstained from over-revving...
7th April 2007; 30220; Satara; 1615:
As decided we took our next break only in Satara... called Param again and updated him about us, had sugarcane juice to restore the fluid levels in our bodies... and headed off to Pune, feeling happy that we made it to Satara in around 2 hours... and Pune was 110kms which also can be easily covered in 2 hours... Best part of this ride was we met light showers and they kept us and the babe cool...so we didn't cared about the temperatures and they didn't soared as they were supposed.... and even the road towards Pune also looked under similar shadow of rainy clouds and nothing could beat that great feeling...
7th April 2007; 30324; Home; 1755:
Only one butt break for Amol after around 60kms from Satara and we reached home before 6pm... We met light showers even in this patch as well so we kept on ripping continuously. As usual we did 115 in the Katraj tunnel and had good fun on Khambatki ghat also as we could manage to reach 125kmph due to downward slope...
I generally face some problem or the other on this Satara road... 2 times I got the ignition coil failures and this time the broken chain-cover... It's sort of jixed for me, I guess, hehehe...but all is well that ends well...
Riders and steed:
1. Doc, the LeadFoot on his Bullet500
2. Amol as pillion
Vital Stats:
1. Total distance covered gate-to-gate = 482kms
2. Longest ride (distance wise) I had done after Goa to Pune
3. Total time taken for the ride ~ 12 hours
4. If we exclude the 4 hours (1 extra hour in Satara and 3 hours in Kolhapur), we maintained good average speed of 60.25kmph
5. Tank-up to tank-up mileage 34kmpl, Continuous riding at 95-100kmph, double seat
Adios guys...keep thumping...
RideHard but RideSafe
- doc, the LeadFoot ;-)
Monday, March 5, 2007
Freaky gadgets…
This is pretty interesting phenomenon, just as an extension of what Capt Nandu and me were discussing on ride and what me and Reshma were talking about today morning… and after some deliberation, I think this thing worth to be here on my blog… :)
We always hear all the time, people are possessive about people and things they have, its very common trait of human nature to be possessive of the materialistic objects and even other human beings :)…
But can it be vice versa also? But if this trait is shown by things, what can we say about that?
This is obviously about my babe, my dahling, my Bullet 500. She is definitely showing such possessiveness towards me… how? I will say she behaves very differently when she is admired or ridden by someone from the fairer sex…lolz…
First time it happened in last monsoon, when we ridden to Mahabaleshwar on one good Sunday and one of my friends came along with me. In the due course of time, my friend ridden her and while coming back my babe started throwing fits. First the muffler holding broke off, and then the accelerator cable gave way. We have to toe her till Pune for almost over 80kms.
Then, in last October, when we ridden to Tarkarli, I was riding, err... rather flying my babe with the new muffler and great sound. We enjoyed our ride to reach to the fullest. Every other GoldStar muffler seems too soft in front of mine... While coming back, during lunch, Preeti (Ram's better half) praised the outcome of my babe (loud thump and etc etc…) and BANG!!! My bike went berserk and the ignition coil went kaput… :( and I have to put her in Tempo to reach Pune halfway through…
Similarly, gone weekend, we have been riding to Varasgaon dam which is pretty close-by to Pune and its very short distance ride and nothing can go wrong. But again she struck again, had few loose bolts (which made her immovable) and got a flat rear tire, first in her lifetime…
This is not only about my babe, this phenomenon seems rampant in other gadgets or equipments too… Today, I came to know from one of my friend that she was trying to send me SMS and her cell didn’t allowed her at all… she tried and tried several times but nothing to avail. To her surprise, her cell phone either shown either ‘message sending failed’ or hanged…
So then I realized that even these gadgets and machines about which we are so possessive also becomes possessive about us… whatssay you? Let me know…
RideHard and Ride Safe
- doc, the LeadFoot…
We always hear all the time, people are possessive about people and things they have, its very common trait of human nature to be possessive of the materialistic objects and even other human beings :)…
But can it be vice versa also? But if this trait is shown by things, what can we say about that?
This is obviously about my babe, my dahling, my Bullet 500. She is definitely showing such possessiveness towards me… how? I will say she behaves very differently when she is admired or ridden by someone from the fairer sex…lolz…
First time it happened in last monsoon, when we ridden to Mahabaleshwar on one good Sunday and one of my friends came along with me. In the due course of time, my friend ridden her and while coming back my babe started throwing fits. First the muffler holding broke off, and then the accelerator cable gave way. We have to toe her till Pune for almost over 80kms.
Then, in last October, when we ridden to Tarkarli, I was riding, err... rather flying my babe with the new muffler and great sound. We enjoyed our ride to reach to the fullest. Every other GoldStar muffler seems too soft in front of mine... While coming back, during lunch, Preeti (Ram's better half) praised the outcome of my babe (loud thump and etc etc…) and BANG!!! My bike went berserk and the ignition coil went kaput… :( and I have to put her in Tempo to reach Pune halfway through…
Similarly, gone weekend, we have been riding to Varasgaon dam which is pretty close-by to Pune and its very short distance ride and nothing can go wrong. But again she struck again, had few loose bolts (which made her immovable) and got a flat rear tire, first in her lifetime…
This is not only about my babe, this phenomenon seems rampant in other gadgets or equipments too… Today, I came to know from one of my friend that she was trying to send me SMS and her cell didn’t allowed her at all… she tried and tried several times but nothing to avail. To her surprise, her cell phone either shown either ‘message sending failed’ or hanged…
So then I realized that even these gadgets and machines about which we are so possessive also becomes possessive about us… whatssay you? Let me know…
RideHard and Ride Safe
- doc, the LeadFoot…
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Capt’n my Capt’n…
This I was thinking to write for long time, since he smsed me that he made it to Hampi in one day flat… that was very impressive according to me…
I never could have imagined that he will do that… particularly when I had ridden with him and knew how much he likes cruising on less than 80kmph speeds (which are the minimum thresholds for RoadShakers).
He set his sail off (as he is hardcore sailor) on one early morning for Hampi with a promise from me that if I don’t get replies to my SMSes, I will jump on my bull and go in search for him… God forbid that didn’t happened, and it was not meant to be so…
Whole day, I was getting SMSes like, reached here and clocked this many kms in so many hours etc etc… I kept on replying and asking for certain things, and giving some information possible by me…
Suddenly got SMS in the night after 10pm, LORD!!! “Lord You Got To Keep The Faith!” … and he told me that he had made it… to Hampi in one day…
He clocked over 600kms in a day, even I have not done it yet… may be due to sheer lack of opportunity… but still it’s a formidable achievement…
All I can say was Capt’n my Capt’n, you made it…
Keep riding and keep enjoying the rides….
You can find him here…
http://nanduchitnis.blogspot.com/
RideHard but RideSafe…
- doc
I never could have imagined that he will do that… particularly when I had ridden with him and knew how much he likes cruising on less than 80kmph speeds (which are the minimum thresholds for RoadShakers).
He set his sail off (as he is hardcore sailor) on one early morning for Hampi with a promise from me that if I don’t get replies to my SMSes, I will jump on my bull and go in search for him… God forbid that didn’t happened, and it was not meant to be so…
Whole day, I was getting SMSes like, reached here and clocked this many kms in so many hours etc etc… I kept on replying and asking for certain things, and giving some information possible by me…
Suddenly got SMS in the night after 10pm, LORD!!! “Lord You Got To Keep The Faith!” … and he told me that he had made it… to Hampi in one day…
He clocked over 600kms in a day, even I have not done it yet… may be due to sheer lack of opportunity… but still it’s a formidable achievement…
All I can say was Capt’n my Capt’n, you made it…
Keep riding and keep enjoying the rides….
You can find him here…
http://nanduchitnis.blogspot.com/
RideHard but RideSafe…
- doc
Monday, February 26, 2007
Another kind of RoadShakers' spirit...
hi guys,
this is just a thought…
As I thought, this is worth a mention and appreciation, so why not write it down…
Last time, it was Ra’JAAT’, who shown the RoadShakers’ spirit by taking the off-road while going to office… and this is another display of the same spirit…
Generally, we avoid it with utmost care, but still sometimes it happens…
CRASH!!!...
This time, it was not exactly crash, but Raya went off the road and stopped off the road with a wheelie…
Result, bent foot-pegs, brake lever with missing lock-pin and beautifully (yes, it was beautiful) twisted gear shifter…
We all pulled out the bike on the road, settled it back on the road, in the shade and took the stock of the damages, and then it happened…
S. Baljeet Singh took over to fix the things on his own, with little help from Manish’s hand-picked spares and the tool kit assembled from various guys…
He almost single handedly put everything back in the place…
Brake lever was set right, and then discovered that something more of it needs to be fixed. He put his imagination to work and set that also right… foot pegs can be straightened very well with the might of Chhotu and Astad (whose heel of a shoe gave way…)
But the perfection with which Baljeet put right the gear-shift lever was un-parallel… he made it almost as good as original…
I think, we all could just enjoy that half an hour break from ride by chit-chatting and friendly bantering only because Sardar-ji took whole responsibility of making Raya’s bike road-worthy again…
Hats off to you Baljeet… Hip hip hurray…
this is just a thought…
As I thought, this is worth a mention and appreciation, so why not write it down…
Last time, it was Ra’JAAT’, who shown the RoadShakers’ spirit by taking the off-road while going to office… and this is another display of the same spirit…
Generally, we avoid it with utmost care, but still sometimes it happens…
CRASH!!!...
This time, it was not exactly crash, but Raya went off the road and stopped off the road with a wheelie…
Result, bent foot-pegs, brake lever with missing lock-pin and beautifully (yes, it was beautiful) twisted gear shifter…
We all pulled out the bike on the road, settled it back on the road, in the shade and took the stock of the damages, and then it happened…
S. Baljeet Singh took over to fix the things on his own, with little help from Manish’s hand-picked spares and the tool kit assembled from various guys…
He almost single handedly put everything back in the place…
Brake lever was set right, and then discovered that something more of it needs to be fixed. He put his imagination to work and set that also right… foot pegs can be straightened very well with the might of Chhotu and Astad (whose heel of a shoe gave way…)
But the perfection with which Baljeet put right the gear-shift lever was un-parallel… he made it almost as good as original…
I think, we all could just enjoy that half an hour break from ride by chit-chatting and friendly bantering only because Sardar-ji took whole responsibility of making Raya’s bike road-worthy again…
Hats off to you Baljeet… Hip hip hurray…
Monday, February 19, 2007
Bus sucks…
But then why I came to office by bus today… and even applied for bus pass for everyday? Good question…
There are few popular beliefs about this among my friends… viz. I succumbed to my new manager, who is very affectionate and protective towards me and wants me to be safe all the time… some thinks that as it’s the best way for me to get along with the gals in office… some even might think that petrol (at the reduced price) is not affordable to me… and etc etc… but none of these are true…
Actually I had noticed major change in my riding pattern… I usually do something around 110-120kmph everyday while going and coming back from office. My home to office distance is around 25kms, so I ride around 50kms for office. While other travel in city, gym etc takes some 10 more Kms… so after so much ride on the weekdays, my enthusiasm/passion for long ride on the weekend had gone down… and I am so used to these 3 digits speeds all the time everyday that they had stopped exciting me… as there is no other way to improve upon it (speeds), I decided to take a break from all this weekday rides…
With this, I m hoping to re-ignite the passion for weekend ride and experience the excitement of 3 digit speeds once again…
I know for most of my friends it’s pretty un-palatable to see me in the bus. But I think that they have to bear with me for some more time… hehehe….
There are few popular beliefs about this among my friends… viz. I succumbed to my new manager, who is very affectionate and protective towards me and wants me to be safe all the time… some thinks that as it’s the best way for me to get along with the gals in office… some even might think that petrol (at the reduced price) is not affordable to me… and etc etc… but none of these are true…
Actually I had noticed major change in my riding pattern… I usually do something around 110-120kmph everyday while going and coming back from office. My home to office distance is around 25kms, so I ride around 50kms for office. While other travel in city, gym etc takes some 10 more Kms… so after so much ride on the weekdays, my enthusiasm/passion for long ride on the weekend had gone down… and I am so used to these 3 digits speeds all the time everyday that they had stopped exciting me… as there is no other way to improve upon it (speeds), I decided to take a break from all this weekday rides…
With this, I m hoping to re-ignite the passion for weekend ride and experience the excitement of 3 digit speeds once again…
I know for most of my friends it’s pretty un-palatable to see me in the bus. But I think that they have to bear with me for some more time… hehehe….
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Pics...
Pics for Satara-Thoseghar ride can be seen at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/92559509@N00/390793611/in/set-72157594536769996/
adios..
RideHard and RideSafe
- doc
http://www.flickr.com/photos/92559509@N00/390793611/in/set-72157594536769996/
adios..
RideHard and RideSafe
- doc
Escapist ride out of the city
My all rides were getting cancelled due to workload and the some reason or the other. So after the Year ending ride of RoadShakers (http://www.royalenfield.com/app/IN/trip.asp?sID=15597) and immediate next day to Diveagar to celebrate New years were the last time I had been out on my babe. Whole January went dry and I could not manage to get out, so me and my babe were itching to set off.
One day we (Capt and me) were talking about Thoseghar and he ditched to go that place earlier than me on the weekday itself. He being free man can do it, so I was thinking like visiting that place again. Moreover, I was not able to eat mutton masala last time while we passed through Satara for Amboli (http://www.royalenfield.com/app/IN/trip.asp?sID=13653) due to Shravan, so that I can bite into that delicacy.
Hemanth, Aravindhan and Tejinder had shown interest, too. So the corum was complete, 4 bikes were more than sufficient for small ride like this. Finally Aravindhan and Tejinder also could not make it due to some task or the other and it boiled down to only 2 bikes and 3 riders, me (Bullet500), Hemanth (Electra 2004) and his wife.
We met at Chandni chauk around 8am against the decided time of 7am, but der aaye durust aaye. We discussed the route, he needed to top-up the oil so he did and we set off… the road was fantastic and being Sunday morning, with very less traffic on the road and pleasant weather. As its raining in north India and even some parts of Maharashtra, I was expecting some showers in the moutains where we were headed. So I was prepared with everything in the bag wrapped in polythene and raincoat tucked in the bag, just in case J.
The new road to by-pass Katraj is like a dream, and we were ripping continuously on 3 digit speeds. The tunnel on this route is so fantastic that I did over 115 in the tunnel and had some nice RoadShakers’ (patented) phatakas in it to clear the way J.
None of us smoke so we didn’t require any breaks J and so we were ripping our way very fast continuously in 3 digits speed towards Satara. Oddo was running frantically and mile-stones after mile-stones passed by, then it happened. The miraculous failure of ignition coil to provided us the break…
We were around 15-16kms away from Satara, and around half km away from Toll booth, my babe went dead. She just lost the spark it seemed. Just couldn’t figure it out, why? How? What? Then I saw it, some open coil, just below my seat…along with it was hanging Aluminium can with some oil in it… I realized that the Ignition coil has physically broken in two pieces… upper head jammed in the metal loop and lower can containing coils and oil hanging… Called Alex and he also told me that this something he is hearing first time. But he told me to go to Satara, buy new one and replace it, it should work.
So we got an idea, we thought we shall give some support and see if it work, I found empty frooty pack… after folding it, put it up as support and wallah she started as there was some oil left in the cannister…
So Satara was 15-16 kms away… ridden her till Satara again at 80-85kmph… and found mechanic and got it replaced and done… Alex (Pune mechanic, who maintains my babe) as well as Panda mistry (Satara mechanic), were surprised to hear and see this kind of failure. But its valuable lesson learnt.
Thinking like sending THANK YOU letter to Frooty and one THANKING notice to all who litter on highway… Best part is that jugaad worked really well and lot better than expected,got that broken coil back sothat everyone interested can take a look at that.
After reaching in the city, we had hearty breakfast at Rajatadri Restaurant in the main square of the city and then headed for Windmill farm and waterfalls. The patch leading us out of the town is in real bad shape, but as its under construction, there is a hope J. Once out of town, the winding ghat sections is fantastic and we rode for around 30kms to reach the Thoseghar waterfalls. On the way, we visited Windmill farm. It was awesome site, hidden from the sight till you reach the mountaintop. Once you reach there, suddenly you reach the flat table-land with hundreds of windmills standing on it. Some even at next table land almost a Kilometer away. There are over 2000 windmills in that windpower farm. It was irratic behaviour of windmill that scared us sometimes, as it used to start with whooshing sound as if some jet engine is headed right towards you and then slow-down and stop.
Around 5 kms later, we reached the waterfall site. The water has receded as compared to what we had seen in August on the way to Amboli. But due to that we could enter the water and enjoy its chill. It was fun and after sufficient time we decided to head back.
Around 1500 we decided to head back, and while enjoying chilled cold-drink we fed a puppy which took Srilatha’s (Hemanth’s wife) fancy. She decided to take it to Pune, but somehow lack of space in our luggage deterred her from that. So we fed it sumptuous lunch of bread, we took off. One small lassi-tea session in Satara at same hotel and we started flying towards Pune.
While coming back, we reached Highway on 1705hrs and I was home at 6:20pm… 110-112kms in 1 hr and 20 minutes flat… Scorching speeds we did while coming back… continuously over 100kmph…. Given complex to all the cars… except one Camry…she was fast…but obviously I won due to traffic … But on open road, she would had beaten me easily … While going, only a Skoda beat me/us… but that was open road and we just cannt do 150+ kmph… we got her in Khambatki ghat… but again afterwards she sped off…
While coming back…one Scorpio tried to give some competition while I was overtaking it… and started racing against me… we were at around 110kmph… slight slope came and I just opened complete throttle to sped off at 120kmph… and they kept on rubbing their palms… but later for Hemanth I have to wait and Scorpio got stuck in long queue of toll…
Riders:
Hemanth and Srilatha – Electra 350
doc (me) – Bullet 500
Vital Stats:
Total distance covered: 280kms
Started at 0815hrs and reached home 1820hrs.
Second Ignition coil failure for me
Thinking seriously to keep one spare for rides now on
If any help needed in Satara about bullet, call Panda mistry on +91 9822 740 610. His garage is near the Bangalore highway fly-over. True blue bullet fan himself, he do not believe in even touching other bikes.
One day we (Capt and me) were talking about Thoseghar and he ditched to go that place earlier than me on the weekday itself. He being free man can do it, so I was thinking like visiting that place again. Moreover, I was not able to eat mutton masala last time while we passed through Satara for Amboli (http://www.royalenfield.com/app/IN/trip.asp?sID=13653) due to Shravan, so that I can bite into that delicacy.
Hemanth, Aravindhan and Tejinder had shown interest, too. So the corum was complete, 4 bikes were more than sufficient for small ride like this. Finally Aravindhan and Tejinder also could not make it due to some task or the other and it boiled down to only 2 bikes and 3 riders, me (Bullet500), Hemanth (Electra 2004) and his wife.
We met at Chandni chauk around 8am against the decided time of 7am, but der aaye durust aaye. We discussed the route, he needed to top-up the oil so he did and we set off… the road was fantastic and being Sunday morning, with very less traffic on the road and pleasant weather. As its raining in north India and even some parts of Maharashtra, I was expecting some showers in the moutains where we were headed. So I was prepared with everything in the bag wrapped in polythene and raincoat tucked in the bag, just in case J.
The new road to by-pass Katraj is like a dream, and we were ripping continuously on 3 digit speeds. The tunnel on this route is so fantastic that I did over 115 in the tunnel and had some nice RoadShakers’ (patented) phatakas in it to clear the way J.
None of us smoke so we didn’t require any breaks J and so we were ripping our way very fast continuously in 3 digits speed towards Satara. Oddo was running frantically and mile-stones after mile-stones passed by, then it happened. The miraculous failure of ignition coil to provided us the break…
We were around 15-16kms away from Satara, and around half km away from Toll booth, my babe went dead. She just lost the spark it seemed. Just couldn’t figure it out, why? How? What? Then I saw it, some open coil, just below my seat…along with it was hanging Aluminium can with some oil in it… I realized that the Ignition coil has physically broken in two pieces… upper head jammed in the metal loop and lower can containing coils and oil hanging… Called Alex and he also told me that this something he is hearing first time. But he told me to go to Satara, buy new one and replace it, it should work.
So we got an idea, we thought we shall give some support and see if it work, I found empty frooty pack… after folding it, put it up as support and wallah she started as there was some oil left in the cannister…
So Satara was 15-16 kms away… ridden her till Satara again at 80-85kmph… and found mechanic and got it replaced and done… Alex (Pune mechanic, who maintains my babe) as well as Panda mistry (Satara mechanic), were surprised to hear and see this kind of failure. But its valuable lesson learnt.
Thinking like sending THANK YOU letter to Frooty and one THANKING notice to all who litter on highway… Best part is that jugaad worked really well and lot better than expected,got that broken coil back sothat everyone interested can take a look at that.
After reaching in the city, we had hearty breakfast at Rajatadri Restaurant in the main square of the city and then headed for Windmill farm and waterfalls. The patch leading us out of the town is in real bad shape, but as its under construction, there is a hope J. Once out of town, the winding ghat sections is fantastic and we rode for around 30kms to reach the Thoseghar waterfalls. On the way, we visited Windmill farm. It was awesome site, hidden from the sight till you reach the mountaintop. Once you reach there, suddenly you reach the flat table-land with hundreds of windmills standing on it. Some even at next table land almost a Kilometer away. There are over 2000 windmills in that windpower farm. It was irratic behaviour of windmill that scared us sometimes, as it used to start with whooshing sound as if some jet engine is headed right towards you and then slow-down and stop.
Around 5 kms later, we reached the waterfall site. The water has receded as compared to what we had seen in August on the way to Amboli. But due to that we could enter the water and enjoy its chill. It was fun and after sufficient time we decided to head back.
Around 1500 we decided to head back, and while enjoying chilled cold-drink we fed a puppy which took Srilatha’s (Hemanth’s wife) fancy. She decided to take it to Pune, but somehow lack of space in our luggage deterred her from that. So we fed it sumptuous lunch of bread, we took off. One small lassi-tea session in Satara at same hotel and we started flying towards Pune.
While coming back, we reached Highway on 1705hrs and I was home at 6:20pm… 110-112kms in 1 hr and 20 minutes flat… Scorching speeds we did while coming back… continuously over 100kmph…. Given complex to all the cars… except one Camry…she was fast…but obviously I won due to traffic … But on open road, she would had beaten me easily … While going, only a Skoda beat me/us… but that was open road and we just cannt do 150+ kmph… we got her in Khambatki ghat… but again afterwards she sped off…
While coming back…one Scorpio tried to give some competition while I was overtaking it… and started racing against me… we were at around 110kmph… slight slope came and I just opened complete throttle to sped off at 120kmph… and they kept on rubbing their palms… but later for Hemanth I have to wait and Scorpio got stuck in long queue of toll…
Riders:
Hemanth and Srilatha – Electra 350
doc (me) – Bullet 500
Vital Stats:
Total distance covered: 280kms
Started at 0815hrs and reached home 1820hrs.
Second Ignition coil failure for me
Thinking seriously to keep one spare for rides now on
If any help needed in Satara about bullet, call Panda mistry on +91 9822 740 610. His garage is near the Bangalore highway fly-over. True blue bullet fan himself, he do not believe in even touching other bikes.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
RoadShakers' year ending ride of 2006
As I remember, the first RoadShakers' ride of the year 2006 was to Lavasa, and as we planned the year ending ride also has to be the same. Thanks to the insight of Param, our dear rider pal, who on the first ride had said, "Let's do at least one night out here, guys!". So we decided to do that but without him. He had to cancel out his plans. Rohan came all the way from Bangalore and was going to work as crowd-puller. You can see the count and understand the popularity of this guy! Simply celebrity.
Start Point: 1545 hrs at Bu Bhandari on the 30 dec.
Start from there at 1600hrs (RST - Roadshakers Stretchable Time).
Destination: Lavasa Lake City. (Temghar Dam)
Route details: BU Bhandari - Chandini Chowk - Manas Resort - Bunni-da-Dhanba - Pirangut Village - Temghar Dam. (Base camp) - Lavasa.
I was looking forward to the end of the year ride for a long time, as I wanted to end my riding year with a bang which I did the wrong way. Many of the young guys were riding with RoadShakers first time and we were expecting healthy count. 1600hrs 30th Dec 06 - The launch pad After the preparation and packing, I reached the meeting point at 4pm with Anant to find a dozen bikes already waiting. With a few tips from Navin on how to strap my baggage on (the bag just refused to stay in one place when I tried). I, like everyone, got down to rationing up the bare necessities, mainly smokes and snacks. Then the wait began for the rest of the guys to show up. This gave other new riders to get fuel and helmets for their pillion (helmets are a strict requirement for the rides with Roadshakers). Soon nearly all riders had arrived except Baljeet (Chhotu, bas naam hi 'Chhotu' hai) and Sanket (Sanket had his College till 4 in the evening, and Baljeet agreed to ride along with him). To get a move on, the group was told to collect food for the barbeque and rendezvous at Chandini Chowk.
1830 hrs 30 Dec '06 - Chandni Chauk
The ride We had all the requisites for a trip. BBQ, booze and most importantly a good count of riders. After a quick discussion of the route - Pirangut Village - Temghar Dam (base camp), Lavasa lake city; it finally began. The reason the club is called Roadshakers was as clear as rain. The sound of roaring REs in the air was nostalgic. Rohan was leading the group and Kunal and me (doc) were sweeping. For some time we were on straight roads and everyone was riding responsibly, in other words gliding over the highway. After about 20 minutes I noticed that many riders like Navin, Anant and Baljeet were slowing down. At first I had no idea what was going on, then I saw the first strip of ghats approaching. Suddenly everyone started to pickup speed and voila! We were off, like a snake we were traversing the ghats. It was a feeling like no other. You feel alive. We kept increasing speed no matter whether we were going down hill or up. The night was lit by the sparks of the scraping of the footrests against the tarmac; best fireworks I had ever seen in my life. There were a couple of halts in between for smokes, ss regrouping so that no one was left behind; and it was good that they did that. I was pushing my bike hard to keep up. After some time (very soon according to me, I could have ridden for hours more) we reached Temghar Dam, our camping location. We were supposed to camp near the lake; and to get there we had to go through a broken down road, that is if you can call it a road. It was nice off-roading experience in the pitch dark night except for the head-lights. Finally after 10 minutes of bone-crunching ride, we were finally there.
2100 hrs 30 Dec '06 - BBQ time!
After reaching the spot the group realized that we were too close to the lake and there wasn't much area for camping. So few of the off-road enthusiasts volunteered to look for a better spot near by. Kunal saw a spot and tried to take his lightning there, but got stuck in mud adjacent to the lake. But he managed to get out with his 22bhp + 1 bmp (basic man power, thanks to many volunteers). A spot was decided which was on a bit of high ground. After parking our bikes it was time for the BBQ. While master chef Eklavya prepped up to set up for the BBQ with the help from Soumic, others ventured to collect wood for the fire. Baljeet and Kunal chopped down a dead tree trunk with there 'Kukris', others forged in the woods for smaller pieces. Soon enough there was a roaring fire on which Eklavya cooked up the best BBQ chicken I ever had, while Soumic handled the veg department with help from Ram. Food, booze and a bonfire are the only requirements for a good time, and what a time we had! New theories, old trips and riding tips were the main conversation along with rib cracking humor by many (Kunal takes the cake here, hands down). Around 2am Amit and Sanjeev showed up (they were unable to start earlier, but hats off for riding in the dead of the night to meet up with the group). After talking for some more time everyone began settling down for a goodnight sleep. It was comfortable and not too windy in the night. The silence was only broken by some wise crack by someone followed by loads of laughter.
0600 hrs 31 Dec '06 - Wakey wakey!
We all had an early morning due to the dew which had settled down, and I mean it when I say it was cold. Praise the lord that some of the guys had already started a fire. We all crowded by the fire when we stopped to see the breathe-taking scenic view; lake, mountains and fellow members sleeping in really hilarious positions. A quick photo session and it was down to cleaning the place and packing our bedding. Before breakfast we decide to have a go at Lavasa's famous hairpin bends. Soon enough we were back at the base of Temghar Dam after a high adrenaline ride. It was chow time and the local shop owner was surprised to see 25 people clad in strange looking gear, with voracious appetites (we believe in traveling tank topped up, be it petrol or food).
1000 hrs 31 Dec '06 - Back to square one It was time to head back to civilization.
Anant's bike suffered a broken rear suspension so Sahil volunteered to help him out by accommodating his pillion. After a full stomach everyone decided to ride easy, but that New Year resolution didn't last as the ghats approached. I realized what we had missed riding in the night. The sight was what every rider dreams of. We reached Chandini Chowk in practically no time. After a small good bye, everyone parted their ways to head home and sleep; after all it was New Year's eve and you need to be in good condition to party all night! Year ending ride of Roadshakers turned out into a memory that would always be etched in my heart. Looking forward to more memorable rides in the New Year.
Riders:
1. Rohan + Ram TB 350
2. Eklavya Campus 350
3. Navin Electra 350
4. Manish + 1 CITI Bike 500
5. Soumic Prasad TB 350
6. Baljeet 'Chhotu' A 350
7. Amar Ochani TB 350
8. Kunal Agashe Lightning 535
9. Sanket Shinde Electra 5 S
10. Mohit Tanwar ES 500
11. Anant + 1 TB 350
12. Vicky Dhoot Citybike 500
13. Koshish Lightening 535
14. Sanjeev Electra 350
15. Amit Nangre Scoprio
16. Amit Kamte Std 350
17. Abhishek Electra 350
18. Nikku 350 Std
19. Manu +1 Machismo A 350
20. Sahil Kulkarni Std 350
21. Vickey +1 TB 350
22. Santosh TB 350
23. Doc (that's me Prasad Bhangale) ES 500
People we missed on this ride (they are worth a mention) are Aseem Sidhu, Paramjit Singh, KD, Capt. Krish and Vivek.
For photos, please visit the following sites:
http://s67.photobucket.com/albums/h287/werewolflegs/Lavasa/ - By Sahil Kulkarni, Anant and Angad. http://in.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/santosh_kb2/album?.dir=/8070scd&.src=ph&.tok=phuNQEGBHo7ZF.84
- By Santosh Kondhare. Wish you all very happy and great riding year ahead. Keep munching the miles! Adios guys and keep thumping...
- doc
Start Point: 1545 hrs at Bu Bhandari on the 30 dec.
Start from there at 1600hrs (RST - Roadshakers Stretchable Time).
Destination: Lavasa Lake City. (Temghar Dam)
Route details: BU Bhandari - Chandini Chowk - Manas Resort - Bunni-da-Dhanba - Pirangut Village - Temghar Dam. (Base camp) - Lavasa.
I was looking forward to the end of the year ride for a long time, as I wanted to end my riding year with a bang which I did the wrong way. Many of the young guys were riding with RoadShakers first time and we were expecting healthy count. 1600hrs 30th Dec 06 - The launch pad After the preparation and packing, I reached the meeting point at 4pm with Anant to find a dozen bikes already waiting. With a few tips from Navin on how to strap my baggage on (the bag just refused to stay in one place when I tried). I, like everyone, got down to rationing up the bare necessities, mainly smokes and snacks. Then the wait began for the rest of the guys to show up. This gave other new riders to get fuel and helmets for their pillion (helmets are a strict requirement for the rides with Roadshakers). Soon nearly all riders had arrived except Baljeet (Chhotu, bas naam hi 'Chhotu' hai) and Sanket (Sanket had his College till 4 in the evening, and Baljeet agreed to ride along with him). To get a move on, the group was told to collect food for the barbeque and rendezvous at Chandini Chowk.
1830 hrs 30 Dec '06 - Chandni Chauk
The ride We had all the requisites for a trip. BBQ, booze and most importantly a good count of riders. After a quick discussion of the route - Pirangut Village - Temghar Dam (base camp), Lavasa lake city; it finally began. The reason the club is called Roadshakers was as clear as rain. The sound of roaring REs in the air was nostalgic. Rohan was leading the group and Kunal and me (doc) were sweeping. For some time we were on straight roads and everyone was riding responsibly, in other words gliding over the highway. After about 20 minutes I noticed that many riders like Navin, Anant and Baljeet were slowing down. At first I had no idea what was going on, then I saw the first strip of ghats approaching. Suddenly everyone started to pickup speed and voila! We were off, like a snake we were traversing the ghats. It was a feeling like no other. You feel alive. We kept increasing speed no matter whether we were going down hill or up. The night was lit by the sparks of the scraping of the footrests against the tarmac; best fireworks I had ever seen in my life. There were a couple of halts in between for smokes, ss regrouping so that no one was left behind; and it was good that they did that. I was pushing my bike hard to keep up. After some time (very soon according to me, I could have ridden for hours more) we reached Temghar Dam, our camping location. We were supposed to camp near the lake; and to get there we had to go through a broken down road, that is if you can call it a road. It was nice off-roading experience in the pitch dark night except for the head-lights. Finally after 10 minutes of bone-crunching ride, we were finally there.
2100 hrs 30 Dec '06 - BBQ time!
After reaching the spot the group realized that we were too close to the lake and there wasn't much area for camping. So few of the off-road enthusiasts volunteered to look for a better spot near by. Kunal saw a spot and tried to take his lightning there, but got stuck in mud adjacent to the lake. But he managed to get out with his 22bhp + 1 bmp (basic man power, thanks to many volunteers). A spot was decided which was on a bit of high ground. After parking our bikes it was time for the BBQ. While master chef Eklavya prepped up to set up for the BBQ with the help from Soumic, others ventured to collect wood for the fire. Baljeet and Kunal chopped down a dead tree trunk with there 'Kukris', others forged in the woods for smaller pieces. Soon enough there was a roaring fire on which Eklavya cooked up the best BBQ chicken I ever had, while Soumic handled the veg department with help from Ram. Food, booze and a bonfire are the only requirements for a good time, and what a time we had! New theories, old trips and riding tips were the main conversation along with rib cracking humor by many (Kunal takes the cake here, hands down). Around 2am Amit and Sanjeev showed up (they were unable to start earlier, but hats off for riding in the dead of the night to meet up with the group). After talking for some more time everyone began settling down for a goodnight sleep. It was comfortable and not too windy in the night. The silence was only broken by some wise crack by someone followed by loads of laughter.
0600 hrs 31 Dec '06 - Wakey wakey!
We all had an early morning due to the dew which had settled down, and I mean it when I say it was cold. Praise the lord that some of the guys had already started a fire. We all crowded by the fire when we stopped to see the breathe-taking scenic view; lake, mountains and fellow members sleeping in really hilarious positions. A quick photo session and it was down to cleaning the place and packing our bedding. Before breakfast we decide to have a go at Lavasa's famous hairpin bends. Soon enough we were back at the base of Temghar Dam after a high adrenaline ride. It was chow time and the local shop owner was surprised to see 25 people clad in strange looking gear, with voracious appetites (we believe in traveling tank topped up, be it petrol or food).
1000 hrs 31 Dec '06 - Back to square one It was time to head back to civilization.
Anant's bike suffered a broken rear suspension so Sahil volunteered to help him out by accommodating his pillion. After a full stomach everyone decided to ride easy, but that New Year resolution didn't last as the ghats approached. I realized what we had missed riding in the night. The sight was what every rider dreams of. We reached Chandini Chowk in practically no time. After a small good bye, everyone parted their ways to head home and sleep; after all it was New Year's eve and you need to be in good condition to party all night! Year ending ride of Roadshakers turned out into a memory that would always be etched in my heart. Looking forward to more memorable rides in the New Year.
Riders:
1. Rohan + Ram TB 350
2. Eklavya Campus 350
3. Navin Electra 350
4. Manish + 1 CITI Bike 500
5. Soumic Prasad TB 350
6. Baljeet 'Chhotu' A 350
7. Amar Ochani TB 350
8. Kunal Agashe Lightning 535
9. Sanket Shinde Electra 5 S
10. Mohit Tanwar ES 500
11. Anant + 1 TB 350
12. Vicky Dhoot Citybike 500
13. Koshish Lightening 535
14. Sanjeev Electra 350
15. Amit Nangre Scoprio
16. Amit Kamte Std 350
17. Abhishek Electra 350
18. Nikku 350 Std
19. Manu +1 Machismo A 350
20. Sahil Kulkarni Std 350
21. Vickey +1 TB 350
22. Santosh TB 350
23. Doc (that's me Prasad Bhangale) ES 500
People we missed on this ride (they are worth a mention) are Aseem Sidhu, Paramjit Singh, KD, Capt. Krish and Vivek.
For photos, please visit the following sites:
http://s67.photobucket.com/albums/h287/werewolflegs/Lavasa/ - By Sahil Kulkarni, Anant and Angad. http://in.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/santosh_kb2/album?.dir=/8070scd&.src=ph&.tok=phuNQEGBHo7ZF.84
- By Santosh Kondhare. Wish you all very happy and great riding year ahead. Keep munching the miles! Adios guys and keep thumping...
- doc
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