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... :)
Friday, July 27, 2007
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