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 ;-)
Showing posts with label bullet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bullet. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
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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