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 rider. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rider. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
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…
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.
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