22 hours 693 kms

2nd Oct:

Its 5 AM and I have been sleeping for hardly 3 hours, Jayan wakes me up & tells that its time! I get up and go to my own room to get my packing done. I reach my room, Vaas is ready and Parvez is packing up his stuff. I fill up my cramster with everything and ready I am.

Its dark and raining heavily outside. Prabul wanted to start moving at 5 AM sharp but Jayan denied the possibility of riding in dark when its raining heavily.

All of us are ready to move with the first ray of sunlight - we go to the cafe coffee day and order coffee & samosas. Tastes heavens, I had been feeling hungry from the moment I got up.

For the return journey Jayan will be the spot and I volunteer for the sweep. Sunlight on -> Headlights switched on and we start moving. Its going to be the highest distance covered in a single day for the most of us. The rains are not going to stop in the west coast - we ride through these heavy rains, maintaining speeds between 50 to 75 kmph.

The first 50 kms stretch is uneventful, except for the incessant rains.

We enter Madgaon city, Praveen is riding in front of me - From the turn I ask the directions for the NH17 and somebody tells Praveen that he has got a flat tyre! I don't have my puncture kit with me, which makes me totally useless for a sweep!

And its 2nd oct.
Gandhi Jayanti.
Vijay Dashmi.
Heavy rain.
& 7:30 AM!

I ask people about the puncture shops but no useful info. Praveen pushes his TBird to get inside a BP petrol pump. I take a round of the city hoping that some puncture shop would be open - but all in vain.

Last resort -> Call Jayan back!
He comes back, we repair Praveen's tyre and after a tea we're all set to go. I go inside the BP store and buy four Red bulls - I know it would be required in the journey ahead. Still raining heavily - it seems west coast face all this heavy rains most of the time as all the two wheeler seats are laminated!

We manage to get back on NH17 by 9. It is learnt that Prashanth had also a puncture, but thankfully he was very near to a puncture shop!

We message everyone to carry on and not wait for us - we'll catch up with them later. Its a long way to go.

I lead the way, as I do not have any tools or expertise in case of a breakdown, and Jayan & Praveen follow - I keep on pushing the speeds to make for the catching up with the rest of the gang.

Perfect ride - it rains continuously and we ride continuously. Finally around Karwar it slows down a bit when the rain converts into drizzles.

We stop for a quick brunch. Its a Mallu restaurant - we order bread omelette and fish curry dosa. The fish curry dosa combo is great! Tea/Cigs and quota full! Praveen's silencer welding is gone so we make some makeshift arrangements & tie it up.

Time to continue our journey, rains continue. We maintain a good pace.

Reach Honnavar and catch up with the rest of the gang finally!

Prabul and Vimal want to reach Sagar as soon as possible as they have to get their headlights repaired - they are flagged off!

We decide to skip the lunch.
Take tea instead and go on.
The narrow ghat sections start from here.
I am a happier rider now :) Rains + good roads + ghats + greenery around!

As I keep on riding at good speeds I see two familiar bikes on the side of the road - I stop to see what has happened.

Vimal's std. bullet has refused to start - Jayan also reaches soon & it turns out to be a minor problem - drying battery connections and the bull roars to life.

Carry on!

Few kilometers ahead the bull breaks down again! I ask the ZMA/Pulsar gang to move on - the bulleteers stay back. Shashi & Prabul have already gone ahead so no point in wasting time for them.

One of the wires has broken down in the rectifier - Jayan repairs it and in the process his finger gets a swiss knife cut! Its time for my first aid kit to come handy. I do the dressing of the wound. One red bull is also consumed. We move on. Now we have got all the riders riding in different places in different positions - I move ahead of the three bulls - I want to enjoy the ghat riding!

Soon I overtake Vasanth.
Prashanth.
& Parvez.

Around 20 kms from Sagar these ghat roads end and I find Shashi waiting at a chai shop.

Chai/cig time - rains stopped now. Couple of pix and soon Jayan & the two other bulls reach, I signal them to move on.

We also move on. Jhakkas roads! I am on a roll again!

Vimal overtaken.
Cool dude overtaken.
Shashi.
Ummm... Okay! Let Jayan be in the front as I know he'll maintain good speeds.

Reach Sagar, where all of us meet again. Its around 5:30 PM. chai/snacks break!
I wear some dry clothes now as the sky seems to be clearer now.

We stop at Sagar Reliance petrol pump to refuel.

Bulls want tankfulls :)



Parvez can not wait to get to the highway again!
Its all good roads. The only bad stretch is expected around Bhadravati. Rains have stopped completely now. Thank God!

It starts getting darker and darker. I am good at night riding and I have a strong head light so no issues with riding.

After sometime we feel that some of the people have problems in riding through the glare - Time to set the fundas rite - some gyaan distribution on the night riding and we change the formation from a straight line to a 2 lined criss cross formation. I lead at the first, Jayan 2nd to my right side a few feet back, Vaas 3rd behind me, Vimal 4th behind Jayan and so on. Shashi and Parvez are the sweeps - since they can rip to cover the distance. This formation works well for all the people. Results - higher average speeds for the whole group!!

While overtaking I overtake the front vehicle and then lock my bike in front at speeds which allows others to overtake that vehicle and come back in formation - it works wonders!

To the oncoming traffic it appears as if a group of cars is coming and trying to overtake each other - so they stick to their extreme left side. It is a tough time for the cars trying to overtake us - they overtake a few of our bikes and some oncoming traffic forces them to move back again!

Thanks to this formation we cross a good part of NH4. We stop by a roadside dhaba for dinner. Time - don't remember but guess it was already more than 1 AM. Parvez wants one red bull. Hmmm, even I think I should have bought one more for myself. Its around 45-50 minutes before we start moving again. The roads are good and with almost no traffic, I start going at higher speeds now - Shashi, Prashanth & Prabul keep on following. Soon we reach Tumkur - from here Prashanth takes a diversion to reach Kunigal, and the rest of us stop for a tea at a Sardarji's restaurant. The tea is awesome! Typical north Indian dhaba tea. 2:45 AM.

I know I will be skipping going to office :)

90-100 kmph speeds by Prabul, Jayan, Shashi & me.

I reach my place at around 3:40 AM.
I have stopped my bike but the sound is still ringing in my ears, oh my God! This Goa ride hangover will take some time to go.

By the odometer I have covered a distance of 693 kms from the hotel in Calangute to my place, in around 22 hours. I am still trying to believe this 22 hours duration! Yeah, its a bit longer but who cares about the stats! I had a great time riding through those west coastal rains, through those smooth roads, even through the bad stretch near bhadravati where I had to dodge my way through the potholes. It was great to ride in the night, taking the whole of a group at good speeds - safely!

I met people who I had known on the internet, now I know them personally! It did not take us long to get familiar with each other, it was an altogether different experience riding in group with all these guys - I saw & appreciated many of the experienced bikers - guys I appreciate you and especially those who are almost-full mechanics :) I would enhance my repairing skills to reach that level some day.. soon ;)

I check my mails and respond to the important ones.
Time to take a good and well deserved rest - Go to sleep at 4 AM. When I get up I have to go to the brand store to take the delivery of my brand new RE Thunderbird.

All is great, that ends safe!

Goodbye till the next time!

When in Goa, do the Goans!

1st Oct:

I'm dreaming of something great :) and I hear somebody honking a horn. The horn blares loud .. louder.. The dream is over and I lazily open my eyes to find my cellphone ringing.

Rocky calling.
I answer the call, he is waiting at the cafe coffee day.

Time: 9:15 AM
Parvez and Vaas are still sleeping, I don't see a point in waking them up this early. I fresh up and go to meet Rocky at CCD. The tables @ CCD are getting occupied by the nomads from different places. The total number of nomads is 25 +. Rocky's visit is a pleasant surprise to all.

Its time to F1 Grand prix also - the rest of the nomads also join in and for the next hour we're engrossed in F1.

Rocky has to start his journey back so he bids a goodbye to all.

Parvez joins up. Kanishka, Partha, Alok, Parvez and me go for shopping the "beach-type" floral T shirts and lowers!


Parvez is interested only in the most "horrible" looking stuff :), this is how he dresses up for the day - floral shirt with buttons opened till the tummy ;) and the green floral three quarters ;) with large woodland shoes & blue goggs.

And the bandana tied on the head - It was provided by Vaas


I buy a red/orange colored floral three lowers and a sleeveless Goan T-shirts. One dhinchaak types sunglass => Ready to dress up to enjaay the Goa beaches!

When in Goa, do the Goans! (Parvez's version substituted do with **** :D)

All things procured! We don the clothes in almost no time and no worries for the dark clouds looming above. Hurry up its already 12:30 PM!


Its around this time that the Trivendrum guys take a leave, they have to reach back by 2nd, and its lot of distance to be covered (1000 Kms). Sad that they couldn't be there for a bit longer duration.

The next thing on the agenda is to go to Calangute beach and get some tattoo work done. Kanishka, Partha and I set up a deal for 50 bucks each tattoo, and get it done in 15-20 minutes.


Couple of beach snaps, and some masti in the waves, then the one of the nomads calls up and tell that Vibhu has reached. All the other guys are relaxing in Baga beach. We leave Calangute beach to get to Baga beach. Almost 2:30 PM now.


Baga beach is a great place and much lesser crowded than Calangute beach.


The rest of the people are already settled in a beach side hut-restaurant.

Beers/liquor flowing.

I feel hungry and thirsty.

Order a chicken sandwitch and KF strong.
Relax.

Eat.

Drink.

Gossip.

Enjoy.

Parvez wants to go to the other hut restaurant where lots of chicks are dancing.

We just watch.

And enjoy!

Time is running fast and since we have to go on a BN ride together we leave for the hotel.
In the parking lot, the bikes are arranged in BN logo shape and it takes lots of effort to do that.
The photos don't do justice to what was arranged but with no space to click the photo this is what we had to contend ourselves.


Then a group picture (Minus the Trivendrum riders, they had gone back in the noon)


Its evening already - now the T-shirt/BN stickers distribution starts. Till now no news from Shankie/Gaurav & their hutch dog has died - not reachable!

All the nomads get ready, except Partha who is going to leave for Hyderabad early in the morning. I give a lift to Vibhu on my bull, since he doesn't have a bike. Having a pillion comes handy when you are riding in a group and want a photo/video while riding. Vibhu does that, and I take my bike from the back to the front - shooting of the video is complete! I get back again.

We reach an ICICI bank ATM and some of us withdraw some money for the return journey, thereafter we proceed to an Indian oil petrol pump ahead. All of us are dressed in the BN Ts and its a sight to watch. All the nomads going in a line, majority of the bikes being bullets. No need to mention that the group ride pulled attention of the onlookers.

One of them comes to me at the pump and asks -
"Is this a rally"
"No its a tour" I say ..

"Which company" he asks again.
I show him the T-shirt - "BN bikenomads" :)

"Ooh"!

We tank up at the pump and after that put our bikes in a single row, for a BN photo session.
Its around this time that Shankie calls me from a PCO, He's in Panaji.. Finally!! I ask him to reach our group, they reach in 15 minutes.


From here we proceed to Panaji, and reach some Goan singer's restaurant where he's performing live.


The group takes place at the left side of the restaurant and cheers the singer. He is pleased with this act. He invites one of us to come and perform - Kanishka goes and sings Eagles's Hotel California. Very well performed - all of us applaud for him.

This guitar guy played real well, I had not thought that he'll do justice to the Eagles' guitar, but he did it amazingly well!

Couple of beers & pegs gulped down we order prawns, crabs, chicken and mutton. The taste is very good. Fuel tank full, and so is the stomach!

Time to get back to the hotel Hacienda and get ready for the long ride tomorrow.


Vibhu wants to ride, so Prashanth gives his bike to Vibhu and I invite him to my pillion seat.

Parvez and Kanishka go to Tito's, where 4 bus loads of chicks are present. Vaas also tries to join them but lands up at Britto's instead! Me and Jayan go around Calangute to get ourselves some port wine. It starts raining heavily. We come back to the hotel, and since the keys to my room are with Vaas/Parvez I dont have any other option but to sleep in Praveen's (Cool dude) room.

Its 2:30 AM when I go to sleep. Taking as much rest as possible, would require some red bull in tomorrow's ride. Praying that the rains stop for tomorrow. Otherwise it would be very difficult to reach Bangalore in time. Its going to be around 700 kms journey. I have not done more that 415 kms in a day so far.

A fully lived day comes to an end.

Goa awaits Trivendrum & Bangalore

30th Sep:

The day starts when I hear Jayan's voice, I check my watch and its 8:30 AM, enuf of sleep I should get up now. I wake up Vaas and Parvez, and we order tea.

It rained heavily in the night, the bull is totally soaked with water. We clean our bikes and put the saddles on to the steeds.

Odo reading: 11188.2 kms.

All set - Lets go to Malpe beach. We pass through the market and the roads are broken in most of the places - this is some kind of a hint on the roads to come.

Mostly its green and beautiful. Some parts are filled with the stench of rotting fishes making me to hold my breath, the stench gets over soon and I breathe again.

The drive gets over soon & we park our bikes in front of a beach resort and click a group snap. This is the first group of riders from Bangalore.


The beach looks good, and Parvez wants to take his ZMA to the beach - To the Bulleteers its a strict no-no. Who the hell will pull out the bull if it gets stuck!!

The beach resort is not open so our plan of having the breakfast on the beach is nullified. Jayan calls Jay (Silver bullets) and the update is that TVM guys will take around one more hour to reach Udupi.

We go back to Udupi and after finishing our breakfast it is decided that the ZMA guys go to a Hero Honda service center and get Parvez's ZMA's oil leak problem solved. Rest of us proceed to get out of Udupi and then stop some 20 kms ahead to wait for TVM guys and our ZMA guys.

Plenty of time it takes to travel on NH17 Mangalore - Udupi stretch, evident from the time its taking for TVM riders to cross that stretch.

We wait & relax!

Jayan explains to us, Rookie bulleteers, about the fundas of carb settings and oil pumping mechanisms. I find myself like Jayan in biking terms, I also find my POVs in perfect sync with him - be it riding or be it about the maintenance. I find that bulleteers are more interested to go down the technical details than the riders riding Indo Jap bikes, I was somehow in this tech category even when I rode my CBZ. Anyways no generalizations - let rider/biker/ other words take care of that.

CBZs are awesome. Bullets are mesmerising.
If you don't know what I mean, ride a Bullet and find it out for yourself.

If you are an adventure junkie and want to have a wide option of potholes to choose from, then Mangalore Udupi NH 17 is the place to go! Choose from all the shapes and sizes, I bet you can't manage to miss one in any case!

Finally TVM riders negotiate their way through these potholes and reach us at around 1.15 PM, a round of Hellos and some discussions on Jay's Iron bull 500cc.

From now till Goa it will be 13 of us riding together. Jayan is the spot for the rest of the journey.

Ripping session starts, and though it is supposed to be one group we automatically divide in two groups - The rippers (Jayan, Parvez, Shashi, Me & Jay) in the first group, and the other 8 in the second group.

Smooth roads now and the rippers blasting at 100 kmph + speeds.

Jay slows down, but we carry on with our pace - only to stop by Marwanthe beach. The road divides the Arabian sea and a fresh water river.

Couple of photos. Jay's Machismo looks even more beautiful with the Arabian sea in the background.


And wait for Jay and the 8 other riders to reach.



Hard to say a No when a solo picture is in the question :)






If one is not pressed for time then Marwanthe beach is a perfect place to sit and relax, also turtle bay is nearby and is a great tourist attraction.

I will come again here sometime later to spend some time. Only to chillax!
A great and distinct thump signals the arrival of Jay. Couple of minutes later everyone from the second group catches up with us. Tea time.

And then we carry on.

Rain starts.
Stop.
Wear the rain gear.
Carry on.

Ghat sections start and I remember Vaas's telling me about the "dog-sized" cows - I see couple of these "dog-sized" cows and nod at the word. They are hardly able to match a scooter seat in height.

Uneventful smooth journey.

Rain stops.

Spot stops.

Great scenery.

Photo time :)

After the first day's 430 + kms I thought I had got iron butts.

Fool!

In today's 100 kms journey I realize that my butts are as ordinary as others' :) Aching!
Thank God I am not riding my CBZ! Otherwise some other parts would also be aching now!

This Butt/Cig break gets over and its almost evening now.

Ghat section ahead, it starts getting darker and Moonie replaces Jayan in the spot position.
The ghats are amazing, and riding on these ghat roads is a fulfilling experience. Moonie leads perfectly through the glare of the oncoming lights.

We reach Karwar - Tea/snacks/Cig/Butt break. I call up Nav, Pune and Hyd guys have reached already. Our ETA (Estimated time of arrival) changes from 10 PM to 11:30 PM. Rocky has also reached Goa, with his family and Shankie/Gaurav are somewhere near Honnavar. Gaurav had an accident, he was doing 80+ speeds when suddenly a monkey jumped in front out of nowhere. Shankie says Gaurav is fine, bike's fairing/handle shattered - they'll be continuing on 1st after getting the bike repaired.

We proceed to Goa, and from Madgaon its Babu in the lead. He was brought up here so he knows the roads very well. As we reach Panaji, roads become amazing! Painted and smooth.

Calangute is some 30 kms from here, can't wait to get to the hotel, its already around 11:30.

We reach Calangute, and just in front of Cafe coffee day on the baga beach road a group of nomads greet us ;)

At home now! Odo reading 11548 kms. 359.8 Kms, broken butts scream the desire to rest. But we are in no mood to waste time. Its time to rock!


Proceed to Baga beach, and see one "Kamasutra Bar & restaurant" - very very sexy! Get inside! Spend the rest 4 hours in there, boozing gossipping and eating.

Time to get some sleep now. 4:30 AM.

To Udupi

28th Sept:

Finally the wait for the Goa ride ends, I come back early from office - take the Thunderbird to RE brand store for getting the last minute lubrication etc. done - purchasing of all the spare parts is done. I have tested Rajesh's thunderbird over two days and I am happy with its condition.

I ask the mechanic there to change the headlamp with a halogen bulb. He changes it and I test it - Perfect for the highway! And in fact in the ride to come I would be reaping the benefits of this strong light. Nothing so special though - its a 12v 35/35 bulb - but emits double the light than the ordinary 12v 35/35 bulb.

I come back home, remembering the list of all the things I would need on the trip. The list is endless but thankfully I am not worried about that - I have cramster saddle bags with me :)
Pack all the stuff in poly packs - I know it would rain throughout the tour - weather forecast.
All done, I go to my bed and set up an alarm for 3:45 AM. Have to be there at Mekhri circle at 4:45 AM to catch up with the rest of the Bull gang - Jayan (Machismo), Shashi (Machismo) & Praveen (TBird). We'll be meeting with the ZMA gang (Parvez & Vaas) at yashwantpur Shell petrol pump and with Prashanth (P 150) at Kunigal. Done for the day - good night it is!

29th Sept:

3:45 AM:
The alarm wakes me up and I call up Vaas - he's already up. Call up others as well - everyone is up except Parvez. I keep on calling but he does not pick up - I know he will have to be on his own and catch up with the rest of the gang later. I finish up the morning routine.

4:25 AM:
As I start getting out of my place Vaas calls up. He has got a flat tyre. I ask him to wait for us to call him when I meet Jayan. I take out my bull, one full kick and it roars up to life. I keep it on idling for about a minute meanwhile taking the odo reading on my mobile - 10757.5 Kms. Time to start the journey. The engine sounds perfect and I put the bull in first gear and start for Mekhri circle.

4:48 AM:
I reach Mekhri circle, nobody else has arrived. I try calling Jayan and Shashi and don't get any answer. Think they must be riding. I wait.
I see a light coming from the right side - but no - its some pulsar light. Keep waiting.
Few minutes later Jayan tells me that he's waiting for Shashi at the brigade.
An approaching thumper indicates left and I know its Jayan and the rest of the bulls - Say hi to all and we start towards Yashwantpur. We stop in front of Indian oil petrol pump. Jayan comes and asks on what we should do about Vaas's puncture - I say lets repair that, otherwise it will be too late for him to wait on the puncture shops to open. Jayan stays back to get the puncture done, I call up Prashanth to tell him that we'll be reaching Kunigal in another 45-50 minutes.
Stop at Shell petrol pump - ask the attendent to tank up - the bill comes at 720 Rs. I check the air and make a 20/30 pressure. Its around 5:30 already - we start towards Kunigal - Shashi leads the way, me and Praveen follow.

Smooth stretch to Kunigal and we find Prashanth waiting the "Kunigal 2 Kms" milestone along with his father - we greet him and he wishes us luck for the journey. Prashanth leads the way to the chai shop. We order tea, and a few mins later a loud goldie thump tells us that JSR has also reached. One more tea ordered, cigs lighted and he updates that he was unable to get the ZMA brakes off the wheel - so Vaas will be starting late. Its the 5 of us for the next 200 kms at least.

The tea stall is just in front of the Mallya's horse breeding farm. As Jayan goes for a leak near the farm - shashi cracks a joke "the farm guys are directly going to hand him a horse, seeing his riding boots & jacket"!

6:45 AM:
Time to continue our journey - the next stop is for breakfast at a Kamat restaurant somewhere after Chennarayapatna. Shashi leads the way and we follow, Jayan is sweeping. On the way I find that Jayan and Praveen are nowhere in the rear view. Anyways, no probs when Jayan is around - I suspect that Praveen had a break down and Jayan is helping him fix that. When we stop at Kamat I come to know that my suspicion was correct - Praveen had been ripping and in the process his accelerator cable broke - Jayan repaired it and they were on their way to catch up with us at the breakfast. Meanwhile unable to contain our hunger I and Prashanth order first part of our breakfast :) and after that we wait for Jayan and Praveen to order our second round.. They reach in another 20 minutes. Second round over and we proceed to the lawn, taking the tea with us - After the tea/Cigs time for the first group snap - JSR is carrying his tripod so all of us (Me, Shashi, Prashanth, Praveen and Jayan) squeeze in the same picture.

10:00 AM:
Its around 10 AM now - time to get going again. From Hassan we will be taking Belur - Charmadi ghats section to reach Ujjire and Beltagandi - later followed by Manipal and Udupi - our final destination for the day.

10:30 AM:
Good roads end, when we enter Hassan, and as soon as we start on our Belur stretch the roads become amazingly good and riding on these roads becomes refreshing. Ripping session starts, JSR pulls the slower riders by overtaking them first and then pulling them ahead to get ahead of him. I take a seemingly smooth bend at 90ish speeds - Oh my God!! I have been through this road!! This was the same turn which I managed to cross in 90+ speeds on my CBZ in my Kemmanagundi trip, same turn same rider only that I have a bull this time - thumping all the time. I have felt this awesome power in the college days and I am an absolute fan of the Royal Enfields - I love them all :). Few more kilometers and the spot stops - so does all the others. Photo time :)

Oops, I forgot to mention about the ZMA guys - they started together from Nelamangala almost two hours after us (At arnd 8:30 AM) and they were on their way - We call them - Parvez is not reachable, Vaas answers and tells that he is trying to keep up with Parvez, who is nowhere to be seen.

Yeah, karizma is capable of covering up - so we ride a bit slower and proceed - Have another fuel top up somewhere near Belur (I am not sure about the place though) and then we proceed to out of it to take a break. And as with the breaks - a photo session carries over the snacks/cig roung. We've covered around 220 kms of the distance for the day, almost the same distance remaining.

From here onwards some of the twisties start.

I like curves. On the roads ... too :D!

Miles go by, slowly we proceed. Now the bad stretch starts. Speed reduced still further, the beauty around is breathtaking - all of us are riding slowly but steadily, maintaining the positions and going on.

The beauty with motorcycle touring is that you feel more of everything - the force of the winds, rain, mud, sweat, enjoyement. Group riding is still more refined - you are travelling, so are the other bikers - you become a part of the group - be together to celebrate the beauty of the nature & be together to cope up with a problem. It is an unsaid brotherhood. True everyone cares about themselves the most but still in a group ride its different - United is the spirit.

So, we carried on the bad stretch, and found a beautiful location to relax and have a photosession. No signal here so we are clueless about the ZMA guys, as per the last update Vaas was the last person and Parvez had gone ahead of him. We place our bikes in a parallel formation, just as we are done with this we see a cloud of dust and a Yellow ZMA going on high speeds on bad roads! Oh yeah, this is Parvez - All of us shout his name hoping he sees us, and he does - takes a turn to join us, and places his bike in the formation.

I lie down on the grass and relax. Prashanth clicks a snap - upside down!

Parvez has had a fall on the bad stretch - he was trying to put into practical the stunts seen on AXN but he fell down somehow. He says he's ok, but we insist on the first aid - the wound on his hand is cleaned and he's happy with that now. Couple of photos & off we go again.


Clouds are getting darker now, we see a view point in a turn and stop there to take some snaps - sound of flowing water from a nearby spring are tempting us to get down and look at the stream but a couple of photos and we restrain ourselves from doing this. We do not have the luxury of time, as it is already around 1:30 PM!

Now the Charmadi ghat section begins. If you want to test your riding skills - ghats are one of the best for that - riding on ghats is amazing. I have done wonderful ghat rides on CBZ and ZMA but bull on the ghats was for the first time - Yes, Bull rocks! On the ghats as well. I had a nice time riding my bull. Jayan and I were very ahead of the others, so Jayan signals me to slow down and we wait for others to catch up.

Few minutes more and the rest of the riders catch up with us, we have a small leak/cig break and a photo session. Not wasting too much of time here as the ghat roads are too tempting :).

Time flies by and ghat section disappers, the roads are good and we make it to Ujjire. Okay! Time to stop for lunch, we find a decent looking restaurant and go inside - now that we have got signals we contact Vaas to get the updates. He's crossing the Charmadi ghats section.


Lunch ordered, lunch done. Tea ordered, tea done. No sign of Vaas.

Wait...

Wait for him...

More wait...

Finally he reaches.. Its around 4 o'clock already and he doesn't want to eat anything - we force him to drink a juice and carry on for the rest of the journey. Few meters on and it starts raining - all of us stop to don our rain gear. And carry on.

I take the lead and start accelerating - Parvez is following me head to tail. All the turns, all the straights we carry on. Sometimes we stay meters ahead of others and then I signal Parvez to slow down, catch up with the rest of the gang and we carry on..

Rain and twisties and the jungles - everything is very beautiful and believe me riding in such a location with rain and sun is amazing. We carry on riding and by the time we reach Beltagandi it has stopped raining - we stop for a tea break and I convey the progress to Prabul and Shankie. Shankie and Panwar have started and they will be halting in Tiptur/Arsikere to resume their journey in the morning. Prabul will start with Vimal in the morning.

All set & we go towards Udupi, Me and Parvez ahead of others. Reach Manipal in good time, it has just started getting darker and we stop and wait for the others. Rains have stopped and we take off our rain gears. I thought we'd get to see many chicks in Manipal but alas couldn't see much! Damn those colleges!

Rest of the gang catches up and we proceed to Udupi in one group - find ourselves a hotel - park our motorcycles there. Odo reading: 11188.2, its 7 PM now.

Dinner & spirits are high.

Enough of time to sleep as the TVM guys will be joining us latest by 10.30 in the morning. So plenty of sleep, sleep at around 11:00

Photo credits: Jayan & Prashanth- Thanks for sharing guys :)

Route plan

The routes we have been considering for Bangalore Goa ride are -

Bangalore to Goa:
Option1:

Bangalore--(26)--Nelamangala--(23)--Dobbaspete--(23)--Tumkur--(29)--Gubbi--Nittur--(28)-- Doddagunj--Kibbanahalh--(19)--Tiptur--(26)--Arsikere--(16)--Banavar--(23)--Kadur--(29)-- Birur--Tarikere--(19)--Bhadravati--(20)--Shimoga--(26)--Mandagadde--(30)--Tirthahalli--(30)-- Agumbe--Someshvar--(50)--Hebri--Perdur--Manipal--(5)--Udupi--(34)--Kallianpur--Hangarkatta-- Kota--Kundapura--(45)--Gangoli--Baindur--(18)--Bhatkal--(37)--Shirali--Manki--Kasarkod-- Honavar--(37)--Haldipur--Kumta--Mirjan--(28)--Madangeri--Ankola--(30)--Sakkalbert--Karwar--(7)-- Sadashivgarh--(51)--Chauri--Balli--(13)--Margaon--(28)--Cortalim--Panaji

Overall distance - 751 Kms

Option2:
Bangalore--(26)--Nelamangala--(45)--Solur--Kunigal--(31)--Nelligere--(23)--Hirisave--(21)-- Channarayapatna--(37)--Dandiganahalli--Hassan--(39)--Sakleshpur--(45)--Naranhalli--Shiradi--(20)-- Golilattu--(15)--Uppinangadi--(20)--Mani--(13)--Panemangaluru--(23)--Mangalore--(30)--Suratkal-- Mulki--(30)--Kap--Udupi--(34)--Kallianpur--Hangarkatta--Kota--Kundapura--(45)--Gangoli--Baindur--(18)-- Bhatkal--(37)--Shirali--Manki--Kasarkod--Honavar--(37)--Haldipur--Kumta--Mirjan--(28)--Madangeri-- Ankola--(30)--Sakkalbert--Karwar--(7)--Sadashivgarh--(51)--Chauri--Balli--(13)--Margaon--(28)-- Cortalim--Panaji

Overall distance - 746 kms

Goa to Bangalore:
Option1:
Panaji--(28)--Cortalim--Margaon--(13)--Balli--(51)--Chauri--Sadashivgarh--(7)--Karwar--(30)-- Sakkalbert--Ankola--(28)--Madangeri--Mirjan--(37)--Kumta--Haldipur--Honavar--(25)--Gersoppa--(29)-- Mavingundi--Talguppa--(14)--Sagar--(25)--Anandpuram--(30)--Kumsi--Ayanur--(16)--Shimoga--(20)-- Bhadravati--(19)--Tarikere--(29)--Birur--Kadur--(23)--Banavar--(16)--Arsikere--(26)--Tiptur--(19)-- Kibbanahalh--(28)--Doddagunj--Nittur--(29)--Gubbi--Tumkur--(23)--Dobbasapete--(23)-- Nelamangala--(26)--Bangalore

Overall distance - 614 kms

Option2:

Panaji--(30)--Vela Goa--Ponda--(15)--Danblandodra--(44)--Londa--(27)--Alnavar--(30)--Mugad--Dharwad--(21)-- Hubli--(53)--Bankapur--(23)--Haveri--(32)--Motibennur--Ranibennur--(23)--Harihar--(11)-- Davangere--(32)--Anagodu--Bharmasagara--(19)--Chitradurga byepass--(46)-- Ayamangala--(18)--Hiriyur--(18)--Javanagondanahalli--(20)--Sira--(31)--Nelahalu--(21)--Tumkur--(23)-- Dobbaspete--(23)--Nelamangala--(26)--Bangalore

Overall distance - 576 kms

Choosing the final option of these routes depends on the feedbacks from other bikers who have travelled on these routes recently.

**In the above route, the distance is mentioned in the brackets and its between the two bold lettered places.

Ride preparations

This ride to Goa has the best inputs from all of us so far - It has been in talks ever since June 2006, we have planned the routes, agreed on common rules for the group ride, plan of action is clear - all the positions well defined, all the bikes and the bikers are ready, technical bike discussions are the talk of the town from the past two weeks. We have gathered all the inputs about the present state of the highways from people who have travelled on those highways recently.

I am very excited for this ride - for 1. I'd be doing more distance than I have done in longest of the trips so far (This time it would be around 1500 kms, earlier one is from Bangalore Munnar - around 1100 kms) 2. This will be my first long ride on a Royal Enfield Thunderbird.

Before this I have taken a Bullet Machismo A350 from Dehradun to Roorkee and back - that was when I knew that I would also buy a bullet one day.

My friends know my craze and love for bullets - and I am only a couple of days from owning one. Yes, a dream come true! I am going to buy a Royal Enfield Thunderbird this week itself. The Goa journey will be done on a friend's Thunderbird though.

BTW, trying my hand at blogging for the first time - please excuse if I have committed some mistakes here ;)