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!