Gokarnam
Pictures at
http://sojish.com/gallery
Album: Gokarna Trip
11th Nov 04 to 17th Nov 04
Distance 2660km
Thursday 11thNov04- I am all fired up for the trip. Hectically trying to finish off all the work, I call up my friend to take my bike for oil change, a new Dunlop 100/90 tyre and my custom exhaust.
I am riding his Bullet 500 and was so awestruck by it, that I even contemplated (for a moment) taking it for the trip and dropped the idea instantly after I had to spent 2 hours on it in the city.
Leg 1: Tvm - Ernakulam (Cochin) 217kms
Riders(1) - Praveen on Zma
11 Nov 04
8:00pm 19328km 0km I am all packed up and blast off for Ernakulam to meet up with Sojish. I reset my trip meters (Sigma & Zma).
9:43pm 19415km: 87km @80.6km (trip) my bike goes into reserve, I reset it there and after 6.4km I fill up with 13.82 litres of Xtra Premium from Indian Oil
11.15pm 19545km: 217km Reaches Ernakulam
Sigma Readings
Max Speed 117kph
Ride Time 3hr 5mins
Average Speed 71kph
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Total Avg Speed - 67kph
Leg 2: Ernakulam - Sathy - Mysore - Banglore 580km
Riders(2) Praveen on Black ZMA, Sojish on Red ZMA
12 Nov 04
9.20am 19606km: 278km Stops at Trichur for breakfast. The sigma display is all screwed up. I have to reset it again
11.00am 19698km: 37km Stopped nearing coimbatore
11.48am 19715km: 387km: coimbatore 307
3pm? 19784km: somewhere near sathyamangalam(sathy) I fill in 200/- worth of fuel since they dont have any petrol with additives. We reaching on top of Ghat section and watch the rain pouring in the distance. Only to realise that it was coming in our way. The rain never stopped till we reached banglore on the potholed mysore road, thoroughly drenched. No timings for this section
Moreover, we missed a turn to Kollegal and ended up before mysore thus doing 40kms more.
9.15pm We reach Banglore dead-est tired, and call up to see who all will join us. At 1300 we are still chatting -promising ourselves to wake up early.
Leg 3: Banglore - Manglore (380kms)
Riders(3) Praveen on Black ZMA, Sojish on Red ZMA, Praveen on CBZ*
13 Nov 04
We wake up early (at 8am). Praveen from Banglore on his CBZ was waiting for us. We are really tired after the last journey. We decide to give the bike a wash and take it a friend of ours Mr.Venkat who has a Bajaj Service centre @ bhansankari. He directed us on the route and had the bikes send to a nearby shop to be cleaned up and polished!! Thanks a lot Venkat.
We decide to cut the next leg and stop at Manglore. I managed to nudge the bike to 135kph (126.3kph on sigma). I kept it at full throttle but the speedo needle wouldnt budge after that. The Cbz was able to keep along with us and we did speeds of 90-100kph.
Leg 4: Manglore - Udupi - Kamta - Gokarna (250km)
Riders(3) Praveen on Black ZMA, Sojish on Red ZMA, Praveen on CBZ*
14 Nov 04
8am to 3.30pm
This was a good stretch but very hot one. We visited the Malpe beach. Since there was no hotels open there, we pushed off. We passed a long stretch of road that was between the sea and the river.
We get off the road into a pine forest towards the beach on the side. Sojish does a burnout in the sand and as expected he was stuck in the sand with his bike pointing to the sky. We couldnt put the bikes on the sandy surface so we watch him and Vivek trying to push & pull the bike free.
We reach Gokarna beach. The place is full of devotees and very crowded. The roads thru the town are very narrow. The beach is shallow and clean but the place is too crowded. We decide to move on to Ohm beach.
The road to this beach is nonexistent. Full of red dust. No wonder there are very few people there. The beach is superb and we get a view from the top. It is shaped like the Ohm symbol. There is a paid parking lot! 10/- for a bike. We had to bang the gates for 10mins till some one came and opened it. There is only one hotel there Hotel Namaste and its full! Seems that the foriegners have occupied the whole room. Two of the guys go searching and end up after an hour. They seem to have found a 'resort'. They describe the room as so big that they doubted whether the table we had in front would fit in it. 50/- bucks a night. We spend some great time in the sea and dump our bags in the 'resort'.
Back to the sea!! We had a splendid time there. We decide to spend the night on the beach. It was a very clear night too. Back at the hotel we find Sojish deep in thought playing chess with a foreigner Luigi from Italy. After an hour or so Sojish cheerfully resigns from the game. These guys where friendly and some even motorcylcle riders. we chat with them and finally end up with gate crashing a birthday party on the beach around a bonfire.
There a guy came with two balls on a chain. Sets the ball on fire and does some simply awesome stunts and tricks with it.
We sleep on the beach only to find that the sea was rising. We finally sleep on the platform outside our resort.
Leg 5: Gokarna - Jog Falls - Shimoga - Banglore (530kms)
Riders(3) Praveen on Black ZMA, Sojish on Red ZMA, Praveen on CBZ*
15 Nov 04
Early in the morning, me and Praveen have a dip in the sea.
We all carry our luggage and trek uphill where our bikes are. We stop at Honnavar and have some break fast.
Jog Falls was a no-show, the water there was just about trickling, we called it the Joke Falls and pushed. There was really amazing scenary of the fields near Shimoga.
5pm We take some movies of us on the bikes. By night fall we are back in banglore. We take the outer ring road covering most of Banglore, while the banglore guys Praveen and Vivek try to find the way back into the city.
Check out some movies
http://sojish.com/kabani/mov06471.mpg(1.4M)
http://sojish.com/kabani/mov06521.mpg(9Meg)
Leg 6: Banglore - Ernakulam(540kms)
Riders(2) Praveen on Black ZMA, Sojish on Red ZMA
16 Nov 04
10.00am Me and Sojish have some breakfast at Coffee Day.
12.45pm Out from Banglore, gets really stuck in traffic.
01.25pm 21286km: Reaches Hosur at lat 8.97ltrs
02.00pm 21338km: fastest stretch! I did a 127.5kph. Sigma speedo showed average speed of 94kph!!
6.05pm 21614km: Coimbatore. We wait for the sun to dip, so that we are not blinded by the oncoming vehicle's light
7.30pm Fills up with 12.38ltrs at Trichur
9.15pm Reaches Sojish's flat and drops to sleep
Leg 7: Ernakulam - Trivandrum (217kms)
Riders(1) Praveen on Black ZMA
17 Nov 04
8.50am 21776: Leaves from Ernakulam
10.25am 21864km: Stops for tea
12.20pm 21983km: Reaches Office
Ride Time 3hr 18mins
Avg Ride Speed - 66kph
Problems faced: Chain Rubbing sound