Thread: Bangalore>Munnar>Bangalore-ZMA and Hunk-3 riders

Hi Bikers!!!
I feel like putting into words all the minutes of my past 3 days, but then I have to draw the line somewhere.Ok,all of you must have done something crazy till date. Though I had also done couple of crazy things w.r.t biking,this trip is just something which will stand out among all the contents in my memory cells.

DAY 1

It was about to be a long weekend, thanks to Good Friday. Previously, since the past 2 weekend I had been to Rappa (near Hassan) and then to Mumbai. So I was kind of tired but as always, was ready to take up any distance on my bike. Morever i had just serviced her(my zma) n had filled her with Agip fully synthetic oil.I was eager to test the new oil’s abilities in the long run. So i had just nodded to the call from my friends about the trip. They were ready to take up this distance with either their Fazer or their Hunk.




Finally the day arrived. It was Thursday (1st april) when I had just returned from office and had told my friends about my unwillingness for the trip due to fatigue from the last two. They had already made up their minds for the trip n were all set for it. Alll the while(from 8 o clock to 11:30 in the night), I was very very restless. After a lot of thinking I gave a call n asked,”when are WE going”. Thats it. By 12(midnight) I had packed everything n went of straight to their house in Koramangala,our starting point.

12:30am:were all chatting and discussing about our bikes when i suddenly realised that my bike does not have enough fuel if we started at 3 am and ran for 4 hours till the bunks re opened. Then we set off to Udupi garden’s bunk to confirm if petrol was there(on my friend’s Hunk)


@1am:got some sleep though.was quite tired n was stil thinking if i had made a gud decision.

@2:30am:my friend shook n woke me up. Was reluctant, but thinking of the 400 odd journey n the contained xcitement, my eyes got wide open.


@3 am:were all set to head towards the petrol bunk in Udupi garden.Filled her up n then around 3:10 were on the road again.It was a breeze on the new silkboard to EC flyway.But we restricted ourselves to 90kmph to avoid any mishaps.We hazd plans to reach Salem(200kms) before sunrise(6:30am).We cruised most of the time at around 80-90kph. Our average speed dropped due to the heavy trucks whose movement in the night was quite unpredictable.But we managed to cut through them and maintain our targeted average. We had short halts at krishnagiri and dharmapuri for some snacks and tea and managed to reach salem at 6:40am.



@6:45am:waited for the hunk to arrive as we had been cruising at triple digit speeds as the sun rose.Finally Abhisekh(bhalu) arrived with the hunk. We turned to the map at once n confirmed that we had to go till Dindigul which would be our next halt.After a 10 minutes break we were all set for Dindigul.



@7:05am: Since the day got filled up with glaring day light marking the advent of summer, we were able to let our bikes loose. Comfortably we were cruising at triple digits on the NH7.Short breaks in between were taken which we ensured were not more than 5 minutes. Managed to reach Dindigul at 10:20 am. It was a beautiful stretch of 130 kms from Salem. Both sides of the highway open and beautiful countryside.



10:30am: I was hungry like a dog and braked hard in front of the very first road side restaurant. Hogged vadas n bhajjis n of course cool drinks.We got a little confused regarding the route.Some said to go through Palani while our map suggested to take the one through Theni which we thought would be around 130 kms (acc 2 google maps). After a much discussion, we were all set along the Theni route. The actual country side road followed.Had to limit our speeds to max 80kph. Buses were horrible. Almost covered 3/4th of the road and had to literally step out of the tarmac at times.theni was around 90kms. So we passed all small places like Periyakulum n Athoor on the way.The heat was constantly taking a toll on us and our breaks became frequent. Had to keep ourselves cool with lots of cold water n drinks.Already tanned,we could see the effect on our faces when we wiped our faces with our hankies. Full dark charcoal like stuff getting wiped off our faces.Slowly we crossed all the small places till we reached Theni. We had to go through tight streets,twisty roads inside the place asking every other person on the road about the direction to Munnar. Finally we took a halt near the diversion to kodaikanal where we realised that Munnar was another 85 kms from there. We were completely pissed off with google maps by then. We thought Munnar to be within 500 kms but by then we had realised that it is more than that.



@12:30pm: We were on the mountain road to Munnar.Milestone indicated 64 kms uphill!!! It had already taken the toll out of us but then the beautiful twisty n curvy roads ensured some pleasure to our tired hearts n minds. Small pit stops were made at some of the most beautiful turns but could not stay for long since the passing traffic scared us a lot. Couple of times had a close encounter with trucks n buses coming from the other side of the bends which brought my heart to my mouth. I had the biggest weapon i.e my Skoda horn which got good resonse from the in coming traffic in the bends.We tried our best to make it to the top within 12 hours so we restricted our pit stops. The experience with my ZMA was just incredible. Gaining confidence at each turn. It was like a chance to know your bike better and better. Believe me you become a good rider after crossing this mountain.Since our average speeds over the hills was likesomething around 30 kph, so we were b ecoming restless towards the end when we rode for long time negotiating each turn just to find that we had just covered some 2-3 kms only...


@3:30pm: We were almost there. Only a km to be covered when the sky broke loose and it was raining heavily. We had to take the shelter under a small chapel.had to wait for around half an hour till the rain stopped a little and then we started off again. A guy from a cottage approached us regarding accommodation. We asked the rates n he quoted 900 per day, We turned him down n went further into the market area just to find the place was full n also it was expensive. Bhalu was also much more interested in staying a little away from that market. So we headed again towards the cottage. It started raining heavily again n sudden downpour drenched us completely.With the same condition we managed to find the same cottage n bargained for 1600 for 3 people for 2 days. He agreed and we got a big sigh of relief for our tired bodies.



@5pm:Checked in and got a little bit freshened up and were all set to explore the place in the evening.We got ready by 6pm when the rain had completely stopped and we started exploring. Hogged some awesome delicious kerala parothas.Came back around to the cottage around 8pm and as we were damn tired.,jumped into the bed and were fast asleep.

Topic Approved.

wonderful log..this trip is on my charts too...this may