Rony

It is not very often that you get to ride to Goa for the first time in your life. For those of you who are confused, let me cut out the unnecessary exaggeration and outwardly say that the maiden ride to Goa (or anywhere else) is once in a lifetime opportunity. So when Rishi, Rony and Ameya decided to ride to Goa, they wanted to make it perfect. So they did what you would expect of anyone, they forced me to join them . Honestly speaking, it was me who came into the trio getting tagged as a 'pleasant entry'. Although I knew I would have to check the always downward spiraling finances and conjure up the monies, somewhere down the line I knew it wouldn’t be such a headache. The first plans and speculations were made as early as April, destinations and duration was decided in mid July. And by august, the planning had picked up a rhythm and Goa used to show up in our regular chats with increasing frequency.

The plan was perfect- leave on Diwali's 2nd day, ride to Ganpatipule on day 1, ride to Goa on day 2, spend 2-3 days there in Rishi’s house and while returning find Nh4, reach Kolhapur for the night and ride lazily back to Mumbai on the last day. No wannabe saddle sore attempts, no office leave issues and to top all that Rishi had a house there so everything would be gentle on the wallet. But one fine day, it was Aug 16 to be precise, Rishi dropped a bomb saying "Guys, I'm sorry but I can't ride. My final exams have been scheduled on first week of November itself." I thought he must be hung over from drinking too much or something. He can't be serious. After all he is the one on whom our (at least mine) plans had been sanctioned, finance wise. Must be the alcohol, but then Rony pointed out that it was a dry day yesterday and it was then that the real alarm started ringing in my head. Fresh calculations revealed that the expenses were going way out of my reach. I had just finished college and my first priority at that time was to start earning. But still Ameya and Rony called me for a meeting and convinced me that they will loan me any extra amount if needed. I agreed but on the condition that as soon as I find something to do, I will back out. It didn’t seem fair but still they nodded in agreement. So, again in august end, we resumed planning with a new dimension of accommodation being included. We started asking around common questions like what to do, where to go, where to find and so on. But when it comes to Secret Tips 101, there are none better than close friends/confidantes. This was proved when Harsh, Anant and Nishant (all of them good friends of Rony, Goa have-beens and all of them xBhpians) provided us with some insider info. But amidst all this, Ameya had a friend, Vidya, who wanted to join us desperately.

But with Rony and me, both having been ridden with him on separate occasions, we weren't quite sure that he had the stamina in him to pull off this tour (even though it was relatively easy). Plus Rony had an extra issue of compatibility. So smoke started rising and slowly a fire fight ensued; with Ameya and Rony fighting for and against the case of Vidya. I being the only one left, suggested that we do a test ride sometime in October ...post war silence. "Agreed." said Rony. Even though Ameya knew that Vidya had financial troubles, he agreed. He had to, because this seemed the only fair way to come to a conclusion and while simultaneously getting a chance to up the compatibility factor. Rony immediately drew a rough plan on GMAP and that was how this ride came into existence.



The plan was to cover both NH17 and NH4 as much as possible as they were both part of our Goa ride route. Rony insisted that all 3 of us ‘pass’ the test ride since it will not only be fair on behalf of everyone but it will also let us experiment with the group’s formations, warm us up for the big ride ahead and it would also be a good opportunity to test our rides for extended periods. Moreover, Vidya had never been on the notorious NH17 before so this ride was very much required for him. Since, it was supposed to be all about endurance, it made more sense to ride before the rains had stopped, so September 17 was decided to be the day. But then Ameya had a lot of work related traveling to do in September, so the ride was postponed to early October. Finally September came to an end, the rains stopped, Ameya came back and the date of the ride was decided to be 2nd of October. It was the evening of 1st of October, the climate was perfect, everyone was ready for tomorrow, even Nishant (yes the same Nishant mentioned above) wanted to tag along and we were only happy to oblige; everything was looking good, except for one thing. Vidya had crashed into a cop while riding in the city and as expected; the cop got really pissed, took away his license and delivered the age old baddie dialogue “court mein milte hain”. Well I can go on about how he could have tackled the issue in a different way than he did and how he could still come with us, but what happened had happened and he had no choice but to wait to let things clear up. Ameya was a bit sad but considering the current speed of proceedings in court, it was best that Vidya did not join us. Rony even considered postponing the ride but Ameya insisted that we ride as planned.

So 2nd October, Gandhi Jayanti, came. Plan was that Rony, Nishant and Ameya will start at the west end of JVLR (Jogeshwari Vikhroli Link Road) at 5.30 am and I’ll join them at Belapur phata in Navi Mumbai (It’s the point on Palm Beach road in Belapur which connects to JNPT road) at 6.30 in the morning. Ameya with his friend as pillion got to the starting point at 5.35 am fearing the worst that ever punctual Rony would be standing there fuming about the lost 5 minutes however, an unprecedented event occurred. Rony wasn’t there. Ameya thought about the possibility that his watch was running too fast or maybe he woke up on the wrong day. Still, gathering all the courage he could find, he made the heroic decision of calling Rony and it so happened that Rony hadn’t woken up. Not only that, if it wasn’t for Ameya’s call, he would still be sleeping! I’m sure Ameya would have enjoyed this role reversal moment till it lasted. Anyway, Rony asked Ameya to wait for half an hour. He waited there till the clock ticked 6 but then as he had to drop his friend at Nerul by 7am, he decided to leave and at 6.15am he zoomed off towards the point where I was waiting. He met me at 7 am sharp at Belapur Phata and we waited for another 1hour. To kill time, I had started tuning my camera by taking a few pics.







Finally Rony showed up with Nishant on his tail. He apologized and explained the delay citing “unexpected showers on the eastern express highway” as the reason. Plus even Nishant wasn’t so sure about the ride as he wasn’t well with acidity problems and an instance of vomiting early in the morning. But as soon as he felt better, he called up Rony and since Rony was already running late, he decided to join.





So finally at 8.15 am we started riding with Rony leading on his XCD 135, Ameya following him closely on his P220, Nishant on his CBR250 keeping a safe 20-30m distance from both of them and me tailing, as I always like to do, on my RTR FI. We started off on the JNPT road to avoid the relatively worse Sion-Panvel highway and also to bypass Panvel which nowadays sees a lot of road renovation. The road was awesome in its own rights but spoiled at a few spots due to the excessive truck traffic on the road. We soon joined the NH-17 and after a few kms, we stopped at an IOCL pump as I had to refuel and check the tyre pressures. Once that was done, we started off praying for the best but fearing the worst since this section of NH17 is considered to be one of the most awful sections in Maharashtra with terrible roads and heavy traffic. Well, we weren’t completely wrong in our assumptions. The density of traffic and condition of road was varying, with the villages and town sections having some really bad sections while the other stretches were still decent and rideable, especially the green & twisty Karnala Bird Sanctuary stretch. But things really got bad near Pen. The roads were shockingly bad for it to be tagged even as highways, leave alone national highways. This continued for a couple of kms and after 3-4 kms of respite the bad roads turned up again but this time with insane amounts of traffic. The volume was so much that vehicles on our side of the roads had almost eaten up the entire road space thus creating a really bad jam ahead. But we being bikers, that too Indian bikers, did some offroading on the rain beaten tracks found on the left side of almost every Indian and finally reached Wadhkal at 9 am. By now all of us were drenched with sweat inside our jackets and desperately needed some refreshments. So we stopped for breakfast at Wadhkal and by 10 am started riding again. That’s right, an entire hour for four people to collectively eat 2 vada pavs, 1 plate sheera, 1 plate idli sambar and 4 cups of tea.





Thankfully, the roads from here on were awesome and we had a superb time ripping through the farm dotted NH17. It felt nice returning to touring ways after a long time. It was almost like my first long ride all over again. For the past 5-6 months, I had forgotten how much I loved riding on the highways and had let laziness take over me. Even though the conditions were favourable, I still took some time adjusting from city’s burst-riding habits to highway’s tour riding precautions. During the first few high speed overtakes, I didn’t quite get the confidence to judge the seemingly complex relations between the space available and the imposingly growing sizes of oncoming vehicles; many times even abruptly aborting the overtaking manoeuvres. To add to all this, it was probably ‘SUV day’ on NH17 and all of them were acting like real jerks. I don’t know if it was me but I felt they were deliberately stepping on the gas pedal as soon as they noticed me trying to overtake them. I guess this comes as a part and parcel of tail riding. Nevertheless, I managed to get the better of them due to the mere fact of me being alone on a bike. They say that you shouldn’t display your disagreement to other drivers’ road manners via harsh gestures on road; esp. if you are riding alone or tailing, but I couldn’t stop myself and ensured that I made my point before moving on. However, I would like to thank Nishant for slowing down and waiting up for me every time I went out of his RVMs’ sight. Spotting him riding calmly at a distance really helped me soothe my nerves. But all these unorganised thoughts faded away as soon I found my rhythm and then it was business as usual all the way till Mangaon. We even encountered some rain for few kms but it did nothing more than lowering our speeds, that too marginally. We made good time and reached Mangaon by 11 am. Although it was planned that we will take the SH 97 (straight to Tamhini ghat via Nizampur) from here but since we were ahead of the approximate schedule, Rony suggested we ride further ahead till Mahad, which was barely 30kms away and then venture inwards towards Raigad fort. So we resumed riding and after a few straight stretches and some awesome curves, we stopped just before Mahad at Gandhar Pale caves. Rony stops at everything and anything to do with history. And it seems Pandavas had stayed here during their 14 year exile.



















Anyway, after stretching, taking leaks, compensating for the leaks and clicking a few pictures, we moved ahead to Mahad and took a left turn to join the Raigad fort road, just after the fork that marks the entry to Mahad town. Village roads scare me. Let me be honest with you and admit that when we took that left turn, my eyes popped open with my senses working at full capacity looking for any obstacles whatsoever. With farm animals let out without leashes, people walking on the wrong side of the road (i.e. with their backs turned towards us), unexpected gravel and potholes, I usually don’t feel right taking my hand off the brake lever. However, these roads were much better in all respects with very few vehicles and we were easily maintaining an average of 60kmph while riding on these roads. Rony even went to the extent of giving an innocent young lad a lift to his destination. Normally, he wouldn’t do such a thing considering the extra responsibility but the fact that he did itself speaks for the road quality. We rode on with a Samaritan vibe in ourselves for a few kms till the young guy’s destination arrived but then all that vanished when a few older lads came running from nowhere asking for lifts without even a single ray of shame on their faces. It was as if we were supposed to be their public transport. The look on their faces and tones itself revealed their lack of respect towards us, which I was sure would turn into lack of gratitude later. I have had to commute lots of times by asking for lifts but every time I did that, I felt uncomfortable and had a sorry like face that conveyed how much I regretted having to put others to trouble. So we just didn’t wait for them and sped off after seeing the sign “Raigad ghat starts here” written in transliterated Marathi. The next section was full of hairpin bends with almost no vehicles, almost reminded me of Amby valley in Lonavala. After about half an hour of twisties, we finally reached a plateau and rode on till the road ended at the footsteps of Raigad Fort.

It was 12.15pm and the sun was shining directly upon us but the climate was very pleasant with some heavy duty clouds hovering over the mighty Raigad fort which loomed high right next to us, at least 200-250 ft higher than where we were standing. A 3 lane ropeway connects the two rapidly changing land surfaces with a steep climbing angle. It takes roughly 10 mins for the rope car to get from one end to the other all the while offering a good all around view of everything around it. Rony left us to get a good view of the Raigad fort and the ropeway to attempt capture it in his DSLR while me, Nishant and Ameya were hounded by local village girls competing each other trying to coax us into purchasing one glass of their good homemade buttermilk. Had it been a really hot sunny, summer day, I for sure would have gone for it but today all of us decided to pass. Nishant geared down and whipped out his Nikon DSLR and got busy shooting too and Ameya got busy talking over the phone to a special someone leaving me gazing at the rope cars as they slowly made their way to the top and came back.













After sometime, Rony came back and by 12.45 pm we had geared up and ready to continue towards our next destination i.e. Mulshi Lake. For reaching there we were supposed to cross the mighty Tamhini Ghats which were notorious for bad roads. But before that, we had to get to the start of the Tamhini ghat. So we started asking the shop owners, local bystanders and tourist drivers about the way to Tamhini ghat. All of them initially suggested us to go back to Mangaon and take the SH97 right from its start point, the same place on NH17 from where we decided to ride further till Mahad. Rony knew that we had to go via a different route which will directly connect us to SH97 at Nizampur. Strangely enough not even then a single person mentioned that route. The issue was that the road which we were inquiring for, was supposed to be in a very bad condition. Immediately, I was reminded of a post in a touring thread here in xBhp (I don’t remember which one). In that, someone from Mumbai/Pune gang had toured somewhere in Maharashtra and had uploaded pictures while complaining about bad road conditions. But after seeing the pictures, a fellow xbhpian from south commented that the definition of bad roads was much more literal for them and that we in Maharashtra had overall better roads than our southern counterparts. All this came rushing back to me when these people were complaining of bad roads and if there was to be a vote on this, then I would surely have voted to take the so called 'bad' roads. Incidentally Rony took care of that by telling the villagers that we came from Mangaon and we didn't want to take the same route back and insisted that they show us the Nizampur route. So finally they conceded and showed us the way but not before warning us again that the roads are really bad and the mechanic comes only about once a week on that route.



Shrugging off all the warnings, we rode ahead confidently rapidly crossing a 15 bike (all with pillions) contingent towards the directed path but what came next only made me lose all the braveheartedness and come back to being a Maharashtrian biker, maybe even worse. The roads were so bad that we probably never crossed 30kmph and during most of the part, we were revving the shit out of our bikes in the first gear. There were lots and lots of gravel, stones and dirt on the road. In fact I would say, there was very little road to be seen amongst all the gravel, stones and dirt. After 3-4 kms we came to a spot where the roads forked into two: one that was straight and slightly inclining and the other that had a steep decline. Though there was a signboard there but it was so badly rusted that nothing was recognizable. Ameya even went a couple hundred meters back to a house like structure only to find it abandoned. We even had a small debate regarding which road to take and it was after all this confusion that Rony finally took out his month old android smart phone and started the GPS. Then after 5 mins of fiddling with it he finally was able to point to the straight road saying that's where we had to go. He immediately got on his bike and placing all out trust on him, we followed. We made sure we stopped after every 2-3 kms to rest our backs and also to click some of the wonderful scenery that shone in the 1'o clock sun. But Ameya remained unfazed by all this, always halting a good 50meters ahead of us and looking ready to go as soon as we got down from our bike.



































After a few mins, the 15 bike group showed up calmly riding with their pillions on the raggedy roads and all Rony could say was "we got company". He asked one of them about the route to Tamhini and all 4 of us heaved sighs of relief when they confirmed that we were on the right path. So sharpening our clutching skills, we followed the route all the way until God finally had pity on us and blessed us with some good roads with awesome surroundings. We took a well deserved break and spent about 45 mins clicking pictures. We clicked everything, our bikes, the surroundings, soon to be ‘profile pictures’ and also something which should have been censored.





















































It was a good 2.15pm when Ameya started urging us to get going. So again we started passing through villages, negotiating all obstacles making mistakes by taking the wrong turn, rectifying them by asking the very first intelligent life form that we came across. We finally landed at the Nizampur SH97 junction and turned right, rode towards Vile and came across the huge open MIDC plot. Here a group of local youths suggested us to turn right and take the newly constructed shortcut cutting across the MIDC plot. This road deserves a special mention because of its sheer awesomeness. It was butter smooth, arrow straight, 3km long, 4 lane road made on an undulating stretch of land.



It was bordered with big electric poles. And the best thing was that there was only one other bike on the entire road. Although I wanted to rip, but I found that other 3 were in cruising mood. So I just opened my jacket's zip halfway through and cruised along. It was like getting air after 20-30kms of aimless, suffocated riding. Like all good things, this road came to an end and we found ourselves at the crowded end of the daunting Tamhini ghat. I think someone from the state's PWD department had overheard us while discussing the endurance test ride plan and he made sure that we got the best conditions to test our endurance. You get what I mean right? Yes, the roads were more or less like we had expected them to be. No disappointments in that section, no sir. While Rony and Ameya somehow pushed through counting on their vast city riding experience, Nishant and I were left behind hopelessly puttering on our steeds over the pothole ridden roads. Many a times I found myself day dreaming about the NH 4 roads that we will get to ride on while going back only to get awakened by the occasional huge pothole that threatened to throw me off balance. Once I saw Nishant stretching on his bike and even considered asking him to pull over and rest for a while. But no, I kept reminding myself of the purpose of the ride. Endurance. Yes that’s what I get for agreeing to do a ride which is turning out to be at least twice as tougher than what the Goa route will offer. And to add to all that, I had no music plugged into my ears, only me, my bike and the surroundings. It was interesting and calming at first but after a while it gets really boring. Self suggestions help a lot in such situations "what I’m I doing? Nothing. Just riding on roads with 30kmph average speeds. Is that difficult? NO. Not at all" Also I would like to thank Pritam and Amit Trivedi for composing the songs 'Prem ki Naiya' and 'naav' because for the remotest reasons, both of them popped in my mind and I kept on humming them alternately and kept my spirits up. Soon enough we reached a good altitude and then the awe inspiring views kept me going. Actually, for the first time, I felt the urge to stop, not for resting my hiney but to capture the amazing views but I didn’t want to be left behind and kept going. We finally reached the top and found Rony and Ameya with grim looks on their faces. It was 3pm now but thankfully the sky was overcast and the sun was nowhere to be seen. Rony asked the evergreen question "does anyone wanna have lunch?” Nishant actually was felling quite a bit hungry - well so was his bike, the CBR had run out of most of its fuel- but the hotel wasn't that good. Plus Ameya kept insisting that we will eat after joining NH4 summing the entire Tamhini ghat experience with one line "I think somewhere some pothole is waiting for me and the moment I dive into it, my bike and me both will simply shatter into pieces". As much I wanted to snigger at this, I couldn't. I somehow believed that it was very much possible.

So with a new perspective towards potholes, we started riding downhill. We would have barely ridden a km when the roads drastically changed from worst to better-than-we-can-ask-for. It seems we entered a different district or taluka because I remember passing under one of those huge blue(sometimes green) arches that have the logo of the road construction/maintenance company at either sides and display distances to at least 10 different destinations. Leh guys might know what I’m talking about. The road conditions improved quite a bit from here and after a few kms, a wonderful valley appeared in front of us. We took yet another photography break and stretched our backs.



















It really feels good doing back stretches after all the abuses that it takes. But again strangely Ameya seemed disinterested in all this even though a firangi couple with their cute little daughter tried to strike a conversation, and was already on his bike ready to go. We wanted to bargain for a few more mins but it had started drizzling and we had to move on. The next 5-10 kms were spent riding in light rains with muddy and grimy roads post Tamhini ghat for our offering. As the mantra had been, Rony and Ameya rode off (actually it now seemed like Ameya was pushing Rony to go faster) and Nishant and myself were riding at our own speeds. A new problem had cropped up with my helmet’s visor. Due to some reason, it got completely smoked out and in the low visibility conditions; I couldn't properly see the roads through it. Completely opening the visor wasn't an option because of the impinging raindrops. I tried wiping it with the front portion of my gloves whenever Nishant's riding language showed that there was a relatively empty stretch ahead, the situation did improve a bit but it wasn’t like the good dry version of the visor. At one such instance while my left hand was busy wiping, Nishant suddenly slowed down on seeing a road-wide pothole (read mini swimming pool) deciding to walk his bike through it. But I couldn't get my hands on the clutch lever soon enough- braking was out of question- and I dived into that crater at a speed of at least 15-20kmph and gave a Nishant a good muddy shower. I stopped as soon as I could and turned back only to find Nishant staring at me with a ‘wtf’ expression from underneath his helmet's dark visor. Of course I couldn't see his face but that’s how I felt at that instant. I apologized with the reflexive palm-up gesture plus the embarrassed “Sorry” (I doubt if he heard it, though) and he being at his sporty self, shrugged it off and continued riding. Time now was to somehow solve the problem by not lowering my riding instincts. So I applied the biker theorem- “Instead of focusing on the obstacle/problem, try to find ways to avoid it” and soon adjusted by slightly tilting my head down. Not long after, we found ourselves riding along the periphery of Mulshi Lake with huge amounts of the calm blue colour in the left corner of our peripheral visions. I have to say it feels really good riding in the middle of an open space next to a lake after passing through all those shadowy boulevards that ghats have to offer.

It was almost 4pm now and being a national holiday, many people had turned up to picnic near Mulshi dam so there was considerable traffic on those roads. Slowly the water started to thin out and finally the lake ended. This was accompanied by an optional left turn for those who wanted to follow the lake all the way. Also to confuse us, there was a sign that suggested a left turn if Lonavala is your destination. Fortunately there was a city bus stop just next to that junction with few people taking shelter from rain under it. We asked them the way to Pavana Dam and as per their advice we went straight. The road got a little better and soon we reached near Paud where we got the petrol pump that we had been looking for the past 50kms or so. We refueled our bikes and Rony asked again “anyone wanna eat?” Ameya was the first one to say “No. I skip lunch all the time. Not a problem.”. “Me too” said me and Rony. Nishant was not hungry but still he didn’t want to worsen the morning acidity with an empty stomach. But still not wanting to be the lone man out, he too replied in negative. Rony saw the hesitation on his face and promised a halt at Lonavala. He then asked the petrol attendant for directions to Khamshet via Paud and Javan. The petrol attendant, having spent a lonely day all alone at his bunk happily gave us the directions and boosted our energy levels by mentioning that the roads were in good condition.



So without wasting any time, we hit Paud and took a left turn immediately after crossing a roadside pandal nuisance who were dancing on more than half of the road to some remixed version of a Bollywood song. Here on, the road was not ‘that’ good but the evening sun, shining on our left injected urgency in our riding. The aim obviously was to reach as far as possible before the sun sets. We kept on riding on the narrow village roads and crossed Kolvan, Javan and by 4.30 pm, we were riding along Pavana Lake. We finally hit a T junction where the signboard said that a left turn would take us to Lonavala city and then we would have to cross the railway bridge and then join NH4 at RK i.e. Ram Krishna hotel (a favourite G2G joint for all Mumbai/Pune xBhpians to meet and eat). Whereas, a right turn would take us to Khamshet and pop us out directly on the NH4 with no question of traffic. But a quick look at the map will tell you that for someone who wants to go to Mumbai and fast, going via Lonavala would seem a better option even though it had some city traffic in its course and not so good road. So even though Rony initially turned towards Lonavala, he was reminded of the shitty traffic after a few meters and stopped to ask for a vote. All of us voted for Lonavala, and even though he wanted to take the Khamshet route, he reluctantly carried on towards Lonavala. Now this road towards Lonavala was a bit too narrow for my liking and the occasional village SUV forced me off the road every now and then. But soon we realised that taking the off road track to the left of the road was much more comfortable and followed the trend. There were some really steep climbs and descents in the 15 km stretch but none seemed too bad to handle after the daylong slog that we had endured. Anyway all of my tour-riding instincts were back and I somehow loved overtaking the stubborn cars with quick, neat overtaking manoeuvres. We went around the Lohgad fort, Amaraja estate, then under the expressway and soon buildings started thickening up. We were now officially in Lonavala. The traffic wasn’t even half as bad as expected. I mean slicing through Lonavala town at 5pm on a Sunday evening at a steady pace of 40-45kmph is not at all bad (Mumbai/Pune bikers will testify this). We then crossed the railway bridge as planned, took a left and joined NH4 at 5.15pm.



As promised earlier, we started looking for restaurants/dhabas to eat. Oddly all the small hotels were closed and only the famous chikki shops were open. Some of you may think that RK’s was ‘right there’, should have gone there. For that to happen, we needed to take a U-turn and head back towards the other direction and there was quite a lot of traffic on the other side of the road. We were just standing there mulling over what to do when fat ass Harleys started zipping past us one by one. It seemed they were riding in a group but there was at least a 10-15sec gap between any two bikes and more than 10 such bikes passed in front of us. We just stood there on our bikes suddenly feeling as if we were little kids and our bikes had been turned into puny bicycles, Nishant’s CBR at best being a geared bicycle, that’s it. Gulping down the dried saliva that had accumulated, we decided to go ahead and stop at Kamat’s restaurant in Khandala which was only a few kms away. So at 5.30 we finally ate at Kamat’s after eating nothing since the breakfast at Wadhkal which was now more than 300kms and 8 hours ago. Nishant and Rony ate at the restaurant while Ameya and I walked across the road to grab a smoke. It is here that Ameya explained his overall haste and lack of interest throughout the day during the ride. It seems he had bargained for 3pm as the returning time with his mother while leaving in the morning and it was almost 6 pm already. As mentioned earlier, he had only just returned from a month long travel schedule and had gone touring the first weekend at home. He was really worried about the effect that it will have on the Goa ride. I sympathized with him and asked him not to worry.

We went back to Kamat’s, geared up and started riding again at 6pm. It was getting dark now. People had started turning their headlights on. None of us were fans of night riding but now we had no option but to rip in the darkness. Even though we had the HI beamers coming for our eyes but we only had to bear them till we joined NH4 and got off the expressway. I had a really difficult time doing that stretch especially with the smoked visor spreading the oncoming light all over my vision. I somehow managed to follow the cars’ taillights from a distance and got to the expressway’s exit for bikes. Others were nice enough to wait up for me at the exiting point. Once the group was reformed, we just ripped our way through the darkness. The confidence for ripping came from the fact that we were riding on the NH4 and had only 50kms to cover. This leg of the ride was the best part of the ride according to me with everyone working as a team, just like clockwork. Every time for overtaking any vehicle, we just needed a single opening with a 5 second time frame and we would overtake any vehicle like a train of two wheelers. It sounds pretty risky but by now we knew each others capabilities quite well and were able to judge others’ moves in real time. Everything went by so fast that honestly speaking, I could only recognise Khopoli, Chowk and a few infamous curves before we reached outskirts of Panvel. We directly went to Palaspe Phata and joined the JNPT road again. Although this side of the road had more potholes and bad patches than the other side, but still Rony superbly managed to dodge almost everything that he found (including a black cow lying dead in the fastest lane in pitch darkness) and not only that he even signaled us about the imminent dangers. Thanks to him, we managed to reach Belapur phata at 7pm. Yes, that’s 60kms in 60 minutes by a team of 4 bikes ridden by 4 tired riders in complete darkness. So after almost 12 hours of riding, we were back at where we had started. I got down and shook hands with all of them and we parted ways. I went towards my home which was barely 3-4 kms away and they rode towards their respective homes in Andheri, Goregaon (not the NH17 one) and Kandivali. I got home at 7.15 while they reached at a good 9pm. My odometer read 400kms while theirs read an extra hundred.

To sum it up, it was one of the best rides that I have ever been to. No accidents, no uneventful incidents, no confusion and verbal spats, no major setbacks in the bike department and most important of all a very gratifying experience at the end of the day even after such heavy duty stressful riding. We had not only gotten a firsthand experience of the post monsoon NH17 condition, but we also had a stirring experience getting lost in those unending torturous roads till Nizampur. Then there was the okayish SH97, horrible Tamhini ghat negated by the views that it offered the bright creamy-brown colored roads along Mulshi, narrow rural twisties iced with gravel all the way from Paud till Lonavala and finally the surreal NH4. Every single part of the ride was at least worth recalling, if not worth reliving. We did waste some time clicking in the middle of nowhere and in exchange having to miss halts on Tamhini ghat, Mulshi and Pavana Lake, but no regrets as such. And at the end of such day long rides, when all is said and done and you get down from your bike in your parking spot, start walking towards home with a fatigued mind, I can bet that there is a part of you which thinks that you are still on the bike riding and if you hear a sound behind you, you don’t turn your neck around but instead start looking for the rear view mirrors!

As for the Goa ride, it has been stripped, scrapped and sold in pieces. It so happen that Ameya reached home at 9pm and his mother got really pissed due to poor time management. Now he only gets to ride his bike to work, no touring, no hanging out with friends, nothing. We had given him tips to butter his mom and had set Oct 15 as Goa ride’s final verdict deadline. Apparently nothing has improved except for the fact that he is diverting all the funds accumulated for Goa towards purchasing a new riding jacket. Wise decision, I say. Rony was the most disappointed due to the drop of Goa plan. As for me, I’m at home, looking for a job. I mean who else would have the time and patience to write such a long log, right. I need to be self sufficient before I can go for long rides. Signing off with this picture and hope that soon all of us would be back on highway leading to GOA !




Until then...Godspeed my friends! Ride safe. Thanks for reading.

- Gautam Kamath (gautam_k)

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anants_220

Definitely Rohit Jain's Perspective :


Good write up anyway. Maybe you can go to goa on a bike in 2015

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Himalayan Rider

nice clicks

daredemon

Hey Gautam,

Nice trip log there buddy. Sad to hear that Goa plans have been shattered. I will be going to goa with my friends but unfortunately not by bike (as my cousin sold his FZ and i have RX-100). But we will be going by train, mainly aiming to attend the rider mania at Vagator.

Dont worry maan you will ride to GOA one day.....Cheers...

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gautam_k

thanks man. But it feels really bad after coming so close.
So technically you don't have a proper bike to tour. God help you in fighting the touring cravings
The rider mania is all about Enfields right. Man i wish i could be there. Enjoy your trip. Do bring back pictures. Especially those with all the bikes lined up or gathered in a BIG huddle. It looks pretty awesome

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chicmagnet

nice nice! Finally it is up! Feels sorry that Goa got canned for you guys! Phir bhi, not an issue...we can keep planning..something somewhere might just happen

daredemon

Yeah Rider Mania will be full of Enfield Bullets. Its really a great sight maan. You can check out the pics of 2010 in my FB account or in Xbhp as well. Will surely take some great snaps this time as well and will post it

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shrinathrao

Wah what a tourers day outing

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Sarvajit

It was a great trip&yes, though the greenery looks soothing, the heat can really sap you out, especially in riding gear.
The pics are really nice&so is the descriptive log-we like reading every word of it.
A black cow lying dead in the fastest lane in pitch darkness...scary man!

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