Ride to the unexplored,S01E05,Run to the Hills - xBhp.com : The Global Indian Biking Community

Hyperion · 09-09-2009, 11:52 AM

We leave home at 7:30am for a 160km ride but return at 5pm. What took us so long? Were the roads that bad or did we just bite more than we could chew? Or maybe we were having so much fun that we lost track of time. What follows is a gist of how adventures can be found in the shortest of rides. [For those of you who don’t like to read, skip to end for details]

It started as just another Sunday morning, if not you then someone else over slept. What originally was 6am got shifted to 7am and then pushed over to 7:30am. By the time we met up and left for our destination it was already 8am. I wish I could tell you more about the destination but, following the “Ride to the Unexplored” tradition, even this time we had little to no idea about it. Armed with a couple of [12 actually] not-so-trustworthy Google Earth print outs and a tank full of petrol, we were ready to take whatever nature had in store for us.

There were 7 of us
1.Sandeep (Kr4zy54n) - RTR 160
2.Sahil (dragking) - ZMA
3.Sarang (Sahil's brother) - P-200
4.VJ - P-200
5.Ashutosh (Hyperion) - RTR-160
6.Nikhil (niks_devil666) - Machismo 500
7.Siddhartha - P-220

I’m sure the first thing every one of us would like to mention is the road, or the lack of one. I don’t know what goes through our mastermind ride planner Niks, maybe he just goes like “Mirror, Mirror on the wall, show me a road that has not been traveled at all’ [of course, Mirror here means Google Earth] But the lack of roads doesn’t stop us from having fun, now does it? Coz the ride begins, where the road ends!

Since the ‘KMZ’ file got corrupted, no GPS tags this time. So, I’ll try and be as informative as possible. We started on Solapur highway, took a right for Sasvad and had breakfast there. From there we headed for Narayanpur Road and took the first left. Had a nice little photography break and carried on.

Working out the route

We felt as if these were the worst roads to start of a ride but we didn’t know that this was the best we are going to get for the rest of the day [Excluding the last stretch on NH4]. While others fumbled, Niks, Ashu and I didn’t give up, road or no road we were there to ride, so we took the lead and showered each other with dust and the occasional gravel that missed the visor or found a sweet spot on the legs. Niks, trying his own angle at running-in his bullet, was unstoppable. Seeing him work his magic on the bullet, did make me realize that “A Bullet in hand is worth 2 Ninjas in the bush”

The scenery was just a bit too beautiful to carry on like this and even though we had done only 40kms, it felt like a 100. So, we took a break. It was supposed to be just a 10min break and ended up being a 1hr30min break, coz we decided we are going to climb the nearby hill a bit but then decided to go all the way up. While others were reaching the top, seeing my slow progress a bee literary chased me to the top. What I learned from this is that hills are much steeper than they appear from far and if you climb up on foot it isn’t necessary to come down the same way. As Ashu suggested we all just slide down, I assure it wasn’t as easy as it sounds.

The climb up...

The summit...

The climb down..

Making progress, we headed towards a Dam [I can’t seem to remember the name] and once again, following the “Ride to the Unexplored” tradition, we found ourselves taking our bikes where they weren’t supposed to be. The roads ranged from patchy tarmac to a pure rock bed. It was a difficult thing keeping our eyes on the road surrounded with such serene beauty.

We soon reached a lake near Mahur.
I rushed my bike onto what appeared to be a grass covered ridge but turned out to be a dune of rocks, and got stuck in the process, so did a few others eventually. After a lot of ‘Zor laga ke haiya” we got out of that and went closer to the dam. More than an hour was spent here too, taking pics, making stones bounce on water, checking out the waterfall and most important: Posing!

From there we headed towards our final leg, Veer Dam and Loni Shirval Lake. Veer dam wasn’t anything spectacular so we decided not to stop and carry on to Loni Shirval Lake. Wow now that was like the Big Daddy of Khadakwasla Lake. I’ll let the pictures to the talking here.

You can visit Loni Shirval lake from Pune through NH4, the boring way or do it our way and make it an adventure.

As soon as we hit NH4 Ashu’s bikes rear wheel jammed, as if it hated the highways. Luckily there was a mechanic near by and the RTR was up n running in no time. On our way back we were blessed with a bit of relaxing shower, maybe its mother natures way of saying see you soon, all I know is that it was the perfect end to a perfect ride.

The Details:
Distance: 160km Approx.
Route: Pune -> Saswad -> Veer Dam -> Loni-Shirwal -> NH4 -> Pune

-- Trip log by VJ (and a few tweaks to it by me)

@Mods : Adding a poll to this thread.I am trying to mirror the "Like" functionality on Facebook. This makes it easy for people to express their
like and dislike for the content. Instead of posting reply, in case the users just want to quickly appreciate (or criticise ;-)) the content, voting on the poll is
a very easy way. This will also help us get an objective feedback on our rides.
And of course, we also encourage users to reply to the thread with their explicit comments and suggestions.

Aryan · 09-09-2009, 12:37 PM

Topic Approved.

rockrider · 09-09-2009, 12:58 PM

As for me I would choose to write than just vote

one big thumbs up guys.
I noticed at few places the reference to 'I and Ashu' and though it must be VJ at work. And the flavor of adjectives from Ashu can be read sprinkled here and there. As ever, enjoyed the log guys. Great going. Expecting to see more of these.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hyperion

can we have better wiew of the helmet ^^^? I think I have a thing for white helmets

Sarvajit · 09-09-2009, 01:11 PM

Fabulous pics guys!
You guys should name yourselves 'The Explorers' or something like that!
If I name my riding group-it would mostly be Biryani Boys, coz the focus of our rides mostly seems to be food!

Rockkyyy · 09-09-2009, 01:32 PM

Superb Stuff.. Go Green !!

niks_devil666 · 09-09-2009, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarvajit

Fabulous pics guys!
You guys should name yourselves 'The Explorers' or something like that!
If I name my riding group-it would mostly be Biryani Boys, coz the focus of our rides mostly seems to be food!

We already have a name(for more than 2 years) , but won't reveal it now

Quote:

Originally Posted by rockrider

As for me I would choose to write than just vote

one big thumbs up guys.
I noticed at few places the reference to 'I and Ashu' and though it must be VJ at work. And the flavor of adjectives from Ashu can be read sprinkled here and there. As ever, enjoyed the log guys. Great going. Expecting to see more of these.

can we have better wiew of the helmet ^^^? I think I have a thing for white helmets

Well , The target audience is the one which views the thread with no comments , for eg. 500 views and 20 posts. Its the other 480 we are targeting.

The other helmet pic you have already seen , if I have some more will post or email to you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rockkyyy

Superb Stuff.. Go Green !!

Thanks

P.S. In all the 5 episodes , there is one common person we should thank. I always see a small green board on these roads which says "Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojna" , started by Mr.A.B.Vajpayee in the year 2000. If it wasn't for this Yojna , we wouldn't have been able to reach such remote yet beautiful habitations. Next time I will click a pic of this board too.

inder.cool · 09-09-2009, 08:28 PM

So, finally we have the 5th Episode too here..

That lake is indeed very big..!

Btw, did u guys stop by at shirwal for any snacks break..??

niks_devil666 · 09-09-2009, 08:32 PM

No but we stopped on the highway when Hyperion's bike was getting fixed.

EDIT : its season 1 but Episode 5

inder.cool · 09-09-2009, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by niks_devil666

No but we stopped on the highway when Hyperion's bike was getting fixed.

Ohh...there is one very famous vada pav and snacks shop(dont remember its name now) on the highway when we enter shirwal..we always used to stop by for breakfast there when we used to go that side..

Quote:

Originally Posted by niks_devil666

EDIT : its season 1 but Episode 5

Corrected..

MG · 09-10-2009, 09:22 AM

Another superb series.You guys are indeed getting better with each set.

Same question as rockrider which helmet is the white one.More details please.

09-09-2009, 11:52 AM	#1 (permalink)
Hyperion Roadwarrior Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Pune Posts: 868	Ride to the unexplored,S01E05,Run to the Hills We leave home at 7:30am for a 160km ride but return at 5pm. What took us so long? Were the roads that bad or did we just bite more than we could chew? Or maybe we were having so much fun that we lost track of time. What follows is a gist of how adventures can be found in the shortest of rides. [For those of you who don’t like to read, skip to end for details] It started as just another Sunday morning, if not you then someone else over slept. What originally was 6am got shifted to 7am and then pushed over to 7:30am. By the time we met up and left for our destination it was already 8am. I wish I could tell you more about the destination but, following the “Ride to the Unexplored” tradition, even this time we had little to no idea about it. Armed with a couple of [12 actually] not-so-trustworthy Google Earth print outs and a tank full of petrol, we were ready to take whatever nature had in store for us. There were 7 of us 1.Sandeep (Kr4zy54n) - RTR 160 2.Sahil (dragking) - ZMA 3.Sarang (Sahil's brother) - P-200 4.VJ - P-200 5.Ashutosh (Hyperion) - RTR-160 6.Nikhil (niks_devil666) - Machismo 500 7.Siddhartha - P-220 I’m sure the first thing every one of us would like to mention is the road, or the lack of one. I don’t know what goes through our mastermind ride planner Niks, maybe he just goes like “Mirror, Mirror on the wall, show me a road that has not been traveled at all’ [of course, Mirror here means Google Earth] But the lack of roads doesn’t stop us from having fun, now does it? Coz the ride begins, where the road ends! Since the ‘KMZ’ file got corrupted, no GPS tags this time. So, I’ll try and be as informative as possible. We started on Solapur highway, took a right for Sasvad and had breakfast there. From there we headed for Narayanpur Road and took the first left. Had a nice little photography break and carried on. Working out the route We felt as if these were the worst roads to start of a ride but we didn’t know that this was the best we are going to get for the rest of the day [Excluding the last stretch on NH4]. While others fumbled, Niks, Ashu and I didn’t give up, road or no road we were there to ride, so we took the lead and showered each other with dust and the occasional gravel that missed the visor or found a sweet spot on the legs. Niks, trying his own angle at running-in his bullet, was unstoppable. Seeing him work his magic on the bullet, did make me realize that “A Bullet in hand is worth 2 Ninjas in the bush” The scenery was just a bit too beautiful to carry on like this and even though we had done only 40kms, it felt like a 100. So, we took a break. It was supposed to be just a 10min break and ended up being a 1hr30min break, coz we decided we are going to climb the nearby hill a bit but then decided to go all the way up. While others were reaching the top, seeing my slow progress a bee literary chased me to the top. What I learned from this is that hills are much steeper than they appear from far and if you climb up on foot it isn’t necessary to come down the same way. As Ashu suggested we all just slide down, I assure it wasn’t as easy as it sounds. The climb up... The summit... The climb down.. Making progress, we headed towards a Dam [I can’t seem to remember the name] and once again, following the “Ride to the Unexplored” tradition, we found ourselves taking our bikes where they weren’t supposed to be. The roads ranged from patchy tarmac to a pure rock bed. It was a difficult thing keeping our eyes on the road surrounded with such serene beauty. We soon reached a lake near Mahur. I rushed my bike onto what appeared to be a grass covered ridge but turned out to be a dune of rocks, and got stuck in the process, so did a few others eventually. After a lot of ‘Zor laga ke haiya” we got out of that and went closer to the dam. More than an hour was spent here too, taking pics, making stones bounce on water, checking out the waterfall and most important: Posing! From there we headed towards our final leg, Veer Dam and Loni Shirval Lake. Veer dam wasn’t anything spectacular so we decided not to stop and carry on to Loni Shirval Lake. Wow now that was like the Big Daddy of Khadakwasla Lake. I’ll let the pictures to the talking here. You can visit Loni Shirval lake from Pune through NH4, the boring way or do it our way and make it an adventure. As soon as we hit NH4 Ashu’s bikes rear wheel jammed, as if it hated the highways. Luckily there was a mechanic near by and the RTR was up n running in no time. On our way back we were blessed with a bit of relaxing shower, maybe its mother natures way of saying see you soon, all I know is that it was the perfect end to a perfect ride. The Details: Distance: 160km Approx. Route: Pune -> Saswad -> Veer Dam -> Loni-Shirwal -> NH4 -> Pune -- Trip log by VJ (and a few tweaks to it by me) @Mods : Adding a poll to this thread.I am trying to mirror the "Like" functionality on Facebook. This makes it easy for people to express their like and dislike for the content. Instead of posting reply, in case the users just want to quickly appreciate (or criticise ;-)) the content, voting on the poll is a very easy way. This will also help us get an objective feedback on our rides. And of course, we also encourage users to reply to the thread with their explicit comments and suggestions. __________________ Our Saddle Sore Attempt Ride to the unexplored, season 1 - Episode 1 : Pilot Episode 2 : Wrong Turn Episode 3 : The Longest Yard Episode 4 : Dead Ends Episode 5 : Run to the hills Episode 6 :In the End

09-09-2009, 12:37 PM	#2 (permalink)
Aryan Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: New Delhi/ Shillong Posts: 18,274	Topic Approved. __________________ ...in search of that perfect world - My Travel Blog :)

09-09-2009, 01:11 PM	#4 (permalink)
Sarvajit バイカ　ボイズ Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 5,073	Fabulous pics guys! You guys should name yourselves 'The Explorers' or something like that! If I name my riding group-it would mostly be Biryani Boys, coz the focus of our rides mostly seems to be food! __________________ Quench my thirst with gasoline!

09-09-2009, 01:32 PM	#5 (permalink)
Rockkyyy Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Dallas Posts: 581	Superb Stuff.. Go Green !! __________________ U.S on FZ6 Wayanad- LEH 09 - Coorg - Muthathi - Bye Bye 2008 - First G2G - 07 Photography

09-09-2009, 08:28 PM	#7 (permalink)
inder.cool Senior xBhpian Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Pune Posts: 5,838	So, finally we have the 5th Episode too here.. That lake is indeed very big..! Btw, did u guys stop by at shirwal for any snacks break..?? __________________ Facebook \| Duke Pics Last edited by inder.cool; 09-09-2009 at 08:41 PM. Reason: corrections..

09-09-2009, 08:32 PM	#8 (permalink)
niks_devil666 Impulsed Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Local Area Network Posts: 2,065	No but we stopped on the highway when Hyperion's bike was getting fixed. EDIT : its season 1 but Episode 5 __________________ The Moto Cafe - India's first bike theme cafe @ Chandni Chowk The Moto Cafe video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XztkK4ej2U My Youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/niksdevil666

09-10-2009, 09:22 AM	#10 (permalink)
MG Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Maharashtra,India Posts: 5,901	Another superb series.You guys are indeed getting better with each set. Same question as rockrider which helmet is the white one.More details please.

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