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Hi Folks,
2 Weeks back, I finished Bengaluru to Mumbai (broken) roadtrip on my Karizma.
I was joined by my friends Sayan (R15) & Rajiv (FZ).
Since Sayan & Rajiv had no leaves, they came with me till Malwan (my native).
From there they went back to Bengaluru & I continued my journey to Mumbai visiting Ganpatipule on the way.
I got to learn many things during this 1300 kms long adventure.
One that tops the list is, my bike (Karizma) is absolute beauty.
She took big pot holes at high speeds, she leaned on curves with a big bag tied on rear seat, she climbed hills without having to shift down & many more things.
I always loved my bike, but after this trip, it has transformed into a divine thing now.
I will be splitting this journey into 2-3 parts as below.
1. Bengaluru to Malwan
2.a. Malwan stay
2.b. Malwan-Ganpatipule-Mumbai
Let me start with the (stripped down version of) first part of this trip.
For complete version, refer my blog.
Also, for complete photo album, click here.
1. Bengaluru to Malwan -
A week before the trip we started planning different things like route, schedule & things we shall carry with. We were planning to ride in the night as me & Sayan felt it will be easy for us & bikes & that way we would have saved a lot of day time. But Rajiv was not in favour of it so we decided to leave early on 29th Oct Friday & reach till Hubli for a night stay. Then in day time continue journy via Belgaum, Amboli, Sawantwadi, Kudal, Nerur & then Malwan. Sayan bought saddle bags. Rajiv bought 2 hand pumps & some electral powder packets. I bought 2 sippers, a torch & 2 biscuit packets on 28th Oct. I always prefer dry food items during journey.
On 29th, we started off from Shell petrol pump (Hosur road, Bommannahalli) exactly at 05:00 PM, 3 hours late than what we had decided. I did reset my trip meter here. We took NICE road from Electronic City because we did not wish to get stuck in slow moving Bengaluru traffic with heavy bags on. Riding on NICE road makes me feel like riding on Mumbai - Pune expressway. Of course we pay almost INR 50 per bike as toll. It was worth though. We were consistently riding at 100 kmph & were following all highway etiquettes. We halted at Bannerghatta Road toll plaza for a quick photo shoot of 5 minutes. As soon as you cross toll plaza, you see an acute left curve. There is one funny incident associated with it. Here it goes.
After crossing toll plaza at around 100 meters, there is an acute curve going towards left & climbing up. I was riding Karizma then with Sekar as pillion and Nikhil following us on his Unicorn. When I approached curve, there was one truck going from the right lane. I felt the urge to overtake the truck at the curve itself. I knew, overtaking a truck at this is risky, but adrenaline rush took over sane mind. I twisted my wrist & there I was overtaking the truck right there leaning all the time. Wow, in no time I overtook the truck and a smile flashed on my face with self admiration & capability of my darling. As soon as I exited the curve, I got a shock of my life.
I applied both the brakes instantly but then realized (by god’s grace) my mistake & I started applying brakes on & off to avoid skidding. I came to a grinding halt. I got numb. I could not realize where the hell road disappeared? Road ahead was completely fenced & there was no space for even a cycle to pass through. What stunned me more is that where did the truck go which was right behind me? I turned back to see where the truck has gone and broke into laughter. Actually, as soon as curve ended, there was a diversion towards right side which was absolutely unnatural. Since it was an acute left curve, I assumed it will go ahead n meet the highway. Me, Sekar & Nikhil we all laughed for almost like a minute or two. It took some time for me to regain my senses & continue the ride.
There are many exits on this stretch of NICE road, so cautiously drove till we reached Tumkur road exit. We were riding on NH4 now & we had coved 60 kms distance so far. It was almost dark then & we continued our riding without halts. I remember, in the very first hour of our journey, we had covered 80 kms of distance which was pretty impressive. At around 07:00 PM, we had crossed a toll plaza near Hiryur. We took butt break there as we had covered almost 200 Kms by now. Had some biscuits, chips; took some pics & started towards our destination.
It was getting late & hopes of reaching Hubli before 10 were fading. Actually, Rajiv was not at all in favour of riding any more. By 09:00 PM, we reached Davangere & decided to take shelter there for night. After half n hour search we arrived at Hotel Pooja International. Honestly, when Sayan entered hotel lobby, I was really scared as the hotel looked plush & very costly. We parked our bikes at their basement. Rajiv & Sayan went to enquire & I stayed with bikes to guard lugguage. I really did not wish to spend INR 500 per head & thought of calling Sayan to tell him the same. In about 2 minutes, both came & told me to unpack the baggage.
Sensing (monetary :P ) trouble on my face both of them gave me the sweet news. Non A/C room was booked for mere INR 1000 for 3 people with 2 beds & extra bed. Hotel staff helped us to carry our luggage till the room & he arranged extra bed, towel & everything needed. We happily handed him the tip & started relaxing. The room was excellent & deserved more than 1 grand. We had our food in the room itself. Needless to say, food was cheap & was tasty. Anybody who wishes to take a halt in Davangere, head to Pooja International eyes closed.
Morning we woke up at 6 and got ready by 7. Breakfast is served only after 07.30 AM & we really did not wish to wait till then. A hotel staff again came to us, carried our luggage, helped us tie it on bikes. We had our breakfast on the way in a small hotel where people were gazing us (n our bikes too). At around 09:00 we actually started our journey towards Hubli which is 150 kms from here.
NH4 is in really good condition & it’s a pleasure to ride on it except some patches where road construction is still going on. During day time and we slowly started feeling the heat on highway. Bike too was getting hot now. On the way we came across a railway crossing which me & Rajiv managed to cross but Sayan could not. We wasted almost 20 minutes there waiting for the train to pass. There Sayan met up with another guy who was riding a yellow R15 with most of the riding gear. His name was Saket. He had started from Bengaluru early in the morning & was headed to Jaipur :O. We wished him best luck & continued our journey. He zoomed past us quickly.
After riding another hour or so, we took another butt break & did brief inspection of our bikes. Shockingly, Sayan found a huge metal piece pierced into his rear tyre from left side. Luckly it had damaged only the tyre & not the tube. Somehow Rajiv managed to take it out. There we met with Saket once again who had stopped for a lunch break. He gave Sayan an adhesive which gives temporary solution for punctures in tubeless tyres. In such cases, tubeless tyres come in handy & so Sayan was cool. I was really scared as mine ain’t tubeless tyre & anything like this to my bike means total break down. Then I decided to myself that when stock tyres will wear out, I will put tubeless tyres no matter what. Well, list of upgrades which I have in mind is never ending but this one is kinda essential, so tops the list.
At around 1 o clock we reached Belgaum where we had lunch & then deviated from NH4. Road so far was butter smooth & the real test began now as road condition had become pathetic. We rode at 80 kmph speed only to land in pot holes (just after the curves). Damn, I felt sorry for my darling to have put her into a big pothole at a high speed. We slowed down & started to ride at low speed. This stretch was more or less under shade as it was surrounded by trees from both sides. This helped engine to cool down a little. At around 4 o clock we reached Amboli ghat & were mesmerized by its beauty.
Took some snaps here & proceeded further. This ghat is the probably the longest ghat in Maharashtra (22 kms). Road condition in this ghat became utter bad at some places. We also came across a waterfall which was good & little crowded. It had cement concrete steps built from where a stream of water was flowing which gave a really nice view. We did time pass there for good 1 n half hours & started from there. On the way, we came across a hair pin curve where Sayan could not resist from clicking a pic. Rajiv too did not stay behind & tested his steeds leaning ability. After finishing photo shoot & video recording we started again deciding not to stop anywhere.
We reached Sawantwadi at 06:30 PM and it was getting dark. Ideally, we should have reached Malwan by now. But stopping unnecessarily caused us this delay. Predefined route was the shortest possible route, but was safe in daytime. I was not in favour of riding on that route in night. But deviation from that route would have caused further delay & so we decided to take shortest route only. From Sawantwadi, we get a diversion which directly connects to Nerur route & hence you don’t have to enter Kudal city. But this by pass is really pathetic. After 20 minutes or so, we reached Nerur route & started revving real hard then on.
On this route, a snake was crushed under Sayan’s R15 because in dark Sayan could not spot him. Sayan regretted throughout the trip for the snake. Probably he had taken famous bollywood flick "Nagin" seriously :P. May the snake R.I.P. Kudal -> Nerur -> Malwan route is comparatively good but narrow. We were getting tired & so wanted to reach home badly. It is mere 30 kms distance & took us 45 minutes to reach my place. It was 8 PM & we had covered close to 700 kms so far. In and all, it was a nice experience.
Second part of the adventure (Malwan -> Ganpatipule -> Mumbai) will come soon.
2 Weeks back, I finished Bengaluru to Mumbai (broken) roadtrip on my Karizma.
I was joined by my friends Sayan (R15) & Rajiv (FZ).
Since Sayan & Rajiv had no leaves, they came with me till Malwan (my native).
From there they went back to Bengaluru & I continued my journey to Mumbai visiting Ganpatipule on the way.
I got to learn many things during this 1300 kms long adventure.
One that tops the list is, my bike (Karizma) is absolute beauty.
She took big pot holes at high speeds, she leaned on curves with a big bag tied on rear seat, she climbed hills without having to shift down & many more things.
I always loved my bike, but after this trip, it has transformed into a divine thing now.
I will be splitting this journey into 2-3 parts as below.
1. Bengaluru to Malwan
2.a. Malwan stay
2.b. Malwan-Ganpatipule-Mumbai
Let me start with the (stripped down version of) first part of this trip.
For complete version, refer my blog.
Also, for complete photo album, click here.
1. Bengaluru to Malwan -
A week before the trip we started planning different things like route, schedule & things we shall carry with. We were planning to ride in the night as me & Sayan felt it will be easy for us & bikes & that way we would have saved a lot of day time. But Rajiv was not in favour of it so we decided to leave early on 29th Oct Friday & reach till Hubli for a night stay. Then in day time continue journy via Belgaum, Amboli, Sawantwadi, Kudal, Nerur & then Malwan. Sayan bought saddle bags. Rajiv bought 2 hand pumps & some electral powder packets. I bought 2 sippers, a torch & 2 biscuit packets on 28th Oct. I always prefer dry food items during journey.
On 29th, we started off from Shell petrol pump (Hosur road, Bommannahalli) exactly at 05:00 PM, 3 hours late than what we had decided. I did reset my trip meter here. We took NICE road from Electronic City because we did not wish to get stuck in slow moving Bengaluru traffic with heavy bags on. Riding on NICE road makes me feel like riding on Mumbai - Pune expressway. Of course we pay almost INR 50 per bike as toll. It was worth though. We were consistently riding at 100 kmph & were following all highway etiquettes. We halted at Bannerghatta Road toll plaza for a quick photo shoot of 5 minutes. As soon as you cross toll plaza, you see an acute left curve. There is one funny incident associated with it. Here it goes.
After crossing toll plaza at around 100 meters, there is an acute curve going towards left & climbing up. I was riding Karizma then with Sekar as pillion and Nikhil following us on his Unicorn. When I approached curve, there was one truck going from the right lane. I felt the urge to overtake the truck at the curve itself. I knew, overtaking a truck at this is risky, but adrenaline rush took over sane mind. I twisted my wrist & there I was overtaking the truck right there leaning all the time. Wow, in no time I overtook the truck and a smile flashed on my face with self admiration & capability of my darling. As soon as I exited the curve, I got a shock of my life.
I applied both the brakes instantly but then realized (by god’s grace) my mistake & I started applying brakes on & off to avoid skidding. I came to a grinding halt. I got numb. I could not realize where the hell road disappeared? Road ahead was completely fenced & there was no space for even a cycle to pass through. What stunned me more is that where did the truck go which was right behind me? I turned back to see where the truck has gone and broke into laughter. Actually, as soon as curve ended, there was a diversion towards right side which was absolutely unnatural. Since it was an acute left curve, I assumed it will go ahead n meet the highway. Me, Sekar & Nikhil we all laughed for almost like a minute or two. It took some time for me to regain my senses & continue the ride.
There are many exits on this stretch of NICE road, so cautiously drove till we reached Tumkur road exit. We were riding on NH4 now & we had coved 60 kms distance so far. It was almost dark then & we continued our riding without halts. I remember, in the very first hour of our journey, we had covered 80 kms of distance which was pretty impressive. At around 07:00 PM, we had crossed a toll plaza near Hiryur. We took butt break there as we had covered almost 200 Kms by now. Had some biscuits, chips; took some pics & started towards our destination.
It was getting late & hopes of reaching Hubli before 10 were fading. Actually, Rajiv was not at all in favour of riding any more. By 09:00 PM, we reached Davangere & decided to take shelter there for night. After half n hour search we arrived at Hotel Pooja International. Honestly, when Sayan entered hotel lobby, I was really scared as the hotel looked plush & very costly. We parked our bikes at their basement. Rajiv & Sayan went to enquire & I stayed with bikes to guard lugguage. I really did not wish to spend INR 500 per head & thought of calling Sayan to tell him the same. In about 2 minutes, both came & told me to unpack the baggage.
Sensing (monetary :P ) trouble on my face both of them gave me the sweet news. Non A/C room was booked for mere INR 1000 for 3 people with 2 beds & extra bed. Hotel staff helped us to carry our luggage till the room & he arranged extra bed, towel & everything needed. We happily handed him the tip & started relaxing. The room was excellent & deserved more than 1 grand. We had our food in the room itself. Needless to say, food was cheap & was tasty. Anybody who wishes to take a halt in Davangere, head to Pooja International eyes closed.
Morning we woke up at 6 and got ready by 7. Breakfast is served only after 07.30 AM & we really did not wish to wait till then. A hotel staff again came to us, carried our luggage, helped us tie it on bikes. We had our breakfast on the way in a small hotel where people were gazing us (n our bikes too). At around 09:00 we actually started our journey towards Hubli which is 150 kms from here.
NH4 is in really good condition & it’s a pleasure to ride on it except some patches where road construction is still going on. During day time and we slowly started feeling the heat on highway. Bike too was getting hot now. On the way we came across a railway crossing which me & Rajiv managed to cross but Sayan could not. We wasted almost 20 minutes there waiting for the train to pass. There Sayan met up with another guy who was riding a yellow R15 with most of the riding gear. His name was Saket. He had started from Bengaluru early in the morning & was headed to Jaipur :O. We wished him best luck & continued our journey. He zoomed past us quickly.
After riding another hour or so, we took another butt break & did brief inspection of our bikes. Shockingly, Sayan found a huge metal piece pierced into his rear tyre from left side. Luckly it had damaged only the tyre & not the tube. Somehow Rajiv managed to take it out. There we met with Saket once again who had stopped for a lunch break. He gave Sayan an adhesive which gives temporary solution for punctures in tubeless tyres. In such cases, tubeless tyres come in handy & so Sayan was cool. I was really scared as mine ain’t tubeless tyre & anything like this to my bike means total break down. Then I decided to myself that when stock tyres will wear out, I will put tubeless tyres no matter what. Well, list of upgrades which I have in mind is never ending but this one is kinda essential, so tops the list.
At around 1 o clock we reached Belgaum where we had lunch & then deviated from NH4. Road so far was butter smooth & the real test began now as road condition had become pathetic. We rode at 80 kmph speed only to land in pot holes (just after the curves). Damn, I felt sorry for my darling to have put her into a big pothole at a high speed. We slowed down & started to ride at low speed. This stretch was more or less under shade as it was surrounded by trees from both sides. This helped engine to cool down a little. At around 4 o clock we reached Amboli ghat & were mesmerized by its beauty.
Took some snaps here & proceeded further. This ghat is the probably the longest ghat in Maharashtra (22 kms). Road condition in this ghat became utter bad at some places. We also came across a waterfall which was good & little crowded. It had cement concrete steps built from where a stream of water was flowing which gave a really nice view. We did time pass there for good 1 n half hours & started from there. On the way, we came across a hair pin curve where Sayan could not resist from clicking a pic. Rajiv too did not stay behind & tested his steeds leaning ability. After finishing photo shoot & video recording we started again deciding not to stop anywhere.
We reached Sawantwadi at 06:30 PM and it was getting dark. Ideally, we should have reached Malwan by now. But stopping unnecessarily caused us this delay. Predefined route was the shortest possible route, but was safe in daytime. I was not in favour of riding on that route in night. But deviation from that route would have caused further delay & so we decided to take shortest route only. From Sawantwadi, we get a diversion which directly connects to Nerur route & hence you don’t have to enter Kudal city. But this by pass is really pathetic. After 20 minutes or so, we reached Nerur route & started revving real hard then on.
On this route, a snake was crushed under Sayan’s R15 because in dark Sayan could not spot him. Sayan regretted throughout the trip for the snake. Probably he had taken famous bollywood flick "Nagin" seriously :P. May the snake R.I.P. Kudal -> Nerur -> Malwan route is comparatively good but narrow. We were getting tired & so wanted to reach home badly. It is mere 30 kms distance & took us 45 minutes to reach my place. It was 8 PM & we had covered close to 700 kms so far. In and all, it was a nice experience.
Second part of the adventure (Malwan -> Ganpatipule -> Mumbai) will come soon.
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