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Day 2
With temperatures pretty low and good sound sleep the night before, waking up and getting out of those warm blankets on Day 2 seemed like an impossible task. But with no choice we woke up one by one and started getting ready. There was hot water to the tap and a refreshing hot water bath was just the right thing needed in that cold morning.
With bags packed and geared up we left the hotel room and went to the counter for check out procedure. From our last stay at the hotel I remembered that they also serve breakfast in the morning. Since no one wanted to have food that early in the morning we ordered only tea and by the time we got it didn't miss any chance of clicking and posing for a few pictures. Here they are..
Special thanks to Kadam mama(Hotel owner) for clicking our group photo
Umesh had brought bourbon biscuits(my favorite) from Mumbai. Having hot cup of tea and biscuits under the tree shade on a cold morning was something different 
Taking greetings from the hotel owner, we bid him good bye and headed towards Hathkhamba via the narrow state highway. Just a few kms before NH17 exit we stopped at a decent looking HP petrol pump and tanked up our bikes.
Once back on NH17, it was a smooth ride towards Goa. I was leading the pack and rest of the two were shuffling their places in the formation. Like Hotel Ayoddhya at Chiplun, I had fixed our first breakfast stop at Hotel Saraswati in Rajapur. * Another recommended hotels for tasty misal pav and tea.
Leaving early morning has it's own advantages. Everything looks so pleasant, fresh and inviting. Even the roads. No traffic and beautiful curves were just enough for us to build up the confidence and set the mood for the day. It was a smooth ride till Rajapur where we took our first break as planned.
Kharepatan is one of Umesh's friend's native place. While having breakfast Umesh told us that he'll pay a quick visit to his place on the way. With no hurry to reach Goa we agreed and hit the road after breakfast.
The ghat just before Kharepatan was the best stretch of road till that point, may be because we were riding our hearts out in that ghat. All 3 of us cornering hard, that too with heavy luggage on our back, occasionally playing with a Skoda and a Linea. Aah, that was some fun. But the fun ride soon hit a speed breaker as we stopped at Kharepatan. Both Umeshs went inside the village while I preferred to stay out on the highway.
The above pic was clicked while I had a quick smoke and I had absolutely no idea of what destiny had to offer us ahead. I saw these guys coming back in around 10-15 mins and quickly geared up. We moved ahead in the same formation, me leading the group and the other two following me. The ghat before Kharepatan had bumped our confidence to high level but holding the nerves and stopping the confidence turn into over confidence needs experience. Which exactly was lacking in the other two riders.
We had a smooth ride till Kankavali where we encountered minor traffic due to market. With mind filled with over confidence, both these riders overtook me and zoomed ahead. I should have opened up the throttle, chased them and taken back the lead but I thought they've been following me for hundreds of kms. Let's not make them feel offended and let them ride ahead of me for sometime. I continued at the same speed of 75-80 kmph whereas they, I think, were doing 90-95 kmph.
After hardly 15 mins of riding, I saw a mob standing on the left hand side of the road a few hundred meters ahead. I sensed something is wrong and paid attention towards the mob as I slowed down. I saw our R15 rider with a sad face standing on the shoulder and people around him asking questions to him. I though phuck
noww what happened. I pulled over and gestured him asking what happened. He gestured back, 'I crashed'
With a totally blank mind, I switched off my bike, got off and ran towards him. Without asking a single question I checked him from all the sides for any injuries. People around told me, don't worry he's alright. Umesh, himself wasn't in a condition to say anything. When I checked the bike, there were scratches on the right hand side fairing, RVM, Indicator and exhaust(in short on most parts of the right side of the bike). When I asked the people what exactly happened, they said, Umesh was following an ST bus very close to it's rear end, which in turn was following a truck ahead. ST driver was thinking of overtaking the truck while a Tavera was heading towards it in the opposite lane. When the ST driver sensed that he can't make the move safely he applied braked hard coming to a stop. Since Umesh was close to the rear end, he had little time to react, got panicked and locked his rear wheel due to hard braking. Launch pad proved his name once again and crashed due to rear wheel lock up. Fortunately speed wasn't much and no vehicle was following him. Otherwise I definitely had an ugly scene in front of me.
I thanked those who helped him get up and moved out of the road and asked them to move on. I had two problems in front of me.. 1. Umesh's R15's yellow engine malfunction light was blinking and bike refused to start and 2. The other and least experienced P200 rider was no where to be seen. It was obvious that he missed this crash and went ahead. I tried contacting him on his cell phone but his cell was out of coverage area
We switched off the bike's keys and waited for couple of minutes. Then tried to start the bike and thankfully the bike started. 
That was such a relief.
Umesh's confidence was totally shattered and he was finding difficult to keep up with me at even 50 kmph. And this other A**hole simply kept riding till Sawantwadi. Constantly keeping an eye in the RVM for Umesh, I was riding towards Sawantwadi and another crash was the last thing I expected.
At Sawantwadi there's a junction, where one road goes inside the city and other to Goa. The P200 rider had taken the wrong road and entered the city. Can't explain in words, how much confusion I had been through
Even after explaining few basic rules again and again he made the same mistake. I had told them to stop right away if you don't see any rider in your RVM for more than 5 minutes, if you are at the lead or middle of the pack. Still this fella carried on and got lost. After long wait and some frantic phone call attempts he returned to the point where we were waiting for us. When he came back I took out all my frustration on him and he didn't say a word like a good boy 
Among all these incidences and confusion, we didn't realize how time passed by and it was lunch time. I took them to Hotel Chaitanya, just off NH17, where I had had food long back. *Another recommended restaurant for tasty veg/non veg Malwani style food.
A few photographs at the hotel.
Analyzing the crash, relaxing at the hotel after lunch and a few jokes here and there lightened the mood and also helped Umesh get back his confidence by diverting his mind away from the ugly scene. We had a small journey ahead of us with just one risky ghat to cross. I was again leading the pack at a controlled speed and guiding them safely through the shady, risky ghat. This ghat is being resurfaced and hence there was lot of loose gravel and stones on the road. After crossing the ghat safely, we cruised towards Goa. Crossing the 3 check points and border we entered Goa and the change in road condition was evident. So was the change in the cagers' attitude. With smooth and wide road in front, cagers often go beyond their limits and we saw quite a few close calls upon entering Goa.
We came across some traffic near Mapusa and Porvorim. Making our way through crowded Panjim roads and Mandovi bridge, we left NH17 and entered Raibandar road which later goes through Old Goa and takes us to Cumbarjua, an island. Our destination. Both the riders started enjoying Goa and the vistas around as we reached home.
House was closed for a couple of months and hence was a bit dirty. I cleaned it a bit and filled water in the main water reservoir. Our plan for the rest of the day, or rather night, was to go to Dona Paula beach, relax at the water front while having a cold beer, head to Mira mar beach, have dinner there and then return home after spending sometime at the beach. Everything happened smoothly as planned and they were simply in love with the Dona Paula beach water front. This place is usually crowded by tourists and noisy till 8pm but after that it's a beautiful place to hang out. Total peace of mind at the far end of the jetty, at the water front. Just beautiful. No one to disturb you and the silence.
We returned home in time and chatted for sometime, discussing things that happened that day, next days plans etc before saying Good night to each other.
With bags packed and geared up we left the hotel room and went to the counter for check out procedure. From our last stay at the hotel I remembered that they also serve breakfast in the morning. Since no one wanted to have food that early in the morning we ordered only tea and by the time we got it didn't miss any chance of clicking and posing for a few pictures. Here they are..
Special thanks to Kadam mama(Hotel owner) for clicking our group photo
Umesh had brought bourbon biscuits(my favorite
) from Mumbai. Having hot cup of tea and biscuits under the tree shade on a cold morning was something different Taking greetings from the hotel owner, we bid him good bye and headed towards Hathkhamba via the narrow state highway. Just a few kms before NH17 exit we stopped at a decent looking HP petrol pump and tanked up our bikes. Once back on NH17, it was a smooth ride towards Goa. I was leading the pack and rest of the two were shuffling their places in the formation. Like Hotel Ayoddhya at Chiplun, I had fixed our first breakfast stop at Hotel Saraswati in Rajapur. * Another recommended hotels for tasty misal pav and tea.
Leaving early morning has it's own advantages. Everything looks so pleasant, fresh and inviting. Even the roads. No traffic and beautiful curves were just enough for us to build up the confidence and set the mood for the day. It was a smooth ride till Rajapur where we took our first break as planned.
Kharepatan is one of Umesh's friend's native place. While having breakfast Umesh told us that he'll pay a quick visit to his place on the way. With no hurry to reach Goa we agreed and hit the road after breakfast.
The ghat just before Kharepatan was the best stretch of road till that point, may be because we were riding our hearts out in that ghat. All 3 of us cornering hard, that too with heavy luggage on our back, occasionally playing with a Skoda and a Linea. Aah, that was some fun. But the fun ride soon hit a speed breaker as we stopped at Kharepatan. Both Umeshs went inside the village while I preferred to stay out on the highway.
The above pic was clicked while I had a quick smoke and I had absolutely no idea of what destiny had to offer us ahead. I saw these guys coming back in around 10-15 mins and quickly geared up. We moved ahead in the same formation, me leading the group and the other two following me. The ghat before Kharepatan had bumped our confidence to high level but holding the nerves and stopping the confidence turn into over confidence needs experience. Which exactly was lacking in the other two riders.
We had a smooth ride till Kankavali where we encountered minor traffic due to market. With mind filled with over confidence, both these riders overtook me and zoomed ahead. I should have opened up the throttle, chased them and taken back the lead but I thought they've been following me for hundreds of kms. Let's not make them feel offended and let them ride ahead of me for sometime. I continued at the same speed of 75-80 kmph whereas they, I think, were doing 90-95 kmph.
After hardly 15 mins of riding, I saw a mob standing on the left hand side of the road a few hundred meters ahead. I sensed something is wrong and paid attention towards the mob as I slowed down. I saw our R15 rider with a sad face standing on the shoulder and people around him asking questions to him. I though phuck
noww what happened. I pulled over and gestured him asking what happened. He gestured back, 'I crashed' With a totally blank mind, I switched off my bike, got off and ran towards him. Without asking a single question I checked him from all the sides for any injuries. People around told me, don't worry he's alright. Umesh, himself wasn't in a condition to say anything. When I checked the bike, there were scratches on the right hand side fairing, RVM, Indicator and exhaust(in short on most parts of the right side of the bike). When I asked the people what exactly happened, they said, Umesh was following an ST bus very close to it's rear end, which in turn was following a truck ahead. ST driver was thinking of overtaking the truck while a Tavera was heading towards it in the opposite lane. When the ST driver sensed that he can't make the move safely he applied braked hard coming to a stop. Since Umesh was close to the rear end, he had little time to react, got panicked and locked his rear wheel due to hard braking. Launch pad proved his name once again and crashed due to rear wheel lock up. Fortunately speed wasn't much and no vehicle was following him. Otherwise I definitely had an ugly scene in front of me.
I thanked those who helped him get up and moved out of the road and asked them to move on. I had two problems in front of me.. 1. Umesh's R15's yellow engine malfunction light was blinking and bike refused to start and 2. The other and least experienced P200 rider was no where to be seen. It was obvious that he missed this crash and went ahead. I tried contacting him on his cell phone but his cell was out of coverage area
We switched off the bike's keys and waited for couple of minutes. Then tried to start the bike and thankfully the bike started. That was such a relief. Umesh's confidence was totally shattered and he was finding difficult to keep up with me at even 50 kmph. And this other A**hole simply kept riding till Sawantwadi. Constantly keeping an eye in the RVM for Umesh, I was riding towards Sawantwadi and another crash was the last thing I expected.
At Sawantwadi there's a junction, where one road goes inside the city and other to Goa. The P200 rider had taken the wrong road and entered the city. Can't explain in words, how much confusion I had been through
Even after explaining few basic rules again and again he made the same mistake. I had told them to stop right away if you don't see any rider in your RVM for more than 5 minutes, if you are at the lead or middle of the pack. Still this fella carried on and got lost. After long wait and some frantic phone call attempts he returned to the point where we were waiting for us. When he came back I took out all my frustration on him and he didn't say a word like a good boy Among all these incidences and confusion, we didn't realize how time passed by and it was lunch time. I took them to Hotel Chaitanya, just off NH17, where I had had food long back. *Another recommended restaurant for tasty veg/non veg Malwani style food.
A few photographs at the hotel.
Analyzing the crash, relaxing at the hotel after lunch and a few jokes here and there lightened the mood and also helped Umesh get back his confidence by diverting his mind away from the ugly scene. We had a small journey ahead of us with just one risky ghat to cross. I was again leading the pack at a controlled speed and guiding them safely through the shady, risky ghat. This ghat is being resurfaced and hence there was lot of loose gravel and stones on the road. After crossing the ghat safely, we cruised towards Goa. Crossing the 3 check points and border we entered Goa and the change in road condition was evident. So was the change in the cagers' attitude. With smooth and wide road in front, cagers often go beyond their limits and we saw quite a few close calls upon entering Goa.
We came across some traffic near Mapusa and Porvorim. Making our way through crowded Panjim roads and Mandovi bridge, we left NH17 and entered Raibandar road which later goes through Old Goa and takes us to Cumbarjua, an island. Our destination. Both the riders started enjoying Goa and the vistas around as we reached home.
House was closed for a couple of months and hence was a bit dirty. I cleaned it a bit and filled water in the main water reservoir. Our plan for the rest of the day, or rather night, was to go to Dona Paula beach, relax at the water front while having a cold beer, head to Mira mar beach, have dinner there and then return home after spending sometime at the beach. Everything happened smoothly as planned and they were simply in love with the Dona Paula beach water front. This place is usually crowded by tourists and noisy till 8pm but after that it's a beautiful place to hang out. Total peace of mind at the far end of the jetty, at the water front. Just beautiful. No one to disturb you and the silence.
We returned home in time and chatted for sometime, discussing things that happened that day, next days plans etc before saying Good night to each other.
Earlier I thought this is the church of st. Augustine but no, this isn't it. It's a beautiful church and by looking it we had a strong feeling that the song "agar tum mill jaao"
Bring it on soon!
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