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**Sachinnair** · 02-18-2011, 09:25 PM

Originally posted by andy118 View Post

nice log sachin....i also wanted to come wid u guys..but.mom said no such long ride on bike....

anyways..i will surely make it 1 day...by d way, wat u said about viraj, to get some sleep before d ride after doing night shift..i want to clear here that...if he doesnt sleep after doing night shift den he is perfectly fine for any picnic, long ride...u must b more concerned if he sleepes after night shift...hehehe

Thats alright andy surely next time you can join.. I was really worried about this guy as he did not sleep at all. I m still wondering how he managed to ride without sleep.

Originally posted by dineshsamtani View Post

Dude...cook some story in office and write the log fast

Mate I'll try and write log for at least Day 1 by tonight hopefully

**viraj_s85** · 02-19-2011, 01:41 AM

Originally posted by Sachinnair View Post

Thats alright andy surely next time you can join.. I was really worried about this guy as he did not sleep at all. I m still wondering how he managed to ride without sleep.

Dude I have stretch myself without sleep for 3 days for couple of times which includes extensive driving as well so I knew I won't have any problem

**Sachinnair** · 02-19-2011, 03:02 AM

Day 1: First steps towards heavenly highways

Day 1: First steps towards heavenly highways

10 Feb'11

Start point - Hypercity Mall, Thane

Route taken - Thane - Surat - Vadodara - Ahemadabad - Himmatnagar via NH8

Day 1:

01:00AM - First thing I did after reaching home from office is charging my phone and kept alarm for 4:30am
For a change did not switch on the TV and decided to hit the bed quickly and doze off.

04:30AM - Next thing I remember is the alarm ringing and I suddenly woke up. It was time to ride.
I called up Puneet and Viraj and they were all set for the trip.
I was done with packing and from previous experience of Goa ride at the last moment felt the need of carrying the extra bag for things like water, camera, any normal stuff for which I dont have to remove my travel bag tied with Bungee cord.
It paid off big time as we always felt the need of having a spare bag for keeping water, camera, also helped Puneet keep his Canon 550D SLR in my bag. So people travelling for long distance always carry extra spare bag it really comes handy.
So finally all set I was late by 15 minutes where my fellow riders were waiting for me. I apologized for coming late and we began with our journey.
A journey which was miles away from us; A journey which we will live and cherish forever.

First pic clicked from Mobile where Puneet & Viraj are waiting for me.

05:45AM - We started our ride from Thane and we were initially riding cautiously as it was dark.
We rode in formation starting from Viraj, Puneet & following them was me.
The weather was looking just about perfect for a beautiful day's ride and I was slightly worried about Viraj's mirror visor might have an issue but he managed it pretty well.
We kept riding till we saw the crack of the dawn and almost had covered a good 50 kms of riding.
We stopped once after completing around 50 kms when Puneet realised that his bungee cord had come off. I & Viraj had a look and tied the bungee properly to his bike and we were off again.

07:00AM - Covering almost 75 kms we reached Manor and decided to have our first break. We haulted at a hotel called Navjeevan where we drank coffee & Viraj enjoyed Sprite which he drank whereever we stopped throughout the trip.
After a short break we were off again with sunlight overcoming the darkness all we saw was beautiful highways in front of us.

We started cruising at around 80-85 kmph and getting into power mode when Puneet riding in front me was not able to keep up with Viraj in front of him.
We stopped to find what was the problem and Puneet told us that his accelerator was not working properly all of sudden. When he releases the accelerator to brake the throttle did not go back and stayed where it was which can be very fatal in highways. As soon as that happened Puneet had to press the clutch and then turn his wrist to bring the throttle down.
It was not working smoothly at all. After a brief stop we decided to fix the accelerator in a nearby garage.
After a riding for few odd kms we found a garage. The mechanic started understanding the problem and informed us that the accelerator wire will need to replaced with a new one.
Fortunately he had a new accelerator wire which he managed to fix in Puneet's Karizma R. Now his bike was not revving as it was doing earlier.

09:00AM - So an unexpected delay but thats all part of the experience of a long journey. You never know what might happen.
So slowly but steadily we started to get in groove of the long streched highways which were screaming us to ride fast.
Now we were speeding between 85-100 kmph on the lonely highways. Roads were in excellent conditions not even a single pot hole and we throughly enjoyed riding on NH8. The first impression this highway left on us continued for a very long time.
Since the roads were long straight & smooth we decided to crouch on many occassions; low enough to get below the windscreen.
Its actually pretty wild because 80% of the wind noise just disappears below the screen. Its a pretty crazy feeling. 1 inch up and its wind city...one inch tucked down and its calm.
Maintaining very good speeds we managed to reach Surat and all decided to re fuel rather than stopping for each bike at different times.
All 3 bikes refueled Rs.500 worth of fuel in Surat. With sun above us any stops and you can suddenly feel it's hot. We decided to hault for lunch.

12:30PM - So its was lunch time. First thing that came to our notice as soon as we stopped in Surat was people staring us as if some aliens have just landed there.
It was difficult finding good Non-Veg hotel so we decided not to waste time and eat veg.We stopped at a hotel named 'Royal Inn' There are very few hotels that will provide you Non-Veg in Gujrat.
Since Viraj was fasting as it was thursday he decided not eat anything and just decided to have Lassi. Wow Viraj firstly you have spend all night working without any sleep and then you dont eat anything. Wonder you managed to ride so much.
So me & Puneet decided to eat Paneer dishes. The food was pretty okay not too good and not too bad either.
Before we move ahead I would suggest anyone who is doing this trip to carry a thin cloth & liquid visor cleaner as there so many insects & flies that comes on your visor throughout the ride on NH8.
Not only here but everywhere we stopped we had to clean our visor with tissue papers before we began the ride. Damn I hate those insects & flies.

1:00PM - It was time to say bye to Surat and fleet as close to our decided destination as possible.
By 1:00PM we had covered as much as 270 kms from start point which was pretty good start.
Once we crossed Surat next destination we saw on the board was Vadodara which was around 145 kms from Surat where we had stopped.
The road from Surat to Vadodara was simple awesome in terms of quality of the road and low traffic. However as you all might expect we were riding in formation and after some point of time it got boring seeing straight roads without any challenges just keep riding straight following your group.
To ensure that we do not sleep in between and continue riding I decided to twist the throttle and speed up a bit to ensure that we dont fall asleep.
Riding at 110+ sometimes touching 120+ the bike was moving awesomely fast and always saw Viraj in the rear view mirror keeping up. There were times when Puneet was left behind for few minutes but then we managed to keep him in our radius.
Puneet did explain to us during lunch that he will not ride very fast as he did not want any mishaps or any more bike problems while going to Mt.Abu
The road got so boring at times so to make sure we still are awake we started riding in formation of course but a moving formation where the 2nd person goes ahead of first and the 3rd rider does the follow up job and overtakes the 1st original rider.
Making good ground and adjusting to each other's riding style we were all game to make it in time as per plan.

3:00PM - We had crossed Vadodara by now and our next destination was Ahmedabad. We had covered around 420 kms approximately from the start point in Thane.
Very happy with our speed and progress our journey on the highways were going perfectly.
We did face a huge traffic somewhere between Vadodara & Ahmedabad. I dont recollect the exact place but whenever you stop in hot sun it becomes very difficult to regain focus and with all the sweat dripping of your body you are completely wet from inside.
It took us good 15 minutes to finally manage to come out of that traffic. Almost felt like I was riding in Saki Naka traffic. It was that scary!!!
Once out of traffic and back on the highways here you need to ride carefully as there is a turn that will lead you to NH8 if you miss that turn you'll go straight to National Express Highway where bikes are not allowed.
We used the best GPS system you can get on Indian roads that is asking the local people. But this is what the problem was; Not many here understand Hindi. That was shocking for me at least that in India people dont know hindi. Luckily we found someone who knew Hindi and guided us.
Once you take this Left turn you continue riding on NH8 and make sure you do not enter Ahmedabad city as you can easily get lost wondering where to go if you do that.

5:30PM - Finally we made it to Ahmedabad before sunset and haulted at nearby restaurant for some refreshment.
Lots of fun happened here. Here comes a waiter with very limited understanding of Hindi as people in Gujrat mostly speak in Gujrati.
Viraj asked the waiter to bring Mountain Dew. The waiter goes till the fridge stands there for a couple of minutes & then looks around and comes back. He asks Viraj again to repeat his order. Lolzzz Viraj then had to tell him again to bring the Mountain Dew lying in the fridge.
Here is Puneet now ordering Nimbooz to the waiter and the confused waiter wondering why he wants Nimboo goes and bring Lemon for Puneet. Ha ha ha!!! OMG then Puneet does the heights of asking the waiter to bring Fresh Lime soda. Man oh Man. God bless that waiter.
I m glad I only asked for Coffee. He he he. Here we met a few lorry drivers chilling out who asked us "Saab kaunse speed main chalate ho" and we could only say "80-90 main jyada nahi" to this another truck driver says looking at R15 yeh Sanjay Dutt ke paas hai bike.. My god...Thank god Sanjay Dutt did not hear that.

So sun was almost setting on us when we were riding in Ahmedabad here unlike the super cool highways that we met earlier this had only 2 lane roads most of the times all the way to Himmatnagar our next and final stop for the day as per plan.
Riding on 2 lanes was also not too much of a task as the roads were in good condition with ample space to overtake from left & right. Though it is more advisable to overtake from right I still found left more safe and convenient sometimes.
Here's the most confusing road of the trip - Sardar Ring Road in Ahmedabad. It has number of circles, turns and lots of confusion can come in your mind when you are riding on this road.
I remember the suggestion given by Satyen when we spoke last time where Satyen clearly mentioned me to reach Ahmedabad before sunset as it would be very difficult finding the correct road in dark. Now I know why you said that Satyen because it is truly confusing.
I am glad we reached the Ring road before dusk and managed to find the correct way to Himmatnagar.
Ride to Himmatnagar was around 70 kms away and it became more difficult to overtake buses & trucks at night so we were riding very carefully by now.
After some 50 kms odd of 2 lane road riding we finally were back on 4 lane roads and started riding with much more ease even though it was dark.
We finally reached our destination to hault for the night ie.Himmatnagar at around 7:30 PM. Reaching safely here after riding around 610 kms in a day was just such wondeful feeling for all 3 of us.
After enquiring we found 2 names very popular for rest house in Himmatnagar - Payal & Jayashri - We went to Payal rest house paid the guy Rs.500 to spend the night there. A much needed hault. I was glad Viraj would finally get the sleep he needs as he rode continuously with us without any sleep for more than 24 hours after doing night shift.

We went out to have some non - veg food and "Mamu Fry" was the only hotel all the localites suggested us. Here we found surprisingly many Gujrati's eating Biryani, Chicken, etc. Lol
While roaming in Himmatnagar one of localites was checking out Viraj's R15 and was so amused with the machine that he shamelessly asked for a trial to Viraj. Viraj happily refused saying he has never given his bike to anyone.

So a day full of action on the most beautiful highways I have ever been came to end. Met some rather interesting people here and had lots of fun.

Watch this space for more on Day 2, Day 3 & Day 4 of our ride to Mt.Abu

**satyenpoojary** · 02-19-2011, 04:35 AM

Nice

Good going... some typos but otherwise a good nice log man!
R15 ka bungee bhi loose hain

(Hault nahi.. Halt

)

**maddycbz** · 02-19-2011, 02:37 PM

Well done Sachin... Awsome pics man..

**Drifty** · 02-19-2011, 02:51 PM

Superb..very well narrated.Nice pics keep them coming.
Sachin, akhir tune naye helmet ka 'udghatan' kar hi diya

P.S.-Viraj,your R15 in golden rims looks damn sexy!!!!

**Sachinnair** · 02-19-2011, 03:18 PM

Originally posted by satyenpoojary View Post

Nice

Good going... some typos but otherwise a good nice log man!
R15 ka bungee bhi loose hain

(Hault nahi.. Halt

)

Oops Halt is what I meant Yeah...
R15's bungee was fine sir.... Loose nahi tha..

Originally posted by maddycbz View Post

Well done Sachin... Awsome pics man..

Thanks maddycbz ...

Originally posted by Drifty View Post

Superb..very well narrated.Nice pics keep them coming.
Sachin, akhir tune naye helmet ka 'udghatan' kar hi diya

P.S.-Viraj,your R15 in golden rims looks damn sexy!!!!

Thanks Drifty. Yes finally R jays helmet got inaugrated on this ride

....

**nin** · 02-19-2011, 08:35 PM

aha ! jhakaaaas !

**darkknight** · 02-19-2011, 09:55 PM

viraj & sachin---get good bags to supplement the looks of your 1 L plus bikes

nice log btw

**viraj_s85** · 02-20-2011, 02:00 AM

Originally posted by darkknight View Post

viraj & sachin---get good bags to supplement the looks of your 1 L plus bikes

nice log btw

it was last movement choice for me as I wanted to keep it as small as possible.. but point well noted sir next time for sure

**nin** · 02-20-2011, 02:16 AM

also i noticed you have posted the pics just as i had given you the idea...worked fine? without hassles ?

the log is looking neat anyways ! every pic loaded quickly too...keep the good work going

**Sachinnair** · 02-20-2011, 02:01 PM

Originally posted by darkknight View Post

viraj & sachin---get good bags to supplement the looks of your 1 L plus bikes

nice log btw

Will get new touring bags... possibly saddle bags. Will start to trouble you again to find the best touring bags

Originally posted by viraj_s85 View Post

it was last movement choice for me as I wanted to keep it as small as possible.. but point well noted sir next time for sure

Do u have touring bags ?? or going to buy??

Originally posted by nin View Post

also i noticed you have posted the pics just as i had given you the idea...worked fine? without hassles ?

the log is looking neat anyways ! every pic loaded quickly too...keep the good work going

Yes Nin i m glad you faced no issues in viewing the pics.... Thanks!!!

**romeomike** · 02-20-2011, 02:38 PM

nice log there Sachin.....

"hault".....parkhi nazaar aur nirma(satyen) super

**Sachinnair** · 02-20-2011, 10:05 PM

Day 2 : Race to Mount Abu

Day 2 : Race to Mount Abu
11 Feb'11

Route : Himmatnagar - Ambaji - Mt.Abu

After an eventful day 1 it was time to take our final leap to reach our destination - Mt.Abu

08:00AM - After nice sound sleep it was time to wake up. We quickly got ready and by 8:30AM were all set to ride to Mt.Abu.
Viraj & Puneet quickly refueled at a nearby fuel station and we were off from Himmatnagar. The roads were beautiful and had pretty good scenic views all the way to Mount Abu since we were riding on Street Highways we met a lot of idiots on road.
Viraj survived an accident when an idiot on bike came all the way from left side of the road and without looking anywhere directly decided to cross the road. Viraj had to apply urgent brakes to avoid accident and I got really pissed off seeing the entire scene from behind. No regret on the face of that idiot who almost caused an accident and no apology. Damn!!!
This raised early alarms in our minds and we decided to ride more cautiously as there is no road sense at all which people followed here. After some tuff riding through city roads finally we found good open streches surrounded with beautiful hills.
Since we had to halt at Himmatnagar we took a different route to reach Mount Abu. Much to our surprise we found roads too good to ride on. You all know why because it was full of twists and turns

Unlike Day 1 where we only rode on straight highways today it was completely the opposite. The roads from Himmatnagar to Mt.Abu via SH9 & SH54 was giving us a treat of our life which was an experience that cannot be put into words you have to be there to experience it.

11:00AM - We decided to stop for breakfast. We had Aloo paratha's and Aloo paratha as so fulling that with 1 aloo paratha was enough to fill my stomach. The owner of the Hotel here knew Hindi thankfully and gave us few hints of the high rates that we will find in Mount Abu for hotels since it was weekend however that was not the case. Not all advises are correct apparently
Since we did not book any hotel and went like free birds ready to land anywhere where we get a good deal. I m glad that we did not book the rooms in advance.
Back on the roads from Ambaji to Mount Abu we had some 50 odd kms to reach our destination. The roads were full of corners and we were enjoying doing cornering here. Roads were right in middle of rocky hills giving us beautiful sight. Unfortunately do not have a picture to share from this sight as we were too busy leaning and cornering.
You also need to be careful here because the road is full of blind curves where you do not know what might come in front of you.
Viraj was riding in front followed by Puneet and Me. There was one occassion where Viraj went off the lane as there were cows sitting randomly on both sides of the road.
We finally reached the gates of Ambaji and took a brief 5 minutes halt in between. Here Puneet rode my ZMR for fun and enjoyed it a lot.

12:00PM - From Ambaji we were almost on verge of reaching Mt.Abu. It is around 40 kms ride to Mount Abu from here.
Next exciting road ready to roll us was the famous 'Abu Road'. Riding on some parts of Abu road was like sitting in a roller coaster of a ride - Ups & downs - What a feeling it was!!!
Few kms later I see the most exicting Board of the trip - It said "Welcome to Rajasthan" we stopped and congratulated each other. Yes we made it safely to Rajasthan.
Mount Abu is 27 kms up the hill from Abu Road. I was loving every bit of this road as we started doing cornering hair pin after hair pin and it was amazing. Viraj decided to ride in almost negligible speeds and stayed behind but the road was too tempting for me and I decided to go enjoy the up hill road to Mount Abu.
We did take a halt in between to click some snaps and all we spoke about was how terrific this Abu road was. Just can't stop praising about it.

Moving on we reached Mount Abu by around 1pm. Finally,we reached our destination - Mt.Abu we made it, the only hill station in Rajasthan located at an elevation of 1220 meters.
It was Punnet & I who reached there first as Viraj decided to ride very slowly. At the Enterance of Mount Abu you need to pay some 20 odd rupees to enter Mount Abu & 20 rupees for your vehicle.
Here met lot of people who gave us a feeling that we were in a hill station. One after the other they started telling us "Saab room chahyeh kya Saab Guide chahyeh kya" lol.
I spoke with a local agent who told he has very nice rooms available in Mt.Abu with all facilities for Rs.400/day for all 3 of us. I was all but surprised but did not show it at all.
By this Viraj had come & we told that agent to lead us to Petrol pump first where I & Viraj Refuled our bikes with full tank. I was glad as I completed 750 kms in Rs.1100 of fuel. After evaluation it comes to 43kmpl even after ripping. Thats cool.
After refueling the agent took us to his Rest house. He showed us a few rooms however we did not select the room which was for Rs.400 as it was not looking that good compared to the room which was bigger than it.
I kept bargaining from Rs.1200/day managed to bring him right down to Rs.600. We relaxed for sometime and started taking bath one after the other. Here's when i first realised how cold it was.
It was afternoon around 2pm and the water was freezing cold. I can't iamgine how cold it would have been in winter time.
We had ordered lunch and chilled out for sometime.

04:00PM - Time to Explore. Mount Abu was about to impress us!!!

Polo Ground - Nothing great infact no sight of anyone playing Polo. It was looking more of a football ground where kids were playing and localites roaming. Clicked few pics!!!

Nakki lake - From Polo ground next stop was Nakki lake. A very famous attraction for visitors especially couples who visit Mount Abu. It is a very ancient sacred lake as it was dug out from nails hence the name Nakki Lake.
To be honest I was not amused at all though it had a history. It looked more like our Taloapali in Thane.
There is the Toad Rock point on a hill near this lake.
Unfortunatley missed to see this. Please visit this place anyone going here as it looks like a toad about to jump into the lake, from the side of the rock facing the lake. Surely Regret missing this.
Mahatma Gandhi's ashes were immersed in this Holy Lake on 12th February, 1948. Bit of history hear about this lake.

Sunset Point - From Nakki Lake we went to Sunset point. This place was constantly reminding me of Matheran. Viraj & I decided to do some horse riding wearing safety gears like Helmet. lolz
It was fun riding 1 horsepower. Reached Sun set point and spend the rest of the evening on the sun set point clicking pics and relaxing.
Here the spot over crowdy. Baap re. I decided to rather have some fun. Giving funny poses and suddenly everyone looking us that what are these mad guys upto.
All the masti finished with sun set and we were off trying to see what else is there nearby to see.

Spiritual Museum - Here there was a narrator who explained us about GOD [Generator Operator Destroyer] Viraj was more active in listening than me & Puneet. Clicked a few pics and had coffee outside the Museum.
The day was complete and there was nothing else left to be done at night. We did think about camping anf tenting in forest so that we can see animals and have some good time. However there was very few people who knew about this.
We decided to call off the day and head back to our room. We ate food at our place and chit chatted the rest of night and then dozed off.

One thing we had clear in our minds that tomorrow has to be a super exciting day to make our trip worth to Mount Abu as we did not come all the way to Mt.Abu only to see points.

Day 3 coming up shortly...

**n4speed** · 02-20-2011, 10:56 PM

Bring on Day 3 Log,The most exciting part of the tour filled with adventure

Announcement

Ride to Mount Abu - An oasis in the desert

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