TOTAL DISTANCE COVERED-380kms(approx)

RIDERS-ASHISH,ABHISHEK,CHINMAY,PAVAN,SHAILENDRA(ME)

ROUTE-BANGALORE-HOSUR-KRISHNAGIRI-DHARMAPURI-HOGENAKKAL-KRISHNAGIRI-BANGALORE


THE STORY BEHIND
It had been a long time since i had gone for a long ride,so i had posted a topic about a ride around Bangalore on a networking site and got some replies, we exchanged our no.s with each other and were excited about the ride.
i worked in a call center then and we had decided to meet at 4am (my shift ended at 1am ,so NO sleep),rendezvous point- electronic city flyover.
3 riders couldn't make it for the meet ,that bought down the total strength to 5.

A friend had bought his hayabusa to office that day ,I clicked some pics and after office we went to a coffee shop near by.



ON VIKAS'S HAYABUSA



WITH VIKAS AND HIS BUSA (1:30AM OUTSIDE MY OFFICE)

I came back to office and tried to get some sleep in the bean bag room.
I got a call from Chinmay at 2:30am , we confirmed our plan once again and decided to meet outside my office compound at 3:30 and go together to electronic city flyover.


3:00AM-AT MY OFFICE PARKING


I had never seen Chinmay before so it wasn't easy for me to recognize him . So,i kept an indicator ON and told him look for a blinking indicator on the way.

Finally ,after few minutes a guy on a red p220 stopped by and asked SHAILENDRA ??..i said YES,and wore my helmet !! (i forgot to introduce myself and dint even asked him anything,literally i dint give him a few seconds to breathe ),from there we went ahead together to the elec. city flyover.

we parked our bikes along the roadside and turned right indicators ON.Few minutes later Ashish reached and then began the intro-procedure.

ashish -28yrs-working-years of riding experience
chinmay -27yrs-working-years of riding experience-MARRIED !!
shailendra(me) -21-fresher in every field !!
after talking to them for few minutes i felt like an amateur biker kid



AT THE RENDEZVOUS POINT


We were waiting for other 2 guys,in the meantime i clicked some pics.I would have clicked some 3-4 pics when i heard a loud noise. I turned around and saw a cab unearthing the barricades and sparks all around it. The cab slammed against the pavement and stopped ,leaving those heavy metal barricades lying on the road.




THE DAMAGED CAB AND THE BARRICADES LYING ON THE ROAD

Though there was less traffic at that time but it was fast moving,and those barricades looked dangerous for the small vehicles. We ran to the spot and lifted the barricades(a biker just zipped past me missing those metal barricades by few seconds) and kept along roadside and then went to see the damaged cab. The driver had fallen asleep and dint see the partition on the road coming .

We went back to our bikes, pavan and abhishek reached in few minutes after the accident and we started for the trip after some introduction.



THE WOLF PACK




Pavan led the way as he had been to Krishnagiri before.After an hour we reached tamil nadu border,where we stopped for clicking few pics,and then had tea at a shop nearby.i went to the tea shop and asked for tea in Tamil(showing off),the guy replied in Hindi with a smile(i gotta improve my Tamil ).



AT TAMIL NADU BORDER



FIRST LIGHT
After tea break, we started on our trip .I prefered crusing, and abhishek,pavan cruised with me at 80-90s. Ashish and chinmay were a "little" fast,they were did 110-130.

As we crossed konerripalli ,we witnessed one of the most beautiful sunrises







(THIS ONE CAPTURED BY ASHISH)

JUST AFTER THE SUNRISE






NH7-BUTTER SMOOTH HIGHWAY

i was riding little slow(80-90s)and was left behind,others had stopped by at an eating joint for breakfast ,i couldn't see them and went ahead.
After some time i felt i was far behind others and started going even FASTER,only to stop 15-20kms ahead of them.They reached 10-15mins after i had stopped,and then we moved ahead in a group.



15KMS AHEAD,WAITING FOR OTHERS

we reached krishnagiri at 8:00 am , we expected some scenic locations but krishnagiri wasn't as beautiful as we expected.
we had a discussion , pavan suggested hogenakkal and everybody agreed.




THE BOARD MEETING IN PROGRESS


SIREN RINGING
i had filled up fuel just enough for krishnagiri and back,i had 150rs left,so in my mind i knew i was gonna be screwed,but i took a chance as pavan said "its just 50kms"(which turned 70kms later).I skipped breakfast to save for fuel.



PI(T)SSTOP

we cruised towards hogenakkal.People walking along the road used to stop and watch the bike moving in a group(LINE FORMATION) ,even when we stopped for tea breaks few guys used to gather and check out our bikes.IT FELT SOOOOO GOOD







INNOCENCE




On the way farmers kept crops on road (at short intervals),at one such point i couldn't slow down at time and WHAAMMMMM !!!...i slipped
my bike was just 5 months old then and got its 1st scratch due to my negligence. farmers at the spot lifted the bike and asked if i was alright, i thanked them and continued riding .






some 10kms after the incident a dragonfly went inside abhishek's helmet and bit him,he braked hard and took it out immediately . I checked my bike for damages from the fall,and was relieved to see no major damages.
indicator and handle bar were scratched and crash guard bent.


as soon as we crossed penagram , there were big lush green mountains all around . it was hooo hooo hogenakkkalll. Surly pavan saved the day.









Seductive curves in the downhill section tempted chinmay and ashish to go faster ,and this time pavan joined them. i was left behind with abhishek .



ABHISHEK WITH HIS P220.










when we reached the footsteps going towards falls ,we couldn't find a shaded place to park our bikes and on top of that we couldn't find other 3 bikes of our gang(no network coverage was the icing on the cake)

shopkeepers around said the river was dry,so we chucked the idea of going down towards waterfall,we had a coke at a shop nearby and rode back (looking for 3 devils).

on the way we saw a abandoned hut around 100m away from road, and decided to take rest there for some time.we clicked some photos and sat under shade and talked about our previous rides(i knew abhishek before the ride)



THE HUT WHERE WE TOOK SOME REST

as we were chatting we saw 3 p220s zipping by , we jumped on our bikes and tried to catch up with them (assuming they were ashish,chinmay,pavan).After 10-15kms we stopped,somewhat disheartened but then i had full network coverage on my cellphone and immediately called up ashish and asked them to stop. They had stopped at a tea stall ,we reached there in 15-20mins (they are speed monsters)had tea with others and then left together as a group.





we had lunch at a hotel after krishnagiri.










CAPTURED SOME FLOWERS AND A BUTTERFLY IN RESTAURANT GARDEN

Everything was going perfect till i looked at my bike's fuel gauge .
yikes!!!! the bars in fuel gauge had disappeared and i could hear my heart beats under the helmet (just like amplified bass) as i had spent everything i had on fuel already.





i spoke to ashish and chinmay at next pit stop and told them about the issue.they smiled and asked me to relax,chinmay lended me 100bucks and said "chinta mat kar"(don't worry about this).i learned a big lesson that day.And then we cruised towards Bangalore.









Near Bangalore outskirts i felt sleepy and couldn't keep my eyes open (i hadn't slept for past 30hrs).i tried to continue riding ,but then realized it may prove fatal.i stopped near a bus stop , i laid there for 10mins with my eyes closed .



SPOOKY ISN'T IT ??

i got up after few minutes and continued riding slowly and reached my home around 7pm that day.And then slept like a BEAARR.