Enjoying the calm!And,we are LOST!










Show Stoppers :


Again :




A Generation apart!

Noel, thoroughly entertaining read there, macha.

Milan, Nice pics, post more of them. Liked the Rx100 and R15 pic, two lovely machines from Yam, launched decades apart, but embodying pure motorcycle performance.

Nice pics there mate. Finally I saw a good pic of my RX from this trip.

Check out my blog entry for our ISG2G and do FOLLOW ME!

WICKED!: A Mind Boggling Orgy of Numbers


Cheers!!!

My trip details

Didn't get any chance to click much pics due to the incessant rain after reaching Wayanad...hope to visit Wayanad again when it rains less so that I can capture some memories with my Cam next time. It was fabulous G2G nonetheless, the accommodations were great and so was the food, and the continuous ride in the rain was just a new and amazing experience for me. The best part was having the group introduction and interaction session at 11 in the night, after a full day of riding in the rain. Man we bikers are surely full of never ending Josh and Enthusiasm.

Some pics clicked from my end...

The second Bangalore Team.


We met up at the Nice Ring Road at 3:30 am. Our aim was to reach Waynad by 7 am, if possible. But as you know, group rides never go as planned . There were 6 of us on 5 bikes (4 P220, 1 Pulsar 135). We took out first break just outside Mysore, and it was already 5:30 then. Next stop was Gundulpet. There also we took a break of half an hour, and then came the superb ghat roads to greet us on.













With just green and green all around, the ride through the forest just never stops to please you. But ahead we faced some bad patches of road, as the rain started to pour down on us. With long lines of truck waiting ahead to greet us, it took us some time to maneuver through the traffic and finally reach our destination. By 9:30 we were in our rooms, and by 11 we were done with out breakfast and everyone was ready to leave and have a great day ahead. The rain gods though didn't have mercy on us, and being a group of bikers, we were also not going to let the rains keep us away from our fun filled day ahead.















And on we go with 33 bikes one after the other in watered, slippery but fairly smooth roads. And there we are at our final destination. You can figure out the water droplets in the pics. Now you know, why I couldn't afford to shoot many pics.





After that we were off to lunch at the Woodlands. Here's everyone taking a break from the rain and enjoying some food for a change.

















Next some were off to the room to take rest, and the rest headed to a lake nearby. Finally everyone called it a day after a dinner at the hotel, followed by an introduction and interaction session.
Next day we were set to leave by 10 am, but as always we got delayed by an hour owing to breakfast, and everyone's lazy morning attitude. Here's the Bangalore combined team just before leaving the hotel.





On our way back we tried to stop inside the forest to take some good shots, as the rain had stopped for a change. But we were forced to leave when the forest authorities came and scolded us, as stopping inside the forest wasn't allowed.


That's me test riding a CBR 250R for a change

Our next stop was a sunflower garden on just beside the road. Here we spent almost an hour, taking pics and enjoying amidst the blossoming flowers.



























And soon we were on route to Bangalore, we rode non stop till Bangalore. There we took a lunch break at a road side restaurant. The food was descent, and with all out stomachs filled, it was going to be a hard ride from here on. Our next stop was the CCD near Maddur. Till here we didn't encounter much traffic. But after a long and relaxed break at Maddur CCD we hardly knew that long packed traffic jams awaited us ahead. Everyone rode carefully, and we managed to reach Bangalore safely without any incident. It was a successful G2G as far as I am concerned. I did thoroughly enjoy the riding quotient of the trip. Only if the rain gods had some mercy and allowed us to capture some of the glipmses we saw, the trip would have been a perfect one. But nonetheless, this will just give me one more reason to ride to Wayanad again, to capture it all in through my lenses.

I would like to thank all the organizers of this event and the riders who participated in this G2G, for making it a successful one. Hope that many more such meets keep happening all around India bring the Indian biking community a lot more closer.

Guys, work has kept me busy ever since I returned from our ISG2G but Ive managed to squeeze in time to jot down my thoughts on days 1 & 2 of the trip on my blog Neil's Moto Musings Its not in the typical "The Tourer" mould, bear with me.

Day 3 should be up in a couple of days, Ive borrowed pics shamelessly from FB / this thread. All credit to the actual photographers.

The steady drizzle was our steady companion and to outsiders (and the buffaloes) it must have appeared that we were like prisoners being led from one prison camp to the other. I like that part.... you rocks.....

Is everyone asleep?Guys, where are you all?

I will be posting more pics and details after i go back to Bangalore. Spending boring time in Chennai now

Saar eagerly waiting for those pics when we stopped in the midst of the jungle for fotugraphy!!!

Day Three - Return Solo Ride

Picasa Album. Wayanad ISG2G

It is easy for a person bored at a traffic jam or stuck behind a computer or clinging on to a bus to dream of a long solitary ride to some exotic destination. It is easy to dream about embarking on a 300 odd kilometer ride when your body is healthy and mind lucid. If at these times you are asked about how you would feel about a 400 km ride, you would be enthusiastic. But the key question is would you answer the same in the last ten kilometers after a 400 kilometer ride, 18 continuous hours of wakefulness of which 15 hours have been spent on the road with all the 15 hours being drenched and nearly 12 hours through non stop rains? Would you be enthusiastic about a long ride when your eyes are burning with driving at night with rains battering your naked eyes and your body's unspeakable parts aching and sore all over? You dont have to answer right now, read on and make up your mind.

The third day of the Wayanad Inter State Get To Gether dawned for me at 5 AM as I got up to see our friend Navin gearing up for his solo return ride home. I dispensed away with a bath, deeming it an unnecessary hassle. Geared and ready to leave, I bid a few awake xBHP'ians good bye and set off into the misty cool Wayanad countryside at 6 AM. I had planned the route in detail the previous night itself and the landmark from where I had to turn right to reach Mananthavady was being mentally recited again and again. So with no hassle I found the deviation and the fun truly started.

In the early hours of the day the ride through the country side roads from Sultan Bathery to Wayanad was nothing short of miraculous! Surrounded on both sides by dense greenery and occasional plantations it was simply a joy to ride on. The roads were surprisingly good with clearly marked distance information at regular intervals. The stomach was yearning for a glass of hot tea or coffee but on this Sunday morning no shops were open. The visual delights of the route however obviated any hunger pangs from being too evident. Taking deviations from Panamaram and scouting my route through Mananthavady town I finally was on the road leading to Thirunelli, Kuruva Island and Mysore.

As the kilometers went by the scenery became more and more denser and to me , slightly scary. My dear cousin brother had so lucidly warned me about heightened elephant activity in the region and especially about a rogue bull elephant he had apparently seen the previous day. Mindful of the scant chance a biker has of survival when faced against a wild elephant my trepidation was not little especially as I saw masses of bamboo thickets uprooted by the sides of the roads, an act of power which I attributed to the wild elephant herds roaming in these parts of the Nilgiris.

As I took the leftward deviation just after crossing into Karnataka border my senses were more and more heightened. Mindful of every sound, watchful of every corners all the while navigating through heavily cratered Ghat roads it was a tense ride. However in a short while a Tata Indica car overtook me and from then on I stuck to its rear, maintaining position behind it all the way to Thirunelli. An idiot Maruti 800'er did however mar the joy of riding through verdant green forests by repeated honking and even though I repeatedly gave abundant room for him to overtake the prized jackass did not know how to maintain a faster pace nor to overtake.

However as the cratered stretches gave way to some beautiful stretches of smooth roads I built up my speed and enjoyed the scenery abundantly. As I neared Thirunelli I saw the resort my cousin was staying at but decided to stop at the temple first. Parking my bike in front of a row of buses, vans and cars as the lone biker I must have presented a strange figure clad in my armored riding gear and putting a coin in the temple's offering receptacle (Bhandaram).



After taking a few clicks on my mobile phone I retraced my route to the Agraharam Cottages. The narrow cobbled path down from the road to cottage was extremely slippery and it was only with great concentration that I negotiated my Hunk down the path. Having parked my bike and being escorted to my cousin's cottage I spent some time resting and getting acquainted with three of his colleagues.

After enjoying a welcome cup of tea and sumptuous breakfast we started off on a small trek to a nearby jungle stream. My worn Army boots have zero grip and I am in constant threat of skidding and falling even in the best of pucca tarmac. So imagine my plight as I trekked down the soft and skiddy Wayanadan clay wearing my boots, Fox knee guards and my Cramster K2K 2.0 jacket in a continuously pouring rainfall? After negotiating the downward slope through plantations we negotiated a muddy jeep trail and finally we neared the jungle stream.

The spectacularly beautiful jungle stream had a peculiar kind of bridge spanning across it. From our bank a concrete bridge extended halfway across the river span from where an improvised bamboo bridge connected to the other bank. Our helpful guide informed us that the other half of the concrete bridge was blown away in the previous monsoon in a flashflood in the stream. Sure enough downstream we could see massive concrete boulders broken away by the fury of a stream that was for the moment quite placid. A massive tree was also banked by the remaining half of the concrete bridge providing excellent scenery and also reminding us of the potential force that this stream could assume. As we looked upstream in half horror, half expectation our guide informed that these flash floods come only after about two or three days of continuous rainfall. And it had been raining continuously for at least the past three days that I had spent in Wayanad.


As our more nimble friends went to the other bank and to the forest me and my similarly herculean cousin brother stayed and enjoyed the vistas around us. After a while we trekked a while further up the river bank to visit a jungle resort, a seasonal resort smack in the middle of verdant greenery. The beer bottles arranged in a corner, indicative of recent occupants also brought to mind vastly interesting possibilities for the place.

After some time here we started trekking back to the resort. The going as usual was still more tough for me as the prospect of riding back to Cochin was looming ever largely in front of me. The prospect of skidding was also ever large and a small skid while walking from the Resort's restaurant to the cottage also drove home the fact that my shoes have to be replaced.

At around 11.30 having bid good bye to my cousin and his colleagues I set out on my return ride. My cousin had instructed me to wait for some other vehicle to take the lead but after waiting for a minute by the roadside I decided that this is another moment of casual disobedience and started off. The return ride to the Mysore Highway was even more enjoyable than the ride up after my cousin informed me that all those uprooted bamboo thickets were the work of JCBs the previous day and not elephants as I had so luridly imagined. It was while reaching the junction that I noticed the sign board indicating Kuruva Island - 6 kms. Having come this far, why not a short jaunt! So I revved on up the road to Kuruva Island, a beautiful tarmac and a far cry different from the potholed road to Thirunelli. The steep descent to the Kabini River also added to the thrill of the ride. However the Kabini River had been swollen in the rains and nobody were permitted to the island, whose charms I was and am blissfully unaware of. Having taken a few clicks and a call home to give a status and location update later I set off on my return ride proper.

Having come to Wayanad via the Thamarassery Churam on Day One, I had decided earlier on that I would be returning via the Periya Churam. From Mananthavady, which had gotten far more crowded than it was in the morning I found the Kannur road which goes through the Periya pass.

The farmlands of Mananthavady soon gave way to plantations that dotted the countryside as I followed the beautiful Mananthavady- Kannur road. The rain which had by now slowed down to a drizzle only added to the beauty of the ride as it gave a pleasant undertone to the subdued purring of my Hunk. Stopping for a while near Boy's Town I had some delicious coffee and Ullivada, Parippuvada and Pazhampori from the tea stall.

Having given much needed recuperation to my sore backsides and gotten fresh on the crispy cool mountain air I set off in a brisk pace. Stopping at Periya to buy some tea for home I was soon negotiating the Periya Churam which was dark, green and cool, even at 2 PM in the afternoon. Soon I was riding through the Aaralam forest bracing myself for the plains and its associated humidity which would soon hit me in force and did so from Kannavam. Now I had to remain mindful of the traffic and usual road idiots who make life hellish for any sensible rider. As soon as I left Wayanad District and entered Kannur District roads also started deteriorating in quality. Perhaps it is due to the extreme infestation of Communism and Marxism in Kannur that roads here are so poorly maintained.Perhaps the die hard communists of Kannur wanted to recreate a Road of Bones, the dreaded road which is such a hallmark of Soviet Russian entrepreneurship!

Politics however took a backseat as I reached Thalassery and the hunger pangs became more and more obvious. It was while attending a call from home that I was even aware that the time had been 4 PM! Reaching Mahe after filling the fuel tank to the full I hunted for a good non BAR restaurant while negotiating the extremely horrible roads of the Union Territory. Just out of Mahe I did meet Vineeth Areth a fellow xBHP'ian who was now returning from Wayanad. It was a surprise meeting but soon we were each on our different ways. Loaded up on extra cash at a nearby ATM it was however only at Vadakara that I could have some food. At the Indian Coffee House in Vadakara I had a heavy lupper (lunch-supper) and was soon on the way.

By now my exhaustion was starting to become more pronounced but I had decided that I would reach Cochin.The 250 kilometers to Cochin was a morale buster so I focussed on short hops. First focus was on reaching Calicut and reaching the Calicut bypass before nightfall as that seemed a tricky road to find. At times as I drove through outskirts of Calicut City I feared of having lost my way but eventually before dark fell I reached the junction from where two days earlier we had took the turn to Wayanad. By now my Fox knee guards were biting into my calves with extreme pain and a severe thunderstorm also forced me to lift up my visor fully lest I be blinded by the visor in the tricky dusk light. As in my return ride from Bangalore it was now a race between my endurance and my exhaustion. I started fixing target points to aim for, the first being Kottakkal, a major junction.

Bikers may rule the roads during day time, but at night bikers are at their most vulnerable. Night riding, especially in a land of zero traffic sense where no one EVER dims his head lights is scary in itself but add to that heavy rainfall and extreme exhaustion? Oh yeah, it sure is fun. It is in such times that the rider in me gets the most philosophical. As expounded in my earlier blogs riding is an intensely spiritual and philosophical thing for me. It assures me of my capability to be determined, it assures me of my strength to stand up against adversities, it assures me of my inherent free spirit whose personification is always me, the lone rider. Battered by rains, blinded by headlights and ever fearful of crazy riders I maintained a steely will that no matter what, no matter how late, I will reach home.

As countless villages and towns went by I was praying more and more fervently for Kottakkal to arrive so that I may take a break. When on rides I dont like to stop every now and then. I usually stop only at the edge of pain and exhaustion and always I set targets accordingly. At Kottakkal first I drove into a drive in motel and asked for bike parking. The guard pointed me to a parking spot far to the interior and denied me permission from parking near where several cars where parked. Mentally swearing at the jerk who like most people considered bikers to be second rate citizens and the wagon driven fellows with extreme obsequity, I did not stop long. However a few hundred meters away I saw a Fast Food Joint where I decided to rest for a while. Refreshing myself with some snacks and a leisurely rest later I was back on to the road, with my next destination - Trichur.

The good roads, well positioned reflectors ensured a steady clip to Trichur where for the first time I decided not to take the Pannithadam-Kecheri road and instead drove through Kunnamkulam, a town which normally so crowded was at this time of night, nearly 9.30 PM quite deserted. The rain started picking up intensity and as I drove through Trichur City it was actually blinding. As I drove round the Swaraj Round rain was so heavy that even my blinking was slow enough to remove the water from my eyes and it was actually getting fuzzy to my own eyes. In Trichur that night I must have been the only biker on the roads. In fact as I reached NH47 from Thalore I must have been the only person driving any vehicle with less than 6 tires.

As I reached NH47 however the ride became more relaxed as the 4 and occasionally 6 lane highway enabled me to maintain a steady and fast pace, dodging occasional trucks. The rains had also slacked off by then. On the watch out for any good restaurant to have a dinner I finally stopped at Hotel Crystal Palace near Karayamparambu Junction just out of Angamaly. Refreshed by a warm dinner I was finally on my home run.

I have always maintained an edict that it is always the last few kilometers of any travel that are the most fraught with danger. The exhaustion, the relief and the complacency of being near to home and in familiar roads breeds a lack of caution that is extremely dangerous. Thus mindful I was riding through Kalamassery and Edapally Junction when the question I asked in the beginning cropped up in my mind. I did not answer "YES" immediately neither did I say "NO". A few seconds of soul searching was what it took for me to come up with the answer of "Am I ready and willing to go on a similar ride tomorrow itself?".

The answer was Yes.

In a heartbeat.

Often I had wondered whether my passion for biking and riding was merely a thing of contemplation during times of comfort but at this time I realized that it does not matter to me how bruised, how battered, how exhausted I was, for the sheer pleasure of riding, I am willing to bear it all as part of the game. It was then that I realized that the Wanderlust for me is not a passing flu, but a genetic infestation that would be in my bones forever. It was then that I realized that I was born to ride.

Bravo, Bravo...

nice trip log buddy!

no updates since ages!!!