Tweet
But amidst all this, Ameya had a friend, Vidya, who wanted to join us desperately.
But with Rony and me, both having been ridden with him on separate occasions, we weren't quite sure that he had the stamina in him to pull off this tour (even though it was relatively easy). Plus Rony had an extra issue of compatibility. So smoke started rising and slowly a fire fight ensued; with Ameya and Rony fighting for and against the case of Vidya. I being the only one left, suggested that we do a test ride sometime in October ...post war silence. "Agreed." said Rony. Even though Ameya knew that Vidya had financial troubles, he agreed. He had to, because this seemed the only fair way to come to a conclusion and while simultaneously getting a chance to up the compatibility factor. Rony immediately drew a rough plan on GMAP and that was how this ride came into existence.
The plan was to cover both NH17 and NH4 as much as possible as they were both part of our Goa ride route. So 2nd October, Gandhi Jayanti,
We made good time and reached Mangaon by 11 am. Although it was planned that we will take the SH 97 (straight to Tamhini ghat via Nizampur) from here but since we were ahead of the approximate schedule, Rony suggested we ride further ahead till Mahad, which was barely 30kms away and then venture inwards towards Raigad fort. So we resumed riding and after a few straight stretches and some awesome curves, we stopped just before Mahad at Gandhar Pale caves. Rony stops at everything and anything to do with history. And it seems Pandavas had stayed here during their 14 year exile.
Shrugging off all the warnings, we rode ahead confidently rapidly crossing a 15 bike (all with pillions) contingent towards the directed path but what came next only made me lose all the braveheartedness and come back to being a Maharashtrian biker, maybe even worse. The roads were so bad that we probably never crossed 30kmph and during most of the part, we were revving the shit out of our bikes in the first gear. There were lots and lots of gravel, stones and dirt on the road. In fact I would say, there was very little road to be seen amongst all the gravel, stones and dirt. After 3-4 kms we came to a spot where the roads forked into two: one that was straight and slightly inclining and the other that had a steep decline. Though there was a signboard there but it was so badly rusted that nothing was recognizable. Ameya even went a couple hundred meters back to a house like structure only to find it abandoned. We even had a small debate regarding which road to take and it was after all this confusion that Rony finally took out his month old android smart phone and started the GPS. Then after 5 mins of fiddling with it he finally was able to point to the straight road saying that's where we had to go. He immediately got on his bike and placing all out trust on him, we followed. We made sure we stopped after every 2-3 kms to rest our backs and also to click some of the wonderful scenery that shone in the 1'o clock sun. But Ameya remained unfazed by all this, always halting a good 50meters ahead of us and looking ready to go as soon as we got down from our bike.
After a few mins, the 15 bike group showed up calmly riding with their pillions on the raggedy roads and all Rony could say was "we got company". He asked one of them about the route to Tamhini and all 4 of us heaved sighs of relief when they confirmed that we were on the right path.
It was a good 2.15pm when Ameya started urging us to get going. So again we started passing through villages, negotiating all obstacles making mistakes by taking the wrong turn, rectifying them by asking the very first intelligent life form that we came across. We finally landed at the Nizampur SH97 junction and turned right, rode towards Vile and came across the huge open MIDC plot. Here a group of local youths suggested us to turn right and take the newly constructed shortcut cutting across the MIDC plot. This road deserves a special mention because of its sheer awesomeness. It was butter smooth, arrow straight, 3km long, 4 lane road made on an undulating stretch of land.
Signing off with this picture and hope that soon all of us would be back on highway leading to GOA !
Until then...Godspeed my friends! Ride safe. Thanks for reading.
- Gautam Kamath (gautam_k)
But with Rony and me, both having been ridden with him on separate occasions, we weren't quite sure that he had the stamina in him to pull off this tour (even though it was relatively easy). Plus Rony had an extra issue of compatibility. So smoke started rising and slowly a fire fight ensued; with Ameya and Rony fighting for and against the case of Vidya. I being the only one left, suggested that we do a test ride sometime in October ...post war silence. "Agreed." said Rony. Even though Ameya knew that Vidya had financial troubles, he agreed. He had to, because this seemed the only fair way to come to a conclusion and while simultaneously getting a chance to up the compatibility factor. Rony immediately drew a rough plan on GMAP and that was how this ride came into existence.
The plan was to cover both NH17 and NH4 as much as possible as they were both part of our Goa ride route. So 2nd October, Gandhi Jayanti,
We made good time and reached Mangaon by 11 am. Although it was planned that we will take the SH 97 (straight to Tamhini ghat via Nizampur) from here but since we were ahead of the approximate schedule, Rony suggested we ride further ahead till Mahad, which was barely 30kms away and then venture inwards towards Raigad fort. So we resumed riding and after a few straight stretches and some awesome curves, we stopped just before Mahad at Gandhar Pale caves. Rony stops at everything and anything to do with history. And it seems Pandavas had stayed here during their 14 year exile.Shrugging off all the warnings, we rode ahead confidently rapidly crossing a 15 bike (all with pillions) contingent towards the directed path but what came next only made me lose all the braveheartedness and come back to being a Maharashtrian biker, maybe even worse. The roads were so bad that we probably never crossed 30kmph and during most of the part, we were revving the shit out of our bikes in the first gear. There were lots and lots of gravel, stones and dirt on the road. In fact I would say, there was very little road to be seen amongst all the gravel, stones and dirt. After 3-4 kms we came to a spot where the roads forked into two: one that was straight and slightly inclining and the other that had a steep decline. Though there was a signboard there but it was so badly rusted that nothing was recognizable. Ameya even went a couple hundred meters back to a house like structure only to find it abandoned. We even had a small debate regarding which road to take and it was after all this confusion that Rony finally took out his month old android smart phone and started the GPS. Then after 5 mins of fiddling with it he finally was able to point to the straight road saying that's where we had to go. He immediately got on his bike and placing all out trust on him, we followed. We made sure we stopped after every 2-3 kms to rest our backs and also to click some of the wonderful scenery that shone in the 1'o clock sun. But Ameya remained unfazed by all this, always halting a good 50meters ahead of us and looking ready to go as soon as we got down from our bike.
After a few mins, the 15 bike group showed up calmly riding with their pillions on the raggedy roads and all Rony could say was "we got company". He asked one of them about the route to Tamhini and all 4 of us heaved sighs of relief when they confirmed that we were on the right path.
It was a good 2.15pm when Ameya started urging us to get going. So again we started passing through villages, negotiating all obstacles making mistakes by taking the wrong turn, rectifying them by asking the very first intelligent life form that we came across. We finally landed at the Nizampur SH97 junction and turned right, rode towards Vile and came across the huge open MIDC plot. Here a group of local youths suggested us to turn right and take the newly constructed shortcut cutting across the MIDC plot. This road deserves a special mention because of its sheer awesomeness. It was butter smooth, arrow straight, 3km long, 4 lane road made on an undulating stretch of land.
Signing off with this picture and hope that soon all of us would be back on highway leading to GOA !
Until then...Godspeed my friends! Ride safe. Thanks for reading.
- Gautam Kamath (gautam_k)
Comment