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Sunday night:

Poli did some calculations and we were able to balance weight equally on both sides of the Cramster saddle bag. Each Saddle bag had one 5 Litre jerry can. Each can filled with approx. 4.5 liters of water. Yes, just plain hard water. Jerry cans were covered in polythene bags and well-sealed caps. If the can leaked anytime during the ride then we would have to think about something else.

One side of the saddle bag had all the additional gears and tools and the other side had clothes. I was not at all worried about the Cramster tank bag as having been testing it doing shopping etc and I am impressed by how much it can hold. We filled the Tank bag with winter clothes and some essentials that would be easily reachable. As usual the tank bag never disappointed me.

Just a week ago I had the rear tires replaced with a Dunlop block design which came with a 3 Year unconditional warranty. I needed this confidence as the load carried would be max. With all bags packed I went off to sleep at 1030PM. Just a few hours later we had to wake up and give a wake up call to Vishal.

Monday morning 02:00AM

Poli wakes me up. I called Vishal and he was already up. I was told his baby girl kept him awake all night. Poor chap. Mady stayed with Vishal that night. Night temperature was still hot. May is when all hell breaks loose in Hyderabad. I read the news that hot winds from Rajasthan blow southward and Hyderabad stands on its path. I could agree with that as by 3AM I could see myself standing in the open sky and sweating. I checked all gear, and dressed up. This was the first time I would fix a saddle bag on my bull. 0300AM Pruthvi calls me and says he is starting. It means all of us have to be at the meeting point by 0330AM.

Pruthvi, my friend on his Platina had to travel some 25 KM to reach our meeting point. Vishal and Mady had to do a 10KM run while I was the closest with 2.7 Kms.

I fixed the saddle bag on the bike, wow, heavy yet no problem. Then the tank bag was fixed. GPS fixed to charger and switched on. Added 2 liters of water onto the saddle bag.



Bike was checked the previous day with chains lubed and clutch cables adjusted. I checked the watch. 0330AM. Damn, Pruthvi would have already reached. I started the bull and rode cautiously with my bull fully loaded. I got a call from Pruthvi that he was waiting at the point – Habsiguda circle. Told him I will be there in 1 minute. I reached Habsiguda 11 minutes late. Vishal and Mady was nowhere to be seen.


Pruthvi -

Nobody wanted to wear full gear as the temperature was crazy. Our folks knew the importance of this ride so they did wear protective knee guards and elbow guards.

Few things I want to share about my team. Pruthvi is the calm and collected person here. Vishal and Mady are the bazookas. They are all out to try anything anytime. I like the diversity and let everybody do their thing. Poli is an adventurous young lady.


Me and Poli

Vishal and Mady arrived 5 minutes later. With no time to waste, we checked each other if they were ok. Pruthvi had his Platina all geared up in an impressive way. That’s the way he liked it. He tied up his Wildcraft bag and No saddle bag, No Tank bag, and yeah, it can ride for a kilometer with just the smell of fuel Pitch dark it was so no pictures. We started off by 0350AM.

I had ridden all the 12000 Kilometers on the bull in Hyderabad city. There wasn’t anything fun about it. As I rode past the city, I noticed how beautifully the bull performed on the highway. Being pitch dark with oncoming traffic like Volvo buses and trucks on high beam, we maintained average 50Kms. We had discussed about signaling each other in various ways we could understand in-case needed. I had to keep Pruthvi on my rear view mirror. It was easy to spot Vishal’s bike too on the rear view mirror as his headlamps burned at 5000K which meant white lights.

The adrenaline rush cannot be explained. And I knew we had to keep our spirits high throughout the ride. We knew the route towards Nagarjuna Sagar Dam which was approximately 160Kms one way. However to test the GPS which was with Poli we followed the GPS route which was 100% accurate.
In the first one hour we realized that very few intersections were not marked on the GPS map, however it was not a cause to be alarmed. GPS is a reference device and most roads are marked well. And Just before I reached the meeting point I had taken a wrong route intentionally and the GPS re-calculated a new route instantly.

One hour passed and I could see twilight on the horizon. I stopped on the road side and could hear peacocks calling out. It sounded so nice. Our guys stopped as well and told them just wanted to take a 5 min. Realized that we covered 45Kms in the first hour, but it was a safe ride all the way. Pruthvi told us that his pants tore at the bottom. He said he learned his first lesson about what type of pants to wear. As it was pitch dark, he unpacked his rear luggage and took another baggy pant and changed. I and Vishal covered him from both sides from floodlights of oncoming traffic .

10 Minutes late we zoomed passed now what seemed like beautiful 6 lane highways change to a single road shared by 2 way traffic. Poli was not comfortable initially with oncoming traffic zooming close by each other. I reassured her that in the state of Kerala, this is normal. And I am used to this and even narrower roads.

The first glimpse of sunrise captured by Pruthvi

second stop

Poli was not ready to wear the full gear set due to the temperature. I was impressed by Pruthvi’s Bajaj Platina. We got some new Dunlop rubber for him as well 2 weeks ago and he quoted fantastic feedback on it. One year ago when I invited riders for a trip to Leh the only condition I had was 2 wheels and a good attitude. Many of my friends told me even until last week that Pruthvi’s Platina cannot do it. I disagreed with everyone who claimed so. I told Pruthvi, he need not catch up with us on the highway; we will keep up with him. I was leading forward and Vishal/Mady would trail. Pruthvi kept up with us all the way and at times when I lost them on my rear view mirror, we slowed down.

Our second stop:




Country side was beautiful. The ride made me nostalgic. Brought up in the country side, I just wanted to turn back and ride to Kerala all the way.





Fully Loaded bull.




Our renegade soldiers – Vishal and Mady










Riding downwards towards Nagarjuna sagar was easy. Roads were descending all the way slowly. I used gravity to pickup speed most of the time. After drinking lots of water, next pit-stop was at the dam. I was worried for Vishal and Mady. Vishal had to return and sleep for a night shift, Mady was even worse, he had to return to work by 2PM. We had to reach the dam by 08:00AM. Once the sun was up we were able to pickup speed, easily doing 80Km/h downhill keeping Pruthvi in sight.



The one thing I hated was unmarked speed breakers littered across small villages. You just cant see them and I hit one at 60km/h. I was able to keep myself balanced. Signaled to the others immediately. As we descended the temperature reduced further with trees all over the plains. Geography was my favorite subject in school and till date. I could see why this place was ideal for a dam with hills surrounding water bodies. This was my first trip to this dam while the rest of them already did at-least once. I knew we would see no water at the dam, our goal was to touch Nagarjuna Sagar, have breakfast and return.





I noticed we were riding towards dark clouds and I felt so happy. Although there were few drops that fell, it never rained. But the very sight of dark clouds in hot summer gave me a boost. It looked heavenly.



Wind speed early morning was close to Nil. It was very easy to ride with no cross winds. The return story wasn't that easy.

As we descended towards the dam

Pit stop and return





The beautiful Dam. We were hungry for breakfast already. We reached Nagarjuna Sagar by 0750AM. That is 4 hours. 2 Hours in pitch dark. We rode down to the bottom of the dam and stopped for few minutes under a tree.




Our plan was to return at 08:00AM. That was not going to happen. We quickly gathered ourselves. I and Pruthvi decided to find a local restaurant to have breakfast. Vishal and Mady wanted few more minutes. So we let them be.

I left Pruthvi to find someplace to eat. We rode past AP tourism hotel and almost decided to get in when Poli noticed a small hut. Pruthvi asked if they served breakfast and the answer was positive. We stopped our bikes. We got some attention from the locals.

Parked our bikes.


We ordered Idly, wada and Dosa. 13 rupees for 5 Idlies, awesome. Dosas were real big. We kept a lookout for Vishal and Mady while having idly. We had told them to just return the same way we came. It took longer than usual. What I did not know that happened – was shared to me after I reached Hyderabad by Vishal.

Vishal and Mady impressed by the curves on the road tried to do some style riding of their own, ended up on the tarmac falling. Vishal told me the knee guards and elbow guards protected them no doubt about it. The right Crash guard took a hitting and fuel started flowing from the tank. They were able to get themselves together with no visible damage to the bike or themselves.

Recap to the idly hut:

We saw VV and Mady zooming in. Waved towards them to stop.




Pruthvi’s Platina.

Bull’s performance – 100%


The Unarmed Bandit VV



Vishal’s Avenger with the right crash guard bend. I did not notice until I was told.

The final sprint

I lost few part of the GPS log. Still getting used to it.






We left around 0830AM. Morning ride was pleasant, with clouds hanging over us we felt like a gift of god. However cross winds picked up speed and slowed down my ride. Nevertheless the ride was a great success for me and I shared the same with the rest of the folks. I was extremely happy with how things turned around. Although just the small crash, we spoke about it offline for future rides. While returning I saw the temperature rise and we were moving away from overcast clouds. 1 hour into the ride I couldn’t believe the heat blasting through our faces. We stopped at an HP petrol pump for a break.




I wish I had a thermometer to record temperature. And it was only 09:30AM. We hit the road again reaching 80Km/h whenever possible. Monday morning traffic picked up on the highway as well. 20 min into the ride I saw the tardy walas selling the palm tree fruit and Toddy. I pulled over and waved at the others to stop. 30 rupees for a dozen pieces. I had my fill and so did others.


Turned out to be Vishal’s favorite fruit. I was happy for him. He packed bags of it to take home.

Villagers were very kind; they got us cold water from a stream nearby to wash our face and hands. The others struck a conversation with the man in white who seemed to be the boss.









Vishal and Mady got a bottle filled with Toddy. We were told to drink before 1PM or you get high. Well, VV and Mady drank that bottle. Poli tasted a sip and almost threw up.



Glimpse of oncoming traffic.

Just before the final sprint.




I told the guys I'm starting as we took a good 20 min stop. We had to reach Hyderabad before noon. I pushed the throttle as fast as I could whenever the roads were free. Maintaining average 70Km/h. After riding for 45 min i realized I could see nobody behind me.

I had Poli call Pruthvi and Vishal. Came to know they stopped again for a smoke break. I continued and covered another 100Kms before slowing down for the guys. As I was entering Hyderabad city limits the traffic picked up. I stopped at one final place drinking Puthina water and butter milk. And waited for our folks. 15 minutes later they arrived and offered them the cool natural drink as well.

We did not click any more pictures after the last stop I had. Hyderabad heat was a torture. We were riding at 30Km/h average speed in the traffic. Just before taking the diversion back home we said our goodbyes. I knew they had to ride even further and they will suffer more than me.

At 1245PM I reached home clocking 315Kms totally. Pruthvi clocked 360Kms and I do not know about Vishal.



This ride taught us many things. More than anything we learned about team dynamics, what our capabilities are. We may have not learned everything. But something was better than knowing nothing. This was a small ride. But the heat made us tired as if we rode the whole day. And the Jerry can never leaked water, that was a great success as I look forward to do Nubra-Pang-Moriri one shot.

"This planet was born beautiful and will always remain beautiful. You and I will ride pass for years, be it on horse back or motorcycle. I have learned to respect nature as it is and am sure we will have many more miles to cover in the years."

Photo Credits: Pruthvi, Poli

Many thanks to XBHP and fellow riders for making our ride easy. I have learned so many things from XBHP more than I have learned in School . My contribution to this travelogue is just a way of showing my gratitude to this great community.

Nice ride guys, but how did you miss out on the Waterfalls, it is just 20kms from N.Sagar!

The "just 20 kms.." is pretty tough when he & others had to return back too the same day & going by the temperatures, man!! It was hot.

Good travelogue there man. Hats off to the lady for riding pillion in these conditions! The Toddy thing... now I know. It's called Taal in Bengali & it's really yummy. The soft juicy meat & the juice inside. So, that's what the desi liqour is made up of. Feeling thirsty now

best of wishes for your dream ride, Leh

Thank you Rakesh. We did not miss the water fall. It was just that we had to return by 1130AM. Mady had to go back to work by 2PM. After all this we reached at 1230PM. And man, it was hell hot. It was like we rode the whole day.

Thank you RX. The lady is a Bengali and she did tell me it is called Taal. I just forgot. Yeah, the village guy said, if you drink Taal early morning, you can work like a horse. And drink the same thing in the evening, you can get drunk and dance

Thank you guys for the encouragement.

Video Link uploaded

Linking a small video of the ride which is on Youtube.



I loved every minute of that ride.


Credits - All India Radio (band)

Nice trip log bro .. Even amazing knowing the fact that you guys chose a working day and went to after that tiring ride .. Needs a lot of gut and enthu on a riders part to volunteer for that .. Keep up the good work .. You really inspire lazy dogs like me who always crib over the heat and office

Thanks a ton for you encouragement K_9ine. There was no way all of us could get a same week off. We were already behind schedule by 2 weeks for the test ride.

As for the heat, intolerable is the only word I know to describe it. Had to ensure nobody got heat stroke. I loved every second of the ride.

Nice preparation trip for Leh. Indeed it was very hot in the third of week of May. Nice pics and narration. We too rode to Sagar in April, and it was very hot too at that time.

The Ethipothala water falls would be dry and good that you guys have avoided it.

And wish you all the best for the Leh trip. Ride safe and enjoy.

now i know why you guys are sleepy in office.. all the excitement is gone in riding.. lolz ..
you guys seriously did great job against the heat and maddy and vishal look all prepared for the long trip.

and pruthvi is still the same. why so serious ???

dint knew vishal got a new bike. well looks like you guys had a good time.. leh calling. i am all set for september. you inputs will help.