India never ceases to amaze. Let alone the foreigners who visit this great and varied land, the natives themselves can sometimes be taken aback by the beauty and the vast variety of it that India has to offer. People living in urban areas are all the more awestruck when they visit places like Ladakh, the north-east, the backwaters of Kerala. There is no scarcity of natural beauty out here. People who have an undying spirit and for whom the road is the home will find no problem finding help in case of a breakdown or a place to stay the night after a tiring, day long ride. The trio of Krishna on his 1900km old Ninja, Mathew on his first-service old CBR and I on my 220 with 9000kms on it discovered this beauty on a ride that was supposed to total 300kms but ended up putting an extra 200kms on our odos.

That is possibly the best mindset one can have if riding to scenic places, specially in the monsoon. You should enjoy the ride and take frequent breaks even if you're not tired. Appreciate the beauty that nature is offering. Feel the peace that surrounds you. Feel calm from within yourself. Enjoy the dance that the silence around you is performing.



The Plan

The plan was formulated by Krish on Friday. I'd gone for a Lavasa run in the night and saw the post detailing a ride to Varandha ghat and Shivthargal and back. My initial response was undecided but once I saw the route on google maps I was IN!! I love riding in well laid out twisties and this looked pretty good. So I called up Krishna and told him that I was coming. The total group included five people but by the morning of the ride had reduced to 3 people... We met up at Chandani Chowk around 715 on Sunday and ate a small breakfast. It had already rained a bit and looked like it would at least drizzle the rest of the day. For reasons I won't mention (not directly at least), Krish was carrying a few wet tissues

We were suiting up when I noticed a GT650R and an Avenger with geared up riders coming from the distance. I pointed them out and they too noticed us and stopped on the other side of the road. They were headed towards Mahabaleshwar and were staying the night there. Our plans were different but not entirely as we realized later in the ride



So they rode on and after suiting up and going over a few details like the cruising speed, route, etc. we too started our journey. We took the ramp down to NH4 and were soon riding at 80. Being a weekend, the traffic was heavier than normal but was mostly trucks as it was early morning (Pune doesn't start before 9-10am). I'd already tanked up the night before and had about 10 liters. The baby Ninjette and cee-bee-aar required some fueling so we pulled over at a HP petrol station and the two bikes enjoyed a lot of attention from the few people who were present. I could relate to them as I'd felt similarly when I'd seen the Ninja for the first time a year or two ago... That bike is bloody JET!!



The Ride Starts

We started cruising at 80-90 on the highway, overtaking trucks and feeling the jealousy filled gazes of the car drivers bore into our backs . Krish was leading the way, I was in the middle and Mathew was tailing. Before long we reached the exit to Bhor ghat and continued on a narrower road with the occasinal badly patched up pothole. It was drizzling slightly and the atmosphere was amazing! The kind of feeling you get only in the monsoon. We passed through a few villages and were asking the locals the whereabouts of an ATM when one of them asked us where we were going. We told him and he said that we'd find ATMs there. Satisfied, we continued. The roads had slight gradients now and the trees at the edges added to the beauty. We stopped for a pee break and were doing a small photo session with the bikes when a group of cars overtook us. There were a few teens in the cars who obviously got excited when they noticed two 'super' bikes standing at the edge of the road.





We continued riding and soon Krish asked me to take the lead as the route was very scenic and I was the one with the camera. Every now and then I would stop to photograph something.



We overtook the group of cars but stopped soon after when there was an amazing sight right up till the horizon full of greenery and hills. The group of cars overtook us again and this cycle of overtaking, photographing, overtaking happened quite a few times.

After a while we joined SH70 and continued riding. The roads were now slowly going uphill and the characteristic twists and turns of ghat roads were becoming evident. Somehwhere along the way it started raining and we slowed down a bit since I was on Nylogrip Zappers and the other two on Continentals. The tires didn't have problems gripping but we took it slow initially to build up our confidence levels. The roads were very twisty in nature now and every now and then a car or truck would come out of a corner and I'd re-adjust my line, set up the rear brake, shift to 3rd gear and pass the vehicle from the edge of the road. The edges of the road were pretty risky since they ended abruptly and had a sudden 2-3 inch drop to the mud below. There was a margin for error but it wasn't too wide and one wrong move while a vehicle was coming from the other direction and a terrible crash would result. Having said that, I was thoroughly enjoying the roads by now, having fun while challenging the road to throw something new at me.

There were many beautiful farms and village huts and barren-landscapes-turned-brown-because-of-mud along the way but I was so absorbed by the road and its awesomeness that I had eyes for nothing else and failed to notice all this. Krish honked from behind me and when we stopped I realized what I was missing! So we stopped for another photography break and took a few good ones of the bikes too. By the time we were about to leave, it had started pouring...













Eager to start riding again, I packed up my camera and we were off again. We encountered the group of cars again and this time I waited a while before overtaking them as I saw that one of the kids was clicking a photograph.



A Low-Side - Well Almost

We were passing over a small bridge which had a 4-5 foot wide puddle of water on it. I passed through the puddle and it didn't occur to me to slow down. Just after the bridge there was a left turn with a positive gradient. As I entered the turn my rear tire suddenly lost traction and instinctively my left leg shot down to support the bike's weight. Thankfully the tire regained traction a moment before I slipped into an unrecoverable low-side. It should have occurred to me that the tire would lose traction momentarily after passing through the puddle. Thankful to the tire, I carried on and rode a little slower for a while... *little* while



Of Potholes and Varandha Ghat





We passed by a beautiful waterfall and were soon at the top of the ghat. It was completely foggy now and visibility was reduced to a few 10 meters. We took another break here and peed and took a few photos and Krish informed us that now the road would not allow more than 30-35kmph and that we had a few more kays to go before we reached Varandha ghat.


Our truck companion over 50 kays or so...



Delighted with this news and egged on by the hot vada pavs and bhajias we'd eat, we started riding again. The road was really eroded because of all the rain and mist and there were more potholes than road now . Carrying on at 2nd/3rd gear around 30kmph, we negotiated the potholes. Krish was leading now with Mathew in the middle and I was following. There wasn't anything unsafe about the roads since we were going slow. After another 15-20 minutes of riding, Varandha ghat emerged!




A little perspective.









What a beautiful sight it was!! Full of green! Waterfalls so long that the water disappeared into the air! We could see clouds moving at the same level as us... Heck! We were in a cloud! The huge valley added a lot of perspective and greenery covered the entire valley. I cannot describe the view in words!

Content with our small achievement, we ate our fill of vada pavs and bhajias and drank some chai. There were a lot of monkeys around the area and they were pretty intelligent too, knowing who to ask for food and even how to ask. I offered one of them a bhajia and he was most happy!

We'd reached the ghat by about 130 which was good time since the ride was supposed to be relaxed. We sat around for a half hour or so and then decided to continue forward. We stopped after 500meters and noticed that we were at the top of a lovely road which was winding downward.







We must have been 500 meters or so above the base. I clicked a few photos and our group was in turn clicked by a group of people standing around the same place. We continued riding downward. Initially, the road was rather bad, interspersed with potholes but after a while it gave way to nice and plain roads and we were able to up our speeds. Going down and around the curves we reached the base after a while and reached an intersection. The road going straight went towards NH17 and the road to the right towards Shivthargal. The plan was to ride to Shivthargal and ride back via Bhatghar dam. But Krish stopped and asked the two of us what we wanted to do. After about 10 minutes of debating with ourselves, we decided to ride towards NH17 and then decide where to go.



A Mind-Numbing Straight

Happy with this turn of events and the nice and plain roads that lay ahead, we started off. The road was mostly straight now with a turn every now and then. We were passing through a few villages and Mathew was leading when something amazing happened... And I mean AMAZING!!! At least 3km of pure, unadulterated, traffic free, people free straight road lay ahead. I was the riding in the middle and the first to open up. We were riding at about 70 and within a second I was overtaking Mathew, flashing my lights to let him know I was coming, a few seconds later I was at 120. This road couldn't have been better!! I was riding at 120 and there was no debris, no potholes, not even the occasional bump that you'd expect! Completely smooth straight roads. About a km from the end I slowed down a bit as I saw the Ninja coming up behind me. ZOOM!! I was overtaken by a jet!! We carried on for about half a minute more and slowed down as a bend approached... Braking down to 60, we took the turn, crossed over a bridge and stopped on the other side.





The smiles on our faces couldn't have been wider!
In the span of a couple of minutes we'd reached heaven and come back... For the entire length of the trip we couldn't stop talking about that one stretch of road. It was amazing!!



Memories or Discovery?

We soon reached the intersection for NH17. The road to the left went to Dapoli and the one to the right and straight went towards Mahad. Now we had to decide for good where we wanted to go. We confirmed the routes from a guy at a toll booth and asked about the conditions of the roads. We parked out bikes at the edge of the road and taking off our gloves and helmets, took another break. I'd brought some water along so after a small drink we started deciding.









I was in Mahad when I was just a couple of years old and didn't remember much. That place holds a special place in my heart. Both Krish and Mathew had never been there. I was pondering voting for Mahad but the beauty of a beach which most likely was virgin was appealing too. After some thinking and weighing of options, I voted for the beach at Dapoli. They too were of the same opinion so we geared up and were riding soon.



Garaj Baras

Krish was leading initially and it started raining very heavily a couple of minutes after we started riding. I had no problems riding in the rain. My jacket was about 90% water proof and I don't have any problems riding in the rain even if I'm drenched. Krish pulled over to ask us if we wanted to stop and wait for the rains to finish. I was carrying an umbrella but since I had no problems, I was fine with continuing and so was Mathew. Krish was fine with his rain pants and jacket, which were also not 100% water proof as we learned later. So we continued and Krish told me to take the lead. I obliged and we were soon riding at 70-80kmph. I knew I could trust my tires even in heavy rains because I'd been following cars at up to 110kmph in the rains at night when I was coming back from Bangalore a little more than a week back. The tires had performed marvelously then and there wasn't any reason for them to fail this time...

So we were cruising along, battling a little cross wind which would at times suddenly rise up and throw us off course. I spotted a few bad patches filled with potholes and a couple of speed breakers in time despite the rain so my confidence grew all the more. I was checking my RVMs constantly not just for the group but also because it helps the ride from getting monotonous. The rains relented after a while. Riding on we reached a town where Krish managed to find an ATM. We took another break and Mathew answered a few questions (related to the bike) from a bystander. Krish wanted to get a feel of the CBR so Mathew and I waited while he took a 5 minute ride through the town.

We asked a few locals about the directions the Dapoli. Satisfied that we were on the right track, we continued riding. We passed through another small ghat and after about 30kms reached Khed.



A Ravishing Twisty

After Khed, riding towards Dapoli, I rode on the best ghat ever! Not that I've been to many twisties but these roads were just amazing! The roads were properly banked, the sign boards well laid out and completely legible and there were no surprise corners with wrong cambers or decreasing radii... All these factors gave Krish and me enough confidence to start rolling with ease. Mathew, for whom this was the first trip on his bike, took it easy and wasn't pushing as hard as us. We climbed the ghats and had to slow down in just one placed where a truck had had an accident in the middle of the road. Attendants were present so we continued down the road for another 15-20 minutes, constantly attacking the curves and getting into obscene angles of lean. We then reached another magnificent view overlooking a valley and I just had to stop there even though I was thoroughly enjoying the roads. I took a few photos and we were discussing the roads for sometime. Each talking about their experience.




The truck companion.

There was still quite a lot of the ghat left to cover and it was about 3 I suppose. We geared up again, ready to wage war with the curves once more... We were careful not to overtake trucks on blind corners even if we got left behind. We'd even slow down to 25-30kmph if we were behind a truck at a blind corner. The moment the turn was over, we'd rip back up to 60-70. This continued for another 20 minutes or so and then the ghats gave way to smooth straights. We touched 100 in a few patches and were covering good distance... It was drizzling every now and then and the surroundings were as beautiful as ever. We reached Dapoli which was the busiest town we'd encountered on the trip. There were rickshaws and school children and ST bus stands and shops. I was having a good time at the rear of the group since the two bikes were attracting a lot of stares. The people were literally gawking and pointing and every time Krish revved his bike, the sweet whine of the parallel twin would make youngsters jump in delight...



Baby Ninjette Learns to Fly

As we exited Dapoli the roads were suddenly super smooth and banked again and at the same height. So now we had ghat like roads, only they didn't have a gradient. This time Krish just went ballistic!! He tore through the roads like they were his backyard! Mathew and I had a hard time keeping up and soon lost sight of him even though we were riding crazier than ever! We rode for a good 10 minutes this way and found him at the edge of the road with his helmet and gloves off. He'd been waiting for a couple of minutes so obviously he'd had a good time.



We took a pee break and continued riding. There was another fork in the road, we asked around and took the one towards the beach.

Riding on we reached a diversion where Krish asked for directions to the beach. An elderly man was kind enough to tell us and we continued riding. The roads were pretty narrow and we rode on at about 30 when I saw a pond that was beautifully positioned.





I took a few photos and just when we were about to start again, Mathew pointed out that the sea was audible. We listened and indeed it was!



The Sea Emerges

Delighted we rode a few hundred meters and just as we turned around a corner we saw waves and white foam and a huge brown colored beach!!

It was euphoria once again!! Another magnificent sight on the same trip! Delighted, we punched our fists in the air and Krish almost lost balance since we were going so slow! We emerged onto the beach and were amazed by its vastness... It stretched till as far as the eye could see. I was so awestruck by it and so overwhelmed by nature that I clicked just one picture on the beach -__-

For some reason I just completely forgot to click photographs!



Anyway, so Krish and I took off our gear and took a ride on the beach. The cool breeze felt heavenly and it was a good experience riding in the mud. Satisfied, we parked our bikes and sat down for a nice and well deserved lunch. Fish and chapati and rice. Needless to say, it was a sumptuous meal and more so because of our ride. Done with the eating, I took a walk on the beach and was surprised to see at least 4 cars and 3 bikes from Pune itself! The bikers were not wearing helmets so I assumed they'd come to stay the night at Dapoli because it seems pretty incredulous that someone would ride all the way from Pune to Dapoli through all the fog and ghats and rain without a helmet at least.

I chatted with a few people who were from Pune, they'd come by car and actually lived at walking distance from my place. The beach had these quad bikes which you could rent and ride but they weren't too fast and exciting so I didn't go for it...

I walked back and found Krish taking a nap. We sat down and decided to leave in half an hour. It was about 5 by the time we left and just to be safe, decided to get to Mahabaleshwar before it was dark. It was a big aim considering we were about 108kms away and had to cover that distance over 3 ghats. We started riding and took it easy for a while - no ripping. We filled up fuel at Dapoli. I had about 4 liters left and would've needed, at most, just a couple of liters more to make it back safely. But just to be safe I filled in 4 liters and was content that I wouldn't be needing any more fuel.



Of Wet Tissues and The Rain

We started riding again and as we settled down, the speeds came automatically and, more importantly, comfortably. We took a pee break and Krish decided that it was time to put the wet tissues to use . He went behind a few bushes and Mathew and I were waiting for a good 15 minutes chatting about this and that when it started raining. Amid the sound of our laughter at the plight of Krish, he emerged from the bushes buttoning up his jeans. Unfortunately, his wet suit had gotten wet a bit from the inside. He didn't have a choice so he suited up and we were off again. We gobbled up the straights till Khed fairly quickly and the weather had still not turned upon us. We were enjoying the ride and soon after Khed the ghats we'd previously covered started once more. There was a lot of light left in the day and there wasn't any appreciable amount of traffic. We were confident and blasted off once more.



The Ravishing Twisty Once Again

This time I managed to keep up with Krish and Mathew was close behind me. I was discussing taking sharp turns at good speeds with him later and remembered reading on the forum that the front of the CBR dives a lot under heavy braking which doesn't instill too much confidence while cornering. So we were ripping upwards through the ghat, overtaking carefully, our foot pegs must have been very close to touching the road. I'd never leaned down this much before. Not even while coming down this ghat earlier in the day. My boosted confidence must have been one of the reasons. On the ghats it is much easier to see traffic coming from a distance if the road is on the same side as the next turn. So, this visibility allowed me to get into the right lane while taking on a curve and this resulted in even better speeds. But note that at no point did I ever do anything that would lead to injury or loss of life. I was riding within my limits and if you're as sure as I was that the roads won't spring any surprises in any form, you too would've ridden like I did.

So we rode on and covered this entire ghat without a break. Must have taken almost an hour. Going down the ghat was even more challenging for obvious reasons. I was keeping at even higher revs - upwards of 5-6k rpm - on lower gears to get the very necessary engine breaking. I was bringing up the rear now and Mathew was loving taking the corners too now. A line of trucks slowed us down for sometime and by the time Krish and Mathew had overtaken the line, I was stuck behind one more truck because of a blind corner. I waited patiently for the turn to get over and then ripped again. I was now about 200 meters behind the dashing duo of a Ninja and a CBR and they were mostly out of my sight for quite a while. There was a Safari standing at the edge of the road and they were delighted at the sight of a two high-end bikes racing down the hills at 70kmph and it just so happened that Krish overtook Mathew at that exact curve! They cheered and hooted and when I came up 50 or so meters behind them, i got some cheers too .

This continued for quite some time and there was just one emergency braking moment when I emerged out of a corner and saw the accident hit truck which we'd encountered earlier in the day. It was still there and I had about 100 or so meters to brake. On dry straights it wouldn't have been much work but out here on wet ghat roads with a negative gradient it was a little risky since I couldn't use the front break too much. So I rear braked as hard as I dared, pulled in the clutch lever, blinked the throttle while shifting down to third, left the lever, still braking, pulled in the lever again, shifted to second and left the lever again... All this in a split second! I'd surprised myself and my bike had surprised me when I had a good 10 meters when I stopped before the truck. Delighted I waited for the vehicles on the other side to pass and started off again.

This obstacle had allowed me to catch up with the other two fair and square although I'd have liked to do so without any such obstacle .

After a while the roads were not so good anymore indicating that we were approaching Poladpur where we would take a right for Mahabaleshwar. As we went around the Shivaji statue and stopped near a police station, an inspector shouted at us to move ahead and not stand near there. So we dragged our bikes a little forward and took off our gear. For the third time that day, all three of us had huge smiles on our faces!!

The roads had been awesome and I could tell from our expressions that this was the most fun any of us had ever had on ghats, specially Mathew who'd been leading ever since the ghat went downwards until the time Krish overtook him. This being his first 'cornering' session, Mathew was taught a little theory about traction and engine braking and how to put it to use. If body language was anything to judge by, a chap on a two wheeler we'd overtaken while coming down was standing nearby and chatting merrily with a traffic cop while pointing and looking towards us. He was either delighted by our run or was telling the cop to 'talk' to us. But nothing happened so we relaxed.



Professor Biker is Born

Krish was having trouble with his lenses since something was stuck in them and was causing him pain. It was also adding to his drowsiness. So he decided to take the lenses off and put on his glasses. So he took his lenses out and put on his glasses which are nothing less than 2 Dioptre in power (that's +2 for all you non-science people ). He put on these telescopes for glasses and what a sight it was!! He looked quite the professor in them and once he put on his helmet, Professor Biker was born! In fact, he has a new alias with that name on this forum. I'll be sure to click a few photos of Professor Biker and upload them later...

Its like he's some X-Man and he has the power to control bikes and has super-human riding capabilities . Too good!!



Of Darkness and Fireflies

Satisfied with a 10 minute break and a little stretching but with bladders full, we rode a km or so and found a place to pee. Now with bladders empty we started riding when Krish pulled over. It was twilight now and he was feeling drowsy. Having experienced what drowsiness can do to your visual abilities on my 1604km ride in 23 hours, I didn't think twice and immediately agreed that we should stop till it was dark. So we waited and made a few phone calls and stretched our muscles. There wasn't any back pain or sore butt for any of us.

After about 20 minutes it was dark and the headlights had started becoming effective. All three bikes have superb headlights with great range and spread. The Ninja was the most powerful so Krish started leading. For the initial 10kms or so the road was pretty bad with, once again, more potholes than road. We kept our speeds around 30 and maneuvered around the potholes while getting blinded by the high beams of an oncoming vehicle every now and then. But surprisingly, quite a few 4 wheelers had the good sense to switch to low beam when they saw us approaching.

This bad patch carried on till we entered the third ghat and it smoothened out after a while although every now and then we'd have to break because of a bad patch. Somewhere along the ghat we stopped out bikes and switched everything off. The silence and darkness was amazing and believe you me, I saw fireflies!! I don't even remember seeing too many fireflies when I was 5 years old and that was when I was in Assam!! It was a beautiful sight to see those green lights go on and off periodically. Reminded of my childhood when I'd try and catch them. We saw a couple of them and after enjoying the silence for 5 minutes or so, decided to move on. It was pretty much dark now and we still had 40 odd kms to cover before we'd reach Mahabaleshwar.



Helping Out

Anyhow, we decided to carry on and after riding on decent ghat roads at 3rd gear speeds for a while, we saw hazard lights on in the distance. It is a very irritating and unnecessary idea that Indians have - keeping hazard lights on while going through tunnels and ghats at night. Hazard lights are meant for indicating a serious danger like a car or truck broken down in the middle of a road or at a place deemed hazardous. If done otherwise, it is pointless and irritatingly distracting. Getting back to the ride, we saw hazard lights in the distance and this time the car was standing still. We stopped near them and they told us that their car's headlights were not working and asked if we would lead the way for them. We, of course, were happy to help these people. So Krish and Mathew lead the way while I tagged along behind the car.

We were riding this way for a while and I was wondering how horrible it'd be if you were forced to walk without lighting, let alone drive, on this road on a moonless night!!

I saw headlights in my RVMs and as they came closer, it turned out that the people in the car behind me (a Scorpio) knew the guys in the car (Santro) we were helping out. They spoke about something and somewhy, it was decided that the bikes would lead the way while the Santro stayed in the middle and the Scorpio stayed at the rear. I did not understand this logic of keeping the bikes at the front at all since a car like the Scorpio has much better headlights than any of us and the Santro could've followed it easily. I didn't refute however and we egged on.



Trouble I Say

About 10kms from Mahabaleshwar the conditions got really bad... We had already experienced bad roads, ghats, rains, ghats at night, high beams and now we had to contend with fog!! And mind you this was not 500 meter visibility fog, we could hardly see 5 meters ahead of us even with the sort of lights we had!!!
I was leading the way when this fog just suddenly descended out of nowhere and I had no idea why I could not see anything for a couple of seconds. Scared out of my wits, but not panicked, I slowed down to 15-20kmph in 2nd gear and still had to keep my eyes and head wide open. Had anyone in the group been even slightly drowsy, the adrenalin because of this suddenly challenging environment would've woken them up.

The headlights of most vehicles are always slightly angled towards the left, just a degree or two, not much. But this slight shift in angle was very disorientating. I was travelling straight but the headlights were pointing slightly to the left. I was focusing at a point about 3 meters in front of the bike and when the road curved the headlights would fall on the 5 ft tall line of rocks lining the road. I followed these rocks and turned by focusing on keeping my distance from them constant until the turn was over. There were no white markings or reflective things on the road which could've made the task simpler. More than once I found my self at the edge of the road and suddenly braked and had to slow down to 10kmph. The high beam was completely useless as all it did was project a cone of light somehwere into the air which ended up blinding me more than revealing the road's contours. The fog reflected and refracted the light in ways that took me a while to get used to.

After a while I got used to it and found that if I continuously switched my attention between the road, where the light was pointing and keeping a lookout for clues indicating a turn, I could negotiate the ghat with a *little* more ease. This routine carried on for quite sometime. Don't quite know how long since I was completely absorbed by maneuvering through the fog. At one point I almost put my feet down when we were passing next to a waterfall. I couldn't see it but could hear it and the mist from the waterfall couple with the fog forced me to go really slow.

Krish took over the lead after some time and I realized how easy it was to follow someone in this fog! I had to exert no extra effort apart from keeping an eye on his tail lights! I relaxed after Krish took over and found it much easier to ride in the fog.

So after an eternity we reached this checkpost where you have to buy tickets to get into Mahabaleshwar. I bought the tickets and as I was gearing up again I realized that the Santro and Scorpio had been following us all this time! I'd been so tense that I hadn't even checked my RVMs! I felt like laughing at the driver of the Scorpio for feeling so scared of the fog that he wanted to follow three bikes instead of leading the way with his powerful lights!! We carried on with the cars still following us and 5 minutes or so later saw a few lights here and there. There were various restaurants and hotels. We'd decided to eat dinner at Mahab and pulled over. I went back to the Santro to ask him where he was going. He said that they'd find a mechanic and fix the headlights before heading out again. The people in the Santro were most grateful and it felt good to have helped someone out at our own expense.



A Well Deserved Break

We rode a bit more and found a restaurant at the side of the road. We pulled over and parked our bikes in a line to the complete disbelief of the few people and staff at the restaurant. I could notice a glance in our direction every now and then and I must say, I was enjoying the attention



It was very windy at this restaurant and for the first time in the trip (apart from the beach where I was dry) I decided to take off my jacket to let it dry off. The moment I took it off I felt I was back in Ladakh! We were wet plus it was foggy and very windy and raining at times. The wind was pretty strong and made us feel colder. Krish was the most used to it and didn't feel that cold. I was enjoying it too even though it almost made me shiver. Mathew didn't even dare open his jacket!

We did a little vigorous body movement to build up some heat and started talking about army men and rugby players and the sort of stamina they have. I don't even remember how the topic started!

I hadn't shivered this much even in the last winter! We made our way to the counter and learned they didn't have any hot drink, not even soups! Each of us ordered a burger and Krish ordered a 'strawberry cream'. Mahab is known for its strawberries and we learned first hand why so... This strawberry cream came in a 500ml glass full to the brim. There were strawberries which had probably been run through a mixer and it was mixed up with cream. But that wasn't the best part - At the top of the glass was a 2 finger wide lump of the most amazing and viscous cream I've ever tasted! The moment I took a bite of that cream it was like eating for the first time! The cream just melted in my mouth and I feel like having it again now that I'm writing about it! It was a lovely mix of sweet cream and slightly bitter strawberry. Nothing like it. No wonder it was a 100 bucks or so!

Our burgers arrived and the moment I touched mine a sigh of relief escaped from my lips. It was nice and hot and by that time we were all hoping for a nice hot shower. One bite and all three of us had an orgasm! It was the BEST burger EVER!! The hot vegetables, the melted cheese, the lovely bread! Ah sweet food! How I love thee! What would I not give to taste that burger right now! I'm sure I finished mine in not more than 7 bites and immediately, one more strawberry cream and another three burgers were ordered. The service was pretty fast and we had our food in front of us within 10 minutes. By now a family with a couple of hot women had arrived at the restaurant . So the experience of good food was complete. We had amazing food in our mouths and good looking women to glance at .

We were still not satisfied and a pizza was ordered. That too was pretty amazing. Anything would've tasted amazing at that point. We were wet and cold and had had a trying ride. Done with the food and a well deserved pee break, we started gearing up when the bill arrived - 680 bucks!! I was all but when I did the calculations in my head it seemed alright. 80 rupees per burger, 100 for the strawberry cream and another ton for the pizza. I had nothing but open change left by then so Krish settled the bill. The walls were lined with photos of famous people who'd been there and I could count pretty much every star from the 90s, a few industrialists and various relatives of famous people and then the bill seemed justified

Krish was considering staying the night there and saying that he should've bought three nanos instead but he was just fooling around. All the same I told him to think about hot food and to sing songs to himself. It'd helped me in the last leg of the 1600km journey I mentioned earlier.



The Weather Hates Us!

We geared up and just as we were about to sit on our bikes the weather, once again at the wrong time, turned on us. Heavy rains started and this time I just could not control my shivering. I checked my oil level, which was fine, and sat on the bike. I was shivering my ass off by then and Krish was having a gala time watching me . Mathew made his way to the edge of the road while I waited beside Krish who was waiting for his bike to warm up. I was filling my head with thoughts about the warm shower I'd have when I got back and kept starting at the warm orange glow of my speedo's console. It really helped.

Done with the warming up, the Ninja was ready to go. It got onto the road and in first gear Krish revved it to 10k rpm if the sound was anything to go by. A Ninja revving up is really the sweetest sound ever! Beats any of the songs that I like and I like metal! I followed suit and revved till 7k rpm. Anything above 6k rpm on a pulsar feels like the entire world is vibrating!

So we were off again! On the final leg of our journey. With stomachs filled and body and mind alert, we made out way out of Mahabaleshwar. I stopped shivering and even feeling cold about 5 minutes into the ride and was comfortable again like I am riding in the winters. Krish was leading, Mathew behind him and I was tailing. It was going good for sometime but I started noticing the initial signs of drowsiness. It wasn't anything to be alarmed about as the danger would only start if I started feeling like keeping my eyes closed or worse, started hallucinating.

We rode a while and then Krish pulled over when he saw the beginning of the fourth and final ghat we'd encounter that night. We saw a valley once again and this time there were lights down there from the various houses. Krish stated his need for a power nap and said that he'd take one once we were done with the ghat.



Baby Ninjette Breaks the Sound Barrier

We started riding after a small break. It wasn't raining on this ghat but the roads were still slightly wet from rains. A few seconds into the ride Krish, once again, went ballistic. This time he surpassed all the beliefs I had about riding at night in the ghats while the roads were wet. He was like a bullet fired from a gun! Mathew and I didn't dare to keep up with him but we were going pretty fast ourselves feeling safe in mapping the road ahead by watching his tail lights in the distance and adjusting our line and speed accordingly. We encountered a couple of cars but since we could see them coming from afar, they weren't a problem. These roads too were pretty challenging and I'd love to take them in the day time when they're dry.

I could've gone faster but there was this Maruti 800 who was going just slightly slower than us. I couldn't overtake him because of the lack of straights and the small difference in our relative speeds. He too was taking the corners pretty aggressively. Krish had somehow managed to overtake him and by the time the ghats were over and we'd overtaken the car on a straight stretch and pulled over next to Krish, he'd been waiting for quite a while...

Mathew and I were completely fine at that point so we took a 10 minute break. However, the place where we stopped had a lot of dogs around and they started barking since they could sense we weren't locals. I shooed them away to a distance but they continued barking and Krish couldn't really get any rest. So after 10 minutes we decided to continue and Mathew and Krish had exchanged bikes.



Chase that Beemer!

We were still about 90kms from Pune. I decided to lead the way owing to Krish's drowsiness and maintained a healthy 70-75 but twice I took the wrong turn on a fork in the road and after the second wrong turn decided to let Krish take the lead. He rode along for sometime before stopping at a point which had reflective bands on the sides of the road. Mathew switched on his indicator and Krish settled down with his hands on his petrol tank and head on his hands. I too, for good measure, closed my eyes. Ten minutes or so later Krish was more alert than before and felt it was safer to continue now.

So the bikes were fired up and once again the jet engine took off. A BMW had overtaken us just as we were about to start riding and Krish caught up with it in no time. It must have been doing 120 or so. Mathew got there too with his CBR and I had no trouble cruising at 120 either (the bike did it for most of the 23 hours I was riding on the trip earlier) but the roads were too bumpy for my liking so I stayed at around 105 on the speedo. Straight roads have a tendency of disappearing very quickly and within no time we'd gobbled 15kms!

We'd reached NH4 in no time and now we knew that it wouldn't take much time to cover the 75 or so kays that lay ahead. We stopped at the side and without switching off out bikes acknowledged the amazing run we'd had on the straight following the BMW.



NH4 Once Again

And we started off again. We'd decided to cruise at 80 and occasionally reached 90-100 during some overtaking maneuvers. Krish was riding fine but I could see the drowsiness starting to cloud his judgement. I accelerated to catch up with him and told him to take it slow. He slowed down but still stayed in the lead. The guy was surviving on just two hours of sleep from the night before the ride so it was only natural for him to feel drowsy if not fatigued.

Night riding can get rather monotonous if you don't have anything to do. I was singing songs in my head and Mathew was doing the same (as he told me later) but that too was boring after a while. So, like I'd done on previous rides, I lifted my legs and put them on the shin guards of my bike. It gives a different feel to the ride and also dries up your underwear a bit . The other two obviously couldn't do the same so I slowed down to let Mathew see and and sped up to let Krish see my Thunderbird cruising style .

I rode like that for quite a while and got back to the normal stance once a few curves came along. There weren't many vehicles going at our speeds (around 90) and we were mostly overtaking but this one Indigo kept speeding up and slowing down around our group rather dangerously. The car did this a few times and I got irritated although its rather hypocritical of me since this riding group too wasn't exactly following lane discipline. So I sped up to 100 and the other two did the same and we left the car behind.

Mathew had been having problems with his left RVM. It was held by an allen key screw and it was a little loose. By then it had started moving a lot so the next time we pulled over for a break, we fixed the issue. The CBR's toolkit didn't have an allen key of the same size but the Ninja's toolkit did. So the issue was fixed. I learned that it was Mathew's birthday in 15 minutes and conveyed the same to Krish. So we waited a while longer and at 12 wished him a happy birthday. He got a couple of calls too. It was a good birthday I'd say and that too on a Sunday... There are people who like nothing more than to sit in front of a TV or spend the weekend in bed. And then there are people like us bikers who go out and spend the weekend with our bikes and then there are people like Mathew who spend the night of their birthdays on their bikes! Hats off to you Mathew! . True biking spirit .



Getting There

A few minutes later we started again and made good progress. We were maintaining 80-90 and encountered heavy traffic jams at the two toll booths on the way. Had we been in a car, we'd have wasted at least an hour getting through that jam but two wheelers have their advantages . In the city I never jump into another lane even if it offers a faster vista but on the highway, with that big a jam, I didn't feel like waiting. Krish had anyway started off toward the edge of the road and after a little bit of offroading and we'd passed through the toll both unmolested. It was the same story at the next toll booth. Near the Katraj exit was an accident which seemed to have occurred only recently judging by the scattered glass and oil on the road. Attendants had arrived on the scene and they were alerting the traffic to the danger. We safely passed by the wreckage without incident.

After a while I could see the familiar and distinctive HP petrol station because of its tall sign board. It was a welcome sight as it meant we were only 30 or so kms away from Chandani Chowk. We rode on, traveling through a tunnel and a few curves where a Splendor was trying to keep up with our 80-90kmph. He did succeed in staying at 90 on the straights and we didn't bother twisting the throttle just because we had bigger bikes. Twisting the throttle with ego will never profit you in anyway. So he was beside us on the straights but the moment a curve in the road appeared, he chickened out .

The roads were getting familiar now and soon I saw the exit to Chandani Chowk. I took a left and pulled over. The ride, for me at least, was over. Krish and Mathew still had a few more kays before they got to their exit. So we congratulated eachother. The general attitude was of accomplishment. We'd covered about 450kms and over that distance had covered amazing ghat roads, crazy ghat roads, had visited a beach, ridden at night and ridden on ghats in heavy fog!! Like I said at the beginning of the log, India never ceases to amaze me! Neither does nature with its wide variety of geographic landscapes in such small areas on land... We had visited the Dapoli beach, ridden in amazing ghat roads near Khed and challenged the foggy ghats of Mahabaleshwar all within an on-road distance of 150kms!



Home At Last

Amazed with the trip, I rode back home, parked and patted the bike, took off my gear, and examined my jeans. They were dirty above the knee guards, still blue where the knee guards had covered them and completely brown under the knee guards. Even my shoes had become brown in color. I stepped into the bathroom and got a well deserved shower although I didn't need it as badly as I did about 3 and a half hours ago...

I still had more riding left in me and could have gone on another 100kays or so but the moment I hit the bed at around 2 to view the photos, I felt sleep calling me and snapped out in a few minutes.

I woke up at 11 the next morning and was thankful that I, unlike Mathew and Krish, didn't have to go to an office (I'm still studying and my exams just got over ). I've been writing this log for 7 hours straight and now I've relived the entire ride once again . Its a good feeling . . .

If any of you have read the log in one sitting, pat yourselves on the back because you people have reached new levels of endurance log reading!