23Nov2012

Me and Tj had finished the first part of the ride, seeing off our ladies to goa by train. Reached Tj's home by 2300hrs and i picked up my activa n headed home thinking i will stay with Tj and we will leave together, on the way i was stopped by cops to check if i was drunk or not. lol and thank god i was not. reached home, had to pack few things and suddenly it strikes me at 2330hrs, I had to fill up my tank i wondered if any petrol bunk were open at that time. quickly i tied my bag to the bike, took the tank bag abhi gave me, all set. started to tj's home. now the ORR is very near to my home and i tried my luck at the petrol bunk there and viola! filled up full tank. and headed back to my home thinking i will get some sleep. was almost 12:15 AM midnight. then i realize that my bag is not fitting wel. so had to repack in different bag! slept at 01:00 and woke up at 02:15 AM. As suhas pointed out, we didnt have to rub the sleep off our eyes. i had packed and readied my bike for the ride before sleeping. so geared up and left home at 03:00AM amid messages being exchanged in whatsapp. headed to the meeting point and was stopped again my police. gosh!

police1: seeing my bags n me "what is this?"
me: pointing at my bag "thats my luggage"
police1: pointing at my tank bag "whats this for?"
me: "that has things that i need while riding".
ploice2: "where are you going?"
me : with grin on my face "GOA"!
both stunned and say: "GOA? from here?"
police2: "which bike? yamaha r1?"
me: with same grin "no, R15"
ploice1: "whats the FE?"
me : "i get 40" and they argued that a yamaha cant give so much. and i asked them way to the nelamangala expressway and they politely replied and i scooted from there.

That was me being stopped by police twice in 4 hours.

Reached the point. as usual i was lat and bang on time, 03:30AM. we all bid good bye to the group going to manipal and headed to goa.
somewhere there is a feeling of "what if things go wrong" in the mind when oyu plan up for such long rides. Time is something that we cant control, all we have to do is flow with it. We did the same. From the beginning things were happening, like guys dropping out of goa ride, abhi getting injured ect. things were not as planned. Tj and saquib were way ahead, me and prakyath were together behind them and the rest were behind us. after the Toll gate before tumkur, as suhas said there were dead animals. Tj and saquib were lucky to escape it and so did me and prakyath. we were around 6 to 7kms ahead and that "feeling" was still in me. for some reason i stop on the road side, prakyath confused as to for what i did. suddenly i see my phone, 1 mised call and a call again form suhas. I just think "please no please no..."
Suhas: "dude i met with accident, i need the first aid", hearing that i immediately had that dead animals sight in my mind.
me: "waaaaaaaaaaat? where? how are u?"
suhas: "hit a stone man"
me: " the place where the dead buffalo are there?"
suhas: "yes, come fast".

so me and prakyath headed back. Things were going on in my head. "what happens now? we are just 60kms into the ride. what to do now? how bad is it?". I was blank for a while, but at that time all that mattered was "suhas". Reached the spot to find them on the road side, place was stinking,looked very dangerous. was revealed to see that nothing major had happened to him. Thanked god for that. assisted him for the first aid. checked the situation and started to calculate what can be done. It was 5:00AM in the morning. Tj and saquib came. we tried to stop few vehicles for help, 2 stopped but couldnt help. i called up just dial, they at once sent me phone numbers for towing and hospitals near to the place, a BIG thankx to them! woke up few people, one was ready to help. i came up with a plan, me TJ and prakyath will continue, as me and Tj were needed there in goa and wanted prakyath {being the youngest rider} to be with us. told saquib, to take suhas to hospital, and asked drithul and rakesh to take bike to SVC in tumkur.

One thing i realized is that, india is not safe. cows and buffalos walking on NH4 and also few dead and no one bothered to clean it? even the toll booth people didnt help us there. people jaywalking on NH, animals sleeping there, some dead too. this was crazy!

It was 6:00am when we started to ride again and made sure we slowed down when ever we saw animals and people ahead. we were delayed by almost an hour form the actual schedule. Guys from mangalore had left at 4:00am and were unaware of what happened and neither were people back in bangalore.

p.s: my write up may not be good, i have a tendency to explain things , please excuse me for the long write ups and i know pics are needed here but i am yet to get all of them, so please hold on for it and you guys wont be disappointed

@Suhas Rocky - Thats the spirit my friend. hope you get your ride fixed soon. Cheers.

I heard more in words than what I read here. Bring it on guys, pics and words

24Nov2012.

Me, Tj, and prakyath continued the ride. we were very comfortable riding around 100kmph and at times 120+. stopped at beautiful places on the way, clicked many pics, saw more cows n dogs came across crazy truck and car drivers, saw village people riding without helmet and at times 3 to 4 people on 1 bike. People used to stare at us or keep turning back and check us out, i guess it was the riding gears, bikes and the luggage that drew their attention.

Here is a pic of NH4 through gopro cam


Many more pics to come, unfortunately they are with Tj and few others and i have not yet got them. posting few that i have.

The accident had made us very alert, so we used to slow down at even a single sight of humans and animals on the road or roadside. We stopped at a place near to chitradurga for tea, and then for breakfast at davangere, just before that there is a kamat. Time was around 09:00am and we were 2 hours behind the schedule. we were 40kms short of half way. Few straight roads on NH4 made me little sleepy, but the view kept me awake. Called up dempsy and got to know that the mangalore team had stopped for few pics somewhere. They were near to murudeshwar when we were having breakfast.

Now by 11:30am we were nearing hubli, but we had to be aware of the left turn towards karwar. So we asked few people around but they were telling some inside roads which we had no idea about. Me being form north karnataka had no issues talking to them but the main issue was "which is that god damn road!". now all we had to do was go til hubli and on the Highway itself there is a NH63 on left towards karwar, but we took a small road which went through rough patch of road till mundgod and then to Kalghatgi. there we lost more time, but after reaching the NH63 we were back on track and the roads were beautiful!!! now i do not want to continue without pics of the ride here, It will be big injustice to the write up.

it's been 7 days since my crash, and it's been 2 days since i got my bike back from the service center I'm riding again, and I've done 100 odd km since then

I've some write ups ready, but i haven't got the photos yet, and that's why i'm delaying putting up the travelogue. Please bear with me, and the group

Its was a very heart breaking accident...One moment you are riding for what you have planned & another moment something unexpected takes place...

Now, it's time for the travelogue to continue...

Still day 1, and it's 10am

@ Future Yamaha, the yamaha showroom/service attumkur, waiting for it to open. It's me, Saquib, Dhritul, Rakesh and Sinchan aiting there. We've finished breakfast, and I got the brusies bandaged, and we've found a way to load up Dhritul's FZ with all the luggage: his bag is tied to the right side of the bike, above the silencer. The tent is held up by a bungee cord on the left side. Saquib's bag is held by the bungee cord on the rear seat.

Some pics...


The damage to the rim after the accident...


The front fender and blood on it...


Dhritul is all ready to ride!!...


Sinchan and Rakesh on the R15...


Me and Dhritul \m/


The happy boy... before the ride...


Leaving my broken and battered FZ for service,with plans to collect it on Wednesday when I was supposed to return from Goa, iride pillion on the R15 which Saquib is riding. And we start of to anotherconfused start, missing the entry point to the NH, and doing a couple ofU-turns to get back to the road. That said and done, we are back, and the ridestarts.

It's a 550+ km ride to reach Goa and we'vealready lost 6 hours. The others were @ Davangere and have stopped forbreakfast.

We start at a blistering pace, and i'm ridingpillion, holding on to the tank and bending low. my palms are taking pressurefrom all the weight that's on them, and the tank has a bit of dry, crusty bloodmarks on them.

We make a blistering pace, until Dhritul can'tkeep up with the R15's anymore, and we occasionally had to stop to ensure hecaught up with us. Finally, Saquib took over the FZ, and Dhritul took over theR15, and we made a good pace without stopping or slowing down much. Saquib waspretty fast, and Dhritul had to put in a bit of effort to keep the pace,in spite of being on the R15.

With some stops for hydration, we stop for lunch at a dhaba about 50km off Hubli. Ron and the other guys are about 100km from karwar at this time...

Riding pillion on the R15, i've had a lot of time to reflect back on what had happened, and so many strange thoughts drifted in and out of my mind.. And i started having thoughts as to give up riding. The accident had probably shook me a little, for it was totally unexpected on a national highway. With thoughts like this, as well as occasional dose of sleeping on the pillion, waking up only when my helmet banged that of the rider, we reached hubli by about 2 pm.

Time continued it's own slow, infinite march, and the sun was bearing down upon us, as we took to the road again. Occassionally stopping to adjust the go pro camera to take pictures or capture video, we got to the karwar road in another half hour to 45 minutes.

And that was when Dhritul's spirit was partially broken i suppose. Seeing the signboard say 160km to Karwar, he got a tired and weary look on his face. It was still 4 pm. 160km on a state highway was about 3 hours of riding, and we all got really frustrated after a certain point. The road seemed never ending, and night was approaching, and with hundreds of insects flying about and crashing into our eyes, getting mashed into a pulp on the visors, we did that 160km stretch in a little under 3 hours, reaching karwar by around 7 or so...

Dhritul was way out of his game, and was all weary and tired, and his persistent questioning as to "how much further, bro?" was really frustrating, and after a couple of questions later, I told him "Just keep riding, don't bother about the sign boards. You'll reach karwar." And that was what he did.

To top it, the FZ had a really bad focus from the headlight, and the road was hardly visible, and the R15 had to stay behind the FZ, illuminating the road with it's really good headlights.

A weary ride thru the state highway, and another 10 km later, we were at the karnataka-goa border. This was at 7:20pm.

A couple of 100 meters from the border, we came upon a petrol bunk, and all the bikes were tanked up. It was 30km to Palolem, and we did it within the hour, reaching Palolem by 8pm. One of the good things about the highway to palolem was the presence of reflectors on either side of the road. That really helped!

Abhi, ever thoughtful, had booked a room for himself, but since he hadn't come to goa, I made him talk to the manager of the lodging, and got the room. However, the manager was an asshole of the first kind, and he didn't even permit us to keep the luggage of the other 3 guys in our room while they made their arrangements. We couldn't help that condition, for we couldn't let our biker brothers wait outside, or walk around with their loads after a really tiring ride, and me and Saquib told them to just keep their luggages in our room and freshen up.

And then the asshole of a manager walked in, saw that many guys, and started shouting us. Our attempts to reason with him fell on deaf ears, and he wanted us to vacate the room. And that we did, and found a room at a much cheaper cost, and kept all our luggage there.

Ron and the others, as well as the other riders from mangalore had already reached Palolem by 4 or 5 or something, and they were on their way to the IBW party which was @ Anjuna Beach, about 80km from Palolem.

We decided to leave for the party, but when I called up Ron, he was all pissed, and on top of that, they had got lost on the way, and were circling around, not knowing where to go...

11pm, and finally Dempsy calls up, saying that they had arrived at the party, all tired and frustrated.... And boy, did they have a story to tell when they arrived.

The night, we walked around the beach, taking in the sights of whatever was happening on the beach, and after some delicious dinner later (the first good thing of that entire day), we waited up for the group to come until 3 am.

TJ and Ron and the YRC group from bangalore had returned back to their lodgings at 3am, and were all sore, exhausted and tired, having done about 700km in the day totally.

Dempsy, Meghan, and the mangalore guys were still on the way...

Unable to wait up for them any longer, me and saquib hit the bed. Rakesh and Sinchan had found their own room, and had already slept off by 11pm. Dhritul went to the place where the other members of the group were staying.

Thus ends day 1......

Day 2 is a totally different day for me than the rest of the YRC riders.
I'll post it soon. Cheers!!

Sorry for the long delay! just got my hands on few pics while we were going to GOA.

We stopped here for tea, Near to hiriyur.


As i said after a small break for tea we headed towards hubli. we stopped few times for pics. here are some for your eyes

Near Chitradurga












This was one special pic. Tj stopped at a place for pic and prakyath had stopped little ahead and i went and stopped in the middle of both. was stretching my legs looking at the view and Tj takes this pic Thanks Tj





This was one beautiful road, NH63, while going to karwar form hubli. whatta road! those curves and straight roads with greenery around were perfecto! look at Tj's face how happy he is. LOL. we did encounter few idiots as usual, one such was in a Merc Benz. We were really happy that we did this route. the scenic beauty didnt allow us to think that we were still 150 to 170kms far from goa.


We stopped 40kms before karwar to fill up and to pee


and this was near goa after karwar.


We reached karwar by 04:00pm. and from there it was one straight road to palolem we encountered a ghat section while we entered goa. suddenly we see this small beach and the tip of the curve overlooking it. what a beautiful place is planet earth



We reached our hotel at 05:00pm. this is how we parked the FZ belongs to drithul.



After riding for 14hrs and 600 odd kms, going through awesome curves, ripping on straight roads, having good food, seeing some scenic beauties lemme tel you , we were not tired!
We were on a tight schedule for the evening and 2 hours behind the schedule which was planned. the IBW party was starting at 08:30pm. We got freshened up , we were supposed to meet with GEARS and akashay in margoa at cafe kavana around 07:00pm. Me and Tj had pillions, while prakyath was alone. Prakyath went and got the mangalore team to our place, we all grouped up, 4 r15's 2 fz's a bullet TB , Gladiator. It was pleasure to meetup with meghan Started to margoa. reached there by 7.30pm and akashay was there with few GEARS members. we all had chat for a while. By this time the suhas and group were near palolem. We started to the party by 8.15pm and they reached palolem by this time.

As i said we were not tired when we reached goa, and now we were riding to a party which was around 90kms far! Thats like normal weekend short ride for us in bangalore LOL
Riding in goa can be dangerous as few cars were not respecting the 2 wheelers. it was pretty pissing off. we got lost few times, took U turns, took wrong turns and finally ended up at the party at 10.45 pm by this time due to pillions, excess riding and also stress in our eyes were taking toll on us and also we were damn hungry! this was time i spoke to suhas and got to know the thing about manager at Dropadi hotel, and was pissed. we had few starters instead of proper food as the rates were above the roof! Me and tj decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel covering 90kms again. Which was 2 n half hours ride! but there were loads of things happening there, we were introduced to few people, the IBW people had some photoshoot and stuff. here are the pics. and YRC and GEARS were only group to be in riding gears there LOL.



after a while at around 1.00am in the night we left form there. check the route in google maps. It was simpler to reach main roads with google maps, ha ha ha. we had few stops inbetween to avoid sleeping. my eyes almost closed off and so did prakyath's and Tj's. we were stopped by police checkpost 35 kms from palolem. they checked if were drunk and let us pass. It was 3.15am when we reached our hotel. WHAT A RELIEF!! in the past 43 hours i had slept for 1 hour. Tj also was tired. It was a hard call to take for the next day, the RIDE day! we were supposed to leave by 7.30am for the ride. me and Tj decided to go little late at around 11.00am since There was no solid plan from akashay and join the ride and thus we went for some sleep.

Now that was end of day1 after loads of riding, drama, dilemma and what not. what happened on day 2 was something that we didnt expect and was different for other YRC riders and us.

This is really nice. You guys should sit together and make up a single write up along with the Mangalore chapter and put it across once you are done with your individual updates. Looking forward to the remaining days.

Wow,an eventful 1st day indeed.
Although those barriers at the begining of your journey, you guys made it..that's the best part
Waiting for the remaining trip log...

Nice review. Just started reading after Suhas' incident, pretty bad start, but it was glad to see you guys made one rocking trip. Let's see how IBW unfolds. Waiting for it.

Cheers!
VJ

I have been unable to post here even though I have a word document with the travelogue ready. This is partly due to lack of pictures (which I was supposed to get from my friend in mangalore, but forgot to get it along when he came to bangalore and without the pics, i can't do much justice to day 2) and my own hesitation to make the post only a page full of words. I'll try to source pics somehow. Hold on!!


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