Announcement

**experimentalhead** · 12-07-2015, 12:51 PM

Re: One day rides

Originally posted by VIJAY BHUYAN88 View Post

Awesome !!
Awaiting :-)

Have slowly started covering one by one ;-)

Thank you Vijay. Looking forward for your travelogues

**experimentalhead** · 05-11-2017, 10:09 PM

Re: Refreshing and leisurely one day motorcycle rides

Places around Bangalore one can ride to over a free weekend. Click on the links to know more about them.

1. RANGANATHITTU

2. NANDI HILLS

3. MUTHATHI & GAGANA CHUKKI (SHIVANASAMUDRAM)

4. MANCHANABELE & MARKONAHALLI RESERVOIRS (AWESOME SUNSET VIEW)

5. KOKKARE BELLUR

6. SHRAVANABELAGOLA

7. SOMANATHPUR

8. KANVA RESERVOIR

9. BIG BANYAN TREE/ DODDA AALADA MARA

10. MAIDENAHALLI, JAYAMANGALI BLACKBUCK RESERVE

11. CHAMUNDI HILLS, MYSORE

12. DEVARAYANADURGA - GORAVANAHALLI - THEETHA DAM

13. YELAGIRI

14. VANI VILAS SAGAR (MARI KANIVE)

15. SUVARNAVATHI RESERVOIR

16. MELUKOTE

17. LEPAKSHI

18. SHETTIHALLI CHURCH

19. HOGENAKKAL FALLS

20. HORSLEY HILLS

21. AVALABETTA

22. THATTEKERE LAKE

23. MANDHARAGIRI

24. ANTARAGANGE

25. KRP DAM

26. TALAKAD

27. GANDIKOTA - DAY 1

28. GANDIKOTA - DAY 2 & BELUM CAVES

29. DEVARABETTA

30. PANCHAPALLI DAM

31. BELUR

32. HALEBIDU

33. CHITRADURGA FORT

**experimentalhead** · 05-22-2017, 10:29 PM

Re: Refreshing and leisurely one day motorcycle rides

KODACHADRI-AGUMBE (An old weekend ride)

2 AM: I got up before alarm woke up. Got ready as if I had all the time in the world. Double check. All set. Ready to roll. Looked at myself in the mirror. All geared up I felt proud first, silly next, funny at last. My brother was ready to see me off. Street dogs had this curious look on them. They stared at me in surprise "How the hell on earth this moron turned himself into an alien in a matter of six hours!" My beast was ready and I started it slowly and smoothly. No roaring. Did not want to startle neighbors who in their half-sleep condition could stone me down. My brother clicked few snaps. And, the events slowly started unfolding at 3.45 AM

I wanted to ride at a leisurely pace. Rode towards Tumkur on NH4. Hardly any traffic. Before Tumkur took a diversion towards Shivamogga. Roads were not so good till I reached NH 206. Pitch dark all around. Hardly any traffic. kept talking to myself. Kept riding at a sane speed of 70 K mph. Did not take any break apart from slowing down at couple of intersections to get the directions right. slowly the sky was changing its colors. A pulsar 220 overtook me at a crazy speed. Dawn broke. Chilly weather. Opened the helmet visor and allowed the breeze to hit my face. Did not stop anywhere to take pics as I did not find anything interesting. All of us must have seen miles of such NH and SH roads. Nothing special about the roads. Before Shivamogga saw the direction-board to Bhadra Sanctuary (BS). Thought of riding to BS one day. Reached Shivamogga at 8.15 AM. It was an uneventful ride so far and I was on track as far as my plan was concerned. Crossed Shivamogga and saw a board saying Lion and Tiger Safari. For a second was tempted to go in. But, time...Got directions towards Kodachadri from locals. Excitement was building up. For last few months, I kind of like riding by country side rather than NHs. Took a diversion from NH towards Kodachadri and entered leisurely and peaceful country side and headed towards Hosanagara. Now, I thought, was time to stop for few clicks

Right after the temple saw a board which stated about crossing a stream on a launch. Kodachadri was still about 37 k ms away. Right near the board some work was going on. Inquired about the launch and was told that it cuts the distance to Kodachadri short by around 15 K ms. Images of some xBHP blogs with bikes on a launch flashed in my mind. I was told that I had to ride about 3 to 4 K ms to reach the launch. I started riding towards launch. The road passed through some kind of a farm and there were lot of bushes by the road side and I was off -roading. Surprised as I started coming across bikes and cars on that road. This was what I saw suddenly...

Answered curious questions of locals- where I am coming from? Where was I heading to? Kodachadri on this bike?? Price of the bike? Mileage? Took a long break at this place before proceeding towards Kodachadri. Did not have a clue about what was coming my way...

Spent some time after crossing the stream via launch. Resumed the ride towards Kodachadri. Road continued to go through a path surrounded by bushes giving it an eerie jungle feeling and it was mud road through out.

I was ecstatic and continued to ride at a decent pace of 30 to 40 K mph. Even though it was sunny, cool breeze made up for it. All alone, I continued to ride imagining how beautiful it could be while climbing up the Kodachadri peak. At this point, I stopped and removed the gloves as I was frequently stopping now to click pictures. Every time I had to remove the gloves, and then click the shots. And I thought this was time consuming. Moreover, Avenger provides better grip on off-roads than on the tarmac (as per my personal experience) and I was riding at sane speeds. I resumed the ride without gloves. The off-mud-road ended abruptly at a slope and by the time I realized bike was out of control and was kind-of-nose-diving. No time to react, bike went down crashing and I went blank for a second. In a matter of seconds both beast and I were down, and blood was dripping incessantly and my right ankle was stuck between the brake lever and the engine guard. Bike roared painfully for few seconds and shut down. I released my right ankle and found that my left palm had a sever abrasion and blood was pouring out. With none in sight, I slowly lifted the bike up as I noticed the petrol leaking which sunk my heart. Left crash guard was bent and so was left handle bar. Wind-shield and the front fender had scratches which wrenched my heart. I first tried to stop the bleeding and that's when I found that I was not carrying the first-aid. I cursed my utter foolishness. I repented for not making a checklist of things to carry this time and this cost me dearly. I wrapped my hand-kerchief around the wound. There was some minor bruises near the wrist and ankle. I drank water and I was sweating profusely. This bolt hit me from nowhere and my shoulders were down. My joy was shattered. I looked back to see what caused this. The mud/ off road had ended abruptly at a corner from where a newly laid tarmac had begun. Since it was newly laid, there was lot of sand and loose gravel on the road, due to which bike had lost the grip and moreover it was a slope. Loose sand and gravel on tarmac is Avenger's achilles' hell. And my nemesis when I am on my beast. I scolded myself for getting lost in joy and losing focus by taking things for granted. At this point I found that the foot peg near the gear lever was missing and it was broken beyond repair and this depressed me as I thought it's next to impossible to ride for hundreds of miles without the foot rest. Suddenly my mind was filled with lot of negative thoughts. For a moment thought of aborting the ride and head back. Calmed myself down. I felt I had not fulfilled my commitment to visit the temples at the right time after many good things happened to me last year and as pledged before good things happened and had postponed the visits for petty reasons and this was a test. Looked at the left knee guard which was badly scraped. I could not imagine my knee condition if I had removed knee-guards. Thanked god for that. I told myself "the worse is over and it's time to ride further". I set the crash guard right and checked handle bar and thought it was manageable. Set my gear properly. Cleaned wound to certain extent and wore the gloves. I told myself "Now there is no heading back. I am gonna complete this ride as planned and will cover all that's planned'. Checked where I could plant my left foot and how to maneuver the gear. It was tough but not impossible. Drank some more water and checked if there were anymore damages. Once confirmed that everything was fine, checked the time and it was 11.30 AM. I had lost close to an hour. I again cursed myself for taking a short cut ' Short cut almost cut my journey short'. [ I AM NOT POSTING ANY PIC OF DAMAGE TO ME OR TO MY BEAT AS I NOW THINK WHAT HAPPENED WAS VERY MINOR. YOU CAN NOTICE THAT FRONT LEFT FOOT PEG MISSING IN SUBSEQUENT PICS ]Prayed and proceeded further. Trust me it was painful and very uncomfortable to change the gear by planting your foot on a small nut holding the lever, and I did not want to try any other techniques. Proceeded very slowly and cautiously and it took about half an hour for me to slowly come back to normalcy and I was happy again for being determined to continue the ride despite this unexpected hiccup. I smiled again when I hit the NH and I saw...

I was getting back to normalcy and got adapted to no-foot-rest condition and bent handle bar. Started seeing many cars and jeeps plying on that beautifully laid NH. It was getting hotter. Reached the point where I had to take diversion to left to start climbing the Kodachadri peak. Many jeeps filled with tourists, probably those who had come to Kollur, were climbing the peak. A jeep driver asked me if I was planning to ride on the bike. He double checked 'on this bike!!' He cautioned me about roads being very dangerous now and told me to be extremely careful. I nodded my head, took a deep breath and I knew I was on the verge of lunacy. Right now, I am feeling guilty of blabbering just too much to bore you guys to death. My heart-felt apologies. Let the camera roll

I do not think pictures, especially my pictures, can do justice to the beauty of the nature, especially when you are the top of a mighty peak like Kodachadri. I would probably run out of all the adjective describing what I witnessed and I felt the fall, the pain, the grit everything was worth. I must admit that what kept me pepped up throughout the climb was the curious, surprised, appreciative stares and looks-on-faces of tourists on the jeeps, especially, guess I am not crossing the line here, Kerala gals and ladies on the jeeps. I was all dusty and guess to them sure looked like a lunatic-on-the-run. I spent good close-to-couple of hours at the peak, climbing near by peaks by foot and soaking in the nature. A jeep driver kindly obliged my request to take a pic and asked me whether I found it difficult to ride the bike up the hill

I then started my ride back down the hill. Slippery-rocky-dusty road was extremely tough to tame and it was getting very difficult to control the bike leading to couple of skids followed by ooohs and aaahs from tourists on the jeep. I had couple of heart-in-mouth situations. Kept my cool and slowly rode down. Couple of times felt like 'Did I really need this. I could have stayed back and could have been in the couch watching TV'. But at the end of it, the ride was worth every ounce of pain and what unfolded was I could muster up courage and grit and overcome negativity and churn positives out of it. Pat on my back. Can I Some of you might be feeling good-job-done-mate and some might feel, after going through this post, why on earth is he making a big fuss out of this. I guess after this much of blabbering time for few more pics to roll out...what say...

Finally made it... Hip Hip Hurray...Dream of Kodachadri was realized. I was kind of dehydrated. Body was hurting. But I had new-found energy. Gulped down soft drinks and water. A group of students-on-a-college-trip looked curiously at my bike's condition and my attire. I was asked whether I rode up and down the hill on my bike and how do I feel and was I riding alone and where am I riding to next??? AGUMBE

I always wanted to cover Agumbe along with Kodachadri. I had read and heard a lot about Agumbe ghat section, curves and above all sun set. I had lost quite some time due to the fall earlier. I inquired with locals about how far Agumbe was and whether I could make it to sunset. Many of them were positive about me making it to Agumbe sun set. I resumed my ride with a sense of urgency. However, severe pain in my left thigh due to unconventional position because of lack-of-foot-rest slowed me down and made me think about skipping Agumbe. Entered a small town called Nagara and checked if my foot-rest could be fixed. I was told by a mechanic that could be welded but there was no power and asked me to look out for a mechanic in the next village. Disappointed, I proceeded further. I was surprised when people were not sure about directions towards Agumbe. However, couple of gentlemen suggested to take a short route via Mastikatte and Kimara and to avoid Tirthahalli as it would be farther and time consuming. Another short cut

I was like to-hell and decided to take that shorter route, and reached Mastikatte. Found another garage. Time was 3.30 PM. The mechanic said foot rest can not be fixed. An idea flashed in my mind. I requested him to see whether he can fix the rear foot-rest in the front. Initially he was reluctant as rear foot-rest is smaller than the front one. But, he had a change of heart when he came to know that I had to cover a long distance. He used his creativity and state-of-the-art technique and fixed the rear foot-rest in the front and this was no less than a magic touch to my trip and I gave him a very humble fees which he accepted without uttering a word and also fixed the crash guard without me asking for it. I am so grateful to him. The very fact that now I was sitting pretty comfortably and relieved thigh and groin muscles revitalized both body and mind, and I rode determined to make it to Agumbe sunset. What pathetic roads and moreover buses and trucks not even honking the horn near blind curves on those narrow roads. I told myself 'you wanted country-side and ghat roads, right?! take them now'. I rode non-stop and only when I saw Agumbe was just 2 K ms did I stop to quench my thirst. I rode straight to sun set point which was right by the road side and was infested with monkeys. I removed saddle bags and carried them with me to a vantage point for a great view. Time was 5.50 PM and Sun was far from going down. Just sat there, reflected upon the day, was feeling bit tired and just looked around as more and more people started gathering to see Lord Sun closing the shop in style. In the mean time a gentleman asked me if I had a fall as he noticed the wound on my palm while I was checking my camera. We struck a conversation. He asked me about my ride. He ( Abid ) and his friend ( Shailendra ) were there from Bangalore on way to Bhadra sanctuary. I told them about my plan and we talked about bike trips, riding alone, Kodachadri, Kudremukh, bird sanctuaries and photography. This lightened my heart and made me forget the tiredness. In the mean time Sun set began in all grandeur and the experience and ambiance and sky changing colors gradually, were and are beyond mere-wordily-description. Hope you will enjoy the camera talk

Awesome Sun set really made my day. Agumbe dream realized. Abid and Shailendra offered me first aid. Was very happy to meet them. Took a pic of them, wished them a safe and fun filled ride and started towards Sringeri. It was 7 PM and was getting dark by the minute. That belt being a Naxal infiltrated zone, and recently I had watched on regional news channel about police combing operation in that region made me apprehensive. I decided to not to stop anywhere and dashed towards Sringeri without minding poor road conditions and made it to Sringeri by 8 PM. Stopped at the first available medical store and took necessary medicines and ointment to treat the wound which was looking little bad. Then scouted for a nice lodge with parking. Town of Sringeri has only one main and important road called Bharati street. Wandered in the same street three times and finally got a nice lodge called Kanyakumari Lodge. Decent and clean plus safe parking. Worked out a cheaper deal by declining TV and AC as I prefer fan. The receptionists, a young and an old gentlemen, enthusiastically asked about my ride and appreciated the touring spirit. After speaking to my family about my whereabouts, and dinner, crashed in the bed with mixed feelings as body was hurting, but mind and heart were dancing with joy for fulfilling day's plans successfully despite odds

**krishna77** · 05-23-2017, 05:44 AM

Re: Refreshing and leisurely one day motorcycle rides

Great going with a nice initiative!

**experimentalhead** · 05-23-2017, 04:37 PM

Re: Refreshing and leisurely one day motorcycle rides

Originally posted by krishna77 View Post

Great going with a nice initiative!

Thanks Krishna

**experimentalhead** · 05-24-2017, 12:45 AM

Re: Refreshing and leisurely one day motorcycle rides

SRINGERI-KUDREMUKH-HORANADU (An old ride)

Sringeri:

Woke up after a peaceful and much deserved 9 hours sleep. Was refreshed. However, wound on the left palm did not look in good shape. Brother had suggested to take a Tetanus to avoid any sorts of infection. Decided to first visit temple and pay my obeisance and humble offering to Sri Sharadamba devi temple. Entrance of temple was undergoing renovation. I always loved the ambiance of these temples. Even though filled with lot of people, one is filled with renewed energy and calmness.

After visit to the temple, looked around for a doctor who could administer Tetanus injection to me. Found an old doctor in a very old clinic right opposite to my lodge. Not so confident in his ageing capabilities, I looked around for little more young doctor. Even though there was one, he was away on duty and I was running out of time. Finally went back to the old doctor who administered injection very casually and just walked away leaving me lying on the table and due to my lack of confidence in him I double checked whether he used the right syringe that I gave him and Tetanus. Everything suggested I was administered right injection

Checked out and left Sringeri by 10.30 AM. I was running close to an hour and a half behind my schedule now. I inquired about the route to Horanadu and resumed the ride.

Since the time I conceived this trip, always thought of covering Kudremukh. But, since I was running behind my schedule I thought I would not be bale to ride around Kudremukh. Because, what I thought was, after completing Kalasa and Horanadu, I had to ride to Kudremukh. Surprise Surprise

Kudremukh happens to be on the way to Kalasa from Sringeri. I was ecstatic and could not believe my luck. Enjoyed thoroughly riding from one end to another end of Kudremukh. Must ride here during winter and that's on my to-do list

I was so happy after riding through Kudremukh National Park. Headed towards Kalasa. Near Kudremukh saw three bikers one on RE CLASSIC, one on HONDA CBR250R and I could not see the other one properly. Original plan was to first visit Sri Kalaseswara Swamy temple, then Horanadu Sri Annapoorneshwari Devi temple and then head back to Bangalore. And, can not return without having meals (Prasadam) in Horanadu temple.Hence headed straight to Horanadu via Kalasa. On the way stopped near tea estate near Kalasa which has become like a must-stop for everyone passing through this route.

Headed straight to Horanadu. Love the place. Love the meals given as prasadam in the temple. The best food I have ever tasted. I always relish the food here. For me (purely personal opinion on a public forum) no five star hotel food can come close to this. An absolutely deligthful temple. Just being there fills me with abundant joy and energy.

After paying my obeisance and humble offering to Sri Annapoorneshwari Devi, had the best prasadam meal and headed to Kalasa. An old gentleman who has a shop, which serves tender coconut and tea to vistors, near Sri Kalaseswara Swamy temple, was kind enough to keep my luggage in his shop, just like the last time. I noticed that good man has not changed a bit in last one year. A nice, humble guy. Paid my obeisance and humble offerings to Sri Kalaseswara Swamy temple. A very calm and peaceful temple. Replenished my beast and myself. Started towards Bangalore. After sometime I regretted that I forgot to take a picture of Sri Kalaseswara Swamy temple. Roads were under repair. My beast's suspension and front forks were badly hit. I rode on with minimal breaks in between.

I could not wait to reach home. Moreover, I do not like riding on Hassan-Bangalore Highway, till the four-lane NH starts, as the four-lane work is going-on on half of the route forever and seems like to be continued forever. This single lane NH, to me is horrible, especially in the nights because of reckless overtaking and countless diversions. Hence, wanted to get over with this stretch at the earliest. Was cheered by and given thumbs-up by a few which pepped up my energy. I kept riding with few shortest breaks in between. SMSed my brother that I would be coming home for dinner and asked him to have something ready for me. In the mean time, I noticed that my left palm wound was getting worse and was beginning to pain. My brother replied stating thunderstorms in Bangalore. I was totally surprised. With 70 K ms to reach Bangalore, started seeing lightning in the sky. Kept riding. Fueled up and resumed. Slight drizzle became light shower and then it just rained cats and dogs which considerably reduced my pace even on a four-lane highway. Pushed through terrible water-log. I was totally soaked. I reached home, by 11.15 PM, as a tired, hurt and overwhelmingly happy person.

**experimentalhead** · 05-24-2017, 05:27 PM

Re: Refreshing and leisurely one day motorcycle rides

MULLAYANAGIRI -YAGACHI WATER SPORTS (Flashback log)

After my recent trip to Kudremukh, I was thirsty for more. More of western ghats. I had couple of places on my mind, Agumbe and Muliyanagiri. I shared my plan with my friends, Charan & Sudhakar. Both agreed to join. Our plan spread around and reached other ears, and many others mentioned their willingness to be part of this road trip.

Finally we decided upon Muliyanagiri as the destination. We also planned to cover few other places around like Hebbe falls, Kalhatgiri falls, Bababudan giri. Sudhakar did some research and also came up with another exciting addition, Yagachi water sports.

Just before trip few guys backed out. Finally, five of us decided to go ahead with the trip on March 31st early morning. Came from office, got the bike chain tightened and lubricated, cleaned the bike, packed required stuff and barely slept. Bad news was just before I could leave for the trip, I started sneezing like crazy, and that was an indication that all was not well with the system. But who cares

Biker in me got the better of me.

I was joined by Ganesh near Navrang theatre in Rajajinagar. Then joined other bikers, Charan, Sudhakar and Ajith, near Yeshwantpur railway station. We checked our luggages. Took couple of pics and started with the trip at 3.45 am.

We reached nelamangala, had tea and decided about next stop to be after 75 K ms. However, to our utter surprise, just around Kunigal, we saw lightning, and heard a bit of thunder. Then it started drizzling. We could not believe this. Showers!!! that too in the middle of this scorching summer season. Then it started raining cats and dogs. The gust, the rain forced us to stop the ride and look for shelter. We were lucky enough to be right next to a poultry farm and people inside were extremely kind to allow us inside and share their towels and blankets. We waited their for about 50 minutes for the rain to stop. We spent that time chatting with farm guys and amongst ourselves and we were thrilled about the sudden rain and this is the best thing about bike trips. You never know where you are gonna stop next and for what reason

Rain subsided, we thanked farm guy Ashok and resumed our trip at 5.50 am. Chilled weather, awesome stretch of tarmac, sky lashed with variety of hues and riding my cruiser...I was in a different world altogether.

We stopped close to CR patna and decided that we would have breakfast at Kamat between CR patna and Hassan. We were all damn hungry. Had breakfast and resumed our trip by 8.45 am. Reached Hassan. Charan and Sudhakar, trip's finance managers, withdrew money from ATM and we proceeded towards Belur. This is one of the best roads I have ridden in my biker life of about a year. Amazing road.

We rode at nice speeds and reached Belur and continued towards Chikmagalur. Reached Chikmagalur by 11 am. We asked for route to Muliyanagiri from few localites and proceeded. We reached a checkpost and enquired about availability of accommodation and food, and we were to happy to get positive response.

Till now the ride was easy and I was getting excited about riding in western ghats. As we rolled on, we were getting surrounded by more and more green. In this hot scorching summer, green is boon. Roads were getting curvy. We were getting a glimpse of peak from the base. As we looked up, we could not resist to reach the top. As we moved up and looked side-wards, we were amazed at the view. we started to wonder how better it's gonna be as we keep going up!!! We were not disappointed at all. We never expected to see such a beauty on this trip. Roads were getting narrow and more curvy, bit dangerous as other vehicles coming downwards did not have enough space to pass by and there was no fencing on the left side and a bit of carelessness or waywardness and you just go down and end up god-knows-where

At one point as we closed in, charan and I stopped and what we saw was overwhelming. I don't think I should even make an attempt to express it in words. Even photographs, atleast our photographs, would not justify the beauty. I really felt that i was blessed to come here on my favourite toy, and enjoy god's creation. Simply put terrific, amazing, splendid...I will certainly run out of adjectives.

We reached Muliyanagiri at 1 pm. Had ice cream. It was hot. But when we looked down, we just cooled down and melted like ice cream. Awesome place. We looked up at stairs leading to temple. We started climbing the stairs and you could see the foggy clouds moving right in front of you. We reached temple. We went in. Sat down on the cold floor. relaxed. Many others were there. Prayed and paid my respects, took blessings and left the temple.

We came down. I was thirsty and we had run out of water and there were no shops where we could find water. Got water from ice cream vendor. Quenched our thirst and we started our journey. It was very scary as we started rolling down the spiral-down roads. Slowly we moved on with our rear brakes pressed down and reached a spot where water was streaming down. Quenched thirst again, washed faces, relaxed and moved on. On the way down we started inquiring about home stay. Couple of places were expensive. Hunger was getting the better of us. We decided to g back to Chikmagalur, have lunch and then worry about accommodation and other plans for the day. Had lunch at a reasonable price. After lot of deliberation, we decided to stay in an estate-home stay at the base of the peak. after we checked in, Ajith and Ganesh decided to call it a day as they were dead tired and mentioned they cannot ride anymore. We respected their decision as they are new to bike trips and we decided to cut down our trip-plans. While others slipped into slumber, I got freshened up, had tea and was joined by Ajith for a stroll around the estate in the evening.

After everyone got up, Charan and Ganesh went toiChikmagalur, got food. There was a bunch of others who were staying next door and they had set camp fire and were having good time and invited us too to join them. Ganesh joined them while rest of us stayed back, had dinner, chatted about lot things and by 12.30 am decided to hit the sacks, and I could feel the temperature rising high in my system. Took tablets and slept like a baby.

Fever and cold got the better of me. I woke up last. We all got ready by 10.30 am, paid the due to homestay manager and started towards chikmagalur. Had our breakfast in Chikmagalur and proceeded towards Yagachi water sports. We reached Yagachi water sports by 12 pm. Nice place. Huge lake which is a part of Yagachi river. We decided to enjoy Jet-skiing, Banana ride, trampoline and finally a cruise. We had a great time. I forgot fever, cold, running nose, watery eyes and pounced on the opportunity of enjoying in the water. Every ride was unique and a lovely experience. We had a great time. We started towards Bangalore by 2.30 pm. We reached Hassan by 3.30 pm. Stopped by at Aadya's near CR patna for lunch. Finished lunch and proceeded towards Bangalore by 5 pm. Once we entered the toll paid express highway, we started ripping our steeds and maintained a constant speed of 110 to 120 Kmph. Took a break near Solur and reached Nelamangala by 7.30 pm. We all parted our ways from there and I reached home by 8.30 pm to my family's surprise.

Even though this was a short trip, enjoyed both god's creation and human's artificial creation. I have not got enough of western ghats in Karnataka. Planning has begun to ride to Agumbe and Jogfalls by May 1st week. Can't wait for it

**experimentalhead** · 05-24-2017, 09:23 PM

Re: Refreshing and leisurely one day motorcycle rides

UPDATED LIST:

Places around Bangalore one can ride to over a free weekend. Click on the links to know more about them.

1. RANGANATHITTU

2. NANDI HILLS

3. MUTHATHI & GAGANA CHUKKI (SHIVANASAMUDRAM)

4. MANCHANABELE & MARKONAHALLI RESERVOIRS (AWESOME SUNSET VIEW)

5. KOKKARE BELLUR

6. SHRAVANABELAGOLA

7. SOMANATHPUR

8. KANVA RESERVOIR

9. BIG BANYAN TREE/ DODDA AALADA MARA

10. MAIDENAHALLI, JAYAMANGALI BLACKBUCK RESERVE

11. CHAMUNDI HILLS, MYSORE

12. DEVARAYANADURGA - GORAVANAHALLI - THEETHA DAM

13. YELAGIRI

14. VANI VILAS SAGAR (MARI KANIVE)

15. SUVARNAVATHI RESERVOIR

16. MELUKOTE

17. LEPAKSHI

18. SHETTIHALLI CHURCH

19. HOGENAKKAL FALLS

20. HORSLEY HILLS

21. AVALABETTA

22. THATTEKERE LAKE

23. MANDHARAGIRI

24. ANTARAGANGE

25. KRP DAM

26. TALAKAD

27. GANDIKOTA - DAY 1

28. GANDIKOTA - DAY 2 & BELUM CAVES

29. DEVARABETTA

30. PANCHAPALLI DAM

31. BELUR

32. HALEBIDU

33. CHITRADURGA FORT

34. KODACHADRI-AGUMBE

35. SRINGERI-KUDREMUKH-HORANADU

36. MULLAYANAGIRI-YAGACHI WATER SPORTS

**experimentalhead** · 05-27-2017, 02:42 PM

Re: Refreshing and leisurely one day motorcycle rides

KUDREMUKH-HANUMANAGUNDI FALLS-KALASA( FLASHBACK LOG )

It's been close to a year since I was bitten by touring bug. I have been a solo-tourer most of the times. I get goosebumps every time I venture on long cruises.It's hard for me to express the relief, the excitement I get out of every bike ride in words. It's an addiction. I get more kick when I look around and find more and more people who have done and are doing some amazing trips on their steeds. Wow.

Last time I went for a long cruise was in August 2011. That trip was crazy. Riding for about 21 hours, covering 748 K ms and it was raining cats and dogs. Riding in the western ghats during monsoon was a great experience and made me hungry for more trips. However, due to busy schedule and financial crunches, I had to call off few trips. The itch was increasing day by day. In the mean time, came across another addict. Enter Bhaskaran. His appetite grew manifold after he got a new steed, Avenger. We were waiting for him to finish his run-in period, after which he did a Bangalore-Pune-Bangalore in about 36 hours and was raring to go for more, for us to decide on a bike trip. meanwhile I went on pilgrimage with my family to some amazing holy places in western ghats. The sheer beauty of these places made me decide that I am going back there, but on my steed this time. Described the beauty of the place, the roads, curves to Bhaskaran. We decided that we are embarking on this trip and we are not calling it off, come what may. Informed few of our colleagues/ friends about our trip, and were happy to find few of them were excited to be part of this venture. However, due to personal reasons, couple of them, Siva and Gnan, opted out at the last minute (We missed you guys). Finally, it was six of us, on our three steeds, who embarked upon this amazing venture which I would cherish forever.

Bike 1: Karizma; Riders:Vivek and Dhawan.
Bike 2: Avenger 220 (Black); Riders: Bhaskaran and Piyush.
Bike 3: Avenger 220 (Red); Riders: Vinayak and I [Raghu].

Trip dates: March 4th & 5th 2012

Route: Bangalore-Hassan-Belur-Moodigere-Kalsa-Kudremukh-Horanadu-Hassan-Bangalore

Distance: Estimated 650 K ms. Finally covered:780 K ms.

March 3rd: We finished our shifts by 5.30 PM on 3rd. Came home and packed my stuff. Ensured that my baggage is very light and included all basic stuff. Slept at 11. With great difficulty I could sleep.

March 4th: Got up by 1.15 AM and was ready by 2 AM. We had decided that we would all meet at Bhaskaran's place by 2.30. Reached Bhaskaran's place little late. Reached Bhaskaran's place by 2.45 am and found that Bhaskaran and Piyus were up and ready, but Vivek, Dhawan and Vinayak were still sleeping. By 3.30 AM We were all ready and eager to hit the roads.

We rode till Nelmangala diversion, stopped their for about five minutes and decided that we will ride for another fifty K ms before our next break. We failed to realize that at that hour around 4 Am it would be so chill outside unlike our homes. It was getting very cold. At 5 Am we stopped close to Kunigal and had tea nd snacks. We could hardly feel our palms (We all forgot to carry our riding gloves. How silly) We resumed our journey at 5.20 and we rode non-stop till we were about 16 K ms away from Hassan. Amazing road. Till about Adichunchanagiri medical college, we have four lanes national-highway and traffic is less, and after that road widening work is going on and it becomes a single lane highway. Great road. As the dawn broke, it was such a pleasure to ride. We reached Hassan by 7.20. And, continued towards Belur. We were beginning to feel hungry and decided that breakfast-stop would be in Belur.

Once we crossed Hassan, road towards Belur is simply superb. Very well laid state-highway, and riding on this stretch is a joy. We reached Belur by about 8.25 and had our breakfast at Vishnu refreshments and I must say that breakfast, in addition to our hunger, was delicious and was Value for money. Vivek's bike had developed a minor glitch of chain slackness, which was fixed by a local mechanic. After heavy breakfast we continued towards Moodigere.

Even in summer, we were seeing more greenery than we could find in B'lore. I have ridden in western ghats in monsoon. Compared to that, greenery was very less. Obviously, it was summer and dry. But still, enough greenery and flora around which would make you feel really good. Curves had begun and we were enjoying. Real fun is in taming curves. However, your riding speed dips becuase of just too many curves. This was what we always wanted in our lives. curves. More curves

We were running behind schedule and we reached mudigere by around 10.30 AM. Bhaskaran and Vivek were way ahead of us and we also took a wrong turn near kottigehara which resulted in further delay.
We regrouped near Kottigehara around 11 am and resumed our ride towards kalsa. From here, actual ghats begin. Few stretches of road are completely spoiled. However most of the stretch is amazing. The stretch is a maze of blind curves. you have to keep honking the horn. We had to stop quite a few times just to enjoy the scenic beauty and also the vastness of surroundings. You can see so many hills one behind the other with vast flora and I guess fauna too, till your eyes can see. We also came across couple of beautiful coffee estates.Breathtaking!!!

It was getting hot by noon. Surprisingly Vinayak and I, reached Kalasa about twenty minutes early than other two bikes. We reached famous kalasa temple and had couple of tender coconuts, which soothed our systems. Later we were joined by other four, and were told that they took a longer route. We took a break for about forty minutes and then resumed towards our final destination at around 2 pm. On way to Kudremukh, jungles become thicker and greener compared to Kottigehara-Kalasa route.

On the way we found a diversion to our left with a board reading Kudremukh trekking trail. We all thought probably this could be the route to kudremukh peak and turned our bikes and followed the trail. It was a perfect off-road biker's paradise with destroyed stretch of red soil and rocks and steep too. We kept riding and since my bike was behind two others, we literally bathed in the dust. After about two or three kilometers of riding, we realised that we were heading nowhere and were getting tired and trail seemed more and more dangerous as there was no fencing on one side and taking turns was a tedious and dangerous task. We resumed our return and it was even more difficult. But we all had fun and we all thought it was quite crazy on our parts for having tried something like that. Wow!!! For someone with a dirt bike like Hero Impulse, the stretch would be awesome.

We reached Kudremukh check post around 3.10 pm and we enquired about Hanumanagundi falls and also about accommodation n Kudremukh. We were told that falls would be closed for visitors by 4.30 pm and were asked to try kudremukh guesthouse or forest department office for accommodation. We were asked to reach other end of check post in about an hour's time. We were told to keep the tickets of the falls as evidence against time exceeded to reach the other side of check post. We thanked officials and continued.Finally, we reached Kudremukh at 3.35 pm against our estimated time of arrival of 11. Thanks to number of stops and breaks we took. We continued to ride as we wanted to visit hanumanagundi falls before 4 pm so that we could enjoy the water for at least half an hour. We passed by lakya dam and reached falls by 3.55 pm. We had to climb down quite a few steps before reaching the base of the falls. Nice place. But water was little dirty. Despite many boards suggesting no plastcis, we came across litter. The place was cool and we relaxed for about half an hour and then climbed up. Had nice pineapple slices to kill our hunger. Slices were delicious. Then we started our return journey to Kudremukh. It was 5 pm and a beautiful stretch. While going to falls we could not enjoy the stretch as our focus was on reaching falls before 4 pm. But now, Vinayak and I decided to slow down and enjoy the ride. The cool evening breeze made it more enjoyable. Long stretches of roads laced with some amazing curves. We stopped near lakya dam, took couple of pictures and resumed.

We all reached kudremukh by 6 pm and we immediately proceeded towards guest house. We could see that it's a small place with less population and people were enjoying their evening walk. I guess, during days of active mining the population was more and place was busy, unlike now. We reached guest house and coaxed the supervisor to get two 3-bed rooms. We were told that as an exception we were given rooms. Thanks to my company's id. We were glad to know that we get food as well over there. We checked in and relaxed for a while. Nice, clean rooms. Rs. 350 for each room. Real value for money. We then headed towards dining hall, and enjoyed heavy supper and it was not too costly either, and to our delight it was tasty too. After supper, we went back to our rooms, chatted for a while and then went out to take a stroll. There was not a single soul out on the road. We returned, enjoyed dinner at guest house, chatted for a while, and then we all hit the sacks. I slept like a baby. Was a great day of riding

March 5th: Vinayak woke me up by 7 am. Enjoyed nice hot-water bath. We were all ready by 9.30 am. We all had heavy breakfast. After a brief photo session in the backyard of guest house, we packed our stuff, and checked out. We inquired about reservations at guest house. We were given relevant details. We thanked personnel, headed to forest department office, got the passes and headed towards Kalasa. We stopped near the tea estate for sometime and finally reached Kalasa by 12 pm. We visited the Sri Kalaseshwara temple. Very nice and huge temple. We offered our prayers and obeisance to the lord. This is the only temple where you would find male and female Ganapathi. Nice temple. We then headed towards Horanadu which is just 8 Kms from Kalasa. Road is completely spoiled. However, it did not take more than 15 minutes to reach Horanadu. We kept our luggage in the cloak room, visited temple, sought Sri Annapoorneshwari devi's blessings. Very nice temple, situated right in he middle and surrounded by dense forest. Then we had our prasadam (lunch) at the temple. According to me, the prasadam served at temples in Dakshina kannada and chikmagalur districts is the best and delicious. Vivek told me after about three days he is having proper food and he relished the prasadam.

We left Horanadu by 3 pm, reached Kalasa, filled the tanks and proceeded towards kottigehara. We were told by the friendly shopkeeper near Kalasa temple about some nice places around. He
was also kind enough to give us pictures of Lord Kalaseshwara to worship. We thanked him for his friendly suggestions. But, we could not stop anywhere else as we had to head towards Bangalore. It was already 3.40 pm when we departed from kalasa. We rode continuously for about an hour and a half. En route we were cheered by lot of school kids. We were taken in by nature's beauty and we took a small break near a very old estate built around 1826 if I remember correctly.
We reached Hassan by 7.15 pm. Then, Bhaskaran and piyush were lost for sometime somewhere in Hassan. Finally we regrouped and departed from Hassan at 7.45 pm and we rode non-stop for about 75 K ms. Then we took a break and resumed our journey. We reached Nelamangala by 11 pm. Then Bhaskaran insisted that we must go to a Punjabi dhaba,on NH 4, for dinner. We went to Punjabi dhaba. Food was good. But, I loved the lassi. The best I ever had.

March 6th: We headed towards Bangalore around 1.30 am. Dhawan and Vivek bid goodbye near Peenya. We reached Bhaskaran's place around 2 am. Reached home by 2.30 am.

Wow...what a trip

It's really hard to express in words about what I experience whenever I ride. However, I tried

Thanks to Dhawan, Vinayak, Vivek and Bhaskaran for some great pics.

We all had a great time. My friends and I are already planning another ride to Muliyanagiri and Hebbe falls on March 31st and April 1st.

Somewhere on NH48

Soaking in the early morning Sun near Hassan

On way to Belur

A small break on way to Mudigere

Sprinkler at the top

From left: Vivek, me and Bhaskaran..Having fun

How much more green can it get

All we men seek are curves in all shapes and colors

Love is blind. So are these curves

Can't get enough of these curves

All I could say was WOW

On way to Kalasa

My steed taking a break

LIVES OF BIKERS

Time for bit of dirt biking

ENTER DUST MAN

From dust to water...That's life

HANUMANAGUNDI water falls

Hanumanagundi falls to Kudremukh - The best stretch of the trip, a biker's bliss

Lakya Dam in between

Kudremukh Guesthouse- Real value for money

Return Journey begins with Lord Hanuman's blessings

We were blessed to visit Horanadu on the way back

Two extreme modes of local-transportation

I guess one of the oldest estates around

Lord Sun closing shop as we rode on

Current truckers and future truckers

Real steeds

The Pack:

From right to left: Dhawan, Bhaskaran, Vivek, Me (Raghu), Vinayak, and Piyush

Pictures do not reveal the true beauty of the nature. Just visit and enjoy god's creation.

Announcement

Refreshing and leisurely one day motorcycle rides

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment