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My Fazer taught me to ride. Its my first bike and I learnt to ride after I bought it. Not that I had never ridden any bike before but all the previous rides were like "ek round de na" and that too within the compound or an empty stretch of road for 5 to 10 mins. As soon as the traffic would start I would hand over the borrowed bike to the owner/rider.
I purchased my bike 3 years back and its my family's first vehicle , my dad had never bought any vehicle as transport is pretty good in Mumbai.For me its a daily commute of 42 kms to and from office and to meet relatives or just hangout in the weekends. So my average monthly running would always be around 1200 kms. Earlier I would consistently get a mileage of 38 kms/l , but recently for the past few months I am getting (unbelievably) 42 kms/l
I take good care of my bike , regular services , timely air pressure check . I've been washing, polishing (waxpol) and chain cleaning/lubing the bike myself all these years.
I have done one solo ride to Valsad once (170Kms one way) when the bike was about a year old. I always wanted to do a longer run. I was inspired by the various travelogues I've been reading and so I took the plunge. I discussed Mumbai - Udaipur - Mumbai ride with my wife and the response was LETS DO IT
I had already gone through a lot of travelogues and knew that the roads for this route would be excellent. Also I have relatives in Valsad and Dahod (close to Vadodara) and Udaipur so I was a bit less worried.
Bike : Yamaha Fazer
Rider: Me and pillion my wife
Luggage : Two bags (one on tank and the other on the saree guard, both tightly secured with bunjee cords) , one DSLR and an last minute small bag (cannot hold more than 2 pair of clothes)
Rules: No riding in dark so we will break wherever we find a good hotel. I had a 10 day holiday so we had all the time we wanted.
Route :
Mumbai to Udaipur = as shown by google maps. The only thing to be taken care is that I have to stick to NH8 as the Vadodara-Ahemadabad expressway does not allow bikes.
Udaipur to Mumbai = was supposed to be the same as Mumbai to Udaipur but for some reason while coming back I missed a flyover but this proved good as the road under this pointed to Vadodara. This was SH5 and its an excellent two way stretch with very less traffic. Also it completely bypasses Ahemdabad. So the route here was NH8 - SH5- SH87 - NH8.
Riding gear: Me - LS2 helmet. A jacket (with alpinestars decals) with all the padding's (elbow , back and shoulders) . Scoyco gloves and knee pads. For wife : Vega helmet. Fox armor and knee pads and probiker gloves.
19th Feb (day1) : We started off at 7 a.m. , went to a small temple first and started off with our journey. The bike felt heavier because of the luggage. I was not comfortable but I decided that I would ride slow for some time and if still I do not feel comfortable I would go by our car. But after about 5 kms I was gaining confidence and I started accelerating from 50 to 60 to 70. The climate was awesome (cool) and we covered a lot of distance. I did not keep track of time much. We did our breakfast at Ahura restaurant, Dahanu. The tea was really refreshing and we started again. We had lunch between Surat and Bharuch around 1:00 pm. I just kept riding and we would take adequate breaks for water/toilets. Around 3 or 4 we were at the point in Vadodara where we had to skip the Vadodara Ahmedabad expressway and proceed left on NH8. All this long the roads were excellent but this Vadodara to Ahemdabad streatch was full of trucks at start. We kept riding towards Ahemdabad and could see the sun setting. My helmet has a dark visor so I had to keep it open as it was getting darker. We were riding around 75 Kms/hr and a lot of insects now started hitting my face. I knew that it was time for us to take a halt but still Ahemdabad was around 40 kms away. I kept riding and around 7:30 pm we reached Ahemdabad city . Searched for hotels and found a good one at Paladi. Had good dinner and decided that we will not start early as we needed some good sleep. We only needed to cover ~280 kms to Udaipur and so we will take our own sweet time.
20th Feb (day2) : ~9 am had breakfast, started the journey again at 11:00 am.
By 2:30 pm we entered Rajasthan. Only had a Paratha at a Dhaba for lunch and kept riding. Finally reached Udaipur to my sisters house around 5:00 p.m.
Spent the next three days sight seeing (on my bike ofcourse except for Kumbalgarh in car).
24th Feb (day6) : Time to head to Mumbai. My relatives did tell me about a route that goes via Godhra but I wanted to take the known route and did not want to take any risks as I felt NH 8 is safe. Started at 9:00 am. This time I was confident and rode between 80 and 90. We were covering fast as the roads were excellent and there was no traffic. There was this one flyover , I dont know how and why but instead of going over it I went under it. I was going straight but my wife pointed out that the road which goes from under this flyover says Vadodara , I stopped , thought and finally took the circle and went for this new route not even knowing which highway it was. Later on with the signage it was clear that we were on SH 5. Checked google maps and found that this road indeed bypass Ahemdabad and goes to Vadodara via Godhra. This road too was excellent and no traffic. Reached Vadodara around 4 pm I think. And later Surat around 7:30 pm.
Again it was dark and we searched for a good hotel in Surat city.
25th Feb (day7) : Started again at around 11a.m. , kept riding on the two way roads towards Navsari to joint to NH8 with excellent 4 ways. Had lunch around 2 pm . Started again and kept riding till we could see some familiar roads (100 kms left for Mumbai) , as we kept heading towards Mumbai our smiles kept getting bigger and we would shake hands
. Finally at 4:30 pm were at home in Mira Road.
We were very happy and amazed that we had actually done it. This was my best vacation ever. Spent quality time with my wife and my brother (my Fazer 
) in this amazing place Udaipur with an unbelievable journey (atleast for us).
Finally (my brother) :
Happy riding guys and always ride safe.
I purchased my bike 3 years back and its my family's first vehicle , my dad had never bought any vehicle as transport is pretty good in Mumbai.For me its a daily commute of 42 kms to and from office and to meet relatives or just hangout in the weekends. So my average monthly running would always be around 1200 kms. Earlier I would consistently get a mileage of 38 kms/l , but recently for the past few months I am getting (unbelievably) 42 kms/l
I take good care of my bike , regular services , timely air pressure check . I've been washing, polishing (waxpol) and chain cleaning/lubing the bike myself all these years.
I have done one solo ride to Valsad once (170Kms one way) when the bike was about a year old. I always wanted to do a longer run. I was inspired by the various travelogues I've been reading and so I took the plunge. I discussed Mumbai - Udaipur - Mumbai ride with my wife and the response was LETS DO IT
I had already gone through a lot of travelogues and knew that the roads for this route would be excellent. Also I have relatives in Valsad and Dahod (close to Vadodara) and Udaipur so I was a bit less worried.
Bike : Yamaha Fazer
Rider: Me and pillion my wife
Luggage : Two bags (one on tank and the other on the saree guard, both tightly secured with bunjee cords) , one DSLR and an last minute small bag (cannot hold more than 2 pair of clothes)
Rules: No riding in dark so we will break wherever we find a good hotel. I had a 10 day holiday so we had all the time we wanted.
Route :
Mumbai to Udaipur = as shown by google maps. The only thing to be taken care is that I have to stick to NH8 as the Vadodara-Ahemadabad expressway does not allow bikes.
Udaipur to Mumbai = was supposed to be the same as Mumbai to Udaipur but for some reason while coming back I missed a flyover but this proved good as the road under this pointed to Vadodara. This was SH5 and its an excellent two way stretch with very less traffic. Also it completely bypasses Ahemdabad. So the route here was NH8 - SH5- SH87 - NH8.
Riding gear: Me - LS2 helmet. A jacket (with alpinestars decals) with all the padding's (elbow , back and shoulders) . Scoyco gloves and knee pads. For wife : Vega helmet. Fox armor and knee pads and probiker gloves.
19th Feb (day1) : We started off at 7 a.m. , went to a small temple first and started off with our journey. The bike felt heavier because of the luggage. I was not comfortable but I decided that I would ride slow for some time and if still I do not feel comfortable I would go by our car. But after about 5 kms I was gaining confidence and I started accelerating from 50 to 60 to 70. The climate was awesome (cool) and we covered a lot of distance. I did not keep track of time much. We did our breakfast at Ahura restaurant, Dahanu. The tea was really refreshing and we started again. We had lunch between Surat and Bharuch around 1:00 pm. I just kept riding and we would take adequate breaks for water/toilets. Around 3 or 4 we were at the point in Vadodara where we had to skip the Vadodara Ahmedabad expressway and proceed left on NH8. All this long the roads were excellent but this Vadodara to Ahemdabad streatch was full of trucks at start. We kept riding towards Ahemdabad and could see the sun setting. My helmet has a dark visor so I had to keep it open as it was getting darker. We were riding around 75 Kms/hr and a lot of insects now started hitting my face. I knew that it was time for us to take a halt but still Ahemdabad was around 40 kms away. I kept riding and around 7:30 pm we reached Ahemdabad city . Searched for hotels and found a good one at Paladi. Had good dinner and decided that we will not start early as we needed some good sleep. We only needed to cover ~280 kms to Udaipur and so we will take our own sweet time.
20th Feb (day2) : ~9 am had breakfast, started the journey again at 11:00 am.
By 2:30 pm we entered Rajasthan. Only had a Paratha at a Dhaba for lunch and kept riding. Finally reached Udaipur to my sisters house around 5:00 p.m.
Spent the next three days sight seeing (on my bike ofcourse except for Kumbalgarh in car).
24th Feb (day6) : Time to head to Mumbai. My relatives did tell me about a route that goes via Godhra but I wanted to take the known route and did not want to take any risks as I felt NH 8 is safe. Started at 9:00 am. This time I was confident and rode between 80 and 90. We were covering fast as the roads were excellent and there was no traffic. There was this one flyover , I dont know how and why but instead of going over it I went under it. I was going straight but my wife pointed out that the road which goes from under this flyover says Vadodara , I stopped , thought and finally took the circle and went for this new route not even knowing which highway it was. Later on with the signage it was clear that we were on SH 5. Checked google maps and found that this road indeed bypass Ahemdabad and goes to Vadodara via Godhra. This road too was excellent and no traffic. Reached Vadodara around 4 pm I think. And later Surat around 7:30 pm.
Again it was dark and we searched for a good hotel in Surat city.
25th Feb (day7) : Started again at around 11a.m. , kept riding on the two way roads towards Navsari to joint to NH8 with excellent 4 ways. Had lunch around 2 pm . Started again and kept riding till we could see some familiar roads (100 kms left for Mumbai) , as we kept heading towards Mumbai our smiles kept getting bigger and we would shake hands
. Finally at 4:30 pm were at home in Mira Road.We were very happy and amazed that we had actually done it. This was my best vacation ever
. Spent quality time with my wife and my brother (my Fazer ) in this amazing place Udaipur with an unbelievable journey (atleast for us).Finally (my brother) :
Happy riding guys and always ride safe.
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