Re: An epic marathon ride.

Marathon Travelogue Approved

Reading the entire post was also as long as a marathon

Re: An epic marathon ride.

[MENTION=41586]Divya Sharan[/MENTION] : kya baat hain!!! kya baat hain!!! lovely fotos there & what a ride... reconfirms that life is all about the joy of small things & rides w/ friends! :-) jai ho!

Re: An epic marathon ride.

Ha ha.. Thanks for the approval sir jee.

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Thank u sir.

Re: An epic marathon ride.

Trip log number 2! Rather, the complete story from my side! This will be a long read, so pls skip if you are in between important work.

When [MENTION=41586]Divya Sharan[/MENTION] suggested Masinagudi my very first response was "you mean ooty via masinagudi right??". He replies "No bhai just Masinagudi" and I thought well ok I have no idea what's there in Masinagudi but Divya must have some idea! I had not been on a longish ride since Gopalswamy the memories of which were still fresh! And yet I was itching for a longer ride. So Masinagudi it would be then, at the very least it would be longer than Gopalswamy so that qualified just fine.

A day before, I got the valve clearances adjusted, a new pour of Motul 5100, chain tightened & lubed, new head lamp (Osram Silverstar - did the job amazingly well) & finally a full tank and air pressure check! Unfortunately for me I had too many things on my hand and I could manage just 2 hours of sleep before the ride. In retrospect I guess it would have been better had that number been more...

So ride day, wake up nice and early thanks to Divya bhai's wake up message, the bag was ready, got ready and got a message from Adarsh_Bk that he was ready just as I was warming up the bike. Once I met with Divya I called up Adarsh_Bk and all 3 of us probably set off simultaneously. We reached the NICE Road - Mysore Road junction and in less than 5 minutes Adarsh also reached. And so here we started our kind of unplanned ride! Time 4.30 a.m.

The weather was great, it had rained like crazy the night before and everything was cool and fresh. It took just about an hour & 10 minutes to cover the first 100kms, the distance had simply flew by in a blur. We stopped at a tea stall for some tea. And the first set of pics for the day:

The Bikes


The Peoples!


We decided our next stop would be at Gundulpet as that was roughly about 100kms from where we had stopped. Once again the engines started to sing, Mysore flew by so did Nanjangud, by this time the sun had risen and just before Gundulpet we stopped for a photo session!

The Roads!







Just a few kilometers ahead was the Gundulpet CCD where we had our breakfast. It was great just chilling out over coffee and talking about random stuff (mostly bikes).


The petrol pump alongside was convinient and while Adarsh and Divya filled up I was clicking pics of the awesome engine oils they had!


Next stop was decided to be the entry of Bandipur Forest, to set up our desi GoPro jugaads!


The ride through Bandipur was great! Spotted just the common Spotted Deer and monkeys but just a week of rains and the forest has already started turning green! Karnataka ended and TN started and so did Mudumalai. The roads were not as good but the forest was definitely greener! We reached Masinagudi and well our destination had already arived and we had no idea what to do, so we had another photo session! :P

Divya and Adarsh setting up for a timer pic


Random macro...


It was just 10 a.m. then and we had had a super chilled and relaxed ride. Masinagudi was where we were standing. We debated what to do next. B R HIlls & Ooty were the main contenders. All three of us were ok with any decision and any destination and all 3 of wanted Home Made Ooty Chocolates. So that's it then, decision made! We started towards Ooty, the roads deteriorated for a bit but nothing too bad. The Ooty Hair Pins started and it was time to again stop for pics!

A selfie...! :P


I would opine that this is probably another kind of selfie..!! :P


Divya doing his thing!


The view...


The Hair Pins...




Bikers!


Climbing up the bends was an awesome experience. Adarsh was in his elements, his RTR's exhaust was sounding menacing. We literally decimated the hair pins as we over took almost every vehicle, be it bike or car, that had passed us while we were busy doing our photo shoot! :P As the altitude rose the temperatures dropped and the cold breeze at the top was so inviting I can see why people love that place. But I was not too happy about the extent of commercialization I saw. sure enough about half a kilometer inside Ooty and we were stuck in traffic I was like wtf

We had reached Ooty by 11:15 and by 11:45 we had travelled about 2 kms. This was getting crazy. Divya saw a road side Hotel and we decided to stop. First mission objective was to buy home made chocolates. Second mission objective was to decide what to do next! The hotel said lunch will be served at 1, they kindly let Adarsh charge his camera. So we bought the chocolates from them and again started discussing our next move. I had half the mind to turn back because the traffic in Ooty was crazy. The Hotel guy told us that this kind of traffic would extend all the way to Coonoor and I was not surprised to hear that at all..! I opened up google maps and saw two things which caught my eye - Lovedale and Kotagiri. Divya wanted to do Lovedale and I wanted to do Kotagiri - Adarsh called up [MENTION=20165]phanikar[/MENTION] to clear up the confusion and shine his guiding light! his advice was to head towards Kotagiri as the Ooty traffic does not usually go that way. We could have either gone via Doddabetta peak or a road near war Memorial, since Dodabetta Peak was closer we decided to go via that route. At this point we knew that reaching back in home by 8 (original plan) was out of the question, I guess at this point we also realized that this ride will be the gruelling kind of EPIC. But man, the 3 of us were raring to go! The stuff true riding buddies are made up of..! :bb: So we had a fruit based lunch of Bananas & Fruiti and set off towards Kotagiri at 12:30.

The turn leading to Kotagiri was just 1.5 kms from where we were and yet it took us 25 minutes to cover that distance. This maniacal traffic was getting crazy, on the way I talked to a few helpful policemen and got into a small argument with an irritated bus driver. Even after we were on the right road, the traffic continued till the top of Dodabetta peak. By the time we cleared that it was 1:20. The views had improved drastically so we stopped for another photo session.









At this point we were thinking whether we will be able to cover an awesome place which Phanikar had suggested - Kodanadu View Point. I was keen to cover it but going there added another 50kms of twisties to the equation, something which could not be balanced by the amount of available time. It was already 1:45 and believe it or not we were still in Ooty! we decided to head towards Kotagiri and decide on what to do next there.

And then the fun started! Phanikar was right when he said tourists do not go to Kotagiri! The roads were literally empty (or so it seemed coming from Ooty's bumper to bumper traffic)! And the roads man! The twists and turns at every point and such awesome views all along. All 3 of us simply independently gunned it! For quite some part of the distance I could neither see Adarsh in front nor see Divya in my RVM and yet the 3 of us were less than a minute apart. The experience of taking those corners was just sublime, it is beyond description, one just has to experience it. You just get into a rhythm and then the tarmac simply flows under your wheels as if its a river! By the time we reached Kotagiri the bad traffic experience of ooty was long forgotten, a look at the watch and time was 2:15..!! WHAT?? We had actually covered the twisties between ooty and kotagiri in half an hour flat! That was it then, enough time to cover Kodanadu View Point. Without wasting any time off we went. In between Adarsh stopped to adjust his tail bag and I thought he stopped for photos so I stopped for photos as well! :P









Soon enough we reached Kodanadu View Point. We were simply spellbound by the beauty of the place. I will let the pics do the talking here:









We spent a good 45 minutes there clicking pics, taking rest and talking. The return leg of the journey was starting now. We left the view point at 3:30, on the way back Adarsh wanted to take Cornering Videos and Pics but I was worried that we were short on time, we decided to stop for some cornering pics if we find good photo shooting locations. Unfortunately for increased traffic, we missed the cornering pics this time! We reached Kotagiri within no time, next stop was Mettupalayam, the traffic had increased quite a bit. As we went further and further down, the temperatures started rising and how. By the time we had reached the base of the Western Ghats I was exhausted becuse of the heat. The last 130 kms of road had been pure twisties and while they are fun, they are more mentally taxing than just going at 90kmph on a straight road. And the heat in TN man, I was just shocked at how hot it was. May be it was my cordura jacket, I don't know, but at that moment I was not in a good shape. So we stopped for some 20 minutes! Rehydrated, had some biscuits which Adarsh was carrying and just kind of cooled off a bit.

We started off now towards Sathyamangalam. The temperature was quite high and for some reason I just could not maintain a high speed on this stretch. My speedo was hovering around 60-70 in this stretch. At Mettupalayam the sign board said Sathy was 40 kms, 20 kms ahead at Annur (where there is a diversion towards sathy) the sign boards said Sathy 38 kms?? I kept looking at my ODO and finally about 65 kms after Mettupalayam Sathy turned up..! At Sathy the temperatures decreased and by man was I glad about that! Going ahead from Sathy into the forest I again started cruising back in the 90s. The sun was setting and light was fading fast but somehow I all of a sudden started feeling better. The ghat section of the Sathy - Chamarajanagara route came up and as I started riding up in the twilight something happened and I started feeling totally fresh. I came absolutely in my elements and riding up those ghats in the twilight zone will be a memory I will remember for a long time. I was leading and Divya was behind me, I had seen that Adarsh had been left behind, so as soon as we reached the top at Dhimbam I stopped Divya to wait for Adarsh. We waited for quite some time between which I checked out my chicken strips (ZERO), played with a nice stray dog, Divya talked on the phone, did all kind of tp, but Adarsh had still not turned up. Both of us were starting to get worried I in fact walked back to a bend to see the vehicles which were coming from down below. Really breathed a sigh of relief as Adarsh turned up..!! Just goes to show how important it is to stick together in a group.

So we started the descent from Dhimbam towards Chamarajanagara. By now it was pitch dark, and this is where I had my "close shave". What happened was that the roads were as usual full of corners & since it was absolutely dark I was running on my high beams. I cross one corner, the high beam illuminates another corner straight ahead except there was a sudden dip in the roads between these two turns. Not only this but that this dip was actually a curve and on the side was probably a ditch if not a cliff. As my bike cleared the first turn I was looking at the next turn but instead of going straight, the bike started going down and with that the beam illuminated the ditch I was going to go into! h-shit-smiley: I counter-steered at the last moment and my tyres went just over the edge of the tarmac. I took the next corner smoothly but man I was shaking my head and for the next one minute going f**k f**k f**k f**k f**k in my helmet! Divya who was tailing close to me saw what happened and even he was shaking his head!! Hehe! It was a total a****le pucker moment, almost shat my pants there! Almost. But not quite! Had I been riding a bit slow and on the centre of the road this would not have happened. But between adjusting for on coming traffic, speed, visibility and the line you take going into a turn, there is no clear distinction and these things happen to the best of us. We either make it or we take rest for 4-5 months and make it next time.

The road forward to Chamarajanagara went through forest and there were few vehicles on the road. All trucks coming from the opposite directins had their high beams on completely blinding us. I was again in front and the silverstar did its job well, I frequently alternated between low and high beams and often used both simultaneously (flash switch) to make sure all turns were illuminated. Out of no where a Scorpio turned up and I tailed that for some 10-15 kms being guided by its lights. Then an Alto turned up and I tailed that for some time. But all said and done, between the wet roads, pitch darkness, zero sign boards, flying insects and oncoming blinding trucks, we could not maintain a good speed in this stretch either and had to do 60-70s again. As a result when we finally reached Chamarajanagara at 8:15 the feeling was exactly that! Finally!

The option now was to either take a break or push on forward in a bid to reach bangalore asap. We decided to break, not counting the small 20 min break at mettupalayam, we had been riding non stop right since Kodanadu View Point..!! We found a restaurant, placed the order, freshened up and rested. It was definitely the right decision. Eating and sitting on soft cushioned sofa was exactly what we needed. We spent a good 1.25 hours chilling out. But home was still 200 odd km from there. But this rest and coming back to civilization had done us good. We left chamarajanagara in high spirits and high speeds. Kollegal came up within no time. Also there was close to zero traffic on the road this late at night. From Kollegal to Malavalli and then towards Kanakapura was one long rip session. Once we reached Kanakapura road, we again took a small 10 min nicotine break on the road side. On Kanakapura road the sleep deprivation started taking its toll. The fatigue was slowly but surely creeping in fast. I was kind of riding in a stupor. Adarsh was alternating between tailing me and ripping past roaring. Divya seemed like a small constant speck of light in my RVM. I opened my helmet visor so that the cold wind, wind noise and the dratted bugs would keep me awake. They were only partly successful. Out of the blue Adarsh signalled stopping, I signalled the same and I could see Divya slowing down and his indicator blinking as well. we stopped and i was asked what happened, well gues what, we had reached!!

It was time to say bye bye to Adarsh as the NICE Road junction had come up. Till next time then! Me and Divya proceeded towards Mysore road on NICE then took ORR to Yeswantpur and then back home! I clicked my ODO reading at the end of the trip as I parked my bike in the basement. Have a look at the before after photo:



I was struck at the perfect palindromic symmetry of the start and end ODO numbers. What a beautiful coincidence. Something kind of exactly how the theme of this EPIC MARATHON TRIP had been, beautifully coincidental.

Sincere thanks to the awesome guys [MENTION=41586]Divya Sharan[/MENTION] & [MENTION=47593]Adarsh_Bk[/MENTION] privileged to ride with you guys. This ride was a personal record for all 3 of us and in some ways this was all just meant to be. Hoping we will do more such rides in the future!

Ride Safe Everyone!

Cheers!
-sid.

Re: An epic marathon ride.

Awesome logs there guys. Looks like you guys had a lot of fun and learnt a lot. Looking forward to more of these from you people

Re: An epic marathon ride.

Wow, that was one heck of a marathon ride, i can literally feel that you people enjoyed the ride after seeing the photos. Good set of photos btw. If you people plan for any trips in future please do let me know, i will be more than happy to join you all .

Re: An epic marathon ride.

Thanks bro. You're also in BLR right?

Sure bhai. Would love to have you (and your bro - ZMR na) with us in future rides.

Re: An epic marathon ride.

Great ride, fellas. Looks like you guys had a whale of a time. Awesome pics, too! I hope to visit Ooty on my bike someday too.

Re: An epic marathon ride.

Thanks a lot guys. It is one Sunday I will never forget!!

Here is a video shot using jugaad GoPro from Ooty - Kotagiri.







Due to slow broadband, I had to upload bad quality version. Will try to get the HD version for Bandipur, Ooty hairpins and Kodanadu view point videos. Surprisingly the exhaust note has come very well!


PS : Editing a 25min video is a real headache!!

Re: An epic marathon ride.

My home's in BLR. But I'm currently in Mys for studies. Might move to Pune in a couple of months though.

Re: An epic marathon ride.

Superb Pics and a Detailed Trip Log!!...Was fun to read it!

Re: An epic marathon ride.

Here is another video of our ride through Bandipur Tiger Reserve..



We spotted a few deers but it wasnt captured in the video.

Re: An epic marathon ride.

Epic rocks

Re: An epic marathon ride.

really nice travel log guys, specially the naration of those close calls.