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5th May 2012 Saturday ..my first long trip on my quarter litre baby Ceeber.
Was thinking long before to have a trip from Pune to Bhopal (800+ km) but had no immediate plans in mind.
The bike had clocked only 750 on the Odo and the first service was still due, but on 3rd, Thursday night it was like "The Bike" spoke to me..."get the service done, THE trip has to be made ..NOW!" and like an obedient minion I responded.."YES MASTER.".
Next morning talked to my lead @ office for a half-day and leave for the next week, talked to the guys @ Rohan Honda and took my bike for the first service. She was done by 4 PM and next on the "TO-DO" list was buying proper gears.Got a pair of Cramster gloves and protective jacket, a spine guard, knee guard and a new helmet. With my newly found powers and of course my "Master's brute force" i was ready to carry on my orders.
Filled her up full tank in the night and was all ready.
Next morning packed up few clothes and a 2 litre water bottle of glucose and err ....water. The journey started at 5:30 AM."Planned route" was Pune - Ahmednagar - Malegaon - Indore - Bhopal. The warm-up drive was mostly keeping her between 5000-5500 rpm and was cruising at 80-90 enjoying the cold morning breeze. The drive to Ahmednagar was very pleasant and short, almost like the good part of a Hindi movie before a bastardly villain enters the plot.As i entered the city i noticed "nashte ki dukaane" surrounded by people ,smell of poha jalebis pavs... which also brought to my notice my roaring stomach. Then came my first pit stop for breakfast (half emptying the packed glucose bottle), asking for directions to Malegaon and even then being able to make a wrong turn ...LIKE A BOSS. The correction involved taking a by-pass thorough the fields to SH10 and what a by-pass it was, the road construction was magnificent..so good that you could hardly differentiate between the fields and the road and any build quality fault your bike had "IT SHALL NOT REMAIN HIDDEN". My bikes left rear view mirror was about to fall down when I noticed the loose nut. After that was fixed, i continued on the heavenly road praying for her shock-ups all the while. After i reached SH10, from there to "Malegaon NH3 crossing" it was all smooth with a few breathtaking sceneries, especially during the ghats.
I reached Malegaon NH3 crossing at 10:30 AM, took my second pit stop to feast on the "delicious glucose sharbat" I had with me and fueling. The sun was up and the heat had started to build up.The highway looked very promising to open up my Ceeber and unleash all the 25 ponies she had. The NH3 drive was involving with cornering turns at 100-115s and a few straight run ups reaching 145+ speeds.The only irritating factor was the speed breakers before diversions. It was around 12:30 PM now and the heat was more than bearable and had become a major distracting factor. Many a times I felt like I should stop and rest a little before continuing but somehow was more determined to add at least 100 km more to my current 380 km trip reading before my next stop. Now the reading was 480+ and I was totally drained.My eyes were desperately searching for a Dhaba where I could rest in the shade and have food and water. A little while later my CBR was parked at a dhaba where I had my first solid food for the day "Parle-G" biscuits. A few minutes of rest and I felt I was good to go but after driving for a few minutes I realized "good" was an overkill, my right knee was paining like hell, butt cheeks were so sore that I slight bump on the road felt like a huge blow on my bumps and the insides of the jacket were steaming. My vision was at times almost blurry due to the extensive heat but I was determined that my next stop has to be Indore.
At around 2:45 PM ,the road sign read "Indore 80kms", I was tired, irritated and somehow pulling myself against the heat when at the ghats I saw dark clouds ahead and it looked almost like a divine intervention. Few minutes later I was driving through a light shower and that was just what the doctor ordered. As I was nearer to Indore familiar roadsides appeared , I was cooler, less tired and almost at my next pit stop. Reached my destination at around 4 and the plan was to visit my friend there and again leave for Bhopal at around 5 - 5:30. BUT ......half an hour before I was planning to leave for Bhopal, It started to rain like crazy and I was forced to extent my stay till next morning.
May 6th , was ready to leave at 7 in the morning. After a trip to the nearest ATM and a refuel I was all set to leave Vijaynagar, Indore but hardly 500 meters away a loud scratching sound caught my attention. The sound was familiar and so was the horror that it implied. Could my front disc had worn out so early ? or is something broken? Got down to examine it and my front no plate was hanging by a single nut and rubbing against the front tyre. With that in the bag I was off and the last 200 kms of Pune to Bhopal were THE BEST. The new four lane bypass road is a treat to drive on and that was covered in roughly 2 hours and 10 mins or so. I was welcomed by the "city of lakes" at 9:45 AM.
The whole experience was awesome and looking forward to an even better return trip.
Was thinking long before to have a trip from Pune to Bhopal (800+ km) but had no immediate plans in mind.
The bike had clocked only 750 on the Odo and the first service was still due, but on 3rd, Thursday night it was like "The Bike" spoke to me..."get the service done, THE trip has to be made ..NOW!" and like an obedient minion I responded.."YES MASTER.".
Next morning talked to my lead @ office for a half-day and leave for the next week, talked to the guys @ Rohan Honda and took my bike for the first service. She was done by 4 PM and next on the "TO-DO" list was buying proper gears.Got a pair of Cramster gloves and protective jacket, a spine guard, knee guard and a new helmet. With my newly found powers and of course my "Master's brute force" i was ready to carry on my orders.
Filled her up full tank in the night and was all ready.
Next morning packed up few clothes and a 2 litre water bottle of glucose and err ....water. The journey started at 5:30 AM."Planned route" was Pune - Ahmednagar - Malegaon - Indore - Bhopal. The warm-up drive was mostly keeping her between 5000-5500 rpm and was cruising at 80-90 enjoying the cold morning breeze. The drive to Ahmednagar was very pleasant and short, almost like the good part of a Hindi movie before a bastardly villain enters the plot.As i entered the city i noticed "nashte ki dukaane" surrounded by people ,smell of poha jalebis pavs... which also brought to my notice my roaring stomach. Then came my first pit stop for breakfast (half emptying the packed glucose bottle), asking for directions to Malegaon and even then being able to make a wrong turn ...LIKE A BOSS. The correction involved taking a by-pass thorough the fields to SH10 and what a by-pass it was, the road construction was magnificent..so good that you could hardly differentiate between the fields and the road and any build quality fault your bike had "IT SHALL NOT REMAIN HIDDEN". My bikes left rear view mirror was about to fall down when I noticed the loose nut. After that was fixed, i continued on the heavenly road praying for her shock-ups all the while. After i reached SH10, from there to "Malegaon NH3 crossing" it was all smooth with a few breathtaking sceneries, especially during the ghats.
I reached Malegaon NH3 crossing at 10:30 AM, took my second pit stop to feast on the "delicious glucose sharbat" I had with me and fueling. The sun was up and the heat had started to build up.The highway looked very promising to open up my Ceeber and unleash all the 25 ponies she had. The NH3 drive was involving with cornering turns at 100-115s and a few straight run ups reaching 145+ speeds.The only irritating factor was the speed breakers before diversions. It was around 12:30 PM now and the heat was more than bearable and had become a major distracting factor. Many a times I felt like I should stop and rest a little before continuing but somehow was more determined to add at least 100 km more to my current 380 km trip reading before my next stop. Now the reading was 480+ and I was totally drained.My eyes were desperately searching for a Dhaba where I could rest in the shade and have food and water. A little while later my CBR was parked at a dhaba where I had my first solid food for the day "Parle-G" biscuits. A few minutes of rest and I felt I was good to go but after driving for a few minutes I realized "good" was an overkill, my right knee was paining like hell, butt cheeks were so sore that I slight bump on the road felt like a huge blow on my bumps and the insides of the jacket were steaming. My vision was at times almost blurry due to the extensive heat but I was determined that my next stop has to be Indore.
At around 2:45 PM ,the road sign read "Indore 80kms", I was tired, irritated and somehow pulling myself against the heat when at the ghats I saw dark clouds ahead and it looked almost like a divine intervention. Few minutes later I was driving through a light shower and that was just what the doctor ordered. As I was nearer to Indore familiar roadsides appeared , I was cooler, less tired and almost at my next pit stop. Reached my destination at around 4 and the plan was to visit my friend there and again leave for Bhopal at around 5 - 5:30. BUT ......half an hour before I was planning to leave for Bhopal, It started to rain like crazy and I was forced to extent my stay till next morning.
May 6th , was ready to leave at 7 in the morning. After a trip to the nearest ATM and a refuel I was all set to leave Vijaynagar, Indore but hardly 500 meters away a loud scratching sound caught my attention. The sound was familiar and so was the horror that it implied. Could my front disc had worn out so early ? or is something broken? Got down to examine it and my front no plate was hanging by a single nut and rubbing against the front tyre. With that in the bag I was off and the last 200 kms of Pune to Bhopal were THE BEST. The new four lane bypass road is a treat to drive on and that was covered in roughly 2 hours and 10 mins or so. I was welcomed by the "city of lakes" at 9:45 AM.
The whole experience was awesome and looking forward to an even better return trip.
So nothing to worry about them!!!
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