It was raining continuously since past 2 days and this was then riding through rain has itched in my mind. So took the help of XBhp rider ravi@17bhp
in planning the route and decided riding to Srisailam Dam through Nallamala Forest alone and took a day off on Friday ( 12-07-2013 ) and then decided to ride and i have decided to return back the same day. The day before the ride posted in XBhp Hyderabad FB page about my ride and eventually 2 riders responded and decided to meet me at Srisailam Dam.

Woke up at 06:00 AM with my mobile alarm ringing since past 05:45 AM and started getting ready and thoroughly checked all the necessary things in my check list and had 2 boiled eggs and a glass of milk and came down to the parking lot by 06:45 AM and tied my back pack which was carrying foot pump, puncture repair kit, tripod to the rear seat and kept my dslr in tank bag and started my bike and allowed it to warm up meanwhile i was gearing up with knee pads, gloves, and helmet. So finally started riding at 07:00 AM as planned and the route i have planned to ride was Vijayawada - Mangalagiri -Guntur -Chilakaluripet -Narasaraopet - Vinukonda -Doranala - Thummalabailu -Srisailam


Stopped on seeing this scenic beauty at Mangalagiri and took a snap




All the way it was drizzling and i was enjoying my ride happily cursing happily on AH 45/ NH 5 at 90 Kmph till Chilakaluripet from where i have to take right turn towards Narasaraopet and the routes were pretty good till Narasaraopet and it was 08:20 AM when i got a call from an XBhp Hyd rider saying they are about to start from Hyd and then we agreed to meet near Srisailam Dam and i have asked him to call me and report their status when every they stop for a pit break.

NIGHTMARE :- After reaching Narasaraopet took left turn and continued riding towards Vinukonda and this route was the worst route i have traveled in my life time , i haven't taken any pictures of those worst roads but you will understand it on seeing my bike condition in pictures.

After riding for some distance i have taken my first pit break on seeing this vacant road and took few clicks of my bike and i was praising the govt for maintaining roads so well

After riding for some 5Kms more found this beautiful location and decided to stop and take some snaps.


and then i decided to ride fast as the roads were good and then suddenly i saw a big pot hole in my way and had braked hard and thanks to Honda for giving ABS in my bike. The bike stopped without skidding and from there the roads were filled with thick mud and the mud became more thick due to rains and for there on till 36Kms the roads were of the same condition filled with pot holes every where and with thick mud all the way and i had to break hard for nearly 5 times in that way on seeing very big pot holes all of a sudden. You can notice how well the color of my bike has changed from the above pic to the below pics.

After crossing Vinukonda the roads were good again and i started cruising happily and took my second pit break at a beautiful place.After crossing Vinukonda and while on the way towards Doranala my mind was filled with lot of doubts regarding road conditions and i was doubting whether to twist my throttle or go slow . Picture below



I was feeling like heaven riding through empty roads between mountains on one side and fields on the other side and added to this the weather was around 25 degrees


and by then it was 11:00 AM and i decided to take next pit break once i cross Doranala and after reaching Doranala took a right turn through an arch and started riding towards Thummalabailu from where the Nallamalla Forest region starts and on reaching a beautiful location i have stopped for about 20 minutes and started doing photo shoot and the weather was really awesome with slight drizzle and the mountains were covered with fog and every where i can only notice green green green .... and i have took helmet off my head and was able to listening to the humming sound of birds through the forest after enjoying the mesmerizing beauty of nature started riding ahead




Ghat roads leading to Srisailam were extremely good and i observed few patches at some places , below picture can speak of the road conditions



Mountains covered with fog




after riding for few more Kms ahead found a sweet spot and decided to take a picture of mine too , so took the tripod out and did a photo shoot again but i was a bit worried about my camera as it was drizzling and i left it uncovered and every time i had to clean the lens before i capture a snap as lens was getting filled with rain drops




Wwahhhh look at those beautiful roads in between a forest


Here comes my poser pic


After finishing my photo shoot packed up everything and pushed the self start button , {observe how well i leaned the bike :P} bike refused to start for few min as fuel was low added to that i parked it so lean with ignition ON and so i have turned off the bike and turned it on after 5 minutes and then it started and i was back on tarmac riding at 60Kmph enjoying the beautiful climate.

After riding few more Kms ahead found this lovely stretch and decided to click it



Finally reached my destination ( Srisailam Dam ) at 12:45 PM
Srisailam dam was empty with very little water :P





I called up XBhp friends who were supposed to meet me at the dam and they told me they are 100Kms away from the destination and would be taking another 90minutes to reach, so i have decided to fill up my fuel tank and have some food by the time they reach and then inquired from locals regarding petrol stations in Srisailam and to my surprise there is only 1 fuel station in Srisailam. So had to travel back to Srisailam from dam site 15Kms and fill up the fuel


They finally reached met me near the dam at 3:30 PM and they were very hungry so we went to a restaurant in Srisailam and had lunch. After having small photo shoot and some chat at 05:00PM we started riding back home.


By the time i reached the worst nightmare roads it was 6:30 PM and it took some where around 90minutes for me to cover that 36kms stretch of worst roads and at a location i was blinded off by the high beams which lorries were throwing at me and i have taken my bike through a very big pit hole which resulted in front rim bent , to my luck air was not escaping and there were no lights around and so i was riding very slowly till Narsaraopet and i have decided not to ride in that stretch never again. By the time i reached home it was around 10:45 PM and i was completely tired after riding though that worst stretch my right hand started paining and was off to bed.

Next day morning found my bike in this way :P . That 36kms stretch alone made my bike look like this !


Radiator filled with mud


On the whole it was a very beautiful ride except that worst 36Kms and i have learnt meany things in this ride which will be helpful when i plan for such a kinda rides in future.