Re: Chennai>Gandikota>Belum Caves>Chennai Within 23 Hours

Thank you so much for your kind appreciation, [MENTION=57323]krishna77[/MENTION].

re: My Motorcycle Diaries

Always a pleasure to see your meticulously documented travelogue. When are you in Bangalore next? We should meet.

Sent from my XT1068 using xBhp Connect mobile app

re: My Motorcycle Diaries

Thanks for the appreciation, [MENTION=75364]MasterofFreedom[/MENTION].

From the second week of May 2015, I will be in Bangalore; sure, we will meet.

re: My Motorcycle Diaries

Me and my bird are on the highway again. Now, we are in Kolkata as part of our Golden Quadrilateral ride. We will be starting our third leg of the ride in another few hours.

re: My Motorcycle Diaries

Awesome

Riding Golden Quadrilateral

My Thunderbird 500 brought me safely and comfortably to Jaiwana Haveli, Udaipur, at 00:30 am today. We wasted half-hour as my NaviMaps misguided and took me elsewhere. It always gets confused in the ghats. After a few enquiries, I reached the venue. The main door was locked and the staff were sleeping inside. I used my maximum lung power and shouted with honking of double horn of Thunderbird 500; a boy, appearing to be sleep-walking, came out and opened the door. Another one hour was wasted due to the protests at HR-RJ border.

re: My Motorcycle Diaries

Amazing . You are truly a inspiration for the riding community .
All the best .

Riding Golden Quadrilateral: Udaipur - Pune

We are in Pune now!

Riding Golden Quadrilateral: Bangalore - Chennai

Mission accomplished!

Blue Bird brought me Chennai Royapettah home safely and comfortably.


No puncture. No breakdown. No accident. No falling down. No problem.

120 hours of riding 6,353 km through TN>AP>OD>WB>JH>BR>UP>DL>HR>RJ>GJ>MH>KA in 12 days.



Kolkata - Delhi was the longest and toughest; Bangalore - Chennai was the shortest and sweetest.

I thank one and all for the wishes, appreciation and kind encouraging words.

I am thankful to my Thunderbird 500, which has once again proved it is trust-worthy and dependable, when it comes to highway-cruising.

Ride details will follow in due course.

Riding Golden Quadrilateral: 31.36 kmpl

My Thunderbird 500 has recorded an excellent fuel efficiency of 31.36 kmpl during the GQ ride. While Firozabad, UP bagged the dubious distinction of the costliest petrol, TN Chennai's petrol price was the lowest. I started liking the Reliance Petro outlets. They have clean toilets apart from accepting credit/debit cards. The owner of Reliance Petro pump at Sahera, GJ SH 5 took my feed-back on the facilities available there.

re: My Motorcycle Diaries

wow that's some endurance ride.

Riding Golden Quadrilateral: Hotels





Although my Thunderbird 500 had free passage through the toll plazas of NHAI, I paid toll at Vidyasagar Setu, Kolkata [2x₹ 5], Yamuna Expressway [₹ 175] and DND Flyway, Delhi [₹ 12]. I also paid toll dearly by getting my exposed wrists sunburnt while riding through AP and OD.

Riding Golden Quadrilateral: Good Food

Consumption of good food is a must for sustaining this mega ride. I used to have my breakfast at my hotel before starting the ride. But, I enjoyed eating my lunch and dinner on the highway. Here are some of the top picks of the places, where I enjoyed good food during my GQ ride.



I had two glasses of sugarcane juice, costing ₹ 10 each from Rajesh Kumar. He evinced keen interest on the headlight of my Thunderbird 500 and wanted to know how much it cost, so that he could buy one for his jugaad sugarcane-crusher-cum-3-wheeler. I pleaded ignorance and directed him to contact the nearby Royal Enfield dealer. His battery + diesel engine-powered mobile sugarcane-crusher has all the gadgets and equipments like headlights, horn, etc. Rajesh Kumar proudly stated that he bought that from Kolkata and drove from there to his village near Barhi, JH! When he came to know that I was riding from Chennai, he was taken aback! When I found that that vehicle did not have registration number plates and asked him about that, he replied, 'zaroorat nahin, saab' [not necessary, sir]!



Here, I had the rare opportunity of eating by sitting next to my Thunderbird 500!



In Delhi, I wanted to have my dinner at Chandni Chowk only by riding through bazaars, lanes and bylanes in the evening peak hour, perfectly guided by Navi Maps app in my smartphone! I enjoyed chole bhature and sweet lassi in kulhad [earthen pot] at Ram Bhoj, Chandni Chowk.











I visited Hotel New Jaipur, near Kishangarh, RJ on NH 8. When I mentioned the owner that it was my third visit, he was very pleased. These pure vegetarian eateries are run by muslims hailing from Palanpur, GJ, just like many Udupi hotels, dotting India and abroad.



Here is the photo clicked during my first visit to the same hotel in 2010:



In Udaipur, while returning to the hotel after servicing my Thunderbird 500, I noticed this bhojanalay. I just enquired with a localite about the quality of the food served there, who gave a clean chit.







The owner of Reliance Petro pump on GJ SH 5, where my Thunderbird 500 had petrol, guided me to this wonderful hotel.



Apart from these, I tasted mouth-watering rasmalais and sweet lassi at Haldiram's at Rewari, HR, but I didn't click any pics due to agitations rocking the HR-RJ border. I enjoyed nice dinner at the famous Sai Food Court, near Kolhapur, MH.

Riding Golden Quadrilateral: Some Places, Some Incidents

No ride/drive is complete without 'incidents'. Mine was no exception.



While riding in AP in the first day [15 Feb 2016], the wind force was so heavy in the morning, it dislodged my phone from the holder and it flew out, but luckily, I took a catch on my left hand, thereby saving my mobile. But, on the second time near Chilakaluripeta, I was not lucky. It flew out as I was going in 100 kmph speed and dropped on the road. Fortunately, there were no vehicles behind me, I came back and retrieved it. Thank god, it did not break; only some scratches on the back side. Immediately, I stopped and called my wife to test whether the phone worked. All the apps also worked. From the next day onwards, I resorted to this jugaad using rubber bands to tie it securely with the holder.



On the second day [16 Feb 2016], I lost my pair of sandals kept below the flaps of the saddle bags as I forgot to put on the locking clips. I stopped by at a truck lay-bay for chain cleaning before Bhubaneswar. After the work was done, I kept all the things back in their designated places, but forgot to clip on the lock on the RHS saddle bag. After crossing Bhubaneswar, I heard some flap-slapping sound only to realize that the sandals were gone with the wind!









The power-outlet in my bird has 12V 5A rating, whereas my XUV 500's has a rating of 12V 15A. I have used NaviMaps in my smartphone continuously for more than 24 hours without any issues in my XUV 500. But, I understood the difference practically, while entering Agra on 19 Feb 2016, when suddenly my smartphone went dead. I didn't realize that it was totally discharged. I tried in vain by removing the battery and refitting after 5 minutes. Then, I rode to a nearby dhaba and requested the owner for using their power outlet for a few minutes for which he readily agreed. When I plugged the smartphone into the wall socket, my smartphone got back its life, but all the maps in NaviMaps were gone. It wanted me to download all the maps again! Perhaps, in the confusion, I might have touched factory-reset. But then, how to reach my hotel at east Delhi? Thankfully, I had brought my good old MapMyIndia Lx130 navigator, which had the hotel listed in PoI. So, I removed my smartphone from the holder and fitted MMI Lx130 on it. Even, it suffered from the same issue; after some time, it got switched off due to nil charge. Then, it dawned on me that the charging current is less than the current consumed by my smartphone and MMI Lx130! So, while riding Yamuna Expressway, I switched off MMI Lx130, but plugged it into the power outlet, so that it would get adequate back-up. After exiting Yamuna Expressway, I stopped and switched on MMI Lx130 and it guided me perfectly until I reached my hotel at east Delhi without any issues. As if this confusion is not enough, my family members were constantly calling me from Bangalore and Chennai and they were tensed as I was not reachable. But, I had another back-up phone in case my smartphone becomes 'unsmart'. I called them using my back-up phone and explained the situation I was in. After entering my room, the first thing I did was to plug my smartphone into the power socket!





On 24 Feb 2016, while riding near Karad, MH, the RHS LED lamp's China-made base-plate broke and dangled from the crash-guard. Again, the rubber bands came to the rescue. After securing the LED lamp with many rubber bands, I reached Bangalore, and then, Chennai. Yesterday, I rode to Pudupet, Chennai and got it welded and fixed, costing ₹ 40.

re: My Motorcycle Diaries

Dear J. Ravi Sir,

Take a bow, what an inspiring travelogue, and you have nailed it to the minutest details, from the paratha to the sunburn, servicing of the chain, to the key-chain, awesome.

Reminds me of Mr. Chako's travelogue on his Nano, but, bike ride is a different ball game.

God Bless, and regards

Vinod