Re: Glimpse of Kokan in monsoon!

Thread Approved

There is a beautiful sense of sereneness in the first picture. Beautiful, keep it flowing.

Cheers!
VJ

Re: Glimpse of Kokan in monsoon!

What a start! Please bring on the rest!

Re: Glimpse of Kokan in monsoon!

Monsoon, one of the most important time, brings clarity to us all as it washes bringing fresh outlooks. Your Monsoon pics would definitely inspire us. Waiting Me too!

Re: Glimpse of Kokan in monsoon!

Thanks for accepting the thread B7ACKTHORN

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

Thanks I have started writing it

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

Indeed it is!

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

I'd got total 5 days including Saturday & Sunday hence I din't want to waste even a single bit of time. I left office by around 4:30 PM on Friday 1st of August and went for all essential shopping for tour. came home around 7 PM packed my saddle bags and topcase and before 9 PM I was ready, kept all the luggage in living room so in morning I wouldn't disturb others,I felt like leaving home in night only which wasn't possible, went to bed early and keeping the aim to leave home as early as possible, body alarm woke me up before I could think of and it was only 2 AM in the morning suddenly I felt a chill went through the body and adrenaline started pumping and yeah I felt more energized due to excitement of ride, I quickly performed morning rituals and bath, prepared egg omelette and toast for myself which I'd finish quickly, I geared up and within no time I was all set and ready to roll, while everyone at home were still sleeping in their dreams I managed step out, left a note to wifey.

Mounted my saddlebags and topcase, I looked at clock it was exact 3:05 AM I was all set, there were no traffic, pitch black, little bit of drizzling, the perfect atmosphere for a ride... I reached Chandani chowk, Pune 5 minutes from where I could connect to NH-4 in , ah ah I was enjoying every bit of ride I was cruising between 70 to 80 KMPH, until I reached near Khmabtaki ghat and rain started pouring heavily due to that I couldn't see 10 feet and beyond in addition to that bike started moving from one lane to another I was surprised as it was freaking crosswinds which was causing this, I didn't want to take further more risks of riding in dark with heavy rains and crosswinds, I started cursing myself because I was in middle of no where on the highway there was no one around I had to wait until the rain stops which wasted my 30 minutes and I took my unofficial/ forced first butt break.

Some of the pictures I took on NH4, before taking right turn to Umbraj, Karad.




I started riding again but I was too slow cause of fog and rain, took right turn on NH- 4 to Umbraj and headed towards to Patan >> Koyananagar, I reached Koyananagar at around 7:30 ish and I took my second butt break opened up my top case had some fruits and bread followed by Masala tea on near by tea stall indeed it was must needed break... I was refreshed gathered all required energy and started my ride back towards to Kumbharli ghat...


Sorry for bad quality pictures as I had to take those from my cell phone as it was raining heavily.

Re: Glimpse of Kokan in monsoon!

I started descending scenic Kumbharli ghat was enjoying every bit of corner of those curvy roads...

Re: Glimpse of Kokan in monsoon!

Amazing rain pictures, mate! Can't take my eyes off a few.
Keep on pourin' more o' those pourin' clicks. Wonderful!

Re: Glimpse of Kokan in monsoon!

Thanks for the appreciation mate!

Story continued...

I started riding again after few clicks in ghat, because of it’s scenic ghat road I took almost 1.5 hours to Chiplun from where I could connect to NH-17 Panvel-Goa- Edapally road I made few phone calls to home as well as my native place saying that “all is well”, NH17 was as it’s best with lush greenery single lane curvy roads I was moving slowly towards to Sangmeshwar crossed couple ghats and yeah I was enjoying ride with some good blues music I had all what I desired to, wanted to take some photographs on those curvy NH17 “ghat road” however I had to skip that plan because of heavy rains as I was riding this part of MH in peak season of Monsoon and usually these roads are highly landslide prone hence I had given up on this idea.
I headed towards to Sangmeshwar >> and then Hathkhamba and then I took right turn to move towards to Ratnagiri city, it took almost 3 hours for me to reach Ratnagiri due to loads of thundershower and limited visibility, I was completely wet neither the branded rain gear saved me nor the DSG jacket, I slowly started crossing Ratnagiri city, I headed towards to Pavas beach side road from where I could connect to Jaitapur road (which is famous for it’s Nuke plant) as soon as I reach coastal area despite of heavy rain I could feel bit of humidity compared to ghat section but I was not bothered of this climate, the worst nightmare I yet to face in few KM’s.
There were 3 bridges which were built to creeks/Arabian seashore to connect small villages and yeah fun has begun, the worst nightmare which I was talking about appeared “Crosswinds”, I’d crossed first two bridges not comfortably as crosswinds were heavily shaking my bike as if I am voyaging in boat. I understand crosswinds can shake every other bike and every full fairing bike face this issue, however I presume ZMR faces more trouble compared to other full faired bikes, apart from crosswind there was a addition of heavy rains which made my ride miserable, I gradually moved towards to Gavkhadi village to face the worst challenge of this ride, it was a bit longest bridge compared to previous two and this bridge was right on the creek which was connected to sea, due to heaviest crosswinds I had to wait on the starting point of the bridge there were couple of local riders were already holding their breath followed by few hatchback cars, wind was way too heavy to handle with our manmade machines, stormy winds were giving a little bit of idea about Tornado, I had to wait nearly about 10 minutes on that bridge to clear the winds, hatchbacks went ahead on the bridge and traffic (couple of bikes and cars) started moving from either sides, tough I could feel loads of crosswinds and I had not face this kind of situation ever in any monsoon rides...I continued riding on coastal roads which used to looks scenic in summer/ winter but now I felt more hazardous to ride on.



Couple of brave fishermen on the background... again sorry for pic qualities....

Re: Glimpse of Kokan in monsoon!

God this makes me weak in the knees... greeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeennnnn Konkan ... lush ride man! Love monsoon rides, respectful riders manage doing them. Nature at its magnificence.

Re: Glimpse of Kokan in monsoon!

Thanks for the appreciation mate n Respect! indeed there is different fun exploring places in rain not only Kokan, it could be any other place on the earth mother nature would shows it's true colors...

Re: Glimpse of Kokan in monsoon!

Continuing the story:

I gradually headed towards to this coastal state highway, but I was so tired because of heavy crosswinds and thundershower. Because I had to invest so much of my energy to hold the bike still, my cruising speed was dropped down to 45 to 50 KMPH and I could literally feel fatigue, rain was pouring heavily and I was continuing my painful ride, I was looking for shade where I could wait and hide from heavy crosswinds but unfortunately I couldn't, as I was riding through the barren land and ghat section and other side of land it was Arabian sea, for the first time in this ride I felt so helpless,there were hardly any vehicles on the empty roads.

I crossed couple of villages but due heavy rain I. didn't see no one around, I managed to find small shade of closed shop and I could realize that it's a garage, I took halt over there for 10 minutes or so looked around and no one was around.suddenly I realized that it might have been more than 5 hours that I have not eaten, I was damn hungry, and that hunger kept me motivated i quickly geared up and started riding again,by seeing all known landmarks I could feel that it could be last 30 KM might have remaining, but for some reason it's not going to be a sweet finish for my home run. gear lever broke up I was like "what the hell" why now? I pulled over the bike and put the bike on the main stand to see what went wrong, fortunately screw nut which hold the gear lever had fallen off, I put the gear lever on place and opened my saddle bags opened up the toolbox and started looking for the nut, fortunately I found one to fix the leaver in place, I was on the saddle after wasting 10 more minutes in rain... I was finally at home after almost 10 hours of hard riding... 400 KM took freaking 10 hours? 50% of riding was done on national highway and rest of the 50% were on state high way/ village roads, called my parents in Pune that I reached safely.

I quickly freshened up and had yummy Kokani food (of-course seafood) took nap, rest of the day I spent talking with relatives and even they were wondering why I'd come all the way from Pune on motorcycle in such monsoon...

Re: Glimpse of Kokan in monsoon!

Beautiful pics Amogh. Just one suggestion - if you can make your sentences a little shorter(they are too long), the narration would be a pleasure to read.

Re: Glimpse of Kokan in monsoon!

thanks for suggestion Krishna, I would certainly keep this in mind

Was waiting for this travelogue. How did I miss it? Wonderful pics and nicely narated. Mansoon rides.. wow. This makes me wanna go for a mansoon ride on the Himalayas even more.. guess what.. my Hike status last night was about a Solo ride to the Himalayan range.. now after reading this and seeing the pics. I just wanna get out of this stupid cubical life for a couple of days..

Re: Glimpse of Kokan in monsoon!

Thanks mate!!!

Don't waste further more time, assuming it would best season in north to ride on... 15th,16th and 17th can be your days