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A few pictures from the last few Sunday morning rides to Khambatki ghat.

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Suffered a snapped chain which broke at around 150 kmph on last Sunday morning ride to Khambatki ghat bringing my ride to an abrupt halt. [emoji35]

A tempo was arranged to take the bike and myself back to Pune but fortunately I was able to get another chain installed at a small town called Shirval and then Gurpratap and I rode back home. A crappy, hot and tiresome Sunday.

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150kmph...u could stop the bike without any problem? scary..

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Yes, fortunately this was on the straights, so just rolled on and coasted to a stop. In hindsight I should have stopped as early as possible and saved me a long walk back when I went looking for the elusive chain. But, this could have been scary and a entirely different story should this have happened on the twisties.

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Gurpratap's brother Bikram was visiting Pune from Chandigarh and we were able to get out for a morning ride on NH65, the Solapur highway. Triumph was kind enough to lend us a Street Triple RS demo bike, which Gurpratap rode.

It was super to be out riding after ages as the monsoon this season has been harsh, prolonged and incessant.

We had a wonderful time and I hope you enjoy watching a short video of this ride.

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I would say you were just LUCKY. Just take a look what could have possibly happened. Watch the first part of the video.

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Scary stuff indeed..Thanks for sharing the video

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South Bound Again:

Part 1: Pune - Tumkur - Rameshwaram - Dhanushkodi

Gurpratap and I set out on this ten-day ride down to South India. The first Day began on Dec 20, 2019 Friday at 5.15 am from Pune as we began our ride. The morning wasn't as cold as I thought it would be and we made our first stop for tea before Khambatki ghat after negotiating the many diversions as you exit Pune towards Wai on AH47. The weather turned colder once we passed Wai and I was glad for the thermal liner that I had donned under my jacket. Another quick stop past Satara toll and we pushed on for Nipani.




A little later as we were having breakfast at Nipani we were joined by another rider Bhavani who was enroute to Hampi on his KTM 390.



After some chit-chat and chai we rode on past Belgaum and crossed Dharwad after which the road becomes two-landed instead of four and we had to slacken speed for the next 25 km till we crossed Hubli. Then began a series of never ending diversions which kept cropping up after every few kilometres and was super irritating and slowed down our progress considerably.

After crossing Hubli we stopped at a CCD for a bite to eat (smoked chicken sandwich) & cold coffee always refreshes us. A stray pooch took a liking to us and began to wiggle in glee.



The diversions ceased to plague us as we approached Chitradurga, and thereafter it was brisk riding all the way till our hotel Citria Star in Tumkur. We reached at 5.30 pm after riding for 800 km. The new management at Citria Star (now Lodge) sorely lacks in the area of hospitality and the manager's favorite word to everything asked was the word "no." This is unfortunate as the location of this hotel was a big-plus with bikers heading South for an overnight stay. After wiping our bikes down and having a cold bath we settled down in some corner of the "drinking corridor" for a little beer, snacks and food. I couldn't wait for the night to end and we were out of this hole.



We began the second day early at 5.15 am and stopped for tea just a couple of kilometers after leaving from the hotel. The lady at the "tapri" was happy to serve us and tickled pink to get her picture taken by a couple of bikers. (Akshay & Gurpratap take a bow here. We aim to please na!)



At the first toll plaza NICE Ring Road, Bangalore



At the very neat and clean BPCL Pump next to A2B, Hosur. (Free nitrogen for filling tyres is offered here.) We had a delicious breakfast of medu vada and filter coffee at A2B and met Anbu on his Harley Davidson who had recently returned from the HOG event at Jaisalmer and found a common friend in Francis from Goa. The biking world is really small indeed.



We pushed on for Dindigul and came across some traffic jams along the highway caused by road repair work and which forced us to go off-road to negotiate past these hurdles. As we crossed from Karnataka in to Tamil Nadu the roads became even better and we noticed the use of barricades instead of speed breakers which I thought was brilliant as it does not involve bringing the vehicle to a complete stop and in many cases speed breakers are known to create havoc with the suspension not to mention the loss of life on many a occasion. We reached Dindigul bang on time for lunch, which in my books is 1.15 pm. We tucked into the most heavenly mutton biryani and bheja at Thalappakatti.



After this filling lunch we shortly began to negotiate our way through Madurai which is a noisy, congested with unruly traffic, poor display of signs and narrow roads towards Rameshwaram. We made a quick stop for tea near Mandapam.



The highway is smooth throughout from Madurai to Rameshwaram and we munched through the kilometers quickly and were in time to witness the sun setting on Pamban bridge.

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After covering 700 km for the day we reached Queen Palace Hotel in Rameshwaram which is situated near the bus stand as are most of the hotels. The hotel manager Mr. Monish was hospitable and allowed us to park our bikes under the covered portion of the entrance to the lobby.



As the hotel had very limited vegetarian pantry services we ventured out on the Thruxton to score some non-veg grub, which we found near the main temple amidst the narrow, congested streets of Rameshwaram and yes we finally bought some Arun ice-cream, which we noticed are advertised heavily in the South. The Temple City is by-and-large a dry place which has one TASMAC outlet about 12 km from the hotel, so we tee-totaled our stay in Rameshwaram.



We woke up leisurely and after an indifferent breakfast at the hotel we set out for Dhanushkodi which is 25 km from Rameshwaram.



The beauty of this short ride had us enthralled with the scenic views of the sea on both sides of the road, white sand, clear sky and a strong breeze to put a smile on our face and a song on our lips.



Dhanushkodi Beach Point. Sri Lanka is around 50 km from here across the Palk Strait.



After turning around at the Beach Point we stopped to see the ruins from the 1964 cyclone that led to Dhanushkodi town being abandoned.



After spending the morning soaking in the wonderful sights, we headed back to Rameshwaram for the vegetarian buffet lunch which we had at the Hyatt Place also along the same stretch of hotels near the bus-stand where we were staying. The curd rice served cold among a few other dishes was outstanding.



After a rather heavy lunch we refueled the bikes and headed back to our hotel Queen Palace for some much needed R&R. The weather forecast for the following day was showing rain and as we had an early start we decided to see what time to set off after we awoke at 4.00 am. We had an early light dinner in the room consisting of some patties, cutlet and chocolates that we had picked up during the day.



This is the video covering the ride from Pune to Dhanushkodi. I hope you like it and subscribe to the channel for more.

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The alarm went off at 4 am and I could hear the rain pouring outside. We decided to go back to sleep for another hour and hope the rain would subside so that we could begin the day's ride of 450 km to Pondicherry. We were finally on our way at close to 7 am after waking up the hotel restaurant guy to fix us a couple of teas.

Though it was raining for a large part of this ride, we managed to stay relatively alright by not sticking behind trucks and cars as they tend to throw up sprays of dirty water which causes difficulty to riders. Instead, a quick blast of the throttle to quickly overtake the lumps of iron served us well. The decision to carry rain gear that we had humped all the way from Pune in our luggage had paid off.

Stopped enroute for some tea and a snack.



No video footage was taken as it was raining even till well past Trichy. At A2B further along the way for some lunch of curd rice and chaat.



There are several routes to enter Pondicherry from the main Trichy - Chennai highway but the simplest & smoothest is via Tindivanam, which we took. The internal roads once we were off the highway reminded one of Goa, what with the coconut trees, narrow roads and laid back people sitting around. We reached our hotel Les Bougainvillea at around 4.30 pm and after checking-in and dumping our luggage we took the bikes for a pressure wash after the mucky day's ride.



The hotel staff esp. the manager Mr. Bala was most hospitable and allowed us to park our bikes under the shelter to one side of the entrance of the hotel.



Relaxing on the lawn in the evening waiting for some beer and snacks.



We awoke at leisure the following morning on Christmas Eve. At breakfast in the hotel it was decided to hire a car for the day and explore Pondicherry instead of taking the bikes.

A short stop to repair my riding shoe and a glove.



Our first stop sightseeing was The Prominade



The French Quarter is just behind The Prominade and we strolled through these quaint lanes soaking in the beauty of this type of architecture.



Back on the Prominade and for some cold beverages at Le Cafe on The Prominade.



We came across this strange rider who was posing bang in the middle of The Prominade with his Enfield in full riding gear and didn't say a word. We later found him performing the same pose at some other street.



We also visited St. Peters Cathedral

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After cleansing our souls at the Church, we headed for Villa Shanti to fill our tummies for it was lunchtime. I highly recommend this restaurant if you visit Pondicherry for the superb food which is not over-the-top expensively priced but also the ambiance. It began pouring with rain as we were seated in the restaurant and this further added to the relaxed nature of the feed. We gorged on pepper steaks and apple crumble served with ice-cream for dessert.



After this gastronomic delight we were thankful for the car to get us back to the hotel amidst the rain and slush. After some R&R and sorting out one batch of clothes that were washed the previous day, we settled down in the lawn till the cows came home.



This video is from the ride beginning at Rameshwaram and ending at Pondicherry. Enjoy!

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We began our 460 km ride from Pondicherry early morning at 5.30 am and headed for Salem and then via Coimbatore to Ooty.



There were sporadic spells of rain along this ride and the climb up the hill to Ooty was wet and misty. Visibility was low coupled with heavy traffic made this part not so enjoyable. However, once we reached Ooty the weather was clear with the magnificent blue sky above us.



Lunch consisted of Maggi Noodles and chai.



Here are some pictures from various places that we stopped at along the climb up to Ooty.



A few pictures from our hotel Sun Park where we usually stay when in Ooty.



We got the bikes washed down by some of the young boys who were the hotel staff and directed them while sipping hot tea. Bliss! We ordered a wholesome dinner of Tandoori chicken and Naans washed down with some beer before calling it an early night.

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A few more pictures taken at the Ooty hotel

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We awoke and left the hotel from Ooty at leisure the next morning. There was a solar eclipse in the morning hours on Dec 26 and we were careful not to look up towards the sky. Our destination for the day was a short ride of 82 km to Orchid Trails Resort at Sultan Bathery, Wayanard, Kerala.



The morning was brrr cold as we set off and we stopped for some breakfast at a roadside stall on the downhill a little past Ooty town.



As I was eating my delicious omelette I suddenly felt a warm, heavy gust of breath near my elbow and before I knew it a cow had turned up behind me and was trying to poke its snout in my breakfast. Shocking manners from this bovine!



Some pictures from the hill climbing down from Ooty and Gudalur.



A few more pictures from a little further up.



Some more pictures of the last few tea plantations before Gudalur. We also began rolling a camera on Gurpratap's bike.



We stopped for a quick cup of tea in Gudalur.



Horsing around

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As usual, great going! Keep them coming!