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Hey everyone, this is the first of many travelogues to come. Hope you enjoy it.
Impromptu road trip: The dramatis Personae:
Meet Irene:
Named after Irene Adler, she is a Pulsar 220 of the Fuel-injected variety. She was originally bought by someone else in 2010 and had been on the roads for 17k km before being confined to the garage. I took over and after a thorough service, got her road-worthy again and decided to try her out on the open highway.
Meet Me:
Day Minus one:
All set to go
Day one:
Best Chai EVER stop
I resumed riding soon after, and the two lane highway gave way to a single lane road. This is the more scenic route, however and I settled into a good pace, steadily munching the miles. Having passed through Tiptur and Kadur, I stopped next at Arsikere at the CCD. Sipping on a Cappucino, I also nibbled on some cherries, signifying the Touring Cherry that I had popped on my new bike.
Touring cherry Popped
Mandatory Bike by the road pic
Food, Family and Fire- Bliss.
Day two:
Jan 1st. The family pushed off to Bangalore in the morning and I did nothing, I mean absolutely NOTHING the whole day except relax and read and look at the trees. I ate the most amazing spreads of vegetarian Malnad Cuisine. Just existed.
Day Three:
Jan 2nd: It was finally time to say goodbye to Sirsi and its idyllic life as I prepped and mounted the tailpack again. I intended to leave at 12 after a quick brunch. However, laziness as well as the amazing allure of the food and the loveliness of the hosts meant that I was still reluctantly pulling on my jacket even at 2:30PM.
Heading back
I left shortly after and decided to take the longer but quicker NH4 route and so, headed off toward Haveri. Progress was smooth with amazing roads throughout till about 20km before haveri where there is little to no road to speak of. The erstwhile road is being relaid and widened and so that 20km stretch took me almost an hour, and I was quite relieved when I finally hit the highway around 4PM.
NH4 - happiness
There are very few more pleasurable things in the world above riding down an AMAZINGLY smooth well lit, well marked highway with relatively good driver discipline averaging a 110kmph. The going got really enjoyable and I found myself singing loudly again until darkness fell and I stopped for chai outside Chitradurga.
Sunset - Chitradurga Toll plaza
Gear and machine review:
DSG EVO jacket: I rode with the thermal lining removed, and kept me condiserably warm and comfortable. The reflectors are bright and the padding sits comfortably on my shoulders.
LS2 Solid full face helmet: I must get a clear visor for this as it becomes useless after dark. Otherwise, it feels solid and light on the head and keeps the wind and dust out of your face.
ViaTerra Claw Tailpack system: ABSOLUTE ROCKSTAR of luggage systems. Shoot me if you ever find me trying to strap on backpacks to the rear seat with bungee cords. The three point harness is solid and the bag did not move an INCH throughout the ride and had more than sufficient space for all my stuff.
Probiker Gloves: Does its job, nothing great to write home about.
Axo Knee guards:Pulsar 220 DTS-Fi
Impromptu road trip: The dramatis Personae:
Meet Irene:
Named after Irene Adler, she is a Pulsar 220 of the Fuel-injected variety. She was originally bought by someone else in 2010 and had been on the roads for 17k km before being confined to the garage. I took over and after a thorough service, got her road-worthy again and decided to try her out on the open highway.
Meet Me:
All set to go
Day one:
Best Chai EVER stop
I resumed riding soon after, and the two lane highway gave way to a single lane road. This is the more scenic route, however and I settled into a good pace, steadily munching the miles. Having passed through Tiptur and Kadur, I stopped next at Arsikere at the CCD. Sipping on a Cappucino, I also nibbled on some cherries, signifying the Touring Cherry that I had popped on my new bike.
Touring cherry Popped
Mandatory Bike by the road pic
Food, Family and Fire- Bliss.
Day two:
Jan 1st. The family pushed off to Bangalore in the morning and I did nothing, I mean absolutely NOTHING the whole day except relax and read and look at the trees. I ate the most amazing spreads of vegetarian Malnad Cuisine. Just existed.
Day Three:
Jan 2nd: It was finally time to say goodbye to Sirsi and its idyllic life as I prepped and mounted the tailpack again. I intended to leave at 12 after a quick brunch. However, laziness as well as the amazing allure of the food and the loveliness of the hosts meant that I was still reluctantly pulling on my jacket even at 2:30PM.
Heading back
I left shortly after and decided to take the longer but quicker NH4 route and so, headed off toward Haveri. Progress was smooth with amazing roads throughout till about 20km before haveri where there is little to no road to speak of. The erstwhile road is being relaid and widened and so that 20km stretch took me almost an hour, and I was quite relieved when I finally hit the highway around 4PM.
NH4 - happiness
There are very few more pleasurable things in the world above riding down an AMAZINGLY smooth well lit, well marked highway with relatively good driver discipline averaging a 110kmph. The going got really enjoyable and I found myself singing loudly again until darkness fell and I stopped for chai outside Chitradurga.
Sunset - Chitradurga Toll plaza
Gear and machine review:
DSG EVO jacket: I rode with the thermal lining removed, and kept me condiserably warm and comfortable. The reflectors are bright and the padding sits comfortably on my shoulders.
LS2 Solid full face helmet: I must get a clear visor for this as it becomes useless after dark. Otherwise, it feels solid and light on the head and keeps the wind and dust out of your face.
ViaTerra Claw Tailpack system: ABSOLUTE ROCKSTAR of luggage systems. Shoot me if you ever find me trying to strap on backpacks to the rear seat with bungee cords. The three point harness is solid and the bag did not move an INCH throughout the ride and had more than sufficient space for all my stuff.
Probiker Gloves: Does its job, nothing great to write home about.
Axo Knee guards:Pulsar 220 DTS-Fi
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