Some say, plan before you ride - true. But, I am not one of them. This doesn't mean that I am against preparing for safety and riding with gear. The problem with me is that I can't delay gratifications for long. When an idea comes into my mind, the bug keeps on biting me till I go finish it(Specially in case of rides).

So it started with getting bored at work upto an extent that I had to take my Thunderbird out. For a preface to the bike - I purchased it in Nov,15 and since the first service got completed, I have been to Shravanabelagola, Mekedatu, Ooty, Wayanad, Numerous trips to IPC, Late night dinners on some random dhaba at Tumkur road, Hosur road for early morning breakfast etc. In simple words, I just can't manage to sit at home on weekends.

On with the plan, I was super bored at work and thought of doing something really crazy. My longest ride in a day had been to Hampi, that counts roughly 370kms one way. I had thought of going to Goa/Gokarna earlier, but couldn't manage the courage to ride solo because of the fear of punctures(RE you know) - Plus the lack of saddle bags/tank bag and laziness to go buy one.

So, I needed an equally crazy guy who can manage such impromptu ride and emergency leaves + a bike. I knew exactly the person - Akhil. He had earlier accompanied me to Ooty for a similar ride plan.

The quality of images may not be good since all were taken from phone camera(No time to get hold of a camera because of ad hoc nature of plan).

Bikes: Thunderbird 350 and Classic 350.
People: 2 (Akhil and Amod)
Happened in: June, 2016
Total kms covered: 1381.4(Bangalore to goa: 646.4)
Fuel: Didn't calculate(I never keep track of fuel, fill when hit reserve policy)

Routes: (Onwards)Bangalore-Tumakuru-Chitradurga-Hubli byepass-Dharwad-Alnavar-Londa-Mollem-Ponda-Panjim-Calangute
(Return) Calangute-Mapusa-Sanquelim-Chorla ghat-Khanapur-Kittur-Dharwad-Hubli-Chitradurga-Tumkur-Bangalore

Route:




So, It was decided that we are leaving the next day, i.e. Friday morning. Now there were some basic issues: Akhil owns a Apache and he said he can't ride it for that long. But he managed to get hold of a Classic 350 by evening from his friend and gave it for basic check-up.

As you know that he is a crazy guy, he planned to get the bike form Jaynagar, give it for service(at 5PM and get it back by 10PM by some known guy), drive his EcoSport from his office at HSR to his home at Jalahalli, get a cab back to jaynagar, get the bike, stay at Koramangala(Friend's place) and leave by 2PM and meet me at Nelanangala toll booth by 3 - So much for a plan and getting enough rest before a 650KM ride.

He managed to reach Koramangala by 12 in the midnight - I was furious, but knew he rides like this. He managed to get sleep for 1.5 hrs and me for 3.5hrs.


So, I called him at 2 to check if he is awake. He was already at Nelamangala This guy just can't sleep. Now panic mode was on. I had packed minimal things in my back pack already and after taking a bath, left at 2:30 AM for Nelamangala.

Once I reached Nelamagala at 3, Mr, Akhil was nowhere to be seen. I called him only to know that he is waiting 10Kms ahead on the roadside -he couldn't manage the excitement and rode further.

I met him and gave some basic rules for not losing other person in the rear-view mirror and hand signals etc. and we carried on. We ride for some time and stopped at another toll booth for having tea. Here is a picture:



We rode further and crossed Tumkur. Dawn was breaking and decided to stop somewhere nearly 70kms before Chitradurga for a pee break.

Another picture there:



We crossed chitradurga at 6:30 and it took 4 hours to cross 225 odd kms. 350cc REs don't feel comfortable at all after 90kmph, so we were doing steady 85-95kmph. At 6:30 we stopped just after Chitradurga to have breakfast at Hotel Mysore. It was just opening shutters but the food was ready and tasty - bit costly too. After breakfast and tea, we left by 7:40. Next stop-fuel cum nature's call. Akhil was feeling it and we stopped somewhere before davangere.



Your's truly:



We continued after filling fuel because washrooms were dirty and Akhil seemed comfortable. It was cloudy for another hour and ride felt so good. No sign of tiredness. After Haveri, it became sunny and we started sweating inside our jackets. We stopped at a seemingly abandoned police station in middle of nowhere. It was locked and policemen seemed to have went to attend a bad accident that we encountered on the way. We decided to have a butt break there beneath the trees. This stretch didn't have a single tree by the roadside.



Bikes were happy:



Akhil surrendering himself to a fallen veteran:



MT Blade is a real beauty:



After half an hour long break, we decided to move on because we were not doing great speeds and had planned to reach Hubli bye pass by 10:30. We reached there after a 5 min ATM break before Hubli near VRL depot. Took a left turn towards Dharwad at 11. Crossed Dharwad and took a left towards Goa. Highways gone and two-way roads started.

Initially for some 15kms roads were patchy and I was afraid that if we keep on going by this speed(50-60), we may reach Goa by dusk. It was still 200kms with no double highways. Anyways, continued our journey and stopped at 12:20PM at some roadside hotel which seemed to be the only good-ish restaurant as there was all forest ahead of us. Had sumptuous lunch there and left by 1:30 for journey ahead.

After that, the roads became super smooth and covered with medium to dense forest. We encountered superbly inviting ghats roads and were delighted. My TB can manage some serious cornering and when the ghats ended, I was happy to see the black rubber upto the outer edge of tyres(You can imagine how good it feels).

Took some pictures after the ghats.
At a railway crossing:



Just notice the smooth tarmac and dense forests. It was a bliss riding there, but a bit dangerous too, because one is capable of doing 90kmph easily and the roads turns very sharply and very frequently.





Encountered some 5km of mining truck traffic after entering Goa, but that wasn't a problem at all. Finally, reached our destination- the OYO rooms near Calangute beach at 4PM after some help of google maps.

The final kilometer count:



As you can see, the average speed we managed was 58kmph, and total time taken for ride was 13.5 hrs. Now the high-rpm guys might feel it a bit less, but we were riding relaxed and took our time, I haven't mentioned the numerous 5-10 min butt breaks here.

Checked-into the hotel and called it a day after bath, dinner and a walk upto calangute beach.

Next day was for roaming around. We have been to Goa many time before, and didn't bother to pay a routine visit to crowded beaches. So, went to Chapora fort, Morjim, Ashwem and Arambol for the day.

Few pics:















Now, the day of return. We had already filled up our tanks the previous night as the petrol was almost 15rs. cheaper as compared to Karnataka. I was extra happy as my bike's tank can gulp a whopping 20 litres :P Filled upto the brim.

So we had decided to leave by 3 am and it rained the whole night. It just stopped at 2:30 am, we felt blessed. Now, there was a problem here. We were depending on the google maps for the route and I was hoping for the same route to return as it was familiar. But, gmaps had some other plans. It was continuously and with full determination showing the route from Mapusa-Chorla ghat.

There was no option than to follow it and we started. Another difficulty was that none of us had a mobile mount on our bikes and we had to stop at every turn/roundabout to confirm that we are not lost. Then I plugged in the earphones and it eased up a bit. The route mr. maps had decided was leading upto Sinquelim and that was through narrow streets of Mapusa and beyond.

To be honest, I was scared to the core as it was pitch dark and even though the headlights of TB are super powerful, it felt like we are heading in some cave with no or little houses around. I had thoughts of going back to Ponda route, but carried on with determination.

Finally we reached Sinquelim after an hour and connected to the highway towards Belgaum. Then the roads were super smooth. We rode tearing apart the darkness braving the loneliness on the roads. There were no vehicles. We rode continuously till we enetered Chorla ghat - this section is also very good and at the breaking of dawn, it felt like heaven riding though the hills.

Steadily riding, we took the deviation from the Belgaum highway and went right towards Khanapur.

Pic at the deviation:


From this deviation upto Khanapur, the forest is a bliss with numerous Mango and Jamun trees laden with fruits and not a single soul present, the ripe fruits were falling on the roads and getting crushed under the random vehicles passing. I stopped for a while and ate some jamuns from roadside.

We had to join NH4 at kittur and after a tea break and taking another shortcut suggested by gmaps, finally joined the Highway. After that, we stopped only after crossing Hubli and for having breakfast at Kamath sometime after Hubli.

Just before Kamath:




We took a butt-cum chain lubing break 30kms before Chitradurga after Kamath:



Akhil was feeling feverish since last night hence he slept for 30mins there


After that, we crossed Chitradurga, and had lunch near some toll booth. Post that, we rode continuously till Tumkur. After taking a 5min tea break at Tumkur we raced filtering through the Sunday traffic and Akhil went to his home near Jalahalli.

Finally, I reached my home in doddanekkundi at around 4PM and parked the bike in my basement. It was still not tired, but I was

Final odo:



Hope you guys enjoyed the write-up and thanks for reading I am planning another trip to Kodaikanal very soon, will be up with log once done.