Place: Bhor - Varandha Ghat
Day: 3-July-2016

There is no denial that I go to weekend rides… Thanks to less social life and being alone in Pune city that I get a lot of time for myself. I am glad that xBhp Pune chapter is so welcoming, fun to be with and to ride with… One WhatsApp message invites 150 messages and the ultimately a ride happens with two or twenty… That’s what happened this time, Baroda boys as we call (Prasad, Raakesh and Anirban) messaged at Friday night 9.20PM that they are going on a ride to Bhor – Bhatgar – Nira Deoghar dam is the plan. I know I am riding this weekend but I had absolutely no idea where I am heading towards (most of my solo rides happen this way and I love it). This time I thought “Why not give it a shot?” I know those three people and they are absolute fun to discuss machine stuff. So I replied saying ‘I am IN for tomorrow’. Plan was to meet Anirban and Raakesh below Wakad – Hinjewadi bridge as I start from Hinjewadi, and they both from Pimple Saudagar and Aundh respectively. This flyover is a IT employee’s nightmare on weekdays and they will be ready to sacrifice their bonus amounts to build a flyover over this flyover… But on weekends, it is an interesting point especially for riders. This is where most of the time I decide where I head to. You see, turn left you head towards Mumbai where you have bunch of blissful places and turn right you head towards Bangalore where you have more than bunch of peaceful places… I LOVE PUNE for this options. Prasad will meet us after Katraj tunnel, that’s like after half a ride
Come Saturday morning, and I overslept and woke up at 615AM and first thing I messaged in WhatsApp group apologizing for sleeping till late and wishing the other people for a safe ride. Now comes wonder, they didn’t start yet Reply came like you can start now we will catch up soon at same points with a little delay. Haha destiny is like wife, sometimes you love it because you can’t get rid of it So quickly I freshen up and I started from home at 645AM. Next milestone is fuelling up, as I had to stay late at office last night I didn’t get a chance to fill it up. Here Hinjewadi Shell petrol pump comes for rescue, it is open 24hrs. I went to fuel up and here comes another surprise, Anirban is there fuelling up too.. This is like Balaji telefilms serial, nothing is happening as we planned but everything headed the right way. I was happy and we started from there in 5mins to Hinjewadi Flyover where Raakesh is already waiting for us.
Now coming to rain gear, all of them are fully covered and I am only half covered. I am using DSG jacket’s inner rain liner and below the waist, only jeans with no rain cover. I was ready to get wet as it was a monsoon ride and what comes next has blown my mind L later Raakesh also jumped out of his rain pants as he was not very comfortable in those. I bought ICON PDX waterproof gloves from US and this ride is a test for them. I got a deal of 20$ over 55$ on motorcyclecloseout.com. They are touring gloves, so no armour protection only leather patches and lot of cushion. .
Officially, the first monsoon ride started and I think rain god thought the same, it started raining like hell broke down. L In this rains and in between the shitty roads which had life taking potholes after one heavy rain, it was painful to get out of traffic. Till Chandni chowk we had this issue of traffic and bad roads. We kept switching between off and on roads to get out of jammed traffic. Ultimately we crossed Katraj tunnel and we met Prasad there. Anirban joined us 5 minutes later.

The riders and rides:
Prasad – Bajaj Avenger
Raakesh – Yamaha R15 V2
Anirban – Royal Enfield Thunderbird
Me (Bhargav) – Bajaj Pulsar RS200 ABS
A good mix of Sports and Cruiser vehicles. Thanks to ABS my ride was very confident and was very comfortable. Raakesh riding his R15 was enjoying the curvy roads. Prasad comfortable on his aam aadmi ka Gold Wing Anirban surprised me on what RE can do.

I remember last time I visited Bhor – Necklace point and it was a speed run with 5 other riders. When I say speed run, I am not very proud to say that, we tested our machines’ top speeds that time and I clocked 150+ on my ODO. I already told other three that Necklace point is worth the view and we might stop there. From NH4 we took a right to Bhor. Roads to Bhor are very good. They are scenic and clean. So we can do good speeds safely. Before getting to the dam we stopped for few photos at a scenic road. My phone is not holding up well. I wrapped it up in a polythene cover and kept in my jacket pocket, somehow water managed going in and my phone is wet L I clicked few pics and then cleaned it with a dry cloth and I managed to dry it. After that we started to Bhatghar dam but at one point we saw Necklace point view and it was too good to ignore. We stopped and Raakesh shot some pictures while rest of us were just enjoying the view. We were damn hungry by this time as it was 915AM. We decided we will stop for a breakfast at next available place. We stopped at a place at 930AM and what will few guys out of rain do? We did the same, our halt was for about an hour. Breakfast was served late, getting out of gear and again gearing up takes lot of time especially in rain. We had Poha, Upma, Shira and Kanda bhaji. I am an eating kinda person and like Hulk that’s my secret I am always hungry.

Next stop Bhatgar dam and rain showed no mercy on us… Bhatghar dam was closed for visitor’s entry and to go in, we need to take a letter from some govt official which is not happening today :P so we went further ahead just to enjoy some view. There was a view point from where I could lake till eternity which was half full (ya I am an optimist :P) the view would have been amazing if it was raining any less. But no, we were standing in a heavy rain just staring at the nature waiting to show mercy on us. There was no sign that rain will reduce, so no pictures and we just moved on to our next destination. Meanwhile it was already 1130AM and Prasad had to go to home early for some personal work. Our next destination was far and no way he could make it early before 2pm. So he head on to his way home and Raakesh, Me and Anirban continued further to Varandha Ghat.

I have seen so many pictures of Varandha ghat and I was excited to go there. I would have continued solo if Raakesh and Anirban also decided to return. But we stuck together. From now on, mostly the order of ride was like Raakesh, Me and Anirban. On curves R15 lead the way, on straights RS200 leads the way and on broken roads RE leads the way. That’s how we continued and had fun with our own machines. Since Bhor, we kept on crossing an RE group of about 6 members. The ritual was like we go ahead, stop for pictures, they overtake, we start and then we overtake again, this continued till we reach Varandha ghat. Painful part is riding behind an RE, all those REs are fitted with free flow exhausts so they had those thumping sound which makes my ears pop when riding behind them, so always I am the one first one to overtake them. I cannot say whether they were having fun or taking it on their ego, but I definitely had fun overtaking them and I did it with smile each time.
Last 30kms to reach Varandha Ghat was painful. The road was broken literally. Cars driving in the middle of roads, not letting us overtake us and pushing us off the road most of the times, bus drivers feel like they own the village and we are some bugs coming their way. General issues bikers face all the time on country roads. Add heavy rain to this to understand the situation of us. Sad thing is we hardly are getting any chance to take pictures. But good thing is we are riding, it was raining and we are riding There were so many water streaks on the roads and you find people everywhere going crazy. At few places I saw drunk people dancing in the middle of the roads half naked. We found a small streak somewhere which is unoccupied and stopped for few clicks again. Then we continued to usual Varandha Ghat view. I would say it is magnificent. Big green mountains, water streaks and water falls, clouds passing by us and the Mother Nature. My eyes just popped out and I wanted to just absorb the view as much as possible. I was so lost that I even forgot to click any pictures there.

We moved further just to see what’s ahead. We moved into clouds for few minutes and then at a point we had to take a call which way to take to Pune. It was already 2PM and route ahead via Mangoan-Tamhini-Mulshi will take at least 3-4hours. Road condition is bad to average mostly. We were already tired of bad roads so decided to take same route which we came by via Bhor. Return ride was uneventful. At a point we just stopped for light snacks as we already skipped lunch and we are hungry. We can never stop at having little when we are riding. We ended up having tea, coffee, milk, vada pav, batata vada, kanda bhaji and then menu ended. Funny thing is it wasn’t raining anymore and we thought after eating we will ease up a little while going back. Nope it’s not what happened, by the time we ate and geared up heavy rain started again. We just smiled at each other and said it’s time to accept the day as is

The return ride was slower than average because I think tourists just woke up and people have started coming into Varandha Ghat, means our opposite way. And at every two four wheelers crossing, we had to stop so that one can go off road and then other one continue. The two vehicles take atleast a minute to stare at each other and ask themselves Why me? Why me? Till we touched highway I was leading and we three were together. Once we entered highway I was craving for straight patch to burn some rubber and I just took off. I rode till Khed for about 20kms without even looking back (Ya I am bad) but such was the craving. I stopped for five minutes later and then other two joined me. We gave a butt break and did some much needed stretching. Now we thought next stop is home before we split at Baner.
Pune traffic beat the shit out of me everytime I want to have some fun. This time the traffic was so horrible that there was a jam for about 5kms. I was riding in heavy rain, almost 60% wet, in first gear. You don’t believe but the temperature was about 20C, but still radiator fan started after 15mins. There was no way out, not even a way to stop. Ultimately and unknowingly we are lost in the traffic by ourselves. I reached home around 510PM and messaged in our group the same. All of us reached safely around same time. It was a time, for warm shower after a full day shower. Iam all wet, except for my upper body and head. Helmet took care to keep the water out and DSG jacket liner did more than good job. Below the waist don’t ask me how I feel. I felt exhausted and tired after the ride, but my phone kept me busy at it is wet and my mobile camera is doomed after the ride. Good that I didn’t take my DSLR along with me. These electronics sometimes take out the pleasure of the fun we have.

What a start for the monsoon ride we felt!!!

Note: Pictures shared has been clicked by all of us and are consolidated.