There was absolutely no doubt that the ride would be horribly hot and tiring. Two days earlier, Inder, Ritwik and Me had discussed the ride destination with lots of reasoning and yet, the allure of a beach ride was simply too tempting. For me, the usual rides to nearby places seemed too mechanical. The most tempting point in riding to Alibaug was the fact that the road

would pass through Khopoli to Penn. The road is absolutely scenic and very well laid. No potholes, less traffic, sprinkled with some sweeping corners and very few slow and technical corners. It is a perfect sunday ride formula. After all was fixed, the initial ride plan was to leave Pune at 5:30 AM, reach destination by 8:30 AM, spend some time on the beach, start back by

11:00 AM and be back by 2:00 PM.

Sunday: Early morning, at 4:01 AM, I called up Ritwik to find him all awake and watching Valentino Rossi's videos. Quickly called up Inder to find him awake too and all ready for action. Just when all was looking to be perfect and on time, turns out that the watchman who was supposed to start the water motor for our wing had taken a tea break. Some time later, he shows up and I finally have my bath. By the time I put my gear and leave for Bombay Sappers. I ride slowly for some time to allow my bike to warmup and then after hitting the two kilometer mark, start to cruise at 75. At Bombay Sappers, I am greeted by a swearing Inder and cool DeeJay. Now-a-days, Inder has started swearing a lot...with all kinds of Punjabi screwy and offensive slang to add to his hand gestures . A quick missed call for Ritwik and we start towards the Dehu Road where we are supposed to meet Ritwik and Sagar. Sagar's phone was constantly un-reachable and we were a bit worried about his presence on the ride.

A scant 20 minutes of cruising at an average of 70, we reach the Dehu road junction to find Ritwik and Sagar both grinding their teeth. Tanked up at the IOC bunk and off we started.

I had decided that I would be on the tail of the entire bunch and let the others lead. Just wanted to ride slowly and enjoy the early morning coolness. A few kilometers later, on a small twisty patch, Sagar and Ritwik engage in a nice ballet cum dogfight. I observe both of them as they disappear into distance, try to control the instinctive right wrist twitch. We roll into Lonavala and the town is still asleep. A few cars and early biker birds are spotted as we stop for the first time to have tea and the smoker's association gets into full swing. After tea, we start for the ride further and instantly the small ghat section brings our alertness back in shape. We touch the expressway and start roaring towards the Khopoli exit. On the expressway, Sagar, Me and Ritwik peel off from the pack and take a bit of liberty cruising at higher speeds. On one long left hander, I notice the R15 to be a bit nervous and my 220 to be absolutely eager to roar. I open the throttle while banked over on a left hander and take the outer line to pass Sagar. On this trip, I discover that the 220 is capable of being an eager beaver when it comes to acceleration and picking lines in corners. After the Khopoli exit, we take the road to Penn and then it starts; one of the most pleasing roads to ride on awaits our steeds. Me, Sagar and Ritwik once more take full liberty to raise the speed and start cruising at speeds that are deserving of such a well sorted road. Various corners, long straights and some slow technical corners keep us on our senses and we sense a good opportunity to take a water break. We are sure that Inder and DeeJay are well behind and will take some time to catch up.

Further Log Tomorrow.

Nice writeup NV and of course you HAD to take a dig at the R15, didn't you?

Nice log there NV. Do u actually need to warm up the engine & ride slowly for 2km's. Most of the morning, I jst kick start my Uni & then zooom........ Does it really matter to the engine.