Woo.
I would like to share my experience of my first ever long distance riding which was from Pune to Jabalpur. I am newbie to riding long distances and i had no idea how to manage everything on my ride. But in my heart i wanted to take my bike, CBR250 to my hometown and mark this ride in my achievement book. At first i was not sure but then a childhood friend of mine who has Bajaj Avenger220 joined me.

Suggested and Actual Route-

Pune -> Ahmadnagar -> Aurangabad -> Jalna -> Mehkar -> Karanja -> Kamargaon -> Amrawati -> Nandgaon Peth -> Kondhali -> Kamptee -> Kanhan -> Mansar -> Khawasa -> Seoni -> Chhapara -> Lakhnadon -> Dhooma -> Bargi -> Jabalpur.


My Final Route-

Pune -> Ahmadnagar -> Aurangabad -> Jalna -> Mehkar -> Karanja -> Pimpalgaon -> Pulgaon -> Wardha -> Panwar -> Kelzar -> Patan Bori -> Buti Bori -> Jamtha -> Rui -> Lihi Gaon -> Dumari kh -> Mansar -> Khawasa -> Seoni -> Chhapara -> Lakhnadon -> Dhooma -> Bargi -> Jabalpur.

Without any delay we packed our bags and started planning about how we will achieve this target. Since we both were inexperienced we were not able to settle on some things and i finally asked my seniors at xBHP-Pune to guide me. They were very helpful and i am grateful to them.

First mistake that an inexperienced rider commits is thinking that he knows it all. Me and my friend decided to leave Pune at 2200hrs on 6th August 2017. But as i was suggested that night driving was not safe even after enough sleep and safe riding. So we started a little late and we rode till Ahmadnagar at night. Slept for a 2-3 hours at our friend's place as we committed our second mistake of not having enough sleep thinking that we don't sleep at nights anyway. That is the worst thing you can do to yourself while riding believe me.

Pune to Aurangabad highway is awesome. We left Ahmadnagar at 0400hrs on 7th August 2017. And covered 116 kilometers in an hour. This was our third mistake. We were so ignorant that we forgot about our body stress. We were told to take breaks every 80 kilometers and regularly check our bikes on every stop. After this 116 kilometers stretch we realized that we will not be able to cover the distance if we ride like this.

We had light breakfast at Aurangabad and left without wasting much time as we wanted to cover as much as we can before the daylight. Before starting the ride one of my senior @magnum_opus already told me the route which will be more convenient. After Aurangabad we covered Jalna-Mehker-Karanja.
At Karanja we took a wrong turn and we deviated to a total different path which felt like 100 kilometers more with city traffic, we entered Wardha. We were supposed to take Amravati Highway towards Nagpur. And it consumed lot of our energy and time and we got frustrated in city traffic. To add to our frustration it started raining just when we were about to touch Nagpur.

We had a pleasant weather from Pune To Nagpur, but from nagpur it rained continuously. We made another mistake of not wearing proper riding shoes. Our shoes were packed with water as we were wearing sports shoes which resulted in infection later when we reached our home. I was not able to walk properly.

Nagpur and Jabalpur are connected by one of the best highway of India known as North-South Corridor. We connected to it and we thought everything will be easy now as we were only 275 kilometers away from Jabalpur. But we forgot that were continuously riding for more than 12 hours now. We didn't felt we were tired but internally our body was breaking because we only took small breaks for refreshments. None for resting our body.

As highway was good and clear we increased our speeds in order to complete the Jungle (Pench National Park) part before sunset but worst was yet to come. This was something we shouldn't have done. At 1700hrs 7th August 2017 jungle part started and suddenly within minutes it was dark. And out of nowhere it started raining heavily.

Now we were in a very difficult situation because
First, we can't stop for that entire patch because of wild animals.
Second, it was a no man's land.
Third, the roads were so bad that my both rear and front rims got bend.

We decided to move slowly because we couldn't afford a crash due to careless riding in order to cross jungle or bike breakdown in the middle of nowhere with wild animals around us. We continued further and rain was at full force we were not able to see incoming vehicles properly. We crossed that stretch in 2 hours and another test was waiting for us.

Between Nagpur- Seoni there is a very infamous ghati known by the name of Chulha Ghati. I guess whoever has been there can feel this. It is the worst stretch i have ever seen. Damn the road in this ghati is full of ditches. I guess that is too small word to describe them. They were like meteor impact holes with heavy rain. We were so exhausted by now but we had control on ourselves and excitement to meet my family was keeping me strong. After riding for like 2-3 hours more on typical Madhya Pradesh roads where a pothole comes out of nowhere we reached. We were like 90 kilometers from Jabalpur we started seeing familiar places.

Let me share this thing with you that when you think that you are in control but your brain has already stopped functioning. We were about 20 kilometers from Jabalpur City at Bhedaghat i guess. It was like our daily route when we use to stay there but we were not able to find the route for city and we struggled for an hour.

Finally we reached our native place.

At Maharashtra- Madhya Pradesh border roads are bad as anything.
We completed our journey at 0100hrs 8th August 2017.

We left at 0000hrs on 7th August from Pune
We reached at 0000hrs on 8th August.

I learnt a lot from this ride on how to manage and take precautions for my long rides as i committed a lot of mistakes. People of my group kept asking me about where i reached which made me feel good that they not only care when you are riding with them but even when you are not.

Yeah one more thing those who are planning to ride the same route i will suggest you to go from Chindwara route but DO NOT CROSS Chindwara or nearby area after 1800hrs. I have heard many stories from my elders. So better don't risk yourself. Take a halt. Take a halt anyway else will not be able to enjoy the ride. Roads on this route are better.

Long live xBHP. Ride safe.