Re: Mysore-Manipal-Mysore

Travelogue Approved

Re: Mysore-Manipal-Mysore

Thanks for the quick approval!
Please forgive because I don't have a lot of pictures but I assure you that I will make up for it with the writing part.

What was planned and what actually happened: So it was decided that I would take leave on 1st September which was a Friday and ride down to Kannur. My friend's birthday was on 3rd. We'd decided that she would attend her classes till 1pm and then take the train from Udupi to Kannur which would reach by 5-5.30. That would give me plenty of time to wake up, freshen up, get geared up & leave for Kannur. I had all the time in the world to cover the 200 odd km and still reach on time to pick her up from the railway station. It was all fitting so perfectly that I thought nothing could go wrong. I even worked an extra day on a weekend in August so that I could take a comp. off on 1st. (I'm from Pune & need EL's for my visits home). Then because she wanted a long-ish ride on her birthday, we would ride back together to Mysore and reach by afternoon, spend the remaining day in Mysore & at night she would board the bus to Manipal so that she reaches her home early in the morning and doesn't have to miss class.
On 31st August I was going through hotels & resorts on Goibibo and shortlisted one resort which was very close to the drive-in beach, also, I was getting a killer deal on it, so I decided to book it. But in the back of my mind I thought I should still ask her if the plan was on. I texted her and she told me that it still was and that she was eagerly waiting to get out of her 'monotonous' college life. I was about to make the payment online when my manager called and told me there was an unexpected client call . I cursed both my manager & and the clients under my breath & prayed that the resort would not run out of rooms (It had a pool after all). In between I started getting calls on my phone. I ignored it once. Again it rang, my manager looked at me as if he would gouge my eyes out and so, I put it on silent. After what seemed like an eternity the call got over & I checked my phone. I had around 13 missed calls and a lot of messages. They were from my friend and she wanted to know whether I had booked the hotel. I immediately knew that something was wrong and I called her up. So the news was that her college had declared a holiday on Friday (good news right), but (wait for it) she had a clinic posting on Saturday. At one moment everything was fine & in the next, it was all chaotic. It felt like the entire universe had conspired against me. :P But this news was still not confirmed. It was just a rumour. I decided to go ahead with the preparation for my next day's ride afterall how many college rumours turn out to be true! I've never been so wrong in my life. So while I was getting my bike washed & serviced I got text that it was confirmed. My friend was also not as upset as I was (or so I thought)! I eventually realized that her birthday & meeting her was just a reason that I was looking for to break away from my current life. I called her up. She was upset. I asked her 'ki bhai mere ab kya karen'. All she had to say was that she was eagerly waiting for this trip. I made up my mind and told her to expect me at her place by noon tomorrow! I don't know why or on what basis I said that, I just did. And THAT is how I ended up going on a completely different route and destination than planned.


Concerns: A few of them-

1. My family back home had no idea I was planning anything like this. I lost a cousin, who was very close to us, a few years ago in a bike accident. They have been against me riding ever since. It's not that I need their permission but I don't want to upset them in anyway. I told them I would be going to Manipal by bus.
2. On August 30th 2017, 2 days before my journey, a college friend had an accident in Delhi while coming back from a Gurudwara. He is no more.
3. RAINS: Some of you might disagree, but I HATE riding in rains. What was worse that I had to cross a part of Coorg on the way. I was expecting that I would have to ride in rains for a considerable period of time.
4. My mental preparation had gone for a toss. For so long I was expecting a ride of an average length, of a distance I've covered many times while going to Bangalore. Also, on that particular route I've never gone beyond Madikeri. Wasn't sure of the road conditions at all! I didn't even have enough time to read through blogs to at least get an idea of the route as it was close to midnight.
5. For the first time I was covering a slightly longer distance & I had to do it solo. It might not be a big deal for a lot of you all but it was freaking me out since I've recently started touring on my bike.

Route: Mysore-> Kushalnagar-> Madikeri-> Sullia-> Puttur-> Mangalore-> Udupi-> Manipal. (The same way back)

Gear: Rynox Airgt Jacket (I guess), Probiker Gloves (don't judge), Studds Shifter Helmet (Best helmet I've used in the last 7 years) & some random knee guards.
I'm not really into photography so no camera. My motog3 does a pretty good job

Total distance covered: Mysore-Manipal-Mysore 710 km

Ride: My one and only RS 200


I will soon start with the journey

Re: Mysore-Manipal-Mysore

Nice start.
Bring up the rest of the story!

Re: Mysore-Manipal-Mysore

1 week no update! Where the story bruh ? Bring it on.

Re: Mysore-Manipal-Mysore

Very nicely penned, keep it coming..

Re: Mysore-Manipal-Mysore

Sorry for the delay everyone. Have been too busy with work. for the first time I've not even had the time to go through the various other logs.

Day 1: I had packed everything the previous night in my rucksack which I was planning to tie on the pillion seat of my bike using bungee cords. I wasn't really sure of this since I was doing this for the first time & was scared that a little bump would make the bike slide down. Anyway, the alarm was set for 4.30 am & I had trouble waking up. I had only slept for a couple of hours. I remember thinking as to why do you need this trip. My mind was saying 'you don't have to go out in such a chilly weather. You can always take a bus to Manipal. Let's sleep for some more time.' I was about to snooze my alarm for the 3rd time when I realized that I had to do this & that I was just wasting precious time. I got up & freshened up quickly. by 5.30 I had had my cup morning cup of coffee & was heading down towards the bike. It took me 15 minutes to tie my bag, not because I was doing it for the first time , but because I was trying to ensure that it was as tight as possible. I started my bike and because it was the first start I let it be like that for some time. During this I decided to check the route once again. So I was doing that when I saw that distance between my location & the destination was some 320 odd kilometres. That is when I again started doubting myself. whether I would be able to do this alone or not. What I remembered was a line I had read somewhere a couple of days back.. It was 'the only way an ant can eat an elephant is- one bite at a time.' All I had to do was cover 1 km at a time and I would do just fine. Thinking of that I started moving towards Madikeri.

It was 6am by the time I had left. The weather was amazing. Just perfect for a ride. I was out of the city of Mysore within minutes and maintaining a decent speed of 80-85 kmph. My plan was to reached Madikeri ASAP & from then on ride on a decent pace taking frequent stops. I had last been on the Mysore-Madikeri route in the month of May and it was pretty good back then. I had heard that the road between Madikeri & Mangalore was under construction at a few places & that otherwise also the roads were not that great. So I was under the impression that Mysore-Madikeri road is the best road I will get on this trip so I would need to cover distance quickly to reach by noon. That road is not in a very good shape. It's full of patches everywhere. The authorities have covered potholes but have not done a good job. It took me hour to reach Kushalnagar. After this town, the climb to Madikeri starts. By 8 pm I had crossed Madiekri too. I stopped somewhere right after Madikeri for a cup of coffee. That feeling of having a cup of coffee in the lap of mother nature is something I can't explain. There was a huge hill right opposite to the tea stall which was covered by the clouds & right behind me was a small water stream that was running. Just me, my RS & a cup of coffee (Kabr par mere sarr uthake khadi ho zindagi, aise marna hai mujhe)

Started from there to head to Sullia. Whatever I had heard about the roads hereon turned out to be bullshit. The roads are super smooth, ad delight to ride on. Because it was a hilly area, the roads were winding & no stretch of straight road was longer than a couple hundred metres. I also saw a couple of bikers coming back towards Madikeri. We both showed a thumbs up to each other. With each passing moment my confidence & my speed was increasing. Soon reached Sullia as well by 9 am. After Sullia, the road towards Puttur is an absolute beauty. Straight roads mostly, not many curves but oh my god what a road! I was touching almost 110-115 kmph by this time. Straight road surrounded by tress and few villages in the middle. I did not want to stop & did not till I realized how hungry I was. I decided to take a break after Puttur. To be honest, I was content & happy riding that I did not even realize when I crossed Puttur. It's only when I saw a signboard 'Mangalore- 70 km' that I realized that I had gone through the town without even realizing it. I decided to take a break at the next tea stall I come across. Stopped, stretched myself a bit, removed my jackets thermal liner as it had started to get warm, kept the rain liner just in case. The thing about touring on a bike is that we get a lot of attention. Us on our bikes with the luggage tied with our sexy helmets on- it's given that we will get a lot of attention, in some cases unwanted attention to. So I was having my coffee when some local folks came to the stall. They went near my bike and started to check it out. Now I'm actually used to this & then people come up to me with the same questions of price, milage etc. So I was just sitting there with an eye on them. Then they started to click pictures of the bike- again I have no issues with this. Then one son of a b***h decides it would be fun to sit on my bike with the stand still in place and check how his hair is. So he started adjusting the mirrors. That thing pissed me off. DO NOT EVER TOUCH MY RVM'S. I asked them to not touch the mirrors and to not sit on the bike. Without touching my vehicle they could do whatever they wanted to. I had no problem if they wanted to pose next to the bike and click pictures. They understood & apologized for their mistake and came & sat down next to me. Soon the routine questions started & I know it keeps going on & on so I decided to leave ASAP. It was already close to 10 and the traffic on the road was also increasing. I left that place and moved ahead. Now because the traffic was more on that road my speed reduced significantly. Soon I was in the outskirts of Mangalore. I asked an auto driver the road to Udupi. He said just keep going straight and from a circle which will come in 2 km turn right. Then it's the NH to Goa. I was glad, thought I could actually reach in time. That circle came after 15 km. Anyhow. I was glad I could see that right turn to Udupi. Took it and was stuck in traffic for quite sometime because of some flyover construction going on. Slowly & steadily made my way forward. And all of sudden the road was clear. A beautiful 6 lane NH if I remember correctly. The last phase of the ride had started. Asked a person how far Udupi was. He said 65 km. I looked at them time, it was 11.15. I thought it was time to cover up the lost time in traffic. I was about to start riding fast and my office cell rang. The timing couldn't have been worse. Had to look a for the exit to the service road to stop the bike & take the call. It was my manager she had some doubts about a PPT I had prepared a few days back. another 10 minutes wasted. I started again. And this time I just ripped. Maybe it was the first time I was riding on such well paved road. I reached Udupi exactly at noon. I asked a few way the road to Manipal. All of them said just keep going straight. Kept going straight till I reached the INOX at Manipal. Called up my friend to ask her where she stays. She didn't pick up the phone. Called again. Called 3 time. 4th time she picked it up. She was apparently hungover & asleep. She told me I was near by and that I have to come near the Country Inn hotel. I told her to come there since her house was in one of the lanes and the way she was explaining it was confusing. She jokingly said that it was too far for a walk, I lost my patience & shouted 'Should I tell you what far actually means!' She came to the decided location within minutes and I too reached soon after that. Went to her place and since she was hungover & I was too tired we slept for the next 4 hours.

Re: Mysore-Manipal-Mysore



@shardulghatpande ji