Topic Approved.

Waiting for pics and log. How is your toe now?

Hey guys.. Extremely sorry for this delay but my internet connection was down due to some reason.

So here it goes.

It's just those few seconds.. and bang..it's all over. Am talking bout any accident. I was heading back home with one of my friends on his bike as a pillion rider and this unforeseen incident took place. We had an accident. It was not a high speed accident, so fortunately didnt have any major injury but ended up in a fractured toe as the other guy went brushing our bike sideways and his footrest hit on my toe straight. Didnt notice that much at that time except excruciating pain for some time.

Next day went to orthopedic doc, got an X ray done. Turned out to be a fracture. A fractured toe. Also in few days, cause of the impact there were some complications in the nail. So the only way out of this and to save the toe from infection was to remove the entire nail with an operation. So had to operate on it in few days.

Doc suggested to stay away from bike, atleast till the wound dries up. Had no choice but to listen to Doc. Stayed away from bike for almost 10 days.

That night, on saturday me and my bunch of friends were sitting at worli sea face after dinner. We all were bugged up because for the entire day we couldnt even get out of house, because i stay at Shivaji park and being 6th december, all the Dr. ambedkar follower come there., making traffic conditions worse and polluting the entire area.(No offenses here guys, just putting forth the inconvenience we people face. Dr. Ambedkar was a great Indian). So due to this reason we needed a break and posibly a nice ride on the Sunday next day. My friend was all set with his R15. But the second bike was the only problem. The other two guys were not able to take their bikes for the ride due to some reason. I was left without any choice, either take my own bike out or stay back home for another day and get bored.

Without thinking twice I just decided to deal with it and make a ride with fractured toe. Evereyone was happy.
Plan was set. Destinations were set. Time was set.

We left for home at around 12.00 midnight.
I had some pending work to complete. So completed it till 1.30.
Tried to sleep but couldnt. So called up GF and was chatting till 3.30am.
Signed out and started getting ready. Cleaned the bike, packed the bag and was all set to go.

Friends arrived at my place at sharp 4.15am.

As planned, we left at sharp 4.30 in the morning. May be this is the best thing of our group, we never get late, atleast not at the start of the trip.

Reason to leave so early was to enjoy a bit of night ride, get out of mumbai before the traffic hours and also to enjoy the winter.

I myself had been to numerous long rides before and have quite an experience of night rides, but my friend- Umesh, he's a newbee in this business. He hasnt ridden at night before, atleast not out of Mumbai. We maintained a steady speed of 60km/hr till we reach Deonar-BARC near chembur. Also my friend's bike is still in his running in period, so strict no no to ripping his bike. There's a section of road which joins Deonar and vashi. What a road to test a bike's performance. Staright... no potholes..smooth as glass...yet the surface of the road is granular enough to give enough grip to bike and confidence to the biker to test it's limits. With not much cars on the road that early in the morning I twisted my wrist as much as i can and the bike..fewwwww...It was a great experience covering that patch of road at 120km/hr with a pillion.

Earlier my bike's headlights were not foccused properly. Got them adjusted in the first servicing and now r doin their job perfectly.

Next ahead was a bit of potholed patch of road till we took the diversion for Palm beach road. There's only one phrase to describe this road - Paradise for Biking. It feels like u r riding on open freeways of Germany..It's that wide and smooth, well maintained with lane strips and street lights. To add to it this section of road is long enough and has lots of curves so u can really really enjoy ur bike on this road.

When we started getting out of Mumbai, the drop in temperature was quite noticable. And as i had borrowed my friend's full face helmet which has tinted visor, I had to ride with the visor open for better visibility. Which really turned out painful in that cold morning.

After some time we reached Panvel and took our first pit stop at the petrol pump where we stop for either refuelling or checking air pressure in the tyres.


After getting the air checked, we headed towards pune on NH. The temperature dropping as we were getting out of mumbai and far. After sometime we all took a halt for hot cup of tea some 5 kms before Khopoli.


Photographer was trying to blackmail me by saying i'll show this pic to ur parents..that's y had to hide my cigrette behind.


We then headed straight to khandala ghat, we knew the fun is about to begin. Beautiful road to ride. Steep turns and one way road.
Reached at the top of the ghat and stopped for some photography before joining the Mumbai Pune Expressway.












More To follow very soon..
More pics and further triplogue.

Thanx.

Continuing from the last post..

Once done with the photography, we were off to Lonavala without any stops. From there we took the diversion for amby Valley. Initial road was a bit too narrow and crowded due to villagers but once u cross that village the road is like heaven. Some more pics till we reach the cloud 9 restaurant. This was second time i visited this hotel, first time when i went there with Mumbai Bikers Club.






What a house to spend weekends at...

A distant village..








In a silent conversation...........



Time for some funnn...




Breath Sunshine...


Some more roads to bend and to fly low...






Finally we reached the restaurant Cloud 9..



This restaurant is like on the hill top and there were heavy winds blowing, so much that even the plastic chairs were not able to stay at one place,wind was throwing them away. We literally lost 2-3 menu cards. They simply flew away.

We had our break fast there..hot Upma. Was really tasty...

Then it was time for some TP.
A few yards away we saw this beautiful house. A bunglow. What a house. It's like dream house for someone. Too good.


It was time to head back now. Not exactly..cause we were still to visit Lion's point.


We then reached Lion's point.
Winds which i was talking about earlier were even deadlier over here due to vast open space. Locals told us bout the recent incident that took place there. Some of the tourists had come there in their Tata Sumo. They parked the car dangerously close to the edge of the cliff which has no barricades. Due to strong winds car was pushed ahead and ended up into the valley. I didnt ask bout any casulties though.





Our entire group..Sachin, Umesh, Tanay and me...




Then it was time to head back to Lonavala and from there to Talegaon for the lunch.


Last part of pics and photo log to follow soon.
Thanx...

Nice...
Thx for shareing ...

any more pics..?

Nice pics...Liked the first pic along with this one!!

Continuing the Last part..

We then reached our destination for pet puja.., Toni Daa Dhaba. I had heard a lot bout this place and even had been there when i was a kid, with my parents.


This hotel has some really beautiful birds and animals kept there. Have a look..










The Emu bird..



Chilling out...


The food we had... Spicy biryani and Omlet sandwiches..




It was then time to head back to Mumbai...

Bikers ready to roll...


After riding for some 45-50 mins, we reached Khandala ghat. Faced a small traffic jam due to narrow road, but R15's super smooth handling made us get out of it easily. It was evident from the villagers' faces that R15 is still something out of this world for them and people used to come close and poured a rain of questions regarding the bike.

We took our final pit stop near the entrance of Expressway.



A family of monkies accompanied us for the photo shoot.


Khopoli City..


Making an exit off the Expressway... and heading back home..


That was the last hault we made..
From there it was a non stop ride till our place, Dadar.
I m pretty sure, when R15 gets going..it leaves the follower with such a dizzy vision..What a machine..Thoroughly impressed.


Conclusion -
The over all impression of the bike and the ride was simply too good. We enjoyed the ride to it's fullest. The pleasant atmosphere made it even pleasurable.

Talking bout the bike, once again i can put my finger blindfoldedly on the statement "This is one of the best bikes available in India today." Excellent seating position, effortless handling, and the best part - very high cruising speeds. One can easily cruise at high 90s and cant even notice any vibration.

The only let down is the lack of enough torque. Due to lack of it one has to be a little extra careful at steep climbs and steep turns, u really need to get down atleast 2 gears to keep going. On straight roads, this babe can pull 2 bulls effortlesly in 6th gear, even at walking speeds.

Rest, the bike is superb. A real mile muncher. Due to the high cruising speed u dont even realise how quickly u eat up those long distances.

Total Time spent :- 4.30AM to 4.30 PM(12 hours)
Total expenses per person :-Rs.350/- (including fuel and food)
Average speed of the journey:- 85km/hr

My friend is getting his bike serviced tomorrow. So hoping for the next ride very soon.
Plans are to enjoy the chily winters of Mahabaleshwar and panchgani. While enjoying both the routes, Mumbai-Pune and also Mumbai-Poladpur(on the Mumbai Goa highway). While coming back visiting the prati Balaji temple near katraj.

Will come back with the triplog for the same soon.

Thanx
Regards-
Ketan Nikharge.
9970078695.

@ chicane1879 & @ vikram9x

Hey buddys... Thanx for commenting...
Really need it....
Thanx...

Nice write-up & very good pics... Seems u guyz had a great time

Nice Writeup and pics. Hope you enjoyed.
PS-You shouldnt have done this trip with you fractured toe.

@Those who did this ride: nice1 fellas... gr8 pics i must say...

Hey thanx guys..for ur comments..

@ DriftKingNT
Yeah buddy..everyone told me the same... But i took as much as care that i cud..iI wasnt ignorant towards my health but i just cudnt resist yaar..

My toe was much better at that time due to full rest of 10 days. Plus as i had worn shoes, the toe was well intact and protected. When ever we used to stop for any pit stop of for food, I used to remove the shoes and make some way for the toe.. That way it never had any sort of pain or disscomfort.

Anyways..Thanx for commenting.. I m taking care of the toe once again now..

Heyy dude u cud have let me know

Atleast on the official mumbai g2g thread or pm.

Anyways nice pics and do let me know of future trips...

Cool trip log & pics tooo. Hope u come along with us for a ride sometime. 2 R15's would be fun.

Nice photography bro.

@Dark: U can join chilled_fire if ur free this weekend. They r headin to mahabaleshwar.