Hello All,

There are 2 reasons for starting this post. One is to update other Xbhpians who couldn't make it today. The second being Fully blown Excitement!!!

The Pre-ride G2G for the yercaud trip had been the hot topic on the chennai thread quite recently. The previous trip to Vallakottai was not attended by many due to the bad weather. Today however was a huge difference. Xbhpians who wanted to share some info or to get a hang of group riding or to simply get a taste of the roads before the "real thing"

Now I expect some few more travelogues from other Xbhipans who roade out today so guys, Please do the honors!!

My Version :

I was up till 11.30 Pm yesterday doing some office work on my PC. I was however not sincere in what i did. My work was frequently interuppted by Alt-Tabbing from My Mail Client and the browser, which was promptly loading the chennai thread everytime i hit the refresh button. After some half hearted replies to clients, I hit the bunk, keeping an alarm on my phone for 3.30 AM. All I can Remember yesterday was thinking about the oil change on my bike .. *LIGHTS OUT*

*Trrrrriinnggggg... Trinnnnggg* I was startled by my phone, giving out the most annoying thing to hear during some much needed sleep.. The ALARM! Since Sriram (Sriram_efunds) was already on my quick dial, I gave him a quick wake up call. I kinda shared the same drowsy feeling, but both of us knew it was for the best.

I quickly got up and Headed right for the kitchen, and got on to preparing some coffee ( It's so damn difficult to prepare some good ol coffee while you are half awake!) After ten minutes of struggling with it, I decided to drink the cof...concotion i had made and headed right for the shower. After a cold shower to bleed off the drowsiness, I dressed up and picked up my helmet and stole (read borrowed) a digicam from my half asleep sister.

After a Initial warmup, I swiftly but in silence rode off to the nearest ATM. This is where I got a initial feedback on my get up. The Guard was shocked and in suspicion of the man who refused to expose nothing but his eyes..! I wanted to get moving fast and without any delays or problems from the security at the ATM, SO Popped off my gloves, Helemet, and my Balaclava and quickly rushed in to the atm only to find that some ATM machines are too slow, that it would be easier to just wait for the Bank to open at 9!

I decided to make up for some lost time and chose to ride through a much smaller but faster route from my place and reached the mainroad in a couple of minutes and started to level off my speed, sticking to a cautious speeds, when something caught my eye, a lone headlamp of a two wheeler gaining in on me with respectable speed. + Swoof+ and I could instanly recognize the vehicle, It was Sriram's touring machine, His faithful and trusty Unicorn. I wanted to catch up with him but decided not to mainly because of fuel consumptio worries, I hardly remember the time i stopped for fuel. I slowly but eventually caught up with him at Chennai Trade center, Nandambakkam and looked at my speedo console. the time was exactly 5 AM.

After a couple of minutes of chatting and analysing our rides, we were soon joined by Surabith on his R-15 with Joel's freeflow tuned exhaust. Man what a machine! while we were busy talking, we were joined by kirosh,aargee,deepak. after a couple of smokes and a cup of coffee each, we started, heading out at a decent cruising speeds towards Vellore, Meeting up with Tarun(tarc), Amit(only amit). We had actually passed Dinesh (bikerfas) But I somehow though it was some guy on a blue Fazer, who was touring on his own. Only when Dinesh Pulled up in front of me did I realise his Motocross pants can actually and in a stragne way remind of you the Fazers fairing. LOL :P

After regrouping we headed to the nearest Petrol Bunk for a Fuel Stop, where a few of us filled up and headed off towards vellore. It was already 6.30 by then and we had to make up for the lost time, so we decided against breaks and were averaging only about 80. The Lesser experienced riders like me ,amit and surabith stuck to the center of the formation. we had a bad time communicating signals as we had either forgotten or unaware that it needs to be passed on. I was however aware of a few and passed it on to so that it would flow on till the sweeper for the morning ride, Aargee, who was doing a great job and keeping an eye out for newbies like me. After some seventy odd kays of travel, we met up with Ram(Whizkid_ram) who was there on his Apache 150 and a brand new CROSS helmet. Here we took a couple of seconds to explain to the group to pass on the signals and to stick to the formation. I would say that this is where the fun began. Ten Odd bikes ranging from The new Yammie R-15 to Ye Ol' faithful RX, were maintaining a staggered formation right in the center most lane in one of the most perfect strech of roads accesible to us! Me being pushed near the Sweeper found it fulfilling to my ego to see cagers of all sorts giving way to some determined roadhogs who seamlessly strode right across the National Highway with much ease than them. One funny thing I noticed when overtaking a bus was that one of the passengers kept signalling to all of us reminding them that our headlights were on! This was a common scene from there on. We reached Vellore by 9 something and entered the town. We found our way to Hotel Saravana Bhavan for a Scrumptious Breakfast and a light and informal introduction between us. There too were people wondering what we were doing. One strange question i got from a cager was,What are you guys from chennai doing here? When I told him we rode down to vellore for breakfast and as a kind of a preride meetup, He was confused but politely wished us a safe ride back.

*dbroom* I Quickly turned! There I stood, watching involuntarily at surabit's ride. The Beat of his bike caught my concentration as my mind was so familiar to the note of his Baby R-1 ! I stood there Dazzled by the sheer beat of the Exhaust! I was quickly brought back to reality by Deepak, who wanted help with the gloves. It is there that i realised we were next heading to Amrithi Forest. I had no clue how it would be and even could'nt try matching it to the ones at Talakona!

First it seemed like a normal State highway, filled with enraged bus drivers or cagers. at what appeared like a few hazards thrown around, the numbers started to multply and hand signals became frequent.at one point of time,a few of them got frustrated and started to point and wave at the side most of the hazards where. It had became a game of judging what was bad and what was worse! But some of the bends were real beauties. It was enchanting to watch 5 odd bikes in front and 4 in the back, corner them in grace at almost perfect and safe distance from each other. I wish we had a photogrpaher stationed at the turns and capture the moment! The ones I specifically noted was the Tarun's (tarc)' 500 Classic and Amits (only_amit) ZMA! I loved the 500's look and the ZMA, well , I dont know, I was right in front of me and it looked great!!

After finishing the Smriti Obstacle course, we reached the the Amrithi Zoological park. after parking our bikes, we quickly started talking about the ride and realized we had traveled about 10 kms around the road.As a few of us were unsure about plans were briefed again and hand signals were quickly explained. Next in line was formations and Kiran took a brief class for us and gave us a list of quick tips on highway conditions and routes.

While a few us decided to talk about the Lunch a few started to discuss spares. After wrapping up with the talks. We all realised that hunger was kicking us in the belly that is when Dinesh (bikerfas) shared a few bars of candy with us. I must really thank him for this. It helped in the day later.

Ok Guys time to hit the bunk now.Rest tomo!

I'd Like someone else to pick it up from here to keep it flowing.. if not I'll continue


Update: Guys here is a link for the pics:

and