Tweet
Trip log , final part
The muddy walls of the pass now gave way to grassy banks and green hills.A little up head, Nikhil and the rest had stopped near another road block. It had a small gap, easy enough for us to go through. There was a checkpost of some sort there. We asked for some directions there and move on.
Nikhil, Navendu and Saad had gone ahead. Kashif, Surojit and Rishabh were with me. After coming down, I was unable to resist the
urge the capture this scenic location on the camera. I pulled over. Seeing me stop everyone else slowed down. Then, Kashif suddenly seeing the lush green grassy bank to the left went wild and rode his bike over it.
He was trying to turn around when his rear tyre gave away and within a second he was horizontal. He recovered before I could take my camera out and capture this moment.
After taking a few pictures, we tried to move on but soon Rishabh spotted a small stream running beside the grassy patch. He wanted to clean his tyres ad what better way than to wash them in a running stream of water.
After Rishabh was done with his little bath we moved on. Farther up on the road, Nikhil,Saad and Navendu had stopped at a fork in the road. Apparently the road to the left went to Lavasa. We were in no hurry to reach Lavasa, so we took the road to the right. The road on the right had another fork , where one road went down and one up the hill. We chose to explore the road that went up.Now this road had a thick layer of gravel over it. A little carelessness with the throttle can land you in more than a little trouble. Perfect!. As is the case so often, the places which are hardest to reach are the one's that are most scenic. Nikhil went ahead. There were a couple of places on the way that provided a beautiful view of the surrounding landscape. I wanted to wait but since Nikhil had already gone ahead I decided not to wait. We soon entered a wall of fog. The visibility went down quite a bit. This was hardly a road so it was even more diffiult to ascertain which way the path went. The path was now made up of layers of rocks and gravel and mud. Each layer with a different height, like steps if you wish. The mud in between was very slippery and we had to be careful as we had gone along.
At one point on the road, the road went straight and made a sharp right turn. If an unwary rider were to miss this, he would end up in a deep,deep pit of rock. I waited for everyone to catch up at this point to ensure no-one missed this. Not long after that, we saw the faint silhouette of the Machismo in the fog. We had reached the end of the "road". We waited for everyone to catch up. We were still unsure where we were at this point of time. To be honest, at 9:30 am in the morning, it didnt matter much. Nikhil went down for a walk. The rest of us did a few photo sessions.Nikhil came back up and said there was a village down there, but the road was very dangerous.
We decided to turn around and head back. At this point, my specs broke. I took some time to get ready and Navendu was waiting with me. The rest of the gang had moved ahead. We soon left, only to see Surojit, Nikhil and Saad stopped down the road. Nikhil had entered one of the muddy layers on the road and was having trouble getting back up on the gravel layer. His rear tyre was free-wheeling in the mud.
As we approached, the rest warned us to get off this layer of the road immediately, lest we should suffer the same ordeal as Nikhil. We got off that layer immediately.Nikhil finally made it across.
Meanwhile, Saad's bike had started to act up again.It would turn off after starting. We had a theory that it might be due fuel being blocked due to the incline. We tilted his bike a little to the left. After a few tries, his bike hummed to life. Without wasting anymore time, Saad moved ahead while he had the chance. We followed. Soon we came across, Rishabh, Saad and Kashif. I moved ahead and soon we were again at the second fork in the road we had encountered earlier. (the one where one road went down and the other went up). We wanted to explore what lay at the end of the road that wound its way down, however, Nikhil's bike had just hit reserve and he didnt have long before the fuel ran out. Not wanting to take any chances, we reached the road that went to Lavasa. The road was nice,smooth and full of fast corners.
I moved ahead and luckily after a few kilometres, I soon saw an HP sign on the right side. I pulled over to the left. Nikhil went there and filled up. After that we moved towards Lavasa. The roads were really good now.In no time we were at Dasve village and on the familiar road back up to the Lavasa-Temghar ghat.It didnt take us long to exit the Lavasa gate. Me and Nikhil were in the lead. Soon the rest caught up.
We had stopped near the small shack that served tea and food just outside the gate. Now you must imagine, a bunch of people who had been through such hardships of bad roads, fallen trees and a million roadblocks, and who had had nary a drop of poison or grain of food since morning, how hungry they must be? Very very hungry. The shack was like a candy shop for the guys. Everybody ordering whatever came to their minds.Some ordered pohe(poha), some ordered Misal Pav and a the ubiquitous Vada pav for every one. Rishabh decided to satiate his egg-fetish by ordering double egg omelette. The misal Pav and Vada pav came soon enough.
However, some dishes were taking time. Unable to bear the hunger, some guys started pleading with the owners. Nevertheless, soon everyone got their orders and we ordered tea to wash it all down.Now we had a choice to make. Whether to go down and go through the Panshet road or to go ahead and on the same road most of us have done umpteen times.In keeping with the spirit of the ride, we obviously chose the former.
So it was down the Lavasa city road again. I was riding with Navendu on this road and I could hear his chain clattering. Apparently, the ZMAs chain was brushing with the chain guard. We took the left road from Dasve, that went to Panshet-Varasgaon.We were stopped near the turn by the local security and the numbers were noted down. Without further ado, we moved towards Panshet. Nikhil ran ahead. We followed at some distance behind him. I was doing about 50-60 and the road wasnt good soon looking back I saw no one behind me. So I decided to stop. This place had a view of the earlier section of the road and I could see Saad and Rishabh followed by the others. So I moved on, after that I didnt stop and soon caught up with Nikhil. Nikhil pulled over to the right. He was feeling sleepy. I took out the camera and waited for the others.
About 5 minutes later, Rishabh arrived and the rest were right behind him. As it turned out a lot of the people hadnt got good sleep the previous night and were feeling sleepy. We took a small break. Navendu used this opportunity to hammer his chain guard straight so it doesnt interfere with the chain.A lot of the people found the road very boring also it was a bit sunny, that didnt help.
After the break , we decided to make the final march for home. We soon crossed Varasgaon.
It had started to rain when we crossed Panshet and were on the road to Khadakwasla. Now this was a very nice road. Me and Rishabh were in the lead and the rest nowhere to be seen. We reached and stopped near the T-junction, where one road goes to Pune and one goes to Sinhagad. After a bit , everyone joined us. We left towards Pune. The traffic at Khadakwasla on weekends is very bad, and today was no exception.Road was full of traffic and reckless motorists. This was a really boring part ,especially at the end of a ride.Nevertheless, we held on that just bit longer and soon were on Sinhagad road.We stopped at a small tea shop near the Bypass flyover on the Sinhagad road. After a couple of rounds of tea. We decided to go our separate ways. I had to go towards Katraj and the rest towards CC.
I will sum up this exciting,wild ride through unknown roads by presenting before you this little incident.
At the tea shop, one of patrons asked me,"Bhai saab, where have you been?"
I said, "We went to Tamhini,Lavasa, Panshet and then returned."
The patron then cast a suspicious eye over our muddy apparel and innocently, awe in his eyes, "And you turned out like this? What did you guys do there?"
I was too tired to explain, I just smiled and walked away.
Here is the GPS track of the route we followed,
Pune-Tamhini-Lavasa-Panshet - Motorcycling - Everytrail
The muddy walls of the pass now gave way to grassy banks and green hills.A little up head, Nikhil and the rest had stopped near another road block. It had a small gap, easy enough for us to go through. There was a checkpost of some sort there. We asked for some directions there and move on.
Nikhil, Navendu and Saad had gone ahead. Kashif, Surojit and Rishabh were with me. After coming down, I was unable to resist the
urge the capture this scenic location on the camera. I pulled over. Seeing me stop everyone else slowed down. Then, Kashif suddenly seeing the lush green grassy bank to the left went wild and rode his bike over it.
He was trying to turn around when his rear tyre gave away and within a second he was horizontal. He recovered before I could take my camera out and capture this moment.
After taking a few pictures, we tried to move on but soon Rishabh spotted a small stream running beside the grassy patch. He wanted to clean his tyres ad what better way than to wash them in a running stream of water.
After Rishabh was done with his little bath we moved on. Farther up on the road, Nikhil,Saad and Navendu had stopped at a fork in the road. Apparently the road to the left went to Lavasa. We were in no hurry to reach Lavasa, so we took the road to the right. The road on the right had another fork , where one road went down and one up the hill. We chose to explore the road that went up.Now this road had a thick layer of gravel over it. A little carelessness with the throttle can land you in more than a little trouble. Perfect!. As is the case so often, the places which are hardest to reach are the one's that are most scenic. Nikhil went ahead. There were a couple of places on the way that provided a beautiful view of the surrounding landscape. I wanted to wait but since Nikhil had already gone ahead I decided not to wait. We soon entered a wall of fog. The visibility went down quite a bit. This was hardly a road so it was even more diffiult to ascertain which way the path went. The path was now made up of layers of rocks and gravel and mud. Each layer with a different height, like steps if you wish. The mud in between was very slippery and we had to be careful as we had gone along.
At one point on the road, the road went straight and made a sharp right turn. If an unwary rider were to miss this, he would end up in a deep,deep pit of rock. I waited for everyone to catch up at this point to ensure no-one missed this. Not long after that, we saw the faint silhouette of the Machismo in the fog. We had reached the end of the "road". We waited for everyone to catch up. We were still unsure where we were at this point of time. To be honest, at 9:30 am in the morning, it didnt matter much. Nikhil went down for a walk. The rest of us did a few photo sessions.Nikhil came back up and said there was a village down there, but the road was very dangerous.
We decided to turn around and head back. At this point, my specs broke. I took some time to get ready and Navendu was waiting with me. The rest of the gang had moved ahead. We soon left, only to see Surojit, Nikhil and Saad stopped down the road. Nikhil had entered one of the muddy layers on the road and was having trouble getting back up on the gravel layer. His rear tyre was free-wheeling in the mud.
As we approached, the rest warned us to get off this layer of the road immediately, lest we should suffer the same ordeal as Nikhil. We got off that layer immediately.Nikhil finally made it across.
Meanwhile, Saad's bike had started to act up again.It would turn off after starting. We had a theory that it might be due fuel being blocked due to the incline. We tilted his bike a little to the left. After a few tries, his bike hummed to life. Without wasting anymore time, Saad moved ahead while he had the chance. We followed. Soon we came across, Rishabh, Saad and Kashif. I moved ahead and soon we were again at the second fork in the road we had encountered earlier. (the one where one road went down and the other went up). We wanted to explore what lay at the end of the road that wound its way down, however, Nikhil's bike had just hit reserve and he didnt have long before the fuel ran out. Not wanting to take any chances, we reached the road that went to Lavasa. The road was nice,smooth and full of fast corners.
I moved ahead and luckily after a few kilometres, I soon saw an HP sign on the right side. I pulled over to the left. Nikhil went there and filled up. After that we moved towards Lavasa. The roads were really good now.In no time we were at Dasve village and on the familiar road back up to the Lavasa-Temghar ghat.It didnt take us long to exit the Lavasa gate. Me and Nikhil were in the lead. Soon the rest caught up.
We had stopped near the small shack that served tea and food just outside the gate. Now you must imagine, a bunch of people who had been through such hardships of bad roads, fallen trees and a million roadblocks, and who had had nary a drop of poison or grain of food since morning, how hungry they must be? Very very hungry. The shack was like a candy shop for the guys. Everybody ordering whatever came to their minds.Some ordered pohe(poha), some ordered Misal Pav and a the ubiquitous Vada pav for every one. Rishabh decided to satiate his egg-fetish by ordering double egg omelette. The misal Pav and Vada pav came soon enough.
However, some dishes were taking time. Unable to bear the hunger, some guys started pleading with the owners. Nevertheless, soon everyone got their orders and we ordered tea to wash it all down.Now we had a choice to make. Whether to go down and go through the Panshet road or to go ahead and on the same road most of us have done umpteen times.In keeping with the spirit of the ride, we obviously chose the former.
So it was down the Lavasa city road again. I was riding with Navendu on this road and I could hear his chain clattering. Apparently, the ZMAs chain was brushing with the chain guard. We took the left road from Dasve, that went to Panshet-Varasgaon.We were stopped near the turn by the local security and the numbers were noted down. Without further ado, we moved towards Panshet. Nikhil ran ahead. We followed at some distance behind him. I was doing about 50-60 and the road wasnt good soon looking back I saw no one behind me. So I decided to stop. This place had a view of the earlier section of the road and I could see Saad and Rishabh followed by the others. So I moved on, after that I didnt stop and soon caught up with Nikhil. Nikhil pulled over to the right. He was feeling sleepy. I took out the camera and waited for the others.
About 5 minutes later, Rishabh arrived and the rest were right behind him. As it turned out a lot of the people hadnt got good sleep the previous night and were feeling sleepy. We took a small break. Navendu used this opportunity to hammer his chain guard straight so it doesnt interfere with the chain.A lot of the people found the road very boring also it was a bit sunny, that didnt help.
After the break , we decided to make the final march for home. We soon crossed Varasgaon.
It had started to rain when we crossed Panshet and were on the road to Khadakwasla. Now this was a very nice road. Me and Rishabh were in the lead and the rest nowhere to be seen. We reached and stopped near the T-junction, where one road goes to Pune and one goes to Sinhagad. After a bit , everyone joined us. We left towards Pune. The traffic at Khadakwasla on weekends is very bad, and today was no exception.Road was full of traffic and reckless motorists. This was a really boring part ,especially at the end of a ride.Nevertheless, we held on that just bit longer and soon were on Sinhagad road.We stopped at a small tea shop near the Bypass flyover on the Sinhagad road. After a couple of rounds of tea. We decided to go our separate ways. I had to go towards Katraj and the rest towards CC.
I will sum up this exciting,wild ride through unknown roads by presenting before you this little incident.
At the tea shop, one of patrons asked me,"Bhai saab, where have you been?"
I said, "We went to Tamhini,Lavasa, Panshet and then returned."
The patron then cast a suspicious eye over our muddy apparel and innocently, awe in his eyes, "And you turned out like this? What did you guys do there?"
I was too tired to explain, I just smiled and walked away.
Here is the GPS track of the route we followed,
Pune-Tamhini-Lavasa-Panshet - Motorcycling - Everytrail
But had to go to Mumbai. Soo.. 
Comment