That's too bad. But we were having some good fun riding and blasting down the roads. I now know why this route is preferred by most of the Saddle Sore riders.

I usually just tuck into some chocolates or dry fruits. But if chocolate has that kind of an effect on you, then avoid it

1) Zip-loc covers are available in any large departmental stores.
2) Shoe cover available in a hardware shop (at least here).
3) Same with reflective tape.

Here are a few pics from the weekend:





My favourite pic of all:





At Nelamangala:

Nice thread this one.
________
COLORADO MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES

@Akhil: Man-In-Black. Make sure u stick some reflective tape wherever possible if u ride in the dark! Or only the H/L of ur R1 will be visible!!!

What was GS doing in the Innova? That MT looks puny with GS on it man!!!Hahaha....

That would be good, but then I won't get to carry my GPS cell with me.

Thanks ross...I will try looking at a hardware store. Not sure about the Zip-Loc though.

Was GS asking for directions or the potti-kadai's finest tobacco sticks?

@rossi: Nice pics there especially all the GS-centric ones
Shocking to see Phwoar missing in em except for a portion of her tank in the first one. I sense a change in muse for your fotuus whenever Thor's around

Independence day ride of my own

As I already mentioned earlier, I had taken off after Electronics city during the Independence day Ride, some of you may have noticed. As I mentioned I was on a trip to Kerala on an Indepnedence day Ride of my own.

I was shocked to see the number of people that had turned out. SOmething similar to one of the Nandhi hill meets we had about 1.5 years ago. Do you remember John?

I was taking off on a Solo trip and I was a little worried about the kind of speeds that we were doing as a group, which again is inevitable. Soon after the terrible traffic jam I decided to take off.

Steady speeds of 90-95kmph was to follow. The things I was tensed about:

-> My back, would it hold up to 1000+kms of riding. This was the first proper trip after the Munnar trip which had kind of damaged my back. If at all I had any problems with my back, I had plans of immediately turning around and riding back home.

-> The rains - I had a DSLR with me but luggage and camera was not a problem, there was good waterproofing fo both of these, what I was worried about was myself! How long am I supposed to take rain and cold winds.

After a while, the skies just totally cleared up. Every time I was hoping that the weather gods stay with me and the rain gods ignore me(for a change). After I reached A2B, it turns out I had forgotten to withdraw money from the ATM. Wow, such a we'll planned out trip! Anyways, I did fuel up, and very little money for food, so I decide to find an ATM.

I find an ATM at this palce called Shoolagiri and it turns out that the ATM had a problem. Then I ride to Krishnagiri city, and find an ATM and eat at a nice Arya Bhavan hotel. Wallet filled, tank filled, stomach filled, I take off this time without any worries on this long journey ahead.

My plan was to ride as long as I can without a break. As long as the rain doesn't come down on me, I thought , everything was going to be manageable. Rains did keep away from me but came down on me in the end of the trip, more on that later. Plan was to stay at Guruvayoor for the night which is about 460kms from Bangalore. The route wasn't a problem. I did not have a map printout or a GPS with me. I just had a rough idea about the route. Finding the route was never an issue. Always passing one place after the other, there was no worries about direction. So I just wanted to reach Pallakad. The roads were beautiful all the way. Nice sweeping bends, Fast corners, doing 90kmph+- was never an issue. Doing good average speeds was never an issue. Brilliant landscape too.

My first stop was at Mettur dam. Getting there with some crisp riding was fun. It was filled with water an the view was picturesque. Was alittle freaked out to find the bridge shudder quite a lot when the trucks passed by. Because of which I was also worried about keeping the camera in Timer mode to take a pic of myself. Too bad. After a redBull and something to nibble on, I take off.

One thing I noticed during the trip was, I was way faster than many big cars. Not because I was blasting at top speeds. I never crossed a 95kmph during the whole trip. But I could regain my speed much faster than the cars. I did not have to slow down for cyclists, I did not have to calculate so much to overtake a truck. My vehicle was much more nimble, and I had ample amount of power on tap till about 95kmph hence overtaking was never an issue. As a resut, I'm always overtaking, always going past vehicles. Which was fun! In my humble opinion, a premium indian motorcycle is MORE than enough to tour all around India because of the kind of traffic behaviour. You really dont need a lot of power for touring in India. If you want to have a lot of fun at the expense of being worried about where you park your motorcycle, you can go in for a bigger motorcycle. I was truly impressed with the kind of distances I could cover. I was going like those quick black ants between moths!

I made it to Pallakad without any issue. Called the guy who was arranging my stay at Guruvayoor. He said to make it as soon as possib le because apparently Anil Ambani was at the temple and the secuirty was getting beefed up and crowd was increasing. Getting there sooner would save a lot of time. I told him I should make it there by 5pm.

It was a good feeling to enter Kerala. The smell of the air changed, the trees on either side of the road thickened and the roads were twisty and fun. As I was enjoying the ride to Thrisshur-Guruvayoor, doing a steady 90+, this cop jeep stops me. I put the left indicator and stop and pull over and got off the bike. I had decided to make it a combined break now that I had stopped. I thought it would be a routine paaper check but he tell me that I was overspeeding!


Damn, and what was the speed limit? 50kmph! Yeah, I would have to make it a one week trip if I had to obey the rules. I manage to convince him that I was doing a 70kmph. Unlike Karnataka, bribing does not work here for small money. He strictly told me that we cannot settle the deal here, you would have to go to the police station to pay the fine! Wow, now I had to find the police station! This place was Vaddakanchery btw.

I find the police station and a lot of curious cops ask me several questions. pay off the 300bux fine. And head to Guruvayoor. The fine had no difference to the kind of speeds I was doing. I was back to the exact same speeds and this time I had a free ticket to overspeed! Sweet

Managed to reach Guruvayoor by 5.45PM. Meet this guy who arranged the stay. I see Anil AMbani's Mh01 S-Class. Probably drove down in that from the nearest airport(?).
Next day morning at 3am I get darshan and head back to Pallakd district to visit this old 1000year old temple. It was in the interiors of Pallakad. Took me a good 2 hours to reach there covering just 70kms. I had to park my bike at a hut there and walk across a river with about knee deep water. The temple head had sent across a kid to carry my luggage and help me out thru the river. Unfortunately, I have hardly taken any pictures. Because of rain I could not manage taking too many. After visiting this ancient temple and a chat with the temple variyar, my next destiantion was Calicut. My plan was to come down the Western Ghats and thru Bandipur forest.

My back was taking a beating now because the roads were not exactly highways. They were more of narrow bumpy roads and doing speeds of 65 was an achievement. Managed to get on the highwayt after 30 odd frustrating kms. From there it was back to regular cruising speeds. Get to to my Uncles place in Calicut in about 2.5 hours.

I finish off with lunch there in half an hour. I had covered about 770kms by now. Its 4.45Pm now and I leave. After this, my trip was taking a big U-turn. All the fun and joy of riding was going to take a huge Hit.

The Western Ghats was the last bit of fun I had. Although the roads were messed up, I still had small bits of good patches which more than sufficed for a motorcycle. Realize that my oil indicator had started blinking, on checking the oil level, I figure out that the oil was indeed low and about 150ml of oil was consumed by the engine! A quality trait of Bajaj engines I suppose. I had carried oil with me. Fill up to the level. Use some chain spray because all the muck on the road was messing up the chain quite a bit. There were huge traffic jams on the ghats. It was wet, and then it had started drizziling. Take a few snaps and make sure the luggage was properly waterproofed and take off on my last leg of the trip.

I stop at this place called Sulthan Bathery for a Red Bull and to grab a bite. Rain increases and darkness was slowly setting in. I take off as quickly as possible with a bit of rain with me. I was worried about travelleing thru bandipur forest at night. There was this new rule that was due to come up wherein vehicles would not be allowed after 6pm thru the forest and I wasn't very sure if it has been incorporated. I did meet a travels guy in the trip and he had assured me that the rule would come in only next week. I was still worried about it. The guys there dont need any reason to milk you for some money and riding thru the forest in rains and low visibility is not exactly the safest thing to do.


I reach the first checkpost and the forest official warns me about elephants being on the side of the road. He said some truckers has told them to warn all cars about some elepahants on the middle of the road and not to go too fast and scare the elephants, the might charge. He sends me with a convoy of a Qualis and an Innova and what luck, a km into the forest they pull ove with the Qualis taking a puncture. Now I'm on my own and I was tripping balls. Rain was increasing and I was all alone thru the jungle. Safely make it to the next check post and some truckers from the opposite direction there start shouting at me for not going behind a vehicle. He said there were a lot of elephants up around and that I must go behind a truck. I choose to go behind a Versa and I do see a lot of elephants standing on the side of the road.

Its a different feeling when you sit inside a car. You feel safe and secure. On a motorcycle with darkness and rain, its not a very comfortable feeling. I wished I had a car then. Safely make it past the forest without a hitch and then stop at Gundulpet Coffee day for a break. In 10 mins after parking the bike, the rain increases to a thundershower. You could not even drive a car in tha kind of rain. It was 9PM then. I had 200kms more to get to bangalore. I was tired, frustrated and with no sleep, I wanted the warmth of me bed. Little did I know then that what lie ahead was going to get exponentially worse. I waited there for half n hour and when the thundershower subsided to rain, I take off. Terrrrrrible visibilty, bad roads, dark roads. My speeds were in the range of 40kmph. I could not see too much. Ocassionally I hit huge pot holes with the suspension crashing very hard! Sometimes I jumped ever massive humps and even at 40kmph they felt damngerous. There were huge ruts and putholes all over and since it had rained heavily, all of them were filled up making them invisible.


I took 2 and half hours to cover this 60km stretch and I was drained out of energy, waiting for the Mysore road to begin. Sometimes I followed the exact tyre line of a car hoping that the car driver would duck all the potholes.

I reach Mysore and what then followed was frustrating 140kms again. It was as bad as what I had done because of the distance I had to cover. Rain has increased. Water spraying from all the vehicles. Unexpected humps. I did a constant 70mph following some cars. It took me 5 and half hours to cover this 200km stretch. Damn! Also, I had ridden this full distance without a single stop or break, my whole body was giving away.I was cold, my fingers were frozen and my DSG Mesh had given away to heavy rains with water entering in,I was tired, sleepy and extremely frustrated. It was 2.30 Am when I entered bangalore.

My lesson learnt, never ride at night during the monsoons. It is the THE most foolish ting to do. Anyways, I get home and take a warm shower. Oh, I cannot explain the feeling of warmth. Retire to bed and in a second I was dreaming roads again.

Distance covered: 1150kms
Time:44 hours.

Mettur Dam









Somewhere around Pallakad


1000 year old temple





Western Ghats

one hell of a trip hugh..

super detailed log . awesome snaps.. !! really great.. !

I remember once was doing a night trip in munnar ,had got similar warnings..was s**it scary..!!..

yeah super detailed log! Still haven't learnt the art of keeping it short n sweet

@silver_falcon_46: Nice trip log.. Last year we (Akhil and I) were stopped for over speeding at the same spot i guess but they let us off, thanks to the R1

lol..
elephants are quite a problem .i was on a 'see all possible dam's spree' and head on well into tamil nadu. and had to return in the dark.
Locals told me that its the single elephants roaming alone that are more of a problem.

Damn, they had no idea that the R1 was a 300kmph monster huh?? And why the heck are you calling me Silver Falcon 46?? Dude, I've ridden with you barely 2 weeks back


Single elephants are usually freaked out souls and hence the danger of attacking.

Nice Write Up Silver_Falcon_46
I'm going to my home town (Kannur) for onam this month end... This will be my first trip to kerala on two wheels... Hope i don't get much troubles on the way...

So you would be taking the Mysore Bandipur route then? Just keep your riding to daytime and you should be fine.

Ya, thats the plan. Will be leaving early morning... So that i can reach by evening!

@silver falcon:
wow! man amazing ride there. and a very good log
seems like Iday was adventurous for all the fella Xbhpians

riding with the elephants. tat would have been awesome experience.