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Re: Velneshwar ISG2G-2014[GJ-MH-KA-AP]
Prologue
G2Gs are always fun to have. When you are bored with your personal and professional life, you urge to spread your wings and ride free. Back in February couple of riders from three different states (i.e. Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka) started thinking out of the box and chalked out a plan, a plan to have a 4 state meet, something which was never done before. The biggest challenge in front of the organisers was to fix a venue somewhere in Maharashtra as because there was a time crunch, especially because the event was to be scheduled in the month of April (before the monsoon starts). Polls were taken, everyone's view was put on the table and the venue was finalised to be Velneshwar. In the meantime, collection of funds began in oder to book a resort. Overwhelming was the response from all the riders and I could already sense an excitement in the air. One week to go for the mega event and everything was sorted out. Resort booked, ride route finalized, pre-rides been organized to do some practice runs. Below is the route which was finalized for the ride.
The participation from Bangalore xBhp was most in number and it was never easy for the group of 12 riders to ride down 850+ kms, and that too in a single day.
So, let me introduce you to the Bangalore xBhp riders:
Saquib - His steed is a blazing fast Yamaha R15 v2.0, the masterplan behind this spectacular event.
Sauban - He, like his brother rides another blazing fast Yamaha R15 v2.0. He is one who made the long rides lively and possible with this encouragement and filler jokes
Ashish - We call him the wanderer and he has chosen his mighty RE Classic 500 to conquer the road.
Nitin - He is Mr. Style Statement of our group, rides a might RE Desert Storm 500.
Krishwetha - A tourer by heart, he is ready to fight troubles at any given time. Hats off to you! He rides a devil in the form of Hero Hondo CD100.
Prakash - He was our official videographer for the ride, and I must say, a job well done
He rides a Bajaj Avenger 220
Bharath - He is known as Mr. CK (Cornering King). It seems KTM thought about this guy when they manufactered the Duke 390. It is a sheer pleasure to watch this dude corner.
Sanjoy - He rides a KTM Duke 390, but a tourer by heart, rather he has been touring since ages! So vast is the experience in this person and we are thankful to share the experiences on both on-road and off the road.
Sunil - He rides a Pulsar 200 NS. Man! hats off to this person's endurance. Just give him a patch of turmac and he will nail it down! Love your riding bro
Shashank - His steed is a Hero Karizma ZMR. He is a new talent in the market Learning things faster and implementing them when and where needed. A thumbs up to you.
Tapabrata - He rides a mighty CBR 250R and does not know to stop once he hits the roadTrue signs of a tourer. Never ever he complained of the road, of the situation. A well focused rider I must say.
lastly me, Suvrajit - I ride my puny Avenger 180.
The Ride
Anyways, the day was finally here and each and every one of us were excited. Since morning, calls were flying around to get the confirmation of the items each one is carrying and yes, some of us were in the office, wrapping off the work
. The meeting point was set to be the Neelamangala toll booth on the NH4 at 12:30 am sharp. However, things did not start on the right foot and by the time everyone gathered at the meeting point, it was already 01:00 am (thanks to last minute preparations). Still one of our riders, Sunil was not there and when called, he informed that he had come from office late and hence would be taking some rest and riding solo. He assured us though that he would be meeting us somewhere enroute. We were accompanied by another riding group from Bangalore who were enroute Goa and they would supposedly be following us till Hubli. Everyone was asked to finish off the tea and mini bakar sessions as it was already late for us to start and the group briefing was still pending. Prakash had brought a GoPro with him and he was busy setting it up.
Saquib started with the group briefing, some important decisions were made at the last moment; especially the plan to have two separate groups was dropped, we decided to stick with only one group with an average speed of 90-95 kmph. Krishwetha was riding all the way with his CD100 and when asked, he was comfortable with the speed range. There were raised eyebrows everywhere seeing Krishwetha confident about the ride! Some were still not believing if the CD100 can make it all the way! It was 02:00 am in the morning and everything was set for the ride to be flagged off.
The Lead and the Tail for the group were decided quickly and started off with the ride in a staggered formation. The feeling, i must admit, was simply mindblowing! 12 machines, roaring in the dark highway, cutting traffic together, speeding past the peaceful houses was indeed a treat to watch. It was already advised that we would be taking break after every 180 kms (Chitradurga to be precise) as we were planning to cover most of the distance during the night time and that should both be a butt break and a fuel break (for the bikes with low tank range). All said and done, the ride was going superbly smooth, at that time you forget everything in your life, you just hear the sound of your machine and feel how lucky you are to be a rider! We were at Chitradurga by 03:30am and everyone pulled over for a short break. I and Saquib went ahead to look for a petrol pump which was open during that time. Eventually we found one on the right side of the highway and informed the others about the exact location of the pump. The dukers went ahead for refill, thanks to the short tank range, while the others decided to fuel up at Davangere.
Next stop, Davangere, another 60 Kms from Chitradurga. We made sure this was a short one because no one wanted to loose time during the night. We made sure the other riding group was able to ride with as well and there were no problems whatsoever on their side. As per the plan we were supposed to stop in Ranebennur, 40 kms from Davangere. However, some of us advised that why not skip this stop and make the next stop directly at Hubli, which is another 100 kms from Ranebennur because we are still not that much tired and there is still a lot of time until the sun rises. This idea was welcomed by everyone in the group and we started off from Davangere.
Few Kms past Ranebennur when we got a call from the other riding group that there has been a breakdown at their side, one of the steed is not able to start. We immediately pulled over to the left and Saquib went back for aid. In the meantime, i pulled out my camera to take some shots.
It was already 05:00 am and the sky was becomingbright slowly and we were only 200 Kms in the ride. We called up Saquib that webetter wait at the Kamat which was not far from the place we were at, and wewould wait for him there. Some pictures at the Kamat while we were waiting.
It was another hour until Saquib returned, reporting that the bike had a fuel pump issue and he was able to arrange a mechanic who is currently looking into the issue. We sighed a relief and had breakfast quickly. We had already lost considerable amount of time and it was time to make up for it. We started off from Kamat by 07:15 am, aiming to halt at Belgaum for a butt break. The highway transformed into a state highway few KMs from Hubli, but the beauty of the road was that you could see atleast 2-2.5 Kms ahead of you. I took the opportunity to click few pictures here though.
Krishwetha had already advised us to go ahead and he said that he would be joining directly at Belgaum. After Hubli, some of the steeds quenched their thirst and everyone except Kishwetha continued on the way towards Belgaum. The highway was again back to 6 lane and the sun was beating down with full power. Nonetheless, every one of us were able to maintain a reasonable speed of 100 all along and an hour into the ride passed by when we saw the Vidhan Soudha (sign of Belgaum approaching) on our right. Some of us were hydrated already, such was the heat and humidity. We had no option but to pull over to a shop with water and cold drinks, the need of the hour. People who were carrying hydration packs refilled and the others took refreshments. I, was however intruigued by the place where we parked and took a quick snap.
Did a check with both Krishwetha and Sunil, and got confirmation that both were on the way and not far from us, which was a good news. We got ready for the next leg of the ride. It was almost noon and we were getting hungry. Saquib knew a food place on the way, 60 Kms from Belgaum and we agreed to have lunch there. Once we reached the food plaza, Saquib and his brother Sauban decided to move further to Kolhapur and scout the route to Ratnagiri and have lunch at Kolhapur as well. Everyone was fine with the idea and we stayed back for some mouth watering lunch
Some pictures which we took at this place.
A hour of rest at the plaza and we got geared up to reach Kolhapur. We already informed Krishwetha and Sunil about our plan, got the information where exactly Saquib and Sauban were, and headed our way towards Kolhapur. We were able to see small small hills around us now and were crossing short ghats as well, things could not have been better after the tummy filling lunch
The heat was now less and the sky was dotted with clouds. Once we reached Kolhapur, we had no option but to go inside the city. We scouted for a place named Dusra Chowk inside the city where Saquib and Sauban were waiting for us. Enquired about that place to few people on the way and finally reached the place. In the meantime I was seeing the sky was dark and mother earth was preparing herself for a thundershower. By the time we reached Dusra Chowk, it already had started drizzling, so we pulled our bikes on the side of the road and we bunked at a safe place. It was the first rain of the year for most of us and it goes without saying that all of us were enjoying the rain drops, accompanied by the cool breeze. Wat a relief after the long and tiring ride in the morning! As usual, I was ready with my camera to get some shots of the situation we were in. The camera was shifting from one person to another and everyone was clicking some picture or the other. Here goes the pictures below.
Suddenly, completely drenched, arrived Sunil on his P200 NS . We were like, "You crazy lad!" and some hugs were exchanged with him. We appreciated the effort he made to ride solo this far and join us, just to take part in the G2G. He reported that he had met Krishwetha on the way, few Kms outside Kolhapur and he had a problem in his bike, which he was working on. We immediately called Krishwetha and got to know that there was electrical issue in his bike and his horn and boombox was not working, but he has managed to fix it. In the meantime, around 45 minutes later, rain started shooing away and people started gearing up once more. We explained the route to Krishwetha which we are going to take going further and slowly started off from Kolhapur, towards Ratnagiri. The route which we were going to take was as follows
With the road freshly washed out by rain, paddy fields on both sides and the Sun dude now not so rude, we were leaving Kolhapur now slowly. Gone were the highways, the ride was going to be on SH and we expected some ghats on the road as well. People wanted to fuel up well before that because there was no point of taking any risk on the ghats, and hence everyone stopped over for one last fuel stop before we reach our final destination, Velneshwar, 250 KMs far from Kolhapur.
It was slowly getting dark and the Sun was now dwindling down the horizon. We were crossing ghats, one after another, such magical moment it was! The road was pretty much good and some of us got tempted to do some cornering in the ghats and I got tempted to click some pictues
Couple of hours and we were in complete darknessand this is where our problem began. The ghats which we were travelling inenroute Navadi was in terrible state with some potholes at places. Ourspeed was literally down to 20 Kmph and we started losing considerable amout oftime. It was hard for everyone to stay together in this part of the route, withbig trucks blocking the way at times. It took roughly 40-45 minutes foreveryone to cross this ghat section and honestly speaking, many of us were tiredto the core! Frustrated, exhausted and angry, some of us decided to take somerest, no matter when we reach Velneshwar. In the meantime, we got another badnews. Krishwetha's headlight broke while crossing the ghats and he was strandedin the middle of nowhere. It was abecoming tough for us to locate him as well and there was limited network outthere. Saquib called upl Parimal from the Maharashtra group to inform about ourlocation and the situation, requested him to make sure that there is still somefood left because we would be late in reaching Velneshwar. Parimal howeverassured us that we need not need to worry about the food, everything is beingtaken care of
It was time to take a decision now as it was 7pm and we were still 130 Kms from Velneshwar and with Krishwetha stranded in the ghats it was going to be difficult for us to make it as a single group. Saquib called up Parimal again explaining the situation and how to go about it. Parimal assured again that we should try aiming for Chiplun first and once we reach there we should give a call to him so that he would arrange for a car which would escort us from a certain place to Velneshwar. The plan sounded perfect for us so we decided to split in two groups, one group, led by me, should reach Chiplun and the other group, led by Saquib, would stay back and wait for Krishwetha to arrive and would then start towards Chiplun.
So, I put up the route on GPS and our group headed towards Chiplun. Although the road was far better now, but the 76 Kms all the way seemed never ending for all of us. We concentrated on the road and kept on riding, until one more problem hit us. Nitin on his RE Desert Storm was stuggling uphill and he was loosing power. Did a quick check on the steed and everything seemed fine, no leakages. We hence kept riding close to each other for the rest of the road till Chiplun.
Once at Chiplun, we informed Parimal that one of the group has reached Chiplun and they can keep the car ready. Parimal informed us that he would be sending the car at Modka Agar Bus stop, which is a diversion towards Velneshwar, around 40 odd Kms from Chiplun. All set, we started waiting for the other group to arrive at Chiplun. In the meantime, Prakash got a call from Krishwetha that he was successful in reparing the headlight all by himself and he is now on his way to Chiplun and have asked the other group to leave. 40 minutes later, we saw the other group coming arriving. Everyone deserved a bit of rest until we start for our last leg. It was 10 pm in the night and we were already 22 hours into the ride. I could see people tired like hell, but I felt good that the excitement was not even down by 1%, everyone was eager to reach the destination and meet the fellow riders from other states
Few minutes later, we informed to Rachit (our fellow rider from Maharashtra) who would be coming in the car to recieve us, that we are leaving from Chiplun. The road was a narrow one, pitch dark and I was seeing a trail of lights following, in my RVM. Gosh! it was a feeling which no words can explain! it took us 30-40 minutes to reach the Modka Agar Bus stop, where a group of cops were waiting to welcome us. No, not with garland, but with a bunch of questions!
Someone, we expected this, no, not here but somewhere in big cities. Anyways, we kept the curious cops at bay with our polite answers. The cops seem bloody excited and impressed to see us coming all the way from Bangalore till here. They noted down the bike registration numbers and checked the DLs. In the meantime, Rachit arrived at the location on a Duster, ready to escort us to the resort.
Bidding goodbye to the cops, we started off to the resort. We were told before that the road was not in good shape from here and all thanks to our escort, he made sure that we do not overspeed or run into any trouble on the way to the resort.
Few minutes later, we finally arrived at the resort where our fellow Interstate riders were waiting for us with open arms. Each and every one of us heaved a sigh of relief the moment we entered the resort! Yes, we finally did it! Who says distance matters when it comes to sharing that bond, the bond of brotherhood!
We quickly sorted out the rooms, dumped our luggage on the bed, ran down to have dinner, did some gupsup with fellow riders and hit the bed. Tomorrow was surely going to be a fun filled day.
Next Up..The Group Ride.
Prologue
G2Gs are always fun to have. When you are bored with your personal and professional life, you urge to spread your wings and ride free. Back in February couple of riders from three different states (i.e. Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka) started thinking out of the box and chalked out a plan, a plan to have a 4 state meet, something which was never done before. The biggest challenge in front of the organisers was to fix a venue somewhere in Maharashtra as because there was a time crunch, especially because the event was to be scheduled in the month of April (before the monsoon starts). Polls were taken, everyone's view was put on the table and the venue was finalised to be Velneshwar. In the meantime, collection of funds began in oder to book a resort. Overwhelming was the response from all the riders and I could already sense an excitement in the air. One week to go for the mega event and everything was sorted out. Resort booked, ride route finalized, pre-rides been organized to do some practice runs. Below is the route which was finalized for the ride.
The participation from Bangalore xBhp was most in number and it was never easy for the group of 12 riders to ride down 850+ kms, and that too in a single day.
So, let me introduce you to the Bangalore xBhp riders:
Saquib - His steed is a blazing fast Yamaha R15 v2.0, the masterplan behind this spectacular event.
Sauban - He, like his brother rides another blazing fast Yamaha R15 v2.0. He is one who made the long rides lively and possible with this encouragement and filler jokes
Ashish - We call him the wanderer and he has chosen his mighty RE Classic 500 to conquer the road.
Nitin - He is Mr. Style Statement of our group, rides a might RE Desert Storm 500.
Krishwetha - A tourer by heart, he is ready to fight troubles at any given time. Hats off to you! He rides a devil in the form of Hero Hondo CD100.
Prakash - He was our official videographer for the ride, and I must say, a job well done
He rides a Bajaj Avenger 220Bharath - He is known as Mr. CK (Cornering King). It seems KTM thought about this guy when they manufactered the Duke 390. It is a sheer pleasure to watch this dude corner.
Sanjoy - He rides a KTM Duke 390, but a tourer by heart, rather he has been touring since ages! So vast is the experience in this person and we are thankful to share the experiences on both on-road and off the road.
Sunil - He rides a Pulsar 200 NS. Man! hats off to this person's endurance. Just give him a patch of turmac and he will nail it down! Love your riding bro
Shashank - His steed is a Hero Karizma ZMR. He is a new talent in the market
Learning things faster and implementing them when and where needed. A thumbs up to you. Tapabrata - He rides a mighty CBR 250R and does not know to stop once he hits the road
True signs of a tourer. Never ever he complained of the road, of the situation. A well focused rider I must say. lastly me, Suvrajit - I ride my puny Avenger 180.
The Ride
Anyways, the day was finally here and each and every one of us were excited. Since morning, calls were flying around to get the confirmation of the items each one is carrying and yes, some of us were in the office, wrapping off the work
. The meeting point was set to be the Neelamangala toll booth on the NH4 at 12:30 am sharp. However, things did not start on the right foot and by the time everyone gathered at the meeting point, it was already 01:00 am (thanks to last minute preparations). Still one of our riders, Sunil was not there and when called, he informed that he had come from office late and hence would be taking some rest and riding solo. He assured us though that he would be meeting us somewhere enroute. We were accompanied by another riding group from Bangalore who were enroute Goa and they would supposedly be following us till Hubli. Everyone was asked to finish off the tea and mini bakar sessions as it was already late for us to start and the group briefing was still pending. Prakash had brought a GoPro with him and he was busy setting it up.Saquib started with the group briefing, some important decisions were made at the last moment; especially the plan to have two separate groups was dropped, we decided to stick with only one group with an average speed of 90-95 kmph. Krishwetha was riding all the way with his CD100 and when asked, he was comfortable with the speed range. There were raised eyebrows everywhere seeing Krishwetha confident about the ride! Some were still not believing if the CD100 can make it all the way! It was 02:00 am in the morning and everything was set for the ride to be flagged off.
The Lead and the Tail for the group were decided quickly and started off with the ride in a staggered formation. The feeling, i must admit, was simply mindblowing! 12 machines, roaring in the dark highway, cutting traffic together, speeding past the peaceful houses was indeed a treat to watch. It was already advised that we would be taking break after every 180 kms (Chitradurga to be precise) as we were planning to cover most of the distance during the night time and that should both be a butt break and a fuel break (for the bikes with low tank range). All said and done, the ride was going superbly smooth, at that time you forget everything in your life, you just hear the sound of your machine and feel how lucky you are to be a rider! We were at Chitradurga by 03:30am and everyone pulled over for a short break. I and Saquib went ahead to look for a petrol pump which was open during that time. Eventually we found one on the right side of the highway and informed the others about the exact location of the pump. The dukers went ahead for refill, thanks to the short tank range, while the others decided to fuel up at Davangere.
Next stop, Davangere, another 60 Kms from Chitradurga. We made sure this was a short one because no one wanted to loose time during the night. We made sure the other riding group was able to ride with as well and there were no problems whatsoever on their side. As per the plan we were supposed to stop in Ranebennur, 40 kms from Davangere. However, some of us advised that why not skip this stop and make the next stop directly at Hubli, which is another 100 kms from Ranebennur because we are still not that much tired and there is still a lot of time until the sun rises. This idea was welcomed by everyone in the group and we started off from Davangere.
Few Kms past Ranebennur when we got a call from the other riding group that there has been a breakdown at their side, one of the steed is not able to start. We immediately pulled over to the left and Saquib went back for aid. In the meantime, i pulled out my camera to take some shots.
It was already 05:00 am and the sky was becomingbright slowly and we were only 200 Kms in the ride. We called up Saquib that webetter wait at the Kamat which was not far from the place we were at, and wewould wait for him there. Some pictures at the Kamat while we were waiting.
It was another hour until Saquib returned, reporting that the bike had a fuel pump issue and he was able to arrange a mechanic who is currently looking into the issue. We sighed a relief and had breakfast quickly. We had already lost considerable amount of time and it was time to make up for it. We started off from Kamat by 07:15 am, aiming to halt at Belgaum for a butt break. The highway transformed into a state highway few KMs from Hubli, but the beauty of the road was that you could see atleast 2-2.5 Kms ahead of you. I took the opportunity to click few pictures here though.
Krishwetha had already advised us to go ahead and he said that he would be joining directly at Belgaum. After Hubli, some of the steeds quenched their thirst and everyone except Kishwetha continued on the way towards Belgaum. The highway was again back to 6 lane and the sun was beating down with full power. Nonetheless, every one of us were able to maintain a reasonable speed of 100 all along and an hour into the ride passed by when we saw the Vidhan Soudha (sign of Belgaum approaching) on our right. Some of us were hydrated already, such was the heat and humidity. We had no option but to pull over to a shop with water and cold drinks, the need of the hour. People who were carrying hydration packs refilled and the others took refreshments. I, was however intruigued by the place where we parked and took a quick snap.
Did a check with both Krishwetha and Sunil, and got confirmation that both were on the way and not far from us, which was a good news. We got ready for the next leg of the ride. It was almost noon and we were getting hungry. Saquib knew a food place on the way, 60 Kms from Belgaum and we agreed to have lunch there. Once we reached the food plaza, Saquib and his brother Sauban decided to move further to Kolhapur and scout the route to Ratnagiri and have lunch at Kolhapur as well. Everyone was fine with the idea and we stayed back for some mouth watering lunch
Some pictures which we took at this place.A hour of rest at the plaza and we got geared up to reach Kolhapur. We already informed Krishwetha and Sunil about our plan, got the information where exactly Saquib and Sauban were, and headed our way towards Kolhapur. We were able to see small small hills around us now and were crossing short ghats as well, things could not have been better after the tummy filling lunch
The heat was now less and the sky was dotted with clouds. Once we reached Kolhapur, we had no option but to go inside the city. We scouted for a place named Dusra Chowk inside the city where Saquib and Sauban were waiting for us. Enquired about that place to few people on the way and finally reached the place. In the meantime I was seeing the sky was dark and mother earth was preparing herself for a thundershower. By the time we reached Dusra Chowk, it already had started drizzling, so we pulled our bikes on the side of the road and we bunked at a safe place. It was the first rain of the year for most of us and it goes without saying that all of us were enjoying the rain drops, accompanied by the cool breeze. Wat a relief after the long and tiring ride in the morning! As usual, I was ready with my camera to get some shots of the situation we were in. The camera was shifting from one person to another and everyone was clicking some picture or the other. Here goes the pictures below.Suddenly, completely drenched, arrived Sunil on his P200 NS . We were like, "You crazy lad!" and some hugs were exchanged with him. We appreciated the effort he made to ride solo this far and join us, just to take part in the G2G. He reported that he had met Krishwetha on the way, few Kms outside Kolhapur and he had a problem in his bike, which he was working on. We immediately called Krishwetha and got to know that there was electrical issue in his bike and his horn and boombox was not working, but he has managed to fix it. In the meantime, around 45 minutes later, rain started shooing away and people started gearing up once more. We explained the route to Krishwetha which we are going to take going further and slowly started off from Kolhapur, towards Ratnagiri. The route which we were going to take was as follows
With the road freshly washed out by rain, paddy fields on both sides and the Sun dude now not so rude, we were leaving Kolhapur now slowly. Gone were the highways, the ride was going to be on SH and we expected some ghats on the road as well. People wanted to fuel up well before that because there was no point of taking any risk on the ghats, and hence everyone stopped over for one last fuel stop before we reach our final destination, Velneshwar, 250 KMs far from Kolhapur.
It was slowly getting dark and the Sun was now dwindling down the horizon. We were crossing ghats, one after another, such magical moment it was! The road was pretty much good and some of us got tempted to do some cornering in the ghats
and I got tempted to click some pictues Couple of hours and we were in complete darknessand this is where our problem began. The ghats which we were travelling inenroute Navadi was in terrible state with some potholes at places. Ourspeed was literally down to 20 Kmph and we started losing considerable amout oftime. It was hard for everyone to stay together in this part of the route, withbig trucks blocking the way at times. It took roughly 40-45 minutes foreveryone to cross this ghat section and honestly speaking, many of us were tiredto the core! Frustrated, exhausted and angry, some of us decided to take somerest, no matter when we reach Velneshwar. In the meantime, we got another badnews. Krishwetha's headlight broke while crossing the ghats and he was strandedin the middle of nowhere. It was abecoming tough for us to locate him as well and there was limited network outthere. Saquib called upl Parimal from the Maharashtra group to inform about ourlocation and the situation, requested him to make sure that there is still somefood left because we would be late in reaching Velneshwar. Parimal howeverassured us that we need not need to worry about the food, everything is beingtaken care of
It was time to take a decision now as it was 7pm and we were still 130 Kms from Velneshwar and with Krishwetha stranded in the ghats it was going to be difficult for us to make it as a single group. Saquib called up Parimal again explaining the situation and how to go about it. Parimal assured again that we should try aiming for Chiplun first and once we reach there we should give a call to him so that he would arrange for a car which would escort us from a certain place to Velneshwar. The plan sounded perfect for us so we decided to split in two groups, one group, led by me, should reach Chiplun and the other group, led by Saquib, would stay back and wait for Krishwetha to arrive and would then start towards Chiplun.
So, I put up the route on GPS and our group headed towards Chiplun. Although the road was far better now, but the 76 Kms all the way seemed never ending for all of us. We concentrated on the road and kept on riding, until one more problem hit us. Nitin on his RE Desert Storm was stuggling uphill and he was loosing power. Did a quick check on the steed and everything seemed fine, no leakages. We hence kept riding close to each other for the rest of the road till Chiplun.
Once at Chiplun, we informed Parimal that one of the group has reached Chiplun and they can keep the car ready. Parimal informed us that he would be sending the car at Modka Agar Bus stop, which is a diversion towards Velneshwar, around 40 odd Kms from Chiplun. All set, we started waiting for the other group to arrive at Chiplun. In the meantime, Prakash got a call from Krishwetha that he was successful in reparing the headlight all by himself and he is now on his way to Chiplun and have asked the other group to leave. 40 minutes later, we saw the other group coming arriving. Everyone deserved a bit of rest until we start for our last leg. It was 10 pm in the night and we were already 22 hours into the ride. I could see people tired like hell, but I felt good that the excitement was not even down by 1%, everyone was eager to reach the destination and meet the fellow riders from other states
Few minutes later, we informed to Rachit (our fellow rider from Maharashtra) who would be coming in the car to recieve us, that we are leaving from Chiplun. The road was a narrow one, pitch dark and I was seeing a trail of lights following, in my RVM. Gosh! it was a feeling which no words can explain! it took us 30-40 minutes to reach the Modka Agar Bus stop, where a group of cops were waiting to welcome us. No, not with garland, but with a bunch of questions!
Someone, we expected this, no, not here but somewhere in big cities. Anyways, we kept the curious cops at bay with our polite answers. The cops seem bloody excited and impressed to see us coming all the way from Bangalore till here. They noted down the bike registration numbers and checked the DLs. In the meantime, Rachit arrived at the location on a Duster, ready to escort us to the resort.
Bidding goodbye to the cops, we started off to the resort. We were told before that the road was not in good shape from here and all thanks to our escort, he made sure that we do not overspeed or run into any trouble on the way to the resort.
Few minutes later, we finally arrived at the resort where our fellow Interstate riders were waiting for us with open arms. Each and every one of us heaved a sigh of relief the moment we entered the resort! Yes, we finally did it! Who says distance matters when it comes to sharing that bond, the bond of brotherhood!
We quickly sorted out the rooms, dumped our luggage on the bed, ran down to have dinner, did some gupsup with fellow riders and hit the bed. Tomorrow was surely going to be a fun filled day
.Next Up..The Group Ride.
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