Vivek's Travel Blog: April 2015

Prologue

It was Coorg ride where I heard about the term Endurance in the world of riding. Over lunch, Ashish bhai was telling his story about their Endurance ride, which they did last year if I remember correctly. We were listening to him like a bunch of small kids listening to the battle story of a great worrier! Respect bro, Respect! From that moment I was waiting for the next Endurance ride. And one fine day, I saw the post on IBRMC fb group :

*** REGISTRATIONS ARE CLOSED for the Overnight Ride to Dandeli***
Please stay tuned for any further updates regarding the ride.
Big Cheers, IBR BNG Admin Team

WHAT THE FUCKKKKK! This was the endurance ride! When were the registrations open?

Then I saw that for registrations the Admin posted last night at around 10:30 pm, I was asleep before that! (Yeah, I am early to bed early to rise guy!). And registrations were closed at 12:30 pm that day. I pinged Vinay bhai (the organiser of this ride, more about him later) and told him that I want to join. He took a brief interview of mine on Fb Messenger and then asked me to register and transfer the amount. I thanked him from the core of my heart and transferred the amount right away! So excited! Dandeli... WE are coming!! :-D

The Preparation!

After few days Vinay bhai posted the final plan of the ride. It was done after the planning meeting, which I couldn't attend because I was in Hyderabad. I read the docs created by Vinay bhai. It was perfect! It had every single details. What to bring, what to be checked in your bike, pit stops, route map, gears etc etc! Here's is a sample:

BIKE SERVICING
● Bike serviced and oil change done 1 week before the ride.
● Check headlights
● Check tyre damage (F/B)
● Check electrical wiring near tank
● Check oil leakage and fuel leakage
● Check tightening of chain
● Check accelerator and clutch cable for damage
● Check brakes (F/B)
● Check chain sprocket

I realised how passionate these brothers are!!! RESPECT BRO! RESPECT!!!
I never rode with any other Bullet Club apart from IBR, but I really doubt that any other Club has members who are as professional, passionate and amazing as IBRians! I can bet on that!

I got my bike checked by my mechanic and got the crash guard welded. It cracked a week ago.
I was prepared for the ride!

Day-1 : Bangalore to Dandeli

April 3rd, 2015. 2:56 am - my phone started ringing! I could make out that it's not the Alarm, someone is calling me! An unknown number. Who could be? Ohhh.. the wake up call!
I picked the phone. "Hi Vivek! This is Bharath from IBR. This is wake up call for Dandeli ride." I was like : "Aye Aye Sir!" I was up 4 min before my alarm suppose to ring. Awesome! I had to reach Marathahalli checkpoint at 3:45 am. I reached at 3:49 am and I was the last person to reach there. Damn they are so punctual!

We started toward the meeting point : Parle Factory. We reached on time - 4:30 am. We parked our bikes and waited for others to join. People started reaching and then there were lots of handshakes and hugs! The key gesture of brotherhood!

At around 4:50 am Vinay bhai told us the bad news. Pratima got hit by a lorry! WTF! The comforting news was that she's fine, just minor bruises. We all went to the site were it happened, just in front of a Police Station few kilometres ahead Parle Factory. Her Electra's tail light and indicators were gone, crash guard were screwed and the rear mud guard was bent and touching the tyre. After adjusting the crash guard and mud guard (Mohan bhai is the man!), it was ridable. That lorry driver was still in deep sleep. His eyes were red and not even half open! After some argument and teaching him a lesson, we were ready to start the journey. From there we started at around 6 am, already an hour late from the schedule.

It was not so hot at that time of the day. We were riding at 85-90 km/h. At around 8 am, Parag said that he is facing some problems in his bike. When we stopped for chai at Sira, some riders tried to figure out what was wrong with Parag's TB500. There were cracks on the Breather Pipe. Parag told that he was not able to ride at high speed because some problem in the engine. Vinay said this won't happen because of the Breather Pipe, as it just acts as a vent. Unable to figure out the problem, we applied insulation tape on the Breather Pipe and started again.

We reached Chitradurga at around 10:30 am. It was the breakfast point. Soon we came to know that Parag's bike broke in the middle and they are towing it to Chitradurga. Around 12 people where in Chitradugra and rest of them were with Parag. We started searching a mechanic in Chitradurga. As it was a muslim majority city, most of the shops were closed because it was Friday. Still we were able to find a mechanic who agreed to see the bike, the owner of DP Bike. When Parag arrived, some of us joined him to find the mechanic. Wondering in a small city having no clue where the hell we are going, and that too on such a hot day, it was a chaos! We were not able to find the DP Bike service centre in half an hour! Saurabh told that there is an RE Authorized Service Centre in Dhavangere, 60 km ahead Chitradurga. He suggested that we shouldn't waste our time in finding this guy, as we don't even know whether he has spares or not. We all agreed!

Parag on his bike, which itself is on a truck!

Parag, Saurabh and me got separated from the rest of the group and we started toward Dhavangere. Plan was to give Parag's bike to service centre, so that they will fix it by sunday, and join the rest of the group at Lunch Point. I initially though that the truck will be slow and it will be boring to ride slowly with it. I gave him a head start of 2 minutes, and to my surprise, this truck was out of my sight! I rode at the speed of 110 km/h for next 10 min to catch up with the truck! He was driving in 100-110 speed, difficult to keep up with my 350 cc machine.

We reached Dhavangere in half an hour. It took some time to find the RE Service Centre in the city. We gave them the bike and explained the issue. Sunday was off for them but that guy agreed to give us the bike on Sunday. Then we came back 9 km to get to the highway again. Soon our speedometers were touching 3 digit figures. We were ripping! We were able to catch the guys at the Kamat hotel, the lunch point. We had lunch and all started together for Dandeli at around 3:30 pm. We were riding for more than 12 hours and we were very tired by that time. If there were no breakdowns, we would've reached Dandeli by now!

Harsh Bhai and Subhit Bhai

For next 80 km, the road was awesome, NH4! After that we have to leave NH4 and take another road. It was just 2 lane road, which limited our speed to 70 km/h.

When the sun was going down, we were riding on the village roads. Curvy roads. Small. Lakes with lotus floating all over. Green fields. Kids playing in the fields. Farmer coming back home with a bunch of firewood on his head. Ladies bringing water in pots. Sky turning red. We constantly moving at a speed of 60 km/h, the ideal speed on bullet! I checked the watch, it was 6:15 pm of Friday evening! Ohhh Friday! I skipped today's office and came to this place. I would have been sitting at a chair with my hand on keyboards and eyes on a 17 inch screen, writing up some code to fix the failing refund functionality of an e-commerce website. But instead of all that, I was here, in an Indian village watching sunset while riding under orange sky! My hands were on the handle bars, controlling my momentum. My eyes were seeing roads, lakes, people, fields, and the beautiful sunset. I was appreciating that moment, IBR, and myself for this ride!

It was dark after some time. All of us were very tired and this resort was still 50 km away. We took very short breaks and continued riding. By the time we reached Hornbill Resort and parked our vehicles, it was 8:30 pm. Vinay bhai and Dilip sir went to the reception to check our accommodation and other stuff. But this day was not doing to end so easily!

We came to know that the lady, so called travel agent, who booked this place for us, has played this not so funny game! They were giving us tents, which we knew already. But we expected good and clean washrooms! There was only one washroom which has to be shared but all 21 of us for all sorts of things! And for that we have to pay Rs. 1600 per head per night! What the Fuck! After wasting 45 min in arguing with the management, we decided that we have to find some other place for the night!

In no time, everyone started calling their contacts to find some place for the night. It was already 9:30 pm. We got 2 options, 1 was Kali resort and other was an old banglow! Discussion continued! Suddenly it striked to me that my office collegue Nikhil came to Dandeli recently and stayed at a pretty good place, and it was cheap as well. I called him and explained our situation. He gave me the contact of Gobral Tiger Camp Homestay! I called him and asked for details. He had a dorm which can accommodate 12-15 persons, several tents and washrooms! He agreed to prepare a simple dinner for us as well. I told the same to others and all agreed to checkout this place!

Hornbill resort was around 23 km from Dandeli. The other options we had were in Dandeli. But Gobral homestay was 15 km away from Hornbill, en-route Dandeli. It was a wise decision to check it first. And if it doesn't suites us, we can go to Dandeli.

Vinay asked me to lead the group as I was aware of the route after talking to Sunny (Gobral's owner). It was very dark! And we need to ride through the jungle on the ghat roads. I was hardly able to see 1 or 2 headlights in my rear view mirror. We took right turn from Ganeshgudi. Then we rode for 9 more kms to reach Kachi checkpost. Ravi (Sunny's brother) was waiting there for us to escort us to the homestay. Vinay, Dilip sir, Pratima and me went to check the place. It was 2 km away from the main road so we asked the rest of us to stay there for our green flag.

We actually liked this place! As promised, he gave us a dorm with 2 attached washrooms and tents with common toilets. There was ample space for our bikes. There were tables and chairs where we could sit and enjoy our drinks! We called up the other guys and they arrived in no time.

All the ladies got settled in the dorm and the guys took the tents. It was almost 11 pm in the night! We were so happy that finally this day was over! Almost 21 hours on roads! A true endurance!

Some had dinner, and the rest had a much needed drink! We spent some time chatting, having food and drinks, and then we went to sleep. Ahhh.. finally we got a place to crash. I slept like a baby.. all of us I believe!

Day-2 : At Dandeli

At Dandeli

I woke up at 8 in the morning. Surprisingly, all were up already! At breakfast we decided to stay in Dandeli and visit the places nearby. Me and some others suggested to go to Gokarna and leave for Bangalore the next day. But we were in minority! Our slot for River rafting was cancelled as it was booked through Hornbill. I was so angry on Hornbill for that!

But Vinay bhai planned the whole day for us! After breakfast we went to the Syntheri Rocks! You can find about it by Google. We came back to have lunch. At 4 pm 11 of us went for some adventures! Rest wanted to just chill out at the home stay.

We did Kayaking, swimming, boating and natural jacuzzi! It was amazing! A must do when you are visiting Dandeli. The day was full of fun! Riding on the ghat roads in pajamas and t-shirts without the gears, swimming in a very clean river! Wowwww!

Tairaaki

We reached the homestay at around 7:30 pm.
The rest of the evening was mostly drinks, food and discussion on several topics. People were sitting in small groups here and there. Me, Vinay bhai, Chaitra, Saurabh bhai and Subhit bhai were sitting in front of a hut. After some time Harsh bhai also joined us. We were discussing IBR and other riding stuff. Harsh bhai told a story about a rider called Daddu who died while doing Saddle Sore near Pune. I reallized that there is a whole different world of riders which is hidden from the rest of the world. It is a world of brotherhood, passion, adventure, friends and families. I felt so lucky being a part of it.

Day-3 : Dandeli to Bangalore

It was the day to go back home! Plan was to leave the homestay at 6 am. But for me, Parag and Saurabh, it was 5 am, as we have to take Parag bike on the way. It was difficult to get up at 4 am, but as a responsibility was given to us, we had to! Our machines were on the roads at 4:55 am, I salute our punctuality!

We were riding in dark through the jungle and villages. It was thrilling as well as little scary. I remember that for initial half an hour we didn't see any human. Then suddenly we saw some kids working out on the middle of the road. They came out of nowhere. If I am right, the nearest village from that place was 3-4 km away. Then suddenly a group of 12-15 kids was sitting on the road, in darkness. I saw them from just 10 meters distance. There eyes were staring us and it was shining because of the headlights. My heart skipped a beat! We were at the speed of 70 km/h, it was dangerous!

Soon we could see the sun coming up! The range of our eyes increased from few meters to several kilometres. Villages, people, livestocks, stray dogs etc etc! We ramped up our speed to 90s and 100s. By 9:15 we were in front of Parag's bike. The mechanic was already there waiting for us. Parag took a test ride and gave us a thumbs up! The problem was Fuel Injector. He replaced it, and the Breather Pipe as well. We dropped the mechanic to his village, thanked him and came back to the highway. We took an update from Vinay about their position. He asked us to find a good hotel for lunch and wait for them. We found Apoorva Resort and decided to wait there. It is 8 to 10 km away from Dhavangere towards Chitradurga. Map

We reached Apoorva at around 10 am. We were expecting that the others will reach by 11:30 am. But we were not going to have an easy day! There was an accident, between two bikes of our own group! Violet was driving her car followed by Harsh bhai and then Subhit bhai. All of a sudden, a puppy came in front of the car. Harsh saw it and applied the brakes on time. Unfortunately Subhit didn't see that coming and he was not able to stop the bike on time and hit Harsh's bike. It was difficult to balance and he went off road. Fortunately, there was no pit or thrones or fence on the road side. It came with a cost of some bruises, Subhit's bike's headlights and clamps of LED lights, and Harsh' bike's tail-light and indicators. And they arrived at 1:15 am at the resort.

For 3 hours, me Parag and Saurabh were chilling out the resort. We were sitting on grass under the trees, listening to music and chatting about several topics! We were recharged and ready to hit the roads again.

Anurag's wife Seema had a bad day. She fell sick and it was difficult for her to travel in those conditions. Violet, Seema and Anurag took a head start after lunch to reach Bangalore asap. Later I came to know that they reached Nice Road junction by 5:30 pm! It means around 270 km in about 3 hours!!

We started at around 2:30 pm from the resort. We took couple of pit stops. At one of them Harsh bhai said to me, "Ek ache rider ki pehchan use dekh k hi ho jaati hai". It was for me! :-) I don't know how he got that impression of mine, but it made me happy. You made my day Harsh bhai! :-)

It was getting dark. The traffic increased. We got separated and we were riding in small groups of 4 to 5. I guess everyone was feeling little low that in few hours this ride will be over and we all will take our own ways. I feel like that at the end of every ride.

We reached the Nice Road junction at around 7:30 pm. We bid goodbye to each other and dispersed to our respective destinations. I went to meet my bro who came to Bangalore the previous day. We talked for an hour and then I went to my flat. I reached at 10 pm.

The ride was over! Everything is just memories now. Breakdowns, accidents, jokes, laughs, fun, ride, talks, all are past! All are memories now . . .