Conquer Dandeli - The Endurance Ride with IBRMC

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 . . .

The Amazing People

The Captain! Vinay Bhai

The Best Sweeps! Subhit bhai (left) and Harsh Bhai

The Cute and Adventurous Couple - Seema and Anurag

Mrs. Dilip and Anushi (Parag's Wife)

Mohan Bhai

The Amazing Photographer -  Bharth Bhai

Chaitra - The Photographer, Yoga Master and Full of Fun Girl

Pratima - The Lorry Victim :-P

The Young and Dashing Dilip Sir! :-)

Parag, Saurabh and Me having lunch on Day-1

On a bridge at Dandeli

From left - Vinay, Harsh, Firdouse, Ravi, Bharth and Dilip

Some More Photographs of the Ride

Photo Credits: Bharth Bhai, Vinay bhai, Chaitra, Pratima, and some more :-)

The City Ride! - Road Trip to Belum Caves, Gandikota and Hampi from Hyderabad

Highlights:

Total Distance: 1090 km

Route: Hyderbad - Karnool - Belum Caves - Gandikota - Guntakal - Bellari - Hampi - Raichur - Hyderabad

Days: 4

Persons: 4 (My parents, my brother and me)

Vehicle: Honda City, Petrol - 2014 model

Dates: 25th March to 28th March 2014 - 4 days

Day - 1
Distance: 409 km
Route: Hyderabad - Kurnool - Oravakallu Rock Gardens - Belum Caves - Gandikota

We woke up at around 5 am and started getting ready for the road trip. This was the first time when we were going on a road trip on our car. My elder brother bought Honda City in November last year. It was the first car in the family. He road from Pune to Hyderabad as he as had a 3 weeks leave. We started at 6:30 am from our home.

By 7 am we were at ORR. Soon we reached Thimapur which is around 40 km. We have a land in Thimapur. We visited our land as it was on the way. Till Karnoor the road is awesome, as it is NH-7. I remembered my solo ride from Hyderabad to Bangalore around 6 months ago. Car is much faster and comfortable than bikes, indeed!

Shanti Kunj - A Perfect Team Outing

It has been 7 months since I joined UXC India aka White Labelled. A small company taken over by Australian giant UXC Oxygen. Still it's Bangalore office has only 45 people. There were talks about team outing from past 4-5 months, and it happened last weekend, 13th-14th March. I postponed my leaves for a week to attend it. Going to a nice resort for night stay, that too on company's expenses, who would miss that! ;-)

The plan was to start early and reach the Shanti Kunj Resort by 12 pm. The bus was suppose to reach at 4:45 am at Marathahalli. But, as I expected, it reached at 5:45 am. We were around 20 people when we boarded the bus. Soon we picked up rest of the people and we hit the NH-48 at around 7:30 am. I was familiar with this highway as I rode on it from Bangalore to Mangalore in last December. Straight 4 lane road with very less traffic. We played dumb charades on the way, it was fun!

We reach at 1 pm. Got freshen up, went for lunch, okayish! Then we were asked to hop on a pickup truck to go to the river bank for a swim. We were excited when we climbed up on the truck. But soon this excitement turned into fear! This fucking truck's carrier was shaking the whole way, as if it will detach from the main body. All were standing on the carrier. They took us in the mountains through a rocky road. Even with one flat tyre, this truck was able to reach destination. Some were shouting "duck! duck! duck!" when a low branch of a tree was approaching. Ajit was shouting "Bolo kya karengeee..." in every 2 minutes. Which in no time became pain in the ass and he got a logical response from Gaurav "Sala niche dhakel denge tumko" (I will throw you out of the truck).

After that horrifying ride, we reached the river bank. We played some team activities there. I will skip the details as it may bore you down to death. I'm not saying that the activity was boring, it was fun! [Have to be diplomatic sometimes ;-)]. Then we went for a swim. It was relaxing! With the life jackets, we floated here and there, enjoyed the sound of river. No one was willing to come out. But we had to! I wasn't wearing my spectacles, so one off my senses was of no use at that time. All I could do, was to listen to a voice which was commanding us to come out of the water. I remembered watching Mahabharata/Ramayana when I was a kid. In one of the episode there was a voice coming from the sky, threatening the people of the earth. On your TV screen you will see only clouds and thunders. Soon after the announcement, the innocent people on earth start running in all directions, to save their lives! I though if we don't listen to this voice, we might also face the same fate! That's how we came out of the river. We took the terrifying truck ride back to the resort.

Already exhausted by the swim, we came back to resort for the next thing, The Rain Dance. In the middle of Coffee plantation, there was this dance floor, big enough to accommodate 100 people at a time. Soon the artificial rain started. They mounted 3 big hoses which were used to sprinkle water in the farm as well as for the rain dance. Almost everyone came to the dance floor. Dudes took off their shirts. No one was worried about "what people will say about my belly". You rarely see that "I just don't give a fuck" attitude! Ajit, gaon ka chora, was unstoppable! I wish Sunny Leone was there to see him dance. She would've gone crazy! And Vijay was out of the world. I would say, people will happily empty their pockets to watch him dance! I brought my sports came and shot some videos. It was fun! We danced for at least 2 hours.

After spending almost 3-4 hours in water and doing so much physical work, our "not used to these kinda stuff" body was craving for a drink. After freshening up, we went to the Camp Fire. It was around 8 pm. People were quite, calm and relaxed. The voice - "Why are you guys so quite?" No one knew at that time, but it was the silence before the storm!

The waiters started serving beer and whisky. The "quite" crowd was now turned into "abhi to party shuru hui hai" crowd. Alcohol started doing it's job! People asked me for playing guitar. I was also waiting for it! We sang many hindi songs, Give me some sunshine, Papa kehte hain, Paani da rang, Mera mann, Tera hone laga hoon, and many more. I was lost in playing guitar and singing with the buddies around me. After some time I observed that there are not much people left. Only 10-12 guys. I checked the time, 9:45 pm, ahhh.. we still have lot of time.

Then we heard the most depressing 2 words of the world, "Daaru Khatam!" (booze is over). But it was followed by some more words, "only Vodka is left". As no choice was left, some started drinking Vodka. In no time, we all were involved in a team building activity. It's called "Take Him To His Bed". No one had any idea that in next 2 hours we were about to witness so many things that we will remember for a long time. Yeah, it took 2 hours for 8 dudes to take 1 guy back to his bed. We can explain if you are not convinced. :-)

After the non-official team building activity, we had dinner and went back to our rooms to get some sleep.

Next morning I woke up at around 7:30 am. I came out of the room at around 8 after freshening up. I saw Nikhil and others, they asked me if I want to join them for the trek. I took my cam and joined them. It was a good 2 hours trek. Initially we went into the mountains along with a small stream. After an hour or so, we reached the river bank and then we followed the river back to the resort. I shot some selfie videos. We also found a snake near the river. Exactly at the same spot  where we were swimming the previous day.

By the time we reached resort, it was already 10:15 am. I was thirsty and hungry. We had breakfast and then we had to checkout from the resort. There was some time so I played couple of songs on guitar.

We boarded the bus and started at around 12 pm. On the way back, there were lot of things to talk! Specially about the late night team building activity. We shared our experienced and laughed our asses off! We entered Bangalore at around 7:30 pm and reached Marathahalli at 9 pm, perfecto! When Goutham and I were walking back to our flat, Goutham said, "It feels like we are coming back after 4-5 days. We have seen a lot of things in last two days". I nodded with a smile. :-)

Into the "God's Own Country" - Solo bike ride to Kerela

Highlights:
Started at 6:30 am on 20th Dec and came back at 3:30 pm on 27th Dec 2014- 8 days!
Route: Bangalore - Mangalore - Bekal Fort - Kozhikode - Kochi - Valparai - Munnar - Bangalore
Total Distance : 1963 km (Odometer reading : 9638 - 7675)

How did it happen?
This is the answer to the questions people asked me in past few days... WHY? Why riding alone? Don't you have friends? Don't have a girlfriend? Why don't you get married? Blah blah blah...

So this is how it happened...

I took a week off from work as my parents were planning to come to Bangalore for vacation. We planned go to Kerela or Hampi. But because of some important work (seriously, my dad is serving in Indian Air Force, and things get serious sometimes) they have to cancel it!
So, I had 9 days with me, and nothing to do. None of my friend were free at that time. One day, it just clicked in my mind that "why not to go somewhere alone!". I always wanted to do it, but never got an opportunity. Let's do it!

I started planning about the trip. Route, stuff I need to buy, accommodation, "expenses" etc. I thought Kerela would be the best, as I love places close to natural, and I have ample time. I decided to explore the coastal region of Kerala, starting from Mangalore till Kanyalumari and then back. (I didn't took that route btw. Will tell you why!)

I bought following stuff before starting the ride:

1. Quechua T2 Tent. Rs 1699. I thought it will be useful in case I get an opportunity to pitch it on a beach. But after talking to Roban (more about him later) I dropped it. He said that in Kerela you are not allowed to pitch a tent on any beach, so it's useless. But I always wanted to buy one. Will use it someday...soon! :)
2. SJ4000 Sports Camera. Rs. 8000. It is like GoPro.
3. Mi Power Bank. Rs.999. It was not delivered on time :( So borrowed a Power Bank from Nilay, which is complex gadget. I still don't know how to operate that piece of shit!
4. Smart Phone Holder Rs. 300 from Amazon. It is used to mount your phone in handle, so that you can use navigation easily.
5. Bungee Cords. Rs. 350 from Decathlon. For mounting laptop bag on pillion seat.

So, I spent around 11k for this trip, before even kicking off. But the good thing was that I already had a lot of stuff like sleeping bag, saddle bag etc. And these stuff are like one time investment.

Just in case you are interested, following were the things I carried to the trip. And you should also carry them if you are travelling alone.

1. Laptop (to store photos and videos) 
2. Smartphones -2
3. Power bank
4. Sports Camera
5. Sleeping bag
6. Saddle bag
7. Bungee cords

Enough of boring details... let me tell you about the ride now :-D

I would like to breakdown my trip into 5 chapters. Here are they:
Chapter-1 : Reaching Kerela
Chapter-2 : The Coastal Kerela
Chapter-3 : Fort Kochi
Chapter-4 : The God's Own Country
Chapter-5 : Back to Bangalore

Chapter-1 : Reaching Kerela
Day-1
From Bangalore to Mangalore
Started at: 6:30 am, reached at: 4:00 pm

The scheduled alarm tried to wake me up at 4:30 am. I usually don't wake up at once. But today was different. There was a smile on my face crying out loud, "this is it!". I packed the remaining stuff and mounted everything on my thumper. At 6:30 am I started my machine. Jasveen and Vibhor joined me. They planned to ride 60-70 km with me to bid goodbye to me. It made me happy! After riding for an hour or so, we stopped for tea. We were already at NH-75. After tea they head back and I resumed my journey.
The road is awesome for first 200 km. It is mostly 4 or 6 lane road with divider. One can ride at 100 - 110 kmph easily. After 200 km, the road enters Western Ghats. It becomes 2 lane road with no divider. There were many trucks carrying oil tankers. They make the road risky for riding. But forest and cool breeze makes you feel better. After riding around 150 km on ghat roads, I was out of western ghats. I could feel the humidity in air as I was coming nearer the Arabian Sea.
I reached Mangalore at around 4 pm. As soon as I entered in the city, I started asking auto-rickshow guys about  where can I find lodge at cheap rate. I wandered for 30-40 min, saw couple of places but none suited my needs. Then finally a autowala bhaiya saw my misery and escorted me to Ganesh Lodge, which is cheap, has parking space and it is in the middle of the city. I thanked that guy, took the room and dumped all my stuff in the room. It was 5 o'clock. I took a shower and started to go to Panambur Beach, supposedly the best beach in Mangalore, as stated by Mangalorians. I was in a hurry to catch sunset. I don't know why I like watching sunrise/sunset so much! After struggling for the way to beach for almost half an hour, I finally reached the beach. It was very crowded, but still the sunset was beautiful. I walked on the shore past sunset. The distant ships' lights twinkle at the horizon. They of different colors, red, blue, green etc. It looked amazing. After spending some time at the beach, I went back to the room. It was around 8 pm and I still had some stamina left to walk around the city. I was tired and needed a drink. So I searched for a good place nearby in Zomato. I found Liquid Lounge, which was at a walk-able distance. Loud Rock music, good crowd, many hot girls! But that place was small and over crowded. I had an Old Monk large, listened the music for a while, starred at some girls and came back to my room. I was very tired and little rum in the belly made me sleep like a log. But one thing was going in my mind, I'm gonna be in Kerela tomorrow!

Day-2
Mangalore - Kappil Beach - Bekal Fort -
I was up early and started early that day. I checked out from the hotel at aroun 6:15am and started riding at 6:30 am approx. The plan was to head south on the coastal road, and reach Kozhikode by night.
At around 8am, I entered Kerela. I felt amazing at that time. I said to myself... "and the journey begins...".

Chapter-2 : The Costal Kerela
Still Day-2
"Kerela, I am in Kerela, this is happening, I am riding on Kerela road", my head was flooded with these thoughts. I was happy. There was a smile not visible to anyone inside that helmet. I was lost in myself and the roads. For a while I didn't even noticed the view. After sometime I realised that the surrounding is more greener than before. I could see people in lungi. After riding for 40-45 min I saw CCD. I am not a regular CCD goer but at that time... "mann kar gaya". I stopped by and had some coffee. I liked the cloudy weather and I hoped for the same for rest of the day.
I resumed my journey after coffee. After an hour or so, I saw a sign board saying "Kappil Beach". This was the 1st beach I encountered after entering Kerala. I took the road which was going to take me to Kappil Beach. There were many bungalows on the road. Some of them were awesome and they were looking like beach house were people come during vacations. I wished I have a beach house like that in future.
After hardly 2 km, I reached the beach. I was awesome! No one at all...literally no one. Only me, my bike, the beach and Arabian Sea. The look of the beach was like the music video of Coldplay's "Yellow". I sat at the beach for some time. I enjoyed being alone there. The mischievous part of my brain told me to shoot some videos at the beach with my new sports camera. I tried doing some crazy stuff....may be I will post that video sometime :-)
I started from there at around 11 am. My next destination was Bekal Fort. On the way to Bekal Fort, I saw a ground where a football match was going on. The players were in Jerseys of there clubs. It looked like a well organized setup! I was curious about it so I parked my bike and went to the audience. It was a tournament  between the local football clubs! All the clubs has their own jerseys.  The field was prepared well for the match. They even had referries! We have people who play something other than cricket! It was nice to see that! They asked some common questions about my ride. I politely answered them and started my journey again.

Bekal fort was just 10 min away. As there was not paid parking, I went to Nirvana resort just next to the Fort. One old guy and one young were talking near the gate. I told that I will park my vehicle inside, visit the fort and then come back for a cup of tea. They were friendly and agreed. The old guy was a lively person. He asked me about my trip and was happy to know about it. He was the one who asked me - "why don't you get married?" I laughed and said that next time I will come with my wife.

I took my camera and other expensive stuff and went to the fort. It was very different from the forts I have seen in the past. But one thing was common, a temple! You will find it the moment you will enter in the fort. There were no palace or big halls where king used to live. This fort was build for the army to be deployed there. Because of sea view, it was easy to attack the enemies ships from the fort, without even going into the sea. I roamed around the fort and clicked couple of pics. The view of the beach and sea was amazing for the top of the fort. I met some school kids who were very excited to see me. They saw me on my bike and recognized me at the fort. They all were speaking english, good enough. Another difference from other states.. literacy rate!

One hour is more than enough to visit Bekal fort. Specially on a hot day! I think that it will be good place to chill out in evening. But surely not at the time when your shadow is shortest. I was back to Nirvana Resort at 12 noon. Ordered a cup of tea and enjoyed it. Talked with the old guy for some more time and then I started again.

Next destination - "Muzhuppilangad Drive-in Beach" that's a fucking crazy name! I asked Roban bhai at least a dozen times to repeat the name. That's to Google that even it you just type "Drive-in beach" it pops up this one. I was very excited about this beach from the beginning of my trip. All credit goes to Roban bhai. He told me about this beach and some interesting fact about it, like it's the longest drive-in beach in Asia! I reached there at around 4:30 pm. "Woooowwwww" - the moment I entered the beach! It's almost 5-6 km long beach which is in banana shape when you will see from one side. You enter near to the right end of the beach, so I took left and drove till the end. There were some rocks around 3-4 km from and I thought that it's the last point. But when I reached there the, it was just a mid point! There was more place to drive. When you will go further, you will find a backwater merging to the ocean. And on the other side, there is again a continuation of the beach.

I mounted my Sports Camera and started shooting videos.. I went from on corner to the other while taking videos. Some waved hands, some smiled and some gave me weird looks. It was fun! I decided to stay there till sunset. 2 friends come to me and started chating with me.. And one of them asked me the most hillarious question - "Aapko government paisa deti hai kya ghoomne ke liye?" (Do you get money from Government for these ride?) I couldn't stop laughing. One of them was engineer grad just came out of college, and the other one was not even in a college, a 12th passout.

As I was chilling out at the beach, I observed people around me. I saw a group of 4 dudes walking on the beach. I started looking at their look from top to bottom. Nice hair style, short hair but sharp one. Clean shaved with sharp moushtash, shades, praty shirts, and then "lungi". Google it if you don't know what it is. I was that everyone was wearing lungis. Only a few were not and I think they were tourists, not localits. Then I saw a car stuck in the sand. These adventurous guys took there cars closer to the sea and stopped there for clicks. The waves cut down the sand below the tires and the car got stuck. Soon there were some dudes who came for help. It was there busniess - to take out cars stuck on the beach. After negotiating about the chargesm the started the work. They placed a big rock below the tyres, by lifing the car. They had a good techinque. The car was out within 5 min. It must be a ususal event on that beach, i thought.

After sunset, I started the Blacmonk and coutinued my journey. I wanted to reach Kozhikode by night.


Expenses:
Petrol:
Day 0 : Bangalore : 1200
Day 2 : Mangalore: 600
Day 3 : Mahe: 650
500 by reward Points ...i guess in Kochi
Day 7 : Munnar : 500
Day 8 : 600 + 300 = 900
total : 4350

Accomodation
Mangalore : 325
Kozhikode: 300
Kochi : 900 (2 days)
Arthapally waterfalls : 500
Munnar : 300 (2 days)
Total : 2325

Food: 3 to 4k

Total : Around 11k

Kudremukh Trek with Get Beyond Limits!

Bangalore's Calling : One day bike ride from Hyderabad to Bangalore

A Rush Of Blood To The Head

What is the best way to take your bike from one city to another? Simple.. ride it! And that's what I did! I got relocated to Bangalore from Hyderabad. On 5th Oct 2014, I did this 650 km solo ride on NH-7. It was amazing to see Hyderabad getting smaller through my rear view mirrors. And the excitement of opportunities to explore new places from Bangalore was all rushing in my head. What I understood from this ride is you can do anything if you are little crazy and stubborn.

My Mom and My Ride

I woke up early that day. Most of my stuff was already packed. My mom woke up even before me to cook breakfast and lunch for me. Ohhh... lovely moms! They are the most beautiful people in this world! I mounted my saddle bag and took blessings from my mom. I could see love and fear flowing out at the same time from her eyes. She was worried! I know that she will pray for the rest of the day for my safe ride.

I started at around 6:50 am. Within half an hour I reached Gachibowli, the outskirts of Cyberabad. I could see my previous employer, Accenture's office from there. I stopped for a while to have a last look. Lots of memories! A lady who was on a morning walk saw me and asked, "Are you one of those who go from place to place on bikes?". I nodded with a smile. Then there were some more questions which I answered nicely. She wished me good luck. Yeah, I need that today!

Reached outskirts of Hyderabad

NH7 : 6 lane road with proper dividers, as smooth as a baby's butt! (Of course for vehicles, not humans!). 100 km/h looked like 40 km/h. Speed is so relative! But I have to say, this stretch of NH7 is too damn boring. There is nothing much to see. I was getting sleepy again and again. I have to take small breaks in every 50 km or so.

The day became very hot after 10 am. There wasn't any tree on the road sides to sit and relax. Bus stops were the only options. While I was relaxing at of them, I saw two cops on the other side of road. Suddenly one of them crossed the road and started approaching towards me. I thought he would ask me papers. But he came just because he was curious. The day was very hot and there were no one else around. He sat besides me and started talking to me. It was like 'question n answer' round. He asked me why you ride so long and all other usual questions which comes in normal peoples mind

when they see someone like me. I patiently answered all of them. Then I asked, what the hell they were doing on such a hot day. He told that they were deployed to check trucks. In 30 min, they didn't stopped a single one! Soon the other one joined us and two of their friends, also cops, came and started listening to our conversation. I thought that I should leave now. I kick stared my bull and waved at them. I could see the look on their face, " bye bye you crazy lad!"

I had lunch at one of the bus stop. I called my mom, she was even more worried! She asked me to drive save and slow. I have to keep that in mind, I reiterated.

At around 2:30 pm, I reached Anantapur, still 200 km away from Bangalore. It started raining and I thanked God for it! My shirt was soaked in sweat. The rain and cool breeze was like a gift. I stopped for tea and again started my journey.

I reached Bangalore Airport at around 6 pm. My flat was still 35 km away and I didn't know the route. My phone was dead so I have to depend on people. At one point I took a wrong turn and because of that I wasted around 20 min. Still I reached at 7:10 pm. The ride was over. I called my mom. She congratulated me and asked me to rest. My friends were happy to see me and my Royal Enfield. The Blacmock is here to roar on Bangalore roads!

Cheers!

Some important info:

Road Condition -  Excellent

Time taken - 11 to 12 hours

Suggestion -  If you are riding on this road (specially alone) then keep lots of water with glucose/gatorade. Keep energy bars and chocolates. You won't get any shop for many kilometres. There are very less tea stalls, dhabas and mechanic shops on this road. Be prepared for punctures (take hand pump) or any other breakdown (keep spares with you).

Some more photos of that day

Starting my journey

Crossing Krishna River

Roof of one of the Bus Stop

Relaxing at Bus Stop

Rain in Anantpur

200 km away from Bangalore

With Vibhor. Reached Viceroy Boulevard.

Odometer after reaching Bangalore