Motorcycle Diaries - Part 1 of not too many

Dear Diary,

So finally some of us went ahead and did it. Had been planning to go on a road trip since forever but something or the other usually came up. This time we didn't leave any room for that to happen. Here is a list of the suspects:

Me: Always up for an outing
Rochak: Friend/Roommate/Experienced biker
Kapil: Flatmate/Super-Enthu Biker/Tour Planner/Guide
Mohit: Teammate/Always up for an outing
Sathya: Teammate/Photographer a.k.a. Sattu

And here are their loyal steeds:


From left to right:
Rochak's black Bajaj Pulsar 150 DTS-i, a few years old but still upto the task.
Mohit's magnificent Royal Enfield Thunderbird, the beast was acquired a few months ago.
Kapil's red Bajaj Pulsar 180 DTS-i, a month old and being put to the test.
(You can also see me in the background.)

The day began with being woken up around 0430. Couldn't have been sleepier but the excitement and the anticipation of the things to come tends to drive away sleep easily. Not the case with Mohit and Sattu who needed at least 10 calls each to finally wake up. All of us were up and about soon and by 0545 were ready to go. I rode with Mohit, Sattu with Rochak and Kapil with the big bag of stuff we thought would come in handy (snacks, towels, water).

The plan was to start early and reach the highway in time to catch the elusive sunrise. The cloud cover saw to it that it still eluded us despite the early start. Anyways the weather was pleasant as always and we were enjoying the slight chill. The sun came up and the roads went from good to bad to downright ugly. Real mood killer. There was about more than an hour's worth of bumpy roads with potholes followed by more potholes and speed breakers. Then just as we were about to hit the good stretch the first incident of the day happened.

The beast stuttered to a sudden stop. It had refused to start once or twice before also so we thought it was a battery problem. No amount of kick starting helped so we decided to look for a mechanic finally. Luckily there was one just 20 meters away(!). He was a little taken aback when he first saw the size of the bike, and for a little while it seemed that he was looking at alien technology but he finally figured it out and put it down to a blown fuse in the battery. Potential crisis averted and back on the road. It got better after a while and really great a little after that.

Cruise mode was awesome. The muffled purr of the engine gave way to the loud roar and the constant dhak-dhak-dhak followed as Mohit gunned it down the clear road. The surrounding greenery just made it better. It rained quite a few times but not too heavily. At 0730 we reached our first destination - Gopalaswamy Hill inside Bandipur (which is actually Tamil Nadu). We didn't know what we were supposed to expect, it was a hill and that's all we knew. It was raining continuously still as we made our way up. We stopped on the way to witness this:

It's not as amazing in the pic because of the mist and the smudged lens of the camera because of the rain, but it was awesome! After a few photographs we continued upwards and what was waiting at the top took our breath away, literally!
It wasn't raining, we were inside the freaking clouds! The wind was blowing at 40-50kmph (that's what it felt like when the bike is moving at the same speed, I did not measure it!) and it was hard to stand still against it. Absolutely brilliant! We'd spent quite a bit of time there when the chill got to us and so we had to leave. The way down was great too, the sky had cleared up and the bikes were just rolling down at close to 70kmph at places. Thus ends the first leg of our journey.

0900 hours. Time for a breather and some food. Idlis, vadas, dosas, pooris, tea and coffee. Then onto the next location. The sun was out and so were other people. We were back on the highway by 1000 and the ass-ache began a little while later. We (me and Sattu) even switched seats but it didn't help.

The journey was much longer than we had assumed and we were all quite bored of riding non-stop except for the occasional stop for fuel which lasted only a couple of minutes each.

The second stop was called BR Hills inside BRT Wildlife Sanctuary. After the first one, we were hoping for something awesome but it later turned out that it was just a 40 km ride through the woods, which was great nevertheless. We even stopped for tea and a short breather.

There was a peak, so to say, at the end of the trail which offered a great view. Not superbly awesome weather or anything, just a good view, nothing like what Sattu here would have you believe.

By now our asses had had more than we could take. There was still another stop to make before finally heading back and the drive was nothing less than painful. I mean really painful, the only thought in our minds was when will it end. I've even lost track of time by now so we're going to assume we reached our next stop, Shivanasamundra, at 1500.

Yep, there it was. Just the sight of it would've sent waves of relief down my spine on any other day, but since I knew I wasn't going to get to go into the water, my back slumped further at the thought of walking down these stone steps and then coming back up again.

They were like the steps Po climbed in KungFu Panda, but they were narrower, rockier, uneven and very scary. The other guys stripped down to their lowers and went into the water while I sat by the water bird-watching, listening to music and in general observing people. They came out sooner than expected but I wasn't complaining. There was this lady who was frying and selling pakoras. So we decided to have some. They were good. The funniest thing happened there, this dumb bimbo walked up with her friends, innocently pointed at one of the tray of pakoras and asked the lady in the politest way possible "How much is that?" Only me and Rochak know how we controlled ourselves from ROFLing. How I wish the lady had looked up and said "2 bucks you dumb bitch!"

The climb up the stairs was tiring but ended quicker than expected. A cucumber, coconut water and bhelpuri later we were back on the road yet again. We all had decided since we were going to be on the Bangalore-Mysore highway, we might as well go a little further back and grab a bite at McDonald's. It's been months since I saw the red and yellow sign and ate a burger there. Don't even remember the last time I went there.

Kapil guided us through the way and at one point we were pretty sure that we were going to end up in Bangalore. Rochak and I were already making plans of what we were going to do and where we were going to stay for the night. The road finally came to an end and we had the choice of taking the left and heading home or going right to McD. Kapil had assured us it was just a 15 minute ride. It wasn't or at least didn't feel like it. It wasn't or at least didn't feel like it. And boy Rochak can drive! Kapil had a hard time keeping up with him on his new 180. I saw him touch 110, twice, with me sitting behind! He was so fed up by now and just wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. Our butts were so sore that we didn't even enjoy the food as much as we had thought we would. For the record - Chicken McNuggets are an utter waste of money. The McVeggie is still good, so are the fries.

It was time to get on the bike for one last time and make the final dash for home. Rochak, me and Kapil covered the distance in 68 minutes flat, non-stop. Mohit came riding easy 15-20 minutes later. We promised ourselves never to do it again. All in all, it was a great learning experience. From now on all bike trips would be limited to 150kms, instead of the 400 we did yesterday. The first leg of the journey was the best and it was worth all the trouble we went through after that I guess. On second thought, it wasn't. I'm even tired of typing now. Later.

High:
Low: I really don't think I need to mention it again.

Points: Get a life! I can't even sit properly and you want me to give out points!