The Ride to RM

A sunset. A gorgeous gorgeous sunset. A sunset so awesome that we stop to click pictures of it. What's so special you say? Well, the last time one of us clicked a pic was a few days ago. The two of us were so happy riding our bikes all day long that the camera was the last thing on our minds. This time it was different though. This sunset had to be savoured. Standing still. A couple of drinks(Tea! The only brew we were allowed thanks to our doc) and we rode into the sunset. It was still a gorgeous sunset at a 100 and beyond. Rajasthan roads were meant to be blitzed on. And that was our sincere and whole hearted attempt.

The long long ride from Bangalore to Chandigarh and back had started more than a week ago. Our odo would show 3780 before we would call it a day, of which 750 was to be done today. Riding into the sunset I kept thinking of the next 2 days. 2 long days of riding another 1800km, that I would be doing alone. I am sure Sam was thinking the same, with him going solo to Mundra. But for now, we  enjoy the sunset.

Day 1.Sunday. 18th Jan 2015. Bangalore

Sam & I had decided on an early start, which meant the alarm went off at 4 and I was out of the house by 5. That should see us starting from Sam's house by 6am max. Shub and Amaaya were up, as were my in laws who were going to be helping Shub out with me being on the road for the next 2 weeks. I am so thankful that we have a good support system and I am even able to think of making such trips. Well, it was Shub who planted the idea in my head initially, so I am thankful for that.
The basement saw a quick photo shoot of geared up bike and biker, and I was off. I would meet Shub in another 5 days in Chandigarh, and that was to be Amaaya's first flight, hopefully of many more to come.

The 6am departure was achieved. I was astride the Ninja 650 and Sam on the KTM390. We were used to each other's riding styles and that meant our first break would be when we hit reserve on the 390. But, thanks to my miscalculation we had to stop when I hit reserve first. I was all smug that I had the bigger tank and better mileage and had skipped visiting the bunk last evening. Thankfully we had done about 120km by then. So, our ride plan was going to be simple. At all times ensure we are visible to each other. Once fuelled, ride until the 390 hits reserve. Food and hydration stops to be combined with fuel stops. Stop at dusk and no night riding unless it is to look for a place to stay. Apart from the first day, we stuck to 2 meals a day which meant more riding time. Yay!

Our destination for the day was to be Mumbai and we planned to find a place to stay around Panvel. That way we could bank on an early morning traffic free ride across and out of Mumbai. There was some talk about Daman being our stretch goal. Best laid plans and all that.

Fantastic roads and good machines meant we were making ground pretty fast and lunch was a local restaurant at Kolhapur. Breakfast had been a quick affair some 100km short of Hubli. We had foregone the tempting idea of "Benne Dose" at Davangere in the interest of covering more ground and both of us were averse to stops that were not really mandatory. Sam & me could hardly help extrapolating this and got hopeful that we would get beyond Mumbai by nightfall. Maybe Daman. Who knows, Surat even! Like cricket, life and running; we find out that biking is also a great leveler and anti-extrapolative(if that's even a word!). 

Pune weekend traffic was something we hadn't planned for. Boy did our hopes plummet. The closer we got to Pune, the nutcases on the road kept increasing. We were on the "Mysore road" of Maharashtra. Only worse. By a factor of crazy.

I had lost hopes of Surat and hopes of Daman too. It was around 4:30 in the evening but I was ready to tell Sam that we find a place and get off the road and let these crazy people pick off each other. We could make our way around the carnage tomorrow morning. But this would mean more km tomorrow and we wanted to put as much distance between us and Bangalore as possible. Ok, that made us sound like fugitives, but given our pace people were wont to come to that conclusion.

Here is where we had the good luck to bump into a fellow biker, Karthik, astride his KTM 200, who was heading home to Mumbai after spending the weekend in Pune. Where else, but in the shell petrol pump in Pune. A couple of red bulls were called for though, given that we had a couple of more hours of riding ahead of us and our day had started around 4am. Red Bull worked better than expected. Sam's bike developed wings. I had a hard time keeping up with the Katoom boys who managed to throw their bikes around corners, people, cows, cars and everything else that occupied the road from Pune to Mumbai. Soon we found ourselves on the Mumbai-Pune expressway. A portion of this, close to Lonavala, is open for bikes and Sam's bike pulled out its wings again. I remembered Karthik telling us earlier that the exit was a concealed one and if you missed this one, then you end up in Mumbai, on the expressway, where you of course met cops rubbing their palms in glee at the "fine" they could get out of you. Designed on purpose me thinks. Anyhow, I see the exit a tad late and have to drop anchor, and waddle my way back to the exit and get on the gas to catch up my fellow road warriors. I am expecting the katoom boys to be twiddling their thumbs and going "what took you so long". 1km goes by. Nothing. 2km. Nothing. 3Km. Nothing. Ok this is not good. First day of the ride, its getting dark and my phone has already shown signs of going dead. So I decide that I must have taken the wrong exit and head back. What do I see? 2 singles's racing at me. So, its my turn to say "What took you so long".

Pretty soon, we are in Panvel and it welcomed us with a massive traffic Jam. Which now meant that the Ninja went into territory that it was not really built for. The narrow strips of dusty rocky patches that passed for shoulders. We stop at the first hotel we sight and it is called Night Queen or some such thing. More hotels and similar names. This is not going to work, so off we go towards Mumbai and take up Karthik on his offer of crashing at his place for the night. Which means another hour of riding through Mumbai traffic, which was actually more peaceful than Bangalore traffic.

We end the night by buying dinner for Karthik at a nearby restaurant he recommends. A beer and some food, we are ready to hit the bed.  Its almost a 1000km since we started our engines this morning, which feels like ages ago now. We hit the sack, dreaming of getting to Udaipur tomorrow. If we do manage, then we decide to reward ourselves with a break of a day after 2 long days of riding.