Ride to RM: Day 3

Day 3. Tuesday. 20th Jan. Prantij

A lazy day by any standards. Intended departure was 7 am, and it was almost 11 by the time we managed to get on the road. The short ride to Udaipur lulled us into lazy mode. Last evening I was contemplating that we keep the momentum going and head to Jaipur. Sam pointed out that Udaipur is the one more conducive to a relaxed rest day and that was the clincher.

A good part of the morning was spent dilly dallying and an equally good part in trying to get a place to stay for the night. Airbnb to the rescue here. We found a decent place next to the lake and were all set. Our breakfast felt more like brunch with it being at close to 10:30. With the 2 meal thing we had going, it was probably a good idea anyway. Saddled up, bid our goodbyes to the hotel staff and off we went, expecting to be oohing and aahing at Rajasthan roads. The first thing you see as you cross the border into Rajasthan is..a Bar. Good thing we avoided this stretch last night. I would not have wanted to negotiate dark roads with drunks trying to get into races with us. As it stands every now and then some fellow gets it into his head to pit his bike, pillion and life against the 390 & 650. So far better sense has prevailed and we have let them have their fun and not got into a race. They leave hardly any margin for error and we'd rather enjoy the riding than the trampling of another's ego.

A couple of km ahead some wonderful twisties awaited us. A tad scary on the 200kg sports tourer, especially when you lose the front and must bring it back in line, thanks to strategically placed uneven bits right on the turns. Good fun nevertheless. I am definitely going to need more time to get my skills to the level needed to push this bike harder. Or will I ever push it harder? The bike seems to have plenty of grunt left whenever I have needed it so far. If I lose Sam in traffic or twisties all I need to do is wait for an open stretch, which eventually does happen, and larger does of twist on the right wrist and I am next to him soon enough.

We are due for a fuel stop soon and spot one in a tiny town. The bikes again get a lot of attention as do the 2 crazy guys donned in heavy gear which seems very out of place with the sun beating down on us. Neither of us are in the habit of taking off our helmets unless absolutely needed. Optimised stops and all that. It just adds to the mystery, me thinks, of who we are.

We are now about a 100km or so from our destination and hit a long stretch of roads with ruts. I had read about these, but riding them was an experience. Anything above 120 was scary stuff. It was a bit like riding on rails with the risk of getting off them anytime. The bike needed much more headsup than normal for any braking or lane changes. We also went into some never ending curves, like Sam pointed out, almost like a corkscrew. Tricky. As we closed in on Udaipur I realised that we have not taken any pictures in a long long time. I signal to Sam that we stop. I am sure he was surprised that I did not do the glove-off-run-to-bush jig and just stood next to the bike waiting for him. So, we pull over near one of the many many forts and start clicking away. A good deal of time is spent clicking away outside an arbitrary fort and we realise it is a hotel! Well beggars can’t be choosers. We've passed a few forts and in typical fashion 50% of the fort in real time and the remaining 50% in rear view mirror. At least we know now that neither of us is cut out to be a "motographer".

We get into Udaipur soon enough, but first things first and we stop at a KTM service center. The 390 is having some breathing problems. The 650 just needs some TLC on the chain. We decide to check in and come back to get the bikes looked at.

The place we are staying is in a part of the town with very narrow roads and 2 cars in opposite direction can only mean one thing. Traffic jam. The guesthouse itself is tucked away in an alley. A very nice place with a rooftop restaurant. Bragging rights, it seemed were earned by having the highest rooftop restaurant in town. Our neighbouring guest house had a rooftop a staggering dizzying whole foot higher than ours. Competition aside, most had a wonderful view of the lake and the lake palace. We were recommended to take in the sunset with a beer in hand and that is what we did. Sam remembered he had a camera, which I remember he had paid a bomb for, and ended up doing more clicking than sipping.

A massage and dinner were indulged in before we called it a day.