South India trip (N0 8 1980km 48hours)

Beast and its rides Trip 8 1980km

 [Rameshwaram (Panban bridge, dhanushkodi Beach), Kanyakumari, Athirapally water falls, Silent valley national park, Bandipur national park]

It was an long weekend started on 3rd morning at 12am, with two new guys joining us at last minute, we saw the sunrise in Madurai had our breakfast, kept the bike at steady pace of 90kmph and as we were nearing Panban bridge the scenery was breath taking just the road surrounded by Indian Ocean and to add extra beauty to it, we saw two peacocks crossing the road, we stopped few meters before the Panban bridge for our first photo bike was taken near the shore, surprisingly the water was so clean, just as we finished taking pictures the train was passing to cross the bridge, we raced before it could cross the bridge and took some photos it was one of the best memories we can have, the water was so clean and never in my life had seen such clean water except in movies, from there we continued to Dhanushkodi beach on the way the an traditional drunkard trying to cross the road came in middle of the road and had to apply sharp brakes and the beast was in control, got in water played for sometime, the place is the cleanest beach than any of the beaches I had been, best place to enjoy without crowd. 

Kanyakumari
We left Rameshwaram at 12.30pm the stretch between Rameshwaram and Kanyakumari were bad, which took more time in negotiating the potholes and mud roads, since we are from Bangalore we were comfortable in navigating the stretch with comfort as our roads are the same here, added to this slow moving we were slowed down by the local people who were traveling to the Ayudha pooja celebrations and roads were blocked at some stretches and were late by 3hours covering 995km on day one, reached

Kanyakumari by 8pm checked in a hotel room had our dinner and visited the sunrise spot came to room and slept off, next day we got ready to witness the sunrise from the sunrise point to our surprise there were more people than we could find in the market, it was flop as there were clouds and sun could be seen by 8am got some clicks and left to Athirapally.
 

Athirapally Water Falls (Super natural effect)

Day 2 we were slowed in kerala by their festival blocking the roads and the road users were little weird not like Chennai people, it was little respite to us we could cover only 370km riding from 9.30am till 5.30pm, the falls close by 5pm so we had to take room as we had no other option,we got in Pullikans lodge with a special room no 420 had our dinner by 8pm and slept off early, during middle of the night two guys in the room had some super natural effect, the guy sleeping next to me was tossed up in bed and the guy other side of me heard some sound, but i was dead tired and was sleeping like a log, got to know this in morning when I woke up they explained me about the incidence. We were in Athirapally Water falls by 8am the base view was splendid as Niagara falls, had good fun and spent more time there. by this time all our butts were ready for the iron butt challenge.
 

Silent Valley national Park (SVNP) & Bandipur National Park (BNP)

Near the base of the SVNP we were informed that we should be having booking to enter SVNP and the booking was full for the next two days and localite informed us about other route where we can sneak in but that route is heavily guarded by forest staff, we didn't take any chance of taking the risk and we continued our journey home we crossed Mudumalli and BNP we spotted Deer grazing in large nos and some baboons on trees and as usual monkeys on road, we were welcomed by rain in that region we just waited for this from a very long time, the ghat just before Gudalur is little dangerous as there are no barricades on the steep sides.We took the Kankpura road to reach Bangalore near Malavali the clouds opend up completley till Bangalore where we had to move slow in 30kmph as the visibility was very low.

Riders
1 Gajapathy
2 Santhosh Venkataram
3 Chetan
4 Raju

Bikes
Thunderbird 500
Thunderbird 350

Beast and its rides trip 7 1457 km

Beast and its rides trip 7

Places Jog falls, Goa, route of Doodh sagar falls 1457km 

The start was delayed by 4hrs as one of the rider over slept, and we started off at 5.10am on 15^th august we had an happy news for the start as the petrol price was reduced by 2rs per litre from the previous midnight, en route we stopped at Tiptur for breakfast and fuelling around 8.30am, the bunk owner was telling that he still hadn’t received the new petrol price and the person to set the new price hasn’t come yet, we had to fuel for the old price and continued our journey, on the way just before Shimoga we crossed Bhadravathi, the flow of water in Bhadravathi river was strong, we reached Jog falls by 1.30pm, there was some shooting going on in the water falls, good amount of water. We stopped in for lunch near by the quality wasn’t that good and it was a loot, lucky we were carrying lots biscuits in this trip, there are many more small falls on the way to Goa in the ghat it was an nice ride as always the western ghats replenishing the eyes of the rider little further downhill after an photo stop, it was an silliest accident anybody can do and the cost for repair was a bomb, bike fell while taking the bike on road from off road, the speedometer was damaged but it was working, the handle bar and leg guard got bent, but was in riding condition continued our ride probably the rain god noticed it and couldn’t control laughing then we were soaked in rain, tears from comedy. 

Goa

The coastal belt was amazing single lane road the greenery was different compared to the southern part of Western Ghats, Karwar an navy base and many small islands giving an completely different out look to the place. We entered Goa by 7pm missed the greenery of the area as it was dark and beautiful roads reached South Goa by 8.30pm checked in room by 9.30pm near Colva, dropped all our baggage came down to eat 95% of them were pubs and the food you get is of Prasad quantity with exorbitant rates, 12.30am we were in Colva beach the pubs are open till 2am next day, next day we started at 9am to reach North Goa on the way we had to get the handle bar fixed, it took us 3hrs in the Enfield service center got it fixed the staff there were so supportive and helping might be cos of there were more females than males.

Reached Calangute by 3pm most of the rooms were full even during off season, we were lucky to get an room near Calangute  got fresh quick, and went to Baga beach, it was crowded there and as were about to get in water the dark clouds opened up, we had no choice but to get wet in rain and join the group from Mumbai to play beach football, good game after a long time though we lost 5-2 we  made sure they had a tuff time scoring those 5 goal they had 5 men in their time and we were one short. The game lasted for 40 min everybody were tired and we returned to room to get fresh and catch the Cruise at 9.30pm  we were late completely soaked in rain then we visited Aguada fort, Taj vivanta Sinquerim beach in night and slept off by 12 am.

The return

We started by 8am to reach Doodh Sagar waterfalls the route was so amazing full of green and the stretch in Baghwan Mahveer Sacantury is the best till now I have experienced the silent place with trees making an natural tunnel of green and the beast clocking at 120kmph rarely you spot an vehicle in that stretch and two water falls on road side and the water tastes better than the packaged water, as we were nearing the Goa  Karanataka border Anmod, the roads were so horrible as son as we crossed border we were more focused on to finding nice patches of road and missed the turn to Doodh Sagar falls we had crossed 20km extra before we could realize and an local police man there told us that we can’t reach by bike to that place , had to take train that’s at 9am and return by 4pm train or trek for 15km to reach the spot, we just missed it and connected to Dharwad, it was my first time on this stretch NH 4 the roads were amazing, the beast and couldn’t resist the stretch and clocked 130kmph with 5000rpm that was the fullest I could pull and to an surprise NWKSRTC buses were driving like TNSTC bus drivers, then slowed down and the cars in that stretch were above 160+kmph but we could take down alto and 800s, there was hailstorm in this stretch from Davangere to Chitradurga beast slowed down to 80s due to poor visibility and patches of rain in some stretches on the other routes. The best part was the heads turn in the entire stretch just loved the feeling of it proud to own an Enfield, stopped in Dabbaspet for dinner, while we got ready to leave the TB350 didn’t start couldn find any mechanics as it was Sunday, fixed it ourselves by the spare fuse in it, and rode till Nelmangala and the other fuse got burned we were out of fuse and my TB500 fuse is different, while waiting there we spotted classic 350  and bullet 350 cross by we requested them to stop and they did and helped us in giving their spare fuse, they waited till the bike started and they left, thank you so much guys for the help, as our bike was ready to move there was an pulsar guy whose bike wasn’t starting helped him by towing that bike till Yeshwanthpur from Nelmangala Toll gate  and reached home by 11pm covering 1457km.

Little did we realize in last 4 months we had covered Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats alternating and last month we were riding next to Bay of Bengal and this time we were riding next to Arabian Sea.

Riders

1 Gajapathy V

2 Santhosh V

3 Srinidhi

4 Prakash N

Bikes

1 TB500

2 TB350

Beast and its ride trip 6

Beast and its rides Trip 6 Bangalore- Chennai-Pondicherry 1118km 4th july 2014


Actual destination was Pondicherry with slight deviation en route had to connect Chennai for one of my students wedding in Chennai.
We started of our journey as usual by 2.30am on Friday morning on two bikes, both riding without pillions, toying with the Lorries till krishnagari and the roads were empty smooth (we thought we were in some other different country) till the last 100km to reach the Chennai, it just reminded us guys get up we are in India the bumpy roads tar displaced to heaps cos of the heat and heavy vehicles, we reached Avadi by 7.30am got fresh and left to Eithiraj Kalyana Nilyam ttk road by 8.45am to attend Mhurtham at 9.30am but the city traffic made us reach there for lunch, bumper to bumper traffic in all the roads all directions everywhere.

The Extractor traffic cop my first interstate encounter
While connecting to ECR road near HP Lans service station Greenways Adyar we were stopped by Traffic cop, I asked there was no violation why are you stopping us, he said the inspector Mr Krishna Pillai said him to stop, he asked us for the documents we showed him the RC book, insurance, DL, now comes the surprise document NOC (no objection certificate), we said why do we need the NOC we are tourist we came here for the wedding and will be leaving the city tomorrow morning, showed him the wedding invitation and the Tambola bag, he wasn’t satisfied with it and asked us to shell out Rs2500 or show any proof that we are travelers and not staying in Chennai and he kept on asking the dumbest questions (ex -telling that you guys are staying in Chennai for a month or get NOC) to show NOC are pay fine we had to waste our half an hour of time trying to convince him in the afternoon sun that we reached Chennai today morning and now we are heading to Pondicherry. He was never satisfied with the answers we gave him and was expecting money, after sometime arguing with him for 30min in the sun the humid I was drenched in my riding gear, I realized that I can show him my roaming sms, luckily he accepted it and let us, while leaving we asked him what’s the procedure to obtain NOC for travelers, he tells it’s not required for one day stay then we continue our ride.

Paradise beach
Connected the ECR road by 1pm, it could be called as east coast resorts road as there are resorts on the entire stretch, the beast was cruising smoothly without any trouble with sea shore on one side and salt on the other, reached the beach by 4pm, we could take it till middle and had to stop as the roads were blocked, the boats ferry the people in back waters to reach the beach, the beach is so clean and is accessible only by boat, Paradise beach truly in Paradise. While returning had to stop the bike in Enfield service center in Pondicherry for chain tighten, and reached Chennai by 9.30 pm had our dinner and slept off.

Return
Started off by 6.30am from Avadi connected Poonamale flyover by 7am and this one I wanted to check whether beast or I last long did nonstop to Bangalore 330km reached Hosur by 10.30am and 11.40am was home, bike slowed down in Hosur due to diversions.


Bikes
Thunderbird 500
Thunderbird 350

Riders
Santhosh Venkataram
Gajapathy P

Place
Chennai TTK road
Paradise beach

Suggestions
Please carry petrol bill or toll bill if have to do inter state to avoid harassment from the cops regarding NOC

Beast and its rides Trip 5

Beast and its rides Trip 5 70 hair pin bend Kolli Hill, Aagaya Gangai Falls 22^nd june 2014.

Started off with 4 bikes from Forum mall Bangalore with 8 people to Kolli Hills (Eastern Ghats) at 5am, our first stop was in MCD HP gas station Hosur to fuel the bikes, we reached by 6am pretty good speed maintained, surprised RX135 maintained the pace of Enfield’s without  breaking down the entire trip, well maintained by Vishwas.

Breakfast stop was in Salem by 7.40am, we left Salem by 8.30am next stop was Kolli Hill base but in midway got to know that the TB350 fuel tank key was lost on the way, we were close to Rasipuram Town being a Sunday it wasn’t that difficult to find an duplicate key maker it took one hour to fix it, the weather was getting hot, little further after the town we stopped for fuelling took the first group photo and continued the journey the SH was well maintained with the trees on either side of the road, gave it an look of Bangalore 15yrs back the cool breeze and shade made our trip in the stretch very comfortable.

70hair pin bend

 Just 20km before the Kolli Hill we stopped to fix the camera on the helmet the GO PRO way, which again was a flop in a different way, once touched the base the forest guard stopped us and told us ride slow, we obliged and continued the 70 hair pin bend in one hill was an amazing experience (this was the one which made other two bikes join us) the beast as usual cruised through it easily and RX too made it without any trouble but TB350 silencer touching the ground on right bends made the bike come up slow,  as we were 1000meters above the sea level the breeze was cool, all our mileage and speed maintained came down in this stretch, We reached Aagaya Gangai Falls by 12pm all excited to jump in water as we parked the bikes near the famous Shiva temple near the falls.

Aagaya Gangai Falls

The ticket issuer said there is not much water in this and the surrounding water falls have gone dry, Aagaya Gangai falls is the biggest in this hill, we trekked downhill for 1km as we reached the falls there was hardly water there and the water from the top was like a wet cloth put up for drying (the drops from the cloth), spent less time there now the tough task started the climb everybody had drained out, had to scale 1086 steps to get to the top, once reached the top got in  an shop finished 4ltrs of Maaza 8 omelets and 2ltrs of water. We were on top by 2.30pm and started our return journey, stopped on hairpin 70/70 for group photo, put all the bikes in neutral we were touching 50kmph the best comedy part was over taking Sumo and other two wheelers in neutral (for the people reading this don’t do this neutral riding it’s not safe), again on the base 1/70 for a group photo, and we stopped in just before rasipuram for a different route and one bike had gone way ahead of us and waited for the return.

The return (unexperienced team)

Next planned stop was in Dharmapuri, as we were nearing Salem there was a heavy downpour we continued our ride, stopped my bike in Salem for 10min to meet my dad’s friend, others continued caught up with them in no time just before Dharmapuri two bikes had stopped for refreshments, mine was the last one coming, the other bike had crossed us without noticing, just 10mts after the start the TB350 broke down (chain cut). Informed other two bike to continue the journey and reach home, it was in uphill hard time to push the bike, somehow managed for 4km and found an local mechanic shop around 5.30pm the mechanic didn’t have a Enfield chain lock, we had to visit Dharamapuri to get it 30km one way, got the chain lock the mechanic fixed 9.30pm, and we took it to the Enfield garage in Dharamapuri, he was specialized with Enfield bikes for our luck he said he his open till 1 midnight, reached him by 10.15pm he fixed the bike by 2.30am, in the mean time we had to do an Dharmapuri midnight sightseeing to find oil for the bike. We continued our journey without any further trouble from the bike, but the sleep was a biggest challenge we took 2 short stops to get fresh and get on the wheels, and horrible driving private Volvo operators, and TNTC bus changing lane from 3^rd to 1st without any signal and another immediate 1^st to 3^rd lane. Reached home by 4.30am.

Advice

Please carry essential spare parts of the bike in long rides when you not connecting remote towns

Destinations

1 Kolli hills

2 Aagaya Gangai Falls

Bikes

1 Thunderbird 500

2 Classic Chrome 500

3 Thunderbird 350

4 RX135

Riders

1 Venkataram

2 Gajapathy P

3 Avinash R

4 Santhosh V

5 Sharath C

6 Vishwas V

7 Madhu T

8 Manjunath M