Sunset chase Dandiganahalli Dam

 Its appx 85km from Bangalore via Chikaballapur good 2hrs ride, beautiful spot for half a day trip, this place suitable for all types of people who wish to spend time with nature, its easily accessible by young and old people too. Its clean without much of human intervention.  If lucky ,one can spot Peacock too.

It was pleasant weather that made me just get in the gear and hit the road around 4pm,there should be an start for everything its my first late start ride after work.The two lane highway till Chikaballapur then a deviation towards left takes you inside Chikaballapur town, you go through market you can buy fresh fruits as there are no shops near Dandiganahalli Dam. 17km from Chikaballapur through a small ghat patch were the road widening work is on,  in slow swing, it might take another two or more years to finish the entire work on this stretch, last 6km goes through village, I would request fellow travelers to ride slowly as the road is very narrow lots of kids and small animals keep crossing or playing on the road, most of the stretch is of mud road in the village, an a very narrow uphill leads you straight into the dam surrounded three sides by small mountains. Rest you guys need to experience it.

Please don't litter the place its one of cleanest spots untouched by plastic waste.

Bike TB 500
Rider Santhosh Venkataram
 

Bangalore-Pune-Mahabaleshwar-Lonavala-Bangalore. 2339km

 Bangalore-Pune-Mahabaleshwar-Lonavala-Bangalore

Last 6 new years had been riding to Chennai for Chennai Open the only ATP tour event in India. This year the tournament is moved to Pune so it was appx 900km ride this time, joined by an pillion one way Akram first timer for an long distance ride, RE bikes are an hell experience for pillion, for an rider its all the luxury in the world till it breaks down in ghat region, my thunderbird which weighs 3 times the weight of me, hasn't troubled  me like this. It withstood my 2339km ride covering the below mentioned places.

Bangalore to Pune via Kolhapur,

It was an late start around 5am still we were able to avoid fog on the outskirts, but it was getting colder as were moving away from city. Our first stop was near Davangere for breakfast as Benne Dosa is popular in Davangere but for our bad luck we couldn't find any hotels on the highway offering Benne dosa, we had idly vada the popular south Indian breakfast dish, nearing Belgaum Akram was feeling very uncomfortable sitting on pillion seat, there were too many short breaks from then on as he was not used to do long rides, We took an long break for lunch in Kolhapur as Mehul was waiting for us in Kolhapur, we left Kolhapur around 4.30pm as per the original itinerary we were supposed to be visiting Mahabaleshwar and reach Pune but due to delay we headed straight to Pune, Akram was in rider seat till dark and I took over from there as it was an weekend  there were many vehicles exiting Pune making three way traffic and blocking the road from all possible directions, for a second I thought I was in Bangalore famous for its traffic jams,  last 10km on highway took more than an hour for us to reach our venue.

New year Dagadusheth Ganesh Temple, Shaniwarwada, Pataleshwar temple

New year blessings from Dagaduseth Ganapathi, very popular temple in Pune, idol can be seen from road side itself, Lord Ganesha is insured for Rs 10million and carrying 40kilos of gold on the idol, source wikipedia.

Shaniwarwada  and Pataleshwar  within a kilometer from Dagaduseth temple is also an tourist spot  inside Pune city The temple is cut from a rock, is dedicated to god Shiva. The sanctum- a cube-shaped room about 3–4 metres on each side - houses a Linga statue- the symbol of Shiva and there are two smaller cells on each side. In front of the cave is a circular Nandi Mandapa, its umbrella shaped canopy supported by massive square pillars. This mandapa is one of the peculiar structures of Pataleshwar. The cave is located at a lower level than the present level of the road and the cave complex. There is an exquisitely carved circular Nandi shrine on the left side of the entrance cave. The main cave is rectangular on plan and has a pillared porch. There are three sanctums in the cave temple and the central one houses Lord Shivalinga.

Mahabaleshwar via Bhatgar dam , Ambade ghat road, Panchagani

There are two roads to reach Mabaleshwar from pune, the route via Pune Surur Wai is faster to reach, but the people who love ghats  and nature can take deviation near Kapurhol will connect  Bhor road, its connects Bhatghar dam too, Bhatgar dam was covered by fog as we were riding early morning it's a huge water body built during British era still stands strong , as it was during winter one side of the ambade ghat were completely dry and brown in color, other side was lush green that's the difference you see in the western ghat belt covering four different states have four different types of green as we reached the Ambade, Mahabaleshwar was 59km from there, longer route but totally enjoyed it.

Mahabaleshwar, as per the local priest there tells the Linga is underground and only the head is seen in the form of Rudraksha (sacred seed used by Hindus). Submerged Linga is around 5ft in diameter, can be viewed from close range no photography allowed. Panchaganga temple where the five rivers Koyna, Veena, savitri, Gayatri and Krishna meet together and come out of Kunda and falls in small water tank.If you ever get a chance to visit Mabaleshwar or panchgini strawberry is very famous and tastes good too, you have to try it.

Lonavala,

Bhushi dam, as it was winter the water level was low, it was a good walk around the dam with sunrise view, before reaching there you will be crossing Lonavala lake in which Tata power is maintaining the lake and an cricket pitch inside the lake area.

Lohagad Fort and Visapur Fort

Well maintained steep roads enroute during monsoon people can see many waterfalls by the road side, situated 3000+ft above sea level one will be spending close to 45min to reach the top of the fort depends on individuals fitness too, ambushed by the black mountains one can hardly tell an fort is visible there, Few kilometers before Lohagad fort towards left side an mud road leads to visapur fort , the pathway to base is being developed, it also located almost 3000+ft like twin towers this too can be called as twin forts where it situated on the opposite hills, in dense green vegetation, got to know the British took cannons to Visapur fort to attack Lohagad fort to plunder its treasure saved by maraths. Later both the forts were taken over by British, if you are lucky you could sight an leopard as the region falls in Sahyadri range.

Karala Caves and Baja Caves,

Karla Caves , are a complex of ancient rock cut caves at Karli near Lonavala. The shrines were developed over the period – from the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD. The oldest of the cave shrines is believed to date back to 160 BC, the interior roof is being attached with wooden planks in arch shape, and big stupa situated at the end, it too has an wooden reverse pyramid kida architecture, and the carvings on the rocks will leave you wondering without technology  how those people had cut the rocks and carved it also, the saints rooms are also cut from rocks with single cot rooms whre as the cot is also cut from the rock.  less than 5km on opposite side of Karala caves lies the Baja caves, this too has similar carvings as Karala caves with wooden arches and many stupas placed outside with different designs on the top, this looks bigger than Karla caves,  here one can find the Lord Shiva cut rock and double room cots of saints and windows too cut from the same rock.

Return Via Mahalaxmi temple Kolhapur,

As one of my colleague Veeresh wanted to reach Belgaum urgently so he hoped onto my bike, but  this has a iron bum he never complained about his back during the return ride where we had just one stop at Mahalaxmi temple in Kolhapur, the temple doesn't allow an bags inside there are many lockers rooms around temple left my bags and helmet in the locker and headed for darshan it has two separate que for men and women and one good thing about this temple is that there is no special darshan line, everybody is treated equally, from there our next stop was in Belguam for lunch around 2.30pm after dropping Veeresh in Dharwad It was an solo ride home by 9.30 was home for dinner.

Riders,

Santhosh Venkataram

Syed Akram

Veeresh

Short ride Lalit.

Bike Thunderbird 500

BC Ride Sept 2017

Bc ride
Bangalore- Chennai - Pondichery- Coimbature - Bangalore

Started the ride around 9am from Bangalore, the peak hour traffic have an hard time for the first one hour to exit City, as crossed Hosur the roads were free, not excited as my previous trips on the route as it's the 9th time am taking the same route Bangalore Chennai, but this time it was fitting monsoon season the roads and surroundings usually used to have a dry or brown look, this time it was covered with lush green in color for to rains. As usual rode non stop to destination madras cricket club 5hrs the same time would be consumed in Bangalore City if you had to travel from one corner to the other during rain.
First week was put up in MCC.
After work in evenings Dharmendra (room partner) and me used to walk to marina beach which appx a kilometer from the cricket stadium, I was saddened at the plight of the beach it is completely strewn by plastics.

Pondichery,
It's my second visit but not on beast, as three of us were there we took swift from an local friend,we started of in morning by 4am actual plan was to visit Mahabalipuram and return, we reached Mahabalipuram by 5am, as it was still dark we made an change of plans and headed to Pondichery, we reached there by 6.20am, helping the small fishermen to pull their boats ashore with their catches, we were there till 8am and returned to Chennai. Later during second week visited Besantnagar beach which is also littered by plastics, last time I visited Besantnagar beach it was cleaner than marina now both have become the same due to commercial establishments and no proper disposal system. There was a relief during Thiruvanmayoor beach this was opposite was the previous two, with zero litter in the beach, hope this remains the same in coming years.

Coimbature.
Left Chennai by 4pm the city has expanded very big, even after 40km of travel from center you are still in city limits. As I was nearing Ulundurpet the thick clouds were opening up, had to stop for the photo of the clouds, as I entered the dark clouds, my next 3hrs till Salem was in heavy rain with strong winds which slowed down my speed. Luckily happen to come across an local bullet guy who knew the roads well, and tailed him for some distance, after an fuel stop in Salem continued towards Salem with light rain and thunder, I was able to reach Coimbature club by 10pm, thanks to my rugged phone which withstood the rains and newly got Bluetooth headset that helped in Voice navigation and answering phone calls automatically. After two weeks of getting baked in sun had a good relief in Coimbature with rains and pleasant weather even though my stay in Coimbature was short.
‎
‎Adi yogi,
‎Mr KR Ramesh accompanying me for this trip this was his first time on a two wheeler without helmet and a rain coat, he had experience of an blue whale game from his words about his visit to Adi Yogi.Adiyogi Shiva is located at the Isha Yoga complex which houses the Dhyanalinga in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu at the foothills of Velliangiri Mountains.The height of the statue, 112 feet, symbolizes the 112 possibilities to attain to moksha (liberation) that are mentioned in yogic culture. Sadhguru also said that the height represents the 112 chakras in the human system. Adi yogi statue, it's an magnificent work of Lord Shiva done by human two sides surrounded by Velliangiri mountain, at the same time it's disheartening to tell what I heard from locals during interaction, that this statue and esha foundation has come up in elephant corridor where the huge patch of forest was destroyed and displacing the elephant habitat. There were many vacant lands I front close to highway yet they chose which is 8km inside from highway. Man made wonder its an must visit if visiting Coimbature.

Mardhamalai
Temple of Lord Murugan on a small hill 600ft, temple built by Devar, it can be accessed by road and steps, it's appx 15km from Coimbature en route you can spot Bharthiyar University its a huge campus just below the hill where the govt is planning to have a firing range in the University. From the hill top one can have clear view of Coimbature city.

Perur Pateeswarar Temple This ancient temple was built by the Chozha King Karikala Chozhan it has thin pillars, with roof painting and quotes in Tamil language, the gopurams and halls, famous of which is, 'Kanaka Sabha', the one with the golden statue of Lord Nataraja. The pillars have carvings of the various manifestations of Shiva and the ceiling has a series of stone chains the walls are coated with vinyl where it gets an glossy golden color look different from other heritage temples.

Return Coimbature to Bangalore.
Around 4.30pm started my return with light drizzle and an malfunctioning headlight button, unfortunately had to use pass light as my main light during the entire return of 358km, thanks to Enfield, no story ends without an adventure with the bike.




Bike,
Thunderbird 500

May Day Ride 2017

May Day Ride 2017

Plan

Three days back was having a normal conversation with my Hyderabad friend Kiran, during conversation we planned a short ride where we would catch up in some common place,  Gandikota was zeroed in we planned to meet at 12pm stay there till 4pm and return home by 10pm to their respective home town. As usual other friends dropped out at last minute that's nothing new to us we still went ahead with our plans and met up. Thank you Kiran for making it on time.

Ride day

Started at 4am from Bangalore, there were like 300+ bikes heading to Nandi Hills for sunrise, as usual cops were stopping the bikes at Devanahali toll booth even when it was raining, have to appreciate their sincerity and commitment as it was 1st day of the month(        ). We reached Lepakshi around 6am.

Lepakshi, Appx 200mts before reaching the temple  towards right side one can spot Shiva's bull Nandi statue its a granite monolithic sculpture on the main road of Lepashki.  Temple opens at 7.30am lucky to have first darshan for the day of Durga devi and veerabhadra swamy.

Lepakshi(Durga Devi) the name emerges from Ramayana story where a bird fights Ravana while kidnapping Sita and it gets injured(broken wing) and falls in that place, Rama gets to know this while crossing the place and blesses  the bird,  it's found on the right side of the sanctum made out of a pillar supporting the temple roof, this is the only lord which doesn't have  gharbagudi and has a mirror placed on west side so the people can have easy darshan.

Veerabhadra swamy it was built by two brothers Viranna and Virupanna, facing north side next to the left leg of the lord there is head which is kept as trophy by the lord and next to it lies the small black stone called as birth stone.

Temple has many gods spread all over with two big statues of Ganesha and Shiva and some ruins outside, the other attraction in this temple is the hanging pillar it's on the left side of the main entrance  each pillar and carvings are done in different shapes some pillars are C shape, square and rectangular.

Gandikota ( The grand Canyon of India) ride was pleasant till 10.30am as it had rained heavily on the route, there were several trees uprooted , and small floods on roads we made it at 12pm sharp to Gandikota where Kiran from Hyderbad too arrived 5min later he too had an long story of is ride his ride his knee guards were stolen from a hotel where he had parked to have breakfast, it was my 2nd visit to Gandikota temperature was around 41*c having a proper sun bathing at view point for an hour, we went to APSTDC for lunch as there are no hotels around( people visiting this place please carry your own food ). Long stories over lunch met an rider from Chennai who had come there, he had done K2K last year he shared is experience and we guided him to nearby places near Gandikota.

Batrepalli water falls in Kadiri district, it can be seen from state highway Kadiri pulivendula road while returining, found out from locals nearby that its dry now due to summer as seen in the picture.

Return reached Bangalore on time by 9:30pm first ride to be completed on time. Kiran too reached around Hyderbad by 10:30pm.

Riders,

Santhosh Venkataram (Bangalore)

Nandini ( Bangalore)

DRC Kiran ( Hyderabad ).

 

Bikes

Thunderbird 500

Thunderbird 350

Work ride 2017 BLR TVM BLR 1836km

2017 BLR TVM BLR 1836km work ride 

An early morning start at 5am with chill weather upto 80km from Bangalore didnt know it would take a week for me to feel the same weather again. It was good four lane road till Madurai the deviation to Rajapalayam route was a two lane road with potholes the vibrations broke my GPS holder which slowed down my speed continued my trip without GPS as battery too was down. Surprisingly during my fuel stop at Rajapalayam the staff  offered me coffee, which i obliged and an road side restaurant offering me free food which I refused and paid them as I was the only customer at that time. I can call this as a trip of humanity exists .

Kollam  671km

Reached Kollam around  5pm got freshened in sis place and by 6.30 pm left to Kollam Beach, the only place where animals too have head lights. Thangasery light house is close by place to visit and a 2km walk along the manmade bridge in next to light house at kollam fishing harbor  is a must visit places.

Trivandrum 64km

Started by 8am with heavy traffic two lane road with slow speed still was able to beat the ETA by 17min. the weather is hot and humid during the day Trivandrum Tennis Club has 9 courts with 3 indoor two out door hard courts and 4 clay courts.

The Padmanabaswamy Temple is 5.20km from TTC it took me 29min run in morning. As i was in running attire there was no entry into temple returned to room and later in noon visited Zoo, Museum and Padamanabaswamy temple with sis and bro in law, The Zoo has very good collection of birds and a white tiger. Its worth a visit to an museum it has variety of collections for, parking fee is expensive than the entry tickets to these places. Had a good darshan at Padmanabaswamy temple in evening.

Kovallam Beach and light house

Last time I visited the place the light house was under renovation, this time it was open with new paint red and white combo, the view from top mesmerizing its one of the clean beaches that I have visited in India one can see blue waters, there are three beaches close by and  harbor too, the boat ride costs  800per person if bargained if not its Rs1500 for three beaches and harbor Thanks to Deepak for being the GPS Holder throughout the trip it was his first visit to the beach in Kerala.

Varkala Beach

Trivandrum to Varakala is almost like an ECR road of Chennai the only difference is its a single lane road with one side sea and other backwater for almost 10km where you cross Ajengo fort too, there was malyalam movie shoot going on during my visit, its adjacent to Papanasam beach its an religious beach, one can venture 50mtrs into water its not that steep.

Return Trivandrum to Bangalore via Nagercoil 730km

Started my ride at 12pm in super hot weather with shivrathri procession along the way which was causing road blocks most part of the highway, Trivandrum to Nagercoil it took me 2 and half hours due to single lane and processions from Nagercoil the 4 lane highway was able to get an good speed for 300+km the kodai mountains during sunset was a amazing view had to stop to get the picture and fueling, then rode non stop to Bangalore reached home by12am. 

 Bike Thunderbird 500