Monday, December 23, 2013

The long awaited "RM"

Alright, first of all, its been a long while since I blogged.

And its been 2 years for me since I rode to an RM. Well, actually the last one I attended was the Rider Mania 2012 "Ten years, one brotherhood" edition of RM hosted by us - the Royal Beasts MC, so can't count that in the RMs list where I rode to.

From this perspective, there is a longer gap of 4 years. RM - RTMC Ishtyle, hosted by Bangalore Bullet club RTMC (Also the first Royal Enfield Bullet club that I had joined when I was in Bangalore) was the last one I had ridden to and that was in 2009. One hell of a ride that was - 4500+kms, From Delhi to Bangalore via Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karntaka, TamilNadu and Kerala. Nothing like riding with Beaster brothers.

In between 2009 and now I had my share of fun away from India in Canada/South Korea and that explains my absence from 2010, 2011 and 2013 RM editions. This time I'm here and there is no way I'm gonna miss the BIGGEST and BADDEST RM of all the time - Rider Mania 2014 "Come Home" edition, by the MadBulls MC Chennai.

So, cutting short all the nostalgia etc, now is the time to give you a short glimpse of the Southern ride that begins post RM2014:

RM plans:

Jan 17: Reach Chennai, Collect the motorcycle. Ride with the Beasters to a place for "Beaster special pre-RM" night.
Jan 18: Ride to the RM venue.
Jan 19: RM fever in full swing!

Southern ride plan:



Jan 20: RM Venue - Pondicherry
Jan 21: Pondicherry - Rameshwaram - Dhanushkodi - Rameshwaram
Jan 22: Rameshwarma - Kanyakumari (and probably - Kovalam (Trivandrum))
Jan 23: Kanyakumari/Kovalam - Verkala - Alleppey (Get on a houseboat and spend the night)
Jan 24: Alleppey - Thekkady - Munnar
Jan 25: Spend a day in/around Munnar
Jan 26: Munnar - Kochi (Ship the bike back to Delhi)
Jan 27: Back to Delhi

Riders: Any comments/suggestions on the above itinerary? Till now only the railways/air tickets bookings have been made, bike shipping arrangements and other details are still in fluid stage - any suggestions are more than welcome :)

RM Ahoy!

P.S.: Oh, and btw, some major changes since the last blog:

  • I have a wonderful company of a permanent pillion - my lovely wife Chiya. She loves traveling as much as I do and is capable of doing extra long rides with me (Has already done a lot of long rides as a pillion.)
  • Another Royal Enfield added to the stable: An LB500 Royal Enfield Machismo. This one ate a lot of my money, time and effort and is now, almost, ready for Dakshin darshan.


4 comments:

Unknown said...

Bhai: couple of suggestions:

1. Instead of Kovalam suggest riding ahead and adding day in Varkala beach. Personally I prefer varkala to Kovalam. Less expensive for one.

2.Would skip Allepey and instead spend a day in Thekkady: boat safari at thekkady is highly recommended!

3. Around Munnar number of places: there is a place called Peeramedu: might want to stay there instead of Munnar.

4. Instead of returning to Kochi from Munnar, would consider riding to Kodaikanal and spending a day there. 2 routes to get to Kodai from Munnar: the regular route which cars/buses take or an alternate route via Top Station which we had taken: hear this route is closed now: make sure clutch is in top form if attempting Top Station route! highest point in south india!:)

5. From Kodaikanal, you can ride to Coimbatore: here try to take the Pazhani Ghat route instead of the regular. Again ensure bike clutch and brake in top form before attempting this! :)

Buy me a Old Monk for more route gyaan! :)

Kam said...

Thanks Roy!

Other than Rameshwaram and Kanyakumari I have done every place on the route already - have company so will be enjoying the remaining route anyway.

Alleppey boat ride is long due. Thekkady boatride already done, will see if we get time for that or not.

Would have done Kodaikanal, but chose to skip it this time (as well) for I didn't had any leaves left.

Kochi, again, is inevitable as we catch our flight from Kochi ;)

Cheers

Muthu said...

Kam, call me. I have a few suggestions.

Mario RJ Corbin said...

Awesome stuff! Looking forward to following you on your journey!

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