tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18993720917346779872024-03-13T20:26:26.490-07:00Recollections from a journeySome of the trip logs from motorcycle trips to various parts of India, and may be a few random thoughts from the walk of life.Kamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00861504569064458606noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1899372091734677987.post-5195893542473795542013-12-23T23:39:00.000-08:002013-12-23T23:39:48.841-08:00The long awaited "RM"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Alright, first of all, its been a long while since I blogged.<br />
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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 <b>"Ten years, one brotherhood"</b> edition of RM <i>hosted by us </i>- the <b>Royal Beasts MC</b>, so can't count that in the RMs list where I rode to.<br />
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From this perspective, there is a longer gap of 4 years. <b>RM - RTMC Ishtyle</b>, 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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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:<br />
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<b>RM plans:</b><br />
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Jan 17: Reach Chennai, Collect the motorcycle. Ride with the Beasters to a place for "Beaster special pre-RM" night.<br />
Jan 18: Ride to the RM venue.<br />
Jan 19: RM fever in full swing!<br />
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<b>Southern ride plan:</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZqRE0NipqrAtdWNvDSazWKgmzBryiWcEzhGdvjeI8TLXistEYRzsGKZ8yeYtL3MwUxTnQAk6IKYvEIDE4mNOGNrrHgNGRGlW9ZNcPmk9kTVDwjHeIC2FOJe0y9bVdeshDYKRZL5x_QL-N/s1600/Route_map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZqRE0NipqrAtdWNvDSazWKgmzBryiWcEzhGdvjeI8TLXistEYRzsGKZ8yeYtL3MwUxTnQAk6IKYvEIDE4mNOGNrrHgNGRGlW9ZNcPmk9kTVDwjHeIC2FOJe0y9bVdeshDYKRZL5x_QL-N/s320/Route_map.jpg" title="Southern India ride 2014" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Jan 20:</b> RM Venue - Pondicherry<br />
<b>Jan 21: </b>Pondicherry - Rameshwaram - Dhanushkodi - Rameshwaram<br />
<b>Jan 22: </b>Rameshwarma - Kanyakumari (and probably - Kovalam (Trivandrum))<br />
<b>Jan 23: </b>Kanyakumari/Kovalam - Verkala - Alleppey (Get on a houseboat and spend the night)<br />
<b>Jan 24: </b>Alleppey - Thekkady - Munnar<br />
<b>Jan 25: </b>Spend a day in/around Munnar<br />
<b>Jan 26: </b>Munnar - Kochi (Ship the bike back to Delhi)<br />
<b>Jan 27: </b>Back to Delhi<br />
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<b>Riders: </b><i>Any comments/suggestions on the above itinerary? </i>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 :)<br />
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<b>RM Ahoy!</b><br />
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P.S.: Oh, and btw, some major changes since the last blog:<br />
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<li>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.)</li>
<li>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.</li>
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Kamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00861504569064458606noreply@blogger.com4New Delhi, Delhi, India28.635308 77.2249600000000128.1893855 76.579513 29.081230499999997 77.870407000000014tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1899372091734677987.post-84847737875366782832008-05-13T08:29:00.000-07:002008-05-19T00:11:26.970-07:00Into the lower HimalayasIts been a few months since I updated this blog for the rides done in between. Thanks to a few friends who have nagged me and successfully managed to get me out of my laziness (uncomfortable for me though!) and document the rides from now on! But No! I hadn't stopped riding!! Dude, come on!!<br /><br />Sumeet called up for a ride on <span style="font-style:italic;">BikeNomads </span>and I wanted to join it. While hectic and unsure schedule at work made me confirm only at the last moment I'm glad I could make it. As with my previous experience with the Delhi nomads, there were only a few names in the riders' list. It was only a matter of time that the list of actual riders turned out to three - including Sumeet, Chintan and myself. Chintan gave us company till Kurukshetra and turned back to catch some sleep.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Day 1:<br />======</span><br /><br />The dayy started for us at around 4.30 AM from Sumeet's place where I'd stayed overnight. We proceeded to the bypass and tanked up.<br /><br />The tappet cover in my bullet was bleeding badly, and when I opened it up I was shocked to see a big crack over there. After checking out the spares and tools I found out that I carried everything but M seal!! Thats how it happens actually, the stuff that you would actually require in life is missing at the time when you need it the most!! With this my ride plans became endangered. I told Sumeet and Chintan to carry on If I don't get a timely aid. No point ruining their ride, when they can ride! I called up my rider friend Rajan, from Royal Beasts, at that early hour of morning to get his advise, and he also repeated the M-seal mantra. Sorry to have woken you up Rajan!!<br /><br />Thanks to Ashwani sir, who was riding with his 60kph group, I got the M-seal to get a quick fix solution. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCl8zXtu5aI/AAAAAAAAIVE/xqilNY0C0tQ/DSC06291.JPG?imgmax=576"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCl8zXtu5aI/AAAAAAAAIVE/xqilNY0C0tQ/DSC06291.JPG?imgmax=576" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Ashwani sir pushed off soon afterwards while we stayed back to replenish our enthu with some hot tea. A good one and a half hour lost in this. <br /><br />We carried on further with this setup and after a while I noticed the oil leaking again, this time from the tappet cover gasket! On this NH1 shit always happens on rides! Last year when I was riding with Sumeet to <span style="font-style:italic;">Hatu peak</span>, Sumeet's avenger wiring went kaput! Around Christmas time when I was riding with Biscuit to <span style="font-style:italic;">Narkanda</span>, I had problems with my carb! And this time it was the tappet cover!! While the ghost of past still haunted the savior was not so far. Pipli (Kurukshetra), where we got help the last two times, came to rescue! I knew a bullet mechanic in Pipli so I thought my troubles were gone. I rode to his shop and damn, it wasn't open yet! Luckily got a spare parts shop next to it which had all what we needed - M-seal gasket sealant, new tappet cover & M seal. We did the mechanic job by ourselves and fixed it so nicely that after this oil didn't even seep through!<br /><br />Another one hour wasted in this operation. We got back on the highway and tried to cover up distance as fast as possible. Fortunately for us the weather Gods were merficul enough to not present us with soaring temperatures. The ride ahead was mostly uneventful till Zeerakpur. After turning to Shimla from Zeerakpur, it was a P.I.T.A$$ riding in that crazy traffic till Pinjaur. We soon caught up with 60kphers at Kalka, where they decided to push off and we decided to take brunch.<br /><br />Now the ghats with smooth tarmac started and lasted till Kufri. As always it was fun to ride in those ghats, the footpegs on my bullet are almost gone now. Next time I'm going to replace these footpeg rubbers with the ones in LB500 bullets with tapered end. The scraping robs one of higher lean angles and more corner speeds! Sumeet was speed happy with CBZ xtreme. As heard earlier from other folks he also repeated the smooth handling and nice performance funda about the bike. Bike apart, he's grown his riding skills in the year I have been ridden with him. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmCSXtu5iI/AAAAAAAAIWc/wMNSdilFyoA/DSC06308.JPG?imgmax=576"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmCSXtu5iI/AAAAAAAAIWc/wMNSdilFyoA/DSC06308.JPG?imgmax=576" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Good going Sumeet!<br /><br />We had crossed Shimla by 3, it was decided that we'll take a tea break at Kufri. Sumeet was so lost in taking the curves on his CBZ that he didn't even notice that he'd passed the place long back!! Finally better sense prevailed and I overtook him to stop for tea/maggie somewhere near Theog.<br /><br />From Theog the road to right goes to Rohru and the other one goes to Rampur via Narkanda. The 60kphers who were behind us took the road to narkanda while we took the one to Rohru. The smooth tarmac disappeared and we had typical hilly roads with bumpy and slippery surface, this reduced our speeds to 30-40 kmph. The reduction in speeds meant more time with surroundings & man!! They were really beautiful!!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCl_xntu5dI/AAAAAAAAIV0/PTv8GCzYWSc/DSC06295.JPG?imgmax=576"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCl_xntu5dI/AAAAAAAAIV0/PTv8GCzYWSc/DSC06295.JPG?imgmax=576" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />As one gets deeper into the hills you find more attention given to you by the people. Then there are kids who wave at you as you pass them and you wave back - this particular thing is a favorite with me. Reminds me of my childhood days when we used to wave at the passing motorcyclists. <br /><br />Till evening 6 o'clock it kept on drizzling and we kept on riding, stopping only to click snaps without getting off from the motorcycle and then move on. Around 6 I wanted to capture a few thematic shots so we stopped. Sumeet was reluctant to stop but I pursuaded him to stop as Rohru was only 40 more kms.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmDDXtu5jI/AAAAAAAAIWk/jy5jf2guMoE/DSC06313.JPG?imgmax=576"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmDDXtu5jI/AAAAAAAAIWk/jy5jf2guMoE/DSC06313.JPG?imgmax=576" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Its the region of Devdaar forests, it is colder than the pine forests regions. When we rode through those forest ranges after our photoshoot it was quite cold. I could have utilised the liner of my riding jacket, which I'd left at home thinking that it would be good enough to bear the cold with a textile riding jacket. To minimize the cold I closed all the air vents and situation came under control! I rode ahead of Sumeet, and he probably got lost somewhere! It was kind of spooky to ride there in the forest roads at the time of night. No I wasn't afraid, but it definitely felt spooky!! I was thinking of finding a tea shop and stopping for Sumeet to catch up but couldn't locate any. By the time I found one I was only 11 kms from Rohru. <br /><br />It definitely was very cold out there! I happily devoured tea and omelette waiting for Sumeet. It was a good half an hour wait for the dude to turn up. It turned out that he'd lost his way somewhere. There is a famous 'Hatkeshwary' temple here @ Hatkoti. The inn managed by the temple charges 50 Rs. for a night's stay. I checked this temple out from far away the next day and it seems I'll try out this dharmshala ;) the next time I ride to this area.<br /><br />We checked in to the PWD guest house at Rohru for 200 Rs. a night stay. It was only dinner which kept us awake till 9.45 PM, once it was over we dunno when we fell asleep!! <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmBbXtu5gI/AAAAAAAAIWM/GCetByooZAo/DSC06303.JPG?imgmax=640"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmBbXtu5gI/AAAAAAAAIWM/GCetByooZAo/DSC06303.JPG?imgmax=640" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Day 2:<br />======</span><br /><br />I thought I heard someone honking a loud horn close to my ears, I slowly opened my eyes and it took me close to a minute to realize it was the 6 AM alarm! Snooze for 1 more hour! <br /><br />At 7 it didn't sound so bad and I got up. A nice view of the hills and river flowing a bit far greeted. What a beauty! Rohru is a laid back place and it is nice to be there to break free from the usual 'bhasad' of the city life. As such there are no tourist places to visit in Rohru and even if there are any, we were not 'tourists'! We'll find our own places and feel what we really feel there.<br /><br />While looking at the road maps we found an interesting road to Chakrata. Sumeet looked at me questioningly and both of us were game for the new route instantly!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmD0Xtu5lI/AAAAAAAAIW4/3ZzhFAtIAis/DSC06316.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmD0Xtu5lI/AAAAAAAAIW4/3ZzhFAtIAis/DSC06316.JPG?imgmax=512" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />After getting ready we paid the guest housekeeper and thanked him for the nice tea and dinner.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmFVntu5nI/AAAAAAAAIXI/Jx2niozS_og/DSC06321.JPG?imgmax=576"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmFVntu5nI/AAAAAAAAIXI/Jx2niozS_og/DSC06321.JPG?imgmax=576" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />The river was not to be missed at any cost, so we found out a tractor trail leading to the river. Bingo! How time flew by the river we never realized!! Its so soothing to just sit on the banks of a river and just watch it flow by. You get some random thoughts, your mind wanders from one thing to another in a flow, its like the river you are watching.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmLMntu5wI/AAAAAAAAIYQ/SknfijSmwQw/DSC06339.JPG?imgmax=576"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmLMntu5wI/AAAAAAAAIYQ/SknfijSmwQw/DSC06339.JPG?imgmax=576" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmJa3tu5sI/AAAAAAAAIXw/Y6zvu7Hpu10/DSC06331.JPG?imgmax=576"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmJa3tu5sI/AAAAAAAAIXw/Y6zvu7Hpu10/DSC06331.JPG?imgmax=576" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />A few random clicks and we decided to take the road to Chakrata. The roads were as bumpy as hilly roads in the interiors are. We kept on riding along river Pabbar, I occasionally stopped to click a picture or two while Sumeet kept on riding. In around half an hour of riding we did some 25 kms of riding, which going by the standard speeds in hilly roads was quite good. We stopped in a village called Sanail for breakfast. This is a place from where Uttaranchal begins. The locals here are either Himachalis or Nepalis. We'd hot tea and omelette for breakfast and we pushed off to Tiuni. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmPkHtu52I/AAAAAAAAIZE/4eZBlEuSt90/DSC06348.JPG?imgmax=576"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmPkHtu52I/AAAAAAAAIZE/4eZBlEuSt90/DSC06348.JPG?imgmax=576" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />The roads are bumpy and at places have no tar but only dust and gravel. The scenery around makes for the absence of good roads, It was an awesome experience riding on those beautiful roads. Hilly roads are a different area altogether when it comes to riding or even for driving. You can easily identify who has ridden/driven in the hills before. Any sensible rider/driver in the hills makes way for the vehicle climbing the slope and takes curves wisely and without efforts. The alternates are mostly people from plains who think the road has shrunk in side and if they go a bit more to left there vehicle is gonna fall to the Gorge below! They will never leave road for you nor is overtaking these guys easy! A basic courtesy of waving after someone has made way for you to overtake makes everyone happy! <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmcantu6GI/AAAAAAAAIbM/wOGgpYMBjmc/DSC06368.JPG?imgmax=576"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmcantu6GI/AAAAAAAAIbM/wOGgpYMBjmc/DSC06368.JPG?imgmax=576" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmRqntu55I/AAAAAAAAIZc/XAOfItpqyU4/DSC06352.JPG?imgmax=576"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmRqntu55I/AAAAAAAAIZc/XAOfItpqyU4/DSC06352.JPG?imgmax=576" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />A santro driver from Punjab was one such moron, I overtook him for good and made sure that he stays way behind so as to never bother me again. We soon covered the distance to Tiuni. Sumeet was riding ahead and he missed the turn to Chakrata. I stopped at the turn, asked the locals and proceeded in the right direction. I had doubted that Sumeet would have missed this turn, so I checked up with the locals if they had seen a Red bike passing by minutes ago. I was greeted by a No and an FYI that my lights were switched ON ;) - As I do when on a ride, I smiled and told them that I'd kept them switched ON knowingly! I dialled Sumeet's number and it was not reacheable, As I proceeded further I could see the river Pabbar flowing and the other road running in parallel with it. I saw Sumeet's red bike. Perhaps he'd also realized that something was amiss! I waved frantically from this end and tried to put the reflections from my visor in that direction. I think it worked and he saw me and turned back to catch up with me. From here it was a stretch of good 20 kms which is only made of big gravel. We rode steadily at 20-30kmph. What a beauty around!! It was pine forest all around with the pine cones all around the road. We gained altitude with each twist and turn of the road. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmQoHtu54I/AAAAAAAAIZU/RL6SJxg2zUk/DSC06351.JPG?imgmax=576"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmQoHtu54I/AAAAAAAAIZU/RL6SJxg2zUk/DSC06351.JPG?imgmax=576" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmWe3tu5_I/AAAAAAAAIaQ/BSu_LlA3ezc/DSC06359.JPG?imgmax=576"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmWe3tu5_I/AAAAAAAAIaQ/BSu_LlA3ezc/DSC06359.JPG?imgmax=576" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />The bottle of water I was carrying was empty and I was looking for a source of natural drinking water. There are lots of places in hills where there is some naturally filtered water comes out of roots of a few plants. I found one and replenished our supply of water. It was chilled and good tasting water. <br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmYtXtu6BI/AAAAAAAAIag/pKlh3h0fiWs/DSC06361.JPG?imgmax=720"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmYtXtu6BI/AAAAAAAAIag/pKlh3h0fiWs/DSC06361.JPG?imgmax=720" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />The road ahead was mostly an offroad only, and we had a good time riding on them. The beauty of Garhwal hills was beginning to show itself. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmdPHtu6HI/AAAAAAAAIbU/6tzqU6wqbF8/DSC06369.JPG?imgmax=576"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmdPHtu6HI/AAAAAAAAIbU/6tzqU6wqbF8/DSC06369.JPG?imgmax=576" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmeOXtu6II/AAAAAAAAIbc/Y9Lj3KAZRxU/DSC06370.JPG?imgmax=576"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmeOXtu6II/AAAAAAAAIbc/Y9Lj3KAZRxU/DSC06370.JPG?imgmax=576" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />I stopped a few kms short of Deoban to check out the view of the valley, after switching off the engine what I felt is totally unjustified with my words here. The sweet sound of whisting of the wind in my ears and a very beautiful view with absolutely no one around and a road that does not have any tar was just smashing! Time was running out on us and we had be back in Delhi the same day. I quickly clicked a picture or two and got back on the road. Moving ahead the road remained what it was before, gained some more altitude and at last we found the road leading to Deoban. The board indicated it was a forest reserve area. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmZtXtu6CI/AAAAAAAAIao/87R_TwLOgUg/DSC06363.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmZtXtu6CI/AAAAAAAAIao/87R_TwLOgUg/DSC06363.JPG?imgmax=512" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Riding on this road to Deoban was the highlight of the day. Gained altitude quickly and the road was simply small gravel and big gravel and bigger gravel. And occasionally some sharp edged big stones as well. It was already quarter past two and we didn't know where and what exactly this Deoban was! However we kept riding and fortunately came across a few people who told that Deoban was a few miles ahead. This road started resembling a trail in the jungle, the devdaar trees all around sending nice cool whistling winds everywhere. We found a local at the gate leading to Deoban forest colony who told us about a maggie/tea shop in the other road to Mundali. Earlier we had thought of stopping by Chakrata for our lunch but with this find we decided to save chakrata for future trips and proceeded to the shop ahead. It was a small time house located at a beautiful spot in the forest. We ordered tea and maggie and interacted with the locals there. I was told that the place is called as Kauntarani. The few people who live there are Jaunsari and Garhwali people making their living on agriculture and animal breeding. They told they had fields elesewhere. May be they have something in Mundali village. Shankar, a local dude, advised us to start back from Chakrata in time jokingly quipping "Mumbai ka fashion aur chakrata ka mausam kabhi bhi badal sakta hai"!! The clock was ticking towards 4PM and we decided to better take Shankar's advise and push off to reach Delhi.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmjkHtu6NI/AAAAAAAAIcE/vWELuUi3SEQ/DSC06376.JPG?imgmax=576"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmjkHtu6NI/AAAAAAAAIcE/vWELuUi3SEQ/DSC06376.JPG?imgmax=576" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />From Chakrata till Sahiya the roads were okayish, after Sahiya the stretch till a few kms before Vikasnagar was a real bad stretch. We were tired of the offroading and this portion was not offroading but potholed broken roads!! Towards VikasNagar I soon hit NH123 and I opened the throttle only to stop in VikasNagar at an IndianOil petrol pump. I tanked up, had tea and waited for Sumeet to catch up. It was good half an hour wait and after a while Sumeet called up from Paonta sahib!! He'd not stopped and apparently I'd missed seeing him overtake me. Anyways, after that I rode fast to catch up with him. Sun was almost about to go down, it was a perfect lovely shot material but then I had packed my camera for the day and since I had a long way to go I didn't stop to click that sunset. I soon spotted Sumeet waiting, and we carried on further. <br /><br />By the time it got dark we had crossed nahan, we won't find any more ghats from here onwards. It was somewhere here that we got separated. <br /><br />Some drizzling here and there but I kept on riding. After crossing this stretch of NH72 and loosing my way once (and getting confused whether Sumeet was ahead of me or behind me!!) I finally managed to reach NH 1!! I waited at a dhabha for Sumeet to catch up while I ordered dinner. After half an hour he called up and I directed him to this dhabha. It turned out that he'd also lost his way at the same place I had!! <br /><br />After dinner it was plain road negotiation with the truckers till I reached Gurgaon. One particular thing about these truck drivers at night time on any of the Indian highways is that they seem to be racing against each other. One trucker driving at 46 kmph trying to overtake another trucker who's driving at 45 kmph!! Too much of frustration sometimes!! <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmhHntu6LI/AAAAAAAAIb0/DhelohyLfyE/DSC06374.JPG?imgmax=576"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SCmhHntu6LI/AAAAAAAAIb0/DhelohyLfyE/DSC06374.JPG?imgmax=576" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />When you have had a full day of riding, you get a sore arse and all your thoughts after that are on reaching home and thats what all was on my mind!! I soon found myself in Delhi, lost for roads!! Sumeet reached his place in Delhi after a while and I got clear directions from him and soon made my way to Gurgaon.<br /><br />Too much of fun - offroading in total unplanned area. Up there from Tiuni it really was the road Less travelled. I'm glad I took that road, it made my ride!!<br /><br /><br />Click <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/BreakFreeRide">here</a> for pictures by me;)<br /><br />And <a href="http://picasaweb.google.co.in/DEL430/RohruDeoban02">here</a> for Sumeet's pictures.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Ride stats:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Riders:</span><br />Sumeet on Hero Honda CBZ xtreme<br />Kam on RE Thunderbird<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Route:</span><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Day 1:</span><br /><br />Delhi - Sonipat - Panipat - Karnal - Kurukshetra - Ambala - Kalka - Solan - Shimla - Kufri - Theog - Jubbal - Hatkoti - Rohru<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Odo: 475 kms</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Day 2:</span><br /><br />Rohru - Tiuni - Deoban - Chakrata - VikasNagar - Paonta Sahib - Nahan - Ambala - Karnal - Delhi - Gurgaon<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Odo: 593 kms</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Overall ride distance: 1068 kms</span><br /><br />Bye till the next time!<br />Ride safe!Kamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00861504569064458606noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1899372091734677987.post-28219344602284823172007-10-21T01:50:00.000-07:002007-12-10T00:06:12.318-08:00Morning offroadIt has happened after almost three months that I'm back on the saddle. <br /><br />On and Off, thats what life is all about. All we are left with is an option and attitude to look at these ONs and OFFs and getting back on track or Sulk!<br /><br />Sumeet came to my place on friday night and a call to Hitanshu set us up for this small ride to a non nondescript lake somewhere between Delhi and Faridabad. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/RxsHVl9Tl-I/AAAAAAAAE2s/KxIytI3lZnQ/DSC04440.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px;" src="http://lh5.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/RxsHVl9Tl-I/AAAAAAAAE2s/KxIytI3lZnQ/DSC04440.JPG?imgmax=512" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />It was a bit of offroading. I have done better offroadings in Kemmanagundi and galibore but this one felt good. Coming after a break feels good, after all!<br /><br />A good part of the time was wasted in the search of the lake. It was a bit frustrating to get lost in the bushes full of thorns. Hitanshu, particularly, had a difficult time managing his way through these thorns - thanks to the three quarter he wore! For once we thought we were not going to find this lake. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/RxsHCV9Tl7I/AAAAAAAAE2U/JQPaeN1iVrg/DSC04434.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/RxsHCV9Tl7I/AAAAAAAAE2U/JQPaeN1iVrg/DSC04434.JPG?imgmax=512" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />We had lost all the hope and had accepted the fact that we were 'Lost'! So we decided to take the route back and bang! Few meters ahead we find the lake on the left side! <br /><br />Relaxing by the lake was really fun. All of us had a great time. Pix are <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/JheelOffroad">here</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEud5f1fDKzUWhxDlEeBFKMI3eXcv0oA4K-3g0Pm4-xeUur6iPeiKHg9BbLU9tjvi5dwIiUptifGtOnFP8oOnHejqPsiWq557TPdLwJVSIaLtwM_SOjtMR6wfHhSzD95-3SBjTeT6Pf9Gu/s1600-h/collage1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEud5f1fDKzUWhxDlEeBFKMI3eXcv0oA4K-3g0Pm4-xeUur6iPeiKHg9BbLU9tjvi5dwIiUptifGtOnFP8oOnHejqPsiWq557TPdLwJVSIaLtwM_SOjtMR6wfHhSzD95-3SBjTeT6Pf9Gu/s320/collage1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5123734765539924354" /></a><br />Camaan the Enjaaiment!!<br /><br />Oh yeah, incidently this was somewhat 'first' ride of Silver Bullets Delhi NCR chapter as well!!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/RxsHO19Tl9I/AAAAAAAAE2k/1S2cIuVQy9Q/DSC04437.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px;" src="http://lh6.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/RxsHO19Tl9I/AAAAAAAAE2k/1S2cIuVQy9Q/DSC04437.JPG?imgmax=512" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Time to plan for some trips now :DKamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00861504569064458606noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1899372091734677987.post-13126261633468295552007-07-17T05:35:00.000-07:002007-07-17T22:25:23.819-07:00MR #1: Narkanda, Hatu & ShimlaMountains Rides inaugurated! Absolute break-free types ride!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/RpxYVEjiTfI/AAAAAAAAEOk/lo8YKSzDJS8/DSC04009.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/RpxYVEjiTfI/AAAAAAAAEOk/lo8YKSzDJS8/DSC04009.JPG?imgmax=512" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />And yeah, it marks the start of rides for me, finally ;)<br /><br />I'm not sure how it would feel to you if you were in my place - sitting so close to himalayas, flagging off friends to Ladakh almost every weekend, getting frustrated with the unending heat in Delhi, no rides happening in the clubs and stuck in office for things that don't seem to be going in any direction!<br /><br />I had an engine rebuilt towards june end (Yes, too soon! Shit happens, I just happened to be that unlucky fella!). Sumeet proposed this ride to Hatu peak and I joined in without any hesitations.<br /><br />A day before the ride Sumeet called up to tell that it was only me and him turning finally for the ride :D (of the 11-12 guys). No issues. We had plans to beat the heat by starting verrry early in the morning! I got up at arnd 2.30 after 2 hours of sleep and after getting ready started for AIIMS, Delhi - our meeting point. It started pouring before I could reach there, and while waiting for Sumeet I screwed up my mobile in the rains.<br /><br />It was a rainy ride in the first half of the day. Sumeet's avenger refused to start as the wiring went kaput some 20 kms short of kurukshetra. To get the jugaad wiring done it costed us a delay of 5 hours! Lack of sleep and hunger were pressing the need to open up the redbull drinks and it was a relief. After getting the wiring done we stopped by a Dhabha to have our lunch. A very tasty lunch indeed!<br /><br />We moved on towards Chandigarh on NH1, after Ambala it was a diversion to NH22 from where we rode in two lane highway. The traffic situation was hopeless in highway near Panchkula because of the ongoing flyover construction. It was very hot to negotiate the way through that traffic having the riding jacket and helmet on! <br /><br />5 minutes of gruelling heat at the railway crossing after Panchkula and after that it was an easy ride till Kalkaji. Refuelled and more redbulls bought.<br /><br />First photo cum butt break. Some pix clicked and we rode again.<br /><br />Ghats begin and as usual its time for me to rock and roll :D kept on riding. After Solan one butt break and catching up with Sumeet and we were good to reach Shimla in time. Found out the way to Narkanda, crossed the Shimla concrete jungle and stopped at Kufri to fill in our stomachs.<br /><br />We got another rider Navneet a.k.a. Nav here, he was riding solo to Ladakh (For 3rd time) on his Pulsar 200. From here it was three of us riding together in the night to reach Narkanda.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/RpxTRUjiTJI/AAAAAAAAEL0/wycmVsxuaQA/DSC03974.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/RpxTRUjiTJI/AAAAAAAAEL0/wycmVsxuaQA/DSC03974.JPG?imgmax=512" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Riding in those ghats in the night brought back the memories of night driving in Uttaranchal in my Mahindra jeep. It was cold when we reached Narkanda. <br /><br />And what a place, after ages I could see a clear and star studded sky. We got a room in HP PWD guest house and it was time to sleep after 500 kms covered in the day.<br /><br />Next morning we woke up late and after breakfast it was time to ride to Hatu peak. The three of us riding to the top of Hatu peak in a road just wide enough to accomodate a car/sumo and with a good inclination. Soon we covered the final 6 kms of this ascent and we were there on the top! What a sight!!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/RpxWoUjiTaI/AAAAAAAAEN8/0Ua2lHQ-HQk/DSC03999.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/RpxWoUjiTaI/AAAAAAAAEN8/0Ua2lHQ-HQk/DSC03999.JPG?imgmax=512" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Time to pose next to the board. Yeah yeah.. it does not look great in comparison with all those high altitude passes but wat the heck! We had a great time up there and no use comparing it with anything else :D!!<br /><br />It was cold up there and totally worth it! Thanks to Hitanshu for suggesting that to Sumeet! We were running short of time and so we pushed off to Shimla while Nav pushed off on his ride to Ladakh. It was nice meeting you Nav!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/RpxSt0jiTHI/AAAAAAAAELk/tVpq2Mnrjbk/DSC03972.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px;" src="http://lh6.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/RpxSt0jiTHI/AAAAAAAAELk/tVpq2Mnrjbk/DSC03972.JPG?imgmax=512" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />I caught up with Boodie a.k.a. Shashi and Redbull a.k.a. Kartik in Shimla. A great evening spent in Shimla with my SB buddies. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/RpxY9UjiTiI/AAAAAAAAEO8/0aDYaF95fuk/DSC04013.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/RpxY9UjiTiI/AAAAAAAAEO8/0aDYaF95fuk/DSC04013.JPG?imgmax=512" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />On the way back the ride was mostly okayish. Except for the flat tyre which took one and a half hours of our time and drained us in mid day sun! Most of the ride back to Gurgaon was done in night time and it was done well! By 11.45 PM we were in Gurgaon, back home. To the same insanity of the same old city woes!<br /><br />Adieus till MR #2.<br /><br />Click <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/HatuPeakTrip">here</a> for pictures ;)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Ride stats:</span><br /><br />Riders with me:<br />Sumeet on Bajaj Avenger<br /><br />On the way back:<br />Shashi on R.E. Machismo,<br />Kartik on R.E. ThunderBird.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Route:</span><br /><br />Gurgaon - Delhi - Sonipat - Panipat - Karnal - Kurukshetra - Ambala - Kalka - Solan - Shimla - Kufri - Theog - Narkanda - Hatu peak<br /><br />Overall ride distance: 996 kmsKamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00861504569064458606noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1899372091734677987.post-80510548078876571462007-05-19T10:59:00.000-07:002007-07-17T11:07:30.118-07:00Silver Bullets Bangalore - The maiden rideThe first things in life always have great importance - the first love, first bike, first job... & first ride!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/Rk9CuzUxyoI/AAAAAAAADfs/bVrVMwsnPso/DSC03689.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/Rk9CuzUxyoI/AAAAAAAADfs/bVrVMwsnPso/DSC03689.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a>My first group ride was a real special affair - 270 kms Bangalore - Madikeri ride was 400 kms odd, don't ask me how! All sort of things happened on that ride, all new riders riding in every directions possible and with an erratic coordination & communication on the ride. In spite of all the mess ups it was a great experience and a great insight to what we were lacking! Some of my friends here, who are now seasoned bikers and who were there in that ride, can vouch for the great experience we had on that ride!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.silver-bullets.org">Silver Bullets</a> Bangalore chapter had 10+ members for quite sometime and it was decided in our first meet in cafe coffee day that we should ride as often as we can. So this ride happened!<br /><br />By the time the proposal to ride was posted by Anup on group I had got my transfer orders to Gurgaon! I was sad! I have great friends here, not to mention anyone in particular - everyone has been so good. All my biker friends, and this place Bangalore - Oh my gawd! I'll miss all of them! Anyhow, this sense of loss lasted till I had a couple of beers!<br /><br />Its life! We move on, with the good memories. I'll cherish the time I had here, and will remember my friends & the brotherhood I enjoyed with these wonderful guys. At the same time its time for me to make my parents happy and mebbe time for me to become a Royal Beaster!!<br /><br />So, I joined the ride :) - Even if its my last ride with these guys Let us make it to the fullest. So the other riders joined in!<br /><br />Almost all the guys were on time at the meeting point - a rather good foundation for future rides ;) - Punctuality! Shashi lead the way and all of us followed to Magadi with me being the sweep ;) - A calm, slow & peaceful ride to magadi. We had our breakfast there and then we headed on to our main destination - Savandurga. Combination of good and bad roads.<br /><br />We trekked up to the first wall, luckily it was cloudy then. As we were resting under a rock the clouds disappeared and we thought not to waste our energies in the hot sun.<br /><br />Down the hill and on our way to Manchinabele dam. A ride through newly laid roads going through forest areas - buzzing with tons of butterflies. Two of them banged on my visor... sorry!!<br /><br />This was my second visit to Manchinabele area & the first one to the dam water.<br />I bet this would be a great ride for pictures if done in early morning time! I think I have seen some of Srikeerthi's <a href="http://www.jeetenge.com/imagevue/">pix</a> - which were real good!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RlCN0TUxzDI/AAAAAAAADlM/dhnztz4u2F0/Silver-Bullets---1st-ride-040.jpg?imgmax=512"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RlCN0TUxzDI/AAAAAAAADlM/dhnztz4u2F0/Silver-Bullets---1st-ride-040.jpg?imgmax=512" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RlCN6jUxzEI/AAAAAAAADlY/VSHCSN23bR0/Silver-Bullets---1st-ride-043%282%29.jpg?imgmax=512"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RlCN6jUxzEI/AAAAAAAADlY/VSHCSN23bR0/Silver-Bullets---1st-ride-043%282%29.jpg?imgmax=512" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/Rk9BvzUxyhI/AAAAAAAADe0/Zk4SDNlZCSM/DSC03677.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/Rk9BvzUxyhI/AAAAAAAADe0/Zk4SDNlZCSM/DSC03677.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />It was afternoon time and was pretty hot there. Kartik and I decided to take off our shoes and take a walk in the shallow waters. That was a good experience.<br /><br />I shot an introduction video there -><br /><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sMzZiDwjD8c"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sMzZiDwjD8c" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="350" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />While coming back we got divided in two groups - LJ, Anup and me on an offtrack and Shashi, Ajey and Kartik on a smooth track! Finally we met at Kadu Mane and had a great lunch over there.<br /><br />These guys (Ajey, Anup, Shashi) had Tatte Idlis.. However, being a north Indian this thing always sounds funny to me! ROTFL kinds.. only if u know what that means :P!! Hehe<br /><br />Whats there in a name! Lo - all these guys are tatte idli fans!! :P<br /><br />A peaceful ride home through BMIC smooth roads - no land speed record this time, my Bull needs servicing, tyres need truing and air filter needs a replacement!<br /><br />Don't know when I'll ride with SB Bangalore again, I just know that we had a great time today & I hope that these guys will keep on riding :). May the SB Bangalore chapter increase!<br /><br />We'll meet again guys.. the roads never end.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ride Stats:</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Pix @ http://picasaweb.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SBBangaloreFirstRide<br />Route:<br />Bangalore - Magadi - Savandurga - Manchinabele dam - Kadu Mane - Bangalore<br />Distance: 165 kms (Approx.)</span><br />** Photo credits: Love Joshi and myselfKamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00861504569064458606noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1899372091734677987.post-71311448684742404462007-05-13T10:17:00.000-07:002007-07-17T11:07:01.136-07:00Caman da Coorg!It was this friday that I got to know that I was getting transferred to Gurgaon.. Felt sad and bad to leave Bangalore & I know for sure that I'll miss my buddies here.<br /><br />And the RIDES :((!<br /><br />I rode to Cloud Valley resort in Coorg with RTMC & enjoyed it fully.<br /><br />In the morning it was time for some sight-seeing-riding in which a stream crossing also happened - here is a video I shot -><br /><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ae22dMa5uVw"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ae22dMa5uVw" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br /><br />That was one cool but eventful ride. I will be updating this blog after a while, tired a bit now so gotta get some rest.Kamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00861504569064458606noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1899372091734677987.post-33430460843864401552007-04-08T20:25:00.000-07:002007-07-17T11:08:26.167-07:00Riding solo to God's own countryRiding solo was something that I had never done before this ride. One crazy idea developed over tea time with Deb, Anup and Sathish took its real shape when I opened up my Eicher road map. Got a decent idea about the places/roads & decided to give it a shot. No time constraints so I thought to continue the ride till I feel like getting back.<br /><br />Posting this crazy idea on <a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bullet-bangalore/">RTMC</a> and got responses which warned about the high temperatures in Kerala. Friends at Trivandrum (<a href="http://www.silver-bullets.org/">Silver Bullets</a> & <a href="http://www.bikenomads.com/">BikeNomads</a> groups) encouraged me to take up the ride & so I decided to face the temperatures whatever they were. In my 8 days ride through Kerala, I felt this heat only once (Kalpetta to Fort Kochi, 2nd day) and rest of the days I managed to skip that heat owing to early morning riding.<br /><br />Here is a day by day log of this ride -<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Day 1: The awesome ghat experience<br /><br /></span>Started from Bangalore on 30th March towards Kalpetta (Wayanad), reached Kalpetta in good time to visit Lakkidi view point, Vythri and couple of other places with great ghat roads.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RhjjojZ8CaI/AAAAAAAACII/cBzZ-yu9JQk/DSC03020.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RhjjojZ8CaI/AAAAAAAACII/cBzZ-yu9JQk/DSC03020.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Here I had a different experience when I entered a restaurant.<br /><br />I was kind of shocked to see two glasses served to everyone - one containing water and other containing a whisky colored liquid. Bachhe, budhdhay aur jawan everyone was drinking that! Now that was something very new to me, asked the waiter and came to know that it was hot water mixed with some herbs known as <span style="font-style: italic;">Chukku vellam </span>.. good for health! That was something I saw everywhere in Kerala.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ride stats: </span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Route: </span>Bangalore -> Mandya -> Mysore -> Nanjangud -> Gundulpet -> Sultan bathery -> Kalpetta<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Distance: </span>300<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>kms<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>to Kalpetta & overall around 400 kms<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span><br />Time taken: </span>6 hours (to reach Kalpetta)<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Road condition: </span>Excellent in most parts and manageable in others, the roads are re-laid in Bandipur stretch<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Stop overs: </span>Kadu Mane for breakfast<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Day 2: Riders' test - NH17. Fort Kochi rocks!<br /><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RhjjyjZ8CcI/AAAAAAAACIY/qWDjjDajQC4/DSC03026.JPG?imgmax=640"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RhjjyjZ8CcI/AAAAAAAACIY/qWDjjDajQC4/DSC03026.JPG?imgmax=640" alt="" border="0" /></a>From Kalpetta I started for Fort Kochi through NH17. What a highway! At some places its just like a street road barely enough for a truck and a bike to pass! That was the only time I felt the heat in Kerala. Fort Kochi was a nice place and have the touch of the portugese and dutch cultures. I wished I had reached there earlier so that I could visit these places. May be next time.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ride stats: </span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Route: </span><span>Kalpetta - Vythri - Calicut - Ponnani - Chavakkad - Parur - Ernakulam - Fort Kochi</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Distance: </span><span>280 kms</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Time taken: </span><span>Around 7 hours<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Road condition: </span><span>The ghat roads from Wayanad to Calicut are excellent, NH17 in most of the stretches is like a street lane. Finding a lonely stretch of road in kerala is almost impossible </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Stop overs: </span><span>Many along the way</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Day 3: Hitted by a bird<br /><br /></span>I started at around 6 AM in the morning and reached trivandrum in good time for breakfast. While riding through Kollam I was hit by a bird, man thats really a good force - just felt like somebody had punched me in the arm!! Rest of the ride was uneventful. Jay came to receive me in trivandrum and from there I was with friends. It was good to meet Jay, Anil, BT, Moonie after I had met them in the BikeNomads anniversary ride to Goa. We had a small group ride to Kovalam beach with Jay leading & Moonie sweeping with me and Anil in the middle. What a beautiful beach!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RhjmSTZ8CuI/AAAAAAAACKo/jLxZ5tmS0uc/DSC03114.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://lh6.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RhjmSTZ8CuI/AAAAAAAACKo/jLxZ5tmS0uc/DSC03114.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />An awesome time on Kovalam beach, with tasty Kerala style sea-food & beer. I just went with Jay's suggestions about the kerala specialities and I was happy with the taste. Small meet with silver bullet members BT, Jay, Subodh at CCD, Trivandrum. I had plans to go to Kanyakumari next morning.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ride stats: </span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Route: </span><span>Fort Kochi - Alleppey - Kayankulam - Quilon - Attingal - Trivandrum</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Distance: </span><span>220 kms approx</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Time taken: </span><span>3 hours, 15 mins approx.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Road condition: </span><span>Some parts of the road before Quilon are bumpy else otherwise smooth roads. I rode there in the morning time so no issues with the cops, else highway police all along this stretch with white/brown qualises catch the 80+ kmph people.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Stop overs: </span><span>Two tea breaks along the highway</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Day 4: The beach where choppers fly<br /><br /></span>The mosquitoes helped me in postponing my kanyakumari plans till my next visit & instead got up late and went to Varkala (Helipad) beach & had a nice time over there.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/Rhjm3jZ8CzI/AAAAAAAACLQ/4jmZQu2eum4/DSC03143.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/Rhjm3jZ8CzI/AAAAAAAACLQ/4jmZQu2eum4/DSC03143.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />What a beach, much more exciting than Kovalam!! Evening time meeting/dining with Jay's friends. I decided to say goodbye to Trivandrum the next day.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Day 5: Ghats and the ride, boat ride<br /><br /></span>Started from Trivandrum to Thekkady after having my breakfast, till Chenganacherry I rode along the backwaters & from there it was ghat roads all the way to Thekkady. I wanted more and more ghats and my wishes were being fulfilled.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RhjssjZ8DOI/AAAAAAAACOo/-8nX7Uy_MPs/DSC03260.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RhjssjZ8DOI/AAAAAAAACOo/-8nX7Uy_MPs/DSC03260.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Some riding around Thekkady & Periyar. What a place, small but beautiful.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ride stats: </span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Route: </span><span>Trivandrum - Quilon - Alleppey - Changanacheri - Kanjirapalli - Pirmed - Vandeperiyar - Thekkadi</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Distance: </span><span>280 kms approx</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Time taken: </span><span>8 hours approx</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Road condition: </span><span>Great roads!</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Stop overs: </span><span>Many along the way for tea, lunch, photos etc.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Day 6/7: Belting in Munnar<br /><br /></span>I got up early in the morning and had a nice morning boat ride in Periyar lake, after which I moved on to Munnar. I had been to Munnar in Aug, last year with my friends. It was raining then & as all the people say - kerala looks most beautiful when it rains there, it was great then.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXwa-r7XQyQsbC4hZrOURT_A5PHbCHviUgMxv3qFiRxx9T26sIRCa5rgdKQiCclC4pPwFQ08jWuCbKuVnfQ7hlA-SoifZJUlqdfi0krrjKqNMJVyI0gMVkWfn16L58C7e2kcU1WpbQuqVV/s1600-h/DSC03299.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXwa-r7XQyQsbC4hZrOURT_A5PHbCHviUgMxv3qFiRxx9T26sIRCa5rgdKQiCclC4pPwFQ08jWuCbKuVnfQ7hlA-SoifZJUlqdfi0krrjKqNMJVyI0gMVkWfn16L58C7e2kcU1WpbQuqVV/s400/DSC03299.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5060311607253501666" border="0" /></a><br />This time I was alone & it was not raining but still I found out - Munnar is Munnar. It rocks <img src="http://www.bcmtouring.com/forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif" alt="Smile" border="0" /> !<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RhjvkDZ8DkI/AAAAAAAACRs/khYwm2_OX8g/DSC03365.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://lh5.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RhjvkDZ8DkI/AAAAAAAACRs/khYwm2_OX8g/DSC03365.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Lots of riding around munnar - explored almost all the roads leading out ot munnar, went to all the desolate places and found some great views from there.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ride stats: </span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Route: </span><span>Thekkadi - Poopara - Devikulum - Munnar</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Distance: </span><span>120 kms</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Time taken: </span><span>3 hours</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Road condition: </span><span>First 25 kms pathetic (under repairs), the rest of the route is awesome!</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Stop overs: </span><span>Many along the way, for tea</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Day 8: Mama, I'm coming home<br /><br /></span>I was contemplating going to Palakkad and doing one of Neliampathy/Marmpuzha but then by that time I had lost the enthu for going to these places, better to go there in the rainy season. And so dropped the plan and Started on my way back to Bangalore on 7th April early morning. Boy, it was cold!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RhjwQzZ8DsI/AAAAAAAACS8/52pJIOGk5s4/DSC03394.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RhjwQzZ8DsI/AAAAAAAACS8/52pJIOGk5s4/DSC03394.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a>430 kms done in 9 hours - gud enuf for my kind of riding with ample breaks. Back to Bangalore life again <img src="http://www.bcmtouring.com/forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif" alt="Smile" border="0" /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ride stats: </span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Route: </span><span>Munnar - Mariyoor - Udmalpettai - Palladam - Tiruppur - Vijaymangalam - Perundarai - Bhavani - Mettur - Dharampuri byepass - Rayakottai - Hosur - Bangalore</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Distance: </span><span>430 kms approx</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Time taken: </span><span>9 hours</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Road condition: </span><span>Mostly the roads are in good condition except for a few stretches between Rayakottai and Dharampuri byepass.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Stop overs: </span><span>Many along the way for tea/energy drinks/lunch.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Overall Ride stats:<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOGP5T1dLzmbqpyG2xIR_AK8NXwhU_jB1YPcv2x_J8w6NMcocJ6KyXU5AyFo5DQBxHaVdHbaIZGOJuWoi95u5jIrMAuB62qYuEAKrRE3N8noZExLxR1NJ-fKpAdaSw6XNnYGdovFcDZWwZ/s1600-h/Kerala_Ride+copy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOGP5T1dLzmbqpyG2xIR_AK8NXwhU_jB1YPcv2x_J8w6NMcocJ6KyXU5AyFo5DQBxHaVdHbaIZGOJuWoi95u5jIrMAuB62qYuEAKrRE3N8noZExLxR1NJ-fKpAdaSw6XNnYGdovFcDZWwZ/s400/Kerala_Ride+copy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5052005196181502050" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Route: </span><span>Bangalore - Mysore - Kalpetta - Calicut - Cochin - Alleppey - Trivandrum - Alleppey - Thekkadi - Munnar - Udmalpettai - Tiruppur - Mettur - Hosur - Bangalore<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Duration: </span>8 days<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Distance: </span><span>2131 kms</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><br />Overall 2131 kms in 8 days. Refuelled the cheapeast fuel in Kerala - 45.83 bucks a litre <img src="http://www.bcmtouring.com/forum/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif" alt="Wink" border="0" /> full to the brim! This has been my biggest ride so far! Rather than covering long distances I saw places and that is what was a real plus ;)<br /><br />Riding solo was an entirely difference for me, the first of its kind. A creative mp3 player kept me good company - though expensive but proved its worth on the ride.<br /><br />So far so good - have seen both the sides now - solo & group rides. I rode solo & enjoyed the experience, I went wherever my whims took me to. Followed all the good looking roads, went to places which were really very beautiful and mostly untouched.<br /><br />Riding in those Kerala ghats was a real pleasure to me & both the footrests on my bull stand the 'scraping' testimony to the rocking time I had in ghats in Wayanad, Thekkady and Munnar <img src="http://www.bcmtouring.com/forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="Very Happy" border="0" />.<br />The bike's response was superb and did not have any issue on the whole ride <img src="http://www.bcmtouring.com/forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif" alt="Smile" border="0" /> with this ride now my bull is 6 months and 12K kms old.<br /><br />More pictures are available for view at:<br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SoloRideToKerala" target="_blank">http://picasaweb.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/SoloRideToKerala</a>Kamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00861504569064458606noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1899372091734677987.post-68255500090037408712007-03-24T04:25:00.000-07:002007-07-17T11:08:26.168-07:00In the land of religion, war and KamaSutra<span class="e" id="q_1117e1a401640618_1">What a rocking weekend it was! Iron Maiden on Saturday and a Halebidu Belur ride on sun/mon.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RgOMVDcvONI/AAAAAAAAB20/8ene8eZsnXo/DSC02718.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RgOMVDcvONI/AAAAAAAAB20/8ene8eZsnXo/DSC02718.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span class="e" id="q_1117e1a401640618_1">The idea to ride to HaleBidu & Belur originated while I was going thru the Outlook traveller. It was a long weekend </span><span class="e" id="q_1117e1a401640618_1">Ugadi being on Monday the 19th</span><span class="e" id="q_1117e1a401640618_1">, but I had only two days in hand as I was attending Iron Maiden concert on saturday.The distance to these places made them a good choice for the ride.<br /><br />Another bulleteer friend Kartik was coming along and that was the only company I had.<br /><br />However, when I got back from the Iron Maiden concert Vasanth called up and told that he'll be cutting short his Wayanad plans and joining us on our ride.. Cool - still better. Who says three is a crowd ;) ?<br /></span><br /><span class="e" id="q_1117e1a401640618_1">So the ride began on sunday at 9.15 from Koramangala. The only difficult part was to reach Nelamangala junction, after which it was smooth roads with lesser traffic. We had a tea break at Prashanth's native kunigal where he joined us for tea. Meanwhile Vasanth was on his way to join us on NH48 from Mysore highway, a rather long 30 minutes tea break and we bid goodbye to Prashanth. A few minutes later Vasanth met us after Nelligere.<br /><br />Lunch break at Kamat, from where the next break was only after Hassan on smooth and scenic Hassan-Belur road.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RgOGuzcvNpI/AAAAAAAAByU/LvmONMMpGcg/DSC02645.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://lh6.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RgOGuzcvNpI/AAAAAAAAByU/LvmONMMpGcg/DSC02645.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><span class="e" id="q_1117e1a401640618_1">The speeds were good on the twisties. And before our appetites for more of these roads could get somewhere near to half completion we were in Belur.<br /><br />The first thing to do after reaching Belur was to get some accomodation, so we chose KSTDC run Mayura for the stay. It is a good value for money option. Good accomodation, cheap bar/restaurant - wat else wud u want ;)<br /><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie2dH8i9BWNFvs-4Dg47Ndc5u_zZ833lTomdoGCsUswv2FIMIoQ2R8NuJd5qaOEFm-Bwyap9mIJ7pcb3YMFIV32iD22tPQ4Adiq0TVDKd1AmtUQ-Hf82sq4KbmT8vYJhfgdO6gu8ohU_Tw/s1600-h/IMG_0954.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 161px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie2dH8i9BWNFvs-4Dg47Ndc5u_zZ833lTomdoGCsUswv2FIMIoQ2R8NuJd5qaOEFm-Bwyap9mIJ7pcb3YMFIV32iD22tPQ4Adiq0TVDKd1AmtUQ-Hf82sq4KbmT8vYJhfgdO6gu8ohU_Tw/s400/IMG_0954.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5045470367560187490" border="0" /></a><span class="e" id="q_1117e1a401640618_1">In the evening time we visited the Chenna Kesava temple in Belur. The temples in Belur and Halebidu are from 12th/13h century and have very detailed carvings depicting Gods, Mythology, wars and KamaSutra on them.<br /><br />It was mostly a photography affair. Coming from the depictions there on the walls we guessed people at that time must have had only these things on mind - religion, wars and sex at that point of time!<br /><br /></span><span class="e" id="q_1117e1a401640618_1">We called it a day as the sun set, after which we had couple of drinks followed by dinner in Hotel Mayura. Went to sleep early as had to get up early in the morning.<br /><br />At 6 AM in the morning we were ready to start for Hale Bidu - And here we missed the turn to Halebidu and instead went on to Chikamangalur!<wbr>! The roads were empty and nice. It was darker than usual at that time, because of the solar eclipse, at arnd 6.45 we had a good view of the eclipse and we took a couple of pictures.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RgOOgDcvOiI/AAAAAAAAB5c/9HIwfiOWSok/DSC02781.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RgOOgDcvOiI/AAAAAAAAB5c/9HIwfiOWSok/DSC02781.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a>Boy, it was cold! Never expected it to be that cold in the morning. Owing to the eclipse the light was dim and to add to that it was foggy all over after that. <span class="e" id="q_1117e1a401640618_1">Another couple of kilometres towards Chikamangalur and we realized that we were on the wrong way!<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RgOOmDcvOkI/AAAAAAAAB5s/1TjQUOVQk6o/DSC02793.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RgOOmDcvOkI/AAAAAAAAB5s/1TjQUOVQk6o/DSC02793.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><span class="e" id="q_1117e1a401640618_1">Around 25 kms extra in this excursion, and finally came back to take the right turn.<br /><br />It was Ugadi and morning time - so no crowd at the temple! We had a peaceful time in and around the temple. Plenty of clickings there and after some time I got bored and packed my camera. Vasanth had a real camera this time and his appetite for photography never seemed to end! I had to pull him out of the temple, literally!</span><br /><span class="e" id="q_1117e1a401640618_1"><br />On our way back to Bangalore by 11:30. Mostly the roads were empty and all of us rode fast!</span><span class="e" id="q_1117e1a401640618_1"> </span><span class="e" id="q_1117e1a401640618_1">We stopped at Kamat for lunch break. After this </span><span class="e" id="q_1117e1a401640618_1">I was going 100+ </span><span class="e" id="q_1117e1a401640618_1">consistantly and did some 85 kms to Kunigal like that! Full blast on those empty roads - Happy Ugadi! </span><span class="e" id="q_1117e1a401640618_1">A long tea break at Kunigal and Prashanth also joined us.<br /><br />I was home by 4.30. Almost all the roads were free of traffic and I enjoyed riding in those roads. End of ride and time for the 4th servicing of my ThunderBird. By the time I go to Leh, I'd have crossed 15K kms I guess!<br /><br />Pictures: <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/HaleBiduBelur" target="_blank">http://picasaweb.<wbr>google.com/<wbr>kamlesh.sanwal/<wbr>HaleBiduBelur</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Ride stats:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Route: </span>Bangalore - Nelamangala - Kunigal - Channarayapatna - Hassan - Belur - Halebidu<br />Hoyasaleshwara temple in Hale bidu and Chenna kesava temple in Hale bidu covered.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Distance to Belur:</span> Around 222 Kms, Halebidu is another 15 kms from Belur<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Overall ride: </span>512.47 kms<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Stop overs:</span> Kamat on NH 48 for lunch and Kunigal for tea break<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Riders:</span><br />Vasanth on H.H. Karizma<br />Kartik on </span><span class="e" id="q_1117e1a401640618_1">R.E. </span><span class="e" id="q_1117e1a401640618_1">ThunderBird<br />Kam on </span><span class="e" id="q_1117e1a401640618_1">R.E. </span><span class="e" id="q_1117e1a401640618_1">ThunderBird</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie2dH8i9BWNFvs-4Dg47Ndc5u_zZ833lTomdoGCsUswv2FIMIoQ2R8NuJd5qaOEFm-Bwyap9mIJ7pcb3YMFIV32iD22tPQ4Adiq0TVDKd1AmtUQ-Hf82sq4KbmT8vYJhfgdO6gu8ohU_Tw/s1600-h/IMG_0954.JPG"><br /></a>Kamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00861504569064458606noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1899372091734677987.post-6543500809048984732007-03-15T21:04:00.000-07:002007-04-26T01:01:19.347-07:00If: A poem by Rudyard Kipling<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:85%;">My favorite poem from the school days. </span><span style="font-size:85%;">This poem by <span style="font-style: italic;">Rudyard Kipling</span> is something what I truly appreciate and with my limited understanding of poems I could comprehend the words. Else poems and I don't mix well!</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /></span></span></div> <p> </p> <blockquote><span style=";font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:130%;" ><strong> IF<br /><br /></strong></span>If you can keep your head when all about you<br />Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,<br />If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you<br />But make allowance for their doubting too,<br />If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,<br />Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,<br />Or being hated, don't give way to hating,<br />And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:<br /><br /><p style="text-align: left;"> If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,<br />If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;<br />If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster<br />And treat those two impostors just the same;<br />If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken<br />Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,<br />Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,<br />And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:</p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"> If you can make one heap of all your winnings<br />And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,<br />And lose, and start again at your beginnings<br />And never breath a word about your loss;<br />If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew<br />To serve your turn long after they are gone,<br />And so hold on when there is nothing in you<br />Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"</p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"> If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,<br />Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,<br />If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;<br />If all men count with you, but none too much,<br />If you can fill the unforgiving minute<br />With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,<br />Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,<br />And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!</p><p> </p><center><i><br />--Rudyard Kipling</i> </center> </blockquote>Kamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00861504569064458606noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1899372091734677987.post-39519011764404959562007-03-12T02:18:00.000-07:002007-07-17T11:08:26.169-07:00Galibore: Offroading through jungle to CauveryIt was almost a year since I did any good offroading. Oh no! I am not counting in the near - offroadings on the broken roads! Otherwise I did ride on pretty bad off roads in my ride to Goa last year, blame it on the rain Gods there were only the remnants of the roads in some parts of the highways (NH included!).<br /><br />So this time I was expecting around seven eight people to join in. However in the morning time when I tried to give wake-up calls only Amit and Jumbo picked up. Others were dead-in-sleep!<br /><br />The previous evening I had finished installing my <a href="http://rides-n-vibes.blogspot.com/2007/03/sigma-speedo-finally.html">sigma speedo</a> computer on my motorcycle and I was excited for testing it on the roads. Before this ride, we had left punctually on the time but this ride became an exception. I reached the meeting point to find nobody there. Waited till 6.20 when Jumbo arrived. After that it was a long wait for Amit. We decided to wait for him as otherwise he would be riding all alone to catch up with us, otherwise we do not wait for the late comers - they are expected to know the route from the posts and catch up later. In the waiting time I clicked a couple of snaps. Here is sooper-wide-angle shot by me at the reflection in Jumbo's pulsar visor:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RfTRkeffkVI/AAAAAAAABoA/kGiFOyfDgVo/DSC02599.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 289px; height: 164px;" src="http://lh5.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RfTRkeffkVI/AAAAAAAABoA/kGiFOyfDgVo/DSC02599.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div>Amit reached a couple of minutes later and we pushed off.<br /><br />Kanakpura road was pretty open at this time. And soon we covered a few kilometers and stopped for breakfast. Tasty but spicy idlis followed by a tasty dosa/tea. After the breakfast I opened up the throttle, I had to see the difference between the stock speedo and the sigma speedo, could not reach the max speed though. The highest recorded on sigma was 98.4 kmph and at that time the stock speedo was showing 104 kmph. Mech errors!<br /><br />I reached Kanakpura and stopped for the others to reach while using another function in the sigma - stopwatch ;). Amit reached after 7 minutes and jumbo reached after 10 minutes. We bought some fruits and water in Kanakpura and after that Mutatti was the destination.<br /><br />We reached Mutatti from the halgur side. Unfortunately I had not known that Mutatti was the same place referred to as Bheemeshwari by us :D!! That realization occurred when I reached Cauvery fishing camp, Bheemeshwari! It costed us riding in very bad roads for around 10 kms.<br /><br />Another interesting bet was that we pronounced "Galibore" in a 'Galley - bore' firang tone which the locals had never heard of! I thought I would call up <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/profile/06736286284583176282">PKM</a> to ask for directions; but no network coverage!! What to do now? Shall we relax at some place near Cauvery? Or shall we ride to some other place? The disappointment was building up as it seemed our offroading programs were ruined... Almost.<br /><br />Bingo! Amit knew Kannada and shortly afterwards he found out from the guards in Cauvery fishing camp where Galibore forest was! And to our discovery the world Galibore is pronounced as "Gaadi boray" and that is precisely why we were not getting any signs of recognitions from the locals! So we went ahead of Mutatti, confident this time, and there it was! By the way some very nice roads between Mutatti and Bheemeshwari Cauvery fishing camp.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/image/GnuScience/RfTcQBCi08I/AAAAAAAAA7A/APEVps2s_MA/P3110084.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 298px; height: 399px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/image/GnuScience/RfTcQBCi08I/AAAAAAAAA7A/APEVps2s_MA/P3110084.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />The offroad began with the three of us and a couple of biker boys ahead of us having pulsars, splendor, Kinetic (!! Yeah :D), and one scooter! Well it was hardly 300 meters in these roads that the kinetic enzgine sputterred, I overtook.. and then Amit.. and jumbo.. Soon we overtook the leader of the biker boys crowd who was on a pulsar.. After that the ride was a bit peaceful, else it was all gung-ho in the jungle! Needless to point out - these guys were least bothered about anything - No helmets!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RfTUX-ffkpI/AAAAAAAABqk/SrLgyLBazLM/DSC02636.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 315px; height: 413px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RfTUX-ffkpI/AAAAAAAABqk/SrLgyLBazLM/DSC02636.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.google.com/image/GnuScience/RfTeEhCi1II/AAAAAAAAA4M/L6Uv1J013-Y/P3110103.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 309px; height: 412px;" src="http://lh5.google.com/image/GnuScience/RfTeEhCi1II/AAAAAAAAA4M/L6Uv1J013-Y/P3110103.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.com/image/GnuScience/RfTegxCi1NI/AAAAAAAAA40/5QmVFCTo5IA/P3110110.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 314px; height: 420px;" src="http://lh6.google.com/image/GnuScience/RfTegxCi1NI/AAAAAAAAA40/5QmVFCTo5IA/P3110110.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/image/GnuScience/RfTePRCi1JI/AAAAAAAAA4U/25YgdYLGaII/P3110105.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 313px; height: 420px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/image/GnuScience/RfTePRCi1JI/AAAAAAAAA4U/25YgdYLGaII/P3110105.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />We reached Cauvery fishing camp in Galibore soon.From here one can keep on going to reach Sangam. However we didn't do that. Pretty happy with the off-road so far we decided to take the detours to reach Cauvery and ride on some sand ;). In this process we turned back to take the first detour. Taking our bikes as far as we could we parked them there in the sand amongst the trees and went to the Cauvery.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RfTR-OffkaI/AAAAAAAABoo/8UZgn294q9I/DSC02607.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RfTR-OffkaI/AAAAAAAABoo/8UZgn294q9I/DSC02607.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />Some peaceful moments here, relaxing by the river side and having those grapes, bananas, water and oranges was good indeed. The only thing lacking in this place was some shade so we decided to move on and take the second detour to find a suitable spot near Cauvery and have our lunch.<br /><br />Getting the steeds out of that sand was really gruelling and when I had taken it out to the main portion of the road I heard Amit's honking! I stopped and got off my bike and went to check the situation.. As hopeless as he gets when I tease him, his bike was in the same condition with the sand. Both the tyres stuck deep in sand. I got on his steed and used his bike's power and a bit of twisting the front tyre to get the bike out and rode it out of that damn sand to where my bike was. Jumbo clicked a picture when I rode Amit's steed back to firmer terrain in the mid of the Galibore jungle.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/image/GnuScience/RfTd8RCi1GI/AAAAAAAAA38/WFnZWdQQX34/P3110100.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 318px; height: 426px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/image/GnuScience/RfTd8RCi1GI/AAAAAAAAA38/WFnZWdQQX34/P3110100.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />The second detour was an ideal one and we got shade for our steeds as well as for ourselves.<br />The lunch was a quiet affair with the bread, cheese spread, jam, milk, cold drink, biscuits, namkeen and water. After having all this we lied down there on the stones ;) and had a good rest. The place was very quiet, not a soul around apart from the three of us!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RfTSmOffkfI/AAAAAAAABpU/uz3th4EDkO0/DSC02617.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 280px; height: 210px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RfTSmOffkfI/AAAAAAAABpU/uz3th4EDkO0/DSC02617.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Peace.. And relaxation..<br />By the time we checked our watches it was already 1.30 PM so we decided to head back home. The only tough portion was the off-roads in the mid of the day. It was damn hot riding with all the gear in the daytime! Morning time it was a fun ride, come daytime and the same ride becomes an ordeal!<br /><br />Soon we were done with this portion after having clicked a couple of teaser pix for those who didn't make it to this ride ;) - R u one of those and reading? :D just take a look at a couple of pictures, we toiled hard to capture what you missed ;):<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RfTS6-ffkjI/AAAAAAAABp0/dC5hD5ovtQY/DSC02624.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 302px; height: 228px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RfTS6-ffkjI/AAAAAAAABp0/dC5hD5ovtQY/DSC02624.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: right;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/image/GnuScience/RfTewRCi1RI/AAAAAAAAA5U/WyxqZGxIXq0/P3110115.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 303px; height: 226px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/image/GnuScience/RfTewRCi1RI/AAAAAAAAA5U/WyxqZGxIXq0/P3110115.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.google.com/image/GnuScience/RfTedhCi1MI/AAAAAAAAA4s/A5RWC20eGmk/P3110109.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 306px; height: 226px;" src="http://lh5.google.com/image/GnuScience/RfTedhCi1MI/AAAAAAAAA4s/A5RWC20eGmk/P3110109.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.com/image/GnuScience/RfTepxCi1PI/AAAAAAAAA5E/gaocwsjr2C0/P3110113.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 302px; height: 403px;" src="http://lh6.google.com/image/GnuScience/RfTepxCi1PI/AAAAAAAAA5E/gaocwsjr2C0/P3110113.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />The ride back was good. This time no broken roads ;)<br />When I reached Sathanur I saw a couple of bikers in the side of the road and I spotted Mr. Goop, an RTMC fella, there. So I stopped to meet him. He was with his company biking mates back from a ride to Bheemeshwari. I moved on to clock some more miles in the smooth roads.<br />I waited at the Kanakpura entrance to catch up with Amit and Jumbo. After this Cauvery garden restaurant was the next and last stop.<br /><br />We had tea and omelets there. Amit's footrest had got bent in a minor shake in the offroading so I did some 'kickwork' to make it straight and then it was a peaceful and cool journey back home.<br /><br />I stopped my bike at my place at 4.30 PM!<br />Another great ride and a good off-road!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">*****Ride stats*****<br />===============<br /></span></div></div><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Route</span> (While going): </span>Bangalore - Kanakpura - Halgur - Mutatti - Galibore<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Distance: </span>Around 120 kms.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Not recommended </span>though. After Halgur bad roads for around 10 kms.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Route (Coming back) </span>Galibore - Mutatti - sathanur - Kanakpura - Bangalore<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Distance:</span> Around 100 kms<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Take this road</span>, mostly in good shape. And most of the portions in Kanakpura road are ultra smooth now. Relaid recently.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Photo links:</span> <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/GaliboreOffroad">Click here</a> to see my pictures & <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/GnuScience/Galibore0ffr0AdAdventure">click here</a> to see Jumbo's pictures.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />**Photo credits: </span>Kam/Jumbo</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ></span></span>Kamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00861504569064458606noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1899372091734677987.post-56566674089013824632007-03-11T21:27:00.000-07:002007-03-12T02:18:03.456-07:00Sigma speedo: Finally!My motorcycle gets a sigma speedo .. finally!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RfTRu-ffkXI/AAAAAAAABoQ/R6QvxXpkS-k/DSC02602.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 262px; height: 196px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RfTRu-ffkXI/AAAAAAAABoQ/R6QvxXpkS-k/DSC02602.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />After I bought my bike in october 2006, it was lying in my drawer. Before which it was lying in Dada's drawer. Finally after a lot of delay in getting to mechanic/welder's shop I found out that I could do it myself, no need for the welding and stuff!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sigma! What Sigma?</span><br />Though its basically made for bicycles, its very popular amongst biking enthusiasts. Reason being the speedo's high accuracy (it is acclaimed to be accurate till 180 mph speeds!) and the other functions. Well I am not going to reach that speed on my bike, whatever little I do I need the most accurate information not only in top speed but also in parameters like <span style="font-style: italic;">average speed, trip time, odo</span> etc. It comes with three units - one magnet, that is supposed to fit on the spoke, a sensor along with a wire that goes to the mount, and the bike computer that can be latched on to the mount.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">How it works?<br /></span>When the wheel rotates, the magnet passes the sensor & the event causes the sensor to generate a pulse. This pulse is used by the bike computer to process various parameters, which it does on the basis of the wheel circumference fed in it.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sigma installation: A herculean task?</span><br />It took me around five months to install Sigma on my motorcycle. Finally I did some googling and found out methods by which I could install it all by myself ;) and so I went ahead and all it took me was one day!<br /><br />Well the first method was the one which caused delay. Sigma is made for the cycles and hence it fits a cycle spoke, and the sensor gets mounted on the bicycle fork. However when doing the same thing one has to take care of couple of other things. The distance between the magnet and the sensor should not be more than 5 mm. Now the idea was to take a cycle spoke, fix the magnet onto it, weld it onto one of the spokes and fix the sensor in the inside edge of the fork.<br /><br />Don't do it, because of this I procrastinated sigma installation for five months! There are easier methods available, which you can carry out easily.<br /><br />I selected a different magnet which is more powerful than the stock magnet (Easily available in the stationary shops in the button type stick ons, just take the magnet out), and can be fixed to the spokes. The sensor goes along the original speedo cable itself. The wire from the sensor to the console is around one and a half feet short for the motorcycles, so I sacrificed my Sony headphone wire, which is a thin wire with a dual core wiring same as the sigma speedo wire. got it soldered to the original wire, and done!<br /><br />Glued the magnet to the spokes, sensor to the stock speedo cable and used insulation tape to hold them at their place. I glued the mount to the left side of the handle.<br /><br />Thats all ;)<br />Now I get the speeds based on the wheel parameter and no errors on account of no mechanical mechanism.<br /><br />It is zimblee awessssum!!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RfTRzeffkYI/AAAAAAAABoY/y1zxrYetgCg/DSC02603.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 257px; height: 193px;" src="http://lh5.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/RfTRzeffkYI/AAAAAAAABoY/y1zxrYetgCg/DSC02603.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br />For the various models available in Sigma check out: http://www.sigmasport.com/en/produkte/bikecomputer/<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div>Kamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00861504569064458606noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1899372091734677987.post-42942972630137191192007-02-27T10:00:00.000-08:002007-03-01T11:24:50.671-08:00In search of those cloudsGood things in life start with mails :)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_YuAkltKfyRmY3EwSw90CM5KXp4hRu5e_1kXnNf4PfI_69_KxwhnrfwlxLEigjXyThcAp35hwN1RqFXA4M2ow6XCO5NJVc6xz2AIthHhv3sOZZ48tbUFw3NfTOahQyI32q65WU5YVyGRE/s1600-h/image007.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_YuAkltKfyRmY3EwSw90CM5KXp4hRu5e_1kXnNf4PfI_69_KxwhnrfwlxLEigjXyThcAp35hwN1RqFXA4M2ow6XCO5NJVc6xz2AIthHhv3sOZZ48tbUFw3NfTOahQyI32q65WU5YVyGRE/s320/image007.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5036418519807814194" border="0" /></a><br />Well, not in general, but this time the ride to <span style="font-weight: bold;">SkandaGiri </span>got the <span style="font-style: italic;">spark </span>from a forwarded mail. It had a couple of pictures of skandagiri in the morning time, and a small description about the place. As soon as I checked out the pictures the trip was on the charts!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi74Eqo-AKLaTRNDllh8-gKzXaZ4UPTohPZcAq3Eq-dcxK1M_1eTOQ77CkhvrSyBsF5A_kYSwDMJX80b10rM_T0cOV4qgg1-GSrSmk_q6sIWkWlOKnYEodze7F12lhM7e88oPgbGMrrPg9L/s1600-h/image018.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi74Eqo-AKLaTRNDllh8-gKzXaZ4UPTohPZcAq3Eq-dcxK1M_1eTOQ77CkhvrSyBsF5A_kYSwDMJX80b10rM_T0cOV4qgg1-GSrSmk_q6sIWkWlOKnYEodze7F12lhM7e88oPgbGMrrPg9L/s320/image018.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5036418519807814210" border="0" /></a><br />I dropped in the invitation to ride to a couple of friends, bulleteers and non-bulleteers alike.<br />Here is a part of conversation between me and Chandra, when he confirmed in the last hours that he'll join the ride:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Me: </span> <span style="font-style: italic;"><br />Welcome Chandra! I knew u wud come ;)</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chandra: </span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />Dude... be prepared to face some tough time ;) The photos you sent will put you in trouble... enjoy</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Me: </span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />:)) To get the best picture out of a place depends on the photographer also ;) so in case of any discrepancy I am not entirely to be blamed :P<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chandra: </span><br />get those nice looking </span><span style="font-style: italic;" id="st" name="st" class="st">clouds</span><span style="font-style: italic;">... u'll be spared ;)<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Me:</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />Kamlesh: The lotus God (not the </span><span style="font-style: italic;" id="st" name="st" class="st">clouds</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> :P)</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><span style="font-style: italic;">P.S.: Now don't start asking for the lotuses :P<br /><br /></span>It was an early morning ride, we met at MG road, refuelled and rolled on to Hebbal flyover. We had to wait for some 10 minutes for Chandra and Jobin.<br /><br />Well, this was my chance ;) I told Chandra <span style="font-style: italic;">"Itna late kar diya! Ab mujhe ye mat bolna ki clouds nahi dikhay!!" </span>to which all Chandra could do was just stare hard at me looking lost for words and after a while gulped down all his expressions! Aah!<br /><br />By 6.30 in the morning we were on the road, engines roaring high.<br />NH7 is a 6 laner highway till Devanahalli and I maintained good speeds in the morning.<br /><br />I had donned my leather riding jacket and gloves and even after that it was chilly beyond all the expectations. As time progressed so did the chill factor and before we reached Chikaballapur I could feel the hairs rise all over my body!<br /><br />That did slow me down!<br /><br />At Chikaballapur we stopped and with shivering hands and body I managed to put the side stand on my bike. Next 10 minutes were spent in shivering and discussing about the cold with others.<br /><br />Seeing my bike loaded with cramsters PKM was a bit surprised<br /><br /><div class="message"><span style="font-weight: bold;">PKM: </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Yaar itni choti trip ke liye cramster kyo?</span></div> <div class="message_next"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Me:</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Yaar, ek main garage hai our doosre may kitchen :D</span></div><br />Other riders were riding slowly and it was around 20 minutes before the last thumper i.e. Chandra reached.<br /><br />We had our tea (For warming up our hands), breakfast. Followed with another round of tea, this time for drinking!<br /><br />Almost an hour long break. No point in hurrying it up when the sun was already high, clouds were nowhere to be seen and more than that the destination was only a short while away.<br /><br />PKM wanted to ride my bull, so I gave him my keys exchanged his keys with Jobin's bull (Std. 350) and we started for our remaining 5 kms. Around 1.5 kms of this part was an offroad track, it was a breeze on Jo's bull.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1mQLWsE8QsPW5iG4lCLwmxe-xkGO1TWNYof9q0RUaiGTIUC9CYGYOcUkdksnP7AHM8xrVbJUDvPukABr5apyL1wbXd9c77j5drzsR1UCeQDjgAJqi6j5PCiR7OEK9iwCxpQlv0az1u2Eg/s1600-h/400865285_dfe0f82f0b_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1mQLWsE8QsPW5iG4lCLwmxe-xkGO1TWNYof9q0RUaiGTIUC9CYGYOcUkdksnP7AHM8xrVbJUDvPukABr5apyL1wbXd9c77j5drzsR1UCeQDjgAJqi6j5PCiR7OEK9iwCxpQlv0az1u2Eg/s400/400865285_dfe0f82f0b_b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5036418635771931218" border="0" /></a>On being asked his experience of riding my bull, his comment on the maneuverability was "<span style="font-style: italic;">yaar meine kuch nahi kiya, jaha bull chalta gaya mein bhi wahi ho liya!"<br /><br /></span>Of the 10 riders only 2 went uphill for the full trek. The rest of us just went up a small distance, only to relax, chit chat & consume the eatables brought in by me and Sachin.<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitBD7OHG1wp38gMLw5G9u8IDV-nCc5miz99jdfo0Hcoj32jI_LcqDxiQj1JHlv0jAuitBNEiD7fFy9vZXeYO6wF_4o8TQBeCUrNXm23yYe-INNJs8ZVWNMz9JR2u25c-FJ82VvJva_4k7n/s1600-h/KalavaraBette-Feb24-2007+015.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitBD7OHG1wp38gMLw5G9u8IDV-nCc5miz99jdfo0Hcoj32jI_LcqDxiQj1JHlv0jAuitBNEiD7fFy9vZXeYO6wF_4o8TQBeCUrNXm23yYe-INNJs8ZVWNMz9JR2u25c-FJ82VvJva_4k7n/s400/KalavaraBette-Feb24-2007+015.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5037038906358885090" border="0" /></a><br />After spending enough time there we thought to head back to Bangalore. The return journey was rather a relaxed one. Couple of other bike exchanges between Cast Iron - AVL bullet/ Bullet - Non bullet and we reached Devanahalli.<br /><br />Lunch there and not so remarkable but relaxed journey to Bangalore.<br /><br />I could not find those clouds, but I found some relaxation and a well deserved break from the routine city life and had a wonderful company. Those clouds were missing but I believe I would find them.. one day!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ride stats:</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Destination: </span> SkandaGiri (KalavaraHalli betta)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Route:</span> Bangalore - Yelahanka - Devanahalli - Chikaballapur - Skandagiri<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Directions from Chikaballapur:</span> Take a left turn, reach the market circle and take a right turn, follow the road and there u reach at the SkandaGiri foothill.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Distance:</span> Around 65 kms from MG road, Bangalore.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Stop-overs:</span> Shanti Sagar @ Chikaballapur for breakfast and some punjabi dhaba in Devanahalli for lunch.<br />Recommendations: Try to be there in early morning time, thats when there are clouds and you will have a good chance to witness a fresh sunrise.<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">**Photo courtesy: </span>Chandra/Ajey<br /></span>Kamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00861504569064458606noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1899372091734677987.post-39267796387878345102007-02-11T18:30:00.000-08:002007-02-13T20:26:15.784-08:00Caman da Horseley hills<span style="font-size:85%;">"Get your motor running<br />Head out on the highway<br />Looking for adventure<br />In what ever comes our way<br />Yeah, gotta go and make it happen<br />Take the world in love embrace<br />Buy all your guns at once<br />And explode into space<br /><br />Eye looks like the lightning<br />Heavy metal thunder<br />Racing with the wind<br />And the feeling that I`m under<br />Yeah,gotta go and make it happen<br />Take the world in love embrace<br />Buy all your guns at once<br />And explode into space<br /><br />Like a true natures` child<br />We were born, born to be wild<br />We can climb so high, I never wanna die<br /><br />Born to be wild<br />Born to be wild<br /><br />Get your motor running<br />Head out on the highway<br />Looking for adventure<br />In what ever comes our way<br />Yeah, gotta go and make it happen<br />Take the world in love embrace<br />Buy all your guns at once<br />And explode into space<br /><br />Like a true natures` child<br />We were born, born to be wild<br />We can climb so high, I never wanna die<br /><br />Born to be wild<br />Born to be wild</span>"<br /><br />Thats how my ride with RTMC and MadBulls to the Horseley hills in AP was. It was proposed sometime soon after I became a RTMC member, and as ride-hungry I am, I did not have any second thoughts about joining the ride. It was 30 + people from RTMC and similar number of people from MadBulls coming to Horseley Hills. From RTMC we decided to start in two batches - one group of people (Nicknamed as the <span style="font-style: italic;">desparate drunkards</span> by someone in the group!) starting early to reach Horseley hills earlier and the other group starting at 3 PM to reach there by evening time. I rode with the second group.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGx8oRcpACFLQWGLBoWrlGtpuW4icd1GWlHB3QNXhbc1yOCgNbb7aVES3s1F7Ur8qUXvQKtlFeNTygB-kvKEvwZQKkTfVsPDhRGHdK41veihV3uAbhyphenhyphengCHNnLcRIaHEYsfuZfYtDsWUeyB/s1600-h/DSC02331_edited.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGx8oRcpACFLQWGLBoWrlGtpuW4icd1GWlHB3QNXhbc1yOCgNbb7aVES3s1F7Ur8qUXvQKtlFeNTygB-kvKEvwZQKkTfVsPDhRGHdK41veihV3uAbhyphenhyphengCHNnLcRIaHEYsfuZfYtDsWUeyB/s400/DSC02331_edited.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5030861374736331394" border="0" /></a><br />The ride was short and good. It was me, Girish, Keeni & his wife and Rajesh riding together, till the beginning of that small ghat section to the final ascent to Horseley. Thats when I started riding fast and I was up in the resort by 6.30. Overall the ride was fun. David from MadBulls made sure that everyone gets a place to stay as and when they arrive.<br /><br />The whole of Horseley hills is occupied by the resort run by AP tourism and it is full of cottages and facilities like swimming pool, restaurant & bar.<br /><br />After we freshened up it was time for the party. All of us gathered in the party area, the resort guys had arranged for bonfire & snacks and drinks were served nearby. Then the party started. Cold winds blowing, drinks flowing and fire made the atmosphere light ;), the songs played by Dosai were really cool & included the likes of <span style="font-style: italic;">sutta </span>and <span style="font-style: italic;">XLRI song on danda ;)</span>. Everyone enjoyed it to the core.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxEco3b1k4TaHVXzVynas2WOsjjVRPZLJF0Qfx4b9o8cTb9XNkR-u71cQOCja6ifsVhl-OGV8QXmw5mvAr2Z-7yQVhaBd6B3A7-0S5YhZarJoe-dzfsophcEiGcjaC3ONHd3uMWbUMe9Yw/s1600-h/DSC02355.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxEco3b1k4TaHVXzVynas2WOsjjVRPZLJF0Qfx4b9o8cTb9XNkR-u71cQOCja6ifsVhl-OGV8QXmw5mvAr2Z-7yQVhaBd6B3A7-0S5YhZarJoe-dzfsophcEiGcjaC3ONHd3uMWbUMe9Yw/s400/DSC02355.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5030861383326266002" border="0" /></a>The party went on with people chatting, drinking and having fun. I felt cold and was too lazy to move around to click pictures & so I clicked a few pictures of the fire.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrJM59eLnbbSS-FAR87wIibgg1PY72S7q2ccFflvlbqKmw1QFVX3_5k4I3iioQAxeRnCUJfN5r8CHAuq37U3S8kWH58_V8o6XyJc70CuETKOLNiPf0-4nJwtAitjPts0ZaXyoggd_Jg-1k/s1600-h/DSC02388_edited.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrJM59eLnbbSS-FAR87wIibgg1PY72S7q2ccFflvlbqKmw1QFVX3_5k4I3iioQAxeRnCUJfN5r8CHAuq37U3S8kWH58_V8o6XyJc70CuETKOLNiPf0-4nJwtAitjPts0ZaXyoggd_Jg-1k/s200/DSC02388_edited.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5030865102767944386" border="0" /></a>Moments later tiger showed up, in full <span style="font-style: italic;">spirits</span>, and I caught one such moment on my camera. He travelled with two 'water bottles' from his home. One containing a frozen <span style="font-style: italic;">old monk </span>mixture & other containing delicious butter milk! The combo was pretty new to most of us! He sported a T shirt from Rider Mania 2007. The T-shirt from RM 07 is similar to the one from RM 06 except for the year change. Rider mania was held in Nagpur this year, hosted by RE and WanderLust, the Nagpur RE riders' club.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9R2eC1oqpBplpXtn1F160CJ7oj_a2dTpKW2RhUQ6Gk2sMirVO3ozBmhceqGQ9pK_yjGpjrFA5VwV5y_s8jiajgWUI7Uxwkg3npwhDManGYtefct_6abQ55YRFPfBbzCs_JAlidJLu8PSb/s1600-h/DSC02369_edited.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 170px; height: 124px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9R2eC1oqpBplpXtn1F160CJ7oj_a2dTpKW2RhUQ6Gk2sMirVO3ozBmhceqGQ9pK_yjGpjrFA5VwV5y_s8jiajgWUI7Uxwkg3npwhDManGYtefct_6abQ55YRFPfBbzCs_JAlidJLu8PSb/s200/DSC02369_edited.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5030864252364419762" border="0" /></a><br />Keeni looked so happy with his drinks! His wife was seated by fire and so he had all the liberty - just see! I met many new people and also the people whose names/nicknames I had heard/read so far on the list. Some of the people were already familiar through the earlier rides.<br /><br /><br /><br />I went back to our room by 12 and slept in peace, though the snoring blitzkreig from Keeni sounded almost like a bullet passing by - in fact the loudest I have witnessed so far, Rajesh was not so lucky to get sleep & spent all his night listening to the sounds and talking to all his friends on phone. He went to sleep at 4.30 AM finally & when he woke up he found dozens of SMSes from wellwishers wishing that he gets some rest in the circumstances!<br /><br />We went for a morning walk and then Rajesh shared the adventures he had in the night time! After a while we had our breakfast and were ready to move back to Bangalore/Chennai. By 10.30 AM we were on the roads.<br /><br />For the return leg we chose to take a different route, and as it turned out later the route was fantastic! It was around 60 kms more than the other route but was very well maintained national highway full of curves/greenery and was a pleasure to ride on those roads.<br /><br /><br /> Home is not far!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyUh4tHj02iX3RMo11cwAwOLQmLqW3Jtd4i06-txVcvyc9fcN9YcvHFLzRxjQVqlr7_6l_8hzIMrg7E2LXr57rzSJkffIVfKNx3STjzSbvAHtGlRw8r1QC7DBGRIAUjKqveeGehWKyidK4/s1600-h/DSC02404_edited.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyUh4tHj02iX3RMo11cwAwOLQmLqW3Jtd4i06-txVcvyc9fcN9YcvHFLzRxjQVqlr7_6l_8hzIMrg7E2LXr57rzSJkffIVfKNx3STjzSbvAHtGlRw8r1QC7DBGRIAUjKqveeGehWKyidK4/s320/DSC02404_edited.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5030868276748776146" border="0" /></a><br />The return leg was a good ride and we had couple of long breaks for lunch/coffee/tea & after all I reached my home by 5 PM. This was one 'fun' ride and true to its 'Caman Da Enjaaiment' logo RTMC group rocked!<br /><br />Looking forward to more rides.<br />Camaan!!<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Route </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">while going:</span><br />Bangalore (KR puram) - (NH4) Hoskote - (SH) Chintamani - Madanapalli - Horseley hills<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Distance: ~</span>160 kms from KR Puram hanging bridge<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Road condition: </span>Smooth stretches most of the way, some small bad stretches pop in between - be careful of these.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Route </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">while coming back:</span><br />Horseley hills - Madanapalli (NH 219) - Punganuru - Palmaner (NH4) - Kolar - Hoskote - Bangaloore<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Distance: ~</span>220 kms till KR puram hanging bridge.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Road condition: </span>Excellent!<br /></span>Kamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00861504569064458606noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1899372091734677987.post-10256494966489455962007-01-30T03:24:00.000-08:002007-04-25T21:30:52.277-07:00Hampi: The forgotten empireA long weekend is something which bikers always look for, thats a good opportunity to break free. Originally I was thinking of doing Wayanad during this long weekend but then dada suggested Hampi, we all agreed saving Wayanad for the hotter days.<br /><br />We had full three days to ourselves - Republic day being on friday. I took a day off on monday and it was a four day weekend for me. Dada (JSR), Boodee (Shashi), Parvez and Kid (Amit) were going to ride with me. Dada had to meet one of his friend in the morning so he asked us to start off saying that he'll catch up on the way. And so we pushed off at around 7 AM from citibank on MG road. Vasanth had come to see us off.<br /><br />I had thought of doing Badami on the 3rd and 4th day, and others had plans to come back on sunday. I was looking forward to this ride and especially the return leg of the journey as I had never done any solo rides.<br /><br />We tanked up at the shell petrol pump, and when we were waiting for the air checkup dada crossed us! I SMSed him to wait for us at Nelamangala, what I meant was Nelamangala crossing. Dada read the SMS and the literal meaning took dada to Nelamangala! Now me, Kid and Shashi continued in the straight direction and Parvez took on NH48 instead of NH4! All the directions from Nelamangala crossing covered by us :D! Never mind, few calls and everything was set right, we waited for dada and Parvez to come and join us at the toll gate on NH4.<br /><br />The first stop was at Kamat for breakfast. We met Arun and Dominic (RTMC) here, they were riding to Goa. Some time later Rajesh (Cup) from RTMC also arrived - these guys were headed to Devarayana Durga hills. We told them about our trip to DD hills and tipped them about the stony hill. One of the guys here went crazy to see dada in full riding gear. Man, he looked so amused as a small kid who has seen circus for the first time! He even clicked a snap! No need to say dada was embarrassed with that treatment. That explains why dada never wants to stop on a ride!<br /><br />Soon my riding gear will also arrive.. Time to do non-stop journeys then? Ha ha.. who knows if this guy shows up again?!<br /><br />Kid exchanged his machismo with Shashi's and started feeling the gush of the winds at high end speeds.<br /><br />On a highway like NH4 70-80 kmph speeds feel like you are not moving at all! I slowed down a bit and maintained 90-100 kmph speeds. At Tumkur we got divided in two groups - Dada riding along with Shashi and the rest of us carrying on further. After a while Amit was left behind and it was me and Parvez doing 100 + kmph speeds again! We did this till we reached Chitradurga. From Chitradurga we took NH13 to Hampi, and stopped at a roadside shop to have some refreshments. I did a sync up with dada and shashi, they were around Hiriyur around 60 kms behind us so we decided to split in two groups taking Amit with us and continue.<br /><br />NH13 is full of truck traffic and the whole area around Chitradurga is very windy. Explains the presence of so many windmills! We negotiated our way from these trucks and maintained good 80-90 kmph speeds on those roads. The roads do not have a smooth surface though it is without potholes.<br /><br />It was on these roads that my goldie exhaust fell off the bike! I was leading the pack, doing some 90ish speeds followed by Amit and Parvez. I checked my rear view mirror after I heard Amit honking and saw something shining banging off the road. First thoughts - The tripod has broken loose, but then a second later I got reminded that the tripod was kept in its cover, how could it shine so much! And to my surprise I looked down to find that the silencer was missing. So this had happened! With me too. Ha ha ha, some of the people get frustrated but I was getting amuzed! Before this I had read about a few people mentioning having a fallen off silencer.. now all that must have been true :P..<br /><br />I stopped and took a U turn to remove the silencer from the middle of the road. It happened so fast that Amit just ran over it, thankfully he did not loose his balance. The tail end of the silencer was totally bent and the front end had got some dents. The stay had also got broken.<br /><br />'The end' of my Badami "solo ride" plans as getting the Goldie repaired itself was going to take at least a day.<br /><br />Parvez, the only non-Bullet rider, followed up soon and before I was caught by him tending to my broken silencer. Man, he couldn't control his laughter! Koi naah, chalta hai.. So I opened up my tools from the saddles bags and after some filing I was able to fit it back with the help of a rope.<br /><br />A wastage of around 45 minutes followed. By the time we moved on we were hungry. Soon we found a punjabi dhaba and we stopped there to gulp down the tasty lunch. Soon Dada and Shashi also arrived. The food and tea in that dhaba were real delight for the north Indian taste buds. We carried on further, me riding slowly with Kid (Back to his own Bull) & the rest three riders going ahead and ripping to glory. Their assignment was to reach VijayNagar and book hotel rooms in KSTDC Mayura hotel.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtZqMe93ToaY3lDUw565Bc1UD0B7ehRujq31aEApmmDOnpF2AtHpkkiTcMcrEAXBEShKBfJDTXtqh-rm_tCX5gfTngaIZUVJ_uUVgp0L24QyiCysDyFdaFn5-69j8jszmtLbn07-jayz9H/s1600-h/DSC01732_edited.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtZqMe93ToaY3lDUw565Bc1UD0B7ehRujq31aEApmmDOnpF2AtHpkkiTcMcrEAXBEShKBfJDTXtqh-rm_tCX5gfTngaIZUVJ_uUVgp0L24QyiCysDyFdaFn5-69j8jszmtLbn07-jayz9H/s320/DSC01732_edited.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5036421912831978082" border="0" /></a>This in turn was delegated to Shashi by Dada and when the two of us were about to reach VijayNagar we were told by Dada to stop by a lake just before VijayNagar.<br /><br />Beautiful view ;)<br /><br />Shashi came back with a triumphant smile of accomplishing the task at hand.<br /><br /><br />We thumped together to reach VijayNagar, Parvez comments 'Emperors are back in town'!<br />We relaxed in the hotel and started taking rounds of Hampi. What a grand place to be in. Though it is said to be a ruined place still the grandeur of the ancient buildings didn't fail to make its mark on us!<br /><br />Hampi is located with Tungabhadra river, and the whole area is still too big to be covered in two days. It was in King KrishnaDeva Raya's time in 16th century AD that Hampi was in its prime time. It was said to have been a rich state then, and was later pludered and destroyed by various emperors. Of all the ancient temples Virupaksha temple still remains functional.<br /><br />We went to Virupaksha temple and visited the Hampi bazaar. It has all kind of restaurants & Hampi crowd is more foreign than Indians. Most of the Indians there are locals & only a few of the travellers are Indians. Couple of other places in the evening time and we started riding around Hampi. It was a moonlit night, and soon we were on the roads. Vasanth had told us about the sighting of ghosts ;-) so we went well inside a solitary road inside a jungle. All we found was a clear sky with moon and stars. The place where we had stopped was surrounded by rocks and our voices were getting echoed.<br /><br />Dinner at Hotel Mayura and we were soon in our beds.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6ELgXXnSgi7wmtMaq-6k4dAnXeZci7qh_6Nm9Ttsc-aDNPx_2TyGq-lIyQFVaDTJLXTDeJF5m06H985oF9Z7LaL5JxoglRyK6ze2OLIe2LbgMtixzwYTecutf3lclXl8RERnb-MnLwhME/s1600-h/DSC01729_edited.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6ELgXXnSgi7wmtMaq-6k4dAnXeZci7qh_6Nm9Ttsc-aDNPx_2TyGq-lIyQFVaDTJLXTDeJF5m06H985oF9Z7LaL5JxoglRyK6ze2OLIe2LbgMtixzwYTecutf3lclXl8RERnb-MnLwhME/s320/DSC01729_edited.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5026770660726067378" border="0" /></a>I didn't want to miss the chance of photography in the early morning time so I got up early at 5.30 AM and was visiting the monuments and capturing all that beauty while the lazy bums were still asleep. By 8 AM I was ride-n-click happy and so I decided to return.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/Rb6xyW_uvjI/AAAAAAAAAnU/1ku-anF7oLs/DSC01776_edited.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://lh6.google.com/image/kamlesh.sanwal/Rb6xyW_uvjI/AAAAAAAAAnU/1ku-anF7oLs/DSC01776_edited.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I heard another thump & yeah - I spotted Dada ;)! He'd also got up early, though few minutes after me and had been busy clicking! We got back to our hotel and woke up the lazy party! Bathing, breakfast and all set to explore Hampi again!<br /><br />This time we took the three machismos for the local exploration. Hampi is soo bigg! And the whole day was spent in visiting monuments. Still there were plenty of places to be seen.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNJbqDwoCErlRA8WywonmClwgocuNBEVwGa1EDGQ3JjUx9Xq8iflk3O24r4ucluj5GB9xJSDr26ZuDksybnrMcq7QoC2Fv6WoIJ3jQLiVykMDoDtcuTGXvEVk9wflKryJWPEeOiXbHDkeJ/s1600-h/DSC01972.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNJbqDwoCErlRA8WywonmClwgocuNBEVwGa1EDGQ3JjUx9Xq8iflk3O24r4ucluj5GB9xJSDr26ZuDksybnrMcq7QoC2Fv6WoIJ3jQLiVykMDoDtcuTGXvEVk9wflKryJWPEeOiXbHDkeJ/s320/DSC01972.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5026770669316001986" border="0" /></a>It was fun with these guys. Good company and a very nice time!<br /><br />By the evening time Dada, Amit and Parvez changed their minds and decided to ride back to Bangalore.<br /><br />A special thanks to boodeee a.k.a. Shashi for keeping me company ;)<br /><br />We saw off these guys and on the way back I bought some cotton ropes for holding my silencer :) It was followed by a dinner at a Tibetan restaurant and then a small round of Hampi.<br /><br />The next morning both of us got up early and went for a round of places not explored the day before. I wanted to check out the Vitthala temple complex, the pictures of the chariot in the history books motivated me to go there. And the result was good ;)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_lGbvz-dApWSqKU5sPJgLLO67Jij0Kn6WcTUXNu7hvPnqWpFNJqANjLdbNxjAVMyWYHS8a58kMutbWkQSBtN9YrTp7leEVFjbrQl41AdkuTVEsSW5JzckfeL8_7f8-fNwePh3007_6iR/s1600-h/DSC02122_edited.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_lGbvz-dApWSqKU5sPJgLLO67Jij0Kn6WcTUXNu7hvPnqWpFNJqANjLdbNxjAVMyWYHS8a58kMutbWkQSBtN9YrTp7leEVFjbrQl41AdkuTVEsSW5JzckfeL8_7f8-fNwePh3007_6iR/s320/DSC02122_edited.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5036421921421912690" border="0" /></a>Of all the temples in Hampi Vitthala temple complex is the most exquisite, decorated with intricate carvings from the Ramayan mythology and are a treat for the eyes.<br /><br />Being an early 'morning' bird at places like Hampi makes sure that you don't get to see much crowd. The lesser the better ;)<br /><br />Hampi remains a city lost in time, all those old temples and palaces just stand witness to what all it has seen. It must have been a great city in its time.<br /><br />Seeing the whole of Hampi is a time consuming thing and we didn't just want to rush through everything. Our time was running out, so we decided to leave the place and explore the remaining places in our future visits.<br /><br />The nights spent in Hampi were really amazing, peaceful, serene, riding in unknown jungle roads in search of the 'ghost' vasanth had mentioned, relaxing in the rocks in the night, chitchatting and every other thing was really amazing.<br /><br />The return journey was done in around 7 hours and we were back in our homes by evening.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/210/472390408_cb2d871332.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/210/472390408_cb2d871332.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>Adieus Hampi, we'll cherish this experience.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Ride stats:<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC_1EkQhaSSUh56mM8JUJwknPi2ASBzS5ZGokyd6ejfaXtGv1RSpHCnJTtRYjJjMDSMTVUw5eYNXXTeHZxnvDQpV6jcM6v4cA4yO0q3PPgRSj1MgQrIBcEjjnIURulISoolSMu9dVo2gEF/s1600-h/Bangalore_Hampi_route.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC_1EkQhaSSUh56mM8JUJwknPi2ASBzS5ZGokyd6ejfaXtGv1RSpHCnJTtRYjJjMDSMTVUw5eYNXXTeHZxnvDQpV6jcM6v4cA4yO0q3PPgRSj1MgQrIBcEjjnIURulISoolSMu9dVo2gEF/s400/Bangalore_Hampi_route.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5052155528626796658" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Route: </span>Bangalore (NH 4) - Tumkur - Hiriyur - Chitradurga - (Take NH 13 from here) - Jagalur - Kudligi - Hospet - Hampi<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Distance:</span> 378 kms (approx) from Bangalore.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Road condition:</span> NH4: superb, NH13: Bumpy in some parts, smooth otherwise. No potholes.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pictures available at:<br /></span>http://picasaweb.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/HampiTrip (By me)<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span>http://picasaweb.google.com/jayansr/Hampi_Jan26_2007 (By dada)</span>Kamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00861504569064458606noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1899372091734677987.post-67594278908264987162007-01-21T21:43:00.000-08:002007-01-31T22:18:45.231-08:00RTMC Kanva ride<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi51KKo4e0TvBQHyV3cbHu_D1iOQChvYMV5RRRubEFe72KrdGCR5HNy2HOdPidnXHzUJ1FuvyPqOd8xUFbi_B5FuwqgKxIXFRYgVQ6lr64mfbs6JJEN-BRW97wMOgKrwRmtErrBUNU5iJTA/s1600-h/DSC01622_edited.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi51KKo4e0TvBQHyV3cbHu_D1iOQChvYMV5RRRubEFe72KrdGCR5HNy2HOdPidnXHzUJ1FuvyPqOd8xUFbi_B5FuwqgKxIXFRYgVQ6lr64mfbs6JJEN-BRW97wMOgKrwRmtErrBUNU5iJTA/s400/DSC01622_edited.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5026028718010584978" border="0" /></a><br />After a long gap of more than two and a half months I received a mail from RTMC announce list for the Kanva dam ride. Well - I didn't have any other plans and I was looking forward to this second ride. One becomes a RTMC member after completing two rides. Before this weekend I couldnt accompany Deb and his gang as I got up late ;) and went to Bheemeshwari instead.<br /><br />We started at around 7.50 AM and halted at kadu Mane for breakfast. Good food! And good tea!<br />Kanva dam is around 70 kms from Bangalore and there is a diversion on the right side on Mysore road after some 60 kms which goes to Kanva dam.<br /><br />It was a nice place and a nice ride.<br /><br />We had an introduction session followed by some fun and frolic. Like the last time the group was biggg and after a while people formed small groups for chit chats n stuff.<br /><br />It was a time well spent with RTMC guys and with friends Sushil, Chandra, Jobin & the gang. We relaxed by the side of the reservoir & had a stone bouncing on water competition :) Soon everyone started feeling the heat and hunger we decided to head back.<br /><br />On the return leg of the ride we had tender coconuts in mysore road and then everyone started for Bangalore. Me, Chandra and Jobin wanted to take our lunch so we stopped again at Kadu Mane and had our lunch. It was a very relaxed affair for us. Came back home by 5 PM.Kamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00861504569064458606noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1899372091734677987.post-39225209003308428612007-01-16T21:23:00.000-08:002007-01-16T21:36:09.517-08:00Built like a gun<span class="q" id="q_1102e7c881f3c8c5_1">I commute my way to work on my Bullet. Every working day.<br /><br />It was the usual thing as per the routine except that I had a damn bad skid today.<br /><br />Thanks to the sturdy footrest on the bullets that I came unscratched (both me and bike).<br /><br />I was taking a left turn to enter the soft teck park where I work - I overtook two cars to take the entrance and skidded on the road probably because I was a on a wee bit higher speed to take that road curve (Road is straight and I just have to take a left turn) plus the road was slippery (Mobil oil!!).<br /><br />My tyres made a loud screech with the bike and body almost going to touch the road on the left side. It all happened so fast that I didnt even have the time to react!<br /><br />I just looked down on the left side and witnessed the saving grace of my left footrest! Everyone around stopped and my security guys came to take a look, I just straightened my bike while still seated :) checked the bike for any damages and satisfied that there were none I heard security guy pointing at the skid marks and the mobil!<br /><br />I said - yeah it caused a skid :D and moved on to the parking!<br /><br />Kicked lightly on the left footrest to make it straight while still in the hangover of the event.<br /><br />I had heard a lot of tales about the sturdy bullet footrests saving jaan & maal on so many occasions but I witnessed one for myself this morning.<br /><br />Built like a gun? Ofc, yes!</span><br /><br />Reading between the lines - Everyone is prone to mistakes, always try to be on the safer side. And I need to go a bit more careful - this oil leakage skid felt just like the skids that I used to virtually experience when playing Road Rash on computers :)Kamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00861504569064458606noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1899372091734677987.post-71831695194086511422007-01-14T08:34:00.000-08:002007-01-14T19:36:08.215-08:00Bheemeshwari revisitedAs luck would have it I visited Bheemeshwari again this sunday!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPeH7h2ZV75bPs9DVhyfl_0xkyX73xu69j8AWEf6kJKI4CGl-dJDcZTSVcZGouA7jcBlzfrNSMMoiBQnJO4pJ6YxHSotSmz0fiuGkMzPX63ZRY7pKE3U5tKWgFL56a8gNsypLUj2vCLh4B/s1600-h/DSC01537.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPeH7h2ZV75bPs9DVhyfl_0xkyX73xu69j8AWEf6kJKI4CGl-dJDcZTSVcZGouA7jcBlzfrNSMMoiBQnJO4pJ6YxHSotSmz0fiuGkMzPX63ZRY7pKE3U5tKWgFL56a8gNsypLUj2vCLh4B/s400/DSC01537.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5020087695908451234" border="0" /></a><br />I got this new RTO number plate for my bull, both the plates costed me a cool 450 bucks but the look and the feel more than compensates for the sum:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH8CCLFau8p-HTfFa_yj3WHABAYTLVS0vtDp3VK1rd08unzLZcfZDRV520Edg0nLC3IrnfzSTO_nCEGVU084hD428Rb-R4k_749rwf5SlldSqt4RhGStOn0l2vDGKNn2wVVs5_Pp7brk8x/s1600-h/DSC01571.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH8CCLFau8p-HTfFa_yj3WHABAYTLVS0vtDp3VK1rd08unzLZcfZDRV520Edg0nLC3IrnfzSTO_nCEGVU084hD428Rb-R4k_749rwf5SlldSqt4RhGStOn0l2vDGKNn2wVVs5_Pp7brk8x/s400/DSC01571.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5020087700203418546" border="0" /></a><br />Another biker friend Deb had called me for a ride to Kanva dam, which I was thinking of going to, but I got delayed for that and decided to ride to Bheemeshwari instead with Dada, Shashi and Vasanth. We were supposed to start at 7.30 in the morning but somehow got delayed. Meanwhile I went to Dada's place to come with him and in the process clicked some<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/Kamlesh.Sanwal/BheemeshwariRevisited"> gud snaps</a> there ;)<br /><br />We started at 8:30AM and rode to Bheemeshwari, taking our breakfast at some restaurant outside Bangalore. The next stop was after crossing Sathanur, we stopped by a pond to capture some Bulls in the camera.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj20pmklJ9CVy-axAzlh5kGZH8DV-kkiUeBaQjsrtufH27anc1V4c4QhpQcxfEaflyNE-5tMMbQ8N6FRLI5gNdAG2ylQiMue0gMO4nDIcvw6eLjZp8gt6NGMvfH9RAIVzxAQ0W_dRsg9Co9/s1600-h/DSC01508.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj20pmklJ9CVy-axAzlh5kGZH8DV-kkiUeBaQjsrtufH27anc1V4c4QhpQcxfEaflyNE-5tMMbQ8N6FRLI5gNdAG2ylQiMue0gMO4nDIcvw6eLjZp8gt6NGMvfH9RAIVzxAQ0W_dRsg9Co9/s400/DSC01508.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5020095469799257154" border="0" /></a><br />And then the shephard also turned up. I feel these guys look in their natural best and make for a very good photograph.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg00f-bw_JUuBrVcIsQmS-Zi-_Xio2aRMuLO5wZw4hU4WGAHmkY6aCRBAmm-2KTSAPrgrKPjCtRpedS7P9w1unc3UigVhpsm9_x0BgRLzMloWLNKgoOLsCwQ1qlC9JiyVV-5qJDVV66TmTL/s1600-h/DSC01495.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg00f-bw_JUuBrVcIsQmS-Zi-_Xio2aRMuLO5wZw4hU4WGAHmkY6aCRBAmm-2KTSAPrgrKPjCtRpedS7P9w1unc3UigVhpsm9_x0BgRLzMloWLNKgoOLsCwQ1qlC9JiyVV-5qJDVV66TmTL/s400/DSC01495.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5020095465504289842" border="0" /></a><br />Ride to Bheemeshwari is fantastic - you get to ride in some of the good roads, and some of the ghats as well.<br /><br />The serene Cauvery waters at Bheemeshwari are a delight to seeker wanting to relax.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUthVc32j4p2g37oyIjUiBFJ46OZPacirDIuqxLP3t63Ns-VzGFgHLc0L1cBIJmcnZSEXxSIJ0qowjmcAKJmN5rb4YePguOw_xzR1FPjC7w7PriaTe7aZu3Oov30zDACxrHZTP048D6dwV/s1600-h/DSC01530.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUthVc32j4p2g37oyIjUiBFJ46OZPacirDIuqxLP3t63Ns-VzGFgHLc0L1cBIJmcnZSEXxSIJ0qowjmcAKJmN5rb4YePguOw_xzR1FPjC7w7PriaTe7aZu3Oov30zDACxrHZTP048D6dwV/s400/DSC01530.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5020087683023549330" border="0" /></a><br />We spent our time doing chit-chats and gossipping.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcoqsqbFfBUfy0SRqMCELkeu90cRjD2xs9w6D3d-ZRw7H6aSKEoGv3nrg_I83M8nU0v9O94FKrANWCc43BWnQootsjGjeDKWGeMjZ4ZakxbfTGfE0rszEyoekVpb8MEpw68Ds00sSJqcw8/s1600-h/DSC01536.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcoqsqbFfBUfy0SRqMCELkeu90cRjD2xs9w6D3d-ZRw7H6aSKEoGv3nrg_I83M8nU0v9O94FKrANWCc43BWnQootsjGjeDKWGeMjZ4ZakxbfTGfE0rszEyoekVpb8MEpw68Ds00sSJqcw8/s400/DSC01536.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5020089963651183554" border="0" /></a><br />Since all of us were feeling hungry we decided to fill our bellies before proceeding to the Cauvery fishing camp. Lunch was welcome, though not very tasty.<br /><br />We proceeded to Cauvery fishing camp where we came to know that a reservation is required without which you can't even park your vehicles inside the campus :P!<br /><br />So we moved on. Dada's bull got into reserve, and we decided to reach Halagaru instead of going back to the way we came from. The roads till Halagaru was either very good or very bad :D<br /><br />We relaxed for an hour on the good stretch in the shade. It was part sleep, part gossips and part test riding :)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtj5iPO1S0xY19qW1VTCYb0GwwGmMQizRUUhxkeUDw1Bdvju_e76mKRO48Jrlg0ub5lQMMj5RE01gmTQLJJJ1NsaKAUW9Pt7AFqQHfnWahe1yiFrErxP-OcIWwj0H5oOMOk-o4RXjqNRpP/s1600-h/DSC01560.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtj5iPO1S0xY19qW1VTCYb0GwwGmMQizRUUhxkeUDw1Bdvju_e76mKRO48Jrlg0ub5lQMMj5RE01gmTQLJJJ1NsaKAUW9Pt7AFqQHfnWahe1yiFrErxP-OcIWwj0H5oOMOk-o4RXjqNRpP/s400/DSC01560.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5020089967946150866" border="0" /></a><br />Dada tried Vaas's ZMA and demonstrated Vaas how to ride it well :P<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii5h2DdLrrAi2xMJc2Kdf1Td4B86nDlOjudOON1CJ6QFLtoJozHCRDYpMHrxpwK71kVR1FDJj72VYgkHc9fmXvKsrD3LMcI0vQ4Orx__-bJavKx4c8IHvR1evaE_t5h7AUx0Ft0JaiQULh/s1600-h/DSC01592.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii5h2DdLrrAi2xMJc2Kdf1Td4B86nDlOjudOON1CJ6QFLtoJozHCRDYpMHrxpwK71kVR1FDJj72VYgkHc9fmXvKsrD3LMcI0vQ4Orx__-bJavKx4c8IHvR1evaE_t5h7AUx0Ft0JaiQULh/s400/DSC01592.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5020093300840772642" border="0" /></a><br />Vaas, who goes good with bulls and denies so, couldn't resist the temptation and tried Dada's and Shashi's Bull machismo<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHYjPjC33o-RLDzadQ1hJwrfv1bF94VhGBNg-2e4rdfWG6zZyzEny1WJzler7yeWdGHeJtAfrt0pOLueImOgAQUhuAIWKD2uqmtgWr5K3DOSGmNMY1HgVsl7kQodQbHuDRfJCAw2nXFK-4/s1600-h/DSC01514.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHYjPjC33o-RLDzadQ1hJwrfv1bF94VhGBNg-2e4rdfWG6zZyzEny1WJzler7yeWdGHeJtAfrt0pOLueImOgAQUhuAIWKD2uqmtgWr5K3DOSGmNMY1HgVsl7kQodQbHuDRfJCAw2nXFK-4/s400/DSC01514.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5020093296545805330" border="0" /></a><br />And then my Bull<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxH51dCuQXJQ1-fetQca9-fKEppzh3cY6ejcmCJABUqfgPe6Fmnb0SN4bY4wpS7ZGSBtu9N36a-shbQvcGjTvt2D9qRWfEQMwt-SAy51HynOKvwZWb3l-_80flPht2nY2nn_SYZYKEPsBl/s1600-h/DSC01597.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxH51dCuQXJQ1-fetQca9-fKEppzh3cY6ejcmCJABUqfgPe6Fmnb0SN4bY4wpS7ZGSBtu9N36a-shbQvcGjTvt2D9qRWfEQMwt-SAy51HynOKvwZWb3l-_80flPht2nY2nn_SYZYKEPsBl/s400/DSC01597.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5020093292250838018" border="0" /></a><br />And even though he liked the ride very much he's still reluctant to show his admiration for Bulls :D!<br /><br />Two kids appeared from nowhere and accompanied us there in the shade till we left.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8jz782AjtAK3MzMU1Rwq8bIVP1QsXWfIevoo4tpDOdBMy5AHwF0Lc37fpueNlNncvHUcuVXjTwv1rDotMjQ39eAajeWkcJySdVHy5mGUInqc62WQuQLVngM9mMaU0CJ5cW6xhXa-WWEoh/s1600-h/DSC01599.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8jz782AjtAK3MzMU1Rwq8bIVP1QsXWfIevoo4tpDOdBMy5AHwF0Lc37fpueNlNncvHUcuVXjTwv1rDotMjQ39eAajeWkcJySdVHy5mGUInqc62WQuQLVngM9mMaU0CJ5cW6xhXa-WWEoh/s400/DSC01599.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5020093287955870706" border="0" /></a><br />Time to move further. The rest of the journey was uneventful except for the broken silencer clamp on Dada's machine. It was tied up well - by Dada himself (Who else when dada is around?)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Route:</span> Bangalore - Kanakpura - Sathanur (Take a left turn here) - Bheemeshwari<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Return route:</span> Bheemeshwari - Halasaru (Take a right turn here) - Sathanur - Kanakpura - Bangalore<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Distance: </span>From my place in Koramangala Bheemeshwari is around 100 kms.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Road condition: </span>In general the road condition is good and the broken stretches are mostly repaired now. In another two three months good roads are expected. We did couple of bad stretches though, on the way back from Bheemeshwari to Halagaru.<br /><br />Ride Year 2007 begins with a good ride, I would be doing a lot of rides this year. I have been thinking of Leh/Ladakh for a very long time now and seeing all those other bikers' blogs and pix I feel that I need to be there.<br /><br />I will be there.. Soon<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjMlN_LLYoT5LUexqCDa38kDy9pSE3PelkKoZSl4H1x5sqZMUTJRcZFJRUIMWG9cjp5NKqUGGJ3ugcDEY-1oygWlPoKiEcvW5cRfQnarjkmSYhC8EtWz4GCj60LaJk6qLELRoSYQK1AvtU/s1600-h/DSC01578.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjMlN_LLYoT5LUexqCDa38kDy9pSE3PelkKoZSl4H1x5sqZMUTJRcZFJRUIMWG9cjp5NKqUGGJ3ugcDEY-1oygWlPoKiEcvW5cRfQnarjkmSYhC8EtWz4GCj60LaJk6qLELRoSYQK1AvtU/s400/DSC01578.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5020089976536085474" border="0" /></a>Kamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00861504569064458606noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1899372091734677987.post-82716855357827729732007-01-01T10:41:00.000-08:002007-01-01T22:01:41.260-08:002006 - A ride year that was2006 was full of rides, most of them being one day rides. Here is a summary of the ride-year:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Kemmanagundi ride: </span>April 29-30. With BangaloreBikers, it was 7 of us - Me, Shankie, Obi, Sid, Takel & Chol on the ride. Did not go with a booking and in the end we had to sleep in a kitchen! I had my first fall in years on the off-roading from Kemmanagundi to Hebbe falls.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHK2-8yfOi0lxhhZWJ7DQi7pd6Sl9U7NdpoV0Gh1QSBNRj1z6J3BTqRlh0kI_iZBh3hkM11KiUFss2wye801roDDGsGDwEBcktPJJuDLKnbokYXmjEvGXjm-tbOKoDqSg-ESDHQVqZ-JqK/s1600-h/DSC00082.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHK2-8yfOi0lxhhZWJ7DQi7pd6Sl9U7NdpoV0Gh1QSBNRj1z6J3BTqRlh0kI_iZBh3hkM11KiUFss2wye801roDDGsGDwEBcktPJJuDLKnbokYXmjEvGXjm-tbOKoDqSg-ESDHQVqZ-JqK/s400/DSC00082.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015139259511784354" border="0" /></a>Though we shifted to a nearby room at around 10 PM but a lesson was learnt: On a ride to a cut - off place never go without a reservation! It was a three day ride, but we returned in two days!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Gopalaswamy betta, Ooty and Coonnor ride: </span>June 10th to 11th, with friends from BangaloreBikers.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3hVz_S6D5boD-XPQr8TK0hgYGESY0NlhRqV3oYpr9sY4fbrl908FDZ4gVAi-EoBmkG0aiwFKHFSHtBAfDjCL8aBJdRX0aAyLhP1kcicTPDnFbxpohkjkZIA7ItyIN2YbAgIdGtv_xktZ2/s1600-h/GSB+trip.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3hVz_S6D5boD-XPQr8TK0hgYGESY0NlhRqV3oYpr9sY4fbrl908FDZ4gVAi-EoBmkG0aiwFKHFSHtBAfDjCL8aBJdRX0aAyLhP1kcicTPDnFbxpohkjkZIA7ItyIN2YbAgIdGtv_xktZ2/s400/GSB+trip.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015301982937728050" border="0" /></a><br />Ooty was more of a stay point rather than a *spot*, need to do a Ooty special ride in 2007.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Shivasamudram falls ride: </span>July 2nd. With Obi and Mayank.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYen9esiyRHTq-vUJXn45wbJMBpt6Thg1XzYz6jyhNvs3yOmKUFYSM5-CLpt5MZLLXFhcdtLv719Icl7JRkvvAmrPVQa0hU_EZ7oxUx-_mkg541EbyrUnqEU6y_rHHoT_p9bGHLuhHjMgg/s1600-h/Shivasamudram.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYen9esiyRHTq-vUJXn45wbJMBpt6Thg1XzYz6jyhNvs3yOmKUFYSM5-CLpt5MZLLXFhcdtLv719Icl7JRkvvAmrPVQa0hU_EZ7oxUx-_mkg541EbyrUnqEU6y_rHHoT_p9bGHLuhHjMgg/s400/Shivasamudram.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015307197028025426" border="0" /></a><br />We went a long way back to Mysore after Shivasamudram and it was a very tiring ride, as the stretch from Shivasamudram to Mysore chosen by us was totally a goner!<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bheemeshwari ride:</span> July 16th, My first ride under BikeNomads banner.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZk5-JA09qnSd271JgZvgaIWERG_v5HOkuZbNAtlT3tlxEbUm6FbW3h-fv8xID1GdX3hkc8jhkn7YfWfsU421FGU4lBQymQSiQojl5e_VKX02vruCBGHFY4bNypc5VEAktJCqnzPiGokP4/s1600-h/Bheemeshwari.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZk5-JA09qnSd271JgZvgaIWERG_v5HOkuZbNAtlT3tlxEbUm6FbW3h-fv8xID1GdX3hkc8jhkn7YfWfsU421FGU4lBQymQSiQojl5e_VKX02vruCBGHFY4bNypc5VEAktJCqnzPiGokP4/s400/Bheemeshwari.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015307729603970146" border="0" /></a> It was Girish, me and Jumbo.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Shravanabelagola ride:</span> July 22. With BangaloreBikers, on this ride it was me, Shankie, Chol, Ashu, Srini, Srini's friend Manjunath.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii6xQVkJ8lfw3jA8VaiOGm-ZTFIW3NHoh3f8TBE1ZjZea3XVakGAda696-4OMovodanz3Dt96XOx1Wpy5yNdWYoke6bWtyMhdaGi0aGFxCLCEKBecEdyRRT3cQjKBxrSFCeqOJC7S7WN0H/s1600-h/IMG_0478.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii6xQVkJ8lfw3jA8VaiOGm-ZTFIW3NHoh3f8TBE1ZjZea3XVakGAda696-4OMovodanz3Dt96XOx1Wpy5yNdWYoke6bWtyMhdaGi0aGFxCLCEKBecEdyRRT3cQjKBxrSFCeqOJC7S7WN0H/s400/IMG_0478.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015142600996340738" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Madhugiri fort ride:</span> July 28th: with BangaloreBikers, Ashu, Takel, Chol, Me, Narang and Ujjwala went on this trip.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOqGBWyVvNt5XdqBcYGM_lTKojzqjYHuCZhJUTnp7gz0pgBY96unPqpl61jY7sRgnlI8mKRow4KGq6cXxJTojDuBsst805kMHJ3yf4xB2qOA-FCnskrVkCgJlmwqFWtEj9lKKkIne1nd-T/s1600-h/IMG_0040_edited-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOqGBWyVvNt5XdqBcYGM_lTKojzqjYHuCZhJUTnp7gz0pgBY96unPqpl61jY7sRgnlI8mKRow4KGq6cXxJTojDuBsst805kMHJ3yf4xB2qOA-FCnskrVkCgJlmwqFWtEj9lKKkIne1nd-T/s400/IMG_0040_edited-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015140466397594562" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Nandi hills ride:</span> Twice. Once with xBHP folks - thats when I met Vasanth and Renu. Second time it was me and my college friends Sid and Mayank, after Sid had completed his pulsar 150 run in.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Munnar ride:</span> Aug 12- Aug 15 with BangaloreBikers. One of the best rides, the Munnar ghats were too good!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlwnIT-97Ktjr8Z3zUC1yKPrv-cOjFLwtgr__vWUd64BhNAUIuONx-gbBusYFkyrqZLQLuhxutb587PFJHDy1bdDPGDwD4W-o4ruIH2o8FeSB5FtlWdT9RwIGsM7rO4Xdefb5kCF0b4t99/s1600-h/S3010088.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlwnIT-97Ktjr8Z3zUC1yKPrv-cOjFLwtgr__vWUd64BhNAUIuONx-gbBusYFkyrqZLQLuhxutb587PFJHDy1bdDPGDwD4W-o4ruIH2o8FeSB5FtlWdT9RwIGsM7rO4Xdefb5kCF0b4t99/s400/S3010088.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015142583816471522" border="0" /></a><br />Tried Doing Munnar again on Dec 23rd - Dec 25th, unfortunately I had to drop out after 100 kms!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chunchi falls ride: </span>With friends from BangaloreBikers, this was supposed to be a Mekadatu ride, but I could not make it as the chain on my CBZ broke when we were off-roading from Chunchi falls. I need to do a Mekadatu in 2007 on my bull.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">A1 plaza & Shoolagiri dam ride: </span>This was the most repeated ride of the year - Done three times!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggWkz-_IVpvF1JrCeG5UtFTBOcV_bQoBBU4xqJkpbz5sPmrDOTDc86ajBsQ5TWSf7MooAoKaFkW8cHvw2W1DInL-LUuiIHiTxL9yRgZsy3a3SgG0EO_JJdX18iVohWjJIbhyphenhyphenaY33BjDkWO/s1600-h/IMG_0304-1.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggWkz-_IVpvF1JrCeG5UtFTBOcV_bQoBBU4xqJkpbz5sPmrDOTDc86ajBsQ5TWSf7MooAoKaFkW8cHvw2W1DInL-LUuiIHiTxL9yRgZsy3a3SgG0EO_JJdX18iVohWjJIbhyphenhyphenaY33BjDkWO/s400/IMG_0304-1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015140457807659954" border="0" /></a>I rode twice on BN breakfast ride to A1 plaza followed by a ride to Shoolagiri dam. Needless to say I met some of my great biker friends in these rides.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMZ_5Uk7S5Stp97JqJyBjrSJ7jxpM4-pwPEgRpOsQkR7KxdZkZRarX-xx95z9k8cPDU9y50p5Xt6svVmhYm0ez3-IH0SJ2X1Y5pD99i_jKTSdMx9ktDQ_xIcmsVI9vplitusjB2XbPpJ3y/s1600-h/IMG_0058_edited-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMZ_5Uk7S5Stp97JqJyBjrSJ7jxpM4-pwPEgRpOsQkR7KxdZkZRarX-xx95z9k8cPDU9y50p5Xt6svVmhYm0ez3-IH0SJ2X1Y5pD99i_jKTSdMx9ktDQ_xIcmsVI9vplitusjB2XbPpJ3y/s400/IMG_0058_edited-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015135157818016610" border="0" /></a>First time I rode to this place it was on my CBZ and it was the 'last official' ride on my CBZ, after that the two rides were on MetalBuck. The second time it was Karnataka bandh and we rode to A1/Shoolagiri for our lunch :)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Goa ride:</span> Sep 29 - Oct 02, BikeNomads Anniversary ride.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh106-AN1vQNX75hlDanaenMyett4jXX_aFQpWSogUeEhyMB9BH8nGd0Vlhh1a0wE4EuIZ80A0REEHGSUPXyFaWKI361GwJgcMCOoTaqVSdB8Odc4bjYR2wUJqFLiPZ644yIgRzs3g4_elk/s1600-h/Goa_018_edited-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh106-AN1vQNX75hlDanaenMyett4jXX_aFQpWSogUeEhyMB9BH8nGd0Vlhh1a0wE4EuIZ80A0REEHGSUPXyFaWKI361GwJgcMCOoTaqVSdB8Odc4bjYR2wUJqFLiPZ644yIgRzs3g4_elk/s400/Goa_018_edited-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015135789178209138" border="0" /></a>Didn't see much of Goa though; but the ride was amazing!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Markonahalli dam ride: </span>My first ride with RTMC, met a couple of photographer guys on this ride with whom I went on another trips later on. It was a bigg group with around 36 people in the ride! Also my first 'official' ride on <a href="http://metalbuck.blogspot.com/">MetalBuck</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBiwM63HvnX_WXaGftTjqRInWXkPUIhdNXYUQNdPiowDGtfcSkn0fuVQo5khm35yM57Ji8LdlK5RogieAPbbtdYFLZoQejmh2j4pv7B2KnGiVYCt6d_hHDBxCPeLNGXYR76FmsDh3RUGVM/s1600-h/IMG_0063.jpe"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBiwM63HvnX_WXaGftTjqRInWXkPUIhdNXYUQNdPiowDGtfcSkn0fuVQo5khm35yM57Ji8LdlK5RogieAPbbtdYFLZoQejmh2j4pv7B2KnGiVYCt6d_hHDBxCPeLNGXYR76FmsDh3RUGVM/s400/IMG_0063.jpe" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015302446794196034" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Makalidurga ride:</span> With some BN friends, Tamanna and Kirti.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjINYIdajDLHwAyQLenlIQfdN97EmjfrY3DnXJwbyTLNaIlosvl23hd8FKAk_jxKTEedfFm9SkRKm7bNLqBuga1YTu8x6uV8pxdorxyuW-Ycihm7wo9cPGmyjbW_H1RiCBhfXgKN-Wya9q1/s1600-h/IMG_4652.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjINYIdajDLHwAyQLenlIQfdN97EmjfrY3DnXJwbyTLNaIlosvl23hd8FKAk_jxKTEedfFm9SkRKm7bNLqBuga1YTu8x6uV8pxdorxyuW-Ycihm7wo9cPGmyjbW_H1RiCBhfXgKN-Wya9q1/s400/IMG_4652.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015140470692561874" border="0" /></a>In all, a good experience.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Devarayana Durga hills ride:</span> With friends from BN and RTMC.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh52ltpgbGimLK39nYIwi_cgXBg0Yew7JxaIRRyN1oxdaSvus8FO0LQ5avAwVmc1Q7DKD7fSfZM3sDGHZzHUlLNtT5mrg17aRB7f_yv2SCv-0HRw0-QF0i9g3kiDQ4rv2fdGsUTbH5RmuWJ/s1600-h/Kam_-74.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh52ltpgbGimLK39nYIwi_cgXBg0Yew7JxaIRRyN1oxdaSvus8FO0LQ5avAwVmc1Q7DKD7fSfZM3sDGHZzHUlLNtT5mrg17aRB7f_yv2SCv-0HRw0-QF0i9g3kiDQ4rv2fdGsUTbH5RmuWJ/s400/Kam_-74.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015137769158132610" border="0" /></a>Good place and a great experience.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ranganathittu bird sanctuary and Chamundi hill ghats ride:</span> One good ride!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNIh2gyaNlSGbR_sbS_zBHxVeXZGkoVpsQbthAT-238quKuN-HijHbnO6aBS63g8bm0fr4F_yEohWi44XRxeOjiGlCJa-BouZ1kRDdErN4Xu9UwDG-WtCH4Hk1w_VhGGrE9SWy-2NytOmr/s1600-h/DSC00683.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNIh2gyaNlSGbR_sbS_zBHxVeXZGkoVpsQbthAT-238quKuN-HijHbnO6aBS63g8bm0fr4F_yEohWi44XRxeOjiGlCJa-BouZ1kRDdErN4Xu9UwDG-WtCH4Hk1w_VhGGrE9SWy-2NytOmr/s400/DSC00683.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015142588111438834" border="0" /></a>With friends from BN and RTMC, in all 360 kms all in 12 hours with lots of good time spent in Ranganathittu and Chamundi hill ghats.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hessarghatta lake ride:</span> Dec 31st. Distance-wise it was the shortest one - 89 kms to and fro.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEP3H0yMBS2qABCM8tZq_ytsJ4BYKA8r_EZS6jD_4ng5_Mp5ZHRSIJ2pI_a0iXBvjG2CVaf58fNkhfGnHM-guKZIOjmpO52gGT7IYEKDP59bdJIx4cWozQfZbrm58VIi0ZCdxYxv6YvFxT/s1600-h/DSC01338.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEP3H0yMBS2qABCM8tZq_ytsJ4BYKA8r_EZS6jD_4ng5_Mp5ZHRSIJ2pI_a0iXBvjG2CVaf58fNkhfGnHM-guKZIOjmpO52gGT7IYEKDP59bdJIx4cWozQfZbrm58VIi0ZCdxYxv6YvFxT/s400/DSC01338.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015137782043034514" border="0" /></a>This was the shortest of all the rides and true to its 'summary' taste: It was short and summarized all the fun from the rides in 2006!<br /><br />In this year I upgraded to RE Thunderbird, and completed 17,000 kms on my CBZ. By year ending I crossed 4,000 kms on my Bull. In all a terrific year, full of rides and yeah - I earned a couple of great friends in this year!<br /><br />Resolutions for the new year? Nopes! Not any, Just ride :)Kamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00861504569064458606noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1899372091734677987.post-42719952191571598192007-01-01T08:28:00.000-08:002007-01-02T01:13:17.201-08:00Serene HessarghattaIt has been a year full of rides for me. I did lots of touring on my CBZ and then I upgraded to my long time due dream - <a href="http://metalbuck.blogspot.com/">Royal Enfield Thunderbird</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2U2SiiK5pqSlGjj5OblpdpZ5jeUSIuWOtdNhTRIB4SAukvLC0ZCsJXIb6WYCyc0saK8qpPKl70OSI0fsoTkMeOJW30SO1wRNsn6infQIla014Q4GZVip47h0Q-jzkY6-OK5xyd_s0YZo2/s1600-h/DSC01321.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2U2SiiK5pqSlGjj5OblpdpZ5jeUSIuWOtdNhTRIB4SAukvLC0ZCsJXIb6WYCyc0saK8qpPKl70OSI0fsoTkMeOJW30SO1wRNsn6infQIla014Q4GZVip47h0Q-jzkY6-OK5xyd_s0YZo2/s400/DSC01321.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015100849619255778" border="0" /></a><br />For the past few days I did not do any of the long rides, even when I had long weekends because of the pain in the upper back - Thanks to the weeks of hectic schedules at work!<br /><br />But I thought doing a small ride on sunday won't hurt much. What followed was a relaxed ride to Hessarghatta lake, Nrityagram and on a very very beautiful road to eco resorts just before Nrityagram was what made the last day and the last ride of year 2006 a memorable experience.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmHDkuyondk5bnZtdoEaz_bOFVb-P0yZkrrOzRS5U5CCrEfD5NOxqP_ZPlDQiv540dNYYP81gSAmdi87uRRooltKnwrCt4tLgvdsxcp8pwcq8ENnGa6Y4JDl89Q5E1b_wxtsgbscp1LWUJ/s1600-h/DSC01335.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 246px; height: 184px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmHDkuyondk5bnZtdoEaz_bOFVb-P0yZkrrOzRS5U5CCrEfD5NOxqP_ZPlDQiv540dNYYP81gSAmdi87uRRooltKnwrCt4tLgvdsxcp8pwcq8ENnGa6Y4JDl89Q5E1b_wxtsgbscp1LWUJ/s400/DSC01335.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015121620081099586" border="0" /></a><br />Main purpose of this ride was to break away from the hustle and bustle of city, relax and <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/HesarghattaLakeTrip">click some photos</a> and when I saw a number of people in the main entrance of Hessarghatta lake I decided to move further and take another entry. It was a beautiful ride in that area - roads were broken but the surroundings were excellent. I moved on to Nrityagram - the dance village founded by Protima Bedi which takes only 24 students a year in four dance disciplines.<br /><br />Before we could reach this dance village I saw a road which prompted me to take a detour! Any other biker would have done the same thing, it was too hard to resist. And I am glad I did not resist it! Vast land of grass with this road in the middle, and nobody around for miles! That was beautiful! I clicked a couple of shots and moved on slowly on this road. Further ahead there were three girls pushing there cycles coming from the opposite side. They smiled - I reflected, that smile :). When you see another traveller in a deserted place, which is as beautiful as that a smile is what comes without any efforts.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBsUCITeghFunue3NI3bj-fuo2MaF3NJ-E40xjWRTJNmAbxOox6KY4XOh1ZWcwUVKMYGLfhsTWI0MHdMwJ3_2mdmRIMN56y-7HfM99T4W_-V161BTLeui4pyoSLs2u2NR5tlruKs5LaoWx/s1600-h/DSC01336.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 169px; height: 226px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBsUCITeghFunue3NI3bj-fuo2MaF3NJ-E40xjWRTJNmAbxOox6KY4XOh1ZWcwUVKMYGLfhsTWI0MHdMwJ3_2mdmRIMN56y-7HfM99T4W_-V161BTLeui4pyoSLs2u2NR5tlruKs5LaoWx/s400/DSC01336.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015121628671034194" border="0" /></a><br />I carried on and parked my bike in the woods. Mayank started his morning walk and I just relaxed. And clicked a few shots.<br /><br />Mayank came back after some time, after touching the horizons! Time to move on, Clicked a <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/kamlesh.sanwal/HesarghattaLakeTrip">few shots</a> of the road, so as to go back there sometime with my biker friends, or may be alone.<br /><br />Nrityagram was open to visitors only after 10 AM. So I took a U turn and came back to Hessarghatta lake, did some off roading and reached the bank of the lake. Sitting there relaxing was absolute fun.<br /><br />This was the last ride of the year 2006, it was short and was a great experience.<br /><br /><br />Adieu 2006!Kamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00861504569064458606noreply@blogger.com7