Ah! I am back home today after a loong 10 day ride.. This was one awesome ride I did and today was the last leg.. The start of the day saw me at my uncle's house in Puttur( near Mangalore).. I was very keen on making it to bangalore by the afternoon, so I wanted to start off by 5:00 in the morning... My bike's headlight was acting a little weird, but I though I would take the chance...
I woke up at 4:30 am and tried to get ready without waking anybody else.. But my uncle and Aunt were such sweet people..They had woken up by 4:00 and had hot water and Hot tea ready for me.. Both helped me a lot in warding off my sleep.. After declining breakfast I stacked up all the luggage on my bike and took off... It was going to be a journeuy of a little over 300 km..
The air was very chilly and I was hoping it would get warmer as the day progressed..It was pitch dark on the highway..and the oncoming Trucks had blinding headlights.. It took me quite a while to get adjusted to the conditions... I was surprised at the heavy traffic for this time of the day... Soon I hit the ghats and it was an uphill climb all the way.. Bangalore happens to be at ahigher level than Mangalore and we need to climb these ghat roads.. Around 6:30 my headlight went bust again..I must say I am lucky for if it had gone out earlier I would have been in a lurch.. Now with daylight the going would be easy...
The air kept getting colder and I had signs of frostbite.. After some time my fingers just went numb..and I even missed pressing the clutch at one turn.. This was a sign for me to take a break...luckily i had covered about 70 km and was near Sakleshpur.. Stopped at the first Hotel and drank up Hot tea.. Sent a few SMS'es and was off soon after that.. Was planning to stop at Hassan after this.. Reached Hassan but dd not feel like stopping and carried on.. Was surprised that I was not very tired.. The morning air was fresh and the roads had somehow gotten empty again..
my next stop was at Yediyur..and by then I had covered about 180 km and it was still around 9:30 am or so.. Called up the office and Home and realised I would have to be in the office by 3:00 for an appraisal meeting... Was pretty hungry by then and went to work at a nearby Maurya.. The service was lousy but the Vada's were absolutely delicious..
By now I was ready to take on the road again.. I had a problem with my bike and so could not go beyond 75-80 kmph... This was frustrating as the roads were very good and i knew I could do speeds of 90-100kmph easily on these roads.. If I could have I would reach much faster..
Finally hit bangalore at 12:00 in the noon..
The ride was a fitting end to the whole 10 day ride.. I had done 300 km today in just a little over 6 hours and with only 2 breaks.. I am very sure no other 2-wheeler can ever take this kind of strain..reached home after 10 days and 2600 kms.. I had left for Mumbai on the 6th of Jan and reached home on the 15th after visiting Goa and Mangalore..
Am stil in the process of putting down the whole experience on paper(or monitor rather)... Will post it soon..
It felt great to be home.. My family was one releived bunch.. They had been pretty scared all the time I had been away..Can't blame them, considering the indian roads.. But thankfully I had a safe journey and so did all the 11 guys who had set out on this ride from Bangalore..
After reaching home got ready as soon as possible and went to the office.. Had a quick lunch..got the trip photos developed and had an absolutely rewarding meeting..
..and now I am in the office hoping to leave as early as possible..But there's miles and miles to go before I sleep!!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment