Rider Mania'05-- Part I

Rider Mania '05 had stirred me into action a long time before it actually happenend. I Heard about it in Nov'04 and was pretty excited and wanted to be a RM'05 at any cost. Sourabh and me discussed this and started our research about the event. For us the thrill of riding to Mumbai for the event was a huge kick, maybe bigger than attending the event itself. The venue would also give us a chance to travel down to Goa, Mangalore and then to Bangalore. These highways were something we had been wanting to do for a long time. So, finally after some reserach and planning we were all set. We talked to Vipin from RTMC and were to ride with them. Vipin had chalked out all the details of the routes and other such details. We were to start off on the 6th of Jan at 5:30. For Sourabh and Myself this day could not have come any sooner. On D-day the two of us met up and reached the venue by 6:00. The riders soon assembled and we were set to go.
Keerthi Jayasimha --> Thunderbird
Vipin Rajan --> Electra
Beliappa & Sanju --> Electra
Abhijeet --> Thunderbird
Sourabh & Smitha -> Thunderbird
Harsh --> Std 350
Sumanth --> Thunderbird
DAY 1--> 06-Jan-2005:
We managed to start off by 6:15. It was a good start considering that we planned to start off at 5:30. The usual introductions were done and I already started feeling comfortable with the group. The air was very cold and i was thankful that i had worn my gloves.Poor Sourabh and Smiha wern't wearing Gloves and felt the pinch. After some good riding with the sun just starting to come out it was time to stop at Tumkur for breakfast. As I was familiar with the roads I was alowed to take the lead. The road upto now was realy good, wide roads, sparse traffic. The only niggling factpr was the cold, and we knew we would be rid of this pretty soon. At Tumkur we had some amazing Thatte Idlis. After a longish 45 minute break we managed to get back on the road. The road continued to be good for a few more kms. However we knew we were in for some bad roads for at least 500 km of our journey to Mumbai. Most of NH4 was under construction and so we had to keep taking diversions every 10 minutes or so.
Soon Sourabh picked the pace up and I just fell in behind him. We managed to cover the distances in pretty quick time. this was an advantage as we would then get longer breaks, as we would stop at the designated places and wait for the others to turn up, and then all of us would start off again. The stretch to Chitradurga in particular was very good. Abhi, Sourabh and Me were doing 100 kmph most of this stretch. Both of those guys are awesome riders and it was treat to watch them. Soon Smitha took over Sourabh's bike and she had a gala time with Sourabh riding as her pillion.By 1:00 we managed to reach Davangere and had a hearty lunch. I ordered some "Fried Chilli" which was exactly that, green chillies fried in oil. After some apprehnsion the guys sampled it and pretty soon the plate was empty. lunch was also turning out to be an extended affair, but not with Vipin policing us. He soon kick started all of us and we on the road again.
Our next stop was at Haveri, this too was a longish stop, but Vipin seemed more relaxed and this prompted people to take a longer break. The chai wallah also helped our cause. After hitting the road towards the Hubli-Dharwad bypass, we came upon a railway crossing and had to stop as the gates were closed. Soon the train passed by and we moved on ahead. Within a few minutes we came upon another railway crossing with its gates closed, and the cool part was that it was the same train that passed us again. The Hubli-Dharwad bypass merited another stop. By now it was beginning to turn dark and visibility was reduced. i had a lot of trouble riding in the dark. Found that following Sorabh's tail light was my best bet, but had a pretty tough time keeping up with him. This guy rides the bike with amazing control.
We hit Belgaum by around 8:00 and soon found a place to shack up for the night. The place was called Keerthi hotel, and this led to another round of jokes. Freshened up and it was time to hit "Keerthi" bar. Vipin was concerned about everybody drinking too much resulting in a delaed start the next day. All of us on the other hand wanted to get Vipin drunk, so that we could get some good sleep.