Sunday, 15th of June 2003
After a nice wet, slippery and muddy ride to Magod Falls and back on the 14th and a much-awaited party that night (we had a lot of catching up to do as we missed the party of the previous night as we were busy rocking and rolling on the road till 2:30 a.m. and were anyway seeing visions without the benefit of any stimulants whatsoever!!!) we slept quite late and woke up a bit off schedule. We woke up around 07:00 and then started to get ready, using the facilities one by one. We also had to pack all our stuff, most of it wet/damp/stinky!!!
07:45: We all were ready and down joining the rest of the group. Doc and Sanjay tied their luggage on their bikes (no elaborate plastic sheet covering this time as most of the contents within would be as wet as the outside anyway!). After a group picture, we all started our ride out of Dharwad.
08:00: Speedo showing 62154 we moved out of the hotel. Rode with the group till we hit NH4 (would have required a number of bull elephants and large and determined ones at that to pull us back to NH 17 for the return leg!!!!). From there we had to separate and after a few pictures and the customary goodbye and ride-safes we started on our way to Pune. After seeing 421 km as the distance to Pune, we were laughing like crazy especially after having been crowned the Group Iron-Butts after our epic 750 km/ 21-hour ride while coming. The road was quite good and so was the weather (overcast with a comfortable breeze). With very less traffic once our rears got into the long-haul mode, we were riding at a good pace. After riding for 30min we decided to wait for a small photo session.
09:56: Speedo showing 62244 as we reached Belgaum. Now we decided to stop for breakfast and a small break.
10:56: We left Belgaum with our next planned stop at Kolhapur. On the way there was not much traffic as it was suggested to us before the trip. Even the places were road construction was underway, alternate roads (bypasses) were properly constructed and the going was not as interrupted/slow as we had imagined. After hitting a small city we decided to fill fuel as I was running in reserve.
Around 12:15, we were in a ghat where road construction/hill cutting was going on so we decided to take a break. After taking a few pics and watching a TVS truck carrying Pulsars (poor Navs!!) we decided to move on. At this point Sanjay's bike refused to start. We all tried to start his bike. After struggling and trying our brains out (cleaned and dried spark plug then replaced spark plug, drained carburator float bowl suspecting water, push starting, etc) just when we were seriously contemplating loading Sanjay's bike onto a truck for the remaining distance, Doc finally diagnosed the problem when on a complete once-over he noticed that the black rubber bellows from the carb manifold had shaken itself loose and one end had popped out from the groove. Doc managed to get things right and the sweet sound of ignition greeted our ears first kick!!! We had lost more than an hour and now resumed our journey @ around 13:45.
14:30: Just before Kolhapur, speedo showing 62354, we decided to stop for lunch. There we saw a fight between a few guys and a drunk chap (right next to our bikes, hence our concern!). Clicked some pictures of a cat with her kittens which were snuggled at our feet (unfortunately the lighting was inadequate for Navs' camera - reminded me of the corny film roll ad on TV). At 15:30 we again started. On the way after seeing some nice roads we decided to rip. By now our butts had resumed their ache/pain mode. When the pain became really bad and we had visions of the blood supply to our nether regions becoming severely compromised enough to risk having our butts fall off, we decided to stop roadside. There we discovered the most comfortable bed of all, the freshly laid out stones courtesy our Prime Minister's Golden Quadrangle project! After a small relaxing break where we lay spread-eagled on the stones with trucks etc whizzing past and giving us vague stares, we continued. Now Sanjay took the lead and raced ahead with a phoren car. With Sanjay out of sight we reached Shivapur and met a huge traffic jam. Thinking Sanjay might have crossed it, me and Doc zipped (leap frogged actually!) past it from right side. After riding for some time (expecting to catch up with Sanjay) we stopped around 17:00 as by now we were sure that Sanjay was not ahead us (we had been really ripping). After waiting for almost an hour during which time Doc and I made use of his carefully packed toilet paper roll (thankfully, still dry!) and even stopped a couple of bikers and told them to inform a biker dressed in All Red that his friends were waiting for him UP the road, we finally saw Sanjay coming. While waiting, we were laying on the roadside stones again and contemplating life in general and the amazing ride in particular! Around 18:00 (another hour lost), we continued our journey, racing in parts with the same irritating phoren car (the poor chap had got badly caught up in the traffic jam and was in a foul driving mood!).
19:30: Speedo showing 62481 we reached Satara. It had started to rain by now (very very "uncomfortably"!!!) and it was quite dark. Waiting for a tea and vada pav break. Around 20:00 we started towards our final destination, Pune, 120 km away. Now I realized that at 22:30 we have F1 race. With Doc concerned about riding faster in rain and pitch black darkness, I asked him to prove that we were true fans of the "rain master" (Schumi). With Doc and Sanjay still a bit reluctant, I took the lead and asked them to follow my taillight. Soon we were doing speeds around 50-60. Once we overtook all the vehicles in front of us we were greeted with full darkness and heavy rains (a very scary sight indeed). It was very difficult to see anything more than a few meters ahead, so I slowed down the pace a bit. Now with all these bikes riding together on high beam we managed to cross that section safely. After some time Doc had a close shave. While coming onto the main road from yet another diversion, he took a steeper than normal angle and his tyres slipped off the embankment (which was hidden by a large pool of rainwater), but he kept his balance managed to avoid a fall (the water by the side of the road was quite a danger as we came across two Santros along the way which were not so lucky with their left wheels in the side ditch and the right wheels still on the road). Rain was not giving any signs of slowing and time was running out quickly. On the way we meet few mad guys in Indica driving on the highway without tail or brake light, and all 4 hazard lights blinking. Doc had a few words with them for cutting across him in a tunnel once we caught up with them at the toll naka (from my left side, while I was moving to the left - just avoided being side-swiped at 70 kmph). Around 22:45 we hit the last ghat section before Pune. Now the rain had almost stopped but still the roads were very wet and water logged in parts. Now I decided to test the grip of my Michelins and man they were just superb in those conditions (with us poor MRF trod bozos looking on helplessly down the steep decline - dangers of following an adventurous lead!). All in all the Satara-Pune stretch was the low point of the entire ride but the roads, tunnels etc. were really beautiful and when completed it will be as good as if not better than the Pune-Bombay expressway, but all tarmac and bikes allowed - whooopeeeee!!!!!)
23:00: Odo showing 62580 we reached Pune. Me and Doc asked Sanjay to stay at Pune and leave for Bombay in the morning but he was ok with the idea of riding to Bombay in the trip josh itself so after asking him to SMS us once he reached Bombay, we separated. Now me and Doc were ripping to see the race. First I dropped Doc at his friend's place, where we had had Tea + Rum!! Fully charged I ripped to the race center (Hotel Sagar Plaza, F1 Bar). Fully wet I entered the race venue and was surprised to see Adil Darukhanawala also sitting there and went up to him and had a small chat after introducing myself (while I fortified myself at my friend's place where an old college friend had also dropped in - man, were my "brownie" 32-year-old friends who now all drive cars flabbergasted when I told them, while wringing out my socks of a gallon of water each, that I had just ridden down not from home but from Dharwad!!!!!!!!!!!).
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