Friday the 13th.
What a day to chose for a group meet. And to make you believe more in
conincedences, 13 bikes from around south india started off to meet at
Dharwad - an innocuous town in northern karnataka. GR, the geo-survey
genius came up with a list of places which would be equidistant from
Bangalore, Pune, Bombay, Chennai and Hyderabad, and the group voted for
Dharwad, especially since someone mentioned that Dandeli Wildlife
Sanctuary was quite nearby. So, on this day, 13 Dandelions set up from
their respective homes for the place. The name stuck for group 13, even
though we never finally got to Dandeli. This log is the trip through my
eyes.
June 13 2003 (Friday)
5:52 AM
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Leaving
home. Had told Shashvat to go directly to MG road where we were to meet
Divyan and Sharat, but caught him up on the way there. |
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5:59
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MG Road.
Meet up with Sharath and Divyan. We go from here to ISKON temple as the
remaining gang from bangalore will be meeting up there. I took the lead
as only I knew the way. |
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6:15
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ISKON
Temple. We need to wait for Ashok and Sanjay as they are no where in
sight. In the meantime introductions were made to Chitti babu, our
groups mechanic. This was the time also when we got to know that Venkat
was not going to come. However, his bike was to come with us. Sanjay
took control of the eliminator, while Chitti took care of Sanjays
pulsar. |
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6:55
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Leaving
from ISKON. Dharwad here we come. Ashok takes point position while I
take drag. |
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7:53
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Dobaspet-
47kms out of Bangalore. Stoped for coffee at Kamat Upchar hotel. Had
idlis and dossas with tea and coffee. A couple of people approached us
and started asking if our trip was sponsered. These guys were from
Yamaha motors and we promised to contact them for some sponsorship
which may come our way. I also got a call from GR who updated us of his
travel from Hyderabad |
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10:10
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Stopped at
Kamat@Sira. 111km from ISKON now. Some cold drinks and checking of tyre
pressure we are to move off again. |
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11:12
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145km.
Stopped to call GR and give a status update. |
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12:07 PM
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160km.
Stopped for the scenery. This is when I found out that the left screw
for my helmet's visor had fallen off somewhere. Some First Aid was done
and the visor strapped in position using electrical tape that Ashok was
carrying. Very uncomfortable as it meant that I would not be able to
move the visor up and down. |
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12:39
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194km. We
have reached Chitradurga. The last 10kms or so we (i.e. me, sharath and
ashok ) had fun racing away. We had grown quite tired of the steady
70-80kms speed and we broke out on a 100kmph+ run. 2 pulsars pitted
against 1 cbz. I was not able to overtake these guys. Also with rear
eliminator tyres both the pulsars were faster on the pikup than my
bike, and having even a 10kmph more upper speed limit makes a
difference. We stopped at the entry for Chitradurga for the others to
catch up. |
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13:07
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Hotel
Vybhav (no this is not a spelling mistake) 198km. 200 more to go.
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14:01
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We set out
once more |
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14:24
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Ashok and
Sanjay leave to meet up with gr. The remaining group pushes onwards
towards Dharwad. Ashok gave me the contact details of where we were to
put up in Dharwad, and with the information safe in my pocket, we rode
on. |
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15:18
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Stop at a
gas station all of a sudden. Chitti and Bala are ahead and i take off
to get them back with Sharath in hot pursuit of me :-). Finally got he
flock gathered at the place. A 15-20 min break. |
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16:10
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We stop off
the road for another butt break. The clouds are awesome. |
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17:04
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I need to
fill up petrol in my bike. With a smaller fuel capacity than the
pulsar, the cbz needs more fuel breaks. My last trip was with the
bullet bangalore group, and the Bullets and RDs were guzzling petrol
more than my cbz. Now it was the turn for others to stop for me.
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17:32
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A light
drizzle falls. We all get out rain gear on. Sharath points out that the
TPFC plastic on my bike has fallen off. Darn ... my bike seems to
falling to pieces. Firt the helmets visor now this ! The rain does not
last long, but long enough to make going trecherous on the freshly
watered slush on the roads. We proceed with caution. |
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18:32
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364km.
Stppped for shashvat to clean his visor. Took the oppertunity to clean
mine also at the roadside chai dukan. Wherever we pull up people look
at us with questions in their eyes but never ask... namely, how crazy
can people get ?! |
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19:25
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At the
outskirts of Hubli. Spoke to doc and navendu. 403km. We stop to ask
directions from the local traffic police officials. Viper's bike's
headlight bulb is fused and Chitti gets it fixed in no time. We also
plan to let it get fully dark before we push off. Take this oppertunity
to click some night shots. Got a good shot of silouthes :-) |
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20:04
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Leaving for
Dharwad now. |
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21:08
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We finally
walk into the hotel. Nice rooms. Me, shashvat and Sharath bundle up in
one room, which overlooks the parked bikes downstairs. The excellent
accomondation has been dug out by Ashok's relative. |
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22:00
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GR turns up.
Long time no see man ! Well, all this is wasted on GR, cause he is
still in a daze with his long travel from Hyderabad. From his talks he
still seems to be riding ... |
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23:00 |
I turn in for
the night.
Divyan crashed as soon as he saw the bed. Sharath also turns in. The
others wait for the m/p group to come. |
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June 14 2003
7:30 |
Wake up. The pune guys
here - i can see their bikes... but blisfully at peace with the world
and totally oblivious of the same. |
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8:30 |
Gupshup in Ashok's room.
We figure out where to go now that we are already here. Magod falls is
what everyone agrees on.. since its not that far, and no one is in
shape to ride farther ( i can see ashok jumping up indignantly here ;-)
). I need to get the visor fixed so implore ashok to get ready and go
to Hubli which is the closest place for Helmets. Small towns it seems
don't care about Helmets. The people from m/p finally get up around
9:30 and we all have introductions made. The e-mail ids from the group
has now faces to match. |
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10:20 |
Me, Ashok and Sanjay
leave after breakfast on the quest for finding a helmet repair shop.
Finally we are able to do some first aid on the helmet, and sort of fix
the visor using wire, a rubber washer and a bolt. I call up the group
and it seems that they are just leaving. I also get some quick-fix and
apply it on some rubber lining of the helmet which is coming loose. We
wait. Its pretty hot and humid. Finally the guys come and all pull up
on the road, inspite of us frantically waving to them to keep going.
Sigh ! Group dynamics ! Since its getting chaotic , the 3 of us ( me,
ashok, sanjay) call up the other guys and tell them to meet us outside
the town. |
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13:00 |
The group assembles.
After a quick photo session, and a miraculous fixing of Shashvat's
visor from a roll of electrical tape magically conjured up ( how the
hell did you get that shashvat ?? ), we move on. |
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13:53 |
Stopped for chai after
Kalgadgi. The roads are nice. Some showers in between. Which reduced
the riding speed. But, mostly cool easy riding with Ashok as point and
Sharath (the man with no mirrors) as drag. Shashvat and I kept racing
ahead to take photos of the group. The chaiwala had a poster of bikes
in his shop ! |
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16:31 |
Yellapur. Now this was
quite an adventure. I and sharath had stayed behind to take a photo of
sadhus and elephants. The sadhus wanted some chanda, but i said I would
get the photos printed in a magazine and they were happy to let me go (
magazines , please take notice and please print the pic ! ). We set of
in hot pursuit of the group and passed them by as they were parked in
the heart of the hamlet, and away from the road. We raced on .. down
twisty turney ghat roads, in the rain, going around 70-80kmph in that
rain. Sharath even stopped at one place to push away a stone on the
road (kept by a helpful truckwalla - no doubt ). After around 20-25mins
of fun riding, it slowly dawned on me that the group could not have
gone so far ahead, especially since we were going much much faster than
what the group could. We decide to turn back. Met GR on the way back
where he told us that the group was still in the same village where we
had taken pics of the elephant ! Oh well ! by the time we reached , the
lunch was almost over, and we hogged on whatever egg-fried-rice was
left. |
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17:00 |
The group wants to go on.
But i don't want to ride in the rain and in the dark. So, i tell the
group that I am going to turn back (sorry if I hurt any sentiments).
Sharath also decides to come with me. |
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18:30 |
Reach back. Still daylight
! Both of us were wondering how we could have covered the distance back
is so little time ? We were not really going terribly fast, but we took
very little time to get back. In fact, it was just dusk by the time we
reached back. |
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9:30 |
The group comes back.
Sharath and me had estimated what time the group will come. His
estimate was 10, mine was 9:30 and i was spot on ! Seems like I can
read the group speed ! Food and drinks followed. We plan to leave at 5
in the morning, but the plan got revised to 6:30am. |
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15 June 2003
5:30 |
I get up. My task is to
get other people to getup. But after yestenights revelry, no one in is
in the mood. Get anyone to wake up and they say - 'let everyone get
ready then i will get up'. |
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6:30 |
Finally manage to wake up
Shashvat. |
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8:00 |
630km. We leave Dharwad.
Viper is to be lead and me drag. So i stop for photos of the group
taking off. Viper starts off in the wrong direction ! A U-turn later
and we are on the way. |
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8:20 |
We split up from the
mumbai/pune guys. The signboard says Bangalore 421, Pune 424. A truck
walla stops to let me take the pic. |
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9:39 |
698km. We stop for
breakfast. Idlis, vadas and masala dosas. |
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11:27 |
Butt break at
Ranebennur. 760km. The chap at the cold drink shop asks if we are the
same group that went a couple of days back ? When we say yes, he gives
a knowing look to his friend "i told you so !". |
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12:38 |
Stop for a butt break.
Shashvat's feeling sleepy. 808km on the odometer |
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13:38 |
butt break. 858km.
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14:02 |
200km from home. 861km
on odo. Hotel Vybhav, Chitradurga for lunch break. Feels good to get
into the AC after the road. Real stark landscape just before we entered
Chitradurga. |
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14:40: |
Leaving after lunch.
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16:22 |
Butt break. 928km. A
photo was taken, which greatly amused a lot of people, except one. ;-)
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16:54 |
948km. We stop at Kamat
Siri for tea/cold drink break. Last 6 kms were on the double laned
expressway. My bike does a measly top speed of 105. Shashvat , Bala and
Sharath overtake me. I am able to overtake Shashvat and Bala in some
traffic, but Sharath's bike has pretty darn good pickup. I definitely
need a more powerful bike. |
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19:11 |
Shashvat's bike's bulb
fuses. Citti babu fixes it in a jiffy. |
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20:30 |
Home. |
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