Ride to Coorg with Avinash - 1st - 2nd May 2014

It has been a while since I had my last ride, the last ride was in March and since then there I have not been able to take the bike out one of the reason being my change of job.

So when Avinash suggested that we can go for a short ride & stay overnight at coorg I was all for it. We decided to leave on 1st in the afternoon & reach the home stay in coorg by early evening. I have never been on a long ride with Avinash after he has bought his Ninja so I was not sure about his riding pattern.

Since it was just a overnight stay so, this time around I wanted to travel light so I did not carry my camera or much of luggage which made things a lot simpler as I did not have to worry about the baggage. This ride was more about the journey than the destination.

While going to coorg Avinash wanted to try out the route via Virajpet as he has was informed that it is shorter & a lot better. However the reality was very different & since it was raining it only made things worse, in-fact he has very close calls twice & was almost about to fall from the bike 2-3 times. Since it was a under construction road and with rains it the road was full of slush & this increased our travel time by about 2hrs. We reached the home stay in coorg only by 9:00 PM. Since it was late in the night we could not enjoy the twist & the turns as much as we wanted to.

Taking a short break @ a functional hall near Virajpet after Avinash had his first close call

Before we started our journey back to Bangalore on the next day we spent good time in cleaning up our bikes. On the way back we decided to take the normal route via Kushalnagar, this route was great & free of any potholes or slush. We had great time on our way back during the twist & turns of coorg or chasing each other once we hit the main Mysore-Bangalore highway & we were back home by about 6:50 PM.

Blr - Mysore - Virajpet - Coorg - Kushalnagar - Mysore - blr

Destination    : Coorg
Total trip distance:  542 Kms 
Motorcycle    : CBR 250R & Ninja 300
Riders            : Avinash & Me
Things to remember: Do not take Virajpet route especially if it has raining as the roods are not very great for 2 wheelers.
Road Condition: The route via Virajpet is not so great especially during monsoon season. The route via Kushalnagar is very nice.


To: Coorg
Total Distance: 270 Kms
Time: About 7 hrs
Breaks:Ended up taking lot of break as it was raining & the roads were not so great

Route: Bangalore --> Mysore bypass --> Hunsur --> Virajpet --> Coorg
Road Condition: The roads are good until you reach Virajpet after that it had umpteen number of potholes & slush all over the place.

From: Coorg
Total Distance: 271 Kms
Time: About 6 hrs
Break: 2 breaks

Route: Coorg --> Kushalnagar --> Hunsur --> Mysore bypass --> Bangalore

Road Condition: The roads are good throughout.

As I did not carry my camera I have not taken any pictures of this ride. This journey was purely & solely dedicated for riding & no other activity.

India Bike Week - IBW 2014

After Returning from GOA in October last year KT mentioned to me about IBW - 2014 which was about to happen in Goa from 17th - 18th January 2014. I immediately along with KT, Raghu and Avinash bought tickets for the event as there was an early bird offer. We decide to ride to Goa in Jan to attend the event in 3 different bikes (TB 500, CBR 250R and Ninja 300). However as it happens with most plan this too didn't go as per the plan. Avinash dropped from the original plan and due to this and some work as well KT also dropped the plan. So It was just me and Raghu who went to event in Vagator, Goa. The event was the second edition of the event in India sponsored majorly by Harley Davidson India.

I have been waiting for this event from last year when I heard about the event as this is the biggest gathering of bikers from across the country & all kind of motorcyclist come there. However at the same time I was sad that not everyone could make it. We went to Goa a day before the event so that we can take enough rest before we hit the main event day. For more details about the IBW-2014 please refer here.

We decided to go on  Royal Enfield TB500. We decided to start early in the morning so that we reach Goa by early evening. We started from Bangalore on 16th to reach a day early take enough rest, on 16th we were able to start from home by 7:12 AM, we managed to reach hotel by 4:30 PM.

On 17th we had a pleasant surprise when Avinash also joined us, however he was there only for a day & left on 18th early morning. As far as the event goes there was

Here is the short description about the route 

Destination    : Vagator, Goa

Route Map

Total distance: 1649 KM (Including Local Travel in Goa)
Motorcycle    : Thunderbird 500 CC
Riders            : Raghu and Me
Total Petrol Used : 60 Lts.
Things to remember: Do remember to carry your camera if you are a shutter-bug also ensure that you leave early in the morning so that you take stops as and when needed and also to avoid peak traffic.
Road Condition:The roads are good all the way till Hubli, once you cross Hubli and take either Karwar route or the other route the road which goes through the forest reserve are not very great & most of your time will taken here to cover the last 150+ Kms.

To: Vagator, Goa
Total Distance: 724 KM
Time: 9 hr 18 Min
Breaks: Took multiple short break along with few long breaks

Route: Home -->NICE Road, Tumkur Exit, Nelamangala, Hubli, Karwar, Vagator, Goa
Road Condition:The roads are good all the way, however once you take the left after Hubli the road do become narrow and the condition of the roads are change dramatically.

From: Vagator, Goa
Total Distance: 724 KM
Time: 12hr 45 Min
Break: Multiple breaks

Route: Vagator, Goa --> Vagator, Karwar, Hubli, Nelamangala, NICE Road, Apartment.

Road Condition: The stretch from Hotel to Karwar was good however the stretch from Karwar to Hubli was not so great. Once you cross Hubli and hit the main highway AH47 the roads are beautiful.

We got delayed while coming back as Raghu had an injury during the event so we ended up taking a lot more breaks than usual also as we were riding in the night overall speed reduced.

India Bike week is the only event where motorcyclist from all over the country assemble & share there experience, we had the opportunity to interact with some of the famous names in India biking Scene Vishnu Mehta, Arnob Gupta & Bharadwaj Dayala . Infact there were lot of famous international motorcylist like Nick Sanders & Ted Simon who shared there experiences. You get to see a lot of super bikes not only from Harley but also from other manufactures like Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Triump etc...

There were multiple delays in the event however it was full of activities like loudest bike, rubber burning, Stunt Riding, MRF Freestyle & many more. There was always something to do all the way till late in the night. However as raghu was injured we were not able to stay back for the after party @ Rainforest.

I will most likely be attending the next IBW also.

Here are some picture on Flickr from the ride and the event itself.

Created with flickr slideshow.

A Late Saturday afternoon Ride

This was our first ride of 2014 (Jan 4th) & since it was a very impromptu ride we needed to choose a place which is close by, basically a destination which is under 150 Km from our home. So we finalized to visit a place called Lepakshi. Lepakshi is locateed in Anantapur district, in Andhra Pradesh. I have heard of this place from one of the RE riding groups.

To our surprise we found that Lepakshi has the world's largest monolithic nandi, there is also a very old & famous temple dedicated to Veerabhadra. There are three shrines dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu and Virabhadra. An open-air Lingam (symbol of god Shiva) from Lepakshi sheltered by a naga, however we could visit only Veerabhadra temple as by the time we reached Nandi it was already 5. Since we were late we did get to see the sunset from the Veerabhadra.

Unlike other famous places there were not many tourist here which was a welcome relief also Unlike our last ride we ensured that we pick-up camera to ensure we capture moments from our ride & yes we did manage to capture some really moments.

The roads to the location are really good & since most of the journey is on Blr-Hyd highway there are ample place to re-fill both your self & the motorcycle.

Here are the details of the ride...

Destination     : Lepakshi
Total distance: 290 KM
Motorcycle    : Thunderbird 500 CC
Riders            : Me & KT
Things to remember: Do remember to carry your camera if you are a shutterbug also ensure that you leave early in the morning so that you see all the 3 temples & spend some good time there. If you visiting with friends or family then it is also a good spot to picnic.

To: Lepakshi
Total Distance: 145 KM
Time: 3.5 hr
Breaks: Took 4 short breaks

Route: IIM Bangalore -- > Lepakshi Via Mekri Circle, Hebbal, Blr-Hyd highway.
Road Condition:The roads are good all the way, however once you take the left to Lepakshi the road do become narrow though the condition of the roads are decent.

From: Lepakshi
Total Distance: 145 KM
Time: 3hr 45 Min
Break: Multiple breaks

Route: Lepakshi --> IIM Bangalore Via Blr-Hyd highway, Hebbal, Mekri Circle.

Road Condition: Good.

It was a very enjoyable ride & hopefully we will plan better when we visit the place again.

Here are the picture of the ride & the location

Created with flickr slideshow.

Last Ride of 2013

Finally I am able to get myself to capture the details of my last ride of 2013.

Off late as part of getting riding practice for KT we have been going for lot of short rides, this ride was not the longest ride we have done however it was one of the full filling ride though. The original plan was to do a early morning ride on Sunday (29th Dec) however as it turned out we got up late & started from only by 10.  The destination needed to be close enough so that we can be back home by late afternoon, so we decided to go to Hesarghatta Grassland as it was close by and also we have heard a lot about the location from one of our friend who said it is a good location for taking photographs.

As we just wanted to ride & get some practice for KT we did not pick up camera & took off just with our phones. The idea was to explore the place & then go more prepared next time.

Here are the details of the ride...

Destination: Hesarghatta  Grasslands
Total distance: 109.1 KM
Motorcycle: Thunderbird 500 CC
Riders: Me & KT
Things to remember: There are not restaurant or food joints for any refreshment there we accidentally ended up at "Our Native Village" & the resort folks were kind enough to let us use order some refreshment.

We started from home by 1 PM also we decide to take different route while doing the return trip. On the way to the grassland.

To: Hesarghatta Grasslands
Total Distance: 48.8 KM
Time: 2 hr
Breaks: Took 2 short breaks

Route: IIM Bangalore -- > Hesarghatta Grassland Via Mekri Circle, Yeshwantpur.
Road Condition: The usual Bangalore city road with lodes of traffic signals

From: Hesarghatta Grasslands
Total Distance: 60.3 KM
Time: 1hr 45 Min
Break: 1

Route: Hesarghatta Grassland --> IIM Bangalore Via Outer Ring Road, NICE Road

Road Condition: Faster & much better roads with very few traffic signals.

Route Maps:

To Hesarghatta

From Hesarghatta

It was a good short ride & we were back home by 2 PM. We liked the place & I am sure we will re-visit the place very soon. 

Here is short video that we took while returning from Hesarghatta Grasslands.