My Freedom Ride- August 2012

A small request to all: Enjoy nature, enjoy your travel but please don’t spoil MOTHER NATURE. Refill bottles, don’t throw plastic in water bodies or roads. Dispose your garbage at proper place. Cheers!

3rd August 2012 : A vague plan came into my mind on how to utilize my off days from 11th to 20th August.

Kept on thinking for the whole night - where to go, whether I should ride in monsoons or avoid.

4th August evening : Spoke to Vaibhav who was in Mcleodganj on a solo ride and he updated me about rains there. Suddenly it reminded me of my ride from Batal to Rohtang Pass in 2009 when I had little rain protection gear and in freezing cold I managed to ride in heavy downpour. I don't know monsoon in South but that gut feeling knocked my brain and I thought - "When I could do it there, I can manage anything here".

Now my next concern was to complete my riding gear for rains and spot any random places on map and raid the roads connecting those places.
The places I picked were - Mumbai, Goa, Hampi.

So as of now, places I chose are - Mumbai, Goa, Hampi and anywhere from Hampi depending on rains, time, money left etc.

Mode of transport - Bullet Electra 5s: HR-03 J 2190. If you see me anywhere on this, stop me. I am a friendly guy :)
I call it as 'My freedom Ride' as I don't know anything about those routes and I will go there to explore, I haven't done any room bookings or anything else.

5th August: I got a rainsuit, riding boots from an army shop. I am thankful to Rahool Saxena and Ashish Agarwal for taking me to Lal Bazar - Secunderabad  to get some stuff.
Will get my bike from service station in 1-2 days, then I will complete my tool kit, get white and black riding glasses, clean my saddle bags, clean my riding jacket, chose what I have to carry along and by 9th August (Thursday) I will be ready for the ride.
I am going to start on 11th August - 3:30 am from Hyderabad to Mumbai. I know the road from Zaheerabad (from where we took right for Bidar ride) goes straight to Solapur and from Solapur, there is a way to Pune and from Pune I will find the road to Mumbai. If rain gods are kind enough, it will take me some 12 hours to reach Mumbai.

6th August : I told about my ride to a few people in office and they were amused. Don't go, will you be able to ride alone?, take a pillion rider to ride in turns, go with a group, go by train/bus, it is not safe in monsoons are a few comments I have got so far. Apart from a few rider friends, no one really can understand the zeal to ride, to get lost and the fun to ride solo.

9th August: Tool kit ready, bike ready. Packing left. Waiting for Saturday morning, would be difficult to think about anything else now till the start of ride.

10th August: By now everything was ready, had dinner with teammates at Ella hotel and came back to sleep. It was 10pm and I set the alarm for 2am.

11th August: The sme alarm ring sounded very pleasant that morning. At 3 am sharp I was on the road. Due to ongoing holy month of Ramzan there was some comotion outside. I hit Zaheerabad road in no time and crossed Sangareddy, Zaheerabad, left AP, entered and left Karnataka and entered Maharashtra.

The route I took was:

Hyderabad - Zaheerabad - Umarga - Solapur - Pune - Lonavala - Khandala - Panvel - Mumbai
Distance: 750kms
Time: 13.5 hours
Vehicle: Bullet Electra 5s

There were a lot of lorries but I was overtaking them easily. Only trouble was ruthless volvos from opp. side as they almost pushed me off the road every time. It was really a nice ride in dark, I wished the morning could be delayed by another couple of hours.

The road sa few kms after Zaheerabad had rough patches not allowing me to touch 80kmph consistently.
With sun rise the weather turned pleasant and I entered green Maharashtra leaving behind all rough patches and the road was fantastic.

I too my first break at Setfal, leaving Hyderabad 350 kms behind at 8:30 am for water, tea, poori-sabzi-aloo at  a roadside Dhaba. The Bullet, the Wanderers flag and military boots made me look like some army guy.

After leaving Setfal at 9am, I maintained good speed and timings upto Pune. There were  few drizzles which gave country side roads a clean look, but at Pune heavy downpour awaited me.

A few lines that came straight from my heart at that point was:

"It's gonna be lots of rains, it's gonna be no sun...
I wanna go ride again, it's gonna be so fun.."

I sang these lines as rains continued all the way for my onward journey. From Pune I crossed Lonavala by NH-4 and stopped at Khandala for tea and Vada Pao as lunch.
Lonavala, Khandala offered beautiful vistas in monsoons lot of greenery, water falls and tourists. Tried to click some pictures but got mostly clouds.

At 2:30pm I left Khandala and accidently took Mumbai - Pune expressway. I was stopped by a police SUV and I told them I lost my way. An interesting conversation followed:

Cop - "2 wheeler allowed nahi hai"
Me  -  " I lost my way sir"
Cop - "Which country"
Me - "All over India"
Cop - "Ok, Colaba"
Me - "Yes"
Cop - "Go straight, take a u -turn and take exit road a few metres ahead on left"
Me - "Thank you, your name" and shook hands with him.
Cop - "Ganesha"

Cool, I thought. He mistook me for a foreigner wanting to go toColaba and let me go easily :)
At Zakir Nagar in Mumbai, bike got punctured. Luckily, there was a puncture shop nearby so I got no chance to open my tool kit.

For completing day 1 ride successfully, discipline was the key. Less stops, constant speed and bullet performed nice.

Some pics:

After Zaheerabad @Karnataka - Andhra border



Abandoned petrol pump

Time for fresh air

Wanderes - Bulleteers of Hyderabad club

Time to wear rain suit

Outside Dhaba in Khandala

Clouds and the falls playing hide and seek

That's me posing

Mumbai - Pune expressway

After reaching Mumbai, I stayed there till 15th August. Got brake shoes rubbed at a workshop and a day before leaving for Goa, got a lunch invitation by a friend Hussain in Chiplun (on NH-17, 250 kms after Mumbai).

16th August: I started for Goa at around 7am, crossed Thane and Panvel in rains. I was going very slow and almost took 3 hours to cover 100kms before halting for breakfast somewhere.

The route I chose:
Mumbai - Panvel - Chiplun - Ratnagiri - Goa all on Mumbai - Goa road or NH-17.

The ghat road started and slowly the ride started becoming more exciting. I always thought of doing Mumbai - goa on my bike and here I was.

I reached Chiplun at 1 in afternoon and was greeted by Hussain, though he was on a fast but he made sure I eat a lot of food. It was a good afternoon with him and we discussed about old university days. And then went for a small round of Chiplun, visited some old cave there and was on highway again.

From Chiplun, I continued almost non stop, took a wrong road towards Kolhapur that wasted some time. The rains continued and I kept moving ahead. No tea, no stops - only water and chocolates for myself and petrol for bullet. And as I entered Goa in dark, I was greeted by 2 bullet riders.

"Welcome to Goa, from Haryana?"
I could only say - "Yes" :)

They asked me where I would stay and offered me a place, but I already told a friend - Pavan from Wanderers who was there with friends that I would be staying with them. So, at 10pm I looked for place near Calangute and in short time found myself at beach with a couple of beers. After lot of rains, the sky was clear and I sat there till 2:30 am admiring the silent beach at night with beers.

Some pics from Mumbai - Goa highway:

A beautiful lake on the way

Had to push my bullet a lot to go up there

Finally up there

My friend Hussain

Changed quickly otherwise no one would have let me inside their decorated drawing room :)

Other side of river is the place where crocs live @ behind hussain's backyard

Back in Riding mode

Old caves outside Chiplun

Beautiful countryside road

17th August :
After having breakfast with Pavan and his friends, we went and relaxed at Anjuna beach where I met a friend Manali from Mumbai. Kept on roaming on bullet and just relaxed for the whole day. Obviously had a lot of fish there :).
At night, had party with Pavan and his friends at Baga beach.

18th August :
Went to Aarambol and sat at a very nice beach shack with good music and peaceful location, away from hustling crowd of Goa. Walked to 3 more beaches in line and to sweet water lake.

Place where I stayed near Calangute

Outside Anjuna beach



Anjuna beach from U-V bar



19th August:
On this day, I rode from Goa to Hampi, which was the best riding experience on this whole ride. I was a little confused on what route to take from Goa to Hampi and after asking a few people, checking google maps I took the route:

Calangute (Goa) - Ponda - passed through bhagwan mahaveer national park on my right - Collem - Ramnagar - Hubli - Hospet - Hampi - Gangavati - Virupupara Gaddi(known as Hampi island) and stayed there.
It was very simple, just after Mandovi river bridge on Panji side, take a left (there is an Indian Oil petrol pump on left side). 1km on that road and another left where you will meet NH-4. Then after a few kms, follow Belgaum road and pass Ponda. Keep moving and pass Bhagwan Mahavir National Park on your right). Then road will be all yours, very beautiful till Ramnagar. again at Ramnagar, left goes to Belgaum and right goes to Anshi National Park. Miss both and take straight road, after a couple of hours you will again meet Belgaum - Hubli road. A right towards Hubli and keep asking for Hospet. From Hospet Hampi is 15 kms, but for staying take Hospet - Gangavati route and ask for Viupapura Gaddi or Hampi island. 
Distance covered 430 kms.

Goa - Karnataka border area was in ghats and was really beautiful, the time I was riding, I felt I chose the best season as the complete area was covered with thick lush green forests and had many waterfalls along the road, a treat to any nature lover's eyes.
Started at 5 am in morning and reached at sharp 1:30 outside mango tree restaurant at Hampi.

I should have taken Hospet - Gangavati road, but since I was supposed to meet other riders of Wanderers club in Hampi, I went through that route. I called Lalit bhai to know they are at some other temple and after some 40 minutes met with other riders, who were staying at virupapura Gaddi (known as Hampi island).
Then I took Raghu along with me and went by road to the hotel where they were staying.

After a quick shower, me and Raghu went to a peaceful cafe - Laughing Budha with river side view and had a very nice lunch, soup and a beer. We were joined soon by Raju and other group and we had a very nice time. 5 guys and 29 beers was the equation :)
Met a rider Manish there, first one so far I met in south who has done lot of touring up there in Himalayas.

I really liked this place, it has a few cafes that reminded me of those in Old Manali and Kasol that served good food and music. Laughing Budha cafe's owner Deepak was a nice and friendly guy and I discussed a lot with him about that place and all. I took his no. and he can be called if someone is looking for a simple and peaceful cottage to stay for 400-500Rs.

However,  a difference between this place and the places up Himalayas was the people. Most of the hotel/restaurant staff I found was typical money minded Telugu/Kannada guys unlike the Buddhists/Tibetans up in north. These guys at Gauthami forest hotel (where we stayed) were trying to imitate a fake english accent even when I spoke in Hindi and were completely funny. For sure avoid Gauthami hotel for staying, if you are looking for a peaceful stay.

About Hampi:It's a UNESCO World heritage site, with ruins of Vijayanagara kingdom. Has temples, forts and some monuments - all heritage structures. Best way to roam around is get a TVS moped for 150-180 Rs ( I got one for 100 for 2 hours), get a litre of petrol (they charge 100 per litre extra) and visit the places. Once all the places are visited, come down to Tungabhadra river side take a steamer, cross the river and go to Hampi island to stay for the night and enjoy view of river, trees, Shiva temple, nice music and some refreshing drink from laughing budha cafe.  

I wanted to stay there for a longer duration and someday for sure will return back to do nothing and relax.

Some pics from Goa to Hampi :

20th August I woke up late, visited a few temples and left exact at 10:30 am for Hyderabad. Wanderers riders left at 8 am, I could catch up with them near Mehboob Nagar and we all regrouped for lunch.

The route I took from Hampi to Hyderabad on bike was :

Hampi - Gangavati - Raichur - Mehboobnagar - Shamshabad - Hyderabad.
Distance - some 345kms

This route was simplest of all the other routes and most boring and plain dry highway with no rains.
I could have come straight in 7 hours, but as the famous quote goes: "When you are in a group, you are as fast as slowest member of the group".

Some pics from Hampi - UNESCO Heritage site and from my reunioin with group on 19th night:
Some of below pics courtesy : Prabhala Raghu (my friend of Wanderers club)

Back home in evening, I kept thinking about the ride and I wish very soon, I leave this city life and settle at a peaceful place.

I am back from this amazing 10 day monsoon ride from Hyderabad - Mumbai - Goa - Hampi - Hyderabad on my bike. Covered around 2400 kms and enjoyed my solo ride a lot. I must say that roads in South were really good and broad most of the times which made my ride a comfortable one. I can easily co relate doing 500kms here to 200 kms in upper regions of Himachal and J&K.

An outline of places I covered.