TGSIR: Day 1, 25th. Dec 2016: The Endurance Test

It was a chilling December morning… yet with all the saddling up done and the overall excitement of embarking on this ride was making me sweat.

We all assembled at Rajaram Bridge at 6:00 AM. My mom and dad had come to see us off…and guess what they had got hot tea for all of us…it was damn refreshing and encouraging.

The most testing ride, for us and our machines lay ahead of us.

At 6:30 we left Pune. The mission today was to reach the destination in minimum stops. We had to cover a mammoth distance. 3-4 halts was what we were thinking. We had to cover the road in Maharashtra as fast as possible, before the traffic slowed us down. By the time we reached Satara, the sun had started showing up and, surprisingly, the cold also started getting worse. At Satara, I finally had to stop and wear an extra jacket.

The first halt was for breakfast at Sai Inn just on the outskirts of Kolhapur. The adrenaline rush was such that we had covered this 4 hour drive (that would be the usual timing) in exactly 2 hrs. 15 minutes. It was just 8:45 when we reached there. Even we couldn’t believe it! We had just bought ourselves some extra time to rest before our next stretch. We had a hearty breakfast and were ready to hit the road again.

• Rajaram Bridge-Sai International food court: 194 kms
• Time required as per google maps: 3hr 10 mins
• Actual required time: 2 hrs. 15 mins

The Road In Karnataka

Around 9:30 we were riding again. The traffic had increased but soon we passed the Maharashtra border and were cruising on the Karnataka highway!

The difference in the roads in these two neighbouring states is immense. Karnataka offers you wide, smooth roads with proper service roads. This keeps the local traffic away from the main highway. Also there are separate bays with parking facility for vehicles and these bays are equipped with toilets, drinking water etc. With these facilities and the impeccable road quality, the drive naturally becomes safer.

Belgaum went by, then Dharwad, then Hubbali… it was already mid-day by the time we crossed Hubbali. The road between Dharwad and Hubbali is such that you don’t want to stop ever…huge lanes, moderate traffic and smooth as butter. But hungry we were and our bikes to needed some rest. We were almost cruising constantly over a 100 kmph (I never thought I would drive my beast at this speed constantly for 3-4 hours). The breakfast was long digested. One thing I noticed about the highways in Karnataka, though the roads in Karnataka are superb, they do lack the frequency of food joints that we have in Maharashtra. Most hotels/dhaba are in the vicinity of the bigger towns and we were going to bypass all of them…

We passed a small dhaba just a few Kms after Hubbali… a small dark place with many trucks parked… The number of trucks parked outside this small dhaba itself was a sign that they must be serving good food. We did a quick U-turn and reached for the service road.

It was hot now...the riding gear made it feel even hotter… Unfortunately, there was no power at the Dhaba. But we did get Ice cold water. Literally “Ice Cold”, for the water which was served to us was in its solid state. We ordered a very basic Dal tadka and Roti menu and it was served almost within a few minutes. Hot roti’s and tasty Dal… lip smacking delicious. There was a long silence now…everyone was busy in devouring the food. To top it up, we ordered some curds, which too was creamy and delicious.  With a little bit of sugar added it made a perfect dessert. That was a real dhaba experience after ages.

• Sai International food court - Kaveri Punjabi Dhaba: 243 kms (https://goo.gl/maps/GZahuaQd6eH2)
• Time required as per google maps: 3hr 33 mins
• Actual required time: 3hrs 30 mins approx.

With the meal done, bodies and machines rested enough, we started the last and final stretch of our day’s journey. We were already close to the maximum distance that anyone of us had ridden in a single day and that too in such a less “riding” time (around 440 kms in 5 hrs 45 mins). But today we felt no fatigue as the will and the road was in our favour.

It was a scorching afternoon, the cold weather we had experienced in the morning was long gone. The road still was as good as it was and it helped us maintain the speed. Now the target was to cover the maximum distance before nightfall and reach closest to the destination by 7:30 PM.

Steadily we were getting closer. Our next halt was at Tumakuru. It was a short halt… just to rest a little bit and have some cold drinks to quench our thirst. It was already around 7:00 PM when we reached Tumakuru and now we all were getting a bit restless to reach the destination.

• Kaveri Punjabi Dhaba-Toll junction after Tumakuru: 335 kms (https://goo.gl/maps/CRNGFenyk4A2)
• Time required as per google maps: 4hr 22 mins
• Actual required time: 4 hrs 30 mins approx.

It was a quick but refreshing break. Now reaching the destination ASAP was the primary goal as we also had to travel the next day. Having a satisfying meal and some nice sound sleep was very important to keep the energy up.

We called the hotel that we had booked and things just started getting difficult. The hotel desk replied that we had been shifted to another location. And we had no idea where it was and how it was going to affect our distance and the forward journey…after some telephonic exchanges, we got the address and location of the new place. And we started off...delays had started to seep in a day which was kept tight. That too at the end…

And so we entered our destination city, Bengaluru! The suburbs of this city are so widespread that we started experiencing the famous Bengaluru traffic almost some 30-35 kms before we actually reached the city. Once inside the city, keeping with each other started getting harder as there were many signals and endless traffic. Still we were managing to keep pace with each other. For me my greatest savior was the Patch of light that Tejas had put on the rear side of his helmet. It was an easy and unique sign to follow!

Going round and round through the city we finally reached our destination, Treebo Ample premium suite, around 9:30 PM.

We checked in the room and relaxed…The first thing was a nice warm shower and then food. This hotel is a bit isolated place and their kitchen closes early. But the staff here was very cooperative and they arranged a fine dinner.

Thus the first and the most testing day came to an end with a relaxed sleep.

• Toll junction, Tumakuru-Treebo Ample Premium Suites: 70 kms (https://goo.gl/maps/JWD47NMCqes)
• Time required as per google maps: 1 hr 20 mins
• Actual required time: almost 2 hours

Total Distance covered in the day: 841 Kms.

Total time taken with halts: 16 hrs, (riding time 13 hrs. + halt time approx. 3 hours)

Route: https://goo.gl/maps/SteQFXekZNw

Day 1: Route

TGSIR: Prologue

A big dream always starts with a small idea…and so it started for us. A common passion drove us...MOTORBIKES and Travel. It all started with a wild ride to Koynanagar and few years back. Then we kept on riding. The thrill and endurance going up with every ride. Koynanagar, Diveagar, Alibaug, Tapola, Goa, Amba, Vijaydurg, the list goes on. With so many big and small rides done we decided to do something big now…something we had never attempted.

It all started in September 2016… 5 riders, ready to test their limits, decided to set out on a dream route. The die was cast…the pieces started rolling. And thus “The Grand South India Ride” was born.  Here I would like to say one thing, though we actually set on the road in December, the ride started for us long before that...right from the planning.

Planning a ride has 3-4 main aspects:

1. Exploring for interesting and thrilling routes and debating on which will be the best. And later finalizing the routes
2. Once the routes are finalized, we then need to explore the area for places to stay and to visit during the stay. Google maps has made these tasks so easy…sitting at your desk you can explore the world, find places of interest, thrilling routes and with the satellite imagery you can actually get the feel of what you may experience
3. Parallely we also need to gear up for the ride. Every kind of ride calls in for some special requirements. We have to check the Medi-kits, the bike repair kits etc etc.
4.  Also the bike needs to be maintained and made fit for the ride

The maximum distance that we had traveled in a day, so far, was around 450 kms., mostly within Maharashtra, or at the most Goa. Usually with the kind of roads we have here, it took us nearly 12 to 16 hours for this distance. Now we had a mammoth distance in front of us..almost 5000 kms. and limited time, just 9 riding days...550 kms each day. As per our plan…day 1 was going to be the most testing day..

We all were thrilled and equally skeptical about the above calculations. But then we also had a strong resolve to do it. ‘Attempt and Achieve’ was what we decided.

All things were in place now. And the day finally dawned…