Woke up fresh and ready to ride to Bangalore. Started early by 8:10 from Honnavar. Planned to stop by at Jog Falls. The ghats were beautiful during the morning. While going through the ghats we could smell fresh flowers and it was a beautiful feeling riding through all the greenery. This ghat section has lot of sharp curves and one has to ride slowly and carefully. The bike was choking at fourth gear and Rocky kept a steady third gear and carried on. We stopped at the
Sharavathi River vIew point to click some snaps.
We went inside to see Jog falls but was disappointed again since there was no water at the falls. It was a mere trickle but we had a good break there. We were joined by the Madras bulls and Indrajit and then by Siddharth and Dubyaman. We had a nice breakfast of bread and omeletes and maggie. When one is hungry anything tastes good.
>We started off after an hour. Some of the guys decided to wait for the rest of the gang coming by in a while. The Madras bulls took off with us since they also had to go slow as Navneet's engine was running. Siddharth and Indrajit took turns in dragging while doing the ghats and Sid is a speed freak.. He almost missed a curve once it seems but it is fine. Speed can be addictive as long as one is in control of one's vehicle but personally I would prefer steady riding to speeding up. We took some time off to take a snap shot with the bikes and then we were off.
We finished the ghat section pretty soon and reached Sagar. Continuing riding we had lunch somewhere at a good roadside dhabha in Shimoga. We had news that most of the group were catching up with us and then we called them there. We had finished our meal then and while they were settling down we were on our way. Someone from the Madras bulls was lost, i think it was Brijesh but he found his way and all was fine. On our way from Shimoga we took a wrong route and almost went the wrong way when suddenly I saw the landscape change. Thats when we turned and headed back on the right track after asking the right route. Its very confusing to ride through the big towns... one must keep to the bypass as much as possible.
Took a short break in Arisekere and then proceeded towards Tumkur. I was impatient to reach home now. Fuelled up the bike here even though there was some gas in the tank.
The sun set just a few minutes before entering Tumkur. I must tell you that highway sunsets are amazing and red. This is the second time we were watching a sunset by the highway on our bike and it beats any glorious sunsets... that we have seen. The sun becomes a beautiful red ball of fire and spreads the glow all over. Its a wonderful moment. I clicked my last snap there and was content.
After Tumkur we reached the main highway where the Golden Quadrilateral work was going on. The highway is painful to ride with so many diversions. We reached our starting point at 8:45pm and I thought that we did a good timing steadily riding. I was happy with the ride since we not only stopped where necessary but we also managed to see some of the places on the way.
All in all it was a great trip and I am waiting for more.
Lessons Learnt
All rookie riders should carry spares. Though a list is given at the beginning of a trip one must be extra careful on long rides.
Avoid Carrying bags with too many dangling loops.
Note: Kamat has a great service going in the highway and thats the best place to stop on your way if you are travelling by your own vehicle.
