Maharashtra on the YZf-R15
MH trip
A 9 day trip to the Shivaji land was on my mind. Applied leaves 2 months in advance.
Leaves got confirmed and I had to get things ready for the ride.
Got a service done and an oil change , had purchased new set of tires before the ride .It cost me 2900 rs and I found it in Mysore .There is a lot of demand for those special tires.
A week before the ride, I had a huge swelling in my eye, It was a sty, An infection. I just hoped that it doesn’t ruin my holiday. Went to the eye specialist and was told that I should recover in like 3-5 days.
2 days before take off
The swelling still persists…
1 day before take off...
Take leave to go to the Doctor. The doctor says its all clear and gives me a green signal.
There was nothing in the bike that needed attention; the bike is so damn reliable. Got a few puncture sticks and I was ready to go. Dumped clothes into the saddle bags that I had borrowed from Akhil. I was unsure as to how it would behave on my bike as its highly aero sensitive. Did a city ride in traffic to get the feel. It was a no problem.
Saturday
Wake up at 01:00 AM, have bath, drink milk, and mount the already packed saddle and tank bags onto the bike. Reach Yeshwantpur Metro at 02:20 AM . Mridul joins me at 02:30 AM.
Its still cold and dark, city’s sleeping, best time to escape from Bangalore city. Else it’s a pain.
Bangalore is a small over crowded outgrown city with a large space constraint.
Lights on and its time to cruise…
Reached Nelamangala toll gate in about 25 to 30 mins , There is construction work going on throughout the way , lots of speed breakers and dust .
From here on its Just 4 lane wide roads for the next 40 kms , Keeping 85-90 kmph constant reached Tumkur and we plan to ride ahead to ChitraDurga without a break.
ChitraDurga is 200 kms from Blr , The roads in c’durga by-pass are non existent. Stopped after the city and its still 5:30 AM.
Stopped for a small 25 mins break and eat Banana chips that Mridul had brought back from his hometown.
Hop on and its ride again to RaniBennur , 100 kms of Bad roads from there on . Its still dark and it gets colder .Increased volume on the i-pod listening to my favorite collection doing 120 + with no sound audible from the exhaust and engine reached Ghar Dhabha at 07:30 AM.(300kms done)
Mridul reached after about 15 mins. Vasanth reached the point after about 5 minutes.
Had breakfast there and then it was 8:45 AM when we left the place. Hubli was the next destination . Its 100 Kms from there.
After crossing Haveri , the roads are good. You can do speeds that your bike maxes out.
Stopped four fuel about 20 kms before Hubli , The others had already refueled at the breakfast point and gone ahead when I stopped for refuelling.I wanted to ride till empty , to get an idea of my fuel effieciency and also that I wasn’t happy with the Shell fuel that I had filled .
I was trailing the other two now .Crossed Hubli (407 kms),took the by-pass to Dharwad, It’s a two lane road now , And Im crazy about two lanes ,It makes me so happy , Opposite traffic makes me active than the fast 4/6 lanes where everyone’s doing good speed , and gets boring until and unless you have a multi cylinder bike that allows you to do 200 kmph.
Doing 120 kmph and seeing a car swoosh by on 6 lane is not my taste.
Two lane road ends after Dharwad,after that found a Tata Safari Dicor ahead of me doing 130 kmph , and that was all I needed , I was constantly doing 127-128kmph even with the luggage and a full tank of fuel.
At one point, I saw the other two guys on the LHS, they dint wave at me, It was me who was alert and pulled over, I dint want to stop, because the road was lovely and I had got the flow .
But still… stopped..
Started again after a while, The roads after Dharwad are brilliant , all you need to do is concentrate and go fast. No Speed Breakers, No stray dogs/cows. No Jay walkers , Nobody . Its an open Highway . Do al speed that you can .
Reached Belgaum and dint stop . Topped when the Odo read 560kms.
30kms on, my Bike is welcomed to Maharashtra. Bike seeing a new state after a long time. First time to MH.
I was hungry and wanted to have lunch at Kolhapur, found a hotel and grabbed something to eat.
230kms from destination its 2:30 PM.
I re-fill up again and back on the road. There was a lot of traffic that had built up in Kolhapur by-pass.
From Kolhapur to Karad , it’s a 4 lane road and not 6 lane. Found a thunderbird that was done up and he was riding with us . He was doing lovely speeds and I was really impressed with it. We stop for tea about 115 Kms from Pune , we are just outside Satara.
We have tea, its ginger tea. I like it, its ginger tea all round MH.
Riding again and contacting hydro ,reached pune by 7:00PM .
Met Hydro after a long time , 844kms on the Odo.
More to come …
A 9 day trip to the Shivaji land was on my mind. Applied leaves 2 months in advance.
Leaves got confirmed and I had to get things ready for the ride.
Got a service done and an oil change , had purchased new set of tires before the ride .It cost me 2900 rs and I found it in Mysore .There is a lot of demand for those special tires.
A week before the ride, I had a huge swelling in my eye, It was a sty, An infection. I just hoped that it doesn’t ruin my holiday. Went to the eye specialist and was told that I should recover in like 3-5 days.
2 days before take off
The swelling still persists…
1 day before take off...
Take leave to go to the Doctor. The doctor says its all clear and gives me a green signal.
There was nothing in the bike that needed attention; the bike is so damn reliable. Got a few puncture sticks and I was ready to go. Dumped clothes into the saddle bags that I had borrowed from Akhil. I was unsure as to how it would behave on my bike as its highly aero sensitive. Did a city ride in traffic to get the feel. It was a no problem.
Saturday
Wake up at 01:00 AM, have bath, drink milk, and mount the already packed saddle and tank bags onto the bike. Reach Yeshwantpur Metro at 02:20 AM . Mridul joins me at 02:30 AM.
Its still cold and dark, city’s sleeping, best time to escape from Bangalore city. Else it’s a pain.
Bangalore is a small over crowded outgrown city with a large space constraint.
Lights on and its time to cruise…
Reached Nelamangala toll gate in about 25 to 30 mins , There is construction work going on throughout the way , lots of speed breakers and dust .
From here on its Just 4 lane wide roads for the next 40 kms , Keeping 85-90 kmph constant reached Tumkur and we plan to ride ahead to ChitraDurga without a break.
ChitraDurga is 200 kms from Blr , The roads in c’durga by-pass are non existent. Stopped after the city and its still 5:30 AM.
Stopped for a small 25 mins break and eat Banana chips that Mridul had brought back from his hometown.
Hop on and its ride again to RaniBennur , 100 kms of Bad roads from there on . Its still dark and it gets colder .Increased volume on the i-pod listening to my favorite collection doing 120 + with no sound audible from the exhaust and engine reached Ghar Dhabha at 07:30 AM.(300kms done)
Mridul reached after about 15 mins. Vasanth reached the point after about 5 minutes.
Had breakfast there and then it was 8:45 AM when we left the place. Hubli was the next destination . Its 100 Kms from there.
After crossing Haveri , the roads are good. You can do speeds that your bike maxes out.
Stopped four fuel about 20 kms before Hubli , The others had already refueled at the breakfast point and gone ahead when I stopped for refuelling.I wanted to ride till empty , to get an idea of my fuel effieciency and also that I wasn’t happy with the Shell fuel that I had filled .
I was trailing the other two now .Crossed Hubli (407 kms),took the by-pass to Dharwad, It’s a two lane road now , And Im crazy about two lanes ,It makes me so happy , Opposite traffic makes me active than the fast 4/6 lanes where everyone’s doing good speed , and gets boring until and unless you have a multi cylinder bike that allows you to do 200 kmph.
Doing 120 kmph and seeing a car swoosh by on 6 lane is not my taste.
Two lane road ends after Dharwad,after that found a Tata Safari Dicor ahead of me doing 130 kmph , and that was all I needed , I was constantly doing 127-128kmph even with the luggage and a full tank of fuel.
At one point, I saw the other two guys on the LHS, they dint wave at me, It was me who was alert and pulled over, I dint want to stop, because the road was lovely and I had got the flow .
But still… stopped..
Started again after a while, The roads after Dharwad are brilliant , all you need to do is concentrate and go fast. No Speed Breakers, No stray dogs/cows. No Jay walkers , Nobody . Its an open Highway . Do al speed that you can .
Reached Belgaum and dint stop . Topped when the Odo read 560kms.
30kms on, my Bike is welcomed to Maharashtra. Bike seeing a new state after a long time. First time to MH.
I was hungry and wanted to have lunch at Kolhapur, found a hotel and grabbed something to eat.
230kms from destination its 2:30 PM.
I re-fill up again and back on the road. There was a lot of traffic that had built up in Kolhapur by-pass.
From Kolhapur to Karad , it’s a 4 lane road and not 6 lane. Found a thunderbird that was done up and he was riding with us . He was doing lovely speeds and I was really impressed with it. We stop for tea about 115 Kms from Pune , we are just outside Satara.
We have tea, its ginger tea. I like it, its ginger tea all round MH.
Riding again and contacting hydro ,reached pune by 7:00PM .
Met Hydro after a long time , 844kms on the Odo.
More to come …
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