Solo ride from Bangalore to Pune (Lonavala, Khandala, Lavasa)

When: From 9^th to 13^th Aug 2013.

Destination: Pune, Lavasa, Lonavala, Khandala

How and who all are: Solo Ride

Odometer reading: 2063Kms.

Route Map: Bangalore – Tumkur – Chitradurga – Hubli – Belgaum – Kolhapur – Satara – Pune – Lavasa – Lonavala – Khandala – Pune – Namma Bengalore.

Short n Sweet description about trip:
                           Visiting Lonavala, Khandala and Lavasa was not in my list until I reach Pune.. My main interest was to ride from Bangalore to Pune in a single day. I just wanted to taste the pleasure of riding for such a long distance in single day. At last I made it..!!!  Covered 903Kms distance in 13.50Hrs J J Yesss…!!! It was just 903Kms… ;) do you want to know my experience?? Then just scroll down and start reading my Travelogue....!!


Travelogue:
                     

Moved left Leg, left shoulder, left hand fingers…

Moved right Leg, right shoulder, right hand fingers…

Now Neck…!!! Right turn… Left turn…. Now turn round…!!!

Body doing ok! :)

1*1 = 1

2*2 = 4

3*3 = 9

4*4 = 16

5*5 = 25

6*6 = 36

7*7 = 49

8*8 = 64

9*9 = 81

10*10 = 100

11 * 11 = 121

12*12 = 144

13 * 13 = 169

14 * 14 = 196

15 * 15 = 225

Mind is doing well….

It was almost 10 hours I had been riding continuously (Breaks here n there for 10-15mins) and I was sure it’s going to be another 3-4 hours of continuous ride to reach my destination.
Myself and My Beast-Apache, both were doing good. Till that time everything went fine.  I’ve still remembered the real test has started after that…!!!

It all started when the long weekend was about to arrive. I haven’t taken long leave since last 5-6 months, even I haven’t been to any long ride (>1000Kms) from last 5-6 months. So this time I planned to use my leaves and long weekend for my long ride.

Immediately I’ve opened my “must visit places list doc” and scroll down to see the places for long ride… I could see 2 places (among many), one is VIZAG and another one is PUNE. From Bangalore, to cover anyone of these places by Bike requires max 4-5days. But I’ve 10days in my hand, so planned to visit 2 places in one stretch...!!!

My initial plan was B’lre - Pune – Hyd –Vizag – B’lre.. But situations didn’t support to ride in Andhra Pradesh (bze of Telangana  issue). So I’ve reduced my plan till Pune.


Day 1: 9^th Aug 2013
           
            I was still not confident about my decision to ride till Pune in one day. One thing I was sure that, I have taken a bold decision and Its going to be a critical test to ME… both Mentally and Physically.

With a passion to reach Pune in one day, I got up at 5AM and got fresh-up in 30 mins. Everything was set for my second longest trip in this year(after SouthIndia trip).
My Saddle bag was packed with all essential things for my next 5days trip, My racing jacket with its arm and back protectors to gimme company for next 5 days was ready and most importantly I was ready to experience the ride with my recently bought “Sparx S-07 Rebel Cheguvera limited edition” racing helmet.

It was exactly 6.10AM when I left my room in Bangalore. The weather was perfect for riding. As I’ve already checked the weather forecast , I was aware that today it is going to be cloudy(not sunny) all the way till Pune, so I was little excited about the ride.

First 45Kms ride has taken 40Mins, after crossing NICE road; I was hit by early morning traffic. I could see cars were cruising like anything. I’ve just observed the traffic for 10mins by riding at a speed of 60kmph. I could see vehicles overtaking me with the speed of their limits ;). I was just riding by humming songs till I cross the city. After that I started counting… 1.. 2…3…4…5…6…7……... don’t get confuse, it was not a lyrics of a song J. I have a habit of counting no.of vehicles which I over-take, so that I can’t feel bored J
I was cruising @ 100kmph. My new helmet was pretty comfort and covered my ears perfectly from unwanted wind sound. After riding for 45mins I’ve reached 100Kms distance. It was 7.40AM. Quickly took a break for <…! and had some fruits & water and hit the road exactly at 7.50AM. 

I’ve covered next 100Kms in 65mins. It was quite good average speed. By 9.15AM I was in Chitradurga town. It was time for breakfast. Had deadly-vada in Chitradurga town and started in 30mins.

Now again 1,2,3,4,5,6…..6….6….6…. !!! Got confused. Don’t..  This time when I was about to overtake 6^th car, A cute little girl was waving her hand to me, Even I started waving my hand… She called her mom too… in couple of mins everyone inside car started waving hands and showing All the best symbol to Me.. J

I just thanked them and over-took their car. Roads were pretty good, it helped me to maintain my avg speed in b/w 95-100Kmph. After riding for an Hr I started feeling bored by straight roads… I knew that, soon it makes me feel sleepy. So immediately stopped for some time and plugged-in the headset, selected “Energetic channel “and again hit the road.

Everything including paddy fields, wind turbines, villages were staying with me just a matter of seconds, now and then I was checking the speed for not to allow myself to touch limits of my Bike.

All of the sudden, through mirrors I could see “Dark clouds” were chasing me. I could smell that, rain was about to hit and I was able to see it was raining far away..  Luckily I didn’t catch by rain… now dark clouds were no more. Soon crossed Hubli(~450Kms – as per my Odo meter). It was half way through my destination and… and… It was record for me covering 450Kms in 5.40Hrs. Immediately I’ve done rough calculations to cover remaining half distance in 6Hrs, if that was the case, I will be able to reach Pune in just ~12Hrs J. But my calculations went wrong…! Back to story...  It was 11.45AM; still there was no instance of sunny weather  J J. It was my lucky day. Quickly took 10-15mins of break and started.

OMG…!!!! Hungry…!!! No sight of hotels after crossing Hubli… I was really fucked up. I was feeling very hungry. It was almost 2’o clock by the time I entered into Belgaum(580Kms). As soon as I entered into the Belgaum, I’ve just enquired about a good hotel (popular hotel of Belgaum) and headed towards that. After travelling for 600Kms on highways, riding through city roads were very difficult. At last able to found the hotel…. Here I’ve faced some problems with hotel staff, I can’t mention the hotel name, but the hotel staff doesn’t know how to behave with customers. I think that was the first time I’ve written a feedback in a Hotel. Yess…!!! I couldn’t stop myself to give feedback…. It’s all done.. I’m out of that F*****g hotel.

Usually I won’t keep on think about the bad incident which happened during travel. It effects my concentration, but that day it has taken 10Kms of ride to forget about that incident. Here I must talk about Belgaum roads...

Belgaum roads..!!! Awesome... One of the best roads I’ve ever experienced till now. For a sec I’ve felt “Am I riding on Indian roads??” What a development….!!! I’m just talking about roads. J

After riding for 2Hrs… I’ve entered into Maharashtra. I could see the change in road condition. Within 10mins my avg speed came down from 95-100kmph to somewhere 75-85kmph.

Yess.!!! You’re exactly correct, now I can’t reach Pune in 12Hrs. J but I was sure that I can reach Pune without any problems as myself and my Beast were doing very good. I was just 150Kms far from destination. It was 4.30PM. It was almost 2Hrs of continuous rode after crossing Belgaum. I could feel the de-hydration of my body. Quickly found a good place to take a break for 30mins.

It was time to…. !!!

Moved left Leg, left shoulder, left hand fingers…

Moved right Leg, right shoulder, right hand fingers…

Now Neck…!!! Right turn… Left turn…. Now turn round…!!!

Body doing ok! :) but my B**t was paining like anything ;)

After 30mins of break, I’ve started… My plan was to cover as much as distance with good avg speed before sun sets. In July-Aug Sunset usually happens @ 7PMJ.  It was 6.30PM, I’ve crossed “Mahabaleshwar” signboard. Somewhere in the corner of my mind I was hoping that, I could finish this trip in 13Hrs(by 7.10PM). As I was riding, All of sudden my surroundings became pitch dark. It was not bze of Sunset. It was Tunnels... OMG..!!! It was my first ever experience riding through a Tunnel. As soon as I entered into the Tunnel, I just stooped and switched off the engine.

            Now….1..2..3…Switched ON the engine… Rrrrrhhh…. RRRRrrrrhhh….RRRRrrrhhhhhhhh……  My beast was sounding awesome. Tunnels have added extra echoes to it… still I could feel my Beast sounding.

It was exactly 7PM. I’ve entered into the Pune city, I felt that I could reach destination in 30mins.  But I couldn’t make it. As everywhere road construction work was happening, to add to that, it started raining (drizzling) and resulting in traffic jamsL. Local riders were managed to escape through Traffic Jams. Of course!!! if it is Bangalore, I would have done the same thing J. I’ve almost spend 1Hr in traffic Jam. With another 30mins of ride through traffic-jam I’ve reached my destination.

I’ve checked the Odo-meter, Trip A: “903 Kms”, Time 8:00PM. Awesome!!! I I’ve covered 903Kms distance in 13:50Hrs(including breaks). It was my first longest distance covered in a single day.

As I got down from Bike, A Hug of my friend with big smile on face and “U made it buddy…U made it… You’re a True Biker!!!” words made my day. Truly a Hug and an encouraging word made me forget all the tiredness of my journey.

 For a guy who has done 903kms of journey, it was time for some well-deserved nap. I have fallen into sleep unknowingly as I was recollecting the memories of my ride… :) :)

Day 2: 10th Aug 2013 
("Lavasa”: Pune – Lavasa – Pune (120Kms))
 
           Gd mrng guys..!!! OMG…. It’s 1PM. I had a very nice sound sleep J.  Literally I was not having any plans for next 2 days. As my friend suggested me to go for Lavasa, Lonavala and Khandala, I decided to cover all those places.
I’ve decided to cover Lavasa in Day2 and Lonavala & Khandala on Day3.
First 10Kms Ride to Lavasa was hectic with lots of ditches covered road.
Lavasa, it’s a good place to hang out around Pune. Since I’ve started at 3’o clock, I didn’t spend much time in Lavasa. Just enjoyed the ride through Nature…
Have a look at the snaps….

Day 3: 11^th Sug 2013
Lonavala & Khandala: Pune – Lonavala – Khandala – Pune

            Unlike last day, today I’ve started by 10AM from Pune. To my bad luck, it was raining whole day, in an hour I’m able to reach Lonavala…. But I’m failed to see the beauty of Western Ghats since all the roads and Ghats were completely covered with Mist. Somehow I was managed to Ride through Mist covered roads.. But soon it started raining….. It made me very difficult to ride through Ghat roads. Still I was able to get the good snaps of Lonavala and Khandala..

 

Day 4^th: Pune
            Since it was raining heavily, I’ve postponed my return plan to Bangalore by one day. I was not at all interested to go back to Bangalore through same road… Still I was thinking to go Vizag… but as situations were getting worst in AP bze of the Telangana issue, I completely dropped my plan to Vizag.. 

Day 5^th: Pune – Bangalore(903Kms)

            It was 6AM when I left my friends room from Pune. Going back on the same way is f***g bored. But I don’t have any other choice. Way back journey was smooth. Not many memories to share with you guys. I’ve reached Bangalore by 8.30PM. I’ve checked the Odo meter: Trip A: 2063Kms

To say it in one word, ride was adventures;

At last “My solo trip of 2063KMS distance was grand success”

I hope you guys have enjoyed by reading my post. Thanks a lot for your patience.

                                         Happy Reading

                                    \m/ Happy Riding \m/

Happy Reading 

\m/ Happy Riding \m/