Riders: Machines:
Ajay [Unicorn]
Rachit [Karizma]
Nitin [Avenger]
Hardik [Unicorn]
“A man travels the
world in search of what he wants
……..and returns
back home to find it”---
The
but not conceived.
In spite of we all
being regulars in visiting the sacred shrine of Sai baba we could never actually
manage to ride upto the destination on our machines
The ride plan as
always was rolled out to all Killers
due to some constraints but a positive decision at the last minute made me a part
of this ride…
So the D day arrived on 14th November 2009 with myself, Nitin & Rachit all set
@ 5.00 on our flag off point [KCC]…. kicked start towards Hotel fountain where Hardik
was supposed to meet us. The excitement was clearly evident on our faces as we rode
towards Ghodbunder in the chilling cold, with the breeze waving through our bodies….
Around 6.15 Am we reached Hotel fountain with Hardik waiting for us.
After a
couple of minutes we were heading towards Ahmedabad highway…
The speed was set… the formation was decided…we rode for around 45-50 kilometers
at a stretch till we reached Wada after passing Manor; the route to Ahmedabad is
an amazing stretch but can be a bit trafficky at times due to high rate of carriers
plying on them…
The group stopped at Wada for a snack break, post which we headed towards Nashik
road on our first destination planned….Trimbakeshwar
Riding towards Trimbak is quite an exciting experience due to the narrowness nature
of the road; not very good for the initial few kilometers but taking on a very steep,
Curvy and twisty course later. So here we were riding in a formation with many a
thought flashing across our minds…
I & Rachit were leading on the twisty paths
following each other at a fast pace with Hardik & Nitin on the trail as decided…
The roads were so narrow that we would require breaking & halting almost to
an extent that we would require getting down off the road in case of any vehicles passing us…
We were cruising at a speed of 60-70 kmph with all of us taking lead on a rotational
basis & then what happened was like “History repeats itself”
I &Rachit were on the lead with the rest on trail… when we reached Khodale
Village where there are is a diversion for Nashik & Jawahar when we halted just
to ensure that we do not miss out on the rest of the gang.Khodale is a very busy
village and we were right into the heart of it resting in midst of the village market
waiting for the rest of the troupe to arrive. The time was around 11.30 – 12.00
with the afternoon sun scorching on our heads It was almost more that 30 minutes that I & rachit were waiting when we felt that the time was not justified enough for others not to reach…..
Anxiety & tension started creeping in our minds, we tried calling both the guys
but no one was picking up the phone…. We could literally feel the tension in our
minds as we were aware of the route that we had just covered with was capable enough
to give a tough time to any biker…
Continuous calling on both the numbers was futile as we did not get any response
and had to patiently wait as we did not have any other option. After waiting for
around 45 minutes we could finally meet our co-riders…It was hardik the Showstopper
again but this time we were in a better situation as Hardik’s bike had a puncture
which they were fixing in a nearby village…
Photos for people who don’t want to believe us,,,,,,
Market place where we waited for them & later they showed up
So this was another butt break for us until we could ride further to Destination#1
Trimbakeshwar. So after the halt we proceeded further, by planning a non-stop stretch
right upto Trimbak.The stretch in comparison to the earlier with wider roads but
a bit more curvy with all attempting their own self developed style of cornerings…Within
a couple of hours we reached the holy place of Trimbakeshwar which is one of the
12 Jyotirlingas
It was the normal story alike all shrine with every thing commercialized, we first
visited the Kunda and the KOW Models were ready to strike poses for the camera…
It
was around 12.30-1.00 Pm that we finished the darshan and started hunting for a
place where we could fill our tummies….
After a short walk we came across a hotel (name to worth remembering) where we were
more than happy to gorge as it served “unlimited food”. Post refreshing our mud
stricken faces we sat down to lunch with Rachit & Hardik molesting the Gujarathi
Thali and Nitin & me sticked to Rice Plates.
It was a good feeling after such
a hectic roadrash on NH-8.
Pix, While roaming through the market.
Located this pretty female ;)
Now it was time to head further towards the second piece of the plan and one of
the main destinations – SHIRDI. Geared up and all set were we to hit NH-50 on route
Nashik
Hardly had we completed 10.12 kilometers we had to face the wrath of nature….it
was showering, but were still riding as we had a long distance to cover….
But it didn’t last long,,,,,,,,,,, we had to again halt…
We were all pissed off as the sudden rains had dampened our spirits and we had no
other option than parking our bikes and wait…we found a small home where we had
some shelter available…
It was still raining and all took to this opportunity to catch forty winks…..The
rain drizzled and we resumed our journey on wet roads on a considerably slow speed
of 30-40 kmph to avoid slippage,,,,the road ahead was a combination of straights
& curves also trafficky as we were venturing city limits. It was roughly mid
–noon @ 3.30.We were almost on a non-stop spree with a ultimatum in our mind to
reach sinnar by atleast 5.00 so that we do not have the last phase to complete in
darkness….
That’s when we came across our next blunder…we were riding hard & fast to cross
sinnar which was about 2 kms when Hardik & I stopped by to ensure that all riders
were together.
We parked our bikes for a small interval on the left hand side to look back and
wait for the rest o of the clan & nitin joined us in a few minutes. All three
waited for our officially designated senior rider to join us but in vain…..Almost
20 minutes passed by and we still could not see him.
We decided mutually to wait at Sinnar junction hoping to have a reunion but without
any luck. Tea was ordered and all eyebrows were raised at each other and we had
our panic attack 2 with a common question in our minds, where the f@#k is rachit?????
Every second increased the anxiety with our eyes set on the road even the continuous
calling was not helpful as there was no response…………Mr. Hardik the self deployed
search party head rode back 3 kilometers in seek of our dear friend
45 minutes must have passed by when my phone rang, guess what it was rachit and
the location he is more interesting!!!!!! Just 11 kms far from Shirdi.
This was the test of a lifetime,, 55 kms at hand & only 30-35 minutes due for
sunset…without any further questions being asked the pistons were rolling and we
hit the road with me leading at a speed of 110 kms per hour with the rest following.
11 kms far from Shirdi I could see Rachit parked on a side!!!! “””We were all back
together…”””
Rachit was
passing his time clicking some pictures
Village
Bike ;)
Another short break and we cruised ourselves to enter Destination#2 Shirdi
The smiles were back on our faces….
It was around 7.00 Pm when we reached the holy land and phone rang….this time. it
was Bob who as usual was updating on the ride [highly appreciate his efforts to
pass on the ride update to all Killers].Now we badly required a decent place to
rest our lower portions as the track had exhausted us to death!!!!! And the hunt
for the hotels started with us almost losing hope of accommodation after visiting
a dozen of them.
The decent ones were highly priced and the cheap ones were far away from decent,
that’s when we were approached by an Allah ka Banda who forced me to give him a
chance to provide accommodation which was not very far from there….Lack of options
forced us to try that one out which fortunately turned out to be the cheapest &
decent spot in Shirdi called Sai Chaitanya.The place is a very homely nest run by
a hospitable woman with clean rooms available. We chose a room to stay and planned
to visit for darshan the same night.
After unpacking & freshen up we left for the darshan and we were lucky enough
to finish the same in 40 minutes time. Now we were terribly hungry and roamed the
streets to get some good food.Nitin being a child at heart and the occasion being
Children’s day wished to do some charity and search begun for poor street, the irony
being when you wanna avoid them they flock you, but if you seek them you don’t find
a soul !!!! Still he managed to find some needful &
poor kids & handed 100 bucks to each of them. God Bless You..!!
After having dinner we returned back to our rooms for a peaceful nap coz we had
a hard day ahead ….
Dozing off for hours helped us regain our lost energies and we woke upto reality
at 10.00 AM. Next morning cleaned our bikes & read to resume the journey.
After a heavy breakfast session we waved goodbye to Shirdi on our way back home
but not before we explored
Destination#3 Ahmednagar,,,,,As per our initial plan
we were supposed to visit a military museum & few places of historical importance
of which we were not very sure about ,,,,
Took a halt for
others to tag up & later discovered the Tank museum is bit away & probably
only open on 26th Jan & 15th Aug. There was navy camp around.
We left Shirdi and cruised towards Ahmednagar highway which was one another amazing
route (finally we got 2 rip our machines) as it is a very straight stretch right
upto the road connecting to Mumbai – Kalyan (NH222).Enjoying the scenic beauty & green
patched that surrounded the roads from Both sides we stopped for some moments to
be captured on our cameras..
Got some really nice clicks here..
We entered the Kalyan – Mumbai road and rode upto Alephata (Junnar) on a non-stop
rage.
All eyes were set on conquering one of frequently tripped point, the tall standing
Malshej Ghat. Before that we couldnt stop taking halts on such astonishing &
beautiful scenaries comming across.
We were more than happy once we reached Malshej
as we were reminded of one fabulous
moment of our earlier trip to Goa….THE AMBOLI GHAT!!!!..
Happiness could be seen here :)
Fog had captured the whole Hill and it was chilling cold as we sped amongst the “Cloud bed”….stopping by the usual temple we continued the blessings….
Took one
more halt for the non-resisting view
A food break was the need of the hour and we all planned to stop once we finished
the Ghat and stopped and Tokavde to find some grub….finally after ridings another
3 kms we reached a newly opened hotel where we filled our tummies. It was dark &
raining now and we had still more 100+ kilometers to reach Mumbai so we continued
the there onwards…
Our machines were thirsty for fuel so we refilled our bikes once we reached Kalyan;
it was the amazing feeling of returning back after a successful journey… Once we
reached our place all the pain & agony had transformed to pride & excitement
with all our friends waiting to meet us at our regular spot (which is also the flag
offpoint)
I thank all for reading this blog written as per my best capabilities…m sure we
would be back with another interesting experiences very soon!!!
Just few lines before I bid goodbye…
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely
in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to ride on highways - accelerator
in one hand - clutch in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and
screaming ….
'WOO HOO, What a Ride''''''
