Ride to Chilling Mahabaleshwar

Ride to Chilling Mahabaleshwar - A Photolog

Content by: Ajay V

Pictures edited by : Rachit  :)

Date: October 6, 2012 -- October 7, 2012

Warning : Lots & lots of Pix.. Baahhh..!!! So, what the hell!!! :D

Introducing the Men and their Steeds :

Men	Machine
Ajay	CBR250R
Rachit	CBR250R
Adhir	P220
Nitin G	Unicorn
Viru	CBR250R
Selvin	CBR250R
Jayesh N	FZ
Jayesh B	Karizma
Bob	FZ
Paresh	ZMR
Nitin k	On all of the above

Quote: "Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen." -- Benjamin "Dizzy" Disraeli

I am sure the above quote strikes a chord in the minds of all like minded fellow riders of this group, about the one single question that the entire world asks us, with ourselves also pondering over the question in our hearts a few million times…”Why do we Ride”.

Having said that I also feel that we all have the answers to it, with only a slight variance and many a few similarities.

Having hit the road with all for quite some time, it is indeed a wonderful and most importantly a growing experience with a majority turnout jointly with my old riding pals and a few new ones this time. As I take the liberty of jotting down this wonderful moment that engraved a space in our lives and if my memory serves me right we all got together through common connections and a combined passion. “Oneday-Sunday” rides flagged off the sequence and we had all planned an overnight session with a few more miles to be covered and finally figured out Mahabaleshwar at Selvins house.

The final set of riders was not complete, with an announcement rolled out on the Riders lounge communicator and post heavy brainstorming sessions on the date it was finally decided as the 6^th day of October 2012 at 0600 hours with 11 roll outs.

And the Ride begins....

So it was all set and kanjur riders met at 05.30 hrs and were kept royally waiting by our very own bob, then we head together to meet the rest of the gang at airoli. 

At fuel filling session :)

After fuel up & rubbers inflated we head out to our very first pit stop – (Panvel). It was early in the morning and slightly warm as we rolled in unison. After a good 35-40 kms ride we reached panvel for a tea break and met a bullet gang (some kph guyz….i guess), sincerely not impressed to see a guy doping before he rides ( saala khud bhi marega, aur kisi aur ko bhi maarega). Interestingly they had so much luggage on their bikes that they could have sold it and bought new 'hardly' – davidson’s for themselves.

House on wheels ;)

Ya.. even this is a modified bullet :p

  Anyways after a simple breakfast of around 154,265,899 meduwadas and 365,589,188 idlis we moved to our destination.

 As we had sincere clouds over each ones riding ability, especially in terms of covering long stretch we minimized it to a 50 kms pit stop. We split in small groups of 3-4 so can be managed well.

Finally, it was the “US” hitting the road in one of the most beautiful ride formation seen in recent times. At an average speed of 80 kms to maintain that all were “in sight & “in synch”. Very soon we were welcomed by khopoli ghat and we were enjoying the twists and turns that it had to offer and later to the lovely routes of lonavala. Which further then took us on route to NH-4 where the real action awaited.

The super Mumbai-Pune expressway..

Yummmyy Roadss...

"US" is referred to this :)

As we entered NH-4 it was big long straights, although with road work being done at small patches. It was almost a task to coordinate because of the long fleet of bikers that was riding along, with a person needed to wave off until all reached their pit stop. The major highlight of the route was the frequent halts for photography (less of Mother Nature, and more Wildlife…which was “US”), and with nitin sitting pillion on adhirs bike and that too facing the bikes that followed at times, some classic videos is a result of his efforts (helmets off----boy).

At Devu Road junction.. A Neera stop

the surprise entry - Nitin K

We had to keep halting at around 50+ kms for the group to re-assemble.
This is at Mc Donalds, enroute.

The tough & fastest Indian.. P220

Stopped at restaurant, where Selvin & Rachit went ahead & took a flyover which there weren't suppose to take & on some calls, they turned back. We had to take a right from below this particular bridge. Hence stopped there for others

At a junction to enter Wai where all join in....

The super sparkling ZMR

The CBR brothers

And we Zoom off towards the lovely Ghat to Panchagani

 So we rode, ripped and rose over the national higway with decent neera breaks and stamina puffs until we reached Panchgani. It was extremely distracting for us, to look at the roads.. The scene around was so beautiful & lovely. Hills after riding for long on straights, are certainly a treat..
Who can stop resisting by taking halts to cherish & treasuring the moments in the form of pictures 

The surprise package :p

Ahh.. A treat ahead ;)

Transactions on hills :)

Jay N with his street fighter Yamaha Fz

BrotherHood..hood..hood.. Dabang..

Deewana-Mastana

A tough look - Super cool Selvin Bhai..

Calm Paresh bhai..

The wonderful chill greeted us with cool breeze swaying over our tiring faces ( thanks to the minimum amount of sleep that we got due to stupidly chatting till midnight on "Riders Lounge" (our watsapp group).

Stopped at Panchgani, to take the much necessary tonics ;) required.. The person clicking is at the medical (Wine shop) ;)

Jay seemed too excited, since quite some time was left for the party to commence.. 

Adhir recorded a super video, which was getting checked

Video which Adhir recorded

Then headed straight to our lavish residence that we had booked through Viru’s pehchaan.
 As soon as we took off we were greeted with rains which made the group split up and had a small confusion, nevertheless we were united later.
First Viru & Rachit went ahead to find & stop at the venue ;) And waited for us to join in the party..

 Roughly 7-8 kms we reached our nest and unloaded our riding jewelry and all set for the "suhani shaam".

External dust wiped and internal was being attended with some hunting of the stag… ;) and that too the royal one.
And the party begun....

 Myself and Selvin macha had a good experience of some chilled rainfall as we rode a small distance upto lake venna in search of chakna for our makhna’s back home and guess what we got back…snacks and omlettes along with carrots (god knows where they were to be shoved up).

  After royally stagging we ventured out late evening for sightseeing around mahabaleshwar, with first visiting lake venna where our stomach was filled with some snacks. It would be a sin not to mention the hot chicks that visit that place, man they turn on..in such climates.  The main market was lit up with people flogged all over and casinos, restaurants , simply put a typical tourist backdrop.

The thick fog

 As we were regaining senses it was time for some “nasha” so we moved off from venna towards some dhaba to spend the rest of the evening.

Now one of the most significant part of the journey, was the fog ride that we did on that night where all bikes rode through heavy fog, trailing purely on lights, completely shivering were we…man it made the ride worthwhile.

At the dhaba, the funny guy asked us to place the order first…maybe he thought we would booze and run off.  God...so were we relaxed and sipping some holy sips and with a debate over bikes vs. cars among rachit and nitinK. (of course bikers won!!!).

 Wine and Dine as they say, concluded the night and we were back to our nest and snored to sleep, with Bob and jayN leading the scores on that as per public poll. Not to forget that me and bob were also bonged and were cutting out throats over something, which we still, is figuring out. :) :)

Sunrise boyz…!!!it was the day of return, with the usual wash routines and breakfast and most importantly accounting the million dollars spent on the earlier day. After some calculation we raised fund and squared up the rent.

We were hot to roll and head back to Mumbai, and stopped by at Mapros to buy some stuff back home for our folks, and hit back the super ghats.
Early morning.. Ye..

Everyone wanted to go to the Mapro factory, where we can buy some stuff..
Raid da Mapro

The same carrots.. Remember.? ;)

Shopping done & started back..
In no time, spotted another heavenly view 

 Twisting and turning, which I am sure was enjoyed by one and all and this time with some video-moto-photography done by Adi, rachit and nitin perfectly captured the way back journey.
Bhilar Falls, enroute.. And the posers take their positions ;)

  

Filmy...

People were staring at us the way we rolled in unison along the ghats, with rave views from locals and tourist alike…Descending ghat was another fun.. As we had Nitin sitting as pillion with Adhir, taking all dare-devil efforts to click & record a super video of formation on twisties..
Some pix & video clicked by nitin in 'runtime'

Notice the local, behind Rachit.. Trying to shoot a video/click picture on his mobile.. :)

A spectacular formation video shooted by Nitin..

Back on NH-4 we pulled over to have lunch at a place which offered some zanzanith chicken handi and bhakri with complimentary local group of “patil mandali”.

Done with stomachs filled, heads up on the road the hood hit Mumbai with usual pit stops to be greeted by some rider friends of Rachit.

We were just entering the Kingdom  of Maganlal (now known as Lonavala also), that rain gods cried on us and we had to back foot and lower our stands, completely interrupting the momentum of the ride and a split up again. Once the showers were off head, we resumed the journey although on a lesser velocity. Also we got to see Dukes nose that myself, adi, nitin, rachit & bob had rappelled a year ago. “All set” had turned into “All wet” with interiors wet but like they say, if you don’t ride in the rains…………….you don’t ride!!!!

It was quite late in the day and we were home sick, hence ripped hard and fast back with a small halt mid way, continued to Panvel and a last pit stop at airoli as decided.

All reached and waited for selvin, later to be discovered that “Papa Selvin” had taken some khufiya route with a dead mobile phone for which he later, was gifted his deserving share of abuses.

So after the hugs and kisses with airoli bikers, we all dispersed with a happy mind and a broken body back home to be tucked in our sweet beds and dream till next sunrise…

All said and done, with a sincere attempt to write down the events that took place, to the best of my abilities… I hereby rate this one of the best rides of my life and dream of more!!!

When you are out on a road to ride, Pray that the road is long..

Ride hard and Ride Safe…or else Stay Home!!!

For entire album : Click Below

Mahabaleshwar Ride

Some videos : Click Here