So,
I was supposed to go to Kukke Subramanya on a personal errand. Now, why would a biker take a bus for that! Well many dont get the point and I did not deem it fit to justify my so called insanity to go solo on a bike trip that involved a notorious stretch (Sakleshpur to Kukke).
Any bike trip has a LOT of participants at first and on the final day you see that 80% of them are missing the ride. So going by the laws of nature it was just me and my bike for the trip and ALL of the would be participants wanting to head bang in the Iron Maiden show.
I have tasted the relaxed, 'have maximum butt breaks' rides and wanted to get a feel of how it is if you deviate from the above and try out the 'endurance' thingy. So, this being my first 'real' solo (Ananthpur being my previous) I decided to do Bangalore-Kukke-Bangalore in one day.
To make a good saftey zone possible, I decide to leave at 4 in the morning. But left at 4:45 from White Field. Till date I've never ripped my bike as soon as I start it. So, it took me one hour to reach nelmangla (the junction where I am to take a left towards Hassan). Took a butt break, updated the trip sheet and started for Hassan.
I wanted to keep a safe speed until dawn. It was still very dark and no signs of the sun light helping me out atleast for an hour. There is no way you can maintain low speeds on an empty stretch. So, I hit on a novel idea and decided to tag along behind a Honda Civic. That person I bet would have promised somebody that he would NOT cross 80 and so, I was hitting a max of 80 unitl 6:30. Sufficent light by then, said bye to the Honda and then got intimidated by a Indica. Started ripping at 110 and reached Adi Chunchungiri at 7. Took a butt break and reached Hassan by 8:20.
The Hassan Kukke trip was one of a kind for me. I was cruising at 80 or so, and then all of a sudden from nowhere there is a growl... a deep loud one... I get a shiver and then in a split second there is nothing... I see a small black dot ahead and once back to my senses get to know that it was super duper bike. Now, you are going solo on a trip and dont know what to think of, except that you are keeping yourself occupied by looking around. Then you get smacked back to your senses by a addictive growl and you start thinking about a super bike, and how it would have felt in case that blip was you. A nice uncomfortable thought that keeps you company on a solo ride.....
I see dense fog ahead and riding through it, I smell that something is being burnt. Then I get to know that its not a fog but thick white smoke :D Get down and search for the source and see that its the smoke from the fire to bake bricks.
Smelly fog?
Post superbike hangover, I was searching for an antidote. Lucky me, I get one. Just about to resume my ride, I see a RX100 with a guy all dressed up in protective gear, the chest guard - a nice shiny one, a pair of moulded biking boots, riding goggles worn over a dirt bike racing styled Vemar helmet), also a big bag at the rear of the seat thats fastened with bungee chords. He was at good speed and it did not make sense to start off in a hurry and catch up. So, thought of saying Hi in case I meet him ahead.
Near sakleshpur, I see that he just was coming out of a petrol station. So, I kept pace with him just to get a pulse of the person behind the goggles. Well, I get to know that he does not like to see a two wheeler ahead of him. He overtakes and acclerates. Me follow and overtake and acclerate. This went on for some time, no dragging, no intimidating, just plain harmless game of catch up.
I did not know when the ghat section of sakleshpur started and the curve ahead of me takes me by surprise. I slow down, with particular attention not to jam my front breaks and almost go off the road with a upwards hair pin bend ahead. He of course just casually overtakes me and........ me was pretty embarassed the way I got off the road. We were no more at a level playing ground after my mistake. There was no point in trying to stop him and say 'Hi,I'm xyz. A stupid biker who just made a jack ass of him self and wanted to say hi to a fellow biker'. I did not think that he would waste his time to say hi, fearing that I might tag along spoiling his solo ride. Did not see him after that. I took a deviation to Kukke @ Donigal which leads to Bisle forest area. They call it bisle ghat.
Bad roads, with some what ok stretches with fine gravel all over. It was as though somebody had put the gravel there, paying special attention that any bike trying to negotiate that curve is bound to smell the tarmac (or the absence of it).
It was 11:30 by the time I reached Kukke. I knew that three hours was a very bad average to maintain.
Halfway through the forest. Me sweating like a pig while taking this photo.
Had the darshan. Left at 12:30 itself, factoring the time I had taken to reach that place. I had not logged the distance from donigal to Kukke (the bad stretch). Did that on my way back. Its 62 Km of bad stretch and I made it back to donigal in a hour and a half (reached donigal at 2 in the afternoon). Ok not a bad average on a bad stretch, and I happily reach Hassan by 2:40.
A nice desktop wall paper? :)
The plan was to reach Bangalore as late as possible so that my friends get back from the Iron Maiden show, and we party and wait for the F1 race to start the next morning. So, I made sure that I relaxed in my grand parents place till 5 in the evening and then proceeded towards bangalore.
Its too evident that I cannot keep a slow speed. So, this time it was a Hyundai Accent... naaa too fast to keep me occupied till 9:30 or 10:00 in the night. So, me lock in on a Maruti Omni till Nelmangla. Its 8:30 and by the time I reached my friends place it was 9:30.
End of trip. 700 Km in one day. A solo ride. No stiff neck or a sore back. F1 the next morning. Beer for the night! Now, what else can I ask for :D
