Talk about a ride with a team work,
then this is it.
When Gokarna ride was announced on our website, we received a lot of positive intents from fellow riders. The route plan was chalked out, keeping the varying opportunities we had to ride through different places, so the "To" route was different from the "Back" route.We had nine Bulls all well prepared for the D Day : The Independence Day ride, 14th Aug to 16Th Aug. In celebration of the Freedom and respect to the martyrs,we had The Great Indian Flag tied on two of our bikes, The Lead and the Sweep. In a great sense of respect to the country I almost went into an emotional connection having the flag on my bike as well.
This is BOM's ( Bulls of Mysore) second long ride. with an aggressive plan and rough roads, we expected a bigger challenge for this ride. So it was, nothing fell short :-)
The riders:
Ramchandra on Electra 4S 350 with naveen as pillion.
Prathap(PC) on Machismo 350
Bharath(Body 500) on Mach 500
Nahas(Pixel) on Electra 4S
Diwakar(DJ) on TBTS
Abhijeeth on TBTS with Supreet as Pillion.
Anand on TB 350.
Appanna on Electra 5S
Sunil on Electra 5S.
With the stage set up, the to route was
Mysore- Kushalnagar-Madikeri-Mangalore-Honnavar-Gokarna
We started off by 5 AM, towards Kushalnagar, The stretch is very good. Very conducive for Ride starters. We had our first stop here for Tea. as all of us parked our bulls in tandem facing the road, the site enthralling each of us and the locals. This is when i could see a lot of passion among the riders, the comradery and the excitement. We were slated to stop at Madikeri for Breakfast, so we did, and had breakfast at the west end hotel. I switched on my MP3 player for nice songs, as I dont prefer to listen to songs while riding.
Interestingly and Luckily, we did not have to encounter rain for the better part of our ride.
The road conditions worsened at this point, so we stuck to a disciplined riding pattern to tackle this. Which indeed did work out well, the road eased out after sulia, we were again able to cover some good distance. Once we entered the NH17 stretch after bantwal, we had our worst fears, of a Flat Tyre. because the road was full of gravel and stones Intermittently, due to unfinished and poor work.
But thanks to the ruggedness of our Bulls, we did come out unhurt, but only for Sunil, who had a weak tube, which was then rectified by replacing it with a stock tube, which Nahas was carrying as spare. We crossed Mangalore with great challenge from the rough road, and the reckless and helpless truck/car Drivers.
The vehicles were swaying to right and left as they moved, we had to pass through the traffic, a lunch break was much needed as the road sucked out our energy, and weather being Humid, didn't help as well. We stopped at Mulki for the Lunch, everyone feasted on their food like the beasts. After a sumptuous meal, we started off towards udupi. Body 500, Abhijeeth, Sunil and Appanna had few problems with their bike, so they wanted to visit the RE dealer at Brahmi Motors in udupi, for check up. Rest of us headed towards Murdeshwara.
This phase was encountered with coastline and bridges crossing few rivers, out of them one was netravati river. We stopped at Marvanthe Beach for Refreshment.Murdeshwara is completely owned by one man, RN Shetty, who has built and established this site, i was even told that he even owns some part of the great indian ocean !!!!
The huge statue and the gopuram are a super combination of sight. These are really large scales.Shiva is truly with RNS:-)
We had coffee at the hotel overlooking the Sea here. This part was very refreshing, which set us
up for the remaining 90kms towards Gokarna.
This stretch belonged to Ramachandra, he had powerful head lamps, which helped us cruise
through the section at night at very good pace. We Zipped passed other road users, only to be sweared at :-)
We reached Gokarna by 9 30 PM, rest of the guys were catching up with time to reach Gokarna at the earliest. The place to stay was found out by DJ, a very nice place, named Khushi farm house, got it at a good price, due to off season. We all partied and marveled at our own achievement as a group, The Bulls Of Mysore. Everyone pitched in well, to structure the Club.
The second day, was Beach Day :-) The famous Om beach was the main attraction. All of us moved towards Om beach for fun. Me and Nahas trekked our way through, Gokarna main beach to Om Beach. A great day, all in all.We had to ride back on Sunday, we started by 7 30 AM towards Honnavar for breakfast.
We covered the distance in 40mins, (62 Kms). Amazing, Isn't It? Even i couldn't believe my Watch. The Idli and vada at The Kamat restaurant was very tasty. Having our stomachs filled and taste buds satisfied, we started towards jog falls, All the way the road was very good with great banking.
The water at jog was not upto our expectaions. so we stopped for an hour and moved towardssagar- shimoga for lunch. We reached Shimoga by 3 PM. had lunch at the hotel Bright.
and started towards Arsikere by 4 PM. This part of our ride is called the road hunting phase, we had a tough time locating the highway towards kadur. As the daylight was approaching fast, and there were awful signs of rain, we reached banavara for a tea break and geared up for rain.
It started raining cats and dogs from Arsikere, we stuck together close to get through to Mysore. This phase of the ride is called the, look for pot holes in the center of the road phase.
The road did not provide any grip, and the oncoming high beam, blurred our sights big time.
Result was missing few road humps, all minor, but for one hump, which caught us unaware.
We had a final stop for tea at KR Pet. My shoes must have been filled with litres of water :-)
We stopped at ring road to bid adieu for each other and congratulated on a great Ride, and dispersed.
Total Distance Covered: Appox 1050Kms.
