I had to share the Kolli Ride experience with you all. This is one more humble effort to capture few of the moments through the ride which made it all the worthwhile. Fellow BOM members Ram and Deepak sprouted the idea of riding to Kolli, mainly because of the exhilarating number of hair pin bends. Seventy in total one way into the hills add to this MM Hills ghat section and Sathy ghat section.
The combination was a treat for bikers from BOM. When the ride was announced by Deepak to the main list BOM members, we got around 12 confirmations, out of them, eventually seven riders had to back out due to some engagements which needed attention.
Nonetheless, the ride was happening and had to happen big time. There were groups starting from Mysooru and Bengaluru. Me and Ramanna starting from namma Mysooru and DJ, Masthi and PV starting from Bengaluru.
We started at around 5 30 AM after a tea break from the famous BOM stop tea stall. This is the second time me and Ram were doing this stretch, earlier time being the Yercaud Ride. We rode through T Narsipura and through Kollegal to reach our first stop, also a breakfast stop, some 120kms from Start point. Sun rose through the BiligiriRanganabetta (hills). As we were riding due east, we had to face the brunt of Mr. Sun. My new investment, Mr.Rayban yielded fruits. Then we arrived at the foothill of Malai Mahadeshwarabetta (Hills) for breakfast. We had reached there in good time.Lovely Rice Idli’s and green chilly chatni filled us up till the brink. This was a place which looked like a shrine in all aspects, with people offering incense sticks at the “Mahadwara” main entrance to the hills. Atop the hill is a beautiful temple of Shiva. We did not stop to disturb Shiva, as he was busy interacting with his true devotees (us).
With minimal traffic we made steady progress through the Ghats and bumpy roads. We had to reach Salem by 10/11AM to meet up with the other guys. It was getting hotter by the hour, but all sweat/heat would vanish when our wheels were doing the talking. So we let them do the talking, singing and yodeling. Ram was running a bit slow to our standards as he had a new bore. So we stuck below 100kmph on the NH47 leading to Salem. Soon, by 10 30 we were in Salem, called up Masthi to find out their whereabouts. DJ was apparently hungry as he had not had his breakfast, so they had gone inside the Salem city to eat. They caught up with us soon after. By around 11 AM all four of had gathered together and were heading straight to Rasipuram on the NH47. Needless to say, when four bikers wrench their throttle on an open highway, even a Merc slows down to have a look, assuming Merc had mustered enough strength to go beyond 120kmph.
We absolutely rocked the highway all along, the looks on each of ours face when we stopped just before Kolli Foot hills narrated the story of four fully satisfied souls. We were brimming with happiness, shaking each other’s hands; we just could not stop praising the ride so far. It wouldn’t stop there, we still had the main section to do, the enviable Kolli Ghats and the 70 hair pin bends.
Whatever the legend has to say about the Kolli Malai, I felt her like a mother, beautiful at each and every turn, giving the best ambience possible. She never made us feel like we were new to her, she was more than happy to serve us, with love and care.
Unlike other ghat sections that I have been, Kolli is pretty well designed with better banking and more space for the vehicle. We usually hit a straight and then a hair pin bend, but here the whole thing is a hoolaloop, some right/left turns would never end, these are not the hair pin bends, mind you. It was a live show of Kolli, mesmerizing.
We had traversed the entire 70 hair pin bends even before we realized it. That was the moment when even time stood still, I made sure that we had really done those 70 bends, only after confirming did we ride to the cottage.
Masthi had already booked a cottage for us, big enough to accommodate five people. Kolli is still nascent to commercialization. We had reached the destination at the right time for lunch. We were served with a large pot of rice, a pot of sambar, a pot of rasam and a pot of palya. Between four of us, we finished off five people’s food. Once again we were all filled up till our throats. Even a heavy meal was not enough to put us to sleep; we got freshened up to visit AkashaGange waterfalls, 11 kms from the cottage. We rode out pretty slowly and cautiously as we were not wearing our safety gear. Unfortunately for us, the entry is restricted to entrants after 4PM, and It was 4 30 PM when we reached. The guard said that, it would take around 3 hours to climb down and up the 1000 plus steps to and from the falls.
Amidst all these excitements, three members from our fellow bullet Club, KTMC also made their way into the cottage we were staying. We met Evin, Inian and Bhuvan. PV also arrived sometime after that. We welcomed the evening with full strength. Prepared for the party, pepsi, soda, etc.
We were also treated to some lovely food for dinner, thanks to Inian and Bhuvan for arranging the Chicken. There went rounds and rounds about rides happened, to happen and so forth. We called it a day by 10 30PM.
Mr. Sun woke up way too early for us to welcome him. We dragged ourselves out of our beds by 8AM. Got freshened up and were ready for a photo session with all the bikes and the bikers. The cottage people treated us with five dosas each, once again filling up our tummy. This is one ride, where I have always had my tummy satisfied.
After all the, to do discussions, we all geared up for the return leg. Me, Ram and Bhuvan were to ride till Sathy together and from there Bhuvan would deviate towards Coimbatore and we would continue towards Mysooru. The other three guys, DJ, PV and Masthi left towards Bengaluru. We rode together till Salem and then split into our ways.
Bhuvan lead us through to Sathy, all of 200 odd kms done over 80kmph minimum. Thankfully the road from Sathy to Chamarajanagar is new and in good condition. We reached home by 6 30PM with awe for Kolli Malai.
