[theexperthand]

Neil, superb write up. The pictures are icing on the cake. Seems like you guys took a break when ever you saw a CCD

The camaraderie of the biking brotherhood is much beyond just biking - hats of for penning that last para with such restraint.

--Anoop

[abhinav.s]

Awesome ride report Neil. You have paced it just right by keeping the amount of pics and the write up to manageable amount in each post. It was not an overload nor was it too short. Kudos & that last para sums up the biking brotherhood very well. Thanks for sharing it.

[Chida]

Amazing write up there Neil & nice pictures there; you should think about changing your profession!

I miss riding with you guys already; I loved the last para, beautifully written; hats off to those 3 musketeers .

[Added_flavor]

Neil, high quality stuff there my friend! The brilliant pictures, immaculate language, subtle humor and the few elusive sarcastic jibes , all put together, show what a wonderful story teller you're!

Although I'm gutted at having missed an overnighter for the first time, I'm overjoyed to read this!

Keep up the great stuff buddy.

[AnkurS]

A pic is worth a thousand words, they say. In this case, I would read quite a few thousand of your words than look at the pictures. Cannot congratulate you enough on the beautiful summary of the CCRO, and one of the reasons why all of us keep hounding you to post the write up after every ride, big or small!
Take a bow

[airfoil]

Great trip log, narration, location and pictures!

I'm curious about your choice of the front tyre, why have knobbies on a cafe racer?

Heartening to read about the brotherhood going out of their way to help their friend in need.

[ashphil]

Lovely write up! Nice pictures! Look forward to more such writeups on your future trips!
Regards,
Ashok

[Sojogator]

Brilliant write up and nothing less expected from Neil. Even his normal conversation is a lesson in English !

Better than that though was the ride. It was my second overnighter with these 'gentlemen' and it turned out to be hoot, well most of it.

The overnighter was planned and replanned for almost a month or so. Almost all of it but not all of it worked as planned.

The section from Kotagiri to Metulapalyam was motoring bliss and counts as the best roads I have ever done. Absolute bliss.

The section from Shoolagiri was absolute horror story for me. I detest and avoid riding after sunset on the highways and I had to do it. 50kms of nightmare for me till I was lapped in by the homely Bangalore traffic, never thought I would call it that !!!

The people with whom we rode turned out to be the highlight. Crazy off the saddle and displined on it. The little breakfast place on the way to Kotagiri is something I would vividly remember. The 10 headlights behind me on the mirrors slicing through mist and tarmac is a sight I will take to my grave. The narration of the medium-elephant-chase incident will be reiterated for a long time to come. The absolute nonsense we talked and then laughed at in the midst of a tea plantation broke the nature's norm for a couple of hours but made an evening as memorable as any can get.

Kudos to the 'TBBB' and to many more such trips.

[neil.jericho]

Wow, I am bowled over by the wonderful feedback over the last few days! A huge thank you to everyone who shared their appreciation of this thread, it brought a huge smile to my face.


Special gratitude to all the photographers who took great pictures on this memorable ride. The thread contains a mixture of pictures taken by me as well as all the others.

Originally Posted by Sangre

By the way, I'm sure you meant [b]1650m[/B}

Good catch Sangre, you are right.

Originally Posted by Chida

Amazing write up there Neil & nice pictures there; you should think about changing your profession!

Lol Chida, I have spent many hours wondering what I am doing in the IT industry and have contemplated giving it up to pursue a career in writing several times. Maybe someday.

Originally Posted by airfoil

I'm curious about your choice of the front tyre, why have knobbies on a cafe racer?

Long story airfoil. Stock tires developed cracks. PSDs werent available. Ceats were.

[Red Liner]

Lovely ride! Can't wait to join you guys later this year! Why did you guys have to lube the chains midway? Was under 500 kays wasnt it?

Michelin rated 5 stars!

[Sojogator]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Lovely ride! Can't wait to join you guys later this year! Why did you guys have to lube the chains midway? Was under 500 kays wasnt it?

Michelin rated 5 stars!

Depending on the part of Bangalore that one was from, total distance ranged between 700 and 800 kms to and fro.

[Coplay]

@Neil.Jericho:
When someone says they went to Kotagiri, it always brings a smile on my face because I am from Kotagiri but living in Bangalore.
I see that you guys had a wonderful time.

I normally take the Kanakpura -> Kollegal -> Chamrajnagar -> Dhimbam ->Bhavani Sagar ->MEttupalayam -> Kotagiri route because its butter smooth and just plain scenic.

I never touch the Ooty route because of speedbreakers and disturbing the wild animals.
Next time you go there, I highly recommend the Adengappa tea stall and a few other places.
The reason why u found Kotagiri so well maintained and roads so brilliant is because the current CM of TamilNadu owns a 6000Acre tea estate over there. I need not say more.
I would have just loved to ride with you guys. This thread just made me a teeny weeny bit jealous.
Keep riding. Have fun and if you boys need any sort of help planning another ride there, i'm always here.

[n_aditya]

Fantastic write-up Neil. I did read the rave feedback on the offline discussions but lack of time did not allow me to share my thanks officially on this thread.

I visited Kotagiri this last weekend and the weather was splendid. Pretty cold in the evenings and a welcome break from the now hotting up bangalore.

We took the mysore-nanjangud-masinagudi-ooty-kotagiri route and on the return leg we came via sathyamangala-kanakapura.

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Our return journey was uneventful for the most part until we had to pull over before Avinashi because the gear lever of one of the bikes just fell off..... it was the Triumph Bonneville that decided to throw us a curveball.

Fortunately some local people had spotted it on the road and we quickly went back and collected it before it got lost or crushed.

I'm wondering how the gear lever just fell off? Was it an oversight by Triumph on one of their services? Can't imagine a premium big rupee bike suffering such issues. What was the reason for this to just fall off?

[AbelAFC]

That's a brilliant writeup Neil and loved the photos as well.

Quick question, how did the C350 keep up with the more powerful bikes on the highway? At least on my 350, you can't sustain speeds of 100+ without being jarred by the vibrations!

[Porschefire]

Originally Posted by AbelAFC

That's a brilliant writeup Neil and loved the photos as well.

Quick question, how did the C350 keep up with the more powerful bikes on the highway? At least on my 350, you can't sustain speeds of 100+ without being jarred by the vibrations!

Hi Abel,

That's a CL500 and I've to say it did pretty darn well to keep up with all the bikes. We were doing speeds well over 100kmph and the RE had no issues keeping pace with the pack. Kudos to the rider as well.