Team-BHP - 9-5-Floored from Cochin to Bangalore (via Wayanad)

It started off as a dream. It was the night after I saw the first “superbike”, five years before I rode anything with an engine. An ’88 Gixxer 750.

Fast forward twenty years, and it is a cold Friday morning. I am off, on my way to Cochin. Excited. The train chugs along and I recall the events of the past few months. Talks with parents, arranging finances and calculating EMIs, it was slow, confusing and a test of patience. I was helped by many fellow bikers which made my road easier to travel through. The short talks I had MG (from xBhp), Ken_Cool (from xBhp), Ananth and netchef. The long talks I had with Sumit, Manson, Aadix. Special mentions go out to Praful and Dev, who helped me out immensely. Thank You. :)

Fast forward twenty hours, and I was ready. Bike was tanked up. My pillion, Dev, readied himself too, for what was going to be a road trip of a lifetime. Two first time bikers (atleast to superbikes) getting ready to take the bike from Cochin to Bangalore via Sultan Bathery - Wayanad. With the deal done and the ex-owner of the bike gracious enough to arrange accommodations where we could crash for the night, and with whatever hours of slow riding here and there around the deserted streets of 12 am Cochin, we armed ourselves with 2 bottles of water and some GoodDay packets.

Cochin – Thrissur:

Time: 6:30 AM. Tripmeter set to 000. All geared, we headed out slowly towards the NH-47 exit. The empty stretches of roads were very enticing, but with a level head and a lot of self control, the itch to twist the wrist was overcome. Not even an hour into the trip, my arms and lower back was already giving symptoms of aggravation. Well, just another 570 kms to go, I thought. I was still getting used to the gawking, the slowing down of cars beside us, the “Hayabusa!!” or “R1-R1-R1!!!” or the “hey nice modification maaan!” comments. Some of the times, it was just plain irritating because I didn’t want to lose focus, something I think is very necessary while riding these machines for the first few times. I stuck to 80 kmph, sputtering speed really for this bike in the top gear. Honda’s acclaimed PGM-Fi driven mileage indicator flashed 16.6 kmpl at that constant speed.

Roads were anything but good. Potholes, nay, craters lay before me. Monsoon had taken heavy toll on the highways, and we were duly warned by people of this route. But stubborn ‘ol me had to take it. And yes, progress was extremely slow. Riding on a fully loaded 954RR with an aging front fork seal, I had literally had to stop before going over every single speed-breaker. Progress was slow, but we made it to Thrissur in 3 hours. We made a quick stop at a Indian Oil bunk to tank up. Distance Covered: 78 kms. Fuel drunk: 4.25L Mileage: 18.3x kms/litre. Mighty impressed! I was expecting anywhere from 11 to 15.

Thrissur-Kozhikode:

Time: 10 AM. Around 90 kms done, and we had just gone through the morning hustle bustle traffic in Thrissur town. It was pretty confusing, but short stops to ask for directions meant losing another half an hour in that small town. The first “mileage kitna?” question I encountered, was here, and it was memorable! When he asked, I replied with a big grin in my face “18”, but then I was quickly put to my senses when he, with a stifled look, said “ONLY???” :D

The state highways from Thrissur-Kozhikode were non-existent. Gravel tracks for some good stretches of 2-3 kms or so at a time, my back and arms were killin’. Dev, by this time, was also having a good workout of his posterior. And to make things worse, I felt the soft drops of misty rain hitting my face through the open visor. These soft drops, within a span of a minute, turned into full fledged thunder-shower and we had no other option but to park beside a closed shop nearby.

After a quick respite from the weather gods, we slowly geared up and started off along SH39, only to be blasted again. Ahh. Monsoon. No stopping this time though, as time was short and progress was slow.

After traveling a hideously treacherous 20 kms of ‘earth’, we just had to stop for brunch. Arms were aching, back was complaining, time was 11:30 and odo read 115 kms. Another 450 kms. Great. This break was very necessary because at this point of time, both me and Dev were absolutely famished and tired. I knew it was never going to be easy, but the roads were just unbelievable, I thought. And the truck traffic in the small bi-lanes were crazy. We spent a few good minutes talking to the restaurant owner there, who told us the bad stretch was over and the good stretch was just beginning. I see some silver lining.

Re-energized, re-filled and re-committed, we headed off along SH69 towards Kozhikode and yes the roads were getting better. There were fewer bumps and fewer potholes, and my speed was picking up as well. The funny thing about these SBKs is, the faster you go, the less tired you become. Atleast, that’s what I felt. With small breaks, here and there, we reached Kozhikode quite quickly, comparatively. Unfortunately, we met rain again and it had been 134 kms without a fuel stop, so we decided to stop in Kozhikode for X-Tra Premium.
Distance Covered: 134 kms. Fuel drunk: 8.1L Mileage: 16.54 kms/litre. Not as good as before, but still very good, I thought.

Kozhikode-Wayanad (Sultan Bathery):

I was pretty confident about most of the roads till Bangalore now. I had done a Bangalore – Wayanad - Bangalore trip back in April, and the roads were mighty impressive in and around Wayanad. I wasn’t too sure about the roads from Kozhikode to Wayanad though and had a heard of set of 9 hairpin bends. I just hoped it was tarred.

I took a respite from riding, as I could not feel my back now. Dev took over. NH 212 was beautiful to ride on. Lucky Dev got to ride a good stretch of 30-40 kms. Meanwhile, sitting pillion, and Dev riding a comfortable pace, I didn’t need to crouch down and hold the tank, and I was enjoying every second of respite my arms and back got. The pillion seats of most modern superbikes are a joke. Luckily, the 954 seats offer more cushion than let’s say than the newer 1000RR. Still, its not easy to sit on for long durations, and I was wondering how Dev was managing it.

Darn! Just as the roads were getting beautiful, we were blasted again by strong thunder showers. We could have carried on, but now visibility was an issue. So we had to stop. We found a well maintained service station there, and decided to re-lube the chain with the spray we had brought along. Meanwhile, I couldn’t help but admire the beauty of the 954. It is the one of the few wild-child that Honda has ever produced. Hondas are known for their somber engines and attitude. But this one, weighing in at 168 kgs dry, with a short wheelbase and lots of ponies, gets crazy and looks mean.

It was 3:45pm and I was getting worried now. The forest reserve Bandipur National Park closes at 6pm so we had to cross that. The pace at which we were going and the stoppages, we would never make it on time. I was refreshed from the pit-stop and now quite focused on reaching all the way to Bangalore. Dev, too, urged me on, and with both of us committed, we knew we were going to reach Bangalore, by hook or crook.

After a good 10 kms or so of fast (80-90kmph was fast for us :D) riding then we encountered the ghat sections. The 9 hairpins, to my horror, were truly and totally pathetic. The tar had come off with monsoons playing havoc, and taking sharp U-turns in a fully loaded sportsbike in such roads was a nightmare. Finally, we were up in the clouds in Wayanad. The view of the coast from the ghats were majestic, but sadly, we were too much in a hurry to stop and take pictures as we had to cross the state border before nightfall. The road after Vythiri was beautiful all the way till the forest reserve. Maintaining steady speeds of 80 kmph we reached the check points of the forest reserve just in time (5:45pm). We did see some vehicles coming from the Karnataka side so we were safe, I thought. We stopped for a small photo session. The fresh smell of soil after the showers grew on us. Not too far now, I thought.

Distance Covered: 95 kms.

Wayanad-Mysore:

Dev took over the riding duties again, as I was preparing myself for the night riding and the home stretch. The roads around the National Park has unexpected and unmarked humps, so we were quite careful riding in and round those roads. After we exited the National Park, the roads till Gundalpet were quite pleasing, except for some HUGE speed bumps. There were beautiful flower farms on both sides of the road, and sight was extremely pretty.

By now, we were already having some locals following us on scooters or TVS Champs. Getting to hear comments like “Soooooper, saar” made me feel more close to home, in Karnataka :D.

By this time, our hungry stomachs had started growling again, and the weather was starting to get very very cold. What better place to have a hot sip of coffee and get the liners on the jackets other than Coffee Day? We made our final food-stop in Coffee Day, Gundalpet. We talked about the days that went by, how I had taken a step at a time to get what I always wanted. Y’know normal Coffee Talk. Meanwhile, I saw the Coffee Day staff taking pictures with bike, and one fellow even started to sit on it, to which I immediately objected. I wouldn’t want an unfortunate small incident in Coffee Day to spoil what has been an awesome road trip so far, would I?

I took over riding duties again, it was 7:20PM and now the roads were really flowing. So was the traffic. Like crazy. Anyone who has traveled the Gundalpet – Nanjangud – Mysore stretch at night knows that 4-wheelers/buses rule at this time. Some buses were actually nice enough to stick to their own lane. But most were a**-h**es that came directly towards me in the wrong lane with High Beam on. But what was more disappointing was going over the unexpected, unmarked, unlit, sudden speed-breakers that didn’t help me, Dev and most importantly, the bike. With the front fork leaking oil, and aged fork seal, I could hear instances of forks pitting, hard. I will have to check that out first thing after I go back, I promised myself. I was worried for some time but that slowly disappeared with very careful riding for the next 50 kms or so.

It was quite evident that we wouldn’t be able to make it to Bangalore by midnight. It was 9:20 PM and it was a perfect time for a fuel stop. We stopped at a nearby BP petrol bunk. The staff there seemed mesmerized by the bike but there questions towards me were more mesmerizing. “Modified pulsar kya?” and “Modification kitna liya?” were the pick of the lot.

On to serious things, it was there we heard developments of a curfew going to be imposed in Mysore city from the locals. Wanting to avoid all the possible obstacles, dangers especially with drunkards/policemen on Saturday night, we decided to take the long way around from Mysore (via the Ring Road) to catch the Mysore-Bangalore Highway.
Distance Covered: 115 kms
Fuel Drunk: 12.2 L
Mileage: 115 + 95 (Carried over)/12.2L = 17.21 km/litre (I can absolutely live with that.)

The Home Stretch: Mysore-Bangalore:

Taking the Ring Road turned out to be a plus for us since the traffic there was minimal and so were the humps’n’bumps. Though we had to travel a lot of kms extra, I felt it was worth it, as mentally and physically, it was less tiring that riding around in city conditions.

As soon as we hit the Mysore Bangalore highway, I felt the need for speed. Roads were, of course, very good, except for some speed breakers, but those too were well lit and able to easily spot from a distance. Speeds climbed to 100kmph plus and I registered a top speed of the whole trip - 125 kmph!!! (Please don’t laugh at me guys, it’s my first time riding a sports bike :D). At this point, Dev complained that continually crouching down was a pain, and he wanted me to slow down to comfortable speeds. I did oblige the man with the Iron Butts, and upon taking a quickie stop for rest, we were joking how he should be getting an IBA Certificate just for being a pillion on a CBR on those roads for 16 hours.

This part of the trip was a mixed bag. The roads were beautiful, and with quite less traffic, it was a dream to drive on but I was tired, energy cells sapped, and I couldn’t wait to reach home. Upon entering Bangalore city, I dropped Dev at the Bangalore City Corporation Building, bid him goodbye and many thanks on accompanying me and being the toughest pillion I have ever encountered.

I reached home at exactly 1:30 AM. It had been 19 hours. Gruelling. What a crazy ride, wouldn’t it have been better if I had just brought it by a truck or train? I glanced at my ‘Blade and smiled – ‘Not a Chance!’ ;).

Distance Covered: 182 kms

Total Odo Reading: 604 kms

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