[Added_flavor]

There are some things in life you always want to do but you almost never will. The reasons can be many - Lack of time, lack of complete will, fear of the unknown, lethargy etc!

But then you come across a person or a piece of his work (in my case) that will change the way you think. It inspires you to do everything that you always planned to and it gives you the intent! This man in my life was Sam Kapasi! Although I never met him or I never got a chance to speak to him, I lived through his numerous writings on TeamBHP!

Sam, this ride and this blog is dedicated to you. Thanks for being the wonderful human being you have been and you will always be!

Starting with some words written by Sam here. Link

And now here's a message from our sponsors about what the YetiLife® is all about.
Love your partners and enjoy life with them.

Bring passion in your life, a life without passion is dull. Love, sex, laughter, madness and even sorrow and tensions are an essential part of life. Enjoy them all. Repeatedly.

Go do what you want to do without caring what people will think.
Nobody really has time to think about what you did. Those who do think about it, will forget in a few days. You will be left with the experience of a lifetime. Go on, do it.

Think of the craziest thing you wanted to do. No matter how crazy. Alone, or with a loved one. DO IT! PM me if you want advice or help, I will help you any way I can.

Take time out to be with your family. We all need money to live and jobs and tensions and we all have dreams. Put them all aside and go and live with your partner and family.

Nothing happens. Your office doesn't stop functioning, if you're really good at what you do, you won't get fired, if you get fired and you're really good at what you do, you'll get a new job, - your business may suffer for a few days, you may lose a few rupees, it doesn't matter.

The world functioned very well without cellphones and email. People took decisions in the absence of their seniors and they were often the right ones. Don't take that instinct away from your juniors. Let go.

Arrey, someday you'll die and STILL nothing will happen, the world will function wonderfully without you. A few people will remember you, then forget you. Your partner will remember you often - at least GIVE him/her something fun to remember you by!!

Let the world function for a few days without you NOW, while you're still living!!! Go and live, enjoy, take as many holidays as you can with your partner/wife/gf/kids, before some unforeseen circumstances don't permit you to enjoy life anymore. It has happened and will happen to the best amongst us. Dying is not in your hands, but at least living is!

Hey, at least you'll know you LIVED before you died.

Life is so full of uncertainties now! People are dying in the freakiest of ways possible. Death, violence, corruption and unrest make me think the world will (should) come to an end soon! With all these not-so-good-things in mind, I decided let me do things I always feared and take fear head on!

Yes, although I read about so many people riding solo from one corner of the Country to another, when I pictured myself doing it, I could only see me being robbed at gun point, stranded in the middle of a dense forest with a flat tyre or a breakdown or worse, meeting with a fatal accident.

But, if I'm destined to die, I might die sitting on my couch at home! I would rather die a Rider than a couch potato

November 2013:

Me: Amma, I want to do a solo ride. I am so fed up of work, tensions and life. I want to spend time with myself and my bike.

Amma: Hmm do it! You are a good confident rider. Go ahead! Tell Appa and go! (LOL)

After this I started preparing for the ride (Mind you, it's my first time ever, even though it will be only a 3 or 4 days ride. So I wanted to be meticulously prepared for it). Started buying things I would need in case of a puncture or a breakdown. My dad of course noticed this and by now he had received the information from mom.

Appa: Are you going alone? Why do you give us unwanted tensions?

Me: There's nothing to be tensed about. I'll be safe. I'll keep you posted regularly.

Appa: Become a dad you'll know. Hmmpphhh!

Me: .....

A lot of friends asked me why I want to go alone and if I will not get bored. I told them I won't get bored as I'll be doing something I love - I'll be riding! It is just impossible for people to comprehend that somebody can just go on riding! For them a journey is a way to go from point A to point B. For us, the whole JOURNEY ITSELF IS THE DESTINATION. In hindsight, if I get bored, I can turn back and come home anytime, I thought.

With this I started the planning and the route. I always had Mangalore/Charmadi Ghats in mind as I had never ridden to Mangalore/Udupi. On the other hand I wanted to ride in Malnad too because it's the best time to ride in Malnad after all the rains. So I designed the route.

Here's the route I took: https://goo.gl/maps/7HDVW

Preparations:
For Duke:

• Visited the ASC and got the engine mount bolts, gear and brake lever pivots loctited. Accelerator and clutch cables checked.
• Cleaned the chain and lubricated. Clutch play adjusted.
• Borrowed a tubeless tyre puncture kit from my cousin, bought a foot pump from a cycle shop.
• Bought spare clutch cable, accelerator cable and a spark plug just in case I need them.
• Kept a bottle of OKS chain lube in the saddle bag.
• Colin and a soft cloth to clean the helmet visor.
• Bought a Viaterra Claw tail bag which is tailor-made for the Duke. My old Cramster Colt can't be mounted on the Duke as it needs support on sides, else it will touch the wheel.

For me:
A few pair of clothes, floaters, toiletries.

Day 1: January 1st, 2014: Bangalore-Sagara-Honnavara-Gokarna

After a simple new year celebration at home, I tried to sleep at 1 AM. Ended up sleeping at 2 forcibly. Woke up at 5.30 before the alarm. First thing, I wondered if I actually slept because I was feeling all fresh and awake! It gave immense pleasure to know I'll not be going to work and I'll be headed on a ride. At the same time I had butterflies too. Finished all morning chores and had a cup of coffee. Mounted the saddle bag on the duke.

All set, I left home at 6.45 AM. Not much traffic in the city but it was seriously cold! My jacket was keeping me warm and I hit the highway. Took the service road near Kunigal cross and in no time was at the toll plaza! Was quite cheerful that I didn't have to pay toll and sneaked through the two wheeler lane. Just after the toll about a kilometre ahead I saw a line of tail lights. Duh! A traffic jam?!?

I saw a few cars reversing and coming back in the same direction with their headlights on. Impatient buggers I thought! I slowly navigated to the front of the traffic pile-up. There was a cop standing there and I asked him if I can go. He said "Yes two wheeler can go". Before I could understand why he said that, I saw the reason for the pile-up. There was a man's body lying on the road surrounded by a pool of blood and a private bus next to it. It was a junction and I could imagine what had happened. The cops there were insensitive enough to keep the body uncovered. The sight gave me shivers! What a start for the ride I thought, and moved on trying not to think about it.

A hundred kilometres later, I was at Mayura hotel Bellur cross for breakfast. A few (now) cliched questions from the waiter about price and power (cc) and I was hogging up the hot idli vada and sambhar! I was wondering and was a little happy that he didn't ask the usual "Kitna Deti hai" question when he came back to my table with the question. LOL!

Me: 50 kodatte (It gives a mileage of 50)
Waiter: Haa? Houda? Eivattha? (Really? 50?)
Me: Huu 2 litre ge (Yes! For 2 litres!)
Waiter: *After a full 30 seconds* Hahahahaaha! Volle Comedy Sir Neevu! (Nice comedy Sir)

I continued and was doing decent speeds as fog was playing peek-a-boo with me! Some stretches were totally foggy with bad visibility where as some were fine. Crossed the next toll booth and proceeded towards Chennarayapatna where I was supposed to turn towards Arsikere. Meanwhile, I was constantly noticing a white Indica Taxi in my mirror. I'm generally aware of who's tailing me as I am always paranoid about being rear-ended! I lost him near the toll booth and later I stopped to adjust my ear plugs as one of them were not sitting properly. I adjust it, wear my helmet and I'm about to leave when the Indica stops next to me!

It has what looks to me like a family and the chap sitting in the front gets out in a hurry. He says "Hi Dude! I am also a biker" and I'm relieved. A small chat and I say goodbye to him and proceed my way! I take a deviation on to Chennarayanapatna bypass and I'm on my way to Arsikere. The road is an absolute treat to ride on! These roads are lovely to ride on but you can't do very high speeds. I passed through people, animals and villages constantly with school kids excited to see a gaudy bike with a alien-like-person sitting on it!

I stopped for refueling after Arsikere in a clean looking bunk. Wherever I went the bike with it's loud colors was an attention magnet. I crossed Kadur and Birur at a brisk pace. The average speed in the MID was constantly above 80 Kmph! Soon I hit patchy roads from Tarikere towards Bhadravathi. On twisties, I generally finish braking before I enter the curve and accelerate through it. On one of the curves, I realized I was a little too fast to enter the curve and braked half way. The bike slowed down without much drama and was totally stable. Thanked the metzellers for the way they stick to the road!

Soon I crossed Bhadravathi and Shimoga. Messaged by dad about where I am and went on to the road towards Sagar and Honnavar and after I crossed the city stopped for a couple of pictures!






Here a couple of bikers went in the opposite direction and one guy on another 390 waved at me. I proceeded further to be greeted by wonderful twisty roads towards Sagara. I was surprised to see a real time mileage of 32-33 kmpl. Yes, the sweet spot is between 70-90 kmph in top gear. At these speeds, the bike returns a good average and has enough torque to take on the twisties with ample engine braking!

I reached the spot where left takes me to Jog falls and the road straight will take me to Honnavar. Decided I'll visit Jog and took the left. Jog Falls turned out to be a little disappointing. I was hoping after all the rains this year, they would have opened the gates. Unfortunately no. The place was crowded as usual though. Asked someone there to take a picture of me with jog in the background and he happily clicked about 6 pictures in all angles! Here's one of them.



Here I met a fellow biker, Jay, who was on his bullet. After a brief chat, I left Jog and proceeded towards Honnavara not aware of the awesome ghat section that awaited me.

I'm not sure what this ghat section is called. Google says it's Bangalore-Honnavar road. But boy-o-boy is it fun! Some curves are super deep and have opposite camber. I had my foot pegs and shoes scraping the ground here. To add to this there's lush greenery throughout. This made sure I was alert and I was in a state of anxiety, adrenaline and excitement all put together - if you know what I mean. Soon I found a petty shop which had buttermilk written on a small board! It was hot and buttermilk will do no harm! I was right, buttermilk (Masala Majjige) was amazing! Had two glasses to quench my thirst. The shop owner told me there are twisty roads till Gersoppa.



Moved on to find the shop owner's words true and enjoyed throwing the Duke on the twisties! Duke behaved very well and never stepped out of the line. Here again I found one more Duke 390 carrying a couple going towards Shimoga. I wondered how the pillion manages to fit on the puny rear seat!

Negotiating one corner after another, some deep long high speed ones and some hair pins, I reached Honnavara. Two restaurants greeted me the moment I touched NH 17 from NH 206. Chose the first one as it was not very crowded and moreover my bike was visible even when I sat inside. Had a sumptuous South Indian meal at INR 55. I loved the typical meal and Rasam was wonderful.




The father-son duo in the background were busy clicking pictures of the Duke while I was having lunch!




Filled her up after lunch and realized she's given an average of 33 kmpl full tank to full tank! This from a mean 375 cc motor was really surprising! Next was Kumta to be followed by Gokarna. I was a little apprehensive about the kind of hotels I'll find in Gokarna. So for a brief moment I even considered staying in Hotel Pandurang International, Kumta. But the prospect of riding 30 Km back to Kumta at night put me off and I decided to head straight to Gokarna.

About an hour from Honnavara, I reached Gokarna. Being 3.30 PM the roads were deserted and the place looked sleepy. The moment I entered, I saw Hotel Ashokavana. This hotel is just 1 Km before Gokarna Temple and about 4 Km away from Om and Kudle beaches. Moreover I looked at the rooms which seemed quite clean and simple. They had a pure vegetarian restaurant as well and the parking was inside the building and seemed quite safe. However, I thought I'll give Hotel Gokarna International (they have a branch near Kudle beach) a try and rode up all the way till Kudle beach, only to find that they are full. Came back down to Hotel Ashokavana and settled for the day. INR 1500 with safe parking seemed quite fine.

It was 5 PM when I had a quick shower and decided to venture out. Since I just had a shower I decided to go to the Mahabaleshwar temple first. Even though I'm not a religious person, my parents would be really happy if I told them I went to the temple. I dressed with a Tee and Shorts since I planned to go to the beach after the temple visit. This was a mistake!

The moment I went to the temple, I saw that it was still quite crowded. One of the poojaris there told me I'll not be allowed since I'm wearing chaddi! WTH I thought - Since when did God start specifying dress code? Anyway, with no option left, I prayed to God standing outside and apologized for wearing Chaddi!

Next, I sat on the beach for sometime and gobbled up some junk food available there. It's amazing how far Gobi Manchurian, noodles and fried rice have reached. However did not dare eat them fearing hygiene. By the time I finished strolling the small by-lanes looking at all the artifacts on sale, it was 7.30 PM and I was totally tired. Came back to the hotel and decided to visit Om and Kudle beaches next day. Had an early dinner and slept like a log.

Some stats for Day 1:

Distance covered: 530 Km
Overall Mileage: 30 kmpl
Average speed: ~ 68 kmph
Name of Hotel: Hotel Ashokavana

[ashkamath]

Originally Posted by Added_flavor

There are some things in life you always want to do but you almost never will. The reasons can be many - Lack of time, lack of complete will, fear of the unknown, lethargy etc!

Life is so full of uncertainties now! People are dying in the freakiest of ways possible. Death, violence, corruption and unrest make me think the world will (should) come to an end soon! With all these not-so-good-things in mind, I decided let me do things I always feared and take fear head on!

Yes, although I read about so many people riding solo from one corner of the Country to another, when I pictured myself doing it, I could only see me being robbed at gun point, stranded in the middle of a dense forest with a flat tyre or a breakdown or worse, meeting with a fatal accident.

But, if I'm destined to die, I might die sitting on my couch at home! I would rather die a Rider than a couch potato

Some stats for Day 1:

Distance covered: 530 Km
Overall Mileage: 30 kmpl
Average speed: ~ 68 kmph
Name of Hotel: Hotel Ashokavana

Wow. Sakath agide sar nimma prayana ( your ride is wonderful). Felt very happy reading through the triplog. I have a similar Viaterra Claw and will be on a similar solo ride in a couple of days from now in the same region

I read that you took the NH48 route to Chennarayapatna and after 5 Kms took the diversion straight to Arasikere. Any specific reason as the preferred route is through Bangalore-Tumkur-Gubbi. the only reason I could think of is you could have taken the Nice road and then Magadi road and come out on NH17 before Kunigal and continued on that road.

The bike looks absolutely fantastic and I fully understand that grin on your face at Jog. waiting eagerly for the remaining part of the ride.

[Added_flavor]

Originally Posted by ashkamath

Wow. Sakath agide sar nimma prayana ( your ride is wonderful). Felt very happy reading through the triplog. I have a similar Viaterra Claw and will be on a similar solo ride in a couple of days from now in the same region

I read that you took the NH48 route to Chennarayapatna and after 5 Kms took the diversion straight to Arasikere. Any specific reason as the preferred route is through Bangalore-Tumkur-Gubbi. the only reason I could think of is you could have taken the Nice road and then Magadi road and come out on NH17 before Kunigal and continued on that road.

The bike looks absolutely fantastic and I fully understand that grin on your face at Jog. waiting eagerly for the remaining part of the ride.

Dhanyavaadagalu Saar !!

The only reason I took NH48 is that I hate riding on Tumkur road. The last time I rode there, I felt there were too many undulations on the road, thanks to truck traffic, the bridge/flyover joints are too bumpy and there are people crossing just everywhere! Oh and the NH48 is a bikers' paradise

[Added_flavor]

Day 2: January 2nd, 2014: Gokarna-Murudeshwara-Udupi-Malpe

After a good night's sleep I tried my best to wake up by 6 to catch the Sunrise. I woke up to see that it was still dark, thought I'll wake up in the next 5 minutes. Typically I woke up by 7.30 AM. The night was surprisingly cold in Gokarna considering how hot it was during the day. Got fresh and headed straight to Om beach. Being early in the morning, the beach was beautiful, calm and not crowded. Absolutely loved the whole atmosphere.




Soon, I found a comfortable table under the tree shade inside Namaste Cafe. Ordered a Milk Coffee and some Omlette toast which was very tasty! Hogged on the food cursing myself for not coming to this place last night!



The boatmen were offering a ride to Paradise and Half moon beaches. Unfortunately I was the only one in a 10 seater boat and it would be expensive. The bad side of being there at a time when it's not crowded. Next time I thought.



I was sitting there under the tree staring at the ocean with only the sound of waves hitting the shore. No traffic, no people, no tensions, absolutely nothing to disturb me - completely at peace with myself and the world! These are the moments when you tend to introspect everything about yourself, your life, the people around you, your family, the mistakes you have done and what you intend to do to undo them. All of a sudden you feel all philosophical! Just when I was pondering about all this, "Saar Bill" came the waiter's voice bringing me back to reality.

Enough of being philosophical and trying to behave like the hippies of Gokarna, I thought to myself. Gave a final look to Om beach and went towards the bike to go to Kudle beach. Kudle turned out to be quite silent and dull with almost all huts/shacks closed. Returned to the hotel in sometime, packed and got ready to head out of Gokarna. A final pic with the hotel in background.



Next up in the plan for the day was Malpe. Not much riding today, just about 200 km. I had a faint thought of going to Murudeshwar as it's on the way and I had quite a lot of time, but wasn't sure of a visit to the temple there as I would have to find a safe place to dump my luggage and riding gear.

Soon I was out of Gokarna and onto NH17. Beautiful road again and I was cruising at good speeds. Before I knew it I had crossed Kumta and Honnavar and was proceeding towards Mangalore. It was here that I caught up with a KA19 registered Maruti Swift. This guy was driving sanely until I caught up with him and then overtook him. His ego was hurt that a stupid two-wheeler could go past his expensive car and he starting tailing me desperately trying to overtake me! I let him go and again he was in front of me driving sanely. Stupid egoistic dude, I thought.

I've a self made rule that when I find idiots on road, I either stop and let them go ahead or I blast past them in a way that they can't catch up with me at all. Here I chose the latter. When I found a good stretch of road with good visibility, I went past our Mr. Ego until he became a small peck in my mirror and finally out of sight.



I saw the diversion towards Murudeshwara and took it. As expected, it was crowded. But the first impression I got about this place was that it was much cleaner and better planned in comparison to Gokarna. Just when I was pondering if I can find a place for my bike, luggage and gear, I saw the RNS Residency right next to the temple and headed straight to their reception. After a brief chat with the manager who was surprised that I had come alone all the way from Bangalore, I dumped my luggage and gear in the luggage room safely. Bike was parked in RNS parking and off I went for the Darshan. It was 12.45 PM and was searing hot.

Soon I was inside the temple and luckily I got the darshan just before the temple closes at 1 PM. Took some pictures of the mighty wonderful Shiva statue, which is the second tallest in the world! Got down from the temple to look at the water sports in the beach and spent some time looking at the beach buzzing with activity. I was the only one on leave even after 1st January I had thought, until I saw how crowded all these places were. Families, kids on school trips, big groups of guys in Tempo Travelers - they were all there! The guy at the temple office told me that it will get so crowded by evening that the cops will not let vehicles come inside the arch from the NH during evening!








Finally, went back to RNS, mounted the saddle bag on the bike and geared up. Just wanted to be on the move as the heat was unbearable. Once on the move, I was comfortable again. As I continued cruising on the highway, at one point I realized I'm practically next to the Arabian Sea! I did not know the NH goes this close to it and surprisingly on the other side of the NH is the Suparnika river. It was a beautiful sight and at this point I just looked at my position on the map.








Spent some time here and at a short distance I could see a petty shop who had tender coconut stocked. Stopped for tender coconut when a white Duster pulled over. His name was Shafiq (If I remember right), a student in Bangalore and he was in Mangalore for his semester holidays. Had a chat with him about the journey and the bike. Soon another Ritz pulled up with three inquisitive men who asked me a lot of questions ranging from details of the bike to "Did your parents give you permission to come on bike so far?". Soon, bid goodbye to all of them and only when I saw Shafiq turn his Duster towards Mangalore, did I notice the teamBHP stickers on his car.

Meanwhile, before leaving Gokarna, I had made a couple of phone calls to Mr. Thirunathan of Silver Sands Resort, Malpe. He assured me a cottage right on the Malpe beach with safe parking at a decent price. Was looking forward to the stay in the cottage with a nice view of the beach.

It was 2.30 PM and I decided I'll ride to Malpe without any further stops. Soon I hit some rough patches of road from Kundapur to Udupi where work was still going on. Frequent deviation boards coupled with increasing traffic towards Mangalore ensured I reached Malpe only by 4 PM. After a bit of confusion on the location of the resort, a few phone calls to Mr. Thiru, I finally reached the resort at 4.30 PM.

I was greeted by a cheerful man and a wonderful little bright cottage surrounded by greenery, from where I could hear the waves hitting the shore. Let the pictures do the talking!







With the bike parked right next to my cottage, I could sleep peacefully at night.



A quick shower later, I was on the beach exactly for Sunset. This is where my phone camera felt puny to capture the beautiful Sunset.

Note to Self: Next investment whenever possible should be on a good camera.



Even though the beach was buzzing with activity, the crowd evaporated as darkness fell. I just had a stroll and checked out all the restaurants and little shops and sat in Paradise Isle Food Court for the evening. No more riding for the day meant I could relax with a couple of chilled drinks.

Here in the restaurant, casually caught up with a couple of men from Delhi who were here on a vacation. The discussion started with me telling them about my ride and then went on to lack of awareness to traffic rules in India. As they got high, the discussion was about anything and everything under the Sun! At this point, I excused myself as it was 9.30 PM, paid my bill and started the walk to my cottage unaware of what was in store for me.

Let me explain the way to my cottage from the beach. Whoever has been here would have seen the famous Gandhi statue on the beach. The area around this statue is commercial with all the restaurants and shops and is lit up after dark. Now, to my cottage I have to walk in the direction away from the statue, on the beach and after about 500-700 metres, I have to turn right which goes directly to my cottage in the Silver Sands Resort property. This property is not fenced and hence is a part of the beach itself. There is a tarred road to the main entrance of the resort, but one can walk on the beach to go to the rear entrance. In the evening when I got out of the cottage, I had seen a brick compound and a couple of yellow and orange cottages and made a mental note of these as landmarks.

I started walking, crossed the Gandhi statue, into complete darkness! I need to walk on the beach itself for another 500 metres and take a right near the brick compound. But duh! Where is the compound? Where are the yellow and orange cottages? It's all so dark everywhere! I take my cellphone out of the pocket and ping-ping it says "Low battery" at 15%! Quickly switched on the flashlight which gives me visibility of about 5 metres. Took a right and I thought I'll walk next to the compound wall. And tadaaa !! - it's a dead end! Where have I come? Have I crossed that brick compound? Why don't they have lights here?

I came back on to the beach and saw a shadow of a man in a distance smoking and walking. Is that guy looking at me? Is he walking towards me? He seems quite tall! God!!! Couldn't I have been a few inches taller? Bloody beach sand! Can't even walk fast! My leg is cramping. What all do I have? My phone, wallet, room and bike keys.

Soon I took another right where I could see another compound. Hoping this was the brick wall I wanted it to be and walked past it. In a distance I could see a cottage! God please tell me I'm in the right place! Is that a two wheeler standing in front of the cottage? I go closer. Yes !!! I was never so happy to see the Duke and my cottage! At last I was here, panting and relieved! Opened the door and got in. Stupid bugger - I thought to myself, you were such a sissy to get so scared!

Now I was feeling all secure and brave! The ride, hot sun, the chilled drink, the little walking adventure had all drained me mentally and physically. Soon I was snoring away to glory.

Some Stats for Day 2:

Distance covered: 190 Km
Overall Mileage: 32 kmpl
Average speed: ~ 60 kmph
Name of Hotel: Silver Sands Resort
Start Time: 11 AM
End Time: 4.00 PM

[abhinav.s]

Awesome ride, nice log and pics mate! The beauty of a solo ride is something you have to experience!! Nice going. Waiting for the rest of the ride to unfold.

[majumon]

That was very inspiring ride of yours, you have good writing skills, like some suspense thriller, kind of keeps you hooked onto the subject. The way you described your way back from the beach to your cottage explains it all, in fact I could picturise the way you were going, it was that good.

Happy riding and yes the words of Sam are truly inspiring.

[ampere]

Awesome log. I think in my opinion its not "solo" part which make the ride nice. Its the fact that you decide your own time lines which defines it. Things like "I want to stop here" ; "Lets explore that end" ; "Whats behind that rock" "Whats that water body?" etc

The moment you can do that in a group of 2/3/4 you would feel the same.

The only thing that differentiates the solo part in entirety is that fact that while driving you have ONLY your thoughts for company. Its always introspection and retrospection in the same vein. How often does one get to do that ? Solo rides just answer to that query.

Nice going.

[Added_flavor]

Originally Posted by majumon

That was very inspiring ride of yours, you have good writing skills, like some suspense thriller, kind of keeps you hooked onto the subject. The way you described your way back from the beach to your cottage explains it all, in fact I could picturise the way you were going, it was that good.

Happy riding and yes the words of Sam are truly inspiring.

Thank you! It is my first attempt at writing so much! Thanks for the kind words.

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

Awesome ride, nice log and pics mate! The beauty of a solo ride is something you have to experience!! Nice going. Waiting for the rest of the ride to unfold.

Originally Posted by ampere

Awesome log. I think in my opinion its not "solo" part which make the ride nice. Its the fact that you decide your own time lines which defines it. Things like "I want to stop here" ; "Lets explore that end" ; "Whats behind that rock" "Whats that water body?" etc

The moment you can do that in a group of 2/3/4 you would feel the same.

The only thing that differentiates the solo part in entirety is that fact that while driving you have ONLY your thoughts for company. Its always introspection and retrospection in the same vein. How often does one get to do that ? Solo rides just answer to that query.

Nice going.

Thank you Sirs! Yes I completely agree. Riding solo is a lot of fun. The best part as you said is one's own decisions, timelines, freedom and no waiting business!

Shall come up with the final day's log soon!

[SoumenD]

Congrats on your maiden solo ride buddy. First time is always special. Be it in any field/activity.

Your log took me to those initial days where the adrenaline-rush used to be at insane levels. I have been touring solo(on a bike) for close to 6 years now (~22000kms+) and trust me once bitten by this bug it becomes next to impossible to do group-rides especially when the group is large and you have to maintain a group discipline. But always make sure you are well connected to friends/family just-in-case.

One question : Did you face any issues due to the puny tank of the Duke? Am sure you must be hitting empty within ~300-350kms after a tank-full?

[fusionbang]

Congratulations on the beautiful ride you own and I could feel the ride on reading your log which is truly an amazing experience on its own

That is some inspiring log buddy which reminds me of my solo ride on my R15 to Shimoga couple of years back. Post that I am not been able to do a solo ride due to professional commitments.

Post your remaining experience with more pics of your ride and the nature which would compliment the entire journey.

Also let me know, if you are interested in doing solo rides so that we can catch up sometime and plan the rides on our bikes PM me. By any chance did you do your engineering at Global Academy of Technology, RR Nagar??

[ashkamath]

Originally Posted by fusionbang

Also let me know, if you are interested in doing solo rides so that we can catch up sometime and plan the rides on our bikes

Hehehe.. once you guys catch up and ride together, it wouldn't be solo anymore and would be a group ride. Just kidding It is nice to see the camaraderie around and that's biker's spirit I should say. And may be some time we shall get an opportunity to ride together, after all this is a small world

Originally Posted by fusionbang

And I feel riding bikes in Goa gives a great pleasure and feeling which would be a life time memory/experience for us

Yes. I agree. Goa is a rider's paradise with smooth winding narrow roads. (In fact every time I ride the interior coastal road on some work, I actually thank out loudly to God for the sheer blissful roads and the ambience) there are many interior trails with very less traffic where it is an absolute joy to ride. All of you are welcome to come down to Goa and we shall plan some rides here.

@ Added_flavor: waiting for the remaining trip log dude. Looking forward to re-live your experience during the rest of your ride.

[fusionbang]

Originally Posted by ashkamath

And may be some time we shall get an opportunity to ride together, after all this is a small world

Probably we can plan to Goa on our rides to meet up with you and plan something interesting as well, since you are based out of Goa. And I feel riding bikes in Goa gives a great pleasure and feeling which would be a life time memory/experience for us

[Added_flavor]

Originally Posted by SoumenD

One question : Did you face any issues due to the puny tank of the Duke? Am sure you must be hitting empty within ~300-350kms after a tank-full?

Thanks buddy. Yes the tank range was approximately 300 km, which honestly is more than what I thought. I was expecting the low fuel light to come on every 200 km but was surprised with the mileage I was getting and I am not a slow rider.

What I automatically learnt is to time my breaks with fuel breaks. During this ride the max I did in a day was ~ 530 km and I had to refuel twice as I am not comfortable riding in reserve fuel.

Originally Posted by fusionbang

Congratulations on the beautiful ride you own and I could feel the ride on reading your log which is truly an amazing experience on its own

That is some inspiring log buddy which reminds me of my solo ride on my R15 to Shimoga couple of years back. Post that I am not been able to do a solo ride due to professional commitments.

Post your remaining experience with more pics of your ride and the nature which would compliment the entire journey.

Also let me know, if you are interested in doing solo rides so that we can catch up sometime and plan the rides on our bikes PM me. By any chance did you do your engineering at Global Academy of Technology, RR Nagar??

Thanks dude! As Ashok Sir pointed out, it wouldn't remain a solo ride if we rode together. But of course would be glad to ride with you sometime!

Yes I am a GAT product, passed out in 2010. Are you from the same college?

Originally Posted by ashkamath

@ Added_flavor: waiting for the remaining trip log dude. Looking forward to re-live your experience during the rest of your ride.

Apologies Sir as I have been completely held up with work. Will write down tonight for sure.

In fact during a chat with BHPian black12rr on a recent ride, he mentioned to me that I can call you up if I decide to go to Goa as I'll be in Gokarna anyway. But I have been to Goa too many times recently both on 2 and 4 wheels hence decided to stick to Karnataka. Next time for sure! In fact we can catch up if you are free during your planned Bangalore visit. I remember you said you are riding from Udupi to Bangalore

[DragonHawk]

Originally Posted by Added_flavor

Life is so full of uncertainties now! People are dying in the freakiest of ways possible. Death, violence, corruption and unrest make me think the world will (should) come to an end soon! With all these not-so-good-things in mind, I decided let me do things I always feared and take fear head on!

Yes, although I read about so many people riding solo from one corner of the Country to another, when I pictured myself doing it, I could only see me being robbed at gun point, stranded in the middle of a dense forest with a flat tyre or a breakdown or worse, meeting with a fatal accident.

But, if I'm destined to die, I might die sitting on my couch at home! I would rather die a Rider than a couch potato

Wow man, you made my day

I always had this fear of driving alone, whether it may be driving in my car or riding a bike. I always shied away in attaining nirvana by riding solo and I must say your travelogue came out at a right time as I am bracing myself for getting my new ride C5 which is due for delivery next month. Your words have just provided me that extra little push to venture out to complete my long cherished dream of covering Coastal corridor of Southern India.
Btw do let me know if you are tired of going solo, I will hop in.
Once again thanks for sharing your travelogue.

[YaeJay]

So, you are that little sachet one finds in maggie noodles?
Thanks for sharing!

Nothing ever comes even close to a solo ride. To me, it lets me forget everything, shut down everything else apart from the riding. I never have a todo list, no time to keep, take it as it comes.

ride safe, ride forever!