[RROD]

Hey Guys,
I would like to share my South India west-coast ride experience with you guys. Hopefully you would like it.

I started riding some time last year in Oct, it was not like I wasn't riding at all, it was just that I started touring on a bike last year. Even though I always wanted to tour on my bike, I always laughed at the idea of me touring on a bike and never actually got into riding.
Thanks to a bunch of friends whom I met on another forum, I learnt the nuances of touring on a bike and started getting better.

In December of 2013 I and my friend Jeevan went on a ride, which we both believe has been the best ride for both of us, at-least for me, until now. Jeevan is on another epic ride !!

I would like to share my version of the ride as I experienced it.
I have tried to keep things short. Trust me even though this is blog is big by my standards I tried my best to keep it short.

Our rides for the trip.

Duke 200 -- Me
CBR 250 -- Jeevan

PLANNING

I was a new rider and had accompanied my friends to short rides in and around Bangalore, e.g Kolar, Horsley Hills, Shivanasamudra et al.
As I started getting accustomed to rides, I developed an itch to go for a long ride and was asking my friends to plan for a long one.
Also since it was the Dec Holiday season, it was easy for me to get leaves in office also.
This is when I started talking to my tourer friend Saquib to come up with the plan to ride to Valparai along with his YRC (Yamaha Rider's Club) friends.
I wanted to do a long ride, and as I had enough leaves, asked Saquib to loop me in. So Saquib spoke to his YRC friends and confirmed to me
that I am in, and the plan was set.
Dec 26th - ride to Valparai
Dec 27th and 28th - Stay in valparai
Dec 29th - Return to Bangalore

This was the time when Jeevan and and another friend Ashish had worked out their plans for the GQ ride on the same week but for some reason that plan actually didn't work out. So Jeevan pinged me
Jeevan : I have 1 week leave, can you also get some leaves, we can ride to Rameshwaram and then meet Saquib's group in Valparai.
Me : yes, I can.
Me : *thinking* I have been to Rameshwaram already, why not do the South-India, West Coast ride.
Jeevan : *replies immediately* I am in.

Then I started thinking about the plan.
Initial plan was to ride to Kochi, and meet up with Saquib's group in Pollachi. Below was the draft plan
Day 1 (Dec 23 Monday) : Bangalore to Gokarna
Day 2 (Dec 24): Gokarna to Kasargod
Day 3 (Dec 25): Kasargod to Kochi
Day 4 (Dec 26): Kochi to Pollachi

My other tourer friend Suvrajit and a couple of other friends asked us why are we not starting on a Sunday. I was not sure if I would be able to ride on the Sunday as I had some personal commitments.
Then as I started sorting out my commitments I was able to make room to ride on a Sunday, and asked Jeevan, will you ride to Kanyakumari, he promptly replied
"I am in".

Then spoke to a couple of tourer friends Suvrajit and Saquib and asked if the below plan was feasible and they said it's a good plan and we should go ahead.
Day 1 (Dec 22 Sunday) - Bangalore to Gokarna
Day 2 - Gokarna to Kasargod
Day 3 - Kasargod to Kochi
Day 4 : Kochi to Kanyakumari
Day 5 : Kanyakumari to Valparai
Day 6 and 7 : Ride in and around Valparai
Day 8 : Valparai to Bangalore

So the above plan was finalized. But plans never work now...do they

Initially before the ride, I had not informed my wife or my parents about this ride, all I mentioned was that I am riding to Valparai and about 12 riders will be with us. I took my time and a couple of days before the ride, i revealed the plan to my wife and parents, and fortunately they wished me a safe ride
and were hoping that I would drop the plan of doing the stretch on a bike, which they knew well that I wouldn't

One day before the ride, I was still unsure if we will be able to complete the ride to Kanyakumari, I had never ridden such long distances and to be
honest I had no idea what was going to happen. I thought we would be too exhausted and back off, stop at Kochi and ride to Valparai.
I was also trying to keep myself away from thinking that one of us would meet with an accident, mostly me, and die or be severely hurt. This thought was at the back of my mind throughout the ride too. I am not a very superstitious or a pious guy, but considering that we were new riders and what we were up to, i started praying to God to bless us with a safe side!!

We had finalized the plan and decided to start after Hebbal flyover towards towards Tumkur at 4:30 am.

Some pics from the ride. More to follow once the thread gets approved.

[RROD]

Below is a summary of Day 1. Hope you guys like it. Feedback most welcome.

Day 1 :

Woke up at 3:30 got ready by 4:00, I was still learning to tie my bags to bike and knew that putting on the Viaterra Fly bag and Rynox Optimus M would be a pain, as I had still not figured out the quickest way to tie them to my bike.

So started tying these bags, and lost good 30 min's in the process. Just then Jeevan messaged he has already reached the meeting point, this was getting frustrating and i was cursing myself as I don't being late. Once the bags were tied up, I geared myself up for the ride, did my prayer's, yes I did, and started the bike and began the ride. 5 min's into the ride, and I immediately realized I forgot my wallet, so I turned back rushed in, took my wallet and scrammed, all the while my mom showing me everything lying in my room, do you want this, this, this. I was scramming to catch up with Jeevan and couldn't pay attention to my mom.

So met Jeevan at 4:45 after Hebbal fly over, apologized, and asked him to lead as he knew that route better. Anyways the dude seemed to be having a good time there, obviously he was having a smoke...

Before we started Jeevan told me let's have a smoke and tea, so once we crossed the toll booth, we stopped for tea and a smoke. We were discussing about the road conditions and Jeevan told that he has ridden this stretch till Chitradurga and the roads are excellent till then, which came as no surprise to me, since I had already heard a lot about this stretch.

We finished our tea and started riding and I was still nervous about what to expect and it was still dark and I was a little shaky, though I did not show it
to Jeevan, it was obvious that I was scared.

A little further into the ride we saw a truck which had lost control and got over on the median, this scared me to my bones, which brought all new thoughts of how I could be meeting with accident and die or be miserably hurt, I started getting scared and was breathing hard and my helmet visor started fogging up. The fear of meeting with an accident was not exactly helping me, I calmed myself down and realized that I was making things only worse. I came up with this plan, it's up to me to spine up and ride, so mentally decided let's do this, let's see what happens and started riding, trying to forget all the bad things that could go wrong, decided to take in things as they come.

We crossed the accident area and I started calming myself down and soon started enjoying the ride.


The ride to Tumkur was smooth and we crossed it very soon and reached Sira, and we decided to have some tea again. It was very cold here, we were
having a tough time even turning on cigarette lighters. Here had a chance to take a photo of the road.



Once done with the Tea, we started discussin the road conditions again, Jeevan told from here, all you gotta do is just hold the accelerator and let the bike do
it's thing. The ride to Chitradurga was also very smooth, we were hitting good speeds which in my book is around 100 KMPH. Just as we approached Chitradurga we started noticing windmills, another photo op











From there we headed to Chitradurga and continued to ride towards Ranebennur, after crossing Ranebennur, we fueled up and decided to have breakfast.

During breakfast we had a look at the route map and decided to go through Sirsi, i don't recollect why, but we decided on that route.
After crossing Rane bennur we took a detour after about 90km's or so.

Photos from places between Chitradurga and the detour to Sirsi..















Entering the detour, the roads had changed, which was a welcome change. The long smooth roads until now were good, but this looked like fun. And so we thought....




As we rode, the roads started worsening, there were huge potholes, we were finding it difficult to maneuver between the pot holes. At some stretches, there were only
pot-holes, and at some places from left to right there would be only pot-holes. These soon started reminding us that things were not going to be smooth, and we
were going to have to work harder to reach Gokarna.

As we continued to ride, we started getting used to the pot-holes, rather I believe they were reduing, it was around 12:00 now. Soon we hit a stretch where we could see a beautiful lake surrounded by hills. Some pics from around that place.









We continued to ride, and we decided to stop at the next place for lunch. As we continued to ride, dealing with pot-holes was getting tougher. It was around noon and the pot-holes were hiding under the shady trees, we would never notice them under the shade and as we got closer and noticed the pot-hole, it was difficult to slow down and maneuver out of them. Several times we just rode through the pot-hole, giving our body a taste of what a shock absorber does.


We reached a town, I guess it was Marigunj, it was around 2:00 pm now, we found a place to have lunch.
After lunch I discussed with Jeevan about possibility of going to Jog Falls because we would reach Gokarna by 4:00 pm and we really did not have much to do there.
Jeevan was showing exhaustion on his face and he wasn't really interested in riding to Jog Falls as it was a good 60 KM's away from the ride to Gokarna. Then I suggested how about Yana as it was only 35 KM's away, he was again not interested. As he was looking exhausted I really didn't want to push him, as it was very hot and the roads which we just rode through were not exactly the smoothest roads.


So Next Stop Gokarna. It was DECIDED.


Done with our lunch, we started riding, the ride was getting better, but the heat was taking the fun out of it. As we approached a junction, I noticed a sign-board, stating Yana 35 KM's. I was just hoping that Jeevan would stop and take a right turn, but he just kept on riding and.... suddenly he pulled over, I stopped behind
him, he asks
Jeevan : do you want to go to yaana ?
Me : only if you're OK, as you seem to be exhausted
Jeevan : No I am not, let's hit it.

Took a U-Turn.Took a left. And hit Curves.

On the way to Yana...



We started riding, without knowing what to expect, but what we didnt expect was to have the most fun of the day.
We were greeted with some beautiful curves. We could make out that the roads were empty, and as it was very quiet, we would easily know if there's any oncoming vehicle by it's sound. 15 KM's in, riding the curves, though fun, was exhausting, I was leading here and I wanted to check on Jeevan, so I pulled over and asked
Me : Are you OK ? The roads are awesome
Jeevan : Yes (The grin was back on his face)
Me : Do you want to ride or turn back and go to Gokarna.
Jeevan : There was a sign, that said Gokarna 75 KM's from here.

This was obviously good news, as we were nearing to Gokarna as well as riding to Yana. Bad news was we were short on fuel. We were confident of at-least hitting another 100 KM's with whatever fuel was available. So we continued.


We continued to ride and were having a blast on these roads. I am a slow rider, but no matter who you are you cannot deny the fun of cornering...woohoooo.

Though the roads were good for the most part, there was gravel all over and some parts were very slippery because of the sand and pebbles strewn over it.

The best part of riding to Yana were these school kids, these guys were encouraging us and just waving at us everytime they saw us.



As we approached Yana, we realized there was a school trip there, and these kids noticing our bikes were just too excited and started waving at us.
It was simply the most fun of the day. PERIOD.
We were riding down hill and there lots of kids on either side of the road who were excited and waving at us all the way, this was the kind of
therapy that can take the exhaustion out of anybody. I just wish I had an action cam to capture this moment

We reached the Yana entrance point and one guy told, there's no checking, just take your bikes around the blockade and ride to the bottom. Listening to this we were more than happy to oblige
We started riding down, again more school kids and tourists who were shocked at what we were doing...we weren't. We knew there are guys who have done crazier things.
BUT THIS WAS FUN

We kept going until a point, I decided to stop and told Jeevan.
Me : It's getting steeper, not sure if we can continue the ride.
Jeevan : OK, lets stop and get back.


It was getting steeper than this...



We stopped and started riding back.
We exited Yana, had a smoke again and started riding towards Gokarna, again the roads went from Good to Bad to worse to No Roads. Jeevan was apparently cursing me, which he confessed to me later for taking him through that stretch I was having fun though

We continued to ride and started climbing up hill, at one point, and as we started climbing the steep, all we could see was the Sky, and when we reached the tip, we
were greeted with the most beautiful view of the day. The view was absolutely staggering, photos can't do justice to the view........





Having statiated our eyes, we started riding down and within 5 minutes we were out of the Ghat section, some pics from this place.







We continued to ride and soon we reached the highway, asked people around way to Gokarna and started riding towards Gokarna.


It was getting dark now, it was around 6:00 pm now, and we had to find a place to stay. Being holiday season, all the rooms were full, and finally we found a place to stay. Cost 1200 INR/night. We didn't want to haggle as it was close to the beach and we were tired and the 3 places we checked before this were full, So we agreed and paid up.

Lots of foreigners here, hippies you could say, if it isn't derogatory.

Anyways went to room freshened up, went to a close by restaurant, had dinner, and called it a day

Verdict : The ride to Yana and the school kids made our day

[RROD]

Day 2

I woke up at 5:00 am with the intention of hitting the beach at 6 and get some photos.

The previous day we had plans of leaving Gokarna by 7 am. So i was ready by 5:30 stepped out of the room, started walking and soon faced a problem, it was very dark and couldn't make out where my foot was landing, so decided to go back and get the torch. Went to the room, picked up the torch and got out again, some way In started hearing dogs barking at me, but it was so dark I couldn't even see where the dogs were. For now I dropped the idea of goint to the beach and went back to the room.

Jeevan was up at 6:30, he was ready by 7:00 and we started for the beach at around 7:15 am.
The walk to the beach was a bit tough when there was no light as this was what I had to walk through….




But once we got through the tricky part we were greeted with the very beautiful view of the Kudle beach..













We had a good time waking around the beach, there were a lot of foreigners and lots of Indian shacks who also liked a lot of foreigners here, but did not like the Indians, same happens in Goa too..

It was almost 8:00 am now and we decided to head back to the room, pack up and head to Kasargod.

We packed up and left the room and got to our bikes. We were surprised by the color of our tyres, the off-roading which we did around yana had left it's mark on our bikes tyres. We were happy tough!



the first big problem of the day, I was not able to tie my Tank Bag again. It took me fifteen minutes to get it to sit properly on the tank. I was just not able to get it to sit properly at all, I had no clue what i was doing wrong, so did some jugaad and finally got it to sit on the tank.
We paid up and left the hotel by 8:30 decided to head to an ATM, refill our pockets and then head to petrol bunks and refill our bike tanks.

On our way out, these were the views we were treated to in the morning....





Riding down from the view points was something special. You ride from the top with the Arabian sea to the left, you ride through the narrow Sand road until you hit the tarmac, but once you hit the narrow tarmac road you start going downhill, the road gets a bit windy in here as your descending, and you start winding your way controlling your descent and as you approach the town, the roads become narrower and you ride through narrow alleys between houses and reach the temple area. This must be one of the best experiences in Gokarna. I missed an action cam here again….will be going to Gokarna again just to do this bit again. Also riding through Gokarna town is simply an amazing experience.

Soon we found the ATM, then headed to the petrol bunk refilled, again I was having trouble with the tank bag and we again lost a good 15 to 20 min’s. This was going to be painful if I was not going to find a solution, as every time I had to refuel, I had to removed the tank bag, and I could not afford to spend 10 minutes just to tie the tank bag every time I refueled. Anyways we left Gokarna and at the outskirts stopped for breakfast. After breakfast I was still not comfortable with the tank bag, as it was sliding either to the right or left and falling on my lap, and it was affecting my riding. So again started working on fixing it, I tried to look at Jeevan and see how he was reacting to me wasting the time………...I could feel it ……..anyways we again lost a good 10 to 15 min’s. With all this happening, it was already 10 am, and it was getting hot, and we were already behind by 2 hrs.

So left the hotel, and started riding, and within minutes we reached the Edapally-Panwel highway. I was feeling annoyed that because of me we lost more than an hour, and I wanted to make up for my mistakes. I was leading here. So we decided to make up for the lost time and we hit the road, we were making good time, but we were not really enjoying the ride. It was getting hot and at the back of our minds we knew we had to make up for the lost time, and we were really wringing the throttle here. The roads were good, we hit some nice curvy roads, and we started to have a good time in these sections of the roads.

There was heavy traffic in the Ghat section and we were finding it difficult to stay together. At one point I had moved ahead and Jeevan was stuck behind in the traffic. So I decided to slow down and wait for him to catch up with me. Soon he caught up with me and immediately overtook me like I wasnt even there!! . It didn’t take me too long to realize that Jeevan loved curves and didnt give a cent about who was with him, he just wanted to corner. Very soon, I was trying to catch up with Jeevan as I was getting stuck behind lorries. When I say stuck I was really stuck, traffic had increased, and there were some trucks which were blocking the whole road as they were reversing, and it was becoming difficult to overtake vehicles. Jeevan had cleared this section easily thanks to his riding skills and staying ahead in the traffic.

In ghat section when you’re stuck, you’re really stuck, and when you’re moving you’re awesome. This was the case with me and Jeevan. I was so badly stuck, i was stopped for nearly 5 minutes in one place, while Jeevan had vanished. I started calling him, he wasn’t even picking the call, there was no sign of him, he apparently did not even bother to look back and see if I was even trailing him. It took me almost 15 min’s to catch up with him. Jeevan is a classic example of the worst lead ever!!… Finally when I caught up with him, he was sitting on the road side looking very content. I was like what is wrong with this guy, couldn't he at-least wait and see whether I was trailing him or not. But as we discussed he explained that he was having the time of his life cornering at the ghat section, which lightened up my mood too. Anyways by this time we had received a message from our friend Snehith that he is in Udupi and we can meet him.

We decided to meet Snehith in Udupi and we started the ride again and stopped over at a Juice junction as it was getting very hot as it was around 12:00 pm, we decided to call Snehith that we were about an hour or so away from Udupi and we will meet him at around 1:30 pm. While riding to Udupi we were greeted with these views…am guessing this is the Maravanthe Beach...

Riding alongside the beach……*now what can I say *







As we continue towards Udupi, we started hitting roadworks on the highway (NH 17), there was too much traffic with unruly drivers. There were unending diversions due to the road work, also because of the road work, there was 2 way traffic on the same lane. When the road opens up it’s sweet, but as you start getting comfortable assuming the road is going to be smooth, you suddenly notice vehicles stacked up against a narrow diversion. Traffic near the diversion’s is chaotic and slow and with vehicles coming from opposite direction in the same lane, it made overtaking dangerous and also very difficult. This was not something that lasted for 10 or 12 KM’s…..this continued mile after mile...and to add to our misery we had to deal with pot-holes and the heat, this had really slowed down our progress, and we weren’t really happy with it. This continued all the way until we reached Udupi.

By the time we reached Udupi, we were exhausted because of the heat and the traffic, and we really needed something to drink. We called Snehith, decided at a meeting place (dont remember the name, some hotel) and decided to meet. So I and Jeevan rode to the meeting place and then we wait….

Snehith showed up a good 20 min’s later, remember we had already lost close to 2 hrs, and losing this time didn’t seem like a good idea to me, as I had no idea how the roads were, and we were not making very good progress, and by the looks of it roads didn’t seem to be getting better..

Finally when Snehith showed up, I was hoping it would be a short meet, and we will soon head back to the road. I was very happy to see him...but we had to reach Bekal Fort by evening. I forgot to mention, we guys had decided to go beyond Kasargod and stopover at Bekal If we had to reach Bekal fort by evening, this had to be a short meet with Snehith. But wait Snehith is taking us inside the restaurant, Jeevan is also following him, if we have to go inside the restaurant we had to untie our bags from the bike and shove it in Snehith’s car. Oh man I knew this wasn’t a good idea, because we were easily going to be spending at least another hour here, on top of that again another 10 to 15 min’s to tie my tank bag. Not a good Idea!!!

We ordered lunch and started talking to Snehith, this is when I realized that we were unnecessarily rushing in order to reach Bekal fort and not really enjoying our time. I was being a fool, if it gets late, let it get late, what’s the point of a ride if you can’t even have a good lunch, and spend quality time with your friends. So I decided and told Jeevan, there’s no point in riding like this, if we are late, lets stop at Kasargod or even Mangalore for that matter, but let’s enjoy our ride. So we had a hearty lunch, enjoyed our time with Snehith, and actually felt good in the end that we met up with Snehith. Also it’s always great to meet Snehith.

One big advantage of meeting Snehith was, he showed me how to tie the tank bag, finally I figured it out. Thank you Big Man, you saved the day Then he also helped us with lubricating our bike chains, which was pending since morning. See there’re benefits of unplanned meeting with friend .

Snehith informed us that the roads are not going to get any better, there are lots of diversions from here to Mangalore. In other words it’s going to be the same roads what we experienced until now. So finally we bid good bye to Snehith and started riding towards Mangalore, it was around 3:00 now, we knew that if the roads are going to be same, the ride is also going to be the same. Unpleasant and exhausting.

So we started riding, taking diversions, skimpering around vehicles to overtake, and we reached Mangalore around 5:00 . At Mangalore we decided to got to Bekal fort, as Kasargod was around 70 KM’s from there and we knew that we’ll reach there by 6:30 , and Bekal was only about 30 odd km’s from Mangalore.

So we rode to Kasargod, reached there around 6 pm, and decided to ride to Bekal. Initially we lost our way in Kasargod trying to find a way to Bekal fort, then when we found the route, there was road work going on and we had to take a detour, which was again confusing and we were lost again. So finally found the route to Bekal Fort and when we reached close to Bekal fort, we decided to stop over a tea and coffee, i would like to mention, one of many we had today.

So we had reached Bekal Fort, our bikes were getting enough attention again, as it was for the most part of the day. I ordered tea, came back to Jeevan and started reminiscing the day, that is when the tea boy came and asked something, I don't understand Malayalam and was trying to explain things in broken Tamil, the best I could manage, but apparently tea boy seemed to be having a very clear Malayalam conversation with the guy behind me. You know those PUCH IN THE FACE!! moments and your left wondering what just happened. This was exactly that. Jeevan was speaking in Malayalam. I was like baaahhhh!!.
This guys has been planning this ride with me all the time, and he didnt once mention that he can speak malayalam. He was apparently in Munnar for 3 years during his education.
Anyways jolly good, getting through Kerala was not going to be a problem, at least when it comes to communicating with the localites

From there we headed to petrol bunk, as we were anticipating a Petrol Bunk strike the next day, which did not happen. Once tanked up rode to Bekal fort, we couldnt view the fort, as it closed by 6 pm and opens the next day only 7:00 am. We found a place to stay, expensive , but again we were too tired to haggle, and paid up. But the room was really good. Freshened up, went to a nearby local place to eat, came back and called it a day.

Room Rent : 1500 Rs

Verdict : Very Exhausitng ride, nevertheless had our share of fun

[Rudra Sen]

Mod note: Thread moved from Assembly Line to Travelogues. Thanks for sharing.

[abhinav.s]

Awesome ride there mate. Good clicks & ride report too!! Please ensure you dedicate a section at the conclusion of the log as to how the bikes fared and how comfortable it was on the good/bad/no roads etc.

[RROD]

Day 3

Day 3

I woke up at 4:00 am the next day and was ready by 4:30, this was as per plan, Jeevan followed, and we were ready and started vacating the room.

Previous day was an exhausting one and we were hoping for a better ride today. Since we started our ride very late the previous day, we hit a lot of traffic and it added to a lot to our exhaustion and the heat didn't help either, so we wanted to avoid that and decided to leave as early as possible, that is by 5:00 am.

So we vacated the room around 5:00 am, finished the formalities, tied our luggage to our bikes, thanks to Snehith for his tips, it was easier for me to tie the tank bag this time. All done we left the hotel at 5:30 am.

It was dark so we were riding at around 45 KMPH to 60 KMPH depending on the roads, we still saw lots of constructions on the roads upto a point, and the frequency of diversions started reducing. Roads were small though smooth, we were having a relaxed ride, Jeevan being a cafeine junky, wanted to have a tea and the usual smoke.

This time the experience was different, this time we saw lots of pilgrims walking towards the Shabarimala temple. It really staggers me that these guys are going to walk all the way to the holy place. It was great to see them and wonder how are they gonna manage the walk. Anyways lots of respect for these guys. Paid up for the coffee, and started riding again.

Previous day Snehith had suggested Thalassery beach ride, so I and Jeevan had a discussion about this and decided to stop over at Thalassery for the beach ride.

We continued with our ride, nothing much to write about, but since we started early we had a chance to witness the Sun Rise…. watching the Sun bathe the grey roads golden yellow was absolutely fantastic...and riding these golden yellow roads was almost dream like. At one point, i just couldn’t distinguish colors, it was all yellow, bathed in the most beautiful golden yellow you could lay your eyes on. Experience it to believe it, there's nothing like it.

Continued the ride to thalassery, plan was to reach the Thalassery beach by 7:30, so we did reach around 7:15, but we overshot the beach and went in another direction, finding the route and by the time we got back to Thalassery beach it was almost 8:00...but not 8:00 yet It was around 7:45 , fortunately it wasn’t very hot, it was still cool. Reached the beach, paid the entrance fee and started riding on the beach. While riding on the beach I had a thought…....i was thinking about my family…..….My wife, my sisters, my cousin are driving through bangalore’s rush hour traffic trying to get to office while I was having the time of my life riding on a beach with no traffic, absolutely smooth sand roads, slippery and smooth , a thought occured to me and sent them a SMS “I am riding on a beach on my bike ”
Can’t explain the feeling hopefully the pics can help...







One word about reaching the thalassery beach….once you get out of highway, you enter a very very narrow beach side road, which in my words can probably fit a Maruti Wagon-R. Riding these roads with beach on the one side, and the beach-side huts on the other side which are actually inhabited by people living there was a surprise and was one of the best surprises of the trip.

It started getting hot at the beach, so decided to move on, started riding towards our next destination which was Kochi . Decided to stop over for breakfast, had nice kerala breakfast, it was around 9:00. By the time we had breakfast and left it was around 9:30.

We were to take NH 17, towards Kozhikode and towards Guruvayoor and then Kochi . Since it was NH 17 we were expecting the roads to be good, and this is what everyone told us also, and so we thought we will be making quick ground and should be able to reach Kochi on time. Around this thought, we were sure of reaching Kochi by around 5:00 pm, as it was around 300 KM’s from Thalassery, so we decided to cover more ground and reach Alappuzha as the stop over for that day. We really thought the ride will be smooth……as the roads were supposed to be good, and it was…..

But....what we didn’t expect was traffic, OH DEAR GOD , it was like driving through bangalore traffic on a sunday. Never ending traffic. Here’s what we noticed. Small towns are scattered around NH 17 and that too separated by very short distances, you enter a town wade through the thick traffic, come out of town get some relief from the traffic, and very soon you hit another town and again traffic. It was just not making sense to us at all….HOW ON EARTH CAN A N-H HAVE SO MUCH TRAFFFFEEEEEKKKK!!! and on top of it, the HHEEEEAATT, it wasn’t helping at all. It was getting very hot and the traffic was never stopping, we were really wondering if this really is a National Highway!!.

We were finding it extremely tiring to ride in this traffic.Lets say we enter a city, I knew that i will have to move ahead here only by overtaking the buses, cars, autos et al, and since the traffic from the opposite side also was never ending, it was very difficult to overtake. So basically I used to get behind a vehicle, peep out, peep peep peep until I can see an opening, get onto the opposite lane acclerate, over take the vehicle, squeeze in , get back into the lane and get behind another vehicle. So Peep, Skimper, Squeeze...this was the routine and only way to move ahead. The heat and our riding style had taken it’s toll on us….we were getting very exhausted….

This went On and On and On , I know it sounds like a duracell battery, but it truly was going On and On and On….only if we had those Duracell batteries installed in us for a change to take this On and On and On…

At one point I was too exhausted and wanted Jeevan to pull over, the pot holes, the traffic and the heat were taking it’s toll on me, so caught up with Jeevan and asked him to pull over, to my relief even Jeevan was exhausted and wanted a break, a shot from one of the places we decided to take a break at….



After an exhaustive ride we stopped over for lunch, and were rethinking if we will be able to make it to Alappuzha as the progress was very slow and the peep, skimper, squeeze routine was just going On and On and On…..., so we re-thought our strategy and we decided to first reach Kochi and then take a call on whether to ride to Alapuzzha. It was around 2:30 pm when we stopped over for lunch and we were still a good 120 KM’s away from Kochi. We left around 3:00 pm from the restaurant with a new target. Kochi first.

So we rode towards Kochi, repeating our routine…..Peep, Skimper, Squeeze.
I distinctly remember yelling inside my helmet whenever I rode through an unpaved stretch of the road or on a pothole. We continued this for another couple of hours with some short breaks in between. As we continued to ride the heat started subsiding which was good news, but the bad news was the traffic wasn’t and as we reached Ernakulam it started increasing again.

At one point in Ernakulam city, fortunately we were lost. Fortunate??? yes we were….

We started asking around people for route to Kochi, people were pointing us to one road just keep going straight, so we were and at one point, one gentle man showed us another route, reluctantly we took that and kept riding and soon we were lost in a residential area. Finally Jeevan used google maps, which took us out of the Ernakulam narrow residential roads and onto NH 47. yeah baby!! finally we could breathe, the unrelenting Peep, Skimper Squeeze could be given a break. Looking at the wide open roads, it cheered us to no end,we pulled over at a bakery, had a tea and a smoke, and were just looking at NH 47, which is apparently the Salem-Kanyakumari highway. We both seemed relieved that we can atleast ride comfortably for the next 60 KM’s...we decided to sit down and take a break it was around 4:45 now.

We were having a tea and a smoke at a bakery around NH 47 , the lady who served us tea, walked up to us and she asked us the usual question where are you riding from, why, etc But she added one more question which none of the many people who had asked us so many questions until now had asked. She casually asked don’t you think it’s risky to be riding like this, can’t you just relax , stay home and enjoy. She did have a point, what she did say was true, we could have been sitting in our houses watching TV or going to the mall or watching a movie in the theater with our families, but instead we two guys were riding through Kerala through the toughest riding conditions we’ve ever been put through and here we are sitting on a footpath at NH 47 and drinking coffee and having a smoke, it just didn't make any sense at all. It was really a tough day, we could laugh at what we were doing, but it just didn’t make any sense to be doing this,I thought about this and had a laugh,but it still didn’t make any sense….

We finished our tea and started towards Kochi and reached there at around 6:00 pm. Reaching Kochi was a huge relief, it was like we had achieved the impossible, at one point we thought we would not be able to make it to Kochi and may have to stop at another town, fortunately we still believe since we got NH 47, we were able to reach Kochi by 6:00 pm, else I truly believe we would have reached Kochi only 7:30 or 8:00, considering it was going to get dark also.
At Kochi we it was around 6:00 pm now and Alappuzha was around 60 KM’s from here, we started discussin the possibility of reaching Alappuzha.
Me : Do you think we can reach Alappuzha
Jeevan : Yes, we can
Me : It’ 6:15 now, give it around 1.5 hrs we should be able to do it.
Jeevan : Yes, it’s better we stop at Alappuzha.

So it was decided we will reach Alappuzha. So we took the diversion away from NH 47 towards Alappuzha. The Peep, Skimper,Squeeze routine was back, but now it wasn't that bad, and as it was getting darker we really didn't want to do that. We decided to take it slow and easy and we reached Alappuzha around 8:00 pm. As we entered Alappuzha we hit a massive traffic jam, it wasn't moving at all, I was looking around for a way to get out of the traffic and it seemed pointless as the traffic was choked, as there were festivities in the town. The festivities were a feast for the eyes though





We continued on, and the traffic was choked, and rode for another 5 min’s when I noticed a bungalow which had rooms for stay, as per the sign-boards we were about 5 KM’s from Alappuzha, which meant we were in Alappuzha. I turned to Jeevan and told doesn't make sense to ride in this kind of traffic, lets take the room here itself. He agreed After another tiring ride, we decided not to haggle too much and agreed for the rent. 1100 INR.

We freshened up, visited the nearest restaurant filled our stomach’s, got back to room, and called it a day.

Longest ride until now, riding time was more than 10 hours and we covered around 500 KM’s and not the most fun ride, but yes will be one of the more memorable one’s. Things that happened during this ride are the one’s that you talk most about, laugh most about, because when you really can't take it any more your true nature comes out, like sleeping on a balcony or resting in a petrol bunk, shouting in your helmet when you can't take the roads any more, the sweat dripping from your nose and accidentally getting into your mouth, these are the moments you talk about, think about , laugh about and most importantly share about it with your friends and family. I guess this is why we ride, and it all makes sense


My bikes reading at the end of the ride for that day.
600 min's , 44KMPH approx 440 KM's.

[RROD]

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

Awesome ride there mate. Good clicks & ride report too!! Please ensure you dedicate a section at the conclusion of the log as to how the bikes fared and how comfortable it was on the good/bad/no roads etc.

Hi abhinav.s ,
Let me know any specific details you want, I could fill it in for you.
Comfort wise, I found the Duke 200 good for long rides. My friend swear's by CBR 250 for it's sports tourer ergonomics. He says you need to get used to the CBR 250's riding posture, but that's not the case with the Duke though it's just natural. But yeah I guess over humps and potholes a CBR 250 might be more comfortable than the Duke 200.
For me for I would pick either for long rides, and I wouldn't have any problems with either.
Both have it's pros and cons, hope this helps.

[naveenroy]

Awesome ride report! Good clicks.

Yeah, I had a mega tiring ride from Kanyakumari till Kochi too. It was pathetic, pathetic. Really good roads for most of the part but bad traffic, not an open countryside, houses all along the route and the humidity and heat! That 300 kms was the worst time I have had.

Eagerly waiting for the rest of the ride to unfold....

[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by RROD

Day 3
Continued the ride to thalassery, plan was to reach the Thalassery beach by 7:30, so we did reach around 7:15, but we overshot the beach and went in another direction, finding the route and by the time we got back to Thalassery beach it was almost 8:00...but not 8:00 yet It was around 7:45 , fortunately it wasn’t very hot, it was still cool. Reached the beach, paid the entrance fee and started riding on the beach.
Attachment 1268615

- Beach name is Muzhappilangad Drive-in Beach, few months back TBHP Bangalore group had a meet there.

- There is no entry fee to ride/drive on the beach.

Kerala traffic is horrible and our national highways are narrow with high traffic density. Best way to tackle the issue is to drive in the night or early morning.

[RROD]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

- Beach name is Muzhappilangad Drive-in Beach, few months back TBHP Bangalore group had a meet there.

- There is no entry fee to ride/drive on the beach.

Kerala traffic is horrible and our national highways are narrow with high traffic density. Best way to tackle the issue is to drive in the night or early morning.

Oh..we weren't aware that there's no entry fee, then it is obvious that I and my friend were fleeced

Yes, that's what I heard from other riders whom I met on the ride, best way to tackle Kerala is ride in the night..

[voyageur]

Guys, I envy you both. Definitely something that every biker would dream of. The sad part is the traffic congestion and roads.

Waiting for the next set of pics and write ups.

Drive safe

Cheers!


PS : Rating this thread a very well deserved 5 star.

[RROD]

Apologies for the late update, as I was bit tied up with my office and personal work.

Day 4

We guys woke up at 6:00 and were on our way to Kanyakumari by 7:00 am

It was a beautiful morning in Alappuzha.



But there was something pending for me for the past 3 days. Bought a new tooth brush, yes I had not brushed my teeth for the last 3 days



After a decent clean up, we rode to the back waters for some photos.











After taking some photos we decided to ride to Kanyakumari.
We were hoping for a better ride today after the gruelling Day 3 and Day 4. We had pushed ourselves to reach Alappuzha instead of the previously planned stop at Kochi so that we wouldn't be straining ourselves before starting on another 500 KM ride to Valparai from Kanyakumari.

We found ourselves out of Alappuzha’s web of short roads and hit the road that takes to Kanyakumari. Traffic was again high and we were still in Kerala, and the ride was same as Day 2 and 3. Small roads , Huge traffic, Lots of heat. So peep skimper squeeze routine was back again. At around 9:45 am we stopped over for breakfast and had a discussion about the roads, we both knew that once we get out of Kerala roads would get better.

We continued riding hoping for the road conditions to get better, but it did not it was the same, and our hopes of having a comfortable ride were shattered. Our only solace was the views were better and the roads were slightly wider.

We continued our ride with the hope of finding better riding conditions in TN, we entered TN at around 1:30 pm. We were expecting a miracle to happen, we were expecting better roads but the transition from Kerala to TN roads was visible only on the sign-boards of the various shops, it had obviously changed, even my untrained eye could see it, it was all written in Tamil. The roads didn't get any better and was only getting worse as we entered the cities, there were unpaved roads, too much traffic, pot-holes, and it was very very hot. All our hopes of the roads getting better were suddenly fading away….

We continued on riding in the unrelenting heat and finally found a sign that showed the direction to Kanyakumari. We took the turn and we soon noticed that there was less traffic and lots of trees around and the scenery was getting better.







We were so happy at this point, the cool breeze, the narrow roads with absolutely no traffic was exactly what the doctor had ordered. As we rode we hit the Kanyakumari city, where the traffic picked up again. We knew we were very close to our destination point and continued weaving our bikes in and out of Kanyakumari traffic until we hit the Salem-Kanyakumari highway . The road was absolutely beautiful and what better way to reach your destination, it was only 1 KM to Kanyakumari-tip of India and this was the best road we had found in the last 3 days.

I am not sure of what went through my friend's head, but I had an emotional moment as we approached Kanyakumari. We both had never done anything like this, I was a new rider and was riding only for the past 1 month or so, and we both knew this ride was a shot in the dark for both of us. All our previous rides were short rides with a big group, we actually had not even planned on a ride. There’s no way we should have reached Kanyakumari, we should have backed out of the ride even before reaching Kochi, but we pushed ourselves against some toughest riding conditions we both were put against to reach here, at the southern tip of India, Kanyakumari. How about that ?? ….i think I even had a teardrop roll down.

Anyways once we reached the southern tip, we had a tough time finding a room, as it was Dec 25th and and heavy tourist traffic inflow. Finally we found a room, to our surprise this was the cheapest room we got on the entire trip until now, that too in Kanyakumari on a Holiday.
Room cost 1000 INR and it was good.

We checked in into our rooms at around 3:30, decided to take a break and then head out to the beach. Also we decided to inform our families and friends that we had reached Kanyakumari, and everyone congratulated us.

We both freshened up, took a small break, had lunch, then picked our camera’s and went out for some photos.



















As beautiful as Kanyakumari's beaches can be, it stinks of human excrement, there's no way to put it, but sorry guys, there's waste all over the place and the place can become unbearable very quickly...

Done with our sight-seeing we decided to have dinner and met up some people who went ooh’s aah’s on what we had just done, obviously we were enjoying it!!. Done with us enjoying people’s reactions, headed back to our room. I really didn’t enjoy the dinner, something was wrong, I was not exactly feeling well about what I just ate, the problems would surface in the following days, I knew it. Anyways we congratulated each other on our achievement and called it a day.

Some more photos from Kanyakumari


Some more photos from the day...

[naveenroy]

Originally Posted by RROD

As beautiful as Kanyakumari's beaches can be, it stinks of human excrement, there's no way to put it, but sorry guys, there's waste all over the place and the place can become unbearable very quickly...

If you go during December, all you can smell in the beachside is just ****. Pilgrims come from all over the country and lay land-mines wherever they please. It was even worse some years back. So you can imagine how it was before! We locals don't venture near the seaside anytime during those months. Sad but true.

On a happier note - stunning 1st photo on this post! Really nice shot.

[aneezan]

Great riding and wonderful photos. Both bikes look great.

Bad day/time to visit Kanyakumari. December is pilgrim season, and you won't be able to find a place to put your foot. The stink is also un-bearable.

[RROD]

Day 5

We both were ready by 5:15 am, and after paying up the room rent, we left the room at 5:30 am and were on our way to Kanyakumari. We took the absolutely fantastic Salem-Kanyakumari highway.

We were supposed to meet up our friend Saquib at Valparai as per our initial plan, but just the previous day Saquib had called and informed us that due to office work, he would not be able to join us, this was a bummer for us, as we were really looking forward to meet him at Valparai . This really let us down, because we had never met any of the YRC riders before and now Saquib also was not there. Anyways Saquib had introduced us to Ronnie from YRC at Valparai, so we headed out for Valparai.

Before I go any further, one tip why you guys have to use high beam’s on Highways. Here Jeevan was leading and the road was pitch dark ahead. Jeevan was apparently on High Beam’s and I for some reason was not. We were easily crusing at 100 KM/h, and I had decided to hunker down on the bike tank. I could only see CBR 250’s tail light ahead of me, the weather was cool, the road was smooth, so I was really enjoying the ride, and suddenly at the blind side of my right eye, I whizzed past a big rock. The rock was at least as big as a football lying on the road, and I never noticed it. It was just blind luck that I didnt go over it. It reminded me of the dangers even on a good road as this. At any cost please keep your high beams On especially while riding in pitch dark conditions.

As we continued to ride we could see windmills on either side of the roads, and which just added to the already lovely morning ride. Jeevan decided to pull over for a tea and I too was more than willing to oblige.





Once done with the Tea and a smoke, I casually asked Jeevan now that Saquib is also not there, I don’t know what to do once we go to Valaparai. Even Jeevan agreed, not having Saquib was a bummer. So I casually suggested, shall we go to Rameshwaram, Jeevan as usual was elated and told YES. So we asked the good gentlemen who were sitting there for directions to reach Rameshwaram, noted down the directions and decided to ride to Rameshwaram.

When we started towards Rameshwaram, the roads started getting narrower again as we exited from the highway, I was worried, oh no not again, I don't want the potholed roads ruin the ride again. But this was there for only for a short while. We were trying to find the highway which would take us to Rameshwaram. The road we were looking for is none other than the East Coast Road. One of most beautiful road's you will ever ride on.











At one point, we decided to pull over at a place and have breakfast. My stomach was still not right, I was not feeling better at all. Thanks for the ride, i was able to stop thinking about it. The roads just got better and ride even better, and I had totally forgotten about my stomach upset. There were small villages and towns staggered on the highway, but unlike Kerala the ECR traffic is very less and the views are just spectacular, words would have a tough time describing the feeling that you get while riding here.











We continued to ride on, and the heat started picking up, I am not complaining here, just mentioing that it was getting hot, but the ride was still a lot of fun. For the first time in the ride, I was feeling sleepy, I just could not keep my eyes open, asked Jeevan to pull over at the next stop for a tea, and this is what happened. More people ogling at our bikes, and we enjoying the attention.




We spent about 15 min’s here, having tea in such a beautiful place with these beautiful people, it just strikes you that these guys must be having the life we all beckon to. Absolutely beautiful locales, enough to eat, survive, no traffic, absolutely peaceful life.



Like every other travellers wish, I too wished I could just spend my life there, but that’s not gonna happen now is it……..so it’s all been wishful thinking. So done with our tea we decided to move on.

So we went on and on greeted by some beautiful scenery….

As we approached Ramanathapuram, we were about 60 KM’s away from Rameshwaram, the traffic picked up, not bad yet, the scenery was good and we still continued to enjoy the ride.

We reached Pamban bridge. The bridge was blocked as some construction work was in progress. So I and Jeevan pulled over and were over-seeing the bridge and the railway track next to it. Just then a gentleman pulled over and asked us if we are riding from Bangalore. We told yes.
Gentleman : I saw your bike registration numbers and I thought I would say Hi. BTW we are riding from Karwar….
Me : *Jaws dropped*, Sir, your riding with your wife on a Suzuki Access from Karwar….*still unable to believe what I just saw* …

Here’s a photo of them, please be enlightened.
They were doing a road trip on an Suzuk Access and I have relatives who complain of getting tired to go on a vacation in an Innova. Hats-off to the couple



People all throughout our ride were calling us crazy, mad guys, what not. These guys should have met these guys to understand how much fun riding/driving/touring is

After exchanging goodbye’s with the fellow riders we decided to start, as the road-block was removed and traffic started picking, as I started riding, I realized there’s a train coming in. Wow what a feeling me on the pamban bridge, and the train on the left side. It just could not get any better One photo from one of my previous trips of the railway track.



We continued on and just before entering Rameshwaram we decided to stop over and take a break. We met 2 very excited fishermen kids who were all curious about our bikes and were more than willing to know about their life style. It was quite an insight.

Below a pic Jeevan with the kids.







Decided to leave the place, and took the road back to Rameshwaram. Once we reached Rameshwaram, we had a very tough time finding a room to stay. Every hotel was booked, it took us almost 2 hours to find a room. It was almost 2:30 when we checked into a room. Once checked in, we decided to have lunch and then leave to Dhanushkodi. Couple of photo's from my previous trip.





The ride to Dhanushkodi is again very good, with sea on both the sides. It was about 4:30 when we reached Dhanushkodi, there was a lot of crowd around this area, and we both really didn’t know if we wanted to go off-road or not. Enquired people around and they told you can take your bikes to the tip of India. When we enquired the Police they told, it’s totally your responsibility we don't suggest you to go ahead. Going by Jeeps or Tempo Traveller’s was out of question as parking our bikes in the parking area was out of question, as I had parked my bike for 5 min’s and couple of guys started getting on the bike and started fiddling with it. So we dropped the plan of taking the Jeep also. So I asked Jeevan shall we go ahead with our bikes, Jeevan was also skeptical initially but finally he told let’s see what happens and we decided to go to the tip on our bikes.

I went ahead and started riding, there was a trail that was created by the Jeeps and other vehicles that had been carrying tourists to and fro. So we decided ride on those tracks. I started riding, I noticed that riding the sand with my current tyres was very difficult. And within the first 10 metres I was stuck and accelerating hard was only making it worse as I was sinking into the sand. On top of it all, those Jeeps started coming from behind, and started honking at me, I did not want to be a nuisance and lifted the bike out of the sand, and then out of the tracks and went to the side giving way to the traffic. I was looking for Jeevan and he had made in-roads and was ahead of me, seeing this, I decided to move on, so put my bike back on the trail, and started riding but was again sinking deep into the sand. When I looked for Jeevan, he was not actually making any progress at all, he was actually struggling equally. I had not noticed but Jeevan’s bike was in deep trouble and his bike being pulled out of the sand with the help of 2 kids who were helping him. I realized that I have to soon get out of the way for the vehicles behind me, so I decided to get off my bike and started pushing it by accelerating lightly . The bike started making good progress and soon we were out of the loose sand and on slippery but better surface, where we could at least sit and ride. I looked back and Jeevan was still struggling to get his bike out of the sand. Finally one of the furious driver’s got out of his vehicle lifted Jeevan’s bike, put it out of the tracks, and gave him an earful for the nuisance he had created Finally he was also out of the loose sand. We both met up and had a discussion as to how we just got our rear's kicked.Asked Jeevan what do we do now…
Jeevan : We are being over optimistic with our bikes.
Me : Yeah...we really don't know what is there ahead, and I am not willing to take the chance of riding ahead.
Jeevan : yeah..let’s not kid ourselves let’s get out of here.

Riding back was again very difficult, as we had to push our bikes through the loose sand. It was a good 100 metres ride, and pushing these bikes though the loose sand wasn't very easy. This is probably the most tiring , difficult and exhausting thing we did on the ride, just getting in and out of that 100 metres of sand had tired us out, once out we stopped just to take a breath and realize how lucky we were to get out of it. Couple of guys came and told us why did you come back, you had crossed the tough part rest of it was easy, my reaction was like "You tell us now ???" :| . We also met a couple of riders from bangalore who met us back in Rameshwaram they also told us that we had crossed the tough part the remaining ride is quite easy, this is when I and Jeevan were kicking ourselves. These guys were also riders and hearing it from the horses mouth that "it was easy" was like putting salt on a wound, as we had really struggled to cross the loose sand and had backed out when things were easier……

We should have just gone ahead saying “let’s see what happens” , but we just did not have the guts to go ahead as we really didn't know how bad the road could be, and I really didn't want to base my decision on a Jeep driver’s opinion. I do not regret not doing it, because I know I will do it the next time. But we chickened out of it, and that hurts….

Once out, we decided to take a tea and ride out of Dhanushkodi.





On the way to Rameshwaram there’s a temple, where you can reach by taking a detour. We reached the temple and while coming back found a stone bench on the road. We decided to take a break here….one of the best breaks we had taken. The place was absolutely peaceful with the sea on both the sides. We were for almost 45 min’s before we decided reluctantly to head back to Rameshwaram.

Once we reached Rameshwaram, met up with some other riders and shared our experiences. It was around 6:30 when we went back to our rooms. We freshened up, decided to go out and have dinner. My stomach was still not better, and the food we were eating was not helping either.

We finally found a decent place for dinner, had some tea again, and decided to head back to room, and called it a day.

Rameshwaram and Dhaushkodi is a must visit place for everybody, please do not miss it