[rk_sans]

Ahmedabad
Service of Bikes and Local Sightseeing
Accommodation : Oyo Flagship 321, Vastrapur
Accommodation Link : https://goo.gl/maps/fmdn8tCfUBN2

Today’s main program was to get the bikes serviced. So we finished breakfast at the hotel. Suhas, Renu and myself headed to the service center. We had identified the service center before we left Bangalore and we had ensured that the hotel we stayed was near to the service center. It was about a km away from the hotel we stayed.

While we were away for the service of the bikes, Renu’s friend was there for us to take the ladies and other folks around Ahmedabad. They decided to visit Sabramathi Ashram, then the Car museum, Stepwell and then head to Aksharadham.

Back at the service center, Suhas bike was serviced, then my bike and Renu’s bike was taken simultaneously. On my bike, we decided to change the battery as we saw the battery was pretty old and was not getting the required output. There was some more work left with Renu's bike and it was lunch time. All three of us had our lunch at a nearby mall and returned to the service center. By 2 pm, the bikes were ready and then we left the bikes at the hotel.

A call to the others, we came to know that they finished all the planned places and they were heading to Aksharadham. We told them and we will also reach there by 4 pm.

Soon all of us joined at Aksharadham, went around the famous place and we decided to attend the famous lights and water show too. Post the show, we took Uber back to the mall near to the hotel for dinner. Since we had a very late night previous day and we were leaving Ahmedabad the next day, we decided to quickly finish dinner at the mall and retire for the day.

---- Bikes checking into the Service ----


---- First Wash of the bike after about 5000+ kms ----


---- Service Engineer working on Suhas bike ----


---- Post service, a photo call with Service Manager and the Service Engineer ----


---- River Sabramathi ----


---- Sabramathi Ashram ----


---- Lunch for the day ----






---- The famous "Auto World" ----

[rk_sans]

---- Vintage cars photo Contd ----






















































---- Step Well ----

[rk_sans]

Day 16

Ahmedabad – Pune
Distance : 670 Kms Appx
Accommodation : Oyo 8688 Spree Hotels
Google Map Link : https://goo.gl/maps/mSTL5oshc822

Our home run would start today and the foremost was the ladies would head back home directly by flight. We boarded them an uber for the airport and then we left to pune.

As we were travelling on the last day of the year, traffic was very heavy. We slowly made progress, stopped in between first for breakfast. Now that Suhas and myself were riding without pillions, we could cover kilometres without many stops.

As we were about 100 kilometers away from Mumbai. One of Suhas’s friend Amit(Tbhpian "julyone_modi") rode all the way from Mumbai, so that he can join us for lunch and then ride back to Mumbai. So we stopped over for lunch at a Dhaba and then we started our journey towards Pune.

From here traffic was almost 4 times and we were getting struck in the traffic every second junction. Soon we crossed Mumbai and we took the old highway to Pune since the bikes are not allowed on the expressway. Somewhere near Lonavala, again my bike died on me. At this time, I removed the connection to the horn. I had replaced the stock horn with the same voltage air horn for this trip. Again a push start worked and soon we crossed the super crowded Lonavala back on track to Pune.

By around 8 pm we reached Pune and reached the hotel. As I entered the parking lot of the hotel, the bike died on me. I just left the bike at the parking lot and checked into the hotel.

Since it was new year’s eve, we decided to sit over for sometime and review our journey so far. Wishing each of us new year, we retired for the day. Indeed it was good to end the year by doing what you like the best.

Leaving Ahmedabad


With Suhas's friend and tbhpian Amit at Lunch point


Day 17

Pune – Bangalore
Distance : 860 Kms Appx
Accommodation : Home Sweet Home

Morning, we got up by 6 am and were ready to roll by 6.30. Today was the last day of our ride and we should be back home by night. So we decided that I will push start the bike and continue our journey.

Just after Khandala ghat section, we stopped over for breakfast and fuel break. After almost 16 days, we had south indian breakfast and it was a welcome change. Also it was the indication of getting nearer to home.
It was uneventful journey and we started crunching kilometres quickly and soon reached the border of Karnataka. One more stop for quick tea and then a photo stop in front of Suvarna Soudha at Belaguam.

We reached Hubli around 1.30 pm and decided to have lunch at Kamat just after Hubli towards Bangalore. Before this, I stopped over at Dharwad for quick meet with Prashanth (500Countycruiser). A quick conversation about his adventure of GQ ride and I was back on track to reach the lunch point.

After lunch it was just riding and riding back home. Except that we stopped over for tea twice in between before we reached Bangalore. It was around 7 pm when we reached Bangalore, bid adieu to everybody, thanked each one of them for the wonderful team and coordination without which we couldn’t have done this trip.

When we looked back the last 17 days journey it was really a picture perfect trip and never missed on anything what we planned and everything fell in place like a lego building blocks. And most importantly without any issues and we could see the big satisfaction on each of our faces.

Oh !! forgot to mention that, post breakfast, my bike ran like it never had any problem and didn’t die down anywhere in between. Started at one click wherever I stopped post breakfast. So it was the horn the culprit which was draining the battery more faster then it was able to charge.

In front of Suvarna Soudha


"Home Sweet Home" Bidding "Adieu" to the team



With the end of this trip, covered all states except Chattisgarh. I guess this is one of the habit which does not die so easy, so questions have started like what next. And as i finish writing this log, the next ride came up and completed too. Will write soon about that ride too. Until then keep guessing on the next ride

[Aditya]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Travelogues Section. Thanks for sharing!

[Added_flavor]

Thank you Santosh saar for the awesome log. I know for a fact that it's a painful process to capture so many details of this wonderful half a month we spent away from reality! Cheers.

Also, I must mention and thank two people here. One, our very own Parag Sachania for giving some great inputs on road conditions. His inputs helped us out when we were in a dilemma on whether to ride through central India or go with the more established and safer western India route. Thank you, Sir!

Two, my colleague and friend Abhijeet for getting us permission to visit the army unit in Jaisalmer. That truly was one of the best experiences of our lives.

[paragsachania]

Woah! That was one massive itinerary and without doubts it was very well executed folks!!! Cheers to that.

The beauty of such travelogue always lies with the fact that it offers the readers a lot of variety - There's Food, There are Roads and there are People and of course the locations you visited.

Kudos to the riders who managed to do accomplish this journey spanning those 7000 kms without a hiccup. Goes to show the level of passion the riders and even pillions have .

Thanks for sharing!

[Red Liner]

Fantastic trip and lovely detailed log. I will be stealing may of the accommodation points, as well as the route maps for my trip hopefully later this year.

You did this trip in December and was it still so freaking hot? I thought that was the best time to be there.

[Deepak Saligram]

Awesome T-Log Santosh , very detailed and good points to concur and pictures to match, was amazing to hear in person about the whole ride from Suhas and Sandhya!

Keep it going and Godspeed for many more to come

[Nikhilb2008]

I just completed reading the entire travelogue in one sitting.

What an EPIC journey! Santosh and team --- Truly hats off to you all for actually doing what many of us just dream about! So many high end bikes are sold every year but you guys are in that 0.0001% of people who actually use such lovely machines for what they are designed to do!

I absolutely loved the narration as well. Very simple, very clear and the most endearing quality was that it seemed to be straight from the heart. A very genuine, sincere quality that is rarely found nowadays.

It was easy to read as well. Text and then the pictures. Very easy to follow the story.

A couple of points Santosh --- No mention of the tyre puncture somewhere between Jaisalmer and Jodhpur? How did you deal with that? And did you figure out why your bike died on you? Also, Belgaum's Soudha is Suvarna Soudha. Vikas Soudha is in B'lore right next to the good old Vidhana Soudha. Sorry for being pedantic!

[giri1.8]

EPIC! 7000km is something most superbikes never clock in their lifetime! Need to show this to my friends who can't even plan a proper weekend ride Also did you guys actually drive the tank? or Am I missing something from the certificate.

[Porschefire]

This is called as an E-P-I-C ride!!!
Brilliant guys, I'm sure it must've been fun!!! The most important aspect about this is the planning and there can be no better people than our very own Santosh saar and Suhas for the job!

Santosh saar, enjoyed the write-up thoroughly and it felt like I was riding with you guys. Waiting for your next travelogue which I am sure will be even more interesting!

PS: I am somewhere in the middle of the sea at the moment, eating bland food for breakfast, lunch, dinner and the pictures of the delicious food of your trip is making me homesick!!!

[rk_sans]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

You did this trip in December and was it still so freaking hot? I thought that was the best time to be there.

Yes Indeed.

Originally Posted by Deepak Saligram

Keep it going and Godspeed for many more to come

Thanks a lot

Originally Posted by giri1.8

EPIC! 7000km is something most superbikes never clock in their lifetime! Need to show this to my friends who can't even plan a proper weekend ride Also did you guys actually drive the tank? or Am I missing something from the certificate.

Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008

A couple of points Santosh --- No mention of the tyre puncture somewhere between Jaisalmer and Jodhpur? How did you deal with that? And did you figure out why your bike died on you?

Thanks a lot Nikhil.

Puncture did bother me in Jaisalmer but i got it fixed in Jaisalmer itself. Thanks to you hearing me patiently at that time but unfortunately the contact you gave never picked the call and returned back the call. So i decided to head towards Jodhpur. During our lunch break, we found there was air leak in an existing puncture. Pushed couple of puncture strips into it and it solved.

It was the new horn which was draining out the battery faster then it could charge. After i removed the connection to it, there was no issues.

Originally Posted by Porschefire

Santosh saar, enjoyed the write-up thoroughly and it felt like I was riding with you guys. Waiting for your next travelogue which I am sure will be even more interesting!
i

Thanks a lot Abhi

[r_nairtvm]

Originally Posted by rk_sans

[b]Day 16

Ahmedabad – Pune
Distance : 670 Kms Appx
Accommodation : Oyo 8688 Spree Hotels
Google Map Link : https://goo.gl/maps/mSTL5oshc822
Our home run would start today and the foremost was the ladies would head back home directly by flight. We boarded them an uber for the airport and then we left to pune.

Great trip and nicely written report. Enjoyed going through it and some of the pictures were really nostalgic.

Narasimhan, when you want a "young person" to ride along side just give a shout

Best Regards & Ride Safe

Ram

[goandude]

What a wonderful experience, so beautifully organised with a plan you all stuck too with clockwork precision. Double hats off to the ladies who endured weather, riding gear and poor forward viability for super long time on the saddle. Your planning for accommodation, places to visit, distances, servicing of bikes, fuel management, food stops is totally brilliant and I can imagine the amount of detailed research spent on this. Kudos to you all.

One thing, how did you book all the accommodation in advance and keep to your plan so accurately? What if you lost a day earlier in the trip? All accommodation dates would have been disrupted. It's another matter that you reached safe and sound but in the eventuality of a serviceability issue on a vehicle, small mishap on the road, etc. Did you have a fall back option?

Must congratulate you rk_sans for the fabulous write up, the short summary, followed by a brief but useful description and the day to day pics which only added to our ability to follow your travels.

The pics of the vintage cars and bikes were too good, what a collection and what is a "chestmobil"?

[rk_sans]

Originally Posted by goandude

What a wonderful experience, so beautifully organised with a plan you all stuck too with clockwork precision. Double hats off to the ladies who endured weather, riding gear and poor forward viability for super long time on the saddle. Your planning for accommodation, places to visit, distances, servicing of bikes, fuel management, food stops is totally brilliant and I can imagine the amount of detailed research spent on this. Kudos to you all.

One thing, how did you book all the accommodation in advance and keep to your plan so accurately? What if you lost a day earlier in the trip? All accommodation dates would have been disrupted. It's another matter that you reached safe and sound but in the eventuality of a serviceability issue on a vehicle, small mishap on the road, etc. Did you have a fall back option?

Must congratulate you rk_sans for the fabulous write up, the short summary, followed by a brief but useful description and the day to day pics which only added to our ability to follow your travels.

The pics of the vintage cars and bikes were too good, what a collection and what is a "chestmobil"?

Thanks a lot Yes ladies had to appreciated here and it's really difficult to just sit behind without doing anything for long time. Tend to fall asleep very easily.

Very good question and frankly speaking, we never thought about backup plans if we didn't make it for that day.

Basically a mobile clinic is what i understood. Post googling found that this was donated by TB Hospital to the Museum and it was used as mobile clinic for chest related issues.