WARNING: This is going to be an extra-long post about the >500km drive I had from Vengurla to Pune in a single day. This is one of the longest, most tiring and hence probably most daring bike ride I have undertaken till date. But natural, that I am going to make it sound like I have been to moon and returned unharmed. So read at your own peril. You have been warned. ;)
The Last Day Blues
The last day of our road-trip. Today, we were going to split - destined for our individual destinations. I had planned to stay in Chiplun, enroute Pune, while Pravya was to leave for Kolhapur from Vengurla via public transport.
We were in denial. It was hard to digest that it was indeed the last day. It kept feeling like the road-trip had started merely couple days back, and a lot more was yet to come. We hadn't got enough of it, and wanted it to last a lot longer. But that wasn't to be. It's in moment like these, that you end up envying lives of such free birds as Jim Corbett, Milind Gunaji, Kalyan Varma, for the way they get paid for living a life like this.
The Light-house
That day we got up quite early and went to checkout the light-house, which, we had learned, was somewhere on the hill behind the Sagar bungalow. Once on the hill, we tried quite a few routes that looked like leading up the hill towards the light-house, but met with dead-ends like dense bushes and steep, slippery gravel mounds. Finally, after sometime, we found a manageable route up the hill that ended in bushes around the light-house compound. Getting through those bushes was an ordeal due to thorns. But eventually we entered the light-house in a true James Bond style - from the sea, up the hill, over a slippery path "where no human being is expected to venture into" (oh yeah!), through the dense scrubs, over the compound and into the campus! Anxious that someone will take us to task for entering a government building in an illegal way, we moved around avoiding eye-contacts with any moving thing. And thankfully, no one questioned us.
We moved around there, took in the views and eventually found the right way out that had proper stairs and ended a tad few meters before the spot from where we had started looking for a way up the hill!
Breakfast
Breakfast was next on mind, but even after moving around here and there in the town, we cound;t find a single open restarurant. Seemed like Vengurla doesn't believe in having their breakfast anywhere but in their own home. Finally found a very humble joint near a petrol pump, had our breakfast, did a tankfull for further journey and set out for the room.
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The Journey Back
We got ready to leave in about an hour, and by 11am, we were on our way. I dropped Pravya at Vengurla bus stand, confirmed there was bus to Kolhapur in about half and hour, tied my bag on the back seat with couple of 6mm ropes that I was carrying (afterall, the knots that I had learnt as part of climbing ropework was coming immensely handy) and by 11:30am, after having couple of glasses of suger-cane juice, I was on my way to Chiplun.
Enroute, I realised the rope had developed slack, and the bag was all wobbly. Spent almost half an hour trying different combinaions and switched to using Tarbuck knots on both ends, instead of having figure-of-eight on one end, and Tarbuck on the other. The USP of Tarbuck knot is it allows adjustment and tightening even after it's tied - a characteristic that I found way too handy while tying the bag that day. Having an adjustable knot on both ends makes it easier to tighten as needed. And sure enough, the bag never came loose again.
It was a long journey. Chiplun itself was more than 250kms from Vengurla. But even after lunch, when I realised that I was maintaining 70kmph over the distance, I decided to make a dash for Pune, based on my previous experience of driving my car from Malvan to Pune.
That time, we had left Malvan at around 2pm, were at Ratnagiri when light had almost diminished, in Mangaon at 11:45pm and then in Pune by 2am in the morning.
Compared to that, I had an advantage of around 2.5hrs of daylight. Besides, when we had travelled in car, it was December - the time of an year when days are shortest. This was, on the other hand, May - exactly opposite - with longest days in an year. So I had about an hour of extra daylight - making it and advantage of almost 4-hours! So if I would rush, I should be able to make it somewhere between Mahad and Mangaon before nightfall and I won't have to tolerate the infamous upper-beam torture on one of the deadliest highways in Maharashtra.
And with that calculation in mind, I dashed off towards Pune in full blast. Such long drives on highways tend to get monotonous and boring quickly. Twisty turvy ghats and friendly races on such a terrain, are about the only antidotes to the boredome of a driver on such drives.
I entertained myself with such races amidst boards like - "तुम्ही प्रवासी आहात, स्पर्धक नव्हे", "आवरा वेगाला, सावरा जीवाला", "चूक असते छोटीशी, खेळ होई जीवाशी" etc. I must say the boards are quite effective since many a times I found myself not wanting to cross 100kmph.
Yet, I counted the vehicles that managed to comprehensively overtake me and keep me on the tail. One was a Chevy Captiva, one Palio ELX, and a guy with the impressive Yamaha R16. the bike definitely has a racing DNA. Besides, the guy had a very impressive cornering technique, confidence and excellent control. Without these it's impossible to manage these ghats at high speeds.
Racing the the Palio ELX was fun. I knew that a Palio has tall gearing, and and ELX being an old version meant it was probably a 1.2 litre engine. A 1.2 litre engine, with tall gearing makes for a lousy pickup from inertia. So I used to target those time-bands when the palio guy had to pickup speed after braking. I almost always overtook him in those bands. But then, once a palio picks up, it's the same tall gearing that makes it a formidable competitor. It would always overtake me eventually, no matter if I was doing 120kmph or 130kmph, and would vanish from my sight .... till it would brake next, that is.
Shaken, not Stirred
While enroute Chiplun, probably in Kastye ghat, I was tailing a Swift Desire LDI. The diesel engine had gone berserk and was spewing black-and-blue smoke. I just cant tolerate the air I breath being polluted by such amount of smoke. So I resolved to overtake that car. And after a couple attempts I realized the driver was blocking my way and wasn't letting me pass, for reasons unknown.
It was not long, before I lost my patience and decided to make a dash at the next turn. I had noticed there were no incoming vehicles and deemed it safe to use the full width of the road at the turn, to overtake that car.
I caught up with him at the turn alright, but while overtaking it dawned on me that the U-turn was way too sharp that what I had expected. That Desire itself was struggling to stay on the road and avoid skidding. In a fraction, it came straight in front of me, in 90 degrees. To avoind bumping into the car, I straightened up, let go of the turn, and aimed for the roadside. Fortunately, the car passed, but my bike went into roadside gravel at quite high speed. I couldn't do anything but to take a nasty fall with a full roll off the bike. I had a helmet on, and the roll, though dramatic, had probably prevented any serious injury due to impact. Couple of bikers, going in both directions stopped to come pick me up. They seemed surprised that I was alright enough to stand and pick my bike up after that dramatic fall. I was shaken, but (thankfully) not stirred (physically).
I took a 5-10mins break before resuming. And after that, I made it a point to keep my speed and agressive driving in check, more due to the emotional impact of the fall, than due to the bruises on hand and legs that had started making their presence felt.
Rest of the drive quite un-eventful. Going at about 80-90kmph, taking in the views, which thankfully were abundant due to number of ghat sections along the route. It kept my mind off the fall, and off from speeding and racing again. NH17, if we ignore its 'deadly' tag, is a delightful highway with brilliant views and, for most of the way, good surface. I kept rolling along.
The Unbelievable Kashedi Ghat
A delight of NH17, is the Kashedi ghat that ends just before Poladpur while going towards Mumbai. Smooth well-laid tar surface, challenging twists and turns, well banked u-turns along most of the route, and very wide. It's a biker's, neigh a driver's, paradise. A road for which you would leave everything else behind apart from your vehicle, and just do a fast pacy cornering while leaving the bike to the winds. It's a heaven for those with quality high power and high performance bikes (obnoxious bullet riders, this is not for you, please go elsewhere with your appallingly loud, all-pomp-no-substance bullets). Probably the best I have seen so far. Also the longest.
Tamhini Ghat
By the time I crossed Mahad, the sun had set and it was getting dark. It was a bull's eye as far as my calculation and execution of the plan was concerned. I was indeed between Mahad and Mangaon by the time of sun-set and though I had to endure the upper-beam torture of NH17, it was for merely half an hour. I somehow kept my patience through that half an hour.
By 7:30pm, after couple of glasses of sugar-cane juice at Mangaon, I had started towards Pune via Nizampur and Tamhini ghat.
It was seemingly a full moon night, yet due to the kind of dense jungle through which Tamhini ghat passes, it was quite dark. Tamhini being a very less frequented ghat, there was scarcely any vehicle that passed me in either direction. It's quite ennervating to drive a bike alone through such passages in the night. And then to top it all, I lost my way! Fortunately there was an Arhatic Yoga Ashram on the way where I could confirm that I had indeed lost my way, turned back and got on the correct route.
I was exhausted, my body was paining like anything and Pune was just not coming nearby. Worse, the bad road was testing my patience. Even on a fresh morning, Tamhini roads are barely bearable. On a lonely night, after around 400kms of drive already, next 120kms of such a surface is nothing short of slow poison.
Home Sweet Home
Eventually, by 10:30pm, it was home sweet home. That sweet, cosy place after 520kms, 11hrs of driving. My whole body was talking, and I would have sold my bike for the rest of one night. 520kms in a day is my record drive till date. And I will never ever will have enough motivation to break it anytime in future.
The CKRT saga had officially ended, and the sweet feeling of a cosy home after a long drive had easily overpowered the bitterness due to end of CKRT. A warm bath later, I was in the bed, dozing like I was having a sleep of my life.
Stats
At Vengurla Bus Stand:
Time: 11:30am
Odometer Reading: 25926km
At Home in Pune -
Time: 10:30pm
Odometer Reading: 26447km
We got ready to leave in about an hour, and by 11am, we were on our way. I dropped Pravya at Vengurla bus stand, confirmed there was bus to Kolhapur in about half and hour, tied my bag on the back seat with couple of 6mm ropes that I was carrying (afterall, the knots that I had learnt as part of climbing ropework was coming immensely handy) and by 11:30am, after having couple of glasses of suger-cane juice, I was on my way to Chiplun.
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| Enroute Chiplun |
It was a long journey. Chiplun itself was more than 250kms from Vengurla. But even after lunch, when I realised that I was maintaining 70kmph over the distance, I decided to make a dash for Pune, based on my previous experience of driving my car from Malvan to Pune.
That time, we had left Malvan at around 2pm, were at Ratnagiri when light had almost diminished, in Mangaon at 11:45pm and then in Pune by 2am in the morning.
Compared to that, I had an advantage of around 2.5hrs of daylight. Besides, when we had travelled in car, it was December - the time of an year when days are shortest. This was, on the other hand, May - exactly opposite - with longest days in an year. So I had about an hour of extra daylight - making it and advantage of almost 4-hours! So if I would rush, I should be able to make it somewhere between Mahad and Mangaon before nightfall and I won't have to tolerate the infamous upper-beam torture on one of the deadliest highways in Maharashtra.
And with that calculation in mind, I dashed off towards Pune in full blast. Such long drives on highways tend to get monotonous and boring quickly. Twisty turvy ghats and friendly races on such a terrain, are about the only antidotes to the boredome of a driver on such drives.
I entertained myself with such races amidst boards like - "तुम्ही प्रवासी आहात, स्पर्धक नव्हे", "आवरा वेगाला, सावरा जीवाला", "चूक असते छोटीशी, खेळ होई जीवाशी" etc. I must say the boards are quite effective since many a times I found myself not wanting to cross 100kmph.
Yet, I counted the vehicles that managed to comprehensively overtake me and keep me on the tail. One was a Chevy Captiva, one Palio ELX, and a guy with the impressive Yamaha R16. the bike definitely has a racing DNA. Besides, the guy had a very impressive cornering technique, confidence and excellent control. Without these it's impossible to manage these ghats at high speeds.
Racing the the Palio ELX was fun. I knew that a Palio has tall gearing, and and ELX being an old version meant it was probably a 1.2 litre engine. A 1.2 litre engine, with tall gearing makes for a lousy pickup from inertia. So I used to target those time-bands when the palio guy had to pickup speed after braking. I almost always overtook him in those bands. But then, once a palio picks up, it's the same tall gearing that makes it a formidable competitor. It would always overtake me eventually, no matter if I was doing 120kmph or 130kmph, and would vanish from my sight .... till it would brake next, that is.
Shaken, not Stirred
While enroute Chiplun, probably in Kastye ghat, I was tailing a Swift Desire LDI. The diesel engine had gone berserk and was spewing black-and-blue smoke. I just cant tolerate the air I breath being polluted by such amount of smoke. So I resolved to overtake that car. And after a couple attempts I realized the driver was blocking my way and wasn't letting me pass, for reasons unknown.
It was not long, before I lost my patience and decided to make a dash at the next turn. I had noticed there were no incoming vehicles and deemed it safe to use the full width of the road at the turn, to overtake that car.
I caught up with him at the turn alright, but while overtaking it dawned on me that the U-turn was way too sharp that what I had expected. That Desire itself was struggling to stay on the road and avoid skidding. In a fraction, it came straight in front of me, in 90 degrees. To avoind bumping into the car, I straightened up, let go of the turn, and aimed for the roadside. Fortunately, the car passed, but my bike went into roadside gravel at quite high speed. I couldn't do anything but to take a nasty fall with a full roll off the bike. I had a helmet on, and the roll, though dramatic, had probably prevented any serious injury due to impact. Couple of bikers, going in both directions stopped to come pick me up. They seemed surprised that I was alright enough to stand and pick my bike up after that dramatic fall. I was shaken, but (thankfully) not stirred (physically).
I took a 5-10mins break before resuming. And after that, I made it a point to keep my speed and agressive driving in check, more due to the emotional impact of the fall, than due to the bruises on hand and legs that had started making their presence felt.
Rest of the drive quite un-eventful. Going at about 80-90kmph, taking in the views, which thankfully were abundant due to number of ghat sections along the route. It kept my mind off the fall, and off from speeding and racing again. NH17, if we ignore its 'deadly' tag, is a delightful highway with brilliant views and, for most of the way, good surface. I kept rolling along.
The Unbelievable Kashedi Ghat
A delight of NH17, is the Kashedi ghat that ends just before Poladpur while going towards Mumbai. Smooth well-laid tar surface, challenging twists and turns, well banked u-turns along most of the route, and very wide. It's a biker's, neigh a driver's, paradise. A road for which you would leave everything else behind apart from your vehicle, and just do a fast pacy cornering while leaving the bike to the winds. It's a heaven for those with quality high power and high performance bikes (obnoxious bullet riders, this is not for you, please go elsewhere with your appallingly loud, all-pomp-no-substance bullets). Probably the best I have seen so far. Also the longest.
Tamhini Ghat
By the time I crossed Mahad, the sun had set and it was getting dark. It was a bull's eye as far as my calculation and execution of the plan was concerned. I was indeed between Mahad and Mangaon by the time of sun-set and though I had to endure the upper-beam torture of NH17, it was for merely half an hour. I somehow kept my patience through that half an hour.
By 7:30pm, after couple of glasses of sugar-cane juice at Mangaon, I had started towards Pune via Nizampur and Tamhini ghat.
It was seemingly a full moon night, yet due to the kind of dense jungle through which Tamhini ghat passes, it was quite dark. Tamhini being a very less frequented ghat, there was scarcely any vehicle that passed me in either direction. It's quite ennervating to drive a bike alone through such passages in the night. And then to top it all, I lost my way! Fortunately there was an Arhatic Yoga Ashram on the way where I could confirm that I had indeed lost my way, turned back and got on the correct route.
I was exhausted, my body was paining like anything and Pune was just not coming nearby. Worse, the bad road was testing my patience. Even on a fresh morning, Tamhini roads are barely bearable. On a lonely night, after around 400kms of drive already, next 120kms of such a surface is nothing short of slow poison.
Home Sweet Home
Eventually, by 10:30pm, it was home sweet home. That sweet, cosy place after 520kms, 11hrs of driving. My whole body was talking, and I would have sold my bike for the rest of one night. 520kms in a day is my record drive till date. And I will never ever will have enough motivation to break it anytime in future.
The CKRT saga had officially ended, and the sweet feeling of a cosy home after a long drive had easily overpowered the bitterness due to end of CKRT. A warm bath later, I was in the bed, dozing like I was having a sleep of my life.
Stats
At Vengurla Bus Stand:
Time: 11:30am
Odometer Reading: 25926km
At Home in Pune -
Time: 10:30pm
Odometer Reading: 26447km
