November is the month of Rajyotsava in Karnataka - the month when Karnataka State was established. This month, I culminated this with 2 awesome journeys across the land. Both 1000km+ journeys on weekends. One by 4 wheels, another by 2. Some trip logs on the same will follow! :)
Monday, November 26, 2007
The Hampi Return Drive - Part 1
Reached Mysore at 9pm. It was a blast all through (in terms of enjoyment!).
A trip log for my stretch of the trip back. It is rather long - just discovered on a re-read!
Road up until Bellary from Hospet was what one would say is "interesting". I pretty much found confidence on the MRF rear-tyre, relearned some laws of physics, gathered dust by the jacketful - and also come to appreciate the fun of MotoX-ing. (I've been more of on-road/smooth-roads guy).
Riding up with NFS/Santhosh was fun as we were both doing similar speeds - and were each faster on different stretches/terrain - so there some things I learnt to do better!
The ride to Bellary started out with mud n stone - and ended with a great view of a Fort (later identified as the Bellary fort). Sometime into the ride, Santhosh stopped in between - and I was like "Why, here?". "Do you have my mobile number?" "OOPS!".
Yeah, communication, damn important!
In between the bad patches of road, and the mud and stone were some stretches that looked like genuine Moto X territory. There were craters/depressions that basically made the road look rather challenging - but once I got into the thick of it, it was fun. Loads of it. (okay, plus loads of dust too!). so up and down, up and down on those dunes for a bit - and back to flat land, but bad patches of road. Finally we neared one stretch where a bridge was being built - inducing a tiny bit of wading thru muddy water - and saw the prominent sign that said "NH 63". NH, indeed.
The constant speed/gear changes had tired my legs out a bit now and I was really really looking forward to giving it a rip on the stretch further from Bellary - and not really looking forward to any interruptions - and definitely was off my photo-snapping mood! The Fort turned out to be a good exception. It looked so good that I wanted to take a detour and actually explore it - but the promised land, er, roads were beckoning! :D
After the diversion near Bellary to Bangalore, the road opened up to SH19 ( link). One of the riders/pillion with Venkat had a video of the road, and it proved every bit as scrumptious as was evidenced! This connects Bidar to Srirangapattana - and having taken it right uptil Srirangapattana, I agree with Venkat's assessment of it being the best SH around! One of the best uses of my tax money!!
The SH is, in my opinion, possibly the one that offers the best variety views of any road - at least in this part of the country. The difference in the spectacular views is so stark. Starting around Bellary are the barren stretches of land, with rocks, some vegetation - and very little people, animals or traffic for company. And the smooth tarmac is banked and curved perfectly for a blast on the stretch - right up until Hiriyur - a good 150km.
Initial stretches of the road were great, but the curves were peppered with rumblers which kinda spoilt the ride - but did offer the opportunity to experiment with different ways of approaching and going over them - slowing down smoothly over them, going over them rough, standing on knees, or just taking hands off the 'bar!
Got a lot more comfy with leaning the bike at speeds of 100 or so - and the road provided immensely well for these. As also maxing out on engine and vehicle speed. While I had come close to maxing RPM on 5th before, it was the first time I actually got it going past 9500 RPM for a sustained time. As Santhosh said, it would've been amazing if we'd had bigger bikes for that stretch of the road! But then, as I discovered later, there were better experiences to be had!!
Up until 20km from Hiriyur I could roughly see either Santhosh's bike or his light in my RVMs, and then suddenly it seemed like he had disappeared! Slowed down a bit (after busting the bike's guts out for a while, coming down to 90/100 does feel like a lot!). Still no sign. Halted and wondered if that speck in the distance was actually his bike - or was it the mirage due to the heat. Called him, and it turned out it was him, taking a break. Called up Vaas to find that they were in A1. C'durga - and that the signal was real bad.
We, on rather desolate looking state highway were having a great signal - come to think of it, the signal is more needed on a desolate highway!!
"Lunch" was at Hiriyur - and boy it was a good spread. Especially the Dosai's. The signs all the way to Hiriyur kept mentioning distances alternately to Bangalore and to Srirangapatna - and the difference was hardly 20km. Considering that my grandparents were in Mysore - and it's my Grandpa's Birthday on Monday - that was a tempting invitation all through the route. So I'd see a board that said "Bangalore 206" followed by "Srirangapatna 223" or something on those lines.
Finally gave in, and asked the Hotel guy at Hiriyur - Hotel Surya btw - and it comes recommended (both by me, and by the folks I asked for directions in Hiriyur) - for directions to Mysore. There seems to be something about bikers touring in jackets and such gear that makes people want to help - and this seemed to be the case here too!
The cashier put me in-touch with a Paanwallah who apparently also runs a travel concern - and he gave me the lowdown on the route to take to Mysore. And *scared the shit outta me* by telling me that the road around Pandavapura (near Srirangapatna) goes through jungle and may not be safe beyond 11pm. His adamancy on my reaching there earliest by 11 - and said the road was not good in patches - for about a 60km stretch.
The Hospet-Bellary road was fresh in memory, and I geared up for some "toughening" on the way to Mysore.
(to be contd.)
A trip log for my stretch of the trip back. It is rather long - just discovered on a re-read!
Road up until Bellary from Hospet was what one would say is "interesting". I pretty much found confidence on the MRF rear-tyre, relearned some laws of physics, gathered dust by the jacketful - and also come to appreciate the fun of MotoX-ing. (I've been more of on-road/smooth-roads guy).
Riding up with NFS/Santhosh was fun as we were both doing similar speeds - and were each faster on different stretches/terrain - so there some things I learnt to do better!
The ride to Bellary started out with mud n stone - and ended with a great view of a Fort (later identified as the Bellary fort). Sometime into the ride, Santhosh stopped in between - and I was like "Why, here?". "Do you have my mobile number?" "OOPS!".
Yeah, communication, damn important!
In between the bad patches of road, and the mud and stone were some stretches that looked like genuine Moto X territory. There were craters/depressions that basically made the road look rather challenging - but once I got into the thick of it, it was fun. Loads of it. (okay, plus loads of dust too!). so up and down, up and down on those dunes for a bit - and back to flat land, but bad patches of road. Finally we neared one stretch where a bridge was being built - inducing a tiny bit of wading thru muddy water - and saw the prominent sign that said "NH 63". NH, indeed.
The constant speed/gear changes had tired my legs out a bit now and I was really really looking forward to giving it a rip on the stretch further from Bellary - and not really looking forward to any interruptions - and definitely was off my photo-snapping mood! The Fort turned out to be a good exception. It looked so good that I wanted to take a detour and actually explore it - but the promised land, er, roads were beckoning! :D
After the diversion near Bellary to Bangalore, the road opened up to SH19 ( link). One of the riders/pillion with Venkat had a video of the road, and it proved every bit as scrumptious as was evidenced! This connects Bidar to Srirangapattana - and having taken it right uptil Srirangapattana, I agree with Venkat's assessment of it being the best SH around! One of the best uses of my tax money!!
The SH is, in my opinion, possibly the one that offers the best variety views of any road - at least in this part of the country. The difference in the spectacular views is so stark. Starting around Bellary are the barren stretches of land, with rocks, some vegetation - and very little people, animals or traffic for company. And the smooth tarmac is banked and curved perfectly for a blast on the stretch - right up until Hiriyur - a good 150km.
Initial stretches of the road were great, but the curves were peppered with rumblers which kinda spoilt the ride - but did offer the opportunity to experiment with different ways of approaching and going over them - slowing down smoothly over them, going over them rough, standing on knees, or just taking hands off the 'bar!
Got a lot more comfy with leaning the bike at speeds of 100 or so - and the road provided immensely well for these. As also maxing out on engine and vehicle speed. While I had come close to maxing RPM on 5th before, it was the first time I actually got it going past 9500 RPM for a sustained time. As Santhosh said, it would've been amazing if we'd had bigger bikes for that stretch of the road! But then, as I discovered later, there were better experiences to be had!!
Up until 20km from Hiriyur I could roughly see either Santhosh's bike or his light in my RVMs, and then suddenly it seemed like he had disappeared! Slowed down a bit (after busting the bike's guts out for a while, coming down to 90/100 does feel like a lot!). Still no sign. Halted and wondered if that speck in the distance was actually his bike - or was it the mirage due to the heat. Called him, and it turned out it was him, taking a break. Called up Vaas to find that they were in A1. C'durga - and that the signal was real bad.
We, on rather desolate looking state highway were having a great signal - come to think of it, the signal is more needed on a desolate highway!!
"Lunch" was at Hiriyur - and boy it was a good spread. Especially the Dosai's. The signs all the way to Hiriyur kept mentioning distances alternately to Bangalore and to Srirangapatna - and the difference was hardly 20km. Considering that my grandparents were in Mysore - and it's my Grandpa's Birthday on Monday - that was a tempting invitation all through the route. So I'd see a board that said "Bangalore 206" followed by "Srirangapatna 223" or something on those lines.
Finally gave in, and asked the Hotel guy at Hiriyur - Hotel Surya btw - and it comes recommended (both by me, and by the folks I asked for directions in Hiriyur) - for directions to Mysore. There seems to be something about bikers touring in jackets and such gear that makes people want to help - and this seemed to be the case here too!
The cashier put me in-touch with a Paanwallah who apparently also runs a travel concern - and he gave me the lowdown on the route to take to Mysore. And *scared the shit outta me* by telling me that the road around Pandavapura (near Srirangapatna) goes through jungle and may not be safe beyond 11pm. His adamancy on my reaching there earliest by 11 - and said the road was not good in patches - for about a 60km stretch.
The Hospet-Bellary road was fresh in memory, and I geared up for some "toughening" on the way to Mysore.
(to be contd.)
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