Ok so… A major ‘popat’ happened at that wildlife sanctuary, went in, covered half the route of 20 Kms, and all was hunky dory, so turned back, nothing, went back in deeper, still nothing…spent almost 2 hours in there, but no fog, no nothing…. !!
Did find a small signboard leading to a temple 1 km deep into the woods.. A super steep mountain terrain covered in slush and dry leaves… So I thought, maybe here is my adventure, started the ascent in my bike, went 100 meters, got scared (of the terrain) and turned back to the main road. Then again thought, what the heck, might as well… Went back on that track, covered 500 meters this time, but it was way way too much for even a 4 x 4.. So turned back with great difficulty and started the downhill roll… Was very difficult handling the bike during this time ! Tougher than the climb…
Anyway, reached the main road, happy about something at least on that stretch… You will see this terrain in the picture… Shows covered with leaves but it’s what under the leaves that’s terrifying… Slush and big rolly boulders, leading to zero traction on the bike.
Entered Kerala state, reached kasargod, with no major trouble, except I slipped (while standing next to the bike) and no, I was not drunk smile emoticon hit my foot on the bike stand , and bruised a little.. This is after I came out of the wildlife sanctuary. I guess gods way of saying… You wanted excitement ? Here it is!
Anywhooo.. No rooms available anywhere being a long weekend and all (why can’t people just stay at home on long weekends ??)
When I was about to give up and had come to terms with the fact that I might have to ride all night, found a decent hotel, and checked in.. It’s twice the cost of the previous one, but they additionally have shampoo and conditioner in the bathroom (must be a really really expensive shampoo .. )
260 Kms today.. Me like !
Freshened up, wiped the helmet visor of all the butterflies ‘splattered’ on it, had dinner, and now going to crash… Check out the pictures !
Those of who have bikes as well as cars and do long drives in both will know what I am talking about here…
When the roads are good, and so is the weather, you will be super happy on your bike – better than any experience a car can give to you. change the equation a bit, and obviously you will want to be sitting in your car with the air conditioning blowing away, the car absorbing 90% of the potholes, and passing 10% impact on to you. The difference though is that when you take your car on such roads, you can hear it screaming – ‘please just get me off of this road!’ On a bike however, all you hear from the bike is… ‘I double dare you… Let’s continue on this road, I can handle it, you can’t, I’ll just pass on 90% of the impact to you ! ‘
And it does this so beautifully, that you only blame the road, not the limited shock absorption capabilities of a two wheeler.
Another thing I’ve noticed before, and it was very prominent this time on mountainous roads —
If you are on a bullet and your brakes are on the right side…( they have switched this and the gear left location more than a few times in the past 20 years ),
When you bank while turning towards the right side, your brake pedal hits the road, which means you cannot be pushing down on the rear brakes while turning, which also means your approach speed to the curve should be calculated precisely and within milliseconds or you end up going off road – not a good thing on the mountainside ! This calculation needs to be done on every second turn, and winding roads in the mountains mean your mind is very busy at all times..
Somewhere along the way I checked my engine oil since the bike was running warmer than usual and I found out I was again out of engine oil … Faced this On my last trip so I was wise enough to carry a spare liter with me. Topped up and continued on my way.
Today’s plan was to reach kasargod ( thanks Santosh vaidyanathan for the route ) and I insisted and put another destination in between. There is a story behind that as well. Some of you who read my last years post would probably remember the spooky jungle. After that I had taken another trip and not written about it, where I covered another area (5 times spookier) called talacauvery sanctuary and this was in October 2014 … There was road visibility of 15 inches at the worst point, and one meter at the best point. I was literally walking the bike in the dark, the headlight seemed like a tiny little flashlight, had to stop every dew minutes, to wipe off the fog from my helmet visor as well as from glasses and my eyes, and I did this for 20 Kms – seemed like a hundred. Took me a little more than three hours that day.
So this time I wanted to do that same route again, late evening.
So as of now, parked outside that forest, waiting for it to get a little dark, and do that stretch again… It’s almost like a dare for me…. Want to revisit the road that sent me scurrying off last time with my tail tucked between my legs… Much more prepared this time – 2 flashlights, 1 blinker, 2 phones with 70% charge ( not that the will be a signal anyway, but hell, I can use them as a flashlight, iPad and a fully charged power bank.
Let’s just hope ‘mera popat nahin ho jaye’ and I don’t just find a regular 20 km road without adventure this time. For those of you who couldn’t decipher the previous sentence, sorry I couldn’t put it in a better way or in another language – it loses its meaning that way.
Will update with pictures late night tonight after I reach kasargod. Almost time to start the dare trip ! Will post again only after I finally reach kasargod though, so keep your fingers crossed until then !
Unbelievable how the day goes by when you are riding!
All roads are Tollfree for bikes ! I love this place… Managed to get quite a lot of ‘payback’ of tolls that I’ve paid while driving in the car on highways.
Fingertips still numb after 425 Kms of riding. Backend sore already… Need air cushion or gel based seat padding !! After 300 Kms, Checked in to a local lodge at sakleshpur, wolfed down some lunch, didn’t want to waste the rest of the day, so took off to pushpagiri, a very neat ride up in the mountains, thanks to google maps, cos most locals didn’t know the place or maybe I was just pronouncing it incorrectly.
The Google phone battery isn’t as reliable though, (neither is the extra power bank) died with all the pictures and location searches. Had to manage in the middle of nowhere using sign language and super-broken knowledge of the local dialect to find my way around… Was fun though! Got a déjà vu feeling in many places even though it was my first time on this route. Gave someone a ride for 3 Kms and he wouldn’t let me go till I had a coke with him – his treat … How thoughtful !
The roads were in bad shape and a pretty steep climb, but the bullet chugged along to its destination effortlessly. It was me who needed a break every now and then!
Came back to sakleshpur after the phase 2 – 125 km ride, grabbed some dinner and ‘liquid carbs’… Drained now! Sharing some pictures, all in all a very tiring yet refreshing 425 Kms! Tomorrow it’s time to head to the coast line through the forests and ghats, planning for a short 200 km ride. Will do a probable route map to it and get some well earned sleep !
