Day 1 of 4, post 2

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 !