Hello fellow tourers, this is my first Travelogue in any forum😊
This is a discussion on Coorg Ride: Amateur rider goes for a bike ride🚲
How this plan came up: After a several try, we didn't managed to get tickets of CSK vs RCB ipl match(22nd April 2018) in Chinnaswamy Stadium at Bengaluru😞
so, we decided to go for a bike ride in coming long weekend(28th April 2018 - 1st May 2018).
Casual meet ups started happening with long discussions of where to travel. So after few meetups it was planned to ride to Coorg😍
Plan: Bangalore – Coorg – Bangalore🚩
Date: 28th April 2018 – 1st May 2018
Vehicle: Pulsar 220F, 2 Avenger Cruise 220
Rider & Pillion: Adarsh Tiwari, Akash Ranjan, Rahul Jaikar, Rahul Kevin, Bhanu Singhal and me😊
This was going to be a heck of a trip for all of us. we all were going to ride together for the first time. So every one was very much excited for this trip.
Day 0:
Went to office and had many discussions with my colleagues about the route that we should take, the places that we can visit in Coorg, weather etc. Came back home by 7PM then refreshed, had dinner and communicated with each other on whatsapp group 'Bike Trip' which Akash has created that day. Since Bhanu had Night shift, So we decided to start our trip by 1 PM next day, also decided to keep only 3 Backpacks(1 Backpack for 2 person), reminded each other not forget to carry Power Bank, Mobile Charger(specially to Rahul Jaikar iphone user), Water bottle, Bike gloves, Helmets, Glasses etc then went straight off to bed.
Day 1:
As it was decided to start our journey by 1PM, Woke up almost at 8 AM, refreshed and done with packing followed by Breakfast. Soon after done with servicing of his bike, Adarsh came to my home and we combine our luggage into single Backpack, relaxed for few minutes then we contacted other riding buddies with constant phone calls. At around 1:30 PM, We all met at HSR Layout Petrol Pump, Tanked up our beasts full, Air pressure checked, 10 minutes of chatting as to which route to follow and we decided to take Bangalore-Nice Road-Mysore-KushalNagar-Coorg route, checked the weather forecast on our route, Planned to halt for 15 minutes after every 50-60 KMs. As it was a heavy traffic near SilkBoard-Electronic City route so our speeds were 30-40 KMPH. After entering to Nice Road, leaving aside a few truckers there was no one and road was beyond wide and clear, Picked up speed of approx 135 KMPH for a moment but still rode cautiously. We saw couple in hired Avenger following the same route, for the next 30-40 Km he was on his own contest with us. After every 50 KM, we had halt for tea and just to cool down our butt, Back seat of Avenger is the worst design in terms of comfort, we constantly maintained a speed of 80-90- KMPH or less, throughout our journey. Both sides of the road are either deserted or with farm lands, you hardly see any shops. After ~150 KMs ride from Bangalore was a bliss, great scenic experience. We took small tea break to hydrate ourselves and had roadside chaat from thelas. Till our tea break was over it was almost dawn. There were a slight traces of fog but we could speed up, visibility was not an issue. Clock had already hit 7:00 PM, so we wanted to cover as much KMs possible in next hour before dark, wear all our safety gear and did not stop for next 80-90 KM. By then we were fully exhausted due to hunger. It was almost 9:00 PM, so when we saw Motel on our way, we decided to had dinner there, Dinner was served around 9:30 PM and while chatting over dinner, we communicated with our Homestay owner, passed the message that we will reach there by 12 PM and asked her to send the exact location on whatsapp, so that we can follow the map, By the time, clock has already hit 10:30 PM, Google showed a 75 KMs ride to that location(Homestay) which would take about 1.5 hours of travel, but we actually took close to 2.5 hours to reach there. This was due to Night time and sharp turn in ghatis, also we took one halt in between, remember that Avenger back seat. Next 20 minutes of ride we crossed the town, after which the real face of Coorg has started showing up. we could see the coffee estates and forest ranges on both sides of the road. After a tiring ride and fighting the hot sun, it was a real treat to our eyes to see the green forests, though it was fully dark but you can see the glimpses made by the reflection of head lamp of our beasts, and also you can clearly feel the breezes. The road towards our home-stay location was in bad shape, there were so many patches without tarmac. Not even a single soul was on the road(in the ghatis), it was a scary ride for us(scary for me for sure), what made me more scary was, I was riding a bike that time and I could only able to see the back head light traces of other two Bikes, they were going really fast even in ghatis. For a moment, I thought like we are following wrong route, but we blindly followed google and managed to reach our destination by 1 PM anyhow. After reaching our home-stay, it took us some nice 15-20 minutes to get out of our body Armour, unload all our luggage and freshen up. Sat down for a chit-chat session which was all about what we experienced along the ride. The feeling was massive for us for completing such a milestone ride. Finally after a talking session we finally retired and took the day off. Overall my personal experience after riding continuously for 8+ hours, though exhausted was still very much excited to take on the saddle and again ride to another location next morning.
Day 2:
woke up very late. Moving out of the bed was really a difficult task for us as we were still feeling very drained. But after coming out of the room the view that we had of Coorg was just mind blowing. chatted with the Homestay owner, we all had really nice coffee offered by Owner. Now, we decided to spent the whole day exploring the surroundings, Goodbye formalities done and gathered some information about the places around. After driving for next 10 minutes, we reached one small waterfall where you can take bath, we all decided to enjoy the bath soaking mild sun in that fall surrounded by lush greenery, spent couple of hour there, had a nice photos, video shoots. More than anything else you can enjoy the Forests and great views on both sides of the road in the ghatis, You will feel completely relaxed when you ride on this road. There are lots of ascend and descend and you need to be extra careful while driving. Now we were on the route towards Mandalpatti, Not even a single soul was on the road till we reach half distance, reached Mandalpatti junction with mixed emotions and excitement, Hydrated ourselves, we all had maggie, bread omelette, some snacks and tea at Mandalpatti junction shop. After seeing so many tourists there, the feel of joy increased. You can hire Jeep facility from this junction @ Rs.1000 to reach Mandalpatti peak, if you are not on a bike or 4X4 car. We decided to go ahead with bike riding instead of hiring the jeep. The destination was 4 KMs away from the junction, there are no proper roads, mostly mud roads and Jeep tracks. There are lots of pebbles on road with ascend and descend and you need extra careful, if you have pillion.
PS: Avoid riding on higher gears, apply brakes only if you want to stop your bike, never ever apply clutch, or you might lost control during a descend.
Covered half of the distance and parked bike at the side cliff before the peak. spend quit a few hours, enjoyed epic scenic experience, You will forget all the struggle after reaching the peak, you will feel like you are in a different world. The wind was so strong, you will feel like never leaving this place, had great photos, videos shoot. Now we were discussing on how to reach back to the Mandalpatti Entrance, we was bit scared to come in bike. Then we decided to ride without pillion for some distant, Anyhow we managed to reach Mandalpatti Entrance safe, Now we were very confident, overjoyed, after this kind of adventurous ride. Again we had Tea at Mandalpatti Entrance, asked shopkeeper bhaiya regarding any good Homestay nearby, gathered some information, started Riding back to Madikeri was filled with joy and lot of memories, we were riding on a slow pace and reached HomeStay by around @ 5 PM, lady over there was homestay owner, we paid some amount in advance, she hand over room keys, we unloaded our backpacks in room and now decided to explore the city and visited the Madikeri Fort which is in the heart of the town, then we headed directly to Raja's Tomb - not a bad place to hang out with friends and relax our minds, spent almost 45 minutes there, Bhanu really had nice photo shoots there, After that we explored beautiful small city Madikeri, we all had really nice dinner in Udupi Restaurant, discussed about next day’s plan and decided to visit Abbey Falls and Raja's seat, Then Came back to room and retired for the day, we all had nice and peaceful sleep.
Day 3:
Woke up almost at 7:30 AM, refreshed, and for next few minutes we had nice Tea while admiring the view and listing what all to see today in Coorg. We knew that this day is going to be less eventful. Packed up all the stuffs, got ready, checked-out from the room by exchanging smiles to our home-stay owner. Visited Raja's seat(seat of King) - spot from where kings used to watch sunsets, This spot offers a breathtaking view of towering hills, green valleys, We had few photos there as well. Now we were feeling Hungry, directly went to have breakfast, @10:30 AM We came out of the hotel and started riding towards Abbey falls which is around 7 KM from the town. Reached there in no time, more than the falls the location was more beautiful, you are not allowed to take bath or to walk on the Hanging bridge. Now the Plan was to reach directly to Bangalore without much stop over. Started our journey Back to Bangalore via Mysore, En route we saw signboard Indicating Mysore Palace in 6 KMs, to escape from the heat and humid we decided to visit this palace and rest there for some time. After Moving out of the palace we had lunch in Udupi Restaurant in full south Indian style. Started our journey Back to Bangalore.
Why This Bike Trip had turned out to be a lot interesting and magnificent than we actually had dreamed:
Journeys are measured not in distance but in Memories.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Till the next log this is Abhishek Signing Off
Have a safe and joyful touring🙏
This is a discussion on Coorg Ride: Amateur rider goes for a bike ride🚲
How this plan came up: After a several try, we didn't managed to get tickets of CSK vs RCB ipl match(22nd April 2018) in Chinnaswamy Stadium at Bengaluru😞
so, we decided to go for a bike ride in coming long weekend(28th April 2018 - 1st May 2018).
Casual meet ups started happening with long discussions of where to travel. So after few meetups it was planned to ride to Coorg😍
Plan: Bangalore – Coorg – Bangalore🚩
Date: 28th April 2018 – 1st May 2018
Vehicle: Pulsar 220F, 2 Avenger Cruise 220
Rider & Pillion: Adarsh Tiwari, Akash Ranjan, Rahul Jaikar, Rahul Kevin, Bhanu Singhal and me😊
This was going to be a heck of a trip for all of us. we all were going to ride together for the first time. So every one was very much excited for this trip.
Day 0:
Went to office and had many discussions with my colleagues about the route that we should take, the places that we can visit in Coorg, weather etc. Came back home by 7PM then refreshed, had dinner and communicated with each other on whatsapp group 'Bike Trip' which Akash has created that day. Since Bhanu had Night shift, So we decided to start our trip by 1 PM next day, also decided to keep only 3 Backpacks(1 Backpack for 2 person), reminded each other not forget to carry Power Bank, Mobile Charger(specially to Rahul Jaikar iphone user), Water bottle, Bike gloves, Helmets, Glasses etc then went straight off to bed.
Day 1:
As it was decided to start our journey by 1PM, Woke up almost at 8 AM, refreshed and done with packing followed by Breakfast. Soon after done with servicing of his bike, Adarsh came to my home and we combine our luggage into single Backpack, relaxed for few minutes then we contacted other riding buddies with constant phone calls. At around 1:30 PM, We all met at HSR Layout Petrol Pump, Tanked up our beasts full, Air pressure checked, 10 minutes of chatting as to which route to follow and we decided to take Bangalore-Nice Road-Mysore-KushalNagar-Coorg route, checked the weather forecast on our route, Planned to halt for 15 minutes after every 50-60 KMs. As it was a heavy traffic near SilkBoard-Electronic City route so our speeds were 30-40 KMPH. After entering to Nice Road, leaving aside a few truckers there was no one and road was beyond wide and clear, Picked up speed of approx 135 KMPH for a moment but still rode cautiously. We saw couple in hired Avenger following the same route, for the next 30-40 Km he was on his own contest with us. After every 50 KM, we had halt for tea and just to cool down our butt, Back seat of Avenger is the worst design in terms of comfort, we constantly maintained a speed of 80-90- KMPH or less, throughout our journey. Both sides of the road are either deserted or with farm lands, you hardly see any shops. After ~150 KMs ride from Bangalore was a bliss, great scenic experience. We took small tea break to hydrate ourselves and had roadside chaat from thelas. Till our tea break was over it was almost dawn. There were a slight traces of fog but we could speed up, visibility was not an issue. Clock had already hit 7:00 PM, so we wanted to cover as much KMs possible in next hour before dark, wear all our safety gear and did not stop for next 80-90 KM. By then we were fully exhausted due to hunger. It was almost 9:00 PM, so when we saw Motel on our way, we decided to had dinner there, Dinner was served around 9:30 PM and while chatting over dinner, we communicated with our Homestay owner, passed the message that we will reach there by 12 PM and asked her to send the exact location on whatsapp, so that we can follow the map, By the time, clock has already hit 10:30 PM, Google showed a 75 KMs ride to that location(Homestay) which would take about 1.5 hours of travel, but we actually took close to 2.5 hours to reach there. This was due to Night time and sharp turn in ghatis, also we took one halt in between, remember that Avenger back seat. Next 20 minutes of ride we crossed the town, after which the real face of Coorg has started showing up. we could see the coffee estates and forest ranges on both sides of the road. After a tiring ride and fighting the hot sun, it was a real treat to our eyes to see the green forests, though it was fully dark but you can see the glimpses made by the reflection of head lamp of our beasts, and also you can clearly feel the breezes. The road towards our home-stay location was in bad shape, there were so many patches without tarmac. Not even a single soul was on the road(in the ghatis), it was a scary ride for us(scary for me for sure), what made me more scary was, I was riding a bike that time and I could only able to see the back head light traces of other two Bikes, they were going really fast even in ghatis. For a moment, I thought like we are following wrong route, but we blindly followed google and managed to reach our destination by 1 PM anyhow. After reaching our home-stay, it took us some nice 15-20 minutes to get out of our body Armour, unload all our luggage and freshen up. Sat down for a chit-chat session which was all about what we experienced along the ride. The feeling was massive for us for completing such a milestone ride. Finally after a talking session we finally retired and took the day off. Overall my personal experience after riding continuously for 8+ hours, though exhausted was still very much excited to take on the saddle and again ride to another location next morning.
Day 2:
woke up very late. Moving out of the bed was really a difficult task for us as we were still feeling very drained. But after coming out of the room the view that we had of Coorg was just mind blowing. chatted with the Homestay owner, we all had really nice coffee offered by Owner. Now, we decided to spent the whole day exploring the surroundings, Goodbye formalities done and gathered some information about the places around. After driving for next 10 minutes, we reached one small waterfall where you can take bath, we all decided to enjoy the bath soaking mild sun in that fall surrounded by lush greenery, spent couple of hour there, had a nice photos, video shoots. More than anything else you can enjoy the Forests and great views on both sides of the road in the ghatis, You will feel completely relaxed when you ride on this road. There are lots of ascend and descend and you need to be extra careful while driving. Now we were on the route towards Mandalpatti, Not even a single soul was on the road till we reach half distance, reached Mandalpatti junction with mixed emotions and excitement, Hydrated ourselves, we all had maggie, bread omelette, some snacks and tea at Mandalpatti junction shop. After seeing so many tourists there, the feel of joy increased. You can hire Jeep facility from this junction @ Rs.1000 to reach Mandalpatti peak, if you are not on a bike or 4X4 car. We decided to go ahead with bike riding instead of hiring the jeep. The destination was 4 KMs away from the junction, there are no proper roads, mostly mud roads and Jeep tracks. There are lots of pebbles on road with ascend and descend and you need extra careful, if you have pillion.
PS: Avoid riding on higher gears, apply brakes only if you want to stop your bike, never ever apply clutch, or you might lost control during a descend.
Covered half of the distance and parked bike at the side cliff before the peak. spend quit a few hours, enjoyed epic scenic experience, You will forget all the struggle after reaching the peak, you will feel like you are in a different world. The wind was so strong, you will feel like never leaving this place, had great photos, videos shoot. Now we were discussing on how to reach back to the Mandalpatti Entrance, we was bit scared to come in bike. Then we decided to ride without pillion for some distant, Anyhow we managed to reach Mandalpatti Entrance safe, Now we were very confident, overjoyed, after this kind of adventurous ride. Again we had Tea at Mandalpatti Entrance, asked shopkeeper bhaiya regarding any good Homestay nearby, gathered some information, started Riding back to Madikeri was filled with joy and lot of memories, we were riding on a slow pace and reached HomeStay by around @ 5 PM, lady over there was homestay owner, we paid some amount in advance, she hand over room keys, we unloaded our backpacks in room and now decided to explore the city and visited the Madikeri Fort which is in the heart of the town, then we headed directly to Raja's Tomb - not a bad place to hang out with friends and relax our minds, spent almost 45 minutes there, Bhanu really had nice photo shoots there, After that we explored beautiful small city Madikeri, we all had really nice dinner in Udupi Restaurant, discussed about next day’s plan and decided to visit Abbey Falls and Raja's seat, Then Came back to room and retired for the day, we all had nice and peaceful sleep.
Day 3:
Woke up almost at 7:30 AM, refreshed, and for next few minutes we had nice Tea while admiring the view and listing what all to see today in Coorg. We knew that this day is going to be less eventful. Packed up all the stuffs, got ready, checked-out from the room by exchanging smiles to our home-stay owner. Visited Raja's seat(seat of King) - spot from where kings used to watch sunsets, This spot offers a breathtaking view of towering hills, green valleys, We had few photos there as well. Now we were feeling Hungry, directly went to have breakfast, @10:30 AM We came out of the hotel and started riding towards Abbey falls which is around 7 KM from the town. Reached there in no time, more than the falls the location was more beautiful, you are not allowed to take bath or to walk on the Hanging bridge. Now the Plan was to reach directly to Bangalore without much stop over. Started our journey Back to Bangalore via Mysore, En route we saw signboard Indicating Mysore Palace in 6 KMs, to escape from the heat and humid we decided to visit this palace and rest there for some time. After Moving out of the palace we had lunch in Udupi Restaurant in full south Indian style. Started our journey Back to Bangalore.
Why This Bike Trip had turned out to be a lot interesting and magnificent than we actually had dreamed:
- Going for a trip in a car has never given me such views and pleasure.
- After exploring the places and its surroundings we started off exploring the roads where reaching a particular destination was not our priority. We wandered on a road which we didn't even know where it take us. Just went exploring and collecting memories.
Journeys are measured not in distance but in Memories.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Till the next log this is Abhishek Signing Off
Have a safe and joyful touring🙏
