** A very long post **
Have you ever felt the urge - to take the open road, the uncharted ways, to travel for the sake of travelling, to ride into the sunset, and to test your limits? I had been feeling the same ever since I got my bike (earlier named the Hawk - now has been renamed as the Phoenix). Although I had done a couple of small rides on my new bike, and a few more on Shariq's Electra, I always felt that something was missing. I needed a long ride to call myself a biker, and was waiting for an opportunity (read leaves/free days to arrive).
The opportunity revealed itself to me thanks to a weird policy of my last organization, due to which I was suddenly left jobless for a week. And, instead of sitting at home, I decided to ride out to Gulbarga as I wanted to visit the place since ages.
Completing all the formalities in my old organization took most of Wednesday, and so I planned to ride out early on Thursday. I went to an Enfield spares shop to pickup a spare set of lights, and packed my bag for the next day. Also, decided to swap the stock back view mirrors for those of Classic 500 as they gave better visibility of the traffic behind.
But, as happens with all my "Wake up early" plans, got up royally late and moved out at around 12:30 pm after a cup of ginger tea. Had already decided to take the Bangalore ORR till Hebbal, and take NH 7 from there till Kurnool before diverting to Gulbarga. Met my roommate, Vikas, near his office at Marathalli before proceeding to NH7.
The plan was simple - to take NH7 till after Kurnool, and from there take the state highway to Raichur and then ride to Gulbarga. I did not plan to take any overnight breaks as I only had three days to reach Gulbarga, roam around, and return back to Bangalore. I wanted to return by Saturday so I had Sunday to rest and get the formalities for the new job done.
It took me around 2 hours to cross Bangalore, thanks to the daytime city traffic and the diversions in place because of the Bangalore Air show. Finally, crossed Yelehanka and had only minimal traffic till the BIA. Once crossed the airport, the traffic gradually reduced to a trickle and I had the whole highway to myself. I was cruising at speeds in excess of 85 Kmph, and thanks to the new helmet visor I had gotten, was not feeling the speed at all. The bike was begging to be released, and I did speeds in excess of 100 Kmph in some stretches.
I had taken my clothes and some spare parts (an extra headlight lamp, tools, break wires etc) in a laptop bag which I had hung on my shoulders. As I reached Bagepalli, I realised that this arrangement was causing some discomfort, and so I stopped at a roadside shop to get a drink and to tie the bag to the rear seat. Thankfully I had forseen this and had brought along a rope. The shop next to which I stopped did not have "cold" drinks, so I bought a water bottle to quench my thirst.
Form Bagepalli I proceeded till Penukonda, where I had lunch at a road side hotel. I had asked for a chicken biryani, but got a mutton biryani - so people who do not eat mutton beware. By the time I moved out it was around 4:30 in the evening, and I was around 150 Kms from Bangalore.
Afterwards I realized why it is never advisable to ride on a full stomach. I started feeling sleepy and even dozed off on the saddle. Thankfully the road was empty and so no harm was done. I stopped my bike near a lake and washed my face. Also, clicked some pretty awesome pics of the lake and the bike before moving on. The next stop was Anantpur - where I searched for an ATM and tanked up, before riding on. By this time the sun had started to set, which meant that the insects had started to commit suicide by whamming into my helmet's visor. Since I did not have much time to loose and nothing could be done about the insects, I decided to ride on = hoping and praying to God that the insect attack would stop. Thankfully, it subsided after a while. By this time, I had passed Gooty, and so I decided to take a tea break, clean my helmet's visor, and wash my face before riding on.
Stopped at a Dhaba run by a sardarji and ordered for a soecial kadak chai. Got talking to the attendant of the dhaba, a man named Tony. He asked me where I was coming from, and on being told that I was coming from Bangalore he was surprised. He then started telling me about his trips and about his friends. By this time I had finished two glasses of extremely good tea, and I decided to move on. The owner of the dhaba advised me to stop for the night near Kurnool, where his cousin had another dhaba, as the road from Kurnool to Raichur was a single lane, pothole filled road with lots of trucks coming by. I told him that I will think about it, knowing fully well that I would do no such thing ;). Talked to my friends in Bangalore and Hyderabad, who all told me to stop at Kurnool or Raichur, but I had other plans.
By this time it was getting quite chilly, so I wore a sweat shirt and rode on. It was 8:30 by the time I entered Kurnool, and I decided against having dinner as I still had a long way to go, and could not afford to feel drowsy. Plus, I was still full from the heavy meal I had earlier. Stopped at Kurnool for directions and tea, and was advised to go slow on the track. He also told of where to take the turn from, which I promptly went ahead and missed ;). Realized my mistake after driving ahead for about 1 Km and drove back, and finally took the correct turn.
About a kilometer into the side lane to Raichur, the potholes started. And not just any potholes - one of the biggest I had ever seen (up to that time anyway). It was more like I was riding on potholes, with some road thrown in for fun. The next 90 odd kilometers were straight from bikers hell, with buses and trucks coming from the opposite direction on the single lane road with headlights on high beam - blinding and forcing me to go off road and let them pass. Took a break every 30 odd kilometers to sooth my paining bum and to wash my face and the helmet visor.
Finally crossed the stretch at around midnight, and stopped at the next shop for a welcome cup of hot, steaming tea. Got talking to the owner, who gave me some pointers of the road ahead. Most importantly, he told me to not go through Raichur, but to ride to Devarsugur as the road there was in a better condition and had less traffic. Thanked him and drove on towards Raichur, and stopped near the fort to give a call to my friends and brother to give them updates about my position. Asked for directions to Devsugur and drove towards it.
Now, what the guy had not told me was that I would be driving near the Raichur Thermal Power Plant, which meant that the security would obviously be high. As soon as I crossed the thermal plant, I met a police checkpost manned by 2 khaki wardi walas. I was stopped and questioned about the trip and all - but no problems. After signing the register and showing them my ID proof, I was allowed to go. The junior officer then came to me and advised me about the route to take - turned out he was a resident of Gulbarga, and was more than happy to help a visitor to his home town. I was again stopped before Yadgir, where the lone constable talked to me about my ride and the plan ahead. He basically was bored to death, sitting alone at the checkpost, monitoring the almost non-existing traffic. The next time I was stopped at a police checkpost just after Yadgir, where the Inspector in duty even took my bike for a spin. He then complemented me on daring to ride so far alone, and that too at night. That, however, was not a big deal to me. All I wanted to know was the directions to Gulbarga which he duly provided, and I was off again.
The ride from Yadgir checkpost to Gulbarga was uneventful, save for the extra chill in the air and a lot of dead rabbits and rats I saw on the road. The traffic was minimal, and I zipped across like there was no tomorrow. Finally, reached Gulbarga at around 7 in the morning, checked in to a hotel and hit the sack.
Trip Meter Reading - 713.7 Kms
Total Journey duration (including breaks ) - 18.5 hours
Will be writing about Gulbarga and the return journey in the next post. Till then,
This is Hashir, signing off,
Over and out
