First BN Trip

Finally found a cool Biking group - Bike Nomads. Had been searching such a kind of group since long. Went for the first ride to Horseley Hills !!! And had a pillion with me as well :) It was a butt-breaking ride.. but enjoyed myself.

Total Kms Covered : 450 kms. Date of Ride : 17th August 2008. Route Taken - Troupe - Professor, Vasanth, Sunil, Anoop, Me, Saai & Ritesh.

Well.... the First BN. What do i say about it ?? Got introduced to Bike Nomads thru a colleague in office (Sunil Dhummi)... that too by fluke. One of my close friends' (Abhinav Tickoo) went as a pillion with Sunil on a bike trip to Hogenakkal Falls. Later when he came to our flat he was telling about the trip and all. Me & Saai jumped at the opportunity and asked Abhinav to introduce us to Sunil. From then on...we became members of Bike Nomads :) Went on this 1 day trip with them for the familiarization trip. It was really fun. Never experienced this kind of biking before. Had been on trips in groups, but not following any particular rules or such long distances in one day. Started from Bangalore on 17th August 2008 at 6:00 am. Met up all the bikers at KR Puram. In all we were 7 guys on 6 bikes. I had a pillion rider. From there proceeded towards Kolar. From then on I really don’t know the route :( Will have to ask the other guys for it. But anyways… our first pit stop was somewhere after approx. 100 kms. It was a great view of the mountains from there - check out the snaps.

Then we reached Rishi Valley School. It was really great to see a school still following the “Gurukul” tradition. Met 2-3 students there. One of them was Jinu George – snap below.

Started from Rishi Valley and then reached Horseley Hills after approx 1 hour. Took our bikes to the hill top. Took some great snaps on it. Had a hugggeee problem getting Saai’s TB there and then taking it back off the hill LOL. There were 3-4 guys supporting the TB as Saai maneuvered it off the hill :) Then ventured to see the small zoo that was there.. with rabbits, peacocks, monkeys etc etc... Had lunch at the Resort restaurant there. Food was typical Andhra style, it was good. We all were so stuffed after the food that no one wanted to ride back immediately ;) Still we started back around 2:00 pm. Did not come back the same way we had gone..... We returned via Hosur. Took SH13.... it was a lovely stretch of road for approx 20-25 kms. Had a cooool ride on it before joining NH7. Then onto Electronic City road and finally home by 7 pm.

Trip Pics

Nandi Hills 2nd Time :)

You must have thought - Okie this guy has been to Mysore, Nandi Hills, now something new !! Right... well surprise surprise.... Nandi Hill again. Went to Nandi Hills again on 14th - 15th August 2007. Actually this was a sudden plan. We were enjoying at home on 14th as 15th was a holiday. Then Ritesh proposed - why don't we go to Nandi Hills, anyways tomorrow is a holiday !! The idea caught on and me & Saai agreed to it. So Nandi Hills 2nd Time was there now ;) I would bore you all with the entire same trip details again. Read the previous post to know the places we visited on Nandi Hills. Only this time the bikers and the bikes were a little different. Of course is was there with my ZMA. Saai was on his TB and Ritesh was pillion with me. He could not bear to sit on the TB - fear of butt ache LOL ;) Ya.... but this time the snaps were even more amazing than the previous trip. Check out the Pics :D

Nandi Hills Trip

My second outing from Bangalore was to Nandi Hills. Had heard a lot about it from Baljeet and then decided to go along one day. The pain point was that you had to reach there by 6:00 am to see the sunrise and enjoy the clouds around the mountain. So, had to start from Bangalore around 4:00 am :( Anyways, did go and had a lot of fun. Total Kms Covered - approx 150 kms. Date of Ride - 21st - 22nd July 2007. Route Taken - Bangalore - Hebbal Flyover - Nandi Hills Troupe - Baljeet, Sunil Nahar, Prashant Sharma, Manoj, Me, Rishi, Abhinav. We were 7 guys on 5 bikes. Abhinav was pillion with me. Started from Bangalore around 3:30 am on 21st July 2007 night. Reached the diversion for Nandi Hills around 4:30 am i.e. approx 50 kms from Bangalore. Took some snaps there and then started on the final 20-25 kms towards Nandi Hills. The final road climbing up the hill was really quite bad.... but then i have been on worse roads now. Still the scenery was amazing. Clouds all around :) It seemed as if we were riding through the clouds. Finally reached the top at 6:00 am and parked our bikes. There they have a rule like - 4 wheelers are allowed inside the fort but 2-wheelers have to park outside :( I think that is grossly unfair. Still we had to walk around another 2 kms before we reached the actual Nandi Hill granite block. On reaching there the view was fabulous :) I really can't describe it. You have to see it and take it in. Its really beautiful..... waking up all night, riding thru all that bad road - all is worth the view :) Then went to the guesthouse there. Again the view from the guesthouse is spectacular. Saw the sunrise from there. We went crazy taking snaps.... where would you find such scenic beauty and that too only 70 kms from Bangalore. Took some great snaps. Then had breakfast.... omellete + bread. Spent another 1 hour there sitting on the granite block. After that started back around 10:00 am. Reached back to Bangalore at 12:00 noon. Had lunch and dropped dead on the bed. :) Nandi Hill Pics

Mysore Trip

Our first trip from Bangalore was when Me, Saai & Rishi went to Mysore. We just wanted to get away from Bangalore..... had been in office everyday for somewhere around 4-5 months. Hadn't gone out anywhere. So, we planned to go to Mysore on our bikes. Saai had just got his new TB. In fact it hadn't been for the 1st Service also... he was very clear - "I won't ride it over 60 kmph". I was like - "Okie", Rishi did not bring along his Unicorn. He pillioned with me or Saai along the way. That was good in fact, we had a full-time photographer for us ;) Total kms Covered - 350 kms. Date of Ride - 6th May 2008 Route Taken - Bangalore - Mysore Road Troupe - Rishi, Saai & Me We started from Bangalore on 6th May 2008, 7:00 am. Rishi was pillion on my ZMA. Saai wanted less load on his bike as it was brand new ;) We took a pit stop at 8:00 am around 40 kms from Bangalore at a small tea shop. Had our breakfast and tea. Then started off again to find a CCD on the way. Took a diversion to CCD... mainly to check out the junta there. Were not disappointed ;) Wasted around 30 mins there and then got on our bikes again and left CCD. From then we were a l'il faster as we got the info that the CCD was half-way between Bangalore & Mysore. So reaching Mysore from there would not take longer then 1.5 hrs. Touch-down in Mysore at 11 am. Asked some people on the road the directions to the center of the city and directions to a good decent hotel. Finally found one soon enough... very near to the center of the town. Luckily had basement parking etc.... So, we parked our bikes, checked in and went to the room. Freshened up a little and then all of us went off to sleep for sometime. Got up around 2 pm... fully energised. Went to have our lunch and then moved on to see the Mysore Palace. Took some great snaps of the palace. Sat on a camel in the palace.... it was soooo scary.. decided my bike is the best for travelling around.. camel - bad idea :( Returned to the hotel around 6 pm. Went in search of a good resturant or pub for the evening. Reached Planet X around 10 kms from the city. Went in a auto coz lost our way on the bikes twice. Unfortunately the dis there only allowed couple entry. The crowd there was tooo good. Was there till around 11:30 pm. After that came back to the hotel in a auto. Started from Mysore next day - 7th May 2008 at 2:00 pm after lunch. On the way back we stopped by Vrindavan Gardens.... was hoping to see them. But came to know that it was closed due to the Cauvery issue. So, had to be content clicking snaps outside it and had watermelon there :( Reached the CCD again around 4:00 pm. Had some refreshments and then reached back Bangalore at 6:00 pm. Took a lot of time coming back... but could not help it.. we were tired. It was our first long trip from Bangalore and had slept quite late in the night too !!! But anyways... was fun and enjoyed ourselves. Atleast got the outing we wanted desperately :D Snaps of the Trip

Hogenakkal Trip

This trip came up just by chance. Vasanth called me on Friday evening and told me that Professor was doing a Solo Ride on Sunday and if i wanted to join him i could go along, mainly becoz i could get more riding experience.... especially on the highways. So, i was game, called Professor... he was more than ready. But then, by Saturday evening it turned out that the so called Solo Ride was no longer solo. 3-4 xBHPers were joining us for it. Professor had planned to go upto Anchatti and then just explore some nearby area.

Total Kms. Covered - 350 kms. Date of Ride - 31st August 2008. Route Taken - Bangalore - Kanakpura - Anchatti - Hogenakkal - Hosur (SH13) - Bangalore. Troupe - Professor, Me, John (xBHP), Mithun (xBHP) + 1. Started from Bangalore on 31st August, 6:00 am from Jayanagar 4th Block. Were supposed to meet one of the xBHPers at Kanakpura, METRO. So, reached there at 6:30 am. Took some initial bike snaps :) Had to wait for some time for a guy.... His bike got a puncture, so he was pillioning with another biker. Started from Kanakpura Metro around 7:30 am. Had our breakfast in Kanakpura.. then proceeded on.

The road was lovely till just before Anchatti. Nice views and great ride. Mithun (R15er) had a narrow escape. We were going thru some flowing water over the road, unluckily it was slippery, his dear R15 was just saved. He slipped miserably on it. Stopped there, did a status check... everything seemed fine :) so we started off again. After reaching Anchatti the guys were like - Hogenakkal is only a few more kms from here, why don't we go till there also. So, went on till Hogenakkal. Unfortunately, we had a time constraint, so could not go and see the TN side of the fall... had to be content with the KR side only. Also the current was high so the small boats that ferry you were not available :( Still had a good time. Had fresh fried fish there and took some snaps. Left Hogenakkal at approx 3 - 3:30 pm. Had a long ride back. Did not take the same route while coming back. Will update on that soon. Don't remember the exact route now :( Trip Pics

Past Biking History..... :)

Hey guys... my first blog.. let's see !! Have been biking since 2002 end. Learned to ride a bike on a CD100 :P Then bought a CBZ when i was in Mumbai. Did some small trips on it - Matheran, Lonavala, Khandala, Pune etc. No major long rides. Those started sometime later... i.e. now in August 2008. Had few narrow escapes and a major accident on the Mumbai - Pune highway.. on the way to Panvel. Was admitted to ICU for 2 days and then hospital stay for around 15 days. Luckily everything got healed up pretty good, no long-term disability or wound. Just a few stitches. Shifted to Kolkata in mid-2005. There i upgraded to Karizma... cost me too much, but was really worth it. The pickup was awesome and the bike was sooo stable even at 100 kmph. I became a fan of ZMA then itself. Anyways am a loyal HH customer & fan. But ZMA took the cake. Loved driving my ZMA on the road to Salt Lake in Kolkata. Straight stretch of around 5-6 kms. Used to race it upto 110-120 on it. After Kolkata shifted to Gurgaon - took my ZMA alongwith me there. Then came to The Garden City - Bangalore on 29th Jan 2007. Went to Mysore on it in June 2007. Nandi Hills on 20th - 21st July 2007 & then again on 14th - 15th August 2007. Had the same ZMA till July 2008. Sold it off here because of registration issues and got the new look ZMA in mid-July 2008. This one is even better. Goes upto 120-130 kmph like a charm. Sooo.... that's primarily my biking experience till now. Have been biking for what.... approx 7 years now !!! Love it.... and enjoy it a lot :D Pics - http://picasaweb.google.com/guptadiw/MysoreTrip http://picasaweb.google.com/guptadiw/NandiHill2122Jul http://picasaweb.google.com/guptadiw/NandiHills2ndTime