A tour to remember: My Story

A tour to remember: My Story: How did I prepare for such a journey? It took seven to eight days of full preparation, which included route plan, route confirmation...

My Story

How did I prepare for such a journey?

It took seven to eight days of full preparation, which included route plan, route confirmation, to convince my well-wishers (which was most important and difficult), biking gears and necessary equipment, to learn about bike in case it breaks down, to go for bike trial runs, to maintain my fitness level up to the mark and to make myself mentally prepared for upcoming challenges.

How long did it take me to finish it?

After the above mentioned preparation, I left for Amravati on October 28th, 2016 in the morning 5:30 AM. I was little nervous as I had a long way to go. But after covering 10 cities in 12 Hrs and having traveled 650 km, I finally reached my home Amravati. This is the route that I took:

Pune -> Ahmednagar -> Aurangabad -> Jalana -> Sindh Khed Raja-> Mehkar ->Malegaon ->Seluroad -> Karanja -> Amravati 

I would like to share an experience which I had during round way bike trip. The occasion was Diwali for the year 2016 and it was the month end of October. I was riding from Pune city to my home, which is in beautiful City Amravati.

I have learned that when you’re out on the road, every situation quickly becomes a metaphor that can be applied to your everyday life. And after logging 1,300 Kms on the road on the highway, narrow road, steep, slope I have gained bit of wisdom about life.

The best part of the journey was to ride all alone on such a long stretch which also included Aurangabad Jalana highway which allows to complete the distance of 54 Kms in just 55 mins. I had also a very tough time on Jalana to Sindh Khed Raja highway, though it is called as highway but you will not see a highway kind of road, you only see a big potholes in the middle of road all dirt etc. . This 33 kms distance took me 2 hours to cross because of the road condition.

I got a chance to ride on all kinds of terrain; as a result, this journey helped me to improve as a rider. Some stretches were too good to not ride at high speeds but it had nominal human presence, as a result, it tested my concentration and mental toughness; with no one around you, you need to stay alert all the time, because, if you crash or breakdown, you’ll be on your own. You have to be prepared for such scenarios.

I have had a company of my IPhone GPS which helped me to be on tack and my Samsung Level U Bluetooth headset which made my journey musical. And also the road scenic beauty made the experience everlasting joyful

Bike ride is the passion which I want to take to the next level and when I say to the next level I mean to explore more and more in everything I do.

I want to convey a message to everyone which I have leant being a small town boy, if I can dare to chase my dreams, why can’t you? When we talk about dreams, there are no big or small dreams. It’s a subjective feeling. I strongly believe that everyone in this world is there for a reason but very few realize that. Be one of them and make a history. Why to follow herd? I am sure anything big cannot be achieved overnight, many obstacles will come on your way but you have to overcome all of them and move forward.

There is saying by Nelson Mandela, "I learned that courage is not absence of fear, but triumph over it. The brave man is not he who doesn't feel afraid but he conquers it” 

I am proud of my bike who is sibling for me 

My First Ride

I am not a writer, this is my first blog post and I am writing this to express my thoughts and experience on which normally I am not vocal about.

Date : - 9th November
Route : -
Pune – Ahmednagar – Aurangabad – Jalna – Mehkar – Karanja – Amravati
Distance : - 608kms
Time Reqd. : - 9 hours 50 mins

I was ready for my ride to Amravati. The one I was dreaming since long. My Blue Black Discover 125ST was going to see my home at Amravati where I was brought up. Gosh!! I miss Amravati sooo much!!! As usual I was a bit pensive at start of ride because this was my first ride for such a long distance. I expected to reach Amravati somewhere by 1600 hrs. The tank wasn’t anywhere near empty but still I topped it up as most of my route wasn’t a National Highway and I was not sure of number of petrol pumps on the way the day before I start my ride.
I started my ride in the moring on 9th November 2015 at 0500. I was accompanied by my cousin brother Aishwary who was here for his exam and some interview and was going to his home for diwali. We soon crossed the Pune city and touched the Nagar state Higway from Kharadi around 0530.
The Nagar road was empty unlike NH4 where I have done most of my rides before. I was waiting for dawn so that I can start ripping off. The stupid drivers on Indian roads like to ride with headlights in UPPER making life miserable for oncoming traffic especially the 2 wheelers. After 0600 the horizon started to lighten up. But still I was in no mood to start ripping. Also the road wasn’t that good. Still I made it to Ahmednagar by 0700. Having small breakfast of cakes and cookies which I had brought from home, started towards Aurangabad. I was not at all expecting a good road, but brilliant stretch just after Ahmednagar was a sudden jolt to me. Here the roads were so inviting that I couldn’t stop the urge to rip off. I told myself to make the most out of good stretch which will compensate for any bad roads further. Soon I was travelling at 100-110. The bike was responding like anything. I just fell in love with my bike again. During the whole ride I do not recall how many times I did.
The next 100 kms to Aurangabad I covered in less than 1.5 hours which raised my hopes of reaching Amravati earlier than I anticipated. Now I was hoping to reach Amravati by 1530 instead of 1600 as scheduled. The next stretch was towards Jalna. The roads are not so good. I was going so fast as compared to other vehicles on road that I always ended up with my rear view mirror empty. I am used to riding on traffic heavy roads like NH4 or NH17 which always had some Safaris, Mercs to make you realize that your bike is underpowered. But as this route was a State Highway (SH), the traffic was altogether different. I encountered only a handful of taxies on the way and the brainless State Transport buses. And not to forget the local town guys on their 100cc bikes. I got some weird looks from onlookers because of my attire. I was covered from head to toe with gloves and a heavy jacket because of so-called winter.
Just before Jalna, I was going as per GPS and GPS was taking me the shortest route possible and it helped me skipping traffic. The road from Jalna- Mehkar is OK-good kinda road. Time was almost 1030 and heat started to rise. It was never unbearable though. This stretch was really lonesome and ironically my brothers Ipod which i was using started playing “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Green Day
So I walked(rode) alone... I walked alone....... :-)
I reached Mehkar . I was quite hungry by now. The funny thing was that in this part of Maharashtra, not many people travel by personal vehicles. So absence of good restaurants was quite evident. There was not even a decent restaurant on the way. All were just makeshifts from a house to restaurants. Just few kilometers from Mehkar, saw a restaurant named Pariwar. After one look at it, I felt there must be a good restaurant inside it. As my bike was all strapped up, I had asked the security guard to just keep an eye. He responded enthusiastically. While leaving I handed a 10 bucks to him and he was really surprised. As this place was quite small, 10 bucks seemed to be a grand tip. I asked him the route forward to Amravati and he was more than happy to help. He almost explained me the nature of next 2 diversions, one near Malegaon and next near Karanja. Those helped me a lot.
Wait a minute. This is not that Malegaon where recently some bomb blasts happened. I really wonder did Maharashtra villages run out of name during their naming-ceremony. I already know 4 Malkapurs, 2 Mehkars, 3 Khandalas and now 2 Malegaons in Maharashtra itself. And on the way I encountered 2 different Karanjas too. Phew!!!!The SHs in Vidarbha are excellent. Nice signboards on smoothly laid tarmac. Although the road was single lane, sparse traffic made the ride easy. Again I hit 100+ all the way till Karanja. I crossed Malegaon and then cruised towards Karanja.
The high speeds continued even after Karanja. I couldn’t believe I was going so fast. I had covered almost 500 kms since morning. The breaks were limited to just 5-10 mins after every hour or so. The bike was at its phenomenal best. It was performing as if it was built only for such rides. It was as if the city commutes don’t interest her. The growl at first gear, the half switch start, the pick up at any gear and on and on and on. I can go on writing about her pros.
At about 1350 I took one break just in middle of nowhere. I decided to take a good look at my bike and me. Washed up my face as I was feeling sleepy and looked into mirror.
I decided that I am going to rip all the way till Amravati and see how fast I can reach there.At last i reached Amravati at 14:50 Mins. I dropped my brother to Badnera Station before I reach home. He stays in Nagpur so we wanted to reach before 1600 because thats the last superfast train which departs from Badnera. We cheered together as this was our first bike rife for such a long distance. We beat the Pune- NagpurSuper Fast express (12 hrs 30 mins) , and also the Khurana Volvo (11hrs 30 mins) . Feeling proud of myself for this small achievement, me and Aishwary opted to party out whenver we meet again.
One of the best days of my life and the my best ride till date.
HAIL! THE DISCOVER 125ST and the Google Maps.

Needless to say, mom was happy to see me back. Called up all of my worried friends and told that I have reached safely. Accepted bricks and bats from most of them and praises from them who are aware of this wonderful world of biking.