FSR; Dec 06 ride...

The chill wintry morning of December 3rd 2006 saw a total of 14 motos of various engine capacities (150cc to 1300cc!) and their fully geared riders line-up at TOP-GEAR for the proposed days outing under the blue skies and the warm sunlight! The days route traversing thru Magadi town, Somanahalli(?) , Ramnagar(of Sholay fame!), Bidadi, Omi’s Ranch, Harohalli and back was originally to include a ride/visit to the Manchenabele Dam side but with the arrival of one Honda CB-750 and a 1300cc Honda X4 brought abrupt changes in the day’s route since these motos were but thorough-bred ‘street-machines’ and the route to Manchenabele being being pure “Off-Road” country! So Manchenabele was skipped altogether. Coming from various walks of life, the riders and their machines that day were(alphabetically): Arun Ramdass on a Yamaha RD350, Aditya Nadkarni(RD350), Anand(TVS-Victor), “Parsi-Baba”(?)(Honda X-4), Harsha(RD350), Gururaj(Honda-Unicorn), Indivar Reddy(Bullet-350), Omi Bhagtani(RD350), Rishad Minocher(Honda CB-750),Rajesh(RD350), Santosh(RD350), Suresh Reddy(BMW 1150GS), Surjeet(Yezdi-Roadking) and me on my Honda XR600R! My now 19-year ol’ XR failed to fire-up that morning delaying the start of the ride by coupla minutes but eventually, post vigorous kick-starting it did “ignite” to be joined in by the rumble nay cacophony of 14 ‘big-bore’ motorcycles starting up at once which turned several heads(!) and attracted a fair number of eager spectators even at that early hour on a lazy Sunday morning! The walkers, joggers and athletes in the making out that morning just ‘froze’ in their steps at the sight of so many motorcycles at once! Lead by Harsha the convoy of motos wound it’s way thru the city streets towards Magadi town as we now left the city’s hustle-bustle and straightened out the lesser traveled ‘interstates’! The single-pistoned “thumpers” roared-by followed by the bunch of ‘twin’ pistoned RD’s which buzzed playing the “twin-cylinder” symphony and the ‘multi-cylinders’ flew-by past the humble rural folks who’re momentarily amazed by the sight of so many motorcycles of various hues and sounds! The ‘road-hugging’ black & chrome Honda X-4 and the b-i-g BMW-GS with its ‘monstrous’ size and a rumbling exhaust node sure was a crowd-puller extraordinaire! The days route took us all thru some of the most scenic and hidden routes seldom traversed by the Bangalore city-dwellers primarily ‘cause these are but the very remote, internal, connecting roads linking small towns whilst passing 100-meter long villages en-route! Today’s 160+ Kms. ride had us tackle good to bad to no roads(!) in stages as we passed thru some lush green forests, vast bush-lands, winding and windy roads amidst hillocks aplenty nearing the town of Ramnagar which shot to fame post the film, Sholay! We didn’t encounter dreaded dacoit ‘Gabbar Singh’ but we did halt to demolish steaming hot ‘rice-pancakes’, a.k.a “idlis’ at a roadside hotel dishing out these, before washing them down with fresh, aromatic, home-made coffee! With most RD’s then going almost ‘full-bore’ on this stretch of the Mysore-Bangalore expressway we deviated off Bidadi town towards the town of Harohalli which happens be yet another of ‘em link-roads to the Kanakapura road. But this 1st sunday’s ride was to culminate at Omi’s 2-acre ranch adjoining a lake at the Mudennahalli village. Pulling over at Omi’s ranch, with a tiny li’l farm house within, it was time to relax and unwind with coupla ‘chilled-ones’(!) amidst jokes and fun and pun aplenty as all of us squatted in the verandah and later at the lake-shore, under the cool, shady bamboo-groove. Omi’s ‘man-Friday’ Mr. Devraj, meanwhile, deputed by Omi, organized some wholesome home-made lunch and fried fish, caught off the adjoining lake! Leaving Omi ranch at 17:00 hours we rode out into the sunset and some 40-km. later it was back to the chaotic city life of Bangalore city as there was immense traffic nearing the city. Stopping by near the Metro mart we had but a last round of coffee before bidding adieu and ‘das-vi-daania’(Russian for: till we’ll meet again!). Yes!....till we meet again or ‘ride-again’ next 1st Sunday in 2007 i.e;!! Notes By Satya aka "Cowboy"

Nov 12 first ride!

Inaugural ride; The inaugural ride on the 12th of November ’06 saw five riders and their motos line up for their day out in the sun! There was Hemant on his Honda-CBZ, Omi on his RD350, Santosh also on a RD350, Samarth astride his BMW F-650 and me on my Honda-XR! The chosen route this day traversed in and around the Bannerughatta National Park [B.N.P] area before intercepting the Kanakapura road at Harohalli from where its all tarmac run upto Bangalore city! The surrounding forests of Bannerughatta were lush green post all the downpour of the past several days which infused new life into that otherwise bushland which also is elephant territory with lakes aplenty! The rough, bumpy ride, up the “Doddi Betta” hillock returned amazing eagle-eye views of the BNP vastness. The descent from atop had us un-expectedly knocking at conservationist Vishnu’s out-post for a presumed tea-stop-over but eventually, we all ended up tucking-in into hot wholesome breakfast instead at his private spa but not before he gave us plenty of ‘gyaan’ on forest ecology and his principles of live and let live, that was very enlightening! Bidding adieu to our new-found friendly host the fivesome rode out towards the Shivanahalli village and into the wilderness beyond tackling the winding, so called, roads traversing the Shivanahalli quarry area post which the bone-shaking pounding of the path was hammering away on the motorcycle’s suspension. The lone CBZ and the two RD350’s weren’t built for this kind of ‘off-roading’ but just the sheer guts and never say die attitude of ‘em riders saw them through that stretch traversing thru the other small and smaller villages enroute before we all eventually intercepted the town of Harohalli! Samarths F-650 as also my XR took that pounding in their stride as these are but very capable ‘off-highway’ machines which feel at home off-road! Astride those, the fun begins, literally, where and when the road ends!! The hardy part of today’s trip having completed without any spills, luckily, it was time to ‘chill-out’, like they say, so brakes were applied in front of a wine-shop(!) to procure coupla ‘chilled-ones’ to be relished sitting under the shady trees in Omi ranch adjoining a lake which felt like paradise away from this metropolis called Bangalore. Stories of past rides, jokes, pun et al saw us through a bottle of chilled beer each post which it was time for the all important meal so leaving Omi’s ranch at Mudennahalli we headed towards Bangalore city and stopped by at Somanahalli town to tuck-in some traditional fare at the military hotel serving ‘raagi-balls’ along with assortments of heads-legs-brains-livers(of goats!...Geeeez!!) a.k.a “spare-parts” which were readily ‘demolished’ by us…..as also relished as was evident from loud burps! Then on the ride on the smooth road brought us back to city and the ever so chaotic traffic so we decided to pull-over at the Corner-House outlet in Jayanagar to whollop some creamy ice-creams and coffee! A day well spent in the outdoors in the lap of mother nature, taking lung-fulls of fresh clean air of the green countryside, riding together, sharing a meal together with like minded ‘biking’ buddies, talking about past on-road and travel experiences, and sitting back and reflecting whilst also admiring the all enduring motorcycles now resting post the day’s battering sure seemed like the best ever day spent out under the sun as the curtains downed on the ‘first’ 1st Sunday Rides! What an amazing day!!