supporting closure of highways in bandipur between 9pm to 6 am Petition

supporting closure of highways in bandipur between 9pm to 6 am Petition

inside road ride - in the hills - june 09

i call this the inside road ride. last year myself, Satish (winsor pub), Easha and Meghana(levitate) explored the inside connecting roads from bangalore to the Nilgiris bio-sphere. it was fantastic ride exploring the short steep ghtas of Anchetti - crossing the cauvery on a coracle carrying bike along - connecting the famed Veerappan home in Gopinatham > MM hills > BR hills > Dimbam > hit the plains at Bannari > Mettupalyam > Kotagiri > OOty > Kalhatti > Bandipur and back home to Bangalore. we thorughly enjoyed it last year and beleive it is one of the best this side of the country. we tried this again last weekend(june5-8) this time with a new bunch of people. it was fun like last time -we decided to make it last another extra day. 4 days on the road - 700 kms - 450kms of rolling hills and fantastic ghat section. will post pics soon - as i did not carry my camera along. cheers, happy riding.. Santosh

Srilanka Ride 09

Guys, just got back from a ride in Srilanka – 10 days plus.. Explored the hills and plenty back roads guided by a local friend from the area.. Had great fun.. I am planning to go back again in August to organise a getoff~ motorcycle trip.. Have a look at the pics. it is a fantastic riding country especially the hills - friendly people, great atmosphere and fun to be...

legal farewell ride - Huliyurga

Huliyur Durga Ride The opportune moments to ride around the hilly roads of Huliyur Durga arose in the pretext of my farewell ride. Legal’s Farewell Ride as they preferred to call it. Well, I was heading out to the west coast to augment my half a life time of education with yet another degree called the Masters. A slave to my master’s dream, I had to bid audie to FSR and the many wild adventures. Some of the members of the group, agreed to a final ride with me to mark my farewell (some said it should be interpreted as ‘good riddance’). As part of the perks offered for my farewell, I was allowed to pick the route and I decided upon Huliyur Durga ride, which et al, maybe with some bit of chagrin, agreed to have been one of the best rides FSR has done. On a bright Saturday morning of [___], 2007, I reached the designated meeting point – Yeshwantpur Metro, to realize none of the fellers were around. I was wondering, if they had a wicked plan to bid farewell by making a blunder out of me and having a hearty laugh at my expense. As it turned out in a while, Sats arrived and I duly handed him the task of rectifying some ignition related defects in my mis-firing bike. With all the possible cussing and swearing and after having branded my bike a ‘Chalti ka naam gaadi’, off-course not to miss mentioning the poignant look on his face to realize even an RD 350 could be in such state of penury, he finally fixed it, during the course of which the other fellers Santiago, Sats, Indi, Suru, Matts and Screech trickled in. We were to head out towards Kunigal (where Screech had promised me to get a badhnekay – brinjal stamp for my VISA to US) and turn left towards Huliyur Durga and from there head towards Mysore road through Kanva Dam and Ramnagar and finally back to B’lore. The loop was about 180 kilometres. Special thanks to Purshotham aka purshi for the route. After a photo shoot in grotesque poses, directed by our own very whacked Spielberg, Indi, the eight of us were off towards Kunigal. We stopped at Nelamangala for a thatte idli breakfast. After gorging on it, downing a few cuppas, Santiago depleting the stock of chocolates in one of the little shops run by a poor old wretch and Matts sharing his new found fascination to minute maid orange juice, it was time to do some hardcore riding J !!! After riding about 30 kms we stopped just outside Kunigal for re-gathering. Many long minutes passed by and Santiago and Suru were no where in sight. After many a anxious moments, they finally arrived. The story goes that Santa’s Rudolph (Beemer F 650), traumatized by its Grinch of an owner, declined to ride beyond 60 kms per hour and has ever since been recalcitrant to ride beyond that speed. (Santiago got me to pick up some parts for his beemer in his endeavors to negotiate mutually beneficial terms with his bike, though I see no hope for it or him). We reached Kunigal and found the turn to head towards Hulyur Durga, off-course not without its own little exciting moments of suru and matts, plastered in their own little fantasies, missing the turn and finally finding the way. We stopped by a pristine lake with that look of hope that it will continue to remain for many more years and lakesh aka screech lisping in delight to add yet another lake to his list of drinking haunts. (He would be best if made the chief of lake development authority- probably even submerge the city to make it one big lake). The road towards Huliyur Durga started getting more scenic as we got headed further deep into it. Many a little hillocks and winding roads with the morning breeze made it for us. Unbounded exuberance and what not, we rode on and made our way into the little town of Huliyur Durga. This town popular for one of the highest hillock, a monolith, is a quite little town. After a few more snaps with the tower like monolith in the background, we scampered around looking for a appropriate chai stop over joint. With none to meet our expectations (read ‘our’ in this context as Santiago) we rode on towards Ramnagar. This is where the story begins and the part of the ride to remember forever. The road was beautiful and terrain a sight to see. The road running through a semi-forest with all those trees swaying in the breeze and road winding away to spring out more surprises at every bend..the story goes on. Little wonder why our elders incessantly rave about how beautiful the places around Bangalore were a few decades ago. This was nature presented in its pristine form. No large tracts of developed lands or commercial establishments or screeching motor vehicles or the din of a town. A long forgotten road winding through some isolated parts of the country side, a true haven for the maverick souls. We stopped at yet another vantage point with a small pond beside it for some snaps and a bird eye view of the terrain around. Feasting much as we could, we rode on. Reached Kanva dam and stopped over on the embankment, to soak in the sweeping winds. The fellers suddenly found something amiss (especially lakesh ….who else!!!). A beautiful water body, sitting on a windy embankment in absolute peace, but, no beer, rum, whisky etc etc…..It was not meant to be. With many a discussions to henceforth do the rides with a utility four wheeler following behind for emergency purposes (such as beer when in a beautiful setting and what not),we headed towards Ramnagar and exited onto the Mysore highway. Stopped over at a Dhaba…made the most of it and back to B’lore ….high on ‘spirits’…. Yet another ride nailed …to be cherished for a lifetime.

fsr march 08

The over amplified stressing on people landing up late was quite close to the original and i guess was the latest we have ever started an FSR, that i guess was the only hick up on the ride and well ofcourse the traffic on the way which was also a result of starting late. So i think we need to make it ontime or catch up along the way, but that generally delays the troupe. Well after what felt like an hour of city traffic we reached the Hassan road junction and i went venturing to find a place that can serve us food that can actually be called food, at first i gave up hope but then found this posh place called Dharmshi resorts, i shouldve known by the english speaking watchman that this was going to be expensive but since everyone was obviously hungry and not many other options in place i holla'ed everyone. Trust me no one wanted to leave this place, the pool was way too inviting, but then i guess we had ridden only 30 odd km and that too through traffic and hence doesnt call for a FSR. Matts was really insistant that this route (the one he didnt know) was an owesome route (Dell needs to be really proud of this guy). We headed out after breakfast at about 10:15 and took a turn of the highway that goes past some place called SAvandurga (from what i could recollect). the views on this road were really awesome, and the road was even better with its twists and turns all the way and not even a ditch or bump. Somewhere along the way we decided to stop by the Tyonk, we didnt have any of the Tyonkers present AKA - Indi, Hemant, Suru, blah blah blah. Either ways it was a beautiful place the only problem being us getting tanned and our temperatures rising, so eager to conquer the balance 30 odd kms to Ramnagaram we hit the road again. Hard to believe how in spite of the delay we managed to reach our famous Omkar Dhaba at 12:30. We sat down and ordered the official FSR drink - Gin and fesh lime sodas, which even the first timers appreciated, always works when your out in the sun he he, since there are not patents on this drink everyone is free to share it with their friends - the recipe not the drink (or anything else). Without wasting anymore time, we begged for lunch and after a hearty meal, a lot of thank yous and many more good byes we decided to call it a day and burst back home. Some decided to conquer the "NICE"r roads while we were really keen on riding through more traffic and took the "not so nicer" route. Im sure my bike was running a cool 5 kmph faster thanks to the K&N filter but then on a bullet even my eyeballs were vibrating at that speed. One things for sure, the weather is getting hotter by the day and we are running out of rides and running out of our old time riders - Screech, Suru, Omi, Satya, Indi, Aditya, etc etc, move out or atleast sell your Rd to me.

FSR#14 - Bagepalli

FSR#14 - Bangalore -> Bagepalli -> Chintamani -> Hoskote -> Bangalore Woke up to the shrill alarm of the phone and got ready in a jiffy ..... I knew I was late, then got a call from Indi he was still at the petrol bunk, rode off from home all rushed..... metup with Indi, filled gas and started riding toward Mekhri Circle. When we reached Mekhri Circle it was evident that eveyone had started and we had to catch up ... we waited for Subbiah and Nargis with Karthik and then we were off ......... Man it felt good to be back!! It was really cold and I was regretting not wearing anything warmer and the moment we descended the Hebbal flyover we encountered fog ......... it was not too bad and visibility was about 30m and oncoming traffic was a profusion of silhouettes and headlamps. The road was wide and straight and I was gunning the Roadie and pushed it past the 100+ mark a few times ........ it was awesome but the elation was shortlived as it seized promptly ......damm, but it fired up promptly after and I was riding again albeit a litttle easier on the throttle. We reached Chikballapur and met up with the whole gang, about 19 of us .... it was a great turnout and I hadn't seen anyone for about 2 months and after first congratulating the newly weds(Abhi and Kavitha) I met the gang ........ it was good and man it felt good to be back. Over breakfast Mats had us all convulsed and cringing at the same time with his stipulated 10 PJ limit(which was blatantly ignored anyway) After breakfast and PJs were washed down with hot kaapi .... we headed out towards Bagepalli ...... I was trailing the gang and trying to catch up .... about 10 Kms outside Chikballapur .. the bike seized again .... I realized I was gunning it a bit too much and stopped for a smoke ....... to allow the engine to cool down. I started again and was riding solo ...... the road was smooth barring a few bad patches and there was the construction of the 4 lane Highway on both sides. The landscape was great, rolling hills on the horizon and greenery all around .....the only thing jarring was the construction trucks and the dust raised by them ..... but hey nothing stands in the way of progress :-). I caught up with the gang in Bagepalli, they'd stopped to do some repairs on Vodka's bike. We took a right into Bagepalli and headed towards the hills ...... the greenary in the interiors was a refreshing change and we were all riding as a pack because no one knew the route ....... we headed towards Mittemari and turned into a mud road into the village towards a lake ....... we rode on the Tank bund of the lake and turned into a mud road leading right up to the bank of the lake....... and parked up there. The lake and the view of the rocky hills behind was fantastic, we hung out there for a while listening to PJs and bouncing stones on the lake surface and then we decided to backtrack towards Chelur and head towards Chintamani. We started riding towards Chelur and the roads were pretty bad, there were many stretches of the road under construction and at some points the roads were just gravel and dirt ........ it was exactly what was needed, the big thumpers had a blast and the other bikes were also having a blast ....... though a bit bone jarring and saddle sore ..... but it's fun for us .... right :-) Presently we reached Chelur and headed towards Chintamani ..... the roads were ok and pretty soon the group was spread out ....... I was going a little easy on the throttle as I didn't want the bike to seize again and get stuck as it was long haul to Chintamani. As we had done a part of the same countryside in one of the previous FSRs it looked very familiar...... the winding narrow roads the green countryside with Hills all around and familiar T junctions with Bus stops and black and white painted signboards to small villages. There was not much traffic on this road and it was wonderful riding on this stretch..... both my mind and the bike were on cruise control :-) ... Subbiah caught up with me and gestured that we should exchange bikes .......so we stopped and I got on to Subbiah's 79 Enfield ..... he had just rebored it so he cautioned me to keep it in the 60-70kmph range. We started off .... it was great riding the Bullet, it was thumping along majestically and it also gave me a chance to look at my bike in motion .... it sounded good and it looks good too ..... ok maybe I'm prejudiced but who isn't. :-) We were cruising along and we spotted the gang had pulled over and near a village and pulled up. Robin had crashed up, his front brake had jammed and he had taken a toss, thankfully he wasn't hurt too much, just a big bruise on his arm but his bike was a different story .... the headlight was broken and electricals were dead ...... we tried all kinds of stuff but the bike just wasn't getting any electricity. We decided to tow the bike to Chintamani to get it fixed there, towing involved Robin riding his Bullet with another rider pushing Robins bike with his foot on the back footrest of Robins bike .... all of us tried it with little luck we couldn't get the hang of it ..... Indi's finally got the hang of it and we all followed at a sedate pace. We reached the dusty town of Chintamani and found a Bullet mechanic ...... and parked up ..... it was hot and we had a long wait ........ with chais and biscuits. After a long wait and lots of undue attention from the local inhabitants because of the Big thumpers we decided to head out to dhabha for lunch as it was getting late, we all started out with Indi remaining with Robin to get the bike fixed. We reached the dhabha and relaxed for the first time since morning ....... we ordered food which was gobbled down ....... pretty soon Robin and Indi caught up. Everyone was tired as this was the longest, bone jarring and an incident filled FSR ........ and it get dark in about an hour and a couple of the bikes had no headlights. We headed back towards Hoskote and Bangalore. This FSR was a pretty gruelling one, in terms of distance, the bad roads and the delay but it sure feels good thinking about it and one more FSR nailed, we had our hearts and minds set on this route for a while and we finally did it. Looking forward to more FSRs and hey let me take this opportunity to wish the UA-08 riders a safe and a fun filled trip........ have a blast guys!!! Cheers, Suru

FSR 13 - Kabbal

What a way to celebrate the last ride of 2007! The charm worked again. 13th ride and 13bikes. A gorgeous winter sky to ride under and awesome roads to compliment the day. Whats more - Bombay celebrated its first FSR today! Congratulations team - we've just gone national. Initial grouping and breakfast at Kanakpura - no one had a clue of what was in store. We took the road as it came and had no map in mind. After the next re-grouping the hills were more than inviting. Having cleared the thorn fence at the base of the hill, it was a deep breath and no looking back. Intense riding where there is nothing in mind except the road ahead and you making it to the top in one piece. Splendid rock temple with an endless sight. Then it was about rolling down hill. The minute flat ground was in sight - it was a water to the desert if you know what I mean. Fancy speeds and easy roads brought us back to land of the mature Gin. The bloddy mary decided to send us home and call it a day. Thanks all you guys for being there. Today was something else. For those who were not there - you'll would have loved it. Abhi & Kav, Omi, Screech, Suru, AVG, Vodka and the rest. notes by Nargis See you'll next year for FSR 14 - 2008. Take it easy. Ride safe.

FSR 12 - Anniversary ride

This was a disappointing trip for me - with many promising to come, only a handful of them showed up. we spent 4 full days in Tusker Valley with people trickling in as the days went by - with a strength of 10 people, it was enough to keep the tiger and tusker off bay. we were unable to ride out on short rides cos of the rains and it was quite an adventure reaching the place - with its off-road entry points.. so we preferred to sit and watch the sun rise and set - that is all we did for the 4 days -

FSR 11 - October

Brilliant ride, with good speeds and a great stretch made the 120km loop feel like a wink. Cheers to the riders. Missed Doc-S and Abhi at the ride. Good show with Soppu catching up midway. Spokesperson of the day undoubtedly goes to Darren who had the group in splits of laughter. Legal however, brought in upon himself by calling at the moment when the rather 'mature ab-gin-th' was growing on everyone. Welcome aboard the two first riders. (Nice bikes), too bad the other two riders had to turn back. No lakes this time, and Screech, plastered after the initial gins decided to turn in early. The group followed suit shortly after. What happened to map though? Reckon we should save them, with a message written by each one on the reverse. So, when we have our own FSR magazine, there will be the maps, pictures and a message by each one telling a tale of its own. Ride safe. Gear up - anniversary ride comin up! Notes by Nargis

FSR 10 September

FSR - we explored the cast outbacks of Bagepalli - this was one fantastic ride with endless expanse of wilderness. worth a revisit - unfortunatley dont have many pictures - infact nothing of the best part of the ride.. Satya says' - Ah!.....a "quickie" THANKS, all ye amigos! That sure was an a-m-a-z-i-n-g 206-Kms FSR#10, eh?! Sadly though BAGEPALLI went "un-explored" this time around for some reason(s) as.......many a jaw(!) dropped with 250+ anticipated road-distance then! Many nearlt fainted too, i recall! Anyway, guess next time around we shall do the 'full-circle' with NO short-cuts w.r.t time, distances, efforts et al, eh!....Bingo!?! Very many THANKS to: Abhi. Darren. Indi. Matts. Suru. Santiago..er...."Shikaari-Shambhu"! Rajesh. Santosh. Adrian. Harsha-PK! Trishul. Vivek..a.k.a...Tengs! Hemant & 'his' eagle-eye maps(which had us all enquiring, en-route!) & Raman. Sincere thanks also to all mates who waited along and/or also helped me 'push-start" my 20-year(!) ol' XR many a times! Efforts & help and "sweat"(!) 'greatly' appreciated, cowboys! Thanks again & take care! Yours 'always' in m/cycling!! SRK

Legal Farewell ride - July

i am waiting for legal to write-up on this ride cos it was his. it was a fantastic ride through some of the best tarmac open country roads - unforgettable...

 

 

 

 

FSR 09 ~ august

The gang nailed two rides this month – first Sunday exploring the hidden forest roads of Thali with spells of bone drenching rain and the dusty broken-tarmac Independence Day ride which lot of us want to forget. The September ride promises lesser known inside roads as we plan this ride to Bagepalli – north.

 

 

 

 

Jul 01st,2007 Ride FSR#8

Hey, Hope this missive finds you all in the pink of health and tickled pink cause this is Legal's last official Ride with FSR. Legal has, luckily for us, decided to head for greener pastures and become more irrititiating than usual. For this he needs 2 years in the US, lucky for us :-). Anyways with this thought in mind I found myself riding towards Big Bazaar on Old Madras Road which was supposed to be the rendezvous for our ride. I was running late and the only person later than me was Screech who was today's trip leader. As we were already running late, we started off without preamble and headed towards the turn off to Mahadevapura on Old Madras Road, pretty soon we were all strung out in a line and riding hard towards the Hope Farm junction from where we continued straight on and stopped as not all of us were present, we were missing Satya and Santiago, we waited for them and called them up and gave them directions on how to reach us. They were at the Hope Farm junction and didn't know which way we had gone. Pretty soon Santiago landed up and soon after Sats turned up pissed and told Screech that since he was the trip leader for the day it was his duty to stop at every turning and make sure everyone had arrived. So chastised, we turned left here and turned into some dirt Roads heading towards the IOC factory, the roads were now purely dirt roads with a few signs of pre-historic tar, the going was rough and everyone slowed down.I was lucky I was riding Screech's CBZ, it was light and nimble and the tyres were in great condition, pretty soon Screech, Mats and I were ahead of the rest and Sats of course the moment he saw the dirt road, a look of glee must have appeared on his face and he took off on the XR strewing up stones and clods of dirt and pretty soon was lost to sight. This is what a dirt road does to Sats, he has no self-control, we continued on and soon we reached another turnoff and lo, Sats was not there we presumed he took off on the straight and narrow, and dispatched Santosh to go and bring him back. Sats came back with a sheepish grin saying that he'd never imagined that the imitation of a road that Sreech was pointing at was the route. So we proceeded further and pretty soon we were raising Cain and a lot of dust through a small village and finally burst out into the open country with the sounds of hens scolding us receding in the background. The country side was lovely as opposed to the road, green fields and forests and soon Screech stopped at a Quarry. It was beautiful, a naturally hewn granite quarry with a spiralling path to the bottom which was filled with green water. There was a herd of sheep at the bottom for their weekly constitutional methinks. It was lovely, there was a mound at the edge of the quarry and pretty soon we were all on it. Taking in the countryside and gulping breaths of fresh air and of course the only eyesore was the IOC factory with it's silios and railway track, but it was a minor glitch. There were some carving on the rock a little away from the Quarry, which looked a good couple of hundred years old, looks like the place was a temple of some sort here in the olden days. We chilled out here for a good half hour, and Rajesh rode his RD into the Quarry to inspire the sheep to get into the water, which the shepards had a tough time doing anyways. Post this welcome break we started riding towards Malur, the roads were really rough in places the road could not even be called a track, it was torturous for the RDs and Bullets because these bikes are pretty heavy and not meant for this kind of dirt roads. After a while the dirt road became a little better and pretty soon we were on the state highway heading towards the village of Lakkur, this was a good stretch of highway and the Bullets and RDs came out of the stupor and started belting, very soon we reached Lakkur and turned right towards ChikkaTirupathi, we reached there soon and pulled up at a small hotel for breakfast. ChikkaTirupathi, is a small dusty temple town which has the Venkateshwara Temple which is the miniature version of it's more famous counterpart. The temple was right across the road and the bikes elicited a lot of interest as usual. After breakfast we decided to hit it towards Sarjapur and then ride the beaten path back towards town, The ride towards Sarjapur was fantastic through the back roads which were lined with greenery and fields, Screech has told us about a Bridge ahead where birding was good, so we kept and eye out and kept on riding and pretty soon we reached the bridge, it was over the river Arkavathy and a small town on the other side, we rode across the bridge and turned right to find a path going down to the river/stream, it was a beautiful spot and we stopped there. Some of the other riders went under the bridge and headed up the path to explore, very soon Mats came back and told us they had found a nice spot downriver. We all got back onto our bikes and rode up there, it was a beautiful spot on the bank of the river under a Shady tree where we parked our bikes and walked across the river on a cement ford which ended before the other bank of the river. We decided to chill here for a while, we parked up the bikes and were soon sprawled under the shade of the tree. The place was peaceful, the flowing river, the shady tree and a 207 Milk Van which was parked on the ford and was being washed. Biking stories were exchanged and jokes flowed with Legal being the butt of them, as usual. I guess Legal got tired of all the leg pulling and decided to go and explore the town with Rajesh, they were soon back with a sack full on chilled ones. Rajesh looked like Santa Claus with the sack on his back, the ale was quaffed and peace reigned supreme except for a guffaw once in while. After an hour or so, we decided to hit it closer to town to get some lunch, Screech promised us a nice place onthe Byonk of a Tyonk(lake in FSR terminology) and we moved on. The Sky was turning dark and it was drizzling lightly when we reached Sarjapur town.Some of the riders filled up gas here and the rest of us regrouped and headed back. The road from Sarjapur to Bangalore is still pretty bad, I remember last year when we had some to Sports Village for a Football match, the roads were still being repaired and in some places we had to ride on the shoulder of the road for over a kilometer. Pretty soon we were all spaced out and riding towards town. We finally reached close to Sarjapur Road - Outer Ring Road and stopped to regroup, and after procuring some much needed supplies we rode towards the Lake, led by Screech. The lake was beautiful but as it was Sunday it was filled with people around it people washing clothes, vehicles, themselves. ...... etc etc. ..... we headed to another side of the lake which was a grove of trees and found a nice clearing with a rain water filled pond for a backdrop. We parked the bikes up and decided that Screech, Mats and I would ride to Marathalli which was around 10+Kms from here to pack lunch. The others sitting around and the party was just starting and we left, we reached Marathalli and packed lunch which comprised mainly or Biryanis and some chicken Kebabs. We headed back with me carrying a full load and the rest strapped onto the back of Mats' bike. When we reached back the party was in full flow and Legal at the helm, he was apparently enjoying himself a little too much("I'm luving it!!" ) We were all pretty hungry by then and started on lunch, which was promptly wolfed down by everyone and after a brief photo session we all headed back towards town, the Eastern Bloc comprising of Self, Sats,Screech,Mats, Darren, Nargis& Santiago and Roy turned towards Outer Ring Road towards Marthalli and the rest...... Legal went towards HSR layout. Legal gave us a all a farewell pat on the helmets before riding off as this would be our last ride together(how untrue was that :-)) ... Anwyays thats how it went, at least the gist of it, I know I've left out a lot of "interesting" stuff .... but that's for us to know and not tell eh? ;-) ...... what say guys??

Well another great ride, albeit the route was a little short of the stipulated 180-200kms, but the dirt roads and the scenery were great and riding with the FSR bunch is always fun......... Take care guys and until next time.... keep on riding.

Cheers,

Suru

Wild Valley Ride – June 9th,10th 2007

The morning of June 09th, found me riding alongside Screech heading fast for Maddur. Due to some personal glitches, I was running a little late and we reached University gate on Mysore a bit late and the group had started towards our first pit stop which was to be at The Coffee Day before Maddur. I filled up gas at University Gate and saw Omi followed by Nikki going past. I was riding a little slow and Screech came up and asked me to speed up. I got out of my reverie and my post sleep mode, and throttled up. In a little while we reached Café Coffee Day and we spotted the group having breakfast at Indradhanush Restaurant and joined them. After the usual idly/vada, kesaribath and coffee routine, we headed out towards Maddur and the deviation to Malavalli, we reached Maddur and turned left towards Baba’s Farm in Borapura which we did in FSR #4. On the way to Borapura, the Machismo fluttered and completely died on me, man I thought “phinish”, that’s it. Mats pulled up behind me and I discovered that the Spark Plug connector had come out and was hanging. Whew, that was a huge relief, I connected it back on and started the bike and was soon thumping merrily along. The roads on this stretch were not so great, we reached Malavalli and passed this dusty town. The roads were getting better and we were heading towards Kollegal, we passed the turn-off to Shimsha and headed straight on. We saw a small dam on the left and a little ahead we saw the gang had pulled up and we stopped there. The place was lovely with shady trees, the river flowing into the dam in a huge curve and a small shop which was not open. We decided to wait for Indi “Flintstone“ Reddy at this place, we called Indi up and he said that he was en route and would join us in about an hours time. We chilled out at this lovely place, it was great on the riverbank I could hundreds of fish in the shallows and some pretty big whoppers too. It was a peaceful time and we were soon sitting around swapping stories and jokes. It was 2 hours and Flinty had still not arrived and we called him and he said that he was in Maddur and would reach in another half hour. It was really hot and there was a unanimous descision to go & get some “chilled ones”, Omi knew a place called Sunita Bar, a kilometer and a half away over the bridge. Omi and Screech valiantly volunteered to go, and pretty soon they were back and we were quaffing down some much needed ale. As we finished Flinty landed up and after much cursing, we started out. Flinty hadn’t had as much as a drop of ale as we had finished everything by the time he arrived so the first stop was Sunita Bar where all the bikes pulled up and Flinty had to buy us all a round of chilled ones for making us wait for so long. As we were ordering the beers we saw Santosh go on ahead without seeing us. We assumed that he would wait up near Kollegal when we didn’t show up, we started off promptly and came up to Kollegal Town. From Kollegal we turned left and started belting on the road atop a Tank bund and missed the turn off to Odeyarapalya, Omi caught up with us and asked us to head back, he was the only one who knew the route, we turned back and headed back until we came upon a mud road with a sign proclaiming the turn-off to Gundal Jalashaya(Gundal Waterfall ) - 9 Kms. This was a mud road initially and it became a little better a few kms down, the other were lost to sight and pretty soon it was Mats, Aditya and me, the roads were not all the good but we could maintain a constant 60kmph in some stretches, the scenery was lovely with fields on both sides and hills flanking us on both sides on the horizon. We kept checking with by-passers and locals all along the way that this was the route to Odeyarapalya, we finally came upon the others who were waiting for us, near the turn off to Dhongdengling, we decided to go into the settlement and then onto Wild Valley. Omi had to meet Bryan, a relative of Omi’s who works in the SBM in the settlement. The settlement was lovely with gompas all over the place and one with a Huge Prayer Bell which looked awesome. The whole area was surrounded by lush green hills which we were later told were deciduous forests with some peaks having lush green clearings. The roads in the settlement were undergoing a makeover, so we had to travel on some pretty rough patches, so after we met Bryan, we headed into Odeyarapalya to pick up much needed “munitions/supplies” for the night. So after stocking up with “supplies” we headed towards the Karnataka Forest Check post which we passed and then we hit a small hill/ghat section. The weather all this time had become colder, the sky was filled with gray rain laden clouds and we could see rain falling in the distance and we were riding towards it. On the hill the roads were lovely with a lot of twisties and we were gaining altitude, not by any great height, but the twisties were really nice, I did all I could from going “WHEEEEE!!!!” and then we passed a small section that connected to the adjoining hill and again the twisties, wow this was a Double Whammy, it was nice but pretty soon we had crossed the border into Tamil Nadu and we were at the Germalam Village checkpost. We turned left here and headed to Wild Valley, it had started to drizzle and a few twisties later we came upon a sign saying Wild Valley Farm, and turned in the mud-road there and pretty soon we were parking in the thatched shelter which Santosh was sitting under when we arrived. We got introduced to our host, Mr.Daniel who owns and runs Wild Valley Farm who called us all for lunch as it was past 4:00 when we had arrived. Santosh headed here straight when he missed us at Kollegal, and had arrived an half an hour earlier and had finished with lunch. Whew, this was a nice ride, it was a tight fit in the shelter but at least all the bikes were out of the rain. We just chucked our bags in the tents and headed off for lunch as soon as we had demolished the last of the chilled ones. Lunch was simple but awesome, rice, dal, rasam, curd and some Chicken Fry which was really nice, we tucked into lunch and headed back to the tents to generally relax. I didn’t feel like sleeping, so Indi, Rajesh, Santosh and me decided to chill out in another Tiled Shelter, as it was still drizzling. Man the scenery was great, and the rain added another dimension, it looked ethereal. The greenery, the silence puntuated by sounds of the surrounding forest, sometimes accompanied by Flinty’s peacock mating calls, were all we could hear. After a while, Bryan joined us, riding up on his Suzuki Samurai, unofficially starting off the revels on his own ;-), to which the boys responded after a different fashion but nevertheless on the same plane. Bryan kept us all entertained with stories about the forest and the hills surrounding the place, and the local Flora and Fauna and the surrounding places, like Bannari Temple about 40 Kms from here. It was pretty good, just lazing around and taking in the place. The guys started waking up one by one, and joining us in the Gol Ghar(as per JLR semantics J ) and we soon had a Full House. It was dark by now and we ordered for Chai and Bajjis, which were promptly demolished and it was past 8:00 and we decided to move the revels up another notch as the sun was long past the yardarm. Well the booze was brought out and the party had started in earnest, nightfall had brought with it, billions of stars, and I’ve never seen a sky like this in the city, I was mesmerized and stood gaping for a long time at the stars, until it was time to refill my drink again ;-). Mats got out his trusty Canon EOS with his tripod and was taking pictures of the night sky. By this time, the Wild Valley Staff had got a bonfire going and we all took out our chairs to go out and sit around it. Mats went for dinner around 10:00 and since the dining hall was on the other side of the Farm we didn’t have any snacks, but Mats decided to play Good Samaritan and brought back a plate filled with Chicken, which was immediately wolfed. The drinking and the fun continued till the wee hours, then we had dinner and most of the group decided to hit the sack. Santoago and Nikki had already hit the sack way before dinner. Omi, Indi, Screech, Aravind, Rajesh , Bryan and me were awake till the wee hours and man, was it fun or what. Some cobra dancing, Peacock Calls and some sing song. By about 3:00 am, we were too bushed and we hit the sack, putting an end to a great day, good ride and a fun filled evening. Woke up to the sun streaming into the tent and the sound of our noisy neighbors in the tents, well they all got some good shut-eye, I suppose, even with our wild antics the night before J. But anyway, it was a little too early for me, but it seemed like a glorious day and I slowly crept out, had a wash and ordered coffee. The gang was gathering at the Gol Garh with coffees and ciggis, the morning was glorious as can be verified by the photos. Santosh was missing as he had woken up early and had gone for a ride, he landed up and showed us a photo of a Sloth Bear that he had clicked in the early morning as it was foraging for food by the roadside in the forest. That was real lucky and he raved about the route, we actually thought of taking that route via Hasanur, Nanjanagud and back through Mysore. The others were slowly emerging, one by one, we all had breakfast and started getting ready to head back. Omi had decided to leave early as he had to be in town for a wedding by 4:00 pm, and he started about 15 mins ahead of us with Mats and Nikesh. By popular consensus we decided to go back the way we had come instead of the long detour through Mysore. We all waited for Santosh to settle the bill with our host, and we started riding back. The ride through the 2 hill was fantastic and I was really sending it and as we reached the Karnataka border checkpost we saw some of our bike bikes parked there and we pulled up. Omi had a fall as some wire had got caught in his side-stand and unfortunately he wasn’t wearing his gloves. The injuries were minor and Omi decided to head back with us at a more leisurely pace. We stopped at Dhongdengling to pick up Bryan who was coming to Bangalore as Omi’s pillion and we started towards Kollegal, the route was fantastic and soon we were all spaced out, with the riders in front over the horizon and the riders behind barely being seen in the mirror. I was at peace, in 7th heaven actually, as I had a straight road ahead of me, the bike thumping at a steady 90kmph, green fields on either sides, the Eastern Ghats on my right and the Western Ghats on my left. This was euphoria and it just felt right, this was too good to last and we finally reached Kollegal where we filled up gas, I actually didn’t need any but filled up a coupla litres anyways because I was in the bunk. It was past noon and the sun was shining relentlessly, we decided to stop at the same point on the Shimsha bank. We all rode past Kollegal, stopped at Sunita Bar, picked up a few chilled ones and headed to the Shimsha Bank, but it was a Sunday and the place was packed with devotees cooking food on the bank. We decided to go ahead and a Kilometer further was a small mud road heading towards the canal, we turned into it crossed the bridge over the Canal and parked under a shady tree. We chilled out at this lovely spot for about an hour, downing the beers and yakking about everything from bikes to Legal Ethics (not joking, check with Aravind and Indi) and we got a demo from Bryan with his patented (or.. patent pending) Cricket bat.Sam and Santosh had blasted off on their Beamers and they were already at Coffee Day, so we told them to head on. Aditya also left for Bangalore as he was already late. We decided to hit it to Maddur and find a place for lunch, the ride from Shimsha Bank to Maddur was the same boring state highway and it was getting hotter. We reached Maddur and as we were regrouping, Omi shouted out to Baba, who was just turning towards Borapura in his Bolero. We all went to Nandini or was it Nisarga on the Bangalore- Mysore highway for lunch, with Baba in tow. Lunch was nice there and after lunch, Omi decided to head back to town with Bryan as he was already late. We all decided to hit it slow as Screech had a broken clutch worm and couldn’t do anything with his clutch, we all agreed. Mats and me were ahead of Screech and Rajesh was following him and we agreed to maintain around 70-80kmph on the highway. Indi(had to see a man about a dog ) and Aravind (needed a café latte) decided to stop at coffee day and catch up with us at University Gate on Mysore Road. It was a peaceful ride back even though there was traffic heading towards Bangalore and we finally reached University gate at around 7:00. It was already dark and in about 10-15 mins both Aravind and Indi caught up with us. Whew, another ride nailed and what a ride it was, awesome and superb were understatements, the right place, the right people and the right bikes … huh :-) ?What say, guys? Cheers, Suru Riders Line-up 1. Aditya - RD 350 2. Aravind - RD 350 3. Screech - RD 350 4. Rajesh - RD 350 5. Mats - Royal Enfield Bullet 500 6.Satsosh - BMW 650 7. Omi - RD 350 8. Indi - BMW 650 9.Samarth - BMW 650 10.Nikesh - Hero Honda Karizma 11. Suru - Royal Enfield Machismo 350