The Leap... Or Was it the Ride... of FAITH (Part-I) !!

THE PLANNING

It was sometime in late October when we just returned from a whirlwind 10 day road trip of Rajasthan, when I decided to take my wanderlust to the next level. During the trip I had met two of my HOG (Harley Owners Group) brothers on the way to Jaisalmer, who had ridden all the way from Bangalore. In a way they inspired me to accomplish my long forgotten dream of GOING HOME BY ROAD. Home means Bhubaneswar to me.

The actual plan was to go by car along with my wife and gradually the plan evolved to be a SOLO RIDE along with my Harley Iron 883, THE DARK KNIGHT! The actual ride planning started here. 

First and the foremost item in the checklist was to convince my dear wife and convince her not to disclose the plan to anyone at any cost, especially to my parents and parent-in-laws. It did not take as much of effort to convince her as expected because of our Rajasthan road trip and various similar blog postings on the internet.

The next step was to plan the route, timings and the pit stops. The final route decided was as below:

Day-1: Bangalore - Kolar - Mulbagal - Chitoor - Tirupati - Srikalahasti - Naidupeta - Nellore - Ongole - Guntur - Vijayawada - Rajahmundry (825 KMS)

Day-2: Rajahmundry - Anekapalli (Diversion just before Vizag) - Anandapuram (Connects to AH 45 just after Vizag) - Srikakulam - Icchapuram - Berhampur - Khurdha - Bhubaneswar (630 KMs)

I wanted to hit the road as early as possible so as to avoid traffic and cover as much distance as possible on the day 1. The final timings were decided to be 4 AM from Bangalore and reach Rajahmundry before 7 PM. For the next day the start time would be 0500 Hrs. and reach home (Bhubaneswar) by 1400 Hrs. for lunch. Pit stops were breakfast, lunch, tea, fuel (both for me & the Dark Night) and loo :).

THE PREPARATION

This was the first time I was to take my Dark Knight for a super long ride and that too alone. So I wanted him to be fully fit for the long day, sent him for a full service with engine oil change, brake oil top-up, change brake pads, complete electrical checks, tyre pressure check and a thorough wash. When I got my bike from the service, it looked even more handsome.

Then it was time for me to get prepared for the ride as well. First thing was to buy a Viaterra Claw Pro saddle bag for the luggage, touring gloves from Alpinestars, a Spine protector for my Dainese SP-R and a hydration pack. Along with these I had packed the puncture repair kit, portable tyre inflator, tool kit and the most important first aid kit. I had to carry the bike cleaning kit as well.

I felt a mobile power bank, couple of Redbulls and a few packs of nuts for the road would be really handy, so packed them on the outer most pocket for easier access.

THE DAY BEFORE THE RIDE

The day before the ride, I spent most of the time at home and with my wife. I had completed my packing during the day as well. Around evening we took the bike for a trial ride for around 50 KMs and had our dinner on our way back. We filled the fuel tank to the brim and got the tyre pressure checked once again from Shell petrol bunk nearby.

After we reached home we did a little detailing on the bike. Then fixed the mobile mount and the saddle bag on the pillion seat.

THE RIDE - Day-1

The night before, I was simply unable to sleep with all the adrenaline rush in my mind and body. Its 5th Jan 2016, time about 0300 Hrs. on the clock, the alarm in both my mobiles phones started whining simultaneously. The D-Day had finally arrived and it was time to get ready and hit the road as soon as possible. Since I had put my bags on the bike previous night, so it did not take me much time to get ready. I got dressed and put my riding gear on, and got ready to leave.

Suddenly a negative feeling rushed into my mind out of nervousness of riding solo for such a great distance for the first time. I felt like if something goes wrong on the way, there will be no one to help me. For some time it came to my mind to give up the ride and stay back. In fact I came back and sat on the sofa to gather my thoughts. I spoke to my wife for quite some time who encouraged me to go ahead. I realized that if I give up this time, it won't be possible for a long long time to come. Finally I geared up, back with the same enthusiasm, started the ride around 0500 Hrs. an hour late.

Bidding a quick bye bye and a hug to my wife, I hit the road and headed towards Old Madras road. It was still quite dark outside being a peak winter morning. Once I reached the outskirts of Bangalore, there was no traffic except for heavy vehicles. I started gaining speed and quickly crossed Kolar within an hour. This was the furthest I had come on this route. From here it was a completely new road for me.

En route Mulbagal, there was a very scenic natural phenomenon taking place right in front of my eyes. Yes, you are guessing it right on a peak winter morning. It's FOG!! I had always seen fog already spread all around me many times, but this was the first time I saw it forming. To the naked eye it seems like wisps of smoke swirling from the sky on to the earth. It was so mesmerizing that you need to see it to believe it.

In the mean time I crossed Mulbagal check post and the toll plaza. Now the 4 lane highway gave way to single road and to Andhra Pradesh. The road condition was fairly good, but it now got a little difficult to move through the heavy vehicle traffic while maintaining a good speed. I could now see the winding roads leading to Tirupati in a different light, now that the day was breaking.. :P

I crossed Tirupati by 0800 Hrs. and stopped for my first pit-stop just after Tirupati. It was for both breakfast and refueling. Here I met a fellow rider who was riding a Royal Enfield and was traveling from Guntur to Bangalore. We had a good chat over idli-vada and sambar. As per his information, the road condition was not that great and there were quite a lot of diversions on the way due to construction of flyovers. Single roads and not-so-great roads slowed down my average speed till I reached Naidupeta around 1030 Hrs.

The roads widened immediately after Naidupeta since the road connects to NH-5. Now I picked up speed and crossed Ongole (200 KMs) by 1230 Hrs. The roads were much better and only heavy vehicular traffic was plying. So it made my riding through a breeze. The climate being neither very hot nor cold, I could munch quite a lot of miles to reach Vijayawada by 1700 Hrs. The ride during this stretch remained uneventful and I took a few breaks for refueling, loo and lunch at a road side dhaba.

The NH-5 goes straight through the heart of Vijayawada and being the commercial hub of AP, I faced the peak evening Vijayawada traffic. It took almost one and a half hour to cross 11KMs in Vijayawada city. Since I had decided to make my night halt at Rajahmundry, another 160 KMs away, I prodded on despite the bum and tail bone giving up. Once I left Vijayawada city, the roads came in as a blessing. From here on till Rajahmundry, the roads were butter smooth - pitch black with white broken lines glowing brilliantly to the Dark Knight's head beam. As soon as I hit this stretch of the road, I completely forgot about the pain and reached Rajahmundry by 2000 Hrs. 

For the night stay I had booked Hotel Transit Bay through OYO Rooms. It was easy to find as its right next to the railway station. It had got ample parking space and small yet clean rooms. I was helped by the security guard and the hotel staff to remove my luggage and cover the bike for the night. My dinner was quickly served in the room and I went on to sleep by 2130 Hrs after a quick warm shower.

THE RIDE - DAY-2

As planned I got up around 0400 Hrs. in the morning, got ready quickly, saddled up fast and got ready to leave the hotel by 0530 Hrs. after a quick goodbye to the helpful hotel staff and the security guard. Although it is not advisable to have an energy drink on empty stomach, I did gulp down a can of raw caffeine and started my onward journey.

I was riding quite fast because of the roads in pretty good shape and very low morning hour traffic. I munched up close to 200 KMs in one and a half hour to reach Anekapalli by 0730 Hrs. with a refueling and loo break. From here on I took the short cut which avoids the Vizag traffic and opens up to NH-5 after Vizag somewhere before to Srikakulam. The road was a single road and it was not in a good shape. Moreover all the heavy vehicles were diverted through this route in order to avoid Vizag city traffic. So these 50 odd kilometers were very difficult to maneuver through.

Now comes the Original Twist in the tale… Somewhere in the middle of this 50 KMs stretch, I stopped over for a loo, decided to break the news to my mother (My Father would have 500% freaked out, so I decided to play it safe). The initially baked story was about a train journey from Bangalore and supposed to reach Bhubaneswar at night 2200 Hrs (and my wife was my partner in the crime). Here I called her up to let her know that I will be reaching by afternoon and that I am coming by “BIKE”. Unexpectedly her reaction was a shocking one for me. I was expecting to get a good dose of bashing from her, but she was calm and composed, and asked if I’m safe. I answered assertively. All this while I could faintly hear the bashing in the background from my freaked out dad. After that I was back on the road with a much lighter heart and almost empty stomach.

Since I had to answer my rumbling stomach, I had to stop for breakfast just after I touched NH-5 again. From here on I could feel the touch of my homeland: I could find Odia waiter in the hotel, people conversing in Odia and many motels with Odia sign boards etc. The roads were in quite good shape and I reached Odisha border by 1230 Hrs.

As soon as I touched Berhampur which is just a few kilometers away from the AP border, I felt the home coming feeling gushing into my blood. I quickly stopped over for an extended lunch (I wanted to relish each possible Odia dish right away) and ordered for a chicken kassa meal along with a gobi pakoda and prawn curry…. …. …. ….

Well it took a good 2 hours to gulp all the above ordered dishes. All this while I could see my Dark Knight enjoying the attention and discussions lavished on it by quite a lot of people. Even I had to answer quite a lot of people explaining why I came by “BIKE” from Bangalore. Since touring on bikes is not a very familiar concept in Odisha, people were curious, inquisitive and surprised. I recharged my phone’s battery, myself and was back on the road for the last part of the journey. This stretch remained uneventful and I reached Bhubaneswar by 1800 Hrs.

Since we stay at an apartment, a silent entry would have been difficult for the Dark Knight. To add to it, my gear would have drawn even more eyes. So I had to ask my mom to come down and wait for me at the gate. My mom and my aunt were quite the welcoming party with the gleam in their eyes now that I had reached home in ONE piece!!