one day ride to kaas plateau

Ride to kaas Plateau, Satara.

Mumbai-->Pune-->Satara-->Kaas-->Satara-->Pune-->Mumbai

Total 620 kms

Log by darth

Riders:
Me,Razorblades,Winzee,Ambidexterous and pulsarider and ChiragV(Till lonavala).

We had decide to meetup very early in the morning.
Had called up everyone 5:00 am and everyone was awake before.Good so there would be no late comers.Started early and reched powai at 5:45.
Winzee was already there.Five minutes later ambidexterous calls up and informs he would be little late as he has lost his keys.Meanwhile Razorblades shows up and we were joined a while later by ChiragV.
Ambidexterous shows up after 10 minute.A round of introduction later we are all set to ride.

Half a kilometer into the ride I slam my brakes.Front disk locks and bike starts fishtailing like crazy and I go skidding into the gravel.My brake settings are incorrect since its straight out of a mechanics place.Good I realised it on a small road then on a highway.Fell downPick up my bike mostly by myself,ambidexetous giving me a hand.Though I have done it often picking up bike at almost 6:00 in morning with me half alsleep and the sudden jerk I gave caused me a sprain in the back and I had to ride with a hurting back for rest of the day

Met up vaibhav at 6:15 ish at center one in Vashi and I adjusted my brakes while rest of the gang was chit chatting.Filled up near dattas while rest of gang had sutta etc.
Sunday morning so there were tons of bikers there.Spotted a R1 flying past on the road and Gopi and Winzee said they spotted a face inside the helmet and it seemed like a chic was riding it
Rode to RKs in lonavala and stopped there for breakfast.......

From left to right:
Pulsarider(Vaibhav),ChiragV,Gopi(Razorblades),Winz ee,Ambidexetous

Dehu Road to satara:
Alrite so finished all this yummy idli-vada sambar and rode to dehu road and from there to sataraWell there isnt
much to write abt this except we rode slow at times..add to it there was some traffic.
Took a couple of stops in between.We finally stopped abt 40 kms from satara where
we met a uncle riding his pulsar from mumbai.He showed us his new seat and expalined that difference is like a seat in volvo bus and ordinary bus
Met another local and we inquired abt our destination
Local:What is there in kass?
Us:flowers
Local:Flowers are all gone.If you want to see flowers you should go to himalayas
Local:You should see badrinath,kedarnath there(maybe wanted to say I have been there)and there are flowers at one place.
Us:Tell us the directions to kass and we will check out
Local gives directions

Bad attitude locals in central and south India have at times.Why the fck was he marketing himalayas when we
had come to his home town?
Just a flashback to my hampi ride I can recollect the cop who we bumped into bang outside the ruins asking me and Navin ,
"What have you come to see here?"."What have you come to visit here????This place ofcourse".
Indian youngsters visiting "Hampi ruins" didnt seem convincing reason.
You should learn a thing or two from people in Rajasthan :P

Call up roamer and learn that he has already reached satara and are planning to leave for Kas.

Reach satara and take old pune satara highway and I was sweeping following ambidexterous and others rode ahead
in the traffic and we got split.Called up Vaibhav and informed that we were waiting at Rajawadi chowk.Well we waited
this guys didnt show up.Suddenly glances on across the chowk and spotted them.Apparently some thulli(Lady thulla) was
speaking to the guys.I crossed the street and joined them.
Razor and Winzee were quite and apparently had no clue of ongoings or what they were charged for(i am sure they still hav no clue)
,with vaibhav and me the only person who understood marathi

I dont see any one way or dividers.
Apparently for a city where all the bikers were helmetless,three people ride on one bike,these guys were being charged
for riding on the wrong side of the lane.Well there was no divider either...... Apparenly a street lamp serves as a
divider and anyone who exits the road on the wrong side of the lamp is fined for riding on the wrong side.

Vaibhav's pocket got a lighter by 100 bucks and the righteous cop stopped us and asked us to collect
the reciept(Must be a fake one)

It was getting late(Must be 1:30 or something)We then rode to Kass which was only 25 kilometers now

'the secret levitation lessons' that we practiced :P

The Dam

Panorama of the lake..

RTR by the lake..

(to be continued..)

Few of my clicks

for some reason i got attached to this song maalai neram

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFZIghHa7dU

Which Ducati are you?

try this,
http://www.peer2.com/programs/detail/12

I got 1198 R

Motorcycle Touring

loved the below article

v. toured, touring, tours
v. intr.
1. To travel from place to place, especially for pleasure.
2. To travel among various places while fulfilling engagements.

Are paagal ho gaye ho kya? (Are you mad?)

Jana hai toh car main yaan bus se jao! Motorcycle pe risk bahut hai. (if you have to go, then go by car or bus! Motorcycle is too risky.)

These are just few of the replies that you get when you mention that want to tour on a motorcycle.

After all a car/bus/train is much more comfortable, you are protected from the elements and at the end of journey you are less tired than you would have been if you had done the same on a motorcycle. These are much safer and at the same time you need not be on a constant state of alert if you are taking a taxi/bus/train.

Then why would any one want to go on a motorcycle, only to reach the destination dirty and tired?

In motorcycle touring, not only the destination matters but also the time spent traveling. Your vacation starts the moment you sit on your bike and start the engine.

It might not be as comfortable or fast as other tools of travel, but then again it?s not a tool! It?s not just a mean to reach your destination; your bike is your constant companion. A cup of tea/coffee will never taste better than the one you will have on small road side tea stall on a cold foggy morning. Even a simple parantha at a road side Dhaba will seem more delicious than an extravagant buffet at a five star hotel, after hours of riding in hills.

You will only need one tour on a motorcycle to get addicted to it for the rest of your life. A day?s journey on a motorcycle will teach more about the world than a month long journey in train. You won?t be locked up in a cage with a small window to look at the wonders of nature. In the morning sun will come out to greet you, while the constant wind will give you a hug reminding you that you are one with the nature. The whole world is your play ground, with new things to discover, new challenges to meet, places to go where very few have gone before.

When you come back from a trip like this and talk to your friends about the things you have seen, places you have visited, there will be a sense of amazement in their eyes. Even though they would have been to the same destination as you, they would have never felt that you were able to feel. They can only dream of doing the same in a metal cage with a view from the window as their outlook to the world.

This, my friend, is the wonderful world of motorcycle touring.

A world where destination is just an excuse for the trip.

A world where less used village roads are preferred to super smooth national highways.

A world where strangers greet you as a long lost friend because both of you choose to tour on motorcycle.

A world where when you get off from your motorcycle suffering from acute mountain sickness and then one look back at the highest road in the world and you instantly make a promise to yourself to do the same road again.

A world where you choose the direction to travel rather than a destination!

source:http://www.bcmtouring.com/forum/articles-f20/motorcycle-touring-t123/