Solo Ride to Mumbai - Malshej - Ozar

Solo Ride to Mumbai - Malshej - Ozar

Date : 7th Feb 2009
Bike : Red Karizma
Total KMs : 330km
Destination : Mumbai - Malshej - Ozar (ashtavinayak ganapati)
Riders : Solo
Average/Cruising Speed : 80kmph (on speedo)
Top Speed : 135kmph (on speedo)
Road : Good Roads (70%), Average / Bad (30%)
Time : 6.30am - 4pm (with lot of halts)

It has been quite a while I was thinking of doing some solo ride after keeping a frequent close watch on the Tourer section of xBHP.
Recently last sunday i had been on a solo ride to alibaug & hence was desperately seeking a good little more far away ride. Well, now choosing a destination was a big confusion. As I wanted to be back in a days time & before it gets dark. Got the biking directions from yahoo india maps,
shortlisted four places i.e. Malshej, Kashedi, Jawhar, Bhandardara. Took a printout of this routes & started thinking before going to bed.;) Thinking about it I started feeling very sleepy, still wasnt sure about the destination. Atleast I had made up my mind to go on a ride next morning (i.e. Saturday 7th Feb). Got up early morning ar 6am ( i know its not too early), while having my bath I decided a place :) "Malshej". Since I had recently gone for a Cleanup ride with xBHPians to malshej so was very somewhat aware of the route, roads & the beautiful twisties on the ghat. I thought of venturing bit ahead of it & lets see where the roads takes me or if theres any good place waiting for me. So had tea, as I thought breakfast will have on the way, Put on my jacket, took a bottle of water in my backpack, cleaned up my bike & here i left. Even my bike was bit thirsty, so was hunting for petrol pump. Left from Bhandup, took the straight road from thane majiwada through flyover to bhiwandi. The climate was fabalous. There was a small ghat, am not sure what is its name.

Little traffic but the climate was pleasing me. After a little ride I reached Kalyan from where I had to go to Murbad. I am too bad remembering the roads, never ever I do. I just waited on the road side just to tally the route with my route map, suddenly a couple came on a bike next to me & asked me for the way to panvel. Me giving them the paper of direction I was referring to, asked see if this can help you, they quietly left me. :D Btw, my office currently is at thane, if you take me through some other road, am sure I will get lost :D. Anyways after a lot of navigational
help from the locals I got a petrol pump somewhere after kalyan & filled up fuel into my bike. To mention here, I didnt had much cash with me, just 200bucks. Thanks to the credit card which helped me for the fuel. Driving for a while then I reached murbad, asked for the way to Malshej. After a descent drive of almost 100kms i reached some place where I could see some basic hotels. From here I could see the Malshej ghat & the mountains, where I
had to reach. Before that thought of having something, as was feeling damn hungry after a drive of 100kms. All I could find was a Batata vada & a socalled misal. More than choice, something eatable was important so quickly had it & headed towards the awaiting moutains.


Sat back on my bike & headed towards the inviting roads to the hills. Driving on the roads, me & my bike yelled a word "VOW"..!! Yeah, the roads where not only very good to drive on but also beautiful. Trees from both the side forming an entrance, sun trying to peirce from the branches, leaf falling & sprinkly on the roads..
Amazing.. Check the pix, all the snaps are clicked from my Nokia 6500s (3.2 MP, Carl Zeiss), Though not enriched resolution but good enough to feel the trip log.

Entire scene while driving was so wonderful, I started singing while driving.. Trees started laughing at me hence I stopped. :)..
Waited on many spots to capture the wonderful views, twisties, scenes. Am sure if had clicked snaps of every beautiful visuals my phone would have overflowed with its memory. The only disadvantage in a solo ride is, you dont get own snaps. But who cares,.!! Riding alone is a glorious feel in itself,just U & the nature.. Place is a nirvana.!!.


The ghat is so amazing, I had a close feel of it riding alone.. Leaning was never so much of fun, wonferful roads on the curves, what else do you need for cornering. Saw a small temple on the way of ghat which is a very attractive spot. The temple is within the rocks & I believe this particular place while rains, gets the most beautiful spot in the ghats.



Waited there, took an ashirwad from Bajrang Bali.. (Bolo.. Jai Hanuman!! :)) & left further. There was a sign board on the way "Caution? Falling Rock Do Not Stop", but here the "I" was missing from Caution, thought the rock had fallen really here which took away the "I" also.. lol..!!



Passed through a nice tiny tunnel, even the monkeys on the way wished me luck..;) Finally..!! reached the top of it with some nice pix in my pocket.
There was a beautiful lake, looking at it felt like rode above & reached the heaven. Couldnt resist myself stopping by the lake & sitting for the while listening to the wind & water current.


This is what India is man..!! So beautiful.!! Place is miles away from pollution, dirtiness.. Pure nature.. Nirvana.!!
Alright, so malshej ghat is done.. now what was in my mind.. but my bike wanted to just run & so did I, unknown of the next destination, riding on to some place which I dont know,. I started feeling what real biking is all about, its not about destination, its all about ride like somebody said. That was the ideal thought floating in my mind, my odometer was even excited to run so fast. After a ride of like 35-40kms I thought of waiting at some place & enquiring with villagers if theres some place to see ahead. On asking them, I got to know about a Holy Place called as "Ozar" situated just 15kms away. Knowing more about this temple, it is one of the ashtavinayaks ganapati (Vajreshwar). Without wasting any more time just headed towards the temple. The road was real bad for around 5-6kms, bumpy..


Wished if my bike could get converted to a dirt bike & I do motocross.. I was literally standing while riding through those wicked bumps. But it was really scenic, the farms, farmers, cows, sheep & also a scarecrow to shoo me away..!! :P
Reached the temple, was really beautiful.. There was the same lake perhaps connected to it. Though photography was not allowed but managed to click some snap of the lord Vajreshwar (Ganapati).

I hope you are praying right now.. Else please do it :)
Extremely cool place, sat for a while in the temple. Guess what, I called up my mom at home told
her where I am .. She started shouting at me, but when I told her I have come to this temple.. She was feeling very happy about me & bit stunned. I gave her the wonderful gift "Sound of the bell (ghanta) of temple through the cellphone..!!". Got very happy & even I felt I did something good. Visiting this sacred place I was blessed :). Took some prasad for the friends & family. Really was not in a mood of having food, but still managed to eat a Sada Dosa & I left back for home. It was almost 1.30pm, very hot when I started riding back. But the trees on the way helped me by their shade. Was feeling very sleepy & tired, dieng to take rest atleast for 15-20min.


But I thought let me complete the malshej ghat first & then will see. Again I drove for around 70kms & stopped in a nice peacefull shady place. Parked my bike bit on the offroad beneath a tree.



There was a farm all around, a cow was relaxing near to me, was small fountain coming out of the broken pipe & could hear the wind passing by. Kept my bike on the main stand, took off my jacket kept in on the handle & I lied down over my bike making the jacket as my cushion. Yeah, my bikes long enough I can sleep over it. It sounds funny, but I got the real moment which I was waiting for since a long time. All I could see up was the trees with their branches entangled & the blue sky.

Just mind blowing.. Feel it to know it..!! Lied down for almost 20min, felt fresh..


Got up, put on my jacket back & ready to ride hard now.. I drived non stop for over 100kms in 1.5 hrs & reached back home by 4.30pm.


This entire trip was so beautiful & enchanting, would love to go again & again. It has encouraged me to get more bolder on the weekends, pickup my bag, get on the bike & ride hard somewhere really far away from this busy world to a more realistic place.. Then only one can enjoy the ride & know what the biking is all about.
Ride Hard people..!! Am here to ride till my breathe allows me.. !!! Ride Hard or Stay Home..!
Happy & Safe Riding..!!

For more pix. Please visit my Picasa Album here.

Solo one day RoadTrip to Malshej - Ozar

Bike RoadTrip Story : Mumbai to Alibaug

Back from a great ride & carrying on with my regular stuff, now it’s time for me to put down the brief description about our RoadTrip to Alibaug (11 Oct 2008 (Sat) – 12 Oct 2008 (Sun)) & make it memorable forever.

Alibaug is around 120kms away from Mumbai. A worth watching small sea side town. So hence here I go from the very first hour of our journey.

We had decided to meet up at our regular place(i.e. KCC carom club) at morning around 6. We all where 8 of us & Five bikes where decided to be taken i.e. My : Karizma, Nitin: Avenger, Amit Bhai: Avenger, Ajay : Unicorn & Adhir : Discover. All where damn curious & excited for this day to come, as it was going to be the first ever long ride for most of us. Finally the day came & I had a huge responsibility of waking up first & buzzing Jayesh, Nitin & Adhir to inform them that its morning.

I left home to the meeting place & saw bobs at the shop & picked him up & headed towards the spot. Surprisingly or expectedly we both where the first one to show up, then the other members followed. The last where Nitin & Anil & hence they had the right to remain silent, which they could not. Atleast they did a job of getting the coconut to break before commencing our trip. It was really wonderful to see everyone well dressed up with nice outfits, jackets, glares, etc. That makes an impression people.!! All bikes where in a row (was a real beautiful scene..missed the pic) & I broke the coconut to begin the journey. It was a great feeling & bikes where given an ignition & the journey started. We had to stop initially on a local tea shop for tea. People where staring at us looking at biker gang as we passed by. After having tea, we started & decided to stop at Airoli Petrol Pump for filling up the fuel. We filled in 10 litres for every bike, check the air pressures & started. Next halt was suppose to be directly at Panvel. Our Team Lead was Amit Bhai as he has huge lot of experiences in this kind of biking & is very well known with various places & most importantly the routes. All where riding together, but we needed to drive bit faster than expected since we left late & had to complete more distance in a less time. Ajay being a starter & a novice was driving at a very basic speed, others where irritated but also understanding his situation. Every time one bike use to accompany him to make sure he’s safe, afterall we all have seen this days sometime on our early days of biking.. Still we didn’t had the feeling of driving a long route, since we all where still in the city & no much different then our daily commuting. All where damn hungry am sure, & we spotted a good & cheap dhaba kind of a hotel where everyone could do their breakfasts. Halted their & had misals/dosas in bulk. Had tea, snacks, (chevda for bobs) & headed to Alibaug. I don’t think we stopped anywhere for a long time, about 2hours , may be for a minute of two (for nature call) & reached Alibaug. The journey was truly awesome, riding bikes from those typical National Highway, village roads, small ghats. Vow..!! cannot explain in words. There where so beautiful roads at times, trees from both the sides welcoming us, sunrays trying to penetrate through the leaves, just beautiful. I was going crazy taking those turns on the amazing curves of roads. Am sure each of us enjoyed riding at their level best. Though it was a long journey none where tired, due to our high spirits of biking. Most of us had pillion riders for a company, I had Jayesh, Nitin had his bro BOBS, Adhir with Anil, Ajay & Amit Bhai where all alone enjoying their riding solely. All where driving so decently, safely & carefully. I didn’t thought it may be easy but surprisingly all where like a real nice riders.

One thing I forgot to mention, we had already booked a big room(full floor) at alibaug, called as Kaivalya Farms (courtesy: Amit Bhai). Pix can be found in our album. After reaching to alibaug, all we had to do was finding the place & rest our ass. It wasn’t so easy to find the place, as it was fairly on a complicated place. But somehow we manage to do it with good navigation brains of my fellow friends.

We met the owner of the Farm House, Mr. Joshi. Was good & descent fellow but fond of chewing brains. Am sure no one will ever forget in their life which he told us, his Daughter is a play back singer in some god forsaken movie. Am sure there will b smile on my friends faces by now. But trust me people, the room was just awesome. Really very clean, good bedrooms, huge hall space, clean toilets with all needed amenities. It was worth staying & coming so far. Alright then, we rested for sometime, somebody had playing cards. This was the time to earn money now, all sat for playing. We played around for 30-40 minutes & some lost, some won(including me J). Oh yeah, I remembered one thing, Jayesh suddenly came out of the room wearing a Hat.. Gosh.!! What was it..!! find it in the album, somewhere even I wearing it..!! We had nice fun & then left again to venture good places.

First, we headed towards Kashid Beach. This is around 25kms away from the farmhouse. The road wasn’t good at all I must say. We all where crazy hungry by now & suddenly spotted a normal hotel with a wine shop sticking to it. Man..!! This was our pit stop.. Without a second thought just barged into it sat in the hotel, the sequence of ordering beer started. First sip of it was kind of holy water having it after ages. Felt so good.. After a long ride, tired, relaxed, hungry for food & hot sun.. Just imagine you find in beer in this situation.. Will surely Die Another Day..!! Its mouth watering, isn’t it.!? So we had beer, with fish & chicken dishes which we didn’t had variety. Rushed to Kashid Beach then. On the way we say a massive industry Vikram ISPAT (Birla Groups). That was truly mind boggling. On the way we saw the sea, passing by it. Bikes on a side & sea on the other side.. This is so awesome.. Reached beach, we waited in a small sea-side hut. Looking at the beach, we all had just one word VOW..!! Such a nice, clean sea with real white colored sand. It being not much crowded, we could see an amazing view of the beach. We thought of taking our bikes on the beach. Amit bhai took a bit inside, suspecting something returned back. Me & Nitin where crazy to take it on the beach. Movement we got down on the beach, the bike lost its grip, had a real touch time moving the wheels. Still we struggled & managed to get some nice shots, of our bikes on the beach (pix in the album). We did burn-outs, actually they where not intentioned but happened due to no grip & tyre sinking in the sand. All where waiting to dive into the water. We just threw our bags, got out cloths off (ofcourse not all) & ran towards the shore. After a real long time getting in & tasting the sea was a great joy. Played a lot in the water, making sand balls & throwing at each other was so much fun. Had turned back kids while playing in such a way. Jayesh & Nitin decided to burry me in sand, which I willingly accepted (find pix in album). We found a fish lying on the shore, which me & nitin picked up & got a snap of gulping it (inspired from the movie DCH). While playing so rudely with no mercy on each other, we didn’t realize our breaking bones. The bones had started aching badly. We stepped out of the water, found a small stream of river where we can take bath & clean ourselves. Everybody got rid of the sand over their body in this stream & where fresh like never drunken before & ready to rock n roll back on the wheels. We manage to get real nice snaps on the beach & our gang (courtesy: Jayesh). The snaps are truly speaking for themselves for the splendid scenes of beautiful sunset. A must watch (pix in the album).

Next we decided to visit Birla Temple. This was around 15-20 kms away from Kashid. We reached there at the time when the day had just started becoming dark. The road were sick, extremely bad & don’t even dare to expect a street light. After reaching only me, nitin, amit bhai & jayesh decided to go in the temple, as rest had some problem (ask them for more details). The temple was a clear demonstration of latest architecture totally built in marble on a hill. To reach this heaven you need to come from the hell (the worst road).

Now we where done for the day & needed to end our day with a freshening drink & comfort sleep.

We headed back to our home (farmhouse), on the way we collected a box of beer & two full bottles of whisky along with food. Finding good food was a real problem as we where staying around 10-15kms away from core Alibaug. But somehow we managed to get home made dinner of chicken & picked up the parcel. Wasn’t much tasty but good to survive with. Reached home, we all got fresh with a quick bath & by around 10.30 - 11 pm we opened the corks of bottles. It was so relaxing, having drinks with those chicken pieces. Discussions on various topics had started, but the main topic which took over everybody’s attention was of Ghost (courtesy: Amit Bhai). All where scared but acting to be No Feared except for jayesh. Basically had a good time, enjoyed & I guess perhaps by 4am most of them threw themselves on the bed.

Had a really very good sleep, just because of the comfortable room of Mr. Joshi. Waked by 9-10 am, a nice morning with a little sadness of returning back home & starting with our regular work. Me & Anil willingly decided of going away in the town & getting some breakfast. Had the breakfast, everybody got freshened up, ready & all set to roll the wheels. We clicked couple of snaps of the farmhouse & us in the various poses with different glares..

OK then, all where back on their respective machines, ready to be back home. Started from there, we reached proper alibaug & Nitin suggested us to visit my relatives in Alibaug & just retrieve our old memories. So we decided to visit them after a long time. Just reached their house, & man all where so happy. We all where kind of foreigners, bunch of people staring at us. Going on bikes, looks so much adventurous, was an amazing feel. Now left from there for Mumbai. We decided not to stop & cover as much as distance possible. After a long distance we stopped once at the local gavdevi mandir for a moment, taking our time to pray the god & resumed. Non-stop drive until Karnala, Amit Bhai, me & Nitin were leading with a huge distance. After a constant drive of almost 2 hours we reached Panvel after spotting out a Hotel/Dhaaba.

We were again thirsty & this was a pit stop, so thought of refilling with some beers. Ordered some nice sea-food, chicken. First taste just took our breathe away, the taste just so marvelous. So far never came across such ravishing mouth watering food. Even now while writing this my mouth is watering. Taste it to believe it man. Now this taste we treat as a benchmark anywhere we go. Still never found any taste above it. We regret, that none of us remember the name of that hotel. Spent around 2-3 hours at that place & again started directly for Mumbai. Now without any stop on a fairly good driving for around another 1.5 – 2 hrs we reached our spot from where we had left. What a feeling of relief was it… Phew!!

So people with all your permission would like to end this. Hopefully I have put down a useful explanation of our journey out here which will help us to remember & cherish this moment. Lets wait for the next Road Trip, & I will be back again with some more exciting visualization of our road trips in words.

Happy Biking….

Rachit K

RoadTrip To Alibaug on 11th August

Hello All,

It has been long that we are very busy with our work, projects and schedules so now is the time to take a break and enjoy !!!

As dicussed, We have planned long road trip on bikes. Following are details of the trip :

Destination : Alibaug
Date : Leaving on 11th October 2008, Saturday (in morning) & return on Sunday probably after the lunch.
Approx KMs one way : 150km

Accomodation Confirmed : Kaivalya Farms http://www.kaivalyafarms.com/

How To Reach : From Mumbai/Thane: Take Mumbai-Goa Highway. Reach Vadkhal Naka and take Alibagh Road. Just 300 metres before Alibagh city, take Road to Murud/Roha. After 3 kms. One road goes to Roha and one goes to Murud. You can reach by both roads to the site. If you take Roha Road, Take a right turn at village SAHAN, which connects to Murud Road. It’s just a km. from here on your left side.
If you take Murud road after Alibagh, come upto Nagaon-Hatale and take a left turn for Village PALHE and after about ½ kms. You will find the property on your right side.


Following are the list of members & their payment details :

Some suggestions & important factors are :

1. Fuel Calculation : What we have thought is, rather than calculating the fuel individually & tying up the pillion partner with a particular rider or a single rider may be in loss; We can consolidate the petrol required for all bikes on an average & divide with number of members.
For eg. We will consider any bike which gives a fair average, not too less or not too high for an instance Ajays Unicorn. If unicorn consumes Rs. 500 petrol (to & fro) , we will multiply with total bikes & the total amount will be divided individually. Just a wild example, in case of 4 bikes & 8 members a total will be 2000 Rs & individual share will be 250.
Any other suggestions or alterations are welcome.

2. Individual share : Am not sure how to calculate this, could be on individual consumption or a fixed total share. But personally i think each person should have a minimum of atleast Rs. 1000-1200. It may vary, & could be discussed later. Remember we will be spending maximum of day time & night time of saturday & sunday till afternoon. Anybody if possible can carry little more money in case of any urgencies.

3. Accomodation : This I am trying to do something, since we have more number of people we may try to get some cheap place as it could be little comforatable of staying with a family (my relatives). Nothing is confirmed yet, but will try some best way out. Lets hope we get to stay in for free.

4. Dos & Donts : This section may sound funny, but its equally important. Basically, the reason of this point is to ensure we dont get stucked in any bad situation & make our trip pleasant & full of fun.
No speeding or rash riding( i know its for me ), try to stay together or at a closest distance.
No playing or teasing any other rider while riding.
Every pillion rider (back seater) will try to keep an eye or communicate with fellow riders.
No bike will wait on any stop alone, in case for wait or rest all bikers will halt at once together.
Every pillion rider will wear a helmet so lets arrange as required.

5. Ensure Bike in a good state : Dear riders, please ensure your bike is in a proper riding condition. Service your bike with engine oil change (important), check clutch wire, brakes, horns, lights, tyre pressure, etc.

More of the above details will be updated as we discuss.

If I left out any point or you have any suggestion for anything, please free to write it down rather than discussing in person or on a phone. This will keep all other members updated.

So lets make this roadtrip a pleasant, enjoyful & memorable. I expect all above people to join in.

Trip Pix

RoadTrip to Alibaug

RoadTrip to Alibaug

Regards,
Rachit K