I had recently bought my royal Enfield and
that when I thought about of venturing out and sooner or later it just made
think why not see through on CTC and that’s when I registered myself for the
“Emperors Ride to Guntur” and I was skeptical and kept my fingers crossed and at
last when the name list was announced my name was there, I was totally rejoiced
as this was my first bike ride with this group.
It was the Friday evening where I was fully
prepared got my bike service done and then headed towards the Toyota showroom
near Rohini theater which was our boarding point I was alone at there and then
after some time a guy with full rider gears rode the 500cc Enfield and stopped
in front of me all the people around him started to stare and then he opened
his helmet and we both got introduced ourselves and that was none other than out
great Manoj. I just told him that this was my 1st ever ride with the
CTC but he has already been with this earlier too. We were just waiting there
for the other members and then came the leader Mano who was in his black steardy
CBR 250 with the saddle bag on the tank and on the rear seat stopped in front
of us and again I introduced myself and in return he gave me the elbow guard
which indeed was very helpful all through my trip. We were all waiting for one
more guy and in some time later a hefty plumpy guy with his charismatic
Karizma( Hope you guys would have guessed) just stood beside us along with
Shantha . It was already 6 45 pm we were a bit late as per our schedule and then
we decided to start the trip and in the midst we did pick up Balaji,Kevin,
Yasmin and then from there on we stood at a toll plaza at red hills our great
Balaji made us understand the rules of riding and then he made the lead to
move from front following him we all started .The best part was that the team
ensured that nobody Is left behind that’s why Mano was at the end .
My bike was ridden by Yazar ( as his bike
was handed over to Balaji) as he wanted to test the bullet and I was his
pillion and he rode pretty well zipping @ the speed max of 115km/hr and in
between I was instructing him on the clutch and gear which I believe he wouldn’t
have liked it much. We all drove through for about 20 km and then we had talk
at the beginning that we would do a pit stop at every toll to have the
headcount and keeping in mind all are safe and there in time.
After a long ride for about half an hour we
then decided to stop at one of tea stall and had some snacks and refreshments
and that gave us a good break it was already dark and started to rain and this
stop was just before Tada . I was a bit skeptical to speak to others as I had
not known any one there but the guys who were there except manoj were known to
each other but we both managed to get to mingle with each other pretty soon. At
that juncture we had again spoken on the next stop and also planned to reach the
destination at around 12 30 am ( which was Reservoir/Dam 100 kms before Guntur)
and then accordingly we started from the tea stall it was already 9pm and this
time Yazar gave me the chance to ride and I started to explore through as this
was my first night ride and I rode through well having touched the speed of
100km/hr and but maintained the avg speed of 80km I was behind manoj and
Balaji and behind me was Mano.
After riding for some time we then again had
a pit stop at somewhere in Andhra and filled up our stomach with some good
Andhra food and then headed again towards our destination meanwhile in
between it again started raining and our speed was also lessening down and in
the midst we were in search of fuel station and finally we got hold of one and
refilled our tank to full and then again started to head towards our
destination. At around 12 45 to 1am we reached a point where from there Mano
had to rely on Arun ( BTW arun is one of the most prominent CTC member and
experienced rider also organizing the event) We all waited for Arun at that
particular point for about appx half an hour ideally the females were all
tired and there was a small bench on the roadside they took a small power nap
and we men were in the mood of humor and were having a good time among
ourselves. We then contacted arun through phone but he wasn’t picking up as he
was driving from Guntur to reach our place and finally after some he reached and
we all got introduced to him.
We then rode to the nearby reservoir which
was guided by Arun ,we had to then search for the safe place to sleep as it was
already been 2-230 am and finally we got an elevated field nearby to the dam and
we laid our stuff along with the tarpaulin sheet and made our motorbike stand
in the 4 corners along us and then we slept taking the risk of mosquito and
dogs and other insects but take my words that was wonderful I just gazing at
sky watching the stars and along with the timid moonlight and nearby there was
a temple and some people were chanting the Hare Krishna Hare Ram which was a bit
disturbance but that was also good because it safeguarded us.
The next day morning we just got at up may
be between 6-7 am as the mild sunlight was hitting on our face and then we all
got up and then had to search for a good and secured place to pass on our
nature’s call which was very important and soon after that we all got fresh and
then packed our bags and other stuffs and then headed towards the having
breakfast where we asked some local people there and then in a small place shop
the guy was selling hot idly’s and dosa’s we stopped there and had and believe
me or that would have been a big business for that guy on that day.
Once we filled ourselves Arun who was
leading had explained the next plan of venture and then we all had followed
him as we were towards the en route to the town called Srisailam which was about
150 km from the place we were at that point and based on Nallamala forest hill.
We started our bike and at each point we asked people from the village to the
place and they directed us on the way at one juncture I was riding my bike and
Shantha was behind me in front of me was Manoj with his bullet and Kevin at
the pillion and we had to stop at one point because the bikes behind us were not
to be seen and we halted at place and took some snaps with cute little chicks
and had some water. After few minutes we all came to know that, we had an small
accident where during the steep turns through the village rider lost his balance
and the bike had a skid and fell down but nothing happened to them except some
few scathes on the glove (now we know important to wear ridding kit) we all
thanked god for that moment and then again we started to ride and in the way
we spotted some gorgeous and beautiful tomb which was at a small foothill we
all then planned to stop there and explore that place.
You should know that shantha who was sitting
behind me just got off the bike with my camera bag and just climbed to the place
and because her interest was to venture and take some exotic photographs which
was not known earlier to me there were few people who did not go there and we
took a small rest under the shades of the tree by listening to Arun expedition
who is ideally the macho man in our gang he has done a couple of races across
India and covered a distance of 1800 kms at the top speed of 135km/hr along
with his co mate and best buddy Mano hats off to them. Meanwhile the people who
ventured this spot was Balaji,Kevin,Shantha and Mano and I promise they all had
a good time there with some good snaps to cherish their memories.
After all this we again started with our
motorbikes and head towards the nallamala forest where in between some places
halts for tea and coffee and then a stop for lunch at the starting point off the
foot hill to srisailam we had a very good Raagi meal and regular Andhra meal
along with chicken and after about 45 mins in the afternoon we then again
started our journey we rode through the hill which had a very good scenetic
beauty tress and some hair pin bends but finally we then reached the reservoir
as we were very tired and wanted to take bath so went down to the dam river
which was looking very amazing and we planned to stay there at night, We parked
our bikes and then had boat ride and took some great snaps soon after that
went into the water and took a very refreshing bath also keeping an eye on our
baggages.
Post having bath it was already dark by
that time as we landed this place in the evening Arun and Mano were disusing on
what next to be done and then they decided to hire a home cook buy some fish
and ask the local people to prepare for us and which turned out to be a very
good idea and the person who they appointed to do these was Balaji he went
arranged these and we all should be thankful for his hardwork in executing this
seamlessly ,once the dinner was arranged we then planned to go up from the banks
of the river and halt at a place which was again arranged by our great balaji ,
we kept our bikes and bags there and then each of our male members were assigned
a task by Arun and Mano where in we had to bring water can and dinner from the
house it was cooked I being not a great fish lover I had managed with the egg
and curry along with gravy.Meanwhile the Arun and Mano went in search of getting
the place to sleep and that was the place near the banks of the river which took
time for them to search and during that time we guys started to play cards and
as time passed we were told to bring the dinner from the house and then all ate
together , guys the fish turned out to be a great hit and it was one of the most
sumptuous food throughout our whole journey we all recommend the future team to
also do the same.
After the heavy course of meal we then moved
down to the river banks and laid out the tarpaulin making our motorbikes
standing along with it to protect us and our baggages, and then we had a good
sleep and woke up early in the morning and freshened ourselves and then we
planned to move towards srisailum the actual town it was about 20 25 km from
there once we reached the place all of us had a good breakfast kept our luggage
at the same hotel and then went to this tourist place where there was cable car
and boating which costed us all per head Rs 100 and which was a good deal
altoghether again we took some beautiful solo cum group snaps and then started
to leave from there to the down of the hill.
While coming back Arun and Mano spotted a
good view where in through Arun’s camera we took the some snaps of our
motorbike with us wearing our riders gear and a group snap which would be shared
by arun later, we then started from there in our motorbikes to the downside of
the hill I was riding my bike and yazar was behind me sitting my bike had a
problem with the rear brake which had jammed a bit and this caused a lot of
noise during any halt or while applying brake so was going a bit slow than the
other team members and Arun was behind us to ensure we all are safe as we
reached the down in the afternoon we again had stopped at the same place for the
lunch same food and then again headed
towards en route to Chennai back this time
while going back may be arun or mano asked some local people there and took a
shorter route while the drive the roads were bumpy and tar roads so our speed
was less and as we nearing to Ongole we then had a pit stop at one of the tea
stall and from there we had to see off arun as he had to again reach Guntur back
and then we all started towards Chennai I was very tired and the worst part
was my bag was heavy and more than that I had a discomfort as a pillion rider so
all these made my buttox more painful so there were lot of stops in between as
yazar was driving this time while coming back as we were nearing to Chennai at
one place we had stopped for dinner which was close to tada soon before we
were about to leave at night 11 00 it started to rain heavily but we didn’t
bother much and we all rode back to Chennai in the rain getting drenched but it
was fun, we reached Chennai on Sunday or ideally Monday at 1:00 am and we and
I reached home by 2:00 am.
Please note the whole trip was 2 day event
which was totally unexplored and we ourselves managed to explore one by one and
which a good success at the end was.
We started on 24th Friday evening 7 pm and
reached back to Chennai on 27th Monday morning by 1am.
By Srikanth
0 comments:
Post a Comment