Amazing Weekends !!!!

Ever since i have shifted to Pune life has been one helluva roller coaster ride.

Why? ...Simple Fact !!!

Complete week goes away 'aaram se' commuting about 1 km rather 700 metres from Home to Office on my bikes.

But..!!!!

Then comes the weekend and suddenly the whole flurry of activity hits me like a hurricane. It is time for me to take the highway and burn rubber all the way to Mumbai where most of my stuff and most of my family still is stuck. The Pune-Mumbai : Mumbai -Pune run is a mix of amazing straights, two lane super highways, amazing curves uphill as well as downhill, twisties, Moto GP circuits and what not!!



Loads of scope for short bursts of quick sprints and long full throttle cruises. I have been experiancing this route over past weekends. YES !! All the past weekends from Mid-May i have been doing the legendary Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai-Pune runs.

On 18th May, 2007 it was my first trip back to Mumbai after a hectic week of work at Pune. I started off a little early around 4:10 from Baner Road, Pune and after negotiating the Bangalore highway and then the old Pune Mumbai highway crossed Lonavala, Khopoli and Panvel to make it to Mumbai all the way to my doorstep in a little under 3 hours.

Enroute i did hit some small drizzles and had to slow down abit.



Captured some real good blossoms as the first colours of monsoon were already visible in the hills.



Under 3 hours was not bad a timing as compared to the massive Volvos and other cars which take the damn expressway to save distance and time yet manage to touch Mumbai in no less than 4 hours. This being my first ride straight from the office obviously i wasn't quite sure how much time i would be taking hence i kept ample time between me and Mumbai. This ride definitely gave me an idea on the estimate which would help me plan my further rides along the subsequent weekend.

Mumbai was as bad as usual with me trying to zip through traffic especially the western suburbs. Caught a good movie and managed to spot a over-ambitious three wheeler trying to negotiate the Andheri subway in peak traffic with a high head. (Pun Intended).



Note the effect of trying to drive a too tall vehicle from under a subway. The Bloddy rick did a perpetual wheelie and was stuck there for about an hour till help arrived and dragged it elsewhere.

That evening the Gladiator moved in from 4 digits odometer reading to 5 digit odomoter readings. I crossed 9999.9 KMs and moved into the 10K hall of fame. Not Bad for a 10 month old bike.



Since i had time i finally managed to take my 3rd bike to my mechanic after a period of 8 months of simply standindg under all weather conditions., The much abused and badly neglected Yezdi Roadking finally lost ts coat of dirt, rust and birdshit and was gunning for speed. In the subsequent weeks i must get this bike into Pune.




The subsequent Monday; 21st May morning i again woke up rather late and left Mumbai pretty early around 6:30 - 7ish. Obviously had to zoom past a lot of places and also picked up the quintessential pillion rider to reach baner road by about 10:00. It was a good time of 2 Hours and 50 minutes door-to-door.

I can imagine what couple of my other friends namely Arpan n group would be feeling doing Mumbai-Pune runs on a regular basis. Man these journeys are oh so exciting because each time there is a slight difference from the previous trip. The whole week saw some more action in office, some project allocations and some good ol boring work. I also managed to have a short run to lavassa city early one morniing with fellow BikeNomads.

Catch the pics to that Lavassa ride here:

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/praveen.sathaye/LavassaCityRide

That weekend i left Pune at about 4:47 in the afternoon and reached Mumbai at about 6:46 and say 45 - 46 seconds. UNDER 2 HOURS. CRAZY Stuff. Simply Crazy.



I just calculated the distance v/s time and came to know that i must have maintained an average speed of nearly 70.6 kmph. That was Krazy. Absolutely KRAZY. This is something i dont think i would ever think of repeating.



On 26th i gave my bike for servicing and got the oil changed. Saturday again caught a nice movie and then prepared myself for Sunday. This was the crucial day when i was taking Kris to Pune. I woke up early morning on sunday 27th May, and left my place at around 7:15 A.M. Riding a 31 year old bike which has not been ridden for more than 10 kms at stretch for over an year is a risky proposition but i guess it had to be done. I couldn't leave my bikes behind. Wife is all-together a different story, but BIKES!!..No Way !! So off i was early morning riding Kristine towards Pune. I stopped at Datta Vada paav to have the customary Chai n spicy vada pav.



Saw an amazing hoarding of the ZMA near the place and decided the next upgrade if i dont get a decent enough bike would be a 2nd hand Karizma.



I was cruising at a comfortable 70klicks all the way till khopoli when the sight of the ghats in front of me made me shudder a little. I wasn't sure if my already overheated engine would be able to sustain the load of climbing. I managed to keep her revving in the powerband and climbed the entire ghat in one go. Didnt have to come into 1st gear even once. It pulled efficiently in 2nd and 3rd gears. The next stop was Lonavala RK, where i stopped to have the customary BikeNomad breakfast. managed to click a few pics here also.



After Lonavala the engine seemed to have opened up and for the first time in many years i managed to reach speeds of triple digits on my oldie. I was definitely getting little scared as i didnt want the damn engine to just disintegrate under me. LOL. Finally i managed to reach Pune after riding in breaks and at languishing speeds of about 60-65 KMPH.

After keeping the bike at the guesthouse in Pune i caught a Volvo and immediately moved towards Mumbai. YES ! Krazy stuff once again.I had to rush back to get the otehr bike.

I reached Mumbai around 8ish in the Night. Took some rest. Finished off some work and next day morning picked up the Gladiator and was off towards Pune. This time also i rode a lil aaram se and reached in just about 3 hours. So over this crucial weekend i managed to get both my bikes to Pune.

I shifted house the next weekend and roamed a little bit in Pune on Saturday. That day in Pune it was all Cruiser lifestyle with me looking at all the Bullets all over the city "aaram se" and even visiting the RE showroom to see if the Bullet AVL 500 Machismo was available in Pune.



Monsoons hit pune this weekend. I captured a lot of amazing cloud formations from my balcony.





Sunday evening despite fear of getting hit by monsoons i knew i had to come back to Mumbai again for the weekend alebeit for a short duration only.



After being reluctant for quite some time looking at the sky i managed to muster enough courage to finally move out towards Mumbai. I started off quite late around 6ish rather nearly 6:30 and had been watching storm clouds build up in the horizon.



Storm-Chaser lived up to his name as i rode through the twilight zone towards Dehu road and then through massive cross winds at Kamshet and just before Lonavala. These cross winds were enough to toos me of the road but i held on and whatta experiance it was battling the windy rains and still managing to make a good speed of nearly 80kmph.

As soon as i crossed Lonavala, the clouds darkened again and i saw the maddenning crowds from Mumbai choking Lonavala to the fullest. It was a relief moving out from Lonavala and riding on towards Khandala. The sun had slid below the horizon and its glow was making the whole environment pleasant.

Next stop was beyond Tiger's leap where all the people had collected to watch the sunset towards Mumbai. Some TV crew had also come there as this was the first indication of Monsoon hitting the western ghats and now Mango season was on its end. The view was oh so breathtaking



A few kms down the road i saw Khopoli in its complete magnificance. Flowing with the clouds and twinkling lights the whole small township at the end of the ghats looked like a fairy land.



After Khopoli it was the Highway again towards Panvel. Darkness had already hit and riding was slowly becoming a little difficult. I stopped to clean up my visor, grab a tea at a roadside restaurent and then rode non stop to Mumbai. managed to reach within 3&1/2 hours.Slightly bad timing but then whatta ride. Hardly had sleep for a few hours and then was back in Pune the very next day on Monday back into Office.

Looks like this is the way i shall be spending most of my weekends from now onwards. Shuttling between Mumbai-Pune..like crazy!!!

More stories from my side.. Watch this space...Till then..Keep riding