International Yezdi & Jawa Day 2007

International Jawa Day Celebrations 8th July 2007

I woke up with a start in the morning on Sunday the 8th of July 2007, only to find out that i had numerous missed calls on my cell-phone reminding me that I was supposed to ride out with friends to celebrate an occasion. I lazily tried ignoring some of the calls as I had just come back from a hectic bus journey from Mumbai and wanted to catch a little more shut-eye. Finally I managed to get up and put on the club tee and decided to at least meet up with the Pune guys at Rajaram Bridge and see them off on their ride. Later on we would perhaps ride down to Tamhini to meet up with the Mumbai guys who were also riding down!

I caught up with Rajesh and then Vinod and reached the bridge where 18 odd Yezdi's and Jawa's had gathered and were kicking up some smoke to celebrate this occasion. A quick photo session later we found ourselves engrossed in the enthusiasm and decided to join them in the ride towards khadagwasla at least.

Video of the Start of the Ride:

Rajesh offered his Jawa to Vinod who greedily grabbed the offer and joined us for the ride. We rode in a single line..roaring with the legendary ding dring sound of this two stroke Czech masterpiece and reached khadagwasla. We rode further and stopped a while for grabbing a quick bite and deciding whether to climb up to sinhagad or take an alternative route.

The majority of the riders were too enthralled by this start and decided to move towards Velha which was a longer and much more interesting ride. The diversion took us through a nicely winding road through small villages and then up hill into the Velha ghats via Khanapur. We stopped for a breather at the top of the mountain and enjoyed the drizzle hit us on our faces.

Video 1 of Climbing the Velha Ghats:

Video 2 of Climbing the Velha Ghats:

Video 3 of Climbing the Velha Ghats:

Video 4 of Climbing the Velha Ghats:

Video 5 of Climbing the Velha Ghats:

A quick descent took us into Velha village and then we decided to move further towards the Pabe waterfalls. We rode through some smooth straight roads over the flat plateau's. Here heavy cross winds wrecked havon on most of our heavy bikes but it was the sheer weight which made the roadholding possible.

Video of ride on the road to Pabe Falls:

Much against the advice given by the villagers and some of the fellow riders we decided to move forward and started the ascent again but this time the road was considerably bad. Riding through the jungles of Velha the road was really peaceful and quite desolate but the torrential rains which continuously seeped in through each and every nook and corner of the jacket I was wearing was slowly slowly turning my skin soggy. Each bump on the road was sending shock waves straight to the shoulders despite wide handlebars and a well tuned front suspension.

Video of Me n Kris Riding through the Jungles of Velha:

The entire countryside was adorned with numerous waterfalls which flowed like beautiful tresses from the forehead of a maiden giving the whole mountain much beautiful charm. We stopped near one such waterfall and decided to take some photographs of our bikes. All through this section Vinod was riding alongside on the Jawa and the two bikes were practically like a set of patrolling fighter aircraft ruling the skies. The weather was oh so wonderful that despite the continuous rattling and the water droplets hitting me straight across my face I was actually enjoying each bit of the ride.

After riding for another hour around afternoon we reached the foothills of Velha-Pabe ghats and started climbing some nearly impossible terrain. The bikes roared and chugged up the slopes which were slushy and muddy with absolutely a non-existent road and water running downhill. 250 CC’s of raw power came to my rescue. Most of us after reaching the top rode through a mossy surface slipping and sliding like crazy al over the track. Couple of us took a tumble knocking off some handlebar levers, loosening some foot rests and bruising couple of egos n palms. Overall this was one helluva adventurous experience maneuvering some 150 odd kg of brute metal on a slimy n slippery surface.

The sight that greeted us as soon as we reached the top was SIMPLY AMAZING. I have seen something very similar exactly one year back near Tamhini/Lonavala in the Kundalika river valley. This was typical Romantic Monsoon territory. Rains. Mist, cold shivers, waterfalls gushing all over into the valley. Only thing missing was the Shiv-Hari (Silsila) music and the lady in a chiffon saree holding my hand taking me round the 2 – 3 trees that were there.

Video 1 of Cloud Country – Around Pabe Falls

Video 2 of Cloud Country – Around Pabe Falls

FATAAK !!One gust of wind made me shudder and i came back to mother earth - The lady in chiffon saree dissappeared !! Coming back to mother earth – I parked my bike at the farthest end and walked all over the place walking in and out of clouds enjoying the tiny droplets on my face and feeling completely fresh. The fatigue and hunger from the ride somehow disappeared at this place. As the others came in we all moved everywhere and went completely trigger happy with our cameras. Some of us pulled the bikes further ahead onto the grass and clicked some really nice photographs. As the thermals and winds played havoc with the sides of the valley we saw couple of waterfalls change direction and move upwards because of the wind gusts. That was some piece of anti-gravity. Nature has so many wonders and we can never imagine the level of creativity and ingenuity the almighty can put in each of his creations.

After the photo session started the difficult task of descending down the wet n slippery slopes again. And to make matters worse the clouds suddenly descended on us dropping visibility drastically. We had couple of more fallen warriors on the way back. Rains had been happening continuously and each and every inch of the road was slowly getting filed with more and more water. As we descended down and then moved to the Bhoomi farmhouse complex for lunch. Reaching the complex was one helluva task. We had to ride a non existent road, cross some streams and overflowing rivulets and finally cross a flooded bridge to get into the huge farmhouse complex. We also got lost and found ourselves marooned in between two rivers and had to wait for some time for the rains to stop and the water level to go down for us to ride our bikes through the same.

Video 1 of Riding through a flowing stream

Video 2 of Riding through a flowing stream

Video 3 of Riding through a flowing stream

The lunch was a rather simple one with chapati, batata bhaji, chana masala and dal rice. We had tons of aloo pakoda’s or batata bhajji’s as they call it here with spicy chilly garlic chutney as starters. The lunch was topped by a cup of steaming hot coffee while staring at the torrential rain from the clubhouse windows.

After lunch we took some time to check on the bikes as most of the parts had come loose due to extensive rattling. On an average each bike was at least 20 years old and the ride despite being so damn treacherous was taken in the stride by bike and rider alike. One of the 60’s jawa broke the rear brake shoe and we immediately removed the front one and put t in the rear wheel. The most amazing thing about these bikes all the way to the latest one is the fact that we can interchange the front and rear wheels. Even the rim and the hub are also identical for front and rear wheels. Isn’t that amazing?

After doing some simple servicing to all the bikes we zoomed off again towards Velha. After negotiating some windy mountain top riding in which because of the flared skirted mudguards of my bike I was practically sailing in air, we managed to descend into civilization again. I had run out of fuel as I had come completely unprepared for this ride so had to pick up one liter of petrol with some funny red colored oil at the village odd man’s house. After grouping at Velha base village we decided that the road back would need to be a rather untiring one as most of us were going dead because of the fatigue of the treacherous ride. We took the state highway going via Nasrapur on to the Satara Road and finally came into Pune via Katraj Ghats and the new amazing section of NH 4. Cross winds played havoc here as well as water logging as the engine started spluttering as more and more water reached the CB points and ignitions systems.

Vinod ran into some trouble when he went into knew deep water and the bike just died on him. We managed to use a very crude method of putting some drops of fuel in the spark plug cap and kicking furiously to re-start the bike. The Bike roared into life and the moment we revved hard – POP – the light blew out!! MAN !!These classiques have such queer habits and tendencies that sometimes it is difficult to live with one of these oldies. Its just the sheer charm of the metal n chrome monster that makes them so lovable and so desirable.

I finally reached home around 8:30 in the night after a torturous ride through rains which lashed against me like pins and needles falling down from the sky. Moreover I wore an open-faced helmet making even more vulnerable to the weather but then that was the whole fun of the ride! This way the ride to celebrate the International Yezdi & Jawa day celebrations in Pune came to the culmination. We also got reports from all over the world of fellow riders celebrating this day in similar manner.

Link to Pics of this Pune ride:

Riders from Mumbai also rode from Mumbai To Tamhini and celebrated this day.
Catch the pics to that ride on:

Mumbai Ride - 1

Mumbai Ride - 2

Bangalore Riders also celebrated this occasion in style.
Catch the pics to that ride on:
Bangalore Ride

Mysore Riders celebrated this occasion in style.
Catch the pics to that ride on:
Mysore Ride

For international coverage of this event check JAWA DAY CELEBRATIONS

So till we meet again here’s the Ultimate Motorcyclist Signing off for now…RIDE ON !!!!