Rain, Slush & Fog Ride

Done with shopping and I cannot wait to get a hands on all the stuff that I have purchased in last few weeks before I take it to Leh. I had to test

1. A Leather Jacket (Without armor)
2. Leather Gloves (Not meant for riding)
3. Saddlebags
4. Full face helmet
5. Knee and elbow guards (Roller skating)
6. Gum Boots
   
7. Newly serviced bike

Woke up at 8 AM which gave me little time to pack the luggage. I had to come back by 2 PM to take care of few pending things. Dumped everything that I found in the saddlebag with the intent of stuffing it to the capacity.

Started off at 9 AM with full gear on. Decided to head towards Tamhini-Lonavla offroading track which was the best choice for a test ride with such a little time in hand.
Weather was awesome. Mostly sunny. First thing that I realized was that gloves are not doing their job well. Their grip didn't feel confident. I continued. As I was reaching close to Mulshi, scenery was getting prettier. It felt like the first trip. All fresh. Avoided temptation of clicking at at least 100 places. Wish I had more time. As I crossed Paud, I could see roads appearing wet and as expected rain started as I neared Mulshi. Time to take out rain suit.

Road along the Mulshi lake was even more beautiful. I told myself not to stop. As soon as I neared Tamhini Ghats, rain droplets were multiplied by 2. I took a turn and my god, I automatically stopped the bike. It just happened. 10/10 to the rain gods.

Clicked some more on the way and zoomed ahead for way to Lonavla- the dirt track.
Its no one on the road, its raining hard and you couldn't see anything beyond 5 mts welcome to this dirt track - Mansoon version.

After this small jungle patch there is some "kachcha" tar road. My Avenger was taking it very easily. Every vibration of the front wheel was triple filtered before it reached by hands (btw, i had to remove leather gloves as they cant stand the rains). Thanks to Mr. Pendharkar (BK Automobiles) and his mechanic for fork job.

As I approached this point I took a shot in the similar way as this one when I did this trip in summer. It was nice to see the dramatic change in the total feel of this place now.
Real test begins here. It was a surprise encounter with some "simulated Manali-Leh water crossings" as I went ahead.


Tested gum boots by passing over it twice! worked well but don't know how will they behave if the water is deeper. As expected, met with few slushy patches like this:


Went through the most difficult looking part of them, carefully. No skidding.
I turned back after covering some distance as I knew there were no different "tests" ahead for me. It was a fun passing over the same track once again. It was raining continuously throughout this part of the ride. Took some risk because I didn't want to miss this opportunity. You could see rain if you see enlarged version of these pick on flickr collection. On the way back I had to shop clicking because of the moisture developed inside the lens :P

You could see all the pictures here.

Now the conclusion:

1. Leather Jacket - Good for riding but needs protection from rain.
   
2. Leather Gloves - Ok. Look good for cold but still have to get an alternative.
3. Saddlebags - They carry lot of stuff but are not water proof. I completely forgot this. You can imagine faces of my room mates when they saw their wet jackets and wet bedsheets :P. Need to buy a polythene covers and 4 mm ropes.
   
4. Full face helmet - Better than my half face in terms of cold and rain protection. Water droplet crack in from the little the gap in between the helmet and visior. Need to go for new visior or new helmet.
   
5. Knee and elbow guards (Roller skating): Knee guards are fine but elbow guards were uncomfortable. I couldnt bend my hands to touch my shoulders. Should try using knee pads here otherwise I had to go without elbow guards.
   
6. Gum Boots: Very much useful for water crossing. Consume considerable amount of space in saddle bag.
   
7. Newly serviced bike: What can I say. What is a better servicing than one which makes you feel confident for Leh trip? Super smooth forks, smoother engine feel (thanks to additives he suggested for petrol and oil.
   

All in all a confidence++ for leh.

P.S. Read about the Ladakh 2007 ride I did all the planning for.

"Chak De!" on 15th August

15th Aug. Wednsday. An off in between the week and I felt the same when we used to find a piece of cashew in the pulav served in my engg. college mess. Preetam & I decided not to waste it lazying around and do something different this time. All of the plan we had was simple .To attend flag hosting in the nearby school and in the afternoon, a visit to NDA arrenged by Captain Nandu (thanks a ton for that). Called up Priyank and he also jumped in. Our earlier plan was to watch SRK's "Chak De" but we couldnt get any tickets at City Pride on tuesday so we were little disappointed. But the sequence of events followed turned our day into an unforgettable experience.

7.30 AM: Nothing like beginning your day with school children. Reached just before the ceremony started. Then flag hosting followed by our national Anthem. Great! Priyank appeared a little late but with flags in his hands. We purchased few more. Watching these little fellows brought back some old memories. Last year at the same time I was at my school attending flag hosting. Luckily I was able to click a pic of a cute little boy.



8.15 AM: A small tea party at our usual tea stall with rounds of Parle-G to accompany and a bright idea- Lets visit Idlicious! A great place for authentic south indian food.

9.15 AM: At Idlicious. In between we tied flags to our bikes. Called up Rajesh, he is a great fan of Idlicious. In fact he is the one who told me about this small but great place. Another surprise here, my project mate Anu was also there with her friends. We ate lots of idlis & dosas and then a cup of filter coffee. It was really nice.

10.30 AM When stomoch is full you get more ideas. We had good time left before we head towards NDA. Priyank wanted to see "Blue Umbrealla". Preetam & I wanted to see "Chak de" but it was equal to impossible to get tickets so Priyank got a go ahead. Said bye bye to Rajesh & Anu. Next stop E-square.

11.00 AM We are at E-square holding tickets of the movie in our hand. Show ends at 3 PM. Oops! we had to pick up Purvi as well for the NDA ride. Now?
12.00 PM Called up Purvi. She was not ready but asked her to act like as if she has to get ready for the office bus in an hour :)
12. 15 PM I was standing in the line for an extra ticket and suddenly saw "Chak De" tickets available for 10.30 night show. Chak De! booked two tickets. The day was turning out to be exciting!
5.oo PM: We were waiting outside NDA gate. Me, Preetam, Priyank, Purvi came directly from the movie. My BikeNomad friends Capt., Pravin Sathey & Nalin Bakshi were also there. Captain Nandu got final go ahead and we entered NDA premices. We rode all over the campus. Though it was national holiday, there was no off NDA cadets. Visiting NDA is a great experience. Those ships & fighter planes & other war heads placed all around the campus brought a proud feeling. Though we couldnt stop at places because many of us (including me) were not wearing shoes. Capt. scold me a little for not wearing shoes. "Are you a rider or what?", he said. I felt sorry. But who will explain him that we didnt even get time to go home once we left early in the morning when it was raining and everything followed was unplanned. Anyways, but I know his questions was geniune one. I kept quite.
6.30 PM: We say bye bye to everybody. On the way to home with Preetam, I got this idea of blogging about this wonderful day.
12. 30 AM: Back home from the movie. This Movie was also good. SRK has done very well.

Moments of the day were:
1. Standing still as the National Anthem started
2. The first sip of filter coffee after delicious idli
3. After loosing all hopes of getting to see "Chak de" on 15th Aug, I come to know tickets are available
4. Riding on the main road inside NDA.
5. Hearing Praveen Sathey's shocking story about why he has to leave his military training.
6. Coming out of theater thinking about this blog :)

More pics here.

Green Weekend

These days if you enter my place don't be surprised if you see people eating only raw vegetables and sprouts for the breakfast. Thanks to Birjoo who is on full fire these days. Early morning jog, careful diet, weekend Yoga and list goes on. Today me and my other roommate Preetam, we all agreed to follow healthy diet and habits. We are also keeping FMCG fund to purchase common food items from nearby retail stores called More. A kind if of tie up, u know :).

What after sprouts and raw vegetable diet? Yes, milk. Currently, we are heating it up on electric stove but soon we plan to buy mini LPG stove. Here are some highlights:
Preetam got inspired very badly and purchased same T as Birjoo along with a 3/4th. He also accompany him for Jog (sometimes) and Yoga (as of now its regular). I am out of all this except food :D. I love Kellogg's!