Ever since I read Rachit’s blog, I had been forwarding the link of his blog to my close friends & in the process I discovered that two of my office colleagues (Shailesh Kadam & Pravin Samarth) who were very good friends of mine were a tad experienced when it comes to small distance touring on their bikes. I suggested them for a short one day trip together on our respective bikes & to my surprise, they agreed without much persuasion. We primarily shortlisted our first road trip to Malshej ghat (Well known & astonishingly beautiful natural gateway for single day trip, just about 120 kms from mumbai) or Bhimashankar temple trek. I had been to Malshej ghat a few years ago so I was well aware how splendid it is but Shailesh suggested Bhimashankar trek instead since according to him, Malshej is at its best during torrential rains, so its better if we go to some other place as an alternative & leave Malshej trip for next drizzling season. I didn’t mind either place we finally select to ride, all I wanted is to ride hard.. ride long..
It was approximately about a week subsequent to our initial trip plans & there were no absolute plans as of yet to ride anywhere. Finally it was nearly 26th December (I guess) & a long New Year weekend ahead next week so I insisted my friends again to plan for a new year ride at least on 1st January 2010. I took the liberty to suggest a new destination this time, Alibaug-Kihim beach as I had been there many times by ferry (small tourist ship) but never been there by road. At first, I did my part of research through Google maps, calculated overall distances by road, common meeting point for all of us, draft schedule for the day etc & presented the rough idea to my friends & convinced them that this would be an absolutely amazing start to our touring extravaganza together, as a group of bikers, as a group of close friends, on the very first sunshine of new year 2010. Initially all of them agreed unconditionally to my proposal & they were equally excited, but my joy was short-lived since my friends cancelled the plan finally due to some or the other reasons. I was fairly disheartened; nevertheless I had no choice except then waiting for my first long ride.
We (I, Shailesh, Tushar, Sneha & Najmuddin) went to see newly released movie ‘3 Idiots’ after office on 31st December 6-9 pm show & everyone were so mesmerized by the beauty of Ladakh shown in the movie. Shailesh actually promised me that he will carry on with my plan of Ladakh road trip in a year or two & I seriously wondered if he was any serious.
Anyways, after movie we all bid good bye to each other & joined our respective 31st December night out parties with other friends. I was scheduled to have dinner & night out with my cousins & few friends. I was somewhat sad in view of the fact that our Alibaug trip was cancelled, but I had to enjoy last night of the year so went ahead for dinner with my cousins. Out of the blue, at around 11.30 pm when we were in a restaurant, my cell phone rang & it was like God’s New Year gift for me in advance.. Shailesh was on the other side of phone & I precisely remember first line that he said to me was:
“kal jaana hai na?..” (We are going tomorrow right?)
I was confused so I asked him what he was talking about & he said again,
“ Saale, kal alibaug jaana hai na pakka??” (We are going to Alibaug tomorrow for sure right ?)
Further conversation was something as follow:
Me: Kya bakwaas kar raha hai yaar?
(what the f**k are you saying dude?)
Shailesh: Main Sachh bol raha hu, Pravin bhi aa raha hai.
(I’m not joking, even Pravin is all set to join us)
Within seconds of our conversation, I was in a state of unexpected but pleasant surprise. However, I was also worried for what excuse should I be giving to my cousins with whom I had plans for the night out, but without much thoughts I promptly started deciding when & where to meet. The basic plans were already discussed between us just a few days ago so I had to just revise the schedule to him. As planned earlier, we were scheduled to meet near Turbhe railway station by 8.00 am. I called up & narrated the plan to one of our common friend ‘Tushar’ who was interested to come as pillion with us.
So everything was working out well now.. I was unbelievably overjoyed suddenly. We had a fantastic dinner & as I learned from ‘3 idiot’ movie that evening,
‘AAL was WELL’ finally…you just have to trust your heart, & leave rest to almighty God.
But then again, such things only happen in movies right.. So I was still worried if Aal was really well ??
I got the answer to my above question pretty soon..
Well, the answer was a big ‘NO’.. Aal was not Well. :(
It was not until almost 11.55 pm & we were out of the restaurant & at some other place when I realized my wallet was missing which had some cash, debit cards etc but most importantly, my Driver's License. We rushed back to the restaurant since it was the last place where I had used some cash out of my wallet to pay off the dinner bill that night. We tried to search it but did not get it. So now I had no Cash, no cards to withdraw some cash & no driving license. It was already New Year by then so lots of my friends/family called me but I was too tensed to answer anyone's call at that moment. Dipesh & Tarun (my cousins) helped a lot in searching my wallet but no use. At last it was around 12.45 am when we gave up search for my wallet, I called back my friends & gave them the bad news. I told them I won’t be able to come since I had no license plus I am completely out of cash. My friends told me they will take care of the monetary issue & I can repay back later on. So I was bit confused as regards what should I do.. My heart cried to go forward with the plan but my mind strictly denied for such a long ride without my driving license. Lucky for me, I had a few attested color xerox copies of my license so I decided to go ahead with my heart & take the risk. Got back home by 2.00 am & confirmed the exact route to alibaug on Google maps & also got the copies of the same in my cell. I was scheduled to leave by 6.00 am from my house to reach Turbhe by 8.00 am. According to Gmaps, it was’nt more then 1 hour drive to reach Turbhe but since I had never been out of my local area on my bike, I only had to my assistance, the copies of map & local guidance from cabbies so I decided to leave early & take no chances.
Naturally, I tried to sleep early but could’nt due to the excitement. Somehow managed to close my eyes by 3.30 & got up by 5.30 am with the first stroke of alarm.
Got ready in a jiffy, browsed the internet again & noted down interesting destinations to visit in alibaug & shortlisted no less than 4 beaches to visit there. Stuffed all the basic things in my bag, some food, energy drinks(Glucon D), thick jacket since it was damn cold morning & all the original papers of my bike. I got out a bit late by 6.30 am. Called up my friends & they said they were running a bit late & may reach Turbhe by 9.00 am. So now I had an option to initiate my ride after an hour but I decided to stick to original schedule as planned since it was too difficult for me to wait an hour all alone. So I met my baby bike in my garage & wished it a very Happy New Year. Nicely warmed up the engine for a few minutes & finally a big growl of accelerator & I knew she’s in perfect state for our first long road trip together. I got aboard my bike, had my jacket/helmet on & finally took off slowly for the first ever road trip of my life. On my way, I stopped & took blessings of Sai babaji at a temple near my house. I clicked some snaps of my baby bike there & since it was the 1st long trip of my baby along with me, I prayed for the safe return of my bike, my friends & myself..
First click of the day - outside Sai Baba temple:
Next stop was at a nearby petrol pump to check out Tyre air pressure & refueled the bike with speed fuel worth 300 bucks.
Got back on road within few minutes with all the excitement now. It was freezing 1st morning of the new year. I had maps with me which I did use along with some help for directions from few cabbies.. I finally reached the diversion on NH3 where I had to take a right turn for Vashi. I opened throttle on a freeway & tried to test the top speed for the first time as I had just completed my bike’s run-in period a few days ago & to my surprise I reached 115 kmph easily on speedometer for the first time on my bike. I had never been over 100 kmph on any bike so it was a damn amazing feeling to cross that barrier for the very first time on my own bike but I did not stretch it much beyond 115kmph since we both were inexperienced at such speeds yet. So I decided to cruise at 80-90’s & stretch above 100 kmph only when I could see absolutely clear & traffic free roads ahead. I stopped at Vashi bridge since we were running ahead of the revised schedule now.
Took some snaps & video of the amazing weather out there.
With all the tripple digit high speed runs, I was running ahead of time now & hence decided to slow down after Vashi. Reached Turbhe by 8.00 am approximately. I parked the bike outside Turbhe station & waited for rest of the group to arrive. While getting down from d bike I accidentally broke the visor of my helmet in half.
Our other two bikers Pravin (Pulsar 150) & Shailesh (Unicorn) were on their way from kalyan but could not reach turbhe before 9.30 am. Tushar reached Turbhe via train by 10.00 am. We set out on road soon with Tushar sitting behind Pravin on his Pulsar as he was relatively much experienced for a pillion then myself. We started off from Turbhe & were cruising at decent speeds & for few minutes. I was enjoying the ride on such roads for the first time in my life. Crossed DY Patil stadium & soon noticed that Pravin was missing from the group. Shailesh & myself pulled over by the side of road & called up Pravin to find out his location. He did not answer so we called up Tushar who did eventually answer after few attempts & gave us a kind of sad news. There was a slight problem with Pravin’s Pulsar’s chain cover & it was brushing with the chain occasionally. They searched for a mechanic to sort out the issue while I & shailesh bought some tangy fresh oranges from the roadside solo vendors who sold them to the passengers in cars stopping at the signal. Pravin showed up within half an hour & signalled everything’s fine now after a small rectification my a local mechanic. So all 3 bikes started off again & I was leading the group with my bike & suddenly after about 20 minutes, I took a flyover & there were people standing at the start of the flyover who tried to signal me to stop but I was at high speeds so came to a stop only after entering about 200 metres into the flyover. Two guys came running towards me & they were in some sort of uniformed tshirts but I was sure they were’nt traffic police. Within seconds they came to me & demanded an explanation as to where I’m going.. I replied ‘Alibaug’.. They said I entered the Mumbai-Pune Expressway & bikes are not allowed here as I already knew. I apologized them & they let me go. I took a U-turn, got down from the flyover & luckily just as I was getting down I saw the other 2 bikes of my group coming from the opposite side of the same road. I directed them to take the road below the flyover & they did. I narrated the incident to them & they laughed at my stupidity to straightaway enter the famous mumbai-pune express road on bike. Anyways we moved ahead. None of us had ever been to Alibaug by road so we had maps & local guidance for our assistance but still we took a wrong turn somewhere which lead us to panvel instead of the JNPT road & we got stuck in very heavy traffic. Pravin & Tushar were missing again admidst the traffic but I & Shailesh were riding close to each other in traffic.
After cutting through the traffic for about an hour or so we were finally on the NH17(National-Highway 17) directly leading to Alibaug. We regrouped with Pravin/Tushar at the start of NH17. It was a long stretch of double lane freeway now. I had a lot of fun riding on the freeway. Enjoyed zipping on my new found love, my bike. Took on some amazing corners at decent speeds of above 80 kmph & it was a divine feeling. Enjoyed the amazing vistas all along the NH17.. Wanted to stop at almost every 5 minutes or so to capture the beauty in pics but had to reach Alibaug soon since it was already past 12.00 pm by then & the sun was dancing on our head & showering its blazing heat on us. I was speeding on numerous occasions when road was absolutely butter smooth ahead & it was absolutely a treat to rip the young & powerful engine of my bike. Pravin & Shailesh took their own sweet time & we regrouped every few minutes.
Some clicks on the alibaug outskirts when I was waiting for the rest of my group to catch up
Reached Alibaug city by 1.15 & headed towards Kihim beach. I knew the route from Alibaug city to Kihim very well so I lead the group again & we all reached there by 2.00 pm. We visited Shailesh’s friend’s bungalow for our office trip next weekend but dint like it at all. We all got fresh there & then decided to have lunch at kihim beach.
Had a delicious lunch of ‘Bhurji paav’ at a local food joint by the beach.
The riders at lunch table..
Always Smiling – Mr Tushar Patel.
Shailesh, trying out the oranges we bought on our way.
Pravin as usual, the most helpful one.. Trying to peel off some oranges for all of us to eat em.
& Myself of course, doing nothing.. just chilling :)
* Forgot to Reset the date on my friend's digital camera, hence the wrong date in few pics :(
Our bikes on the sand.
Trying to enter the beach
We were behind our original schedule now due to all the issues so far now but still had some time so decided to see few beaches before we start our journey back to mumbai. We decided to visit Alibaug beach at first so reached Alibaug beach by 4.30 pm & Hung out on there till 5.00 pm.
Took some wonderful snaps & videos on the beach.
We, beating up Shailesh( for no reason as far as I remember :)
Then we headed towards ‘Akshi beach’ soon as we wanted to see one more beach before we end the day in alibaug so we got back on our bikes & reached there by 5.15 pm. Akshi beach was the best one & even I was there for the 1st time even though I had been to alibaug on 4 ocassions before. Pravin & myself wanted to carry forward our journey to Murud Janjira which was about an hour away from there but we decided not to risk late night ride on NH17 so had 2 leave soon by 5.45 & thus we kept our Murud janjira visit for the next time. Anyways we had awesome photo sessions on Akshi beach too.. The beach was not at all crowded as compared to other beaches & its coast was completely covered with long tress where we parked our bikes in the shade.
Some pics
Pravin starring a beautiful girl at distance
Group Pics:
Beautiful, just before sunset view..
Shailesh, sharing some of his amazing high speed riding tips.. He's truly an amazingly calm & composed Rider.
Some creative photography by Pravin.
After all the fun on Akshi beach, we bid goodbye to Alibaug finally & got back on NH17 by 6.30 & it was almost dark by then.
An accident pic clicked by Pravin on the way back.
Final pics of the day.. We, on the move..
I stopped to refuel my bike at Vadkhal naka while I asked others to go ahead & I would catch up with them so they carried on ahead. I did not get the required Speed petrol at the Bharat Petroleum there so I had to move on. I had to pace up in order to catch up with my friends who were a couple of minutes ahead from me & by then it was 7.00 pm so absolute blackout on roads. I rode relentlessly above 80 kmph most of the times but could not assemble with rest of the bikes of my group even after an hour of incessant riding. Now I was awfully nervous as it occurred to me that I might be on the wrong way. It was bone chilling climate & it was getting harder to use the clutch & brake since my fingers more or less felt numb due to dropping temperature. My eyes were totally sore because of road dust attacking my eyes all through the trip since my helmet visor had broken earlier. On top of that, the high beams of cars/trucks from opposite side of lane were just about blinding me for a second or so because this was my very first night drive outside city on a two way road without streetlights. I tried to maintain steady pace above 70 kmph continuously & every time I used to see a single tail light of bike ahead of me, I used to pray to god that it should be my friends but I was disappointed every time. Then I had a view on my fuel gauge & it was already on reserve since quiet long. This almost gave me a panic attack since I had no idea where I was & no petrol pumps were in sight since quiet long. Finally I gazed upon something which gave me a sigh of relief.. Nope, it was’nt any of my friend, neither it was any petrol pump in sight.. I just happened to see an isolated board on the side of road, showing ‘PANVEL – 14 kms’ I would never forget that board in my life. I was relieved now since I was at least on the right route. Few kms ahead on NH17, I saw a Indian Oil petrol pump & pulled over straightaway there for fuel. I had only used Bharat petroleum’s Speed petrol since I bought my bike but this was not the time to be choosy & get whatever is available so I refueled the bike with Indian oil extra premium petrol just when my fuel tank was nearly empty. Then I called rest of my friends. My phone battery could be dead any moment now due to clicking pictures all day & listening to music on the move sometimes. After several attempts of calls, Shailesh finally answered my call but I could not hear him clearly since he was still on the moving bike, so I requested them to take a halt & tell me where they were exactly. They stopped somewhere & inquired where they were. It was a local village aside NH17, I forgot the name though.. I immediately inquired about that village with the Indian Oil petrol pump attendant. I was expecting an answer that the village is few kms ahead from here but I was shocked when he told me, ‘Sirji that village is around 14 kms before you reach here’. I reconfirmed from other attendant & he said my friends would take a minimum of 20 minutes at least to reach upto this petrol pump. So there it was all clear to me why I couldn’t regroup with my friends since I was riding way ahead of them. I told this news to them & they were surprised to find out my current location. I asked them to stop at this 1stIndian oil petrol pump they will see since I knew there was no other petrol pump since last 20 kms or so. They agreed & got back on road. It was past 8.00 pm by then & I had some to kill at the petrol pump so got absolutely fresh in the relatively clean washroom there. It was such a relief to splash fresh cold water in my dead eyes full of mud by then. I tried calling at home but my battery gave away so I just kept my fingers crossed that my friends meet me here or else there was no way I could contact them again. I had a power break to stretch my already numb body, especially legs. It was just before 8.30, when I saw Shailesh entering the petrol pump after a long wait & he was equally glad to see me after almost 2 hours. We called Pravin & he got to know that he just passed the petrol pump & will meet us at end of NH17. Shailesh refuelled his Unicorn & we got back on road together. I followed Shailesh at decent speed this time because I did not want to loose him again. Soon we regrouped with Pravin/Tushar at end of NH17 & we all were on track again after a short chitchat break. It wasn’t as much traffic at panvel as it was in morning so we crossed the stretch riding close to each other & within few minutes we finally reached a diversion at panvel flyover where we had to finally bid goodbye to each other. I thanked the rest of the group for an amazing 1st road trip & wished them a safe trip ahead towards thane while I took off alone towards Mumbai. Constantly rode at speeds averaging 90 kmph on highway as it was minimal traffic & I reached home safe & sound by 9.45 pm & my bike’s trip meter read 268 kms in total. Called up the rest of the group & got to know they just reached thane safely. I was totally exhausted but starving badly so had my dinner & got to bed by 11.00 pm. I did not speak anything about the trip at home, although my mom did notice my rough condition & tired eyes but thankfully she didn’t question much to my surprise. Anyways I slept soon as soon as I jumped on my bed. Thanked almighty God once again for such a marvelous first road trip which ended well without any problems.
Thus, the virgin roadtrip to Alibaug was a lifetime experience for me especially & it was my humble start to never ending chase for new destinations.Trip Summary:
Destination: Alibaug-kihim-Akshi
Day: 1st January 2010
Distance: 268 kms round trip (clicked the pic on next morning)
Riders:
Pravin – Bajaj Pulsar 150
Tushar – Pillion with Pravin
Shailesh – Honda Unicorn.
Mitesh – Yamaha FZ-16 LE
Expenses – Approx INR 500 per person.
PS: It is exactly a year before from today, I bonded with my FZ-16 for the first time on 16th October 2009.. Hence, my first trip log is dedicated to my baby on her first birthday. I hope to make many more of such unforgettable memories with her before her next birthday.
Cheers!!
Mitesh.
