I was almost planned to ride to Leh, Ladakh in Himalayas, but somehow plan didn't worked out, May June months passed quickly with lot of other stuff and i didn't find time to tour north india. Now in July 2012 monsoon showers has started already and raiding Himalayas in rains is full of danger, which i have avoided. just to feed the hunger of rider in me i planned to ride to Hyderabad. Hyderabad is around 600Km and well connected by national highway from Bangalore. Very recent two of my friends, actually three of my friends have shifted to Hyderabad from Bangalore. i called up them and told that will visit you this weekend.
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| Hyderbad Highway |
I completed my office work by noon and started journey at 3PM from Bangalore. As usual it took time to come out of Bangalore traffic. I stopped after Bangalore Airport and called up Bharath and Amit Sharma at Hyderabad to inform them. Sky was warning me that its about to rain and i was thinking that by the time rain drops will fall on the earth i will to escaped from this part of land. I kept riding with an intention that i wont stop before Ananthpur, which was around 200 Km, but after travelling about 160Km rain caught me. I parked my bike on roadside to cover my Bag with a rainproof cover and continued to ride. I was surprised that just 100mts after this place there were no signs of rain. Road was all dry i felt happy that i have really crossed the patch where it was supposed to rain, when i was at Bangalore. Next i stopped at Ananthpur where an Chariot shaped temple caught my attention. and i have to apply brakes to take picture of the monument.
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| Temple at Ananthpur, Andhra Pradesh |
By this time fuel has also reached to reserve part of tank and sensor was blinking indicator for that. Driving more 20 Kms i got fuel on a petrol pump. Very next to petrol pump there was a Punjabi Dhaba . Royal Enfield was parked on front of Dhaba. Registration plate of bullet was from Chandigarh. I was thinking may someone else is also riding but unfortunately the bullet was owned by owner of Dhaba. I had a nice tea here and started riding further.
I had just crossed Gooty after Ananthpur and it started raining heavily. It was time to turn on headlamp as sunlight was no more showing up road. I couldn't close the Helmet glass as rain was decreasing all transparency. No doubt rain was heavy but wind coming from left side of road was hitting so heavily that rain was visible almost horizontal, initially i was not speeding up more than 80Km/hr in this rain but gradually i found that bike is stable even if i increase speed to 100Km/hr. Checked twice that brakes were also responding normally. it was almost no effect of rain on the machine. Things about which i was worried about was less visibility due to rain and the rain droplets which were hitting hard on my face.
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| Completed 10000 Kilometers on by Bullet |
Sometimes it was not raining to hard as it was in starting but it kept raining all the time. I was not knowing where exactly i have to go in hyderabad so just before hyderabad i stopped at a petrol pump took out my phone from the bag to check the email which Bharath has sent, email was having route map. because it was raining hard i was sure i may not be able to check maps so frequently so i called up Bharath and told me to sms some directions after entering Hyderabad. I read sms and kept in my mind before entering Hyderabad i will get shashabad flyover i have to travel 17Km on that and then go down find Andhra Bank and call up Bharath. Yes i have also stopped once more to capture 10,000Km on the Bike's odometer. At a place A huge truck was trying to take U-turn from our side to other side of road and with long body it couldn't be done in 1 go. When i noticed this truck i was perpendicular to me. Heavy rain and darkness, but Headlamp was able to detect the correct position of truck with help of reflectors on the truck. and awesome brakes easily reduced the speed from 100Km/hour in seconds. A normal 2-wheeler could have banged on side wall of truck easily in the situation.
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| Loooooong Straight Road, I didn't crossed 125Km/hr mark |
Finally i was at Shamshabad with help of someone i got the way to get onto flyover and started riding. This flyover was Express-way to Mumbai. normally two-wheeler are not allowed on many such express-ways but still i kept riding because i didn't see any sign board saying no entry for two wheelers, it was still raining heavily i increased speed to 110Km/hr along with SUV moving next to me, but soon i have slow down after i went into a pool of water standing on the flyover. Kept riding with a hope to find exit from fly over with a signboard showing exit to Nan*guda.. but i was not seeing any. I have crossed more than 20 Km on the express - way so definitely ih have missed the exit. Next exit was to 'financial dist' area. i came out of flyover and started searching for some people i was expecting a tollbooth which was missing. under flyover there was a crossing and 2 guys were standing there waiting for rain to stop. I tried to get location of Bharath's place but the were not able to make me understand, I took out my phone to check directions but my wet hands were making it impossible to work in touchpad of phone. As phone was showing low battery i kept phone inside bag and started riding in direction told by these guys. very soon i found that i am in some IT park. that was a good thing I started asking from the security guards of the companies. and i got the way out. this road was fill be holes i was like sitting on camel, Water filled road was dangerous, at one place i went very deep inside water i could head bike's silencer struggling hard to pump out smoke. Thanks to 500cc engine i came out of pool safely. finally i found the Andhra Bank. took out my phone with 1% remaining battery. Bharath asked to come to some KS school and he told that he is coming towards me. Security guard of bank who woke up listening to the thump was not having any idea about that school but he pointed to a direction. I thought to get and idea about direction from bharath once again. but my phone was already dead. I continued in same direction where security guard pointed but was not able to locate and school. I decided to return back to Andhra bank ATM thinking that Bharath will surely reach there searching me, but i found Bharath on the way back to Andhra Bank.
It was 1am when i reached his home. Had a quick showed i was all wet. My woodland shoes were weighing almost double with lot of water. Had a quick shower and dinner and then lots of talk which usually happens when we meet after a long time. Day started with Puja and Bharath's home and nice Andhra food. I have taken too much food that i have skipped lunch easily. by noon i moved to another part of hyderabad to meet another 2 friends the Sharma Family. Spent time with them .. and we had lots and lots of things to talk about. We roamed around in car in near by area but as it was raining cats and dogs, so missed he Bawarchi Biryani and char minar visit. Stayed at Sharma's place for saturday night. Sunday morning we visited Microsoft Campus, its was a huge campus. I enjoyed visiting campus as if i have visited a big resort.
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| While Coming back to Bangalore |
Coming back is always bad i was getting a feeling to continue further towards north and could have reached Himachal in next 2 or 3 days. but i was not free to move away from the commitments i had at office, started my journey at 3pm, i was at kurnool at 6pm fuel up to tank full here and continued further. i kept looking for the Dhaba where i have stopped while coming to Hyderabad but couldn't find it after Kurnool once more time clouds were again successful to make to wet, i had to ride some 3 Km in rain but then it was clear sky till i reach bangalore. I reached Bangalore Airport at 10PM, Another 40 minutes to reach to my house, i had dinner at a restaurant near to my house and after some phone calls i slept nicely. It was amazing experience, stable riding in rain has raised the proud feeling of owning a Royal Enfield.
