Bike ride to Chikhadara -Part 5

25th Dec:
The day started at roughly 7am with all of us lazing up to the morning blues. NEWS: No water! Dammm! This hotel was getting our nerves now. So as all were waking up, a couple of us with a neighboring guest went down to the reception area and kicked the couple of sleeping hotel staff awake and yelled like crazy at them. Soon they came off their slumber and said since the lights were off there was no water. They then started the generator and connected a pumping machine to some external water drums and pumped water to the tanks. But the process was slow and could easily take over 2 hours, we did not have that leisure. So took our buckets from the room to the tanks and got it filled in. Slowly we were done with our morning duties, and decided to skip bath for the day.

The neighboring guest guy started heating water in a metal container using some firewood and bricks, some of us gathered around the fire to warm ourselves. The bikes were wet with due, just to indicate how cold it was the previous night. Oddly though the rooms were warm. We then had another round of arguments with the manager of the hotel and paid them less of the non-service. Avoid this hotel "Hotel Yuraj" -Sillod affiliated to MTDC at all costs! Soon we blasted our steeds to life and roared off to a near by tea stall(1133kms, 9:32am).

The place was small tea shop with an adjoining dhaba and served an amazing snack only available in these parts - "bun wada" it was amazing just the reverse of a wada paav. The bun is covered in the dough and deep fried. The taste is awesome. Tea too was good -name of the hotel "Agarval tea house". Some of us tanked up at the petrol pump across the road. In about 30 minutes we were on our merry way towards Aurangabad. We decided on synching up some 10kms past Aurangabad.

Mandar was trailing me since the previous day and continued with the same technique (he actually was riding at ~40kmph). In a few kilometers we took a brief halt at an HP petrol pump where Amit an Maneesh tanked up. Post this it was the same blast and bang from my bike and I had my throttle at full and the bike would decide with the gradient and texture of the road weather to go at 50 or hit 70+. Nachiket too stayed behind for this leg, the worse hit part was when we had to ascent a mini ghat just past the Ajantha Caves bifurcation- the bike purred to a glorious 20kmph with blast and puffs as I overtook a couple of trailers! Weird man and really frustrating... So effectively we left my speed at the hands of the bike and no one tried to stop or slow me... it was a weird riding experience.

Eventually Mandar and me rode into Aurangabad city via Chikhalthana and had missed a bypass route(1201.7kms, 11:02am). This side of the city seemed to be pretty modern with malls and a couple of multiplexes. Eventually the city got crowded and post some inquiries we got the right direction, Mandar synched with rest of the gang who had taken the bypass route and we decided to meet in ~10kms. So on we went and rode past Aurangabad city. In some time, we took a halt near a tea stall and called up the others(1231.3kms, 11:44am). In a few minutes the 4 bikes came zooming in and we had our cups of tea. We decided on taking the next halt near Nevasa phata and possibly look for a mechanic there for the bike. In about 20 minutes we rode off.

The highway ride was the same repetition of what we experienced in the ongoing ride, Amit was in a hurry since it was his wedding anniversary and had to be home as soon as possible. Mandar, Nachi and me trailed the pack and the others took turns going ahead and at times trailing back. Effectively we rode at an average of 60kmph. In some time we took a halt at a petrol pump where a few of us tanked up and decided on trying to trouble shoot the bike issue(1260.3kms, 12:42pm). We checked the fuel flow from the petrol tank which was perfectly OK and also dried up the carburetor. I called the hero honda service center mechanic and he suggested changing the spark plug. We planned on getting the repairs done at around Ahmendnagar.

We got off on our merry way and rode off the little city. It was starting to be a pain to ride the coughing machine.. but we carried on. It would get frustrating when some slow vehicle would come infront of me or some one would try crossing the road and would make me slow down. The bike would cough like a maniac when trying to speed up. I still remember on the stretch in MP. where a dog crossed the road and as the bike farted it sprung to its feet in fear staring at me.

By now Amit, Dhanya and Maneesh had ridden off ahead and decided to check for mechanic shops at Ahmednagar. Soon the traffic starting piling up and we were negotiating a huge line of trucks. We were entering Ahmednagar city. We arrived at a turn in the city where Maneesh was waiting for us, Amit had gone in looking for a mechanic shop and Dhanya as usual rode off ahead (he too was looking for a mechanic he said later)(1316.1kms, 13:30pm). Amit returned and said there we many mechanics inside the lanes, soon Amit and me rode of on my bike into the crowded city. The area we went to resembled Nanapeth (in pune) here we bought a spark plug and took it to a HeroHonda authorized mechanic and he said the spark plug was wrong then I had to make 3 rounds to various shops to get the right spark plugs and return the wrong ones. Eventually he fitted the spark plug and checked the bike and said there was some issue with the pickup and starter coils, and denied to fix them soon as he had 3 other bikes in his hand. He said we take a break near Sarathwadi for the bike to cool down before going on. So much for that, we returned to the others and narrated the story and eventually decided to ride off(14:24pm).

We decided to stop at the next available good looking hotel. As we started riding off Dhanya joined us at the outskirt post a bridge. We went searching for a good hotel and eventually halted at one "Hotel Sagar" (1323.9kms, 14:45kms). Here we ordered pitla, methipitla, shengdana thecha and lots of bhakris with rice and daal. The food was amazing and lip smacking. Post lunch we rode off and decided to stop somewhere near Saratwadi (15:36pm).

The ride continued along the highway at gradual speeds. Puffing and chugging through as we rode via a couple of villages, and eventually rode past Saratwadi (via Hotel Navnath we had stopped for breakfast a few days back)(1375.6kms, 14:30pm). We took a brief halt but decided to carry on as everyone was in the groove of the ride. So on we rode and went past more smaller towns and eventually entered Shikrapur and took our routine tea halt(1399.9kms, 17:04pm).

Here we refreshed ourselves and decided to meetup next directly at Gunjan talkies (depart at 17:14pm). My fuel indicator was showing bad signs so fueled up at a pump in a couple of kilometers. Slowly rode ahead as the roads started getting crowded, I guess I was at Wagholi, by now everyone was far ahead and was the last one. Some big VIPs were around and had a huge ground setup for a public meet, lots and vehicles and police had clogged the place. Negotiating the traffic I eventually rode past Koregaon and soon came the traffic signals of Pune, post which all my compadres stood waving at me near Gunjan talkies. The ride had come to an end(1432.7kms, 18:00pm).

Here we exchanged high fives and chit-chatted for sometime. The 4 big tigers from Semadoh was still a topic for laughter at this point and so was Maneesh's "oo ooooooo oooooo". Eventually Dhanya and Amit took their luggage off the saddle bags and bid adeu... Mandar departed a few minutes later and finally Maneesh Nachi and me took off in the direction of BundGarden bridge. Eventually Maneesh rode off then Nachi parted ways near Kumbharwada as I "puffed" "bang" "chugged" the frustrating city traffic and my caughing steed back home(1441.3kms, 18:47pm).

It was a ride, quiet different from the previous ones. In a way that we went away from the coast and this time did not experience sweat or sore butts post riding :).

B.t.w the blasts from my bike were later rectified and corrected by the mechanic, who said it was nothing more than a loose contact of a couple of wires... @#$%$^&*(#@$!!!