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Me and Satya were planning, or at least talking (a lot), of a real long ride right after we did Mahabaleshwar trip. We were getting used to the bikes, and more importantly, Satya to the idea of ‘touring’ for long stretches. The first time I rode on the Bullet to Alibaug during Diwali in October’06, I knew it had to be Konkan. Lush greenery, beautiful roads, clear road signs and lots of seafood, all seemed to point towards a perfect route for a long trip. Of course I had done the Alibaug trip right after rains so it was beautiful but I was sure of the green lasting at least through the winter. Then Ashvin Nadiq, a fellow Xbhp’ian (xBhp - the online forum I log on to for biking gyan.) did the trip through Konkan over 4days and I was smitten by the pics and the trip log he posted. It just had to be Konkan! But 16/12/06 was staring at me sooner than I realized and we couldn’t squeeze in the tour before my vacation in US. I had a blast for 35days and forgot all about it until the last week in US when Satya asked me if I was still up for it when I returned. So there it was, even before I was back from my already nice long vacation, I was planning for a long trip on the Bull when I returned. The seeds were sown and I’m sure Satya was watering them while I enjoyed my last few days of laziness in Buffalo.
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Back I was on 22/01/07, all tired and jetlagged after a long 30hr journey from Buffalo to Pune through Detriot, Amsterdam and Bombay. The last 5hours being the most tiring part of the journey. The first words Satya threw at me on the phone were – ‘So dude? You are still up for the Konkan ride right?’. No how-are-you’s and how-was-your-flight’s such was the hoopla about the trip in his mind. He must have been sleeping over it every night for the entire December. Anyways. A wedding to attend on 23rd & 24th meant I was up through the nights right till 24th. No sleep at all. It was planned that since 26th through 28th January was a long weekend and we should ride out 26th morning. 29th was an extra day not planned for but still kept in reserve just in case. Now no ride is complete until Ajaz is called upon to ride along and Satya did just that. And absolutely nothing goes as per plan when Ajaz is around! His take on life is - 'The more you plan, the less fun it is' and he acts on it every single ride! :)
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25/01/07, Wednesday – I was back in Pune and it was the last chance to prepare for the ride. Imagine 2 months of talking about the ride and it was still down to the last day! It is never ever a good idea to leave it all for so long. Satya had done the route planning but workdays for him meant not much else was done. A 4day ride means clothes, toiletries and quite a lot of luggage to haul. So we spent a cool Rs.2200 on the ‘Cramster Stallion’ saddle bags that could hold 46litres of luggage securely on the bike. You can get these at 'Adventure World' in the lane besides Mc'Dee's in Kothrud. I had already spent 2hrs walking on Deccan to find a fishnet to tie down other small pieces of luggage but found the ‘Octopus’ at Champion Sports for Rs.100. Inspite of all our skepticism, we were to find out over the next few days that the saddle-bags and the Octopus were worth every paisa.
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Now we calling it quits there at 7.30pm and me heading home for a good nights sleep would have been too easy. So we were to meet Ajaz at the Symbiosis canteen for dinner and go over the plan with him. Satya still doesn’t read Ajaz very well else he would have known what Ajaz had to say – ‘I leave it all to you guys, I’m just going to ride!’. That was the last thing I wanted to hear when I was all dreary eyed and was dragged by Satya to meet Ajaz coz he felt Ajaz was mad at us for not including him in the planning! Dharam had no such issues cause he came over to stay at my place in the night at 10pm. We packed our stuff in the Cramster. Trust me, it just kept swallowing all we threw into the pit and we still were staring at darkness such was the space! Packing done by 11.30pm and before I hit the bed, Satya calls me to say that Ajaz had plans to bring his cousin on for the ride. Surprise! (There were lots more when we started!)We were worried about the luggage fitting on only one bike now with two of the 3 carrying pillions. But nothing much we could do with Ajaz being Ajaz. Finally at around 12.30pm, I got into the bed hoping for at least 6hrs to sleep before we were to group at 6.30am at Laksmi Narayan Theatre at Swargate.
Guess what? Nah..I wasn't dreaming of what you see in the picture. I just couldn’t sleep a wink cause of all the excitement!!! Neither did Dharam is what he said the next morning but his ultra-loud, window-shattering, storm-blowing snores were telling a totally different story all through the night.
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So much for good planning for a ride that was being talked about for over 2 months! No wonder I felt like this most of the time!
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