Varun THE PLANNING
A road trip is what I’ve always wanted to do from the time I started riding bikes and the first trip came out of nowhere. One day I was hanging around for the night at one of our friend’s houses and at 3 AM we thought of going on a nice road trip the next morning. We quickly finished our cheese Maggi and slept so that we could wake up by 6 AM. Initially, the three of us were going on a car trip to Yelagiri/Banglore but as usual in a friend’s trip, someone has to back out (though genuine reasons). We then decided to go on a bike ride which both of us – Mayank and myself wanted to do for a very long time.
After a 2 hours nap, we woke up, called our families, and informed them about our impromptu plan for a trip. Then we had our breakfast and went to our homes to pack stuff for the trip. We were just too excited to pack things properly or FOOD for that matter and suffered a lot because of this later during our trip. We also ringed a few of our friends and asked if they would like to join us for the trip but most of them were still sleeping to even convince their parents or themselves for it. Initially, we thought of riding on two different bikes but then decided against it.
We then set out for the ride on our very own Royal Enfield Himalayan – an offroad beast by Royal Enfield. Packed just a pair of clothes, we set out on our journey of 230 KMs from Chennai to Yelagiri Hills.
THE RIDE
We started our ride by 9 AM and the sun was already up and shining. We had little concerns about that as we had our jackets, helmets & excitement on. The journey was mainly a straight highway that passes through Vellore and ascends the Yelagiri Hills which has 14 hairpin bends.
Initially, Mayank was riding the RE Himalayan and we were cruising with a constant speed of 80-100 kmph and covered close to 100 KMs. During that, we had a close call where Mayank was trying to overtake a truck and the truck inched in on us. We nearly crashed onto the bushes planted on the road dividers but narrowly escaped.
A while later we decided to switch and I took over the driving. The first impression of the Chennai-Bengaluru highway was that it’s quite smooth and wide so it feels good to be riding on it. Occasionally, we would see mountains in front of us which was quite a sight. We were just too excited to be on a bike ride that we did not care about taking any breaks and continued to ride for nearly 175 KMs.
We then halted at a roadside vendor to rejuvenate ourselves with coconut water. Soon the photo session took over and we started clicking photos and taking videos performing our own version of stunts and bends. We then continued on our way and were close to reaching Yelagiri Hills.
A PLEASANT JOURNEY TO THE WAY UP
Usually, it takes around 4 hours to reach Yelagiri Hills from Chennai but we were cruising well that even after a 30-minutes photo session break, we were on track to reach Yelagiri Hills by 1 PM. I know many of you would be wondering at this point that there’s literally no planning at all on what we’ve been doing from the night but we were just too excited to think logically on that day.
Nearing the Yelagiri Hills, we took a wrong turn and entered a village (courtesy – Google Maps). At that point, we were too hungry that even after seeing the hills going far away from us, we continued on the Maps route. Luckily, a kind anna showed us the right path to the Yelagiri hills. We then started riding up the hills and the first cool breeze which hit us felt like a delight. Little did we know that it was going to be the end of our fun journey and the miserable phase would kick in.
After riding for nearly 250 KMs, we reached the Yelagiri Hills by 1:30 PM and were super hungry by that time. We had just 2 idlies in the morning for our breakfast and were unable to find any good hotels in the hills. We looked around a few more hotels and finally decided to have lunch at one of the resorts and it was one of the worst decisions we took.
THE MISERY BEGINS
The food, to begin with, was made with such a terrible oil that while eating itself we realized that our stomach is going to be upset. Mayank started feeling sick and I could see that he was affected by food poisoning. Initially, we thought to stay there but decided against it as earlier last month he was affected with Covid and we thought its best we reach home on time. It was nearly 4 PM and Mayank had already vomited twice on our way down the hills.
Luck wasn’t in our favor on this fateful day. While riding, we realized that our rear brakes have failed and it being a festive time in South India (Pongal), we had no luck finding any mechanic or a motorcycle workshop. We stopped at 4-5 workshops but all of them were closed. We couldn’t even drive slowly using the front brakes as our home was nearly 200 KMs far away. Luckily, there was one small workshop where the mechanic examined and found the issue with the pressure on the brake oil. He fixed it and the brakes started working. That was the time I realized that how important it is to know and understand your bike.
FAILED BRAKES AND VOMITS
From there on, Mayank’s health deteriorated and I started riding the bike. We were completely exhausted with unhealthy food in our stomachs and had to ride 200 more KMs to get proper rest. We somehow sat on our bikes and rode on. In the next one hour, we covered 90 KMs but still had a long way to go. It was almost time for sunset and Mayank wanted to have a break from sitting so long on the bike so we halted for a while. Mayank had a quick nap on the footpath and I attended a discussion call with a company’s HR I was interviewing with. Thankfully the brakes had been working fine since then and I could drive properly with very minimal sleep and no proper food (still having that excitement in me that I am on a road trip).
TO THE SAFE ZONE
After sunset, it became pitch dark on the highways. The bike’s headlight could only help us so much and so I decided to follow a car’s wheels such that it would be easy to avoid any potholes and prevent mishaps due to less light. We then entered the city (I passed through my college gates – yes my college is on the outskirts of the city). It was such a huge relief for us with the familiar roads and occasional street lights flickering on us.
Finally, by 8:30 PM, I parked the bike in Mayank’s garage and took him up to his house. I then started to my home in my Pulsar NS200 (a very short 600-meter ride) and had a nice dinner and a good night’s sleep.
THE END
Thankfully, I am here to type the ending paragraph of this ‘epic‘ bike ride trip we thought would be a nice impromptu trip. It turned out to be a ride to remember with pleasant weather, great roads, amazing bike, and lots of vomits. We covered more than 500 KMs out of which I drove nearly 350 KMs. Before this, the maximum I have driven in a day was just under 120 KMs!
While I would never do such a badly planned trip ever again – c’mon, we never carried food, water, or check out places to stay & eat in Yelagiri; I would still take this experience whole-heartedly and as a lesson to research and pack emergencies & food supplies. But yeah, finally we were able to go on a bike ride trip which we dreamt of for a very long time. And for Mayank, well he recovered after losing nearly 5 kgs and week-long bed rest.
Do plan bike rides but do not make it so impromptu that it gives you a week-long bed rest!
That’s it from this blog. Stay tuned, subscribe to my newsletter to hear more of my travel stories, and watch this space for a YouTube Channel announcement soon! Safe ride and happy travel, you guys!