“Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul.” – Anonymous
Frankly if you ask me why I ride a motorcycle, I would be staring back at you figuring out what to reply. Maybe it’s the sense of freedom that bikes give you or the idea of travelling far and seeing/experiencing new things or the chance at rediscovering yourself or even the change of cruising at speeds and the feel of fresh wind in your hair. Whatever the reasons are I will never say no for a ride.
“You can go on a ride with many riders. But no one can ride it for you.” – Anonymous
Solo rides are always interesting. It gives a sense of calm even when you have to go out and brave the world all by yourself. I have been a solo rider most of my life, setting my own pace and doing stuff my way. It’s only after Club ROFL and guys in here I have started understanding the fun of doing group rides. The bond of the experience and the late-night talks after a long day at the saddle are enough to make the group rides memorable.
Well getting back to this particular story, I have always wanted to spend the Pongal/Sankranti festival in the magnificent Godavari basin and experience the grand festivities. I had plans in January 2019 to visit my good friend, Dharmendra who stays in Eluru, Andhra Pradesh and experience the festivities.
Due to work commitments, this could never happen. I was hell bent on doing this trip and was constantly eating my friends brain. Finally, I decided to do this trip in January 2020. My leaves were approved and everything was ready.
The toughest part of any ride is not the planning part or getting leaves from the office or the actual ride. It’s getting approval from the Home Ministry. Any married man will understand what I am saying here 😉 .
After some persuasion, the approval from the Home Ministry was given with the agreement that I will make a diversion to Kurnool, spend a couple of days and get some personal work done.
Trip Details
Route: Chennai – Kadappa – Kurnool – Nallamala Forest– Guntur – Vijaywada – Eluru – Rajahmundray – Eluru – Vijaywada – Guntur – Ongole – Chennai.
Total Distance: Around 1900 km.
Highlight: Another Highlight of this trip is that I was testing the newly launched Way2Speed‘s Way2ubeless conversion kit and my new Timsun TS 659 150/70 R18 rear tyre. Both of these I had just fitted on my bike before the start of the trip.
Day 1: 11th January 2020
Day 1 was pretty straight forward. My target was to start from Chennai and reach Kurnool as early as possible. Total distance being approx. 450 km and usually takes 8 hours with ample breaks. There are two route options from Chennai to Kurnool. One can either take the Nellore – Mydukkur – Kurnool route or Tirupati – Kadappa – Mydukkur – Kurnool. I chose the latter due to my familiarity with the route.
Started the ride at around 6 am from Chennai and had reached Kurnool by around 2.30 pm for lunch. Below are some pics from Day 1.
For this ride, I was using a Viaterra Tank bag and a Viaterra Claw tail bag, both of which were convenient.
Days 2 & 3: 12th and 13th January 2020
Both these days were rest days with no riding as such and time was spent running personal errands.
Since I had newly installed the Tubeless kit, I was making one mandatory stop at the nearby tyre shop to check air pressure and see if there is any leak. No leaks were noticed on both the days.
Day 4: 14th January 2020
This is the day the main ride was supposed to happen. The plan was to start from Kurnool and reach Eluru as early as possible. I was very excited about this ride as it was supposed to travel to the famous Nallamala forest in Andhra Pradesh. Total distance was around 400 km with an expected ride time of 8 hours.
As usual I started early around 5am from Kurnool and was greeted with some beautiful hues in the skies with mostly SH roads cutting across villages and water canals.
I was pretty excited as I will be crossing Nallamala forest which is part of the Nagarjunsagar – Srisailam Tiger reserve. Being a wildlife enthusiast, I was pretty excited hoping to see some animals.
The ride was spectacular through forest roads with some ghat sections in between. I was able to spot some deers and the usual birds like Spotted Doves and Jungle Babblers. The ride so far was good at around 8.00 am, i had reached Dornala, which is the base from which the ascend to Srisailam temple starts. I stopped here for food – for both myself and the bike.
After breakfast, I started heading towards Guntur. The roads were mostly SH cutting across villages. The conditions of the roads were Ok. I was able to maintain a speed of around 60-70 kmph. Out of nowhere, I was greeted with a sudden speed breaker which sent me flying. I landed with a giant thud and on inspection I found that the oil seal on the bike’s front right shocks had given way. The joys of being on a solo ride (sarcasm intended).
More than the shocks, I was worried about the Tubeless Conversion Kit and whether there would be an air leak. After driving for another 30 / 40 km I stopped under a tree and started making some calls. At this juncture, I have to thank Melwin, the owner of Way2Speed.
He had been a great support all the while. After speaking with Melwin I decided that I would get my oil seal fixed at the next available place because I had just started my trip. I first called up my friend Dharmendra and had him check the RE showroom in Eluru but unfortunately, they didn’t have the Oil seal in stock. So I decided I will try showrooms in Guntur and Vijayawada. So I started calling the dealers if they had any in stock. Most of the dealers either didn’t have a technician as it was festival time or didn’t have the part in stock.
Finally, I was able to find one dealer in Guntur who had the part in stock. So, my next stop was Guntur and I reached around 1.30 pm. The bike was in the Service Centre and it took around 3 hours to solve the the problem. Rechecked the air before resuming the ride and noticed not even a single drop is PSI. Hats off to Melwin for making a superb product.
At around 4 pm I started from Guntur and had another 100 km to cover before reaching Eluru. The ride was uneventful, managed to get back on NH 16 and covered the distance quickly apart from the traffic while crossing Vijayawada. I reached my friend’s place around 6.30 pm
Day 5: 15th January 2020
Rooster fights, betting and poker are some of the most famous attractions for Sankranti festival in this part of the region of the country. There are places like Bhimavaram where rooster fight bets start at a one lakh minimum (INR).
Myself, Dharmendra and his cousins spent most of the day in the village hoping in search of Rooster fight arenas and trying to get the experience of all this.
Above is a pic of my friend holding one of the roosters which was bred purely to be used in one of the fights. I could sense a lot of pride the people take in such things. Each breeder was very proud about their roosters and the ones who won seemed to garner the respect of others in the village.
While rooster fights were the main attraction, each arena had a set of other activities happening around. You can engage in a game of poker, 3 cards or Indian Rummy with bets starting anywhere from INR 50 to 1000. All these places were jam packed with many people eagerly trying their luck.
With new movies being released, we spent the night watching new releases.
Day 6: 16th January 2020
This day we decided to make a short trip in and around Rajahmundry with the aim of seeing the magnificent Godavari river. The plan was to go from Eluru to Rajahmundry and do some rural exploration and head back.
After some heavy breakfast and cups of coffee, we started from Eluru to Rajahmundry. Myself and Dharmendra decided to take the local route instead of NH. I had the pleasure of riding along the various canals of Godavari river. There was definitely a photo opportunity every few km, such was the beauty of this place. A visit during monsoon should be even better.
We managed to reach Rajahmundry around 1 pm. The ride along the bridge from Kovur to Rajahmundry was a sight to behold. We reached Pushkar Ghat and spent some time there followed by delicious Mutton Biryani in Srikanya Hotel.
No visit to Rajahmundry is complete without eating Pootharekulu. Immediately after lunch, we headed to Gangaraju Dairy to eat some delicious sweets and pack some for home.
With our tummies full, we were contemplating on whether we should get back to Eluru and relax or should we go ahead and explore more places. We made up our minds that we will try to do some more exploring and then get back to Eluru.
The plan was to do an easy ride from Rajahmundry to Jangareddygudem and then head back to Eluru. Boy of boy it turned out to be one hell of a ride. The roads from Rajahmundry to Jangareddygudem were nothing but horrible. This particular stretch turned out to be one of the toughest roads I have ridden. This stretch had no roads but only rocks and big pot holes throughout. 30 Km of nothing but dirt and big rocks all over.
After driving on this stretch I have got immense confidence on the Way2Speed tubeless kit. The product worked like a charm and I didn’t face even a single psi pressure drop. Throughout this journey, I was carrying a spare set of tubes with the fear that if there is an air leak I can get back to using the tubes. Never did I realize that this will be my last ride where I carried backup tubes. The oil seal issue and this stretch has given me enough confidence on the product and I can be confident about the K2K trip which we had planned during August – September 2020.
Day 7: 17th January 2020
After having so much fun over the last few days, it was time to get back to normal life. I have to thank Dharmendra and his family, especially his cousins for being such a great host and making me feel very comfortable.
The plan was to start early and cover the 500 km from Eluru to Chennai. Google maps was telling a ride time of 9 hours. But I was confident I can cover the distance considering how good NH 16 road is. The return ride was simple and smooth. I was able to maintain constant speed and reach Chennai by around 7 pm. By the time I reached home my odo was showing 1962 km.
What a fun experience it has been. The beauty of Godavari is something that is worth all the effort. Revisiting this part of the country is definitely a must. Maybe next time rather than being a solo ride, Club Rofl will do this as a group ride. Places such as Dindi and Papikondalu boat rides are experiences which everyone should enjoy.