A ‘Classic’ Ride!

This weekend I rode the ‘Royal Enfield - Classic’ for about 700Km and every minute of it reminded me as to why people go all the way to Himalayas to ride in their ‘bullets’. The ride to Coorg and back was one of the best biking trips I ever had.

Two of my colleagues (Vamsi & Mani) and me decided to go on a biking trip to Coorg. Thanks to my friend Srini, I was able to take his ‘almost brand new’ Classic on this trip. It was totally an unplanned trip - the only thing we had decided was the time of departure…Generally the best trips are those which have no specific destination or an appointment to keep. You are free to go where you like and do what you like.

We left Bangalore at 5 in the morning and reached Virajpet at around 11. The road was excellent. But the best part of the journey was riding from Virajpet to Madekeri. The route was very scenic. Further, the sights, the scenery, the fresh wind and the smell of nature are unparalleled when one is riding a bike. No words will be able to explain the feeling. One just has to ride in that route to get that experience. All through the journey the rain was playing hide and seek – the drizzle adding to the aura of the entire experience.

It’s very different when one is travelling by a bike. The places you visit, the route you take and the kind of stops you make is very different. For example very near to Virajpet we made an unscheduled stop as it started to rain heavily. Next to where we stood was a ‘hotel’ if you can call it one. We just decided to step into it and have our lunch. It was one of those places that looks very unhygienic and where you wouldn’t have stopped if you were in your car. But we did and we had awesome rotis and curries all for 66 bucks!!

The rain never seemed to give way, so we carried on and were totally drenched by the time we reached Coorg. The initial euphoria of riding in the rain gave way to cursing myself for having chosen this route for the biking trip..;) Trembling in the cold and having a fully wet attire right from wet shoes, made me think of all the hot soups, masala chats, spicy food that I could have had right at that point of time instead of riding in that rain.

But reaching Coorg was worth it and we had a gala time going around the place, first for finding the right accommodation (we had only two requirements – hot water facility and ESPN on TV for the football match later in the night) and then for shopping for all the chips and food that we could buy for our evening snacks.

After an awesome evening of fun, the next day we left for one of our colleague’s estate at Coorg. After some wonderful snacks and a cup of coffee we headed back to Bangalore via Kushalnagar.

Overall a wonderful trip – the highlight being the ride through the lush green scenic surroundings, stopping at multiple places having ‘chai’, getting drenched in rain and of course the joy you feel when people come to you and comment about how good your bike is (even though its not your bike..:)), how they always wanted to buy one and how they wished they were also doing such a trip – A phenomenon that happened at multiple places involving multiple people.

The rest of the snaps can be found here...