DAY 9 - 22nd December (Ahmedabad-Baroda)
First order of the day was to head to the RE service center I had scoped out the previous night. It was 5 kms away and I found it easily. My arrival caused a flurry of activity there. My friend at work, Sanjeev, had mentioned the extra-special treatment that is reserved for riders at RE service centers. He was completely right. Despite having others in line, my bike jumped the queue and the mechanic towing it inside pushed aside others saying, "abbe rider ki bike hai, side hatt!". Soon the manager came in and personally got everything repaired. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the state of the chain sprocket. I got it duly replaced, along with the chain. The shocker was leaking fluid, but I know it to be a long process and asked him not to repair it for now. It's nice to get such nice treatment though! When you're not on rides, RE service centers treat you and your bike like shit. On top of that, they stick to their in-house Liquid Gun brand of oil, which I never personally liked. Still, the support you get on rides from them is truly outstanding.
My plan was to break my return ride into small, manageable chunks. First, Baroda, back to AR's place. Next day to Mumbai and finally Pune. It was good that today's plan anyway called for a short 150 kms ride to Baroda. I left the service station at around 11 AM. I was initially planning to join AR for lunch, but was very hungry, so I took a lunch break on the way. AR had mentioned plans to go somewhere but it got cancelled due to some work at home. We instead went to a nearby coffee shop and chilled out with her friends and sister. I got a mini-Baroda darshan too. It is a bit like Pune. Wide roads, not so heavy traffic. A city that is miles ahead of a town but still a couple of steps away from a bustling metropolitan, the kind of cities I am slowly starting to love.
We had pizza and drinks for the night with other friends of AR and her sister. This group was dominated by architects and I found it a refreshing change and also understood how non-psychologists feel in our group. Someone had once remarked, that just as you have groups of engineer-friends or designer-friends, it is funny to imagine a group of psychology-friends, where people talk about therapy, abusive childhoods, mental disorders and other deeper stuff with ease. Here, I was on the other side where conversations about badly constructed flyovers, construction material used at roundabouts were the norm!
I had a longer ride to make the next day, to Mumbai, so I turned in early.
DAY 10 - 23rd December (Baroda-Mumbai)
I started off at 6 AM. AR was nice enough to get up and make chai for me. I said my goodbyes and set off.
Solo riding gives you a lot of time to think. My mind drifted towards my work and my life in Pune. I was actually reluctant to get back to work, something which has never happened to me in the past. I considered extending the trip in some manner but it was a quick, childish thought. Perhaps I will take some decisions soon, based on all the thinking I did during this ride!
Another decision I made during this ride was not to fight sleep. Afternoon rides almost always make me sleepy and I generally keep fighting it. During this entire ride, however, I decided it wasn't worth it and it wasn't effective either. So post lunch, I would find a shady spot and take a quick 15-20 minutes nap. It refreshed me always, it didn't hamper my schedule much and it was safer too, than continuing to ride while the eyes are trying to close. It did earn me a few weird stares, especially if the shady spot was near a restaurant or some other popular spot.
In this manner, I inched closer to Mumbai. I took a little detour and went into Daman to tank up, thereby 'covering' one new state and one new UT in this ride. By the time I reached Mumbai it was afternoon. I got stuck in a huge traffic jam on the highway, but fortunately, I had to go to Borivali only, the edge of Mumbai from this side.
I found my friend SM's place with little difficulty, all thanks to Google Maps. Now SM and her mom have a simple strategy. They lure guests and coerce them to stick around by feeding awesome food to them non-stop. This started as soon as I reached. Being close to Christmas, there was a lot of baking going on and I stuffed my face with all manners of cakes, brownies and whatnot. Before I was done, I was being asked for tea. By the time I finished tea, they were asking me what I wanted to have for dinner!
We had a late dinner though, it was preceded by some 'legal' drinking for the first time in 10 days for me. I was finally back in a non-dry state. Though, to be honest, Gujaratis drink as much as anyone, they just have make some more efforts than the rest of India to buy their drinks. There is little in the world that can stop a determined drinker from testing his liver out!
We slept quite late, and I also took it easy. Mumbai to Pune is a well-known stretch for me, a short distance that I can cover in 2-3 hours. I decided to start at 7 AM though.
DAY 11 - 24th December (Mumbai-Pune)
The day started in the same manner as the previous afternoon had - loads of food! I was so stuffed with dosas, that by the time I finally was ready to leave, it was 11 AM. Bad decision!
It took me 2 hours to get to the highway to Pune. Lonavala was a mess, with all the weekend crowd filling up the roads to the brim. I had a light lunch and reached home at 4 PM, completely tired out and at my wit's-end.
The ride thus ended on a very tiring note. It was still a welcome break for me, something I was looking forward to since May 2016. Overall, Gujarat didn't seem to have a whole lot to offer. It isn't blessed with natural beauty, apart from the salt desert. The 'White Desert' is oversold a bit. I found Dholavira, Lakhpat, Narayan Sarovar and Mandvi to be much more worth visiting. While the lower lip of Gujarat (Gir, Dwaraka, etc.) wasn't explored, none of us are too keen on returning to ride here.
Apart from the places, a few new things for me on this ride were heavy usage of Google Maps and my tankbag. Google Maps never disappointed me inside the city, but most of the remote areas we covered were poorly mapped. We all went back home, traced our entire route on Maps and found a discrepancy of almost 400 kms! So one should be cautious and not rely too much on them when planning the itinerary. As for the tankbag, it was welcome addition to my riding kit. I did find it uncomfortable while taking U-turns and other tight turns when I was offroading as my large handlebar would get stuck and I'd have to take a 2 or 3 point turn where none were required.
Next stop - North East! Until then, I bid adieu.
Cheers and Jai BoP!
First order of the day was to head to the RE service center I had scoped out the previous night. It was 5 kms away and I found it easily. My arrival caused a flurry of activity there. My friend at work, Sanjeev, had mentioned the extra-special treatment that is reserved for riders at RE service centers. He was completely right. Despite having others in line, my bike jumped the queue and the mechanic towing it inside pushed aside others saying, "abbe rider ki bike hai, side hatt!". Soon the manager came in and personally got everything repaired. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the state of the chain sprocket. I got it duly replaced, along with the chain. The shocker was leaking fluid, but I know it to be a long process and asked him not to repair it for now. It's nice to get such nice treatment though! When you're not on rides, RE service centers treat you and your bike like shit. On top of that, they stick to their in-house Liquid Gun brand of oil, which I never personally liked. Still, the support you get on rides from them is truly outstanding.
My plan was to break my return ride into small, manageable chunks. First, Baroda, back to AR's place. Next day to Mumbai and finally Pune. It was good that today's plan anyway called for a short 150 kms ride to Baroda. I left the service station at around 11 AM. I was initially planning to join AR for lunch, but was very hungry, so I took a lunch break on the way. AR had mentioned plans to go somewhere but it got cancelled due to some work at home. We instead went to a nearby coffee shop and chilled out with her friends and sister. I got a mini-Baroda darshan too. It is a bit like Pune. Wide roads, not so heavy traffic. A city that is miles ahead of a town but still a couple of steps away from a bustling metropolitan, the kind of cities I am slowly starting to love.
We had pizza and drinks for the night with other friends of AR and her sister. This group was dominated by architects and I found it a refreshing change and also understood how non-psychologists feel in our group. Someone had once remarked, that just as you have groups of engineer-friends or designer-friends, it is funny to imagine a group of psychology-friends, where people talk about therapy, abusive childhoods, mental disorders and other deeper stuff with ease. Here, I was on the other side where conversations about badly constructed flyovers, construction material used at roundabouts were the norm!
I had a longer ride to make the next day, to Mumbai, so I turned in early.
DAY 10 - 23rd December (Baroda-Mumbai)
I started off at 6 AM. AR was nice enough to get up and make chai for me. I said my goodbyes and set off.
Solo riding gives you a lot of time to think. My mind drifted towards my work and my life in Pune. I was actually reluctant to get back to work, something which has never happened to me in the past. I considered extending the trip in some manner but it was a quick, childish thought. Perhaps I will take some decisions soon, based on all the thinking I did during this ride!
Another decision I made during this ride was not to fight sleep. Afternoon rides almost always make me sleepy and I generally keep fighting it. During this entire ride, however, I decided it wasn't worth it and it wasn't effective either. So post lunch, I would find a shady spot and take a quick 15-20 minutes nap. It refreshed me always, it didn't hamper my schedule much and it was safer too, than continuing to ride while the eyes are trying to close. It did earn me a few weird stares, especially if the shady spot was near a restaurant or some other popular spot.
In this manner, I inched closer to Mumbai. I took a little detour and went into Daman to tank up, thereby 'covering' one new state and one new UT in this ride. By the time I reached Mumbai it was afternoon. I got stuck in a huge traffic jam on the highway, but fortunately, I had to go to Borivali only, the edge of Mumbai from this side.
I found my friend SM's place with little difficulty, all thanks to Google Maps. Now SM and her mom have a simple strategy. They lure guests and coerce them to stick around by feeding awesome food to them non-stop. This started as soon as I reached. Being close to Christmas, there was a lot of baking going on and I stuffed my face with all manners of cakes, brownies and whatnot. Before I was done, I was being asked for tea. By the time I finished tea, they were asking me what I wanted to have for dinner!
We had a late dinner though, it was preceded by some 'legal' drinking for the first time in 10 days for me. I was finally back in a non-dry state. Though, to be honest, Gujaratis drink as much as anyone, they just have make some more efforts than the rest of India to buy their drinks. There is little in the world that can stop a determined drinker from testing his liver out!
We slept quite late, and I also took it easy. Mumbai to Pune is a well-known stretch for me, a short distance that I can cover in 2-3 hours. I decided to start at 7 AM though.
DAY 11 - 24th December (Mumbai-Pune)
The day started in the same manner as the previous afternoon had - loads of food! I was so stuffed with dosas, that by the time I finally was ready to leave, it was 11 AM. Bad decision!
It took me 2 hours to get to the highway to Pune. Lonavala was a mess, with all the weekend crowd filling up the roads to the brim. I had a light lunch and reached home at 4 PM, completely tired out and at my wit's-end.
The ride thus ended on a very tiring note. It was still a welcome break for me, something I was looking forward to since May 2016. Overall, Gujarat didn't seem to have a whole lot to offer. It isn't blessed with natural beauty, apart from the salt desert. The 'White Desert' is oversold a bit. I found Dholavira, Lakhpat, Narayan Sarovar and Mandvi to be much more worth visiting. While the lower lip of Gujarat (Gir, Dwaraka, etc.) wasn't explored, none of us are too keen on returning to ride here.
Apart from the places, a few new things for me on this ride were heavy usage of Google Maps and my tankbag. Google Maps never disappointed me inside the city, but most of the remote areas we covered were poorly mapped. We all went back home, traced our entire route on Maps and found a discrepancy of almost 400 kms! So one should be cautious and not rely too much on them when planning the itinerary. As for the tankbag, it was welcome addition to my riding kit. I did find it uncomfortable while taking U-turns and other tight turns when I was offroading as my large handlebar would get stuck and I'd have to take a 2 or 3 point turn where none were required.
Next stop - North East! Until then, I bid adieu.
Cheers and Jai BoP!
Good to see a new trip report on your blog after a long time.
ReplyDeleteHappy riding :)
You have perfectly described Vadodara. Having spent 2.5 years here now, I share your feelings. A perfect city for a family like ours.
ReplyDeleteFun reading your Travelogues as always.
Let's plan a ride together for 2021 as well.
Till then, have safe sex and ride safe.
Cheers,
Che
Cheers and thanks for reading! 2021 mei pakka karenge badi ride firse!
ReplyDelete