With the memories of RM 09 RTMCishstyle refusing to fade away (quite literally the RM parking sticker on my Std is still there!) the prospect of one more ride, this time to Kodaikanal for Madbulls 7A was too good to be true. Got the registration done in the first week of opening. Before I knew it,I was up at 3 in the morning on the 1st of May and an hour later was riding towards Shell petrol pump, Silk Board the starting point of the ride. There were about 25 of us riding from Bangalore. Met a few old hands and some new ones too. 4 30 and we were off creating quite a din in the early morning hours ;)
The route for 480-km-ride was Bangalore-Krishanagiri-Salem-Nammekal-Dindigul-Kodaikanal. The idea behind the early morning start was to offset the traveling in scorching mid day sun as much as possible.The ride on the straights of NH-7 was uneventful till Salem. Did decent speeds at 80-90 consistently. Post-Salem there was this comic 'trench' episode in which there were three falls while walking, yes while walking and these guys werent even drunk ;) - Deep,Gokul and Sukrit. To be fair, the pits were small and deep, easily camouflaged with the colour of the soil. Though Gokul did sprain his ankle but it wasnt as bad as we feared initially and he could ride with a little bit of discomfort. The other two were lucky to get away without any injury. Infact Sukrit's fall was funny. Picture this - Gokul is lying on the ground after spraining his ankle and we are debating if someone could ride Gokul's bike. Thats when Goop with his pillion(Sukrit) stops by to have a look. Deep asks Sukrit if he can ride Gokul's bike. And Sukrit walking towards us, says 'Yes I ca...' and before he could even finish, he is in the pit too! Even as we were trying to help him out, we burst out laughing. It was terribly funny!!
Lunch was at Dendigul's Venu Biryani (guess it was Mamada's idea, who else!). Awesome place. The mutton biryani, mutton sukka and the mutton balls were just out of this world. If at all you happen to be crossing Dindigul ,whatever you do make sure you stop by at Venu Biryani for the mutton delicacies. Trust me, you wont regret it ;).
So after a sumptuous lunch we set off for the final stretch -the ghats. As we started to ascend, the coconut trees gave way to thicker vegetation and the temperature started to drop. There was a smattering of rain welcoming us making the ride even more worthwhile. As we got closer to Kodaikanal, we came across a group of MadBull riders,a few solo riders all on their way to Kodaikanal . It seemed all roads led to CliffTop Resort(the venue for MBMC 7A).
Met the MadBulls on reaching the place - Gunfight, Sim and Co. Got our rooms and must say the acco and other arrangements were great. Took a quick shower and then it was 'chill time'. Was wonderful listening to Prashi and his tales from the Raid. Loved the 'we-have-come-all-the-way-here-for-chai' bit ;) . Also got to know that Goop's M.B.A insignia on his number plate is not 'Mad Bull Ahead' but an MBA after all. There were several other such 'intellectual' discussions over the course of the two days. We slept, gorged on rich food, danced around the evening-bonfire with half-empty Old Monks in one hand (needless to say I was a spectator!) Great party all the way ,the two days. Nicely done MadBulls thankyou!
The ride back was the icing on the cake (no offence to the 7A cake we had :P). Took a different route this time. Kodai-Palani-Bhavani-Mettur-Thoppur-Krishanagiri -Bangalore. The entire ride was simply mind-blowing. Started at 4 30 from Kodai and doing the ghats early in the morning with almost no traffic was a super idea. Enjoyed every moment of the descent. Just awesome riding at dawn. As you get out of a curve, watching the tiny speck of flash coming from your fellow rider is one of the many things that makes group riding so much fun. Ok i got carried away. Where was I ? I had to give a break midway to cool down my bull's drums which were getting heated up. We stopped for breakfast after hitting the plains of Palini. Just when we were starting back, Ratish's kicker fell off. We let the group go ahead as Ratish and I put the lever in its place. Then we clipped to catch up with the group. Super riding that was too as we didnt know the route and had to stop for directions. It was a pleasant surprise to see my Std clocking 100 consistently. We caught up with the group after Bhavani. The countryside was wonderful all the way making even the heat bearable.
We had a final stop after hitting Hosur, where we said our goodbyes and went in our own directions.
All in all, a kickass ride. Thanks to the organizers for a smooth event and ofcourse the riders who made the ride possible.
PS: This will be my last ride for a while. Packing my bags for Delhi.
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