A Saddle sore Heartbroken story...
For those who are new to the word "Saddle sore" you could visit this site first http://www.ironbutt.com/
Right from the childhood like many of you might have dream't about, I always too thought of doing something
different, adventurous,adrenaline which could satisfy my inner instincts of being happy with my life. Vexed with my office life in a short span of time and having the money in doing one prompted me to do something which I could have done long before.Going through all the saddle sore's success stories and attempts I thought to check whether if it could enlighten me what I wanted in life.I was waiting for the right time and finally fixed a random date as 5-march would be my saddle sore attempt.Hyderabad to be specific has bad roads scattered all over the borders so it would be dead impossible to have a safe and successful journey.I have done a Hyderabad-Pune few months back i.e on NH-9 and the roads were in pathetic conditions with road patch up still going on for ages .Similar are the conditions of Hyderabad-Vizag with worst roads on the Suryapet town and traffic moves at snail's pace.I just love to do it on the NH-5 but it needs to start from vizag and then the vizag-Chennai-Vizag 1600 kilometers.Later I discovered that Bangalore route is an absolute treat to ride on and the Hyd-Bangalore-Salem route poked me to do it as soon as possible.I would like to thank Pabi(xbhp member) for helping me in giving inputs about the road the earlier day .I told to myself that I will continue the journey only after I get to Bangalore on the right time.
Got my bike serviced(pulsar 150 UG3 2007 Edition) at Castrol zone, Kothaguda place and got all the stuff required for the journey.
Checklist:
Bike papers
1 ltr water
1 ltr maaza
biscuits
glucose
energy bars
first aid kit
spare hankies and spare cloth
t-shirt
spare clutch and accelerator cable
castrol power1 oil
Tyre tube as the front Tyre was aging to go off at any moment
IBA papers and necessary documents and road maps
bungee cords from adventure on the rocks
And riding Gear:
vega helmet
Axo elbow and knee guards
denim jeans and adidas jacket
shoes
leather gloves
I reached Attapur Indian Oil petrol pump at around 1.30am along with my friend as the witness and got signed the necessary forms and the card was swiped showing 2.16 am and the journey started.Though familiar with the Airport road I got lost at the Alamgarh x road and am going to ramoji film city route.I asked the local people,came back on track and finally hit the NH-7.I was ripping the throttle with triple digit speeds.My bike being a 2007 model which had already done around 39k km was doing maximum 100-110 constantly.The road after the airport became a single lane and the truck drivers were on high beam from the opposite direction.I put an extra 300 bucks leg guard light which came in handy during the night ride.The sign board showed Kurnool about 100 km more and I calculated to reach kurnool in 3 hrs maximum.My bike's headlight was not worthy to and due to which a sudden sharp turn blinded me and made my throttle slow down and engine stopped working with a big loud sound.Damn!!! I thought this was it.My ride ended abruptly so soon.I cursed my bike for letting me down in the middle of highway with none to help.After 2min I started my bike and wow I started again.I was on cloud 9 and started to cruise again . NH-7 is all straight road with less traffic during my ride and I passed kurnool and pulled over for the first petrol fill . I've made over 285kms in 3 and half hours.
Second Log:
After topping up my fuel tank , I started again with lot of enthusiasm and determined to complete Bangalore in 7-8 hrs max.The Speedometer constantly on the 108 mark and was going only to a max of 110(completing 40k kms) when down slope unlike the 120 kmph barrier in my early years rides.I finally reached outskirts of Bangalore around 9.15 am in the morning and from there on the actual pain started.Though I had planned the route I had to pass through,but got lost in the morning city traffic and crossed Hebbal and perplexed which way I had to take .After a lot of inquiries with the traffic policeman and many watching me as a weirdo with all the riding gear , out of no where a guy came close to me,spoke in our native language Telugu and told me to follow him ( ..i guess he noticed by my bike number plate)finally After a lot of puffing and suffocating and wasting one hour there I managed to find the Salem sign board toll gate.The roads were good and had moderate traffic.I stopped at a Bajaj service center on the way as my bike was giving a different roaring sound from the engine.The Service guys said everything is fine and the sound is due to non stop driving till now.I bid them adieu and opened up my throttle ,crouched and hugged my bike like a racer ,tearing the wind streamlines and I topped 120-122kmphr barrier and reached Hosur petrol and got the time check and finally reached Namakkal petrol bunk crossing Salem with additional 50 km.I've
made a whopping 824kms one way by 1:00pm (10hrs 45min hrs precise)I sat by the petrol bunk,didn't feel any fatigue nor any body pains but had head strain due to the constant helmet usage during the ride.I ate complan biscuits ,mango juice and gulped water,washed my face and called my beloved friends for my status updates and started my return journey back after half an hour break.
Third Log:
I was feeling happy that I made one way after all the bad omens which were revolving around me trying to abort my ride . I stopped on the way back drank coconut water and started again.Around 50kms before coming to Bangalore a KA registered Maruthi OMNI guy seeing some goats on the road maniacally steered to my side and pumped his brakes.I lost control and braked but all in vain.I hit his bumper around 80-90kmphr I guess ,his bumper got dented a bit and fell down and couldn't remember what exactly happened and how.My helmet visor broke ,luckily my elbow and knees escaped due to the guards,my right fingers were swelling and left upper part of rib cage was hurting me a lot.Luckily my bike has no any external damages and it started again after self starting, but my front brake became tight and was getting jammed .I went
near the Omni guy and he started yelling at me saying mine is other state bike and his is KA one and started to bring the localities on me saying I was drunk and will take me to police station .I agreed and after some time he started bribing saying police will take money from both of us.so give me 1000 bucks.As time was running out I had no other option bargained with him and gave 500rs and left.For the lost time and bad concentration I took this as a challenge and reached Bangalore .I clicked few pics while coming back keeping those good memories which will be cherished all time long.Again I got jammed in the Bangalore traffic and tried to manage the traffic and reached the road to Hyderabad and took time stamp from a near by ATM,got a new visor checked my stuff and sadly I lost the witness
forms and road maps tied to my bag with rest of the things I had few snacks and was ready to hit Hyderabad .My Odo showed 40,214kms and time was 5:02pm.Covering 1071kms in 14 hrs 45mins.
Fourth Log:
Though it was a highway there was a lot of traffic may be due to the peak hours and as it is the Airport road,I tried to get through it every possible way but got stuck in wrong direction lanes and finally over came it and started my smooth ride again.I was continuously doing 100+ kmph again and then dawn went away and the night creeped in.My additional light on the leg guard got bent due to the accident and so I stopped at a local mechanic and got it twisted to place the beam on the road and some bolts for the attaching the silencer to the engine.I asked whether I have to change the oil and after some twisting of throttle he said no need.Calculating the distance to be 490 odd km to Hyderabad I planned not to stop any where and reach straight ahead and party.Just after few km from the place with me cruising 100+
speeds there there a big noise some something breaking apart and bike eventually came to halt.I was so sad as it was not starting and I was in middle of no where with no light giving me help.I tried to push my bike and could do only a couple of km due to high elevated road.I found few people standing on the other side of the road having bikes.I pleaded them for help to bring the local mechanic.I sat on the road sadly and tear downheartedly that my ride was over and waiting patiently for the mechanic to solve the issue.After an hour or so he came and gave an perpetual statement that there was no oil in bike and the total engine block got cracked and cannot be repaired . With no other option I tried all means to take my bike back to Hyderabad safe but at that time no truck was stopping and any other means of transport.The localities who were before standing on the other side suggested me to stay over night with them and start the next day> with no other option I slept with them in the truck covered with tarp-oil checking my bike presence every couple of hours preventing the theft from those
localities.I learn t many lessons and it was another means of fun I enjoyed which I never thought It would come this way nor I would be involved in.Luckily the next day early morning, one of localities got me a courier DCM van and i got elated and put my bike into the van and departed from that place.On the way I saw two ninja's zoomed past our van and dunno my heart felt they would be from xBhp and after knowing the info I concluded yes they were from xbhp. Got My bike was put from the truck into a mini van and I came to the same spot were I started after 41 hours.Finally reached to my mechanic garage and found out that I forgot my helmet in the place where I slept that night.The next day I went to check what was wrong and the mechanic said it was due to no oil and as the bike was roaring for more oil at those speeds eventually broke all the chambers crank shaft and many things inside to pieces.He was astonished that this was the first time he was seeing that scenario.I was cursing myself for trusting that local mechanic and illiterate me for not doing it myself.He totally quoted 15k (all 3 chambers,crank shaft and bore and many more stuff)hopefully after the bank rupted mistake I ended up,I would learn from it and wouldn't commit it next time.Finally I completed around 1200 odd km in 17 hours. Though I feel I didn't get what I wanted but got a different experience altogether.
Thanks folks for reading my trip log :)
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