Ride to RiderMania 06

Ride to Rider Mania - 06

This year RiderMania was held at a beautiful resort named Casuarina Bay, ECR Chennai. Since it was the most approachable RM for me, and it was a dream to attend an RM, I decided to participate. Done all formalities through email and phone (special thanks to Sherin from madbulls) and I started my ride on 19th. As my bike was undergoing some last minute work and modifications, I could start only in the evening at 6:30.

The first phase was non-stop. In three hours, exactly at 9:30 PM, I reached Thirunelveli. My aim was to reach Pondicherry on 20th evening and join the Bangalore gang. After a search of 15 minutes, I got a good hotel and checked in. with in half an hour, I fell into sound sleep. The days work, following up the bike works and the nonstop night ride made me totally tired.

I was ready to ride at 6:00 AM next day. Settled the Hotel bill, asked for directions to get out of the town and started. Riding in the early morning is always refreshing. We can cover more distance in less time. Reached Madurai and had breakfast from a roadside vegetarian hotel. The Idli, Chutney and Chai was so tasty. But I didn't fill my stomach to the limit as I was on a ride. By 12:30PM I reached Trichy. Here I decided to take a long break, get my bike checked and have lunch. For my luck I found a good workshop on the side of bypass I was riding. Those guys did a good and quick job. I got my oil level corrected, carb and airfilter cleaned and a quick checkup done in 30 minutes.

Had lunch, took a small break and I was on the bike again by 2:00 in the afternoon. I called-up my friend Sarath from Bangalore to know their position. Guys already reached Pondy and checked in a Hotel. Now I need to ride fast and reach Pondy.  Stopped somewhere before Villupuram for Tea. Asked directions so that I need to take right turn to Pondy from Villupuram. Got many confusing replies, each person I asked the route, has his own route which is shorter. But I decided to take the route which my Lonely Planet map suggested. Anyway I didn't miss the turn. The road from Madurai to Trichy was not that good and the road from Trichy to Villupuram was very bad. But now things are different. I am on a smooth road that leads to one of the nicest place in India. The road and the thought made me happy. By 6 O clock I reached Pondy town. Next tedious task was to find out the Hotel. Again called up Sarath and asked where the place is. It was on ECR road itself, just after the town. I reached there with in half an hour and joined the gang. Now it was party time :). Do I need to tell how to spend an evening in Pondy? ;). Sarath was in his high spirit and started singing songs.

Though the room was crowded, we managed to find place to sleep. We had a wide open terrace opening from our room. Even after the late night sleep, guys woke up early in the morning and got ready by 7:30. Only now we found how crowded our Hotel was with RM riders. There was number of bulls parked and some of them were modified bikes. One bike got our attention, we called it Harley clone (later this bike shared prize for best modified bike with another one). The owner was cleaning and doing some last minutes works with the help of some guys. He had a backup Tata Mobile with enough workers. It was a fine morning and we all were eager to ride on ECR, one of the nicest scenic and smooth roads in India.

 

Soon we hit the road, this time a band of bulleteers doing formation ride. You can guess our feeling and the thrill of riding bulls in a big group. We didn't miss the opportunity to fill our tanks from Pondy. Now its time for everyone to rip. Everyone enjoyed the ECR, some riding fast enjoying the road  and some riding slow enjoying the beauty. We stopped at a restaurant to have breakfast. Another gang from Bangalore was also staying at Pondy and supposed to join us. We waited for sometime without any result. So we moved on. The beauty and feeling of riding on ECR can't be explained in words. You need to ride there to feel it. After a wonderful ride for sometime, we reached the venue. Some one from madbulls joined us as we were nearing, to show us the way. It was a totally different scene waiting us. A beautiful resort, filled with bulls and bulleteers. We have nice cottages, music, bullets, booze and a private beach. What else you need?? We got a warm welcome from madbulls team. After doing registration formalities we were taken to our cottages. Me and Sarath was in a cottage. Jayan (JSR) from Bangalore would join us in the evening. He was yet to start his ride as he was busy with work and  a puncture happened in previous night. Its time to enjoy... we roamed around the whole resort and  beach meeting  bulleteer gangs from different cities. Found many buddies for the first time whom I know only through net. That's a nice feeling and experience.

By evening, JSR also reached with another guy from Bangalore. We exchanged the fun and blues of the rides and proceeded to the beach side, where the part was going on. Great beach, great party, good food, lotts a bullet and bulleteers. Really a riders only world it was. It was midnight when we cam back to our cottage. Next day we planned to visit Mahabs. More than visiting Mahabs,thrill of  riding on ECR was behind this plan.

Next day we woke up earlier than others, had breakfast from our food stall and rode to Mahabs on two bikes. Sarath was pillion to me this time. After clicking some pics and a nice ride, we returned to RM. Competetion for best modified bike was going on then. Found many modified bulls waiting for their turn for judges to validate. In another stall, RE conducted a free checkup for bikes. We took our bikes for some minor works and general checkup. Evening it was again party time, and that day, being the last evening, some VIPs were there on the stage to greet us riders. Price distribution  was also an agenda. We returned to our cottage before midnight as we need to wake up early and start our ride back.

The day to say bye. We packed all our stuff and loaded our bikes. Met madbulls and buddies for the last time and started our ride. This time Sarath is coming to Trivandrum with me. We rode together till some place from where JSR has to take another route to Bangalore. After a small stop, saying bye to each other, we departed and entered the main highway to Madurai. Our destination was Madurai. We had a plan to visit the Meenakshi Temple also. Riding with some butt / water breakes and a long break in Trichy for lunh, we reached Madurai safe and sound before 6:00 in the evening.

The first thing was, always, finding a place to stay. We managed to find a good place near the Temple. After refreshing ourselves we walked to Temple. We took enough time to see every corner of the Temple and visit all moorthys. On the way back to our Hotel, we had dinner from a good vegetarian restaurant. Our plan is to ride through Thenkasi next day.

We started our ride arround 7:00 in the morning. Had breakfast from a small place on the outskirts of Madurai, we hit the Thenkasi road. The road was good and very scenic. Paddy fields on both sides of the road, view of some nice ghats and hills, shady trees made our ride a good one. On the way, when we stopped for a butt break, a man on a bicycle stopped near us. He was carrying fresh Gua fruit taken from the farm in the early morning. We bought 2-3 Kgs, had some there and packed the rest to take home. We reached Chenkottai and all of a sudden the road condition changed. Now we have bad roads. For our luck a regular bullet rider (a business man who rides Madurai - Kollam regularly) saw us and led us to Thenmala road. He accompanied us for some time. Soon we got sight of Thenmala ghats. We stopped for a small break just after Thenmala Dam. This would be our last stop. After clicking some last set of snaps we proceeded to Trivandrum. By 2:30 in the afternoon we reached our homes safe and sound. With the memories of a great ride, and a big riders event....

You can find more pictures of this ride at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ironbull/sets/72057594054480849/

Ride to RiderMania 06