A Sudden Plan

It was a usual day. I was coming back from office in bus (Yes, I have a job now and I’m living in Mysore, Karnataka. It’s been quite a long time, hasn’t it?) when suddenly a thought struck in my mind. “Are there motorcycles with automatic transmission?”. Yes, I know it’s really random but what can I do; happens to engineers all the time. So I ask my friend if he knew anything about it which led to a discussion about motorcycles in general. Later, I realise that I ended up with the most random plan I’ve ever made in my entire life. 

Okay, so I was never really into bikes as much as I was into cars. I never even knew how to ride a bike properly. But we (me and Shashank) make this random plan of going on a road trip with bikes as we had the next 2 days off from office. We book a “Yamaha FZ” and a “Bajaj Avenger” that night so that we could pick it up early morning. The only thing lacking was the destination. 

The next morning, we leave by around 6.30 am to pick up the bikes at 7 am. Going there, we get to know that the Avenger hadn’t been returned yet. So we take the FZ and a “TVS Wego” to roam in and around Mysore till the Avenger comes back. We ride towards Srirangapatna where we plan on visiting Ranganathithu bird sanctuary. We decided to go there as we had already visited all the main tourist spots in Mysore like Mysore Palace, Chamundi Hills, etc. The ride towards the bird sanctuary was via Mysroe- Bangalore highway. It was around 10 kilometres from the place where we picked the bikes from. We roamed around the sanctuary. To be honest, it was a dull place. We then rode to Tipu Sultan’s Summer Palace. It was comparatively better. We then got a call that we could pick up the Avenger.

By that time, I got a good grip on the FZ. I built up the confidence and set a destination in mind. It was COORG. We took the bikes and went back home. We got all the necessary things required for the trip as it would be cold. We had lunch outside and immediately left for Coorg after seeing the directions on the map.

I completely got the hang of the bike and then it was like a child’s play. My left hand knew when to go for the clutch and my left foot knew when to shift. The road to Coorg from Mysore is one of the best roads I’ve travelled so far with lush greenery and Kaveri river runs alongside you throughout (though not visible from the road).

We stopped on the way when we felt we needed a little rest, had sugarcane juice from a vendor which pumped us up. Once we stopped seeing what looked like an amazing rocket soaring high up in the sky. Later we realized that it was actually some sort of sound rocket probably sent for some data collection. It was a hell of a sight (couldn’t be captured in the camera).

During the ride, we saw a board saying “Harangi Dam- 8kms”. We decided to take a detour and visit the dam. Unluckily, the dam was closed for visitors due to the Kaveri river water issue that was going on between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. But we managed to have an amazing click in front of the dam.

Gradually, we entered hilly region when we realized that it was impossible to ride anymore without a jacket. So we took out our jackets and started riding again when it started drizzling. That moment, I was like “This trip couldn’t have been any better”. 

We entered Madikeri (a.k.a Coorg) and searched for a place to stay as it was almost 6pm. There’s nothing to actually do in Coorg at night. So, we decided to crash as we were really tired from the ride and that we would visit every place possible by getting up early the next morning. We got a decent place to stay, had dinner and slept like a log.

The next morning started with an alarm at 6am. We checked out, took our bikes from the parking and went straight for Raja Seat which was the closest to our hotel (around 3 kms). It’s a wonderful viewpoint from where you can see the entrance to Coorg; cars and buses moving in zig zag hilly roads. 

The next place on the list was Abbey Falls. It was around 10 kms from Raja Seat. The ride to the falls was wonderful with drizzle all the way through hills. We parked our bikes at the entrance to the falls, had breakfast with coffee and omelette, then went down the stairs to the falls. It was a very beautiful place. There was a bridge constructed just to get an amazing view of the falls, but sadly the bridge was closed due to some issue. 

Coming back to our bikes, we realized that we were running low on fuel. We had to travel 10 kms back searching for a petrol pump. During that, we met two people who needed lift and at the same time guided us to the nearest fuel station. We fueled up and then checked the next place on the list.

We realize that one site of attraction was on the way to Abbey Falls and that we have to travel around 8 kms on that same road and take a right and then another 16kms. The destination was a place called “Mandalpatti”. It’s an amazing viewpoint located at the top of some hills. We reached the place and then realized that we’re left with 5 kms but the road was messed up. We tried taking one bike, but ultimately gave up riding for like 100 metres. But there was a very nice viewpoint right beside where we gave up. We then brought both the bikes there. A lot of other people also joined in as even they couldn’t take their cars and bikes. That road was only meant for Off road cars. The view from that place was nothing like I had ever experienced before. It was a straight cliff with nothing on the edge and fog blocking your view making you feel like it’s the end of the world. The drizzle made the view more breathtaking. 

After 2 hours of roaming around, we decided to leave as the drizzle started forming into a proper shower. We then decided to leave for Mysore. On the way, we saw a board saying Dubbare Elephant Sanctuary- 12 kms. We took the detour. On the way, we stumbled upon an adventure sports camp where they had a proper ATV track of 2 kms. I actually wanted to try that even though they were charging Rs. 400 for one lap of 2 kms. But later when I sat on the ATV, the guy was like “You will have a guide with you throughout”. It was the worst ATV anyone can ever ride. It didn’t have a brake. The guide was less of a guide and I was more of a spectator. He was the one who accelerated throughout and left the accelerator whenever he felt that friction can’t stop the inertia of the vehicle. Trust me, if you ever visit Coorg, don’t go to this adventure sports camp on the way to Dubbare.

We then left for Dubbare. Arriving there, we realized that the elephant sanctuary was closed from 2:30pm till 4:30pm. It was around 2.45pm then. But people were enjoying river rafting on the river Kaveri. Unfortunately, we didn’t have extra clothes for river rafting. So, we decided to ride back.

That stretch from Dubbare till the next town was at a constant speed of 75kms/hr but it gave us the feel of our bikes. We stopped after crossing the town and decided to recreate that stretch. Instead, when we started this time, the stretch was at a speed of 110-120 kms/hr. It was the most amazing feeling you can have. It gives you the proper “Roadrash” atmosphere.

We returned to Mysore by 5pm, kept our bags in our apartment and went out for some work that had to be done. After finishing the work, had an awesome dinner, returned the bikes, came back to the apartment and called it a day.

It was one of the most wonderful roadtrips anyone could ever take in bike. Do go for it if you’re in Mysore or Bangalore. I’ll be back with more amazing roadtrips. Till then, stay tuned.