Due to professional commitments, I don’t get much leave, so i decided to make the most of it, and ride anyway. In my case, an opportunity missed, is an opportunity lost. Fortunately the day before the ride, Siddhart and i had decided to ride no matter what, and ride we did.
Route: Goregaon – Bandra – BKC – Sion – Chembur – Vashi – Panvel – Lonavala – Khandala – Kamshet – Pune - Sinhagad
Armed with a map prepared for me by Prasad “Doc the LeadFoot” Bhangle, from the Roadshakers, I set off for Pune at 11:30am from Goregaon, to meet Siddhart at Panvel Naka, however due to the heavy rains the previous night, the trucks and trailers had not left the city, and were waiting to do so the next day. This led to a traffic jam of biblical proportions, and I reached Panvel only by 3pm.
Met up with Siddhart, hogged on some bhuta (roasted corn) and kicked off. We reached Lonavala in no time, continued doing good speed until Kamshet, where we took a small halt, and proceeded.
Reached Pune, met up with Baljeet Singh, from the Roadshakers (who made a roaring entry on his 500). Baljeet helped us find accommodation; we dumped our heavy bags, and went off to feed our demanding stomachs. Now as a matter of amazing co-incidence Baljeet owns “Mai Dhaba”, the house of the best Tandoori Chicken and Rogan Josh I have ever eaten. The dhaba itself is an amazing setup, my favorite, a close second after the food, was the lovely seating arrangement, very comfortable, especially after a long ride.
Our stomachs full, and our soul’s content we went off to catch some shut eye.
Woke up late the next morn, met up with Baljeet, who drew out the most amazing map I have ever had, his map detailed the Pune - Sinhagad route, and the way back to Kamshet directly, without getting into Pune city. Enroute we stoped at Burger King, and enjoyed the biggest burger I have EVER seen!!
The ride to sinhagad was nice, nice steep slopes. However the road needs some overdue repair work. The end route was shut off for some reason, and there was a massive traffic jam up on the slope, seing which we headed back down.
The ride home was pretty uneventful, rode from the Sinhagad exit, on the Bombay Bangalore Highway at a continuous 110, right up to Lonavala, where we got a little bit of traffic, and then some real heavy rain. Whilst passing outside the Kohinoor catering college in Khandala, all we could see was fog, fog, and more fog, That was the icing on the cake. Reached Panvel, took the oh-so-important halt at Dutta snacks, parted ways, and headed home.
On the way home, right from Kalamboli to Goregaon, I had the thundershowers as a constant companion.
The ride was an amazing experience, A special thanks to Prasad bhai for the map, and Baljeet Singh, who was an amazing help, the creator of the most detailed maps, and also another set of thanks to him, for leading me on the path to the best Tandoori Chicken I have ever set my taste buds upon!!
Pix of the ride.. http://s95.photobucket.com/albums/l134/christopherkeve/Rides%20n%20Trips/Pune%2028-29072007/?start=all
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