Ganapatipule ride with TorqueHub on 22/23rd March 2008

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Destination: Ganapati Pule, Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, India
Date: 22nd / 23rd March 2008
Meeting point: Centre One Parking, Vashi
Ride type: Day-Night Ride
Distance: 375 km (One way)
Group: Torquehub Biking Group ( www.torquehub.org )
Riders: 12 in nos. – 10 Bullets / 1 Karizma / 1 Gladiator (me) / 1 Scorpio

About GanapatiPule: Ganapatipule is a small town located in the district of Ratnagiri on the Konkan coast of Maharashtra. The town of Chiplun is to its north. According to local folklore, the Hindu god - Ganapati, taking umbrage by a remark made by a native lady, moved to Pule (a few km ahead of the town) from his original abode of Gule. Thus the region was named Ganpati-pule.

A clean and breathtaking clear-water beach is one of the main attractions for tourists, along with the Ganapati Temple. The Hindu temple is reconstructed in special Rajasthani style stones and look, and attracts thousands of devotees from all parts of Maharashtra, other states, and foreigners. The seashore is lined with a number of low budget cottages and frequented by many as a cheap getaway.

Reaching There, By Road: While moving towards Ratnagiri, on Mumbai Goa National Highway No. 17 (NH-17), after Sangameshwar a small village placed on this highway is Nivali. From Nivali one has to take right turn for Ganapatipule (32kms). Alternatively, one can continue on NH-17 till Hathkhamba (Nivali - Hathkhamba: 4kms) and then take a right turn to go to Ganapatipule.



It all started when Torquehub our newly formed Pvt. Biking Group from Mumbai have decided to have a 3rd official ride at Ganapatipule on the eve of Festival of Colours ie. Holi. The feeling of having missed the earlier Murud-Janjira & Sinhgarh rides with our group was painful. Hence, was eager to join the group for this ride before my biking bug goes missing, as I have not gone out for a long ride for almost two month. My bike for the journey was Yamaha Gladiator which I bought from my cousin Sandesh. Since it was a long weekend holiday here in Mumbai on Friday, Saturday & Sunday, we decided to start our ride early on Friday night to avoid heavy traffic on the highway as well as heat/dehydration of Sunlight during the daytime.

The day to start our ride have arrived, made few phone calls to Sumant (our group co-ordinator & friend) to check out if everything is fine as planned. Sumant & I decided to meet up at Sion junction around 10:30pm, and then proceed towards our meeting point at Vashi where rest of our gang was to meet at 11:00pm. This time around, have prepared myself with proper if not complete riding gear with newly bought Riding Gloves from DSG, a jacket and a Helmet. Have checked up my Yamaha Gladiator, tanked full at the local HP petrol pump, started the journey from Parel reached Sion in no time, so as Sumant & Debu (Pillion) who was coming from Vile Parle on his Black Stallion (TB) throwing light of an fully blown Xenon bulbs which he fitted recently on his bullet. There was one more new rider came along with him called Amey on his Bullet Electra Std., we three then headed straight towards our meeting point at Vashi.

We reached Vashi Centre One at around 11:15pm, our team from Panvel was already waiting for us ie. Prashant, Sudhir, Sunil, Pritam, Nitesh, Vishal & Vipul. Soon three of our senior members including Annish (Iceman) on his Machismo 500 with Smita (Pillion), Kunal & Vikram on TB joined us. All riders gathered on timing at the meeting point, only three of our members from Nalasopara ie. Rishi (Maratha Lover) & Raksha (pillion), Vinu on TB & Jr. Alok on Karizma, were delayed by almost an hour due to a small accident with Vinu having his TB fall on the Ghodbander road, which was not able to get start, so he decided to leave it there and come as a pillion with Jr. Alok on his Karizma, kudos to his spirit. We greeted and introduced each other, soon camera came out to click group snaps, cracked joked, and it was a good fun. Sr. Alok (MightyCrab) bought his Scorpio as his kid Anannya & wife Sanju wanted to come as well, we all were relieved to see his Scorpio, in no-time his Scorpio was turned into luggage-van by putting all our bags which he gracefully accepted. I gave everyone “Bhakharvadi” to eat which I bought from Chitale Bandhu of Pune, in no time it got finished.

Finally with Chants of Ganapati Bappa Morya, we all started our ride to Ganpatipule from Vashi on Friday night ie. 22nd March 2008 @ 2:00am. As decided, Annish (IceMan), Vikram & Rishi were the Lead for the ride; Sumant taken the responsibility of a Drag and in between Lead & Drag rest of the riders in one single formation started riding keeping sufficient gap between each of us, kept our bikes indicators ON so as to identify riders within the group.


Thumping sound of Bullets started roaring on the Mumbai-Goa National Highway breaking the silence created by the darkness of night. Oncoming traffics including cars / trucks, people on the road started gazing at us with a surprised look, wondering where we were heading towards at wee hours of night.



I have decided to ride in the middle of the formation, kept a steady speed of 80-90KMPH, wherein the bulletiers were cruising at 100kmph. The idea of Night riding was exciting, riding in pitch dark surroundings with incoming traffics throwing lights at you like bullets, especially on the over-cautious NH-17 highway was adventurous. Thanks to Xenon lights fitted to most of the bullets from our group, we could see a clear road in front of us as well as surroundings area without much problem to our eyes. The sight of 12 bikers cruising on national highway in one formation with their indicators ON in the night was like a Yellow dotted line finding his way through in the darkness was simply amazing.

As decided after 1 hour of continuous riding just after we crossed Pen we took our 1st break for tea & coffee to get ourselves fresh, we covered almost 60km in an hour, which was quite encouraging. Soon we all started capturing our happy moments on our cameras, Annish (IceMan) in particular with his hilarious, full of life nature started narrating an incident wherein two cats came in front of Vikram’s (BlackKnight) bullet out of nowhere in the middle of the road, one poor cat got hit by the thumping bullet @ 100kmph. Annish started recording a video asking each of us “Do you know Vikram Killed the CAT?”..LOL, poor Vikram whose face was that of victim in front of all teasing friends for killing cat yelled loudly “YES YES I Killed the CAT, I’m the Killer”..LOL..we enjoyed each other’s company, shared jokes, laughed at each other, had a ball of a time.

After getting ourselves fresh, we started our ride with the same formation as we started earlier. Soon we crossed Mangaon --- Mahad --- Poladpur -- Khed without any problem with occasional break every 1 hour of ride to refresh ourselves. We all were cruising at a steady speed of 80-90kmph without breaking the formation within the group.

It was early morning, we reached just 60 odd km before Chiplun and nature decided to play games with us or rather I say made our ride more enjoyable by raining on us heavily. Yes, it started raining in the month of March here in India..LOL. I gave my valet & mobile phone to Alok (MightyCrab) who was driving his Scorpio to avoid getting wet; we took a small break to cool our machines. After few minutes it stopped raining, as we were about to start two of the most dangerous/adventurous Ghats on Western Highway, we all decided to go at the steady speed just to avoid any accidents which might happen due to over-skidding on wet roads.

The Kashedi & Parshuram Ghats on Western Highway is truly a Bikers delight. With the entire hilly section being one-way and sticky tarmac laid out all through, more often than not you’ll be pushed into power mode, irrespective of the machine you’re riding. Every landscape offers its own charm; every corner has its own colour, its own character. The feeling of being absolutely humbled by them was overwhelming.

Soon I started feeling the heat of riding small capacity machine (125cc) on the hilly section; I was not able to keep up with the bullets as it was difficult to control my Gladiator’s thin tyres on wet roads, soon all riders ahead of me started disappearing, our Drag Sumant was also started signaling me to ride fast to avoid being left behind. I signaled Sumant to go ahead & decided to do the catching up with the group as it was just few KM from our next scheduled stop at Chiplun. There onwards, I had a lonely ride at my own good pace, enjoying the beauty around. In no time I reached Chiplun where rest of our gang has stopped for morning breakfast in a local hotel.

It was 7.30am we reached Chiplun still 120km away from our final destination GanapatiPule. I was quite exhausted, was damn hungry so as rest of the group. Had two plates of Poha, a coup of Coffee to keep myself up and riding again. Annish & his wife Smita, Vikram, Kunal decided to stay at Chiplun itself as they already done ride at Ganapatipule a month back. We decided to do the final 120km ride in one go without any stop to avoid the heat of sun, which was accepted by all the riders. This time, Rishi was the Lead and Sumant was drag. It was a hell of ride; I & Alok (MightyCrab) who was driving Scorpio behind me had few anxious moments wherein I was cruising at around 90-100kmph and from nowhere a street Dog & Donkey came right in front of me in the middle of the road, somehow manage to dodge them, narrowly escaping being dashed by them…LOL..

Just after Sangameshwar we halted at the Top of Niveli Ghat from where a diversion goes to GanapatiPule (32km away). I saw my watch; WOW we completed 90 odd KM in just 1 hr 15minutes, another milestone, which was very satisfying & exciting. As rest of the group decided to take much needed rest, I & Prashant decided to head towards Ganpatipule, with an intention to lookout for accommodation as we did not had any prior bookings done due to non-availability of rooms. Prashant filled in the tank to the side-by petrol pump, we both started riding at good pace, however soon we both were joined by rest of the gang as they have taken a short break..LOL…

Finally we reached our Final destination “GanapatiPule”, people from village were amazed to hear the thumping sound of roaring bullets riding in the small lane of Ganapatipule village. We all congratulated each other for the commitment and dedication shown by all the members for reaching our goals set by Group.

Despite the complete lack of formal introduction, the way the group grew closer by just few hours of ride was brilliant but not quite surprising, considering the pull that biker brotherhood holds. All tied by the common thread of satisfied exhaustion after long hour’s ride, all you need to get to know a rider is a ride along.

Soon, Rishi & Sumant manage to hunt good hotel and booked 4 rooms for all of us. I was damn hungry, freshened up myself quickly so as rest of the gang and we all headed for lunch. Since it was a long weekend holiday, tourist rush at GanapatiPule was huge, we had horrible time in finding the Hotel with food availability. After close to 2 hours, we manage to get a Hotel wherein only Pav Bhaji was available, in no time we finished our lunch and headed straight to Hotel.

It was around 5:00pm, I decided to take a much needed rest for my soul after satisfied exhaustion of a day long ride, got up at around 7:00pm and saw it was raining outside, pleasant weather, few members from our gang were chilling out, few were having beers, having a Party time. I was tempted to enjoy the chill beer with the gang, however decided not to drink & eat non-veg food for this ride…Yeah Yeah..i was kinda emotional to Lord Ganesh..now STOP giving the look ;)

I, Alok, Amey, Rishi, Raksha, Debu, Sanjana, and little Anannya decided to go to Ganesh temple in his Scorpio and took much needed Darshan of Lord Ganesha. It was already 8.30pm, little Anannya (Alok’s daughter) was hungry; hence we decided to have a dinner outside before going to hotel. We manage to hunt a Hotel called Sagar Palace which was much like a Huge Peshwai Palace or Wada, we quickly finished our dinner, enjoyed the Sweet Gulabjamun’s served as sweet dish..it was so yummiee that each one of us gulped at least 4, paid the bill and came back to Hotel at around 9:30pm. Rest of the non-veggie gang went to hunt for hotel to have dinner; they came back around 11:00pm.

We decided to start our return journey early morning; so that everyone reaches home early evening and get much needed rest. Also, Alok (MighthyCrab) needed to reach home by 6:00pm for his personal work; hence we all decided to make most use of his Scorpio again for our luggage. Next day morning, we all got up around 5:30am, quickly got freshen up, few members who miss the temple visit earlier evening, went ahead to take darshan and came back. We started our return journey at 6:30am; it was pleasant weather due to last night rain, cool breeze kept us fresh. After riding for 40 odd KM we took a small halt at Nivali junction for a quick breakfast, had garama garam bhajiyaa’s & Vadapav’s and resumed our ride. We decided to ride till Chiplun non-stop for our next break so as to clear as many distance in early morning to avoid heat in the afternoon.

We started in the same formation, Rishi being Lead & Sumant at the Drag, this time I decided to be at no. 3 position to avoid doing catching up with the Bullets. We rode till Chiplun non-stop at around 80-90KMPH, took a break at the same hotel for our second round of breakfast. It was awesome ride, nice cool breeze running around; we could not feel the tiredness of continuous ride. Had our breakfast, done few photo-session. Alok (MightyCrab) decided to go ahead as he has to reach home early; hence we all took our luggage back from Scorpio. From Chiplun, we again rode non-stop for almost 85km+, took a break at Mahad around 11:30am. Surprisingly, we all manage to cover sufficient amount of distance without feeling much stress to our body. As one of our rider Sudhir said “Man, What a GFR we did” (call me for full form..LOL)...kudos to his humor.

We had our lunch there and resumed our journey, on this route between Pen & Vadhkhal road it was so windy that we had our bikes floating in the air, especially my Gladiator, I tried to balance myself and my bike, behind me, Sudhir & Sumant were enjoying my Road Circus..LOL.. Soon we reached a hotel called “Shanbhar Vishranti” near Pen, where Rakhsa & Debashree was waiting for us whom Alok have dropped on his way. We had round of Tea/Coffee & ice-creams, relaxed ourselves, joked around, done photo sessions, and cleared all our money accounts for the ride, what I called session of “Playing Hisab Hisab Game”. It was quite enjoyable and funny.

Soon we started our ride, rode straight till JNPT junction, where few of our members took Panvel & Thane route to get to their homes. It was goodbye time to all the members, it was very touchy moment. We really enjoyed each others company, congratulated everyone for the commitment shown throughout the ride.

Rest of us headed towards Mumbai via JNPT bypass, halted straight to Vashi wherein we again said Goodbye to rest of the gang. Thereafter on our way back to Mumabi, I, Sumant & Amey zipped through the Mumbai highway till Sion at a speed of 90kmph. In no time we reached Sion junction, said goodbye to Sumant & Amey who took diversion towards Vileparle. I reached Parel at around 6:00pm which was very much in time to get enough rest for my body after hell of a day long “GFR”.

One point I would like to highlight about our group’s (TorqueHub) riding, the way all riders responded like mature riders, committed to the rules formed by us for Group riding were just awesome. We all were in one formation, none one of us got separated from the group, giving proper hand-signaling, no overtaking within group, no breakdowns, no miscommunication and no accidents. I have personally done rides with many other Biking groups, however never felt riding like a group, not following basic rules of Group riding, as many times riders were got separated from the groups due to miscommunication and no proper guidance at the front. However, with TorqueHub it was not the case, the spirit of Group Riding is that of “ME for U & U for ME” which drives us to do more and more riding.

Throughout this ride, it is not just the biking spirit that came out, but also a sense of freedom that can only be achieved if you ride away.

Three cheers to TorqueHub family....