Ride to Rajasthan (Pune to Mt Abu) – Return trip, Reaching Vadodra

The Tough call now?

The group knew about my tickets to Bangalore and Mysore so I had to move. I suggested they go slowly and reach Ahmedabad and take a halt … and next day reach Mumbai and reach Pune on 21st , but I had to move. But going alone was also not recommended.

After some discussion we decided to start and see where we are by 5 pm.

Hats off to Brzzz and the Biker community – A Biker is a fighter – We conquered against all odds

After 5 days 1400 kms, 40 degrees, we were all ready to fight. Ayush was not feeling very well waiting at the mechanic shop so he started moving, and he was feeling better so it was better that he starts covering as much ground as possible.

We decided that I will definitely move and reach as much as I can even till late night so that I could reach Pune by next day evening. Prateek agreed to come with me.

So now we had split in 3 groups … Ayush was riding alone, I was riding at High Speeds of 110-120 kmph with Prateek and all the others were riding together.

19th August 2012 – 4:15 pm – Crossed Ahmedabad…what a ride (1460 kms)

1 hour 10 mins – 110 kms … Awesome !!!
Prateek and I had overtaken Ayush and were vrooming past the traffic … and lo … when we stopped for a refueling .. we had done 110 kms in approximately 1hour … Now at 4:15 pm .. we were in Ahmedabad.
Finally in the day there was something going our way. We decided to stop for the others and decide what to do …

Were they planning to stop at Ahmedabad or move ahead?

Another 15 mins and we saw the other coming.

4:30 pm … we were all together and had to take a call what to do. I had anyways decided to go as far as possible and may be stop on the highway (NH-8) somewhere after Vadodara. Now Ayush was feeling better and the heat was bearable, it was not the scorching heat and temp was coming down as we could see the sun going down.

We have had breakfast in the morning and nothing else to eat the whole day … we have just been on liquids. So some people were very hungry, but if we stop for food … it will be atleast an hour and by the time we start it would start becoming dark.

I vouched for not stopping and keep moving … reach Vadodara and then decide. As we had faced the problem while coming, we knew that Ahmedabad – Vadodara is a single lane for us (2 wheelers) and riding at night on that road was horrendous. So we out on our gears after a fresh splash of water, Gatorade and red bull and were ready to ride again. It was cooling down as the sun was low and it had become much pleasant to ride after the terrible day in extreme heat.

Some bikes needed a refueling and we quickly got that done and headed towards Vadodara, we were 129 kms away from Vadodara still through the old highway and it was 5:00 pm … we knew that we have to ride at not less than 70-80 kmph average speed to reach Vadodara before dark…and to get 70-80 average speed we need to cruise at-least 100-110 kmph. So be it … we set forth for our destination … in a disciplined formation.
I would not say we were riding in a very disciplined manner as we had to overtake from right and left sometimes due to a single lane, but we knew that we cannot afford to loose time and speed.

19th August 2012 – 6:20 pm –Vadodara…@80 kmph average speed (1595 kms)

We had done it … !!!
Just before the lights started to come on … we were standing in front of GSFC Fertilizer Nagar township, Vadodara.

We were all delighted as we are in the hitting zone now … we are just 545 kms from Pune and if we start on time the next day, we would be home by evening.

So we decided to stop over in Vadodara, the problem was we had not booked any place and we didn’t want to go inside the city too much and waste more time.
Being with a technology company, we all set out on our phones and google maps … to find a resort very close to where we were – prakruti resort. We decided to go and ask for what best offers they can give us, with all our charm.

The moment we entered the resort …we realized it’s a 5 start or a 4 start resort … and hence all of us stopped outside the gate, ‘cause if the rates are high, we need to hunt for another place.
Being from a Sales background, now a consultant and the eldest, I was the obvious choice to talk to the resort for the rooms and the offer.

I walked into the hotel with my full gear and met the manager at the reception.

In the first instance he did not even greet us. I have told you how we look in the gear and we look like ghosts anyways after a full day’s ride in the heat and dust. But I asked him for the tariff card.

Manager: Good evening sir? (with hesitation)
Brzzz: Good evening.. I am looking for accommodation for 6 people, may be 2 or 3 rooms.
Manager: Did you look at the tariff? (As if Aukat dekh ke room mango bhai)
Brzzz: I understood what he may be thinking, and flipped open my tank bag to present my visiting card. And used the international experience I had to bring in the US Accent… and tell him that we are riding from pune and returning and looking for a place to stay.
Manager: He was shocked to listen to us and realized that looks are deceptive.
Brzzz: I asked him how much discount could he offer us as we would leave early morning.
Manager: 10% Discount sir. (It was still coming to some 1800 per room)
Brzzz: hey give us some 20% man and is it possible to have 2 rooms with extra person in each room.
Manager: We don’t allow extra adults in the room … which was quite ridiculous.

I called up the guys standing outside the gate and shared the price … !!! We could have got something cheaper, but this was a beautiful resort with excellent rooms and we were dead tired to find out rooms in Vadodara at 7:00 pm … we wanted to rest as the next day again would bring a lot of surprises.

So we decided to check in and all the Bikes vroomed into the parking.

Here you go sir … Room no 301, 302, 303 …. !!!
Wow after such an eventful day we were finally in a hotel room ready to have a good bath. But wow … we saw the swimming pool right ion front of the rooms … and God how tempted were we to just jump in …

But to all our dismay … the swimming pool was chargeable @ 150 per person, which was ridiculous. We enquired if the water in the bathroom is included in the tariff? I had never seen a pool chargeable even for the guests … or they had made it chargeable for us seeing our state that they may have to replace the water after we go in. but that was not the case, it was chargeable for all guests, which is the most ridiculous thing I have seen at any resort.

19th August 2012 – 7:20 pm – Prakruti Resort, Vadodara (1600 kms)

We checked into our rooms on the first floor and immediately ran for a Shower … we so desperately wanted a shower. And we were all starving and wanted food.
We had not planned and budgeted for a resort stay in our trip, and hence were running out of budgets, after the shower we came together to order food, and oh … looking at the menu we realized, with our appetite and state right now, we will be broke if we order here, the food was exorbitantly expensive.

Dinner

If you remember, one of our colleagues – Abhijit had started with us from Pune on 15th to come Home …. And where – Vadodara. He had planned to ride back with us and was calling up since morning to get our status.

The bulb ignited in my mind … I called Abhijit and asked him to come and see us, and also get dinner. What an idea sirjee….
We all decided that we will ask him to get food for us which would be suiting our pockets … and smsed him the order …

2 Butter Chicken
2 Paneer Butter masala
2 Any Seasonal veg
30 Roti
2 Chicken biryani
2 Veg Biryani
5 Curd
5 Dal Fry

We were not sure if this would be enough, but the whole bill was Rs. 1800/- which could have been not less than Rs. 6000 at the resort.

At 9:00 pm Abhijit was at the door and we were all ready with the Bowls and plates to honk over food.
10:15 … the plates were all looking like new clean again as we had finished everything … we asked Abhijit to join us and we were happily full.

Program for the final Day

It was that time of the night when used to decide the program for the next day.
I had a very clear program in my mind – we had to cover about 550 kms and it will not be easy. So we need to leave latest by 6:00 am to reach Pune by evening.
But … yes … again the but … No-one had an urgency that I had, and everyone was so tired that no-one was ready to leave so early. But I had to, but who will leave with me … I had a mentos and Dimaag ki batti jal gayee … ☺
I asked Abhijit if he was ready to leave with me at 6:00 am? He has been resting at home for 4 days and was urging to get onto the roads … so he willingly agreed.

Wow .. so now I have a partner to start early. Once my program got finalized, Rohan also wanted to leave with us.
Now, Rohan and I were in 1 room, Vikas and Ayush in another room, Rachit and Prateek in the 3rd room. So it was comfortable that I will leave with Rohan and Abhijit and no-one would get disturbed.

After the amazing Hot water shower, Lovely food we sat chatting for a while, before people started falling off due to excessive tiredness and sleep.

The last Day – 2 stories running in parallel – excellent and disastrous start
20th August 2012 – 05:15 am – Prakruti Resort, Vadodara (1600 kms) – ready to ride back