This time around it was time to ride to Madhe Ghat. A place which some of the boys have ridden to more than just a couple of times. It's a route which has its fair share of fun curves on tarmac, hairpin bends on gravel and enough dirt to keep the dirty boys happy. With the mails being circulated and a big number in for this ride, each one of us polished our gear and looked forward to Saturday, 8th of Jan.
This one, like most others began at BU Bhandari. A shopping party of four guys which included me, Ekalavya, Bhagirath and Jatin went ahead before the others to collect stuff for the barbeque. With all the ingredients for the party in place, we rode towards our destination while the bigger pack had already proceeded.
The ride was smooth with absolutely no trouble (besides Jatin's `wanderlust' splitting him from the pack and leading him to someplace else-we don't know where! Eventually he joined us at the campsite half an hour later;)) all of us then spent some time getting our tents, sleeping bags etc in place for the night. We also got out of our gear and changed into more comfortable pieces of clothing for the party. The weather was brilliant and the winds were strong with the stars and the smiling moon completed the perfect set-up for the night.
After the initial setting up , the party began and all of us laughed till our bellies hurt with Sam doing the honors like usual- he had everybody in splits! We then managed a round of introductions with the new boys as well as some of the oldies- all in all we all got to know each other a little better. Soon one by one, most of us called it a night and packed up in a tent, a sleeping bag, a solapuri chaadar or a even better- a makeshift arrangement between two bikes( hope there weren't any leakage issues there ;) )
The next morning, we had glaring sunlight in our faces waking us all up from our slumber. In no time, we got done with our packing, got the place back to normal (litter is a strict no-no- by choice) , had a decent breakfast which comprised of kanda-poha and super-sweet tea and even managed a small photo shoot with all twenty bikes and their riders posing alongside their steeds.
Riding back, Manish led the whole pack with Chotu Baljeet and Sam sweeping and me riding pilot. The ride back, was a nice hard ride where all of us rode in sync and managed to cover a fair distance in very little time. I'm guessing the visibility advantage of riding during the day also had something to do with our good speeds. Except for a small de-tour because of a wrong turn that we took, the ride back was also trouble free. All of managed to get home by 1300 hours.
With another great ride, super jokes, good food and high spirits(not while riding :p) behind us, we all look forward to another one.
Till next time…Ride safe!
Adarsh
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