Before I start writing I have to THANK BIKE NOMADS. This was not just a ride; it was a TEAM EFFORT that helped us finish the ride. Vasanth, Jayaram and Vibhu had many sleepless nights as they were constantly helping us achieving this dream. Praveen, Abhinav, Sushant, Binil and Chinmay struggled many odd hours to ensure we are on the track. Every BNer out there marked their involvement till the end of ride. I can see posts coming in the midnight asking for the status. We cannot find a better TEAM than Bike Nomads is what I can say end of this ride.
OK, now the log:
We started on the 02nd Jan 2010 to conquer the Golden Quadrilateral from Bangalore at 13:45 hours.
Mission: To cover the Golden Quadrilateral in under 100 hours covering 13 states, 65 cities and 6000 kilometers.
The Experience:
The bikes were carefully serviced by Bangalore Wheels(Yamaha Service Centre). Prabhu and his team spent many hours to ensure the bikes are in great shape.
We were energized with a dose of Red Bull along with a Rock Band comprised of school students. Believe me, their performance was simply mind blowing. We enjoyed every bit of their show. It was a good day and we did good speeds till Pune with a stop at Mc Donalds in Kolhapur. We then shot towards Pune and the ride was non stop except for fuel. There we met our man Praveen who was waiting for more than an hour to help us cross Mumbai. We stopped at Lonavla for a cup of hot tea and we were glad to meet fellow BNers. Took few photos with them and we started towards Mumbai. Praveen was explaining the express way and showed us his favorite curve. We stopped at a Petrol Pump on the Mumbai outskirts and I realized that I had left my pouch in the tea shop. Praveen, without feeling bad said we will go and get it. Started towards Lonavla and we had a good news. Deepak had found the pouch and he brought it down to Mumbai. Lost few hours but nothing bad happened. From there we saw some great areas of Mumbai with fellow BNers and Deepak escorted us to the highway that connected to Ahmedabad. We rode few kilometers and thought we need some rest. So, pulled off to a dhaba where we rested for few hours. Till Surat, there were many diversions, road and the traffic conditions were bad. So, we were not able to maintain good speeds. Once we crossed Surat, the roads were extremely good but there were no sign boards. We lost some time as we went into the expressway. Had to come back and take a road that was in its worst condition to Ahmedabad. We called Vasanth who gave us the information on the bye pass to reach Jaipur. The highway was a mix of good and bad roads. Too many deviations were there but Vasanth was helping us all the way. But, the real problem started here. We faced heavy fog all the way. The road was not visible at all. Temperature had come down and we were not able to exceed speeds above 60 kmph. We took many stops the entire stretch and we reached Jaipur very late than expected.
We had a pleasant surprise awaiting us. Yamaha had organized the service for our bikes at Akar Yamaha in Jaipur city. They followed up with us very closely and gave us the best treatment when the bikes were serviced. Not just the hospitality but their service was excellent. Thanks to Vidhu Tripathi (Manager – Yamaha), Amarjeet (Area Service Manager – Yamaha) and Sanjeev Akar (Director – Akar Yamaha) for helping us there.
We started off to Delhi but the roads were in Bad shape for few hundred kms. We faced the worst of Traffic Jams. Abhinav called us to inform us that he is waiting for us at Mc Donalds in Delhi. We were very thankful to Abhinav. He stayed in a far off place and he waited patiently till we arrived. Then we refreshed ourselves and Abhinav helped us till Faridabad. On the way he showed us the brilliant part of the country’s capital and the Lotus Temple too.
From Faridabad, we continued in fog. Reached Mathura and were unable to see the road due to severe fog and low temperature was affecting our speeds. Thought we would rest for sometime. So, pulled ourselves to a Bus Stand and parked our bikes inside. To our horror, a team of Police with weapons started surrounding us. I screamed in fear. Amrith knew Hindi very well. He explained our ride plan to them. They checked our bags and told us that we are going thru a dangerous area and took us to a dhaba, handed the keys of our bikes to the dhaba owner and asked him to guard us till 7:00 AM. We lost a crucial amount of time there.
We left the place at 7:00 AM and we decided within ourselves to cover maximum number of miles possible. We stopped in Agra for a photo and we started riding again. We clocked good number of kilometers but were very unhappy with the people using the GQ. They had no sense that they were on a highway and they were assuming that it is their play ground. We had to be extremely cautious.
Rode, rode and rode….
…till we reached the Bihar border.
Many people, police man, petrol pump operator, chaai wala and almost everyone warned us not to pass Bihar in the night. So, we were little scared. Prayed to god and started riding. Again, we were the victims of the chill weather and fog. So, had to stop many times till dawn.
Freshened ourselves at a petrol pump and we started towards Calcutta. Binil, Chinmay and Sushant helped us reach Calcutta and Sushant helped us reach the highway to Balasore.
The real pain started here. We experienced the worst possible roads and we had to take rest. So, halted in Orissa in the night as there were many deviations. Started in the morning again with good josh. But the bad roads and deviations were not letting us achieve good speeds. Binil had given a good info on the roads in Orissa. We crossed Orissa and reached Icchapuram, a town in Andhra. Man, we got the best of roads from here. Started riding non stop and we ate several miles. Did non-stop to Vishakapatnam. Here, we fuelled up and gained some energy. Again, roads were good and well lit. We did a non stop ride to Vijayawada where we took some time to have dinner.
After dinner, took a power nap and reached Guntur. Saw too many accidents on the way. So, we were damn cautious.
Reached Chennai early morning. Here, we did not have any BNers to escort us thru the city…
Took some time to reach Sriperambudur. Kissed the race-track and started towards Bangalore. We were exhausted and tired. So, was doing speeds within 100 kmph.
In Krishnagiri, Amrith’s bike had a flat tyre. Lost more than an hour as the foot pump we carried had malfunctioned. Again, started towards Bangalore and reached the city with a lot of pride.
Huh, this is one of the most toughest experiences that I have gone through and I am extremely satisfied.
Few pointers:
Amrith Nayak: 5910 kms
Renu Kumar: 5992 kms (I had taken the express way in Ahmedabad and was stopped in between by the authorities. So, extra kms here)
Started with an ambition to cover the Golden Quadrilateral in under 100 hours but we went wrong as we were challenged by bad weather. The fog and low temperatures that started in Gujrat ended in West Bengal killing the time. The chill weather conditions did not allow us to exceed speeds over 40 kmph most of the places. We lost more than 40 hours due to bad weather.
Bikes were great and they are ready for another spin
We faced a combination of the best and worst roads.
The road conditions in Orissa were very bad. I'm glad that the bike did not fail on us.
In the entire journey, we serviced the bike only once - at Jaipur with a Yamaha dealer - Akar Yamaha Motors. I bet that no other bike can take this beating with just a service.
The only maintenance checks we did on the bike were to check the coolant level, air pressure and chain lubrication.
Riots in Andhra Pradesh further affected the time.
The bikes were stock except for using a 60/55 watts halogen.
Few photos:
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It takes a lot to put your dreams on the tarmac.... 
