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Konkan Fort Trail – Raigad & Pratapgad

Every rider has a story to tell. Irrespective of what you ride, who do you ride with and where do you ride – there is a reason behind sole existence of a rider. For many, its their passion. For many its fascination. For many, its intoxication.

I have met many such riders during my riding expeditions. However, riders on Konkan Fort Trail – Raigad and Pratapgad were very different. You will know why I am telling this when you reach end of this article. Let the suspense begin! Well, Konkan Fort Trail 1 – Raigad and Pratapgad was a very special ride for each of us at Konkan Moto Tours (KMT). We completed 6 months of operations and this was a milestone ride to evaluate our journey so far. Konkan Fort Trail 1 is first in series of rides from KMT, which explores historic forts in Konkan region. Aim is to spread awareness about rich history and culture of Konkan and add an element of adventure to rides. All forts in Konkan are located at strategic locations and it requires some sort of off-roading biking or trekking to reach at top. We chose to visit Raigad and Pratapgad forts in Raigad district, because of its close proximity from NH17.

It was refreshing Saturday morning, with cold breeze and beautiful sunlight around. All riders were instructed to meet at Shree Datta Snacks, Panvel. I along with Aniruddh reached there at 7:15 and by 7:45, all riders were ready to ride. This, time attractions of ride were Honda Valkyrie and Harley Davidson. This time, we had almost all variety of bikes riding with us including Fazer, Pulsar, Royal Enfield, Apache, Avenger and Honda CBR. What a beautiful sight it was to see each of these bike riding together on NH17 for a breathtaking expedition to Konkan Forts. If we talk about age, we had riders from all age groups this time! Starting from 22 years old Karan, we also had Mr. Krishnan – a 59 years old ‘jaanbaz’ riding his passion with us. I can’t explain how ecstatic was feeling of seeing such diversity in bikes and riders. I can now proudly say that KMT is not an age group bounded or motorcycle brand restricted company. Our recognition from passionate riders is biggest appreciation for us and such response within 6 months of first ride definitely makes you feel good.

After a quick briefing session, we all started driving on NH17. Idea was to reach Mahad before it’s too hot to drive. Our speculations were right. By 12, it became really hot to drive. We all stopped at Mahad and decided to head towards Poladpur, where we were to stay overnight. We reached Hotel Balaji in approx. 45 mins and decided to have lunch there only. Everyone was tired after riding close to 150 kms and needed rest. While we rested, hotel guy made delicious food for us. Idea was to have food and wait till climate becomes cooler for bike riding. We enjoyed lunch, rested for some time and at 3:30, we decided to leave for Raigad fort. Raigad fort is capital fort of Raigad district. We reached fort to realize that ropeway service was off due to annual maintenance. We decided to trek to reach fort. It’s a hell of a task to climb those 1400 steps to reach Raigad fort. Half of us realized this fact within first 50 steps and took wise decision to stay back. Rest of us started climbing those irregular and dusty steps to see the fort. It took us approx. 2 hours, lot of limewater and drinking water to reach at top. We were all tired and exhausted. My legs started paining. But once we reached at top, Whoa! It was an awesome sight. Statue of Shivaji proudly sitting on crown, with his head held high and bright forehead was welcoming us to the fort. It was a beautiful moment, sun was setting on eastern side of ghats, very few visitors around (due to unavailability of ropeway) and just few of us adventure loving creatures enjoying serene beauty of this fort. We roamed around fort, checked out all places and learned so many things about Maratha warriors and their war strategies. Fort covers 1280 acres area and it has a marketplace, 6 rooms, temple, watch towers, lake, play ground, deewan-e-khas and everything that a proud and rich king would have in his fort. Beauty of fort is mesmerizing. Interesting war strategies, brilliant administration and faith in god – these three were Shivaji’s mantra for successful ruling. Truly amazing!

By the time we completed site seeing, it was dark. We still had to go back to ground zero where we parked our bikes. Fortunately, we had some torches. We started walking in groups of 2-3. It took us more than an hour to reach back to parking. Everyone quickly refreshed, wore their riding gear and started towards Hotel Balaji.  It was dark and riding was tough due to high beam headlights of trucks coming from opposite direction. We trailed each other and reach hotel at 9:30. Refreshed, rejuvenated and re-energized, we all sat together with ‘enlightenment nectar’ to enjoy the beautiful evening. We started with introductory session and everyone spoke about their background and their passion for bike riding.

This was probably most beautiful part of ride. I was completely awestruck by stories of few people. People really do amazing things to follow their passion. Mr. Krishnan, after retiring from an Income Tax job, decided to ride Himalayas and bought a Royal Enfield Thunderbird. Antony D’souza (50 yrs) is a passionate rider and has been riding since 1974. (Most of us were not even in liquid form at that time!!) Prateek, literaly had to rebel his family to get his first ride. We had Swapnil, who learned his biking lesson when he fell while riding a rented bike. He challenged status quo and bought a bike to prove to himself that he can ride! Rajesh, once a skinny guy, wanted to buy Royal Enfield but his friends advised not to buy RE considering his small frame at that time. Today, he was with us riding one of world’s heaviest bikes – Honda Valkyrie! Aren’t these stories amazing? This is what I call ‘spirit of a rider’! Bike riding teaches you to challenge the status quo and conquering your fears. It’s a dynamic meditation when a rider explores his true self.

We went to sleep at 12:30 am. Next morning was tough. My legs were paining and we had to start at 9:00 am to conquer Pratapgad fort. We got ready, had breakfast and started towards Poladpur. From poladpur, roads are curvy and beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed riding on curves and beautiful ghats. Nothing can compare the pleasure you feel when your footrest touches tarmac while you lean on your bike. In no time, were at fort, ready to visit the place and know more about visionary king, Shivaji. Pratapgad is approx. 320 years old fort, build by Shivaji and it’s a strategically important point for defending territory. It took him just 2 years to build the fort. We decided to have lunch at fort to save the time and avoid afternoon heat. Amazing konkoni food, served with buttermilk and kokam juice made our day. We decided to head back via NH17 only  because everyone wanted to avoid riding in heat and reach early. We started again, in full spirit! We enjoyed non-stop ride till Mahad, where we stopped chai at beautiful Zopdi restaurant. Before mahad, I completed 30000 kms on my speedometer, a personal milestone. From there, Panvel is 85 kms. We started again and covered those 85 kms in 90 minutes.

Finally, we announced end of ride at Shri datta snacks at 6:00 PM. I will remember these 540 kms for amazing riding spirit of fellow riders, some good friends, amazing trekking at Raigad fort and completing 6 months of KMT. Cheers, Signing off!!

About Author: Tanmay Shanishchara, is part of Team Konkan Moto Tours and also a passionate rider. He believes in riding hard and enjoys telling stories about his bike rides. He owns Royal Enfield Bullet, Standard 350 and proudly calls it ‘Ironhide’.

Ganpatipule – Serenity of Ratnagiri 2 – A ride to remember

Serenity of Ratnagiri 2 was supposed to be longest ride of Konkan Moto Tours so far. We had done 550 kms during Ecstasy of Raigad, 500 kms during Tranquility of Tapola and highest 650 kms during Serenity of Ratnagiri 1. However, this time target was more than 700. Moreover, I was supposed to handle this ride single handedly. Abhishek was busy with some business work in Mumbai and Tanmay was busy finding a new place to stay in Mumbai, a real pain in ass!

I had done the recce earlier and was well aware of route. I decided to take Sagar along with me on ride, to manage logistics from service vehicle. This was probably first time, when I got up at time and reached Panvel at bang 7:00 AM. See, sense of duty changes your behavior. As instructed, everyone had arrived to Datta Vada pao by 7:15 and we quickly started riding towards Balaji restaurant, our location for breakfast. Balaji restaurant is situated at Poladpur, on NH 17. Its approx. 140 kms from Mumbai and we decided to make it our first re-group point. These 140 kms were probably the most exotic riding experience I ever had. Early morning breeze, chilling weather and shivering bodies, roaring engines and that cold air passing through your helmet… the whole thing was worth experiencing. There were some foggy patches on NH 17, adding thrill to whole experience. We reached Balaji restaurant at 9:30, pretty fast considering a group of 15 riders were riding together. Everyone was thrilled by this first phase of riding and enjoyed a lot. We had some breakfast while Sagar distributed T-shirts and maps to everyone. I briefed everyone about day’s ride plan and we were to ride again at 10:15.

Though it was a beautiful start, destiny had some different plan for today. We smoothly crossed Kashedi ghat and reached Khed. We took right turn towards western coast to reach Dabhol. We were supposed to take ferryboat from Dabhol to reach Dhopve. Just before Dabhol, Aparajita’s (aka Apa) bike slipped and she fell from bike. Bike’s footrest got damaged and Apa too had some minor injuries. This was first serious fall on any KMT ride. We waited for backup vehicle and gave her first-aid & painkillers.  After some relief and rest, Apa showed her riding spirit and got on her bike again to complete the trip. We were just about to start riding again, when a local guy came to us and told us, if someone is missing from our group. We all looked at each other and found Karan was missing. Then he said, there is guy lying on road and people are helping him get up. I was shocked! This was something!! I quickly asked Sagar to go and control the situation. Karan was safe, he went off-road while negotiating with a local bus and fell on side. He broke his headlights in this minor accident, but came out safe and un-injured. I thanked god and re-briefed everyone to ride with each other. Clear instruction was, ride within ‘Line of Sight’. Meaning, everyone should be able to see trailing rider in their rear view mirror. This helped us get momentum and ensure safety of everyone.

Finally, we reached Dabhol and few of us got on to ferryboat to reach Dhopve. Few of us waited at Dabhol for next round of ferry. It was 1 pm and ferryboat stopped for lunch break in between. We wasted approx. 1 hour waiting for ferry and reached Dhopve at 2. We decided to have our lunch (which we carried in packs from Balaji hotel) there only. I approached a local person, and asked if we could use his verandah to sit and have lunch. He happily allowed us. Not only that, he also arranged for chattai and water for all of us. I must say, local people in Konkan are very emotional and helpful. After nice lunch, we moved on. It was dusty, patchy and stoney road, that took us to Tawsal where we took another ferry to reach jaigad. From there, it was few minutes run towards malgund, where we were supposed to stay over night. We reached Tranquility resort, but our service vehicle was far behind us. It took 2 hours for vehicle to arrive and we spent that time having some tea and good conversations about today’s ride.

Now it was time when all riders got fresh and got together for a good session over drinks. It was Rajesh’s marriage anniversary and we celebrated it by cutting a cake and singing songs. After few pegs, Rajesh started story of his life and marriage. To introduce you guys to Rajesh, he is a successful businessman and family loving person. He rides a Honda Valkyrie, a Suzuki Intruder and a Pulsar. This time, he chose his Valkyrie to ride with us. He told us how important family and friends are in a person’s life. It was really late now and I was worried about next day’s ride. I decided to go to my room and catch some sleep.

Next morning was critical for Apa. She was feeling acute pain and her leg was swollen. We decided to wait for some time while she gets ready. Fortunately, we had a Doc riding with us, Mateen Patel. He helped Apa with some medication and dressing. She felt good and got ready for riding at 10 am. Everyone was up afresh and rejuvenated. We first went to Ganpatipule temple to seek blessings of Bappa. After darshan and refueling, we started on Rai-Bhatgaon beach route. KMT carefully and meticulously choses route of each ride. This route was especially chosen to provide a different experience to riders. It’s a narrow, coastal route, passing through some dense forests and exciting curves. Everyone enjoyed the ride. We stopped at a point for some photographs and a refreshing tea. Zeehan, who rides Karizma ZMR started showing his stunting skills. He tried to show some stunts including wheelie and stoppie, but could not perform and everyone had good fun watching him trying. We started from here at 1:30 to reach Savarde on NH17.

Road till Savarde is narrow, long stretched and open on both sides. We were riding at full speed and it gave us a completely different experience. We reached hotel Abhishek for lunch. They served us best of Konkoni sea food and everyone enjoyed it. I was happy the way ride was progressing. Though we had some setbacks, I was pretty sure of reaching Mumbai on time. Though, it was good 6-7 hours of ride on NH17 from Chiplun. It was 4 and we were sure that it will be late when we reach Panvel. We decided to cross two major ghats, Parshuram ghat and Kashedi ghat before dark. I instructed everyone accordingly and started leading the pack. It was awesome experience to ride along with Aditya (on his Fazor) andRajesh (on Honda Valkyrie). We crossed ghats before sunset. After this, we chose to take Pali – Khopoli route. We knew it was long weekend and we’ll encounter major traffic if we continue on NH17. We experienced something whacky while riding on this route. It was evening time and all insects were coming out in search of light. We saw something, dust like coming towards us and hit on our helmet visors. Initially, we thought its dust and we started wiping it with hands but, to our surprise those were insects! We all stopped at a point, cleaned out visors and had another cup of tea. We started again on Pali – Khopoli route. Apa and Shiv were riding at tail and they were at marginal distance from us. We decided to wait for them. Rajesh was getting late as he had some family responsibilities and he left from there. Finally, we all got together again and started towards Panvel. We reached Khopoli at 11. From Khopoli, it was pretty straight and we took no time to reach Panvel. At 12, I officially announced end of ride.

About Rider: Pratish Ambekar, is Co-Founder of Konkan Moto Tours. Pratish is voracious rider and loves to ride in tough conditions. He handled whole ride on his own and this article is output of his experiences as told to Tanmay Shanishchara.

Bappa, Bikes and Blessings. Serenity of Ratnagiri 2 – Ganpatipule

After completing Mahabaleshwar tour in December, I was happy that I finally found a group that I was searching for since last few months.  A group, which would allow non-bullet bikes in to long rides. As we rode for 609kms within two days during last ride, I became confident that I could ride for almost 300-350 km in one day. After Tranquility of Tapola, Konkan Moto Tours announced Serenity of Ratnagiri 2 – a trip to Ganpatipule, covering 700 km in two days. Ride was scheduled on 28-29^th Jan 2012. I was pretty sure that I will be joining this ride and I confirmed my seat 8 days prior to ride date. I made a payment of Rs.3020 and they confirmed my seat. As I had serviced my vehicle 1000 kms ago, I thought I can easily ride for next 700 kms without servicing. This was actually a mistake, which I realized later. I started packing up my bags with clothes, googles, medicine and all other necessary things. As we had to report at shree data vada pav at 6 am; I refueled my tank the previous day. I filled 11 liters. I set up alarm clock at 4 am on both the mobile and table clock to avoid any delay. Got up at 4.20 am, rushed to washroom and got ready. Meanwhile my dad had prepared a quick breakfast for me. I had that very quickly and started on my route to Panvel. I Reached Panvel at 6.10 am and reached Datta Vadapav at 6.24 am. I greeted my fellow riders, few known faces from Mahabaleshar tour and some new faces. At 7.30 am we left for Balaji hotel for breakfast. We reached Balaji hotel at around 10 am and we had our breakfast and refreshments. Meanwhile KMT also distributed tee shirts with ‘Scenerity of Ratnagari 2- Ganapatiphule’ written on it. We changed our tee shirt and meanwhile I told mechanic to check the chain setting as it was making some noise while I was riding at high speed. He applied grease to the chain and tightened the chain and the problem was solved. In few minutes, all riders were ready. This time group included a Honda Valkyrie, which had 1800cc engine. We all left from hotel Balaji for Dabhol. We rode non-stop till Dabhol. It took almost 2 hrs for us to reach Dhopve from Dabhol as we had to divide in to two groups while travelling through ferry, which took almost 1 hour in each trip. So some of us from second round got a good relaxing time, as there was some shade at jetty.

Team KMT was carrying packed lunch for us and we decided to have it there only. They decided to take packed food because local food was not that good and organizers wanted to maintain hygine. We had a tasty non-veg lunch with chicken pcs and biryani. In both the trips I have observed that these people do not compromise on food. I liked their approach and quality consciousness. We finished our lunch and ferry also arrived at 1.30 pm. We were ready to get our bikes on ferryboat. Valkyrie is a huge machine and we faced some difficulties getting it on ferryboat. Finally, with help of all riders, we managed to get it on boat safely. We also helped him to take the bike out of the ferry. Everyone gathered at Dhopve and started riding towards Malgund, which is 50-55 kms form Dhopve. We decided to visit Ganapatiphule temple on the next day. We reached Malgund in evening and ended our first day’s ride. We had a tea for refreshment and then everybody was allotted room at the hotel. We got into the rooms, refreshed quickly and in some time, everyone was down at lobby for dinner. Dinner was at 5 minutes distance from hotel. We rode there and had superb dinner. Meanwhile, everyone was asked to introduce himself or herself. After whole day’s riding together, this became a very interesting activity and kind of networking opportunity.

We came back to our hotel at around 12:00 am and concluded the day. I got up when Sagar from Team KMT buzzed doorbell early in morning. Within an hour, I was ready for today’s ride. We got gathered at breakfast table, had some tea and refreshing breakfast while Pratish briefed us for today’s ride. After breakfast, everyone put on their gears and started day 2 ride.  First, we went to Ganpatipule temple to earn blessings of bappa. Distance from Malgund hotel to temple is very short and we quickly reached there. We parked our bikes outside temple. As it was Sunday, there was huge rush for bappa’s darshan. We were thinking whether to go inside temple or take glimpse of bappa from outside. Security guy at temple told us it won’t take more than 30 minutes and we joined the queue. I had been to this temple a long back, so I was happy to take blessing of Ganapati bappa, the lord we worship with our integral soul. We had darshan within 30 minutes, took Prasad, donated monetary gifts and clicked some pics on beach. After that we started on our route towards NH 17. We were instructed to ride together as it was an internal road with few vehicles on road. Everybody was told that you should have at least one rider behind you whom you should see in your mirror. This will helped us to ride together. Pratish was leading us. The road was not that good and after a bumpy ride we reached Savarde. We all gathered there and started towards Chiplun which is at 30 kms distance. I was a little bit ahead and I went to another hotel. Everyone was at hotel Abhishek in Chiplun. I called Pratish and came back to hotel Abhishek where everyone was waiting for lunch. I knew this place is providing excellent food and  I ordered chicken thali and it was really very tasty. After such a heavy and good lunch, we started our journey towards Panvel on NH 17. We got confused on the route towards Panvel and firstly entered a wrong route and had to take U turn to catch right path. Normally, it takes almost 5-6 hours to reach Panvel from Chiplun. We started riding at 80-90 km/hour as road was pretty smooth and clear. I stopped in between for fuel and after that another stop for relaxation. My friends went ahead and I was riding at a distance behind them. They stopped at Pali, which I did not notice and I went ahead of everyone. As I could not see anyone from my group, I decided to directly stop at Shree Datta vadapav  at Panvel. I rode continuously from there and reached Panvel at 10 PM. I rested there, had a cup of tea. My all friends reached at 11 pm. Pratish concluded the tour and we all greeted each other and I then I was on my way back to thane. Finally I reached home at 12.30 am, had food and went to sleep.

This was end of another epic ride, Ganpatipule covering total 777 kms in two days.

About Rider: Vinayak Mankar, is passionate rider. He rides Apache 150 and enjoys sharing his riding experiences with world. This article was initially written by Vinayak, which got published here after some alterations by Tanmay Shanishchara.

Serenity of Ratnagiri – A truly Serene experience

Every ride brings out a new rider in you. It makes you learn something. It helps you conquer your fears. It makes you challenge your abilities. And if you are a good learner, you will come out as evolved rider after each successful ride.

Konkan Moto Tour’s Tour of Serenity of Ratnagiri was one of such enduring ride, where our skills and patience were tested to its best. It was 2 days of pleasure mixed with some of the challenging routes and difficult riding conditions. We encountered almost all sorts of roads and situations during this ride. We drove through smooth tarmac roads, curvy ghats, difficult off-roads and some of dusty patches too. Riding conditions were equally challenging. Swinging mood of weather also played its game throughout day by swinging temperature from pleasant low to humidly high. But overall, it was a pleasure ride where each rider enjoyed every bit of it!

It was around 4:30 of Saturday morning and my alarm started ringing. I got up from my bed and immediately called Abhishek to wake him up. Quickly, I put on my riding gear and went downstairs to kickstart my bike. By approx. 5:30, I was with Abhishek and we headed to pick up Ramesh – Mechanic for this ride. As decided earlier, we were to reach Kalanagar Bus stop where Aditya, Sandeep and Pratish would join us along with Service vehicle. It was 6 AM when we all got together at Bandra, to head towards Panvel.

Sun was rising and we could feel the heat early in morning. It was pretty clear that this would be a hot, sunny ride and we were mentally prepared to take the challenge ahead. We reached Vitthal Kamath’s at approx. 7:30, where all other riders were waiting for us for breakfast. After heavy breakfast and some good chat with old rider buddies, everyone was now ready for ride. Passionate riders kick started bikes in full spirit to embark on another memorable journey of life. It was approx. 9 AM when we started on NH 17.

We reached Tol Phata in less than 2 hours. A quick break for chai and we started again towards Dapoli.  So far ride was smooth and everyone was enjoying. Sun was playing its role and we were enjoying bright and sunny sight around Western ghats. Dapoli is a beautiful place with Sahyadri range near Khed District and Arabian sea on other side. We had awesome Konkoni lunch at Dapoli and we moved towards Dabhol to take ferry boat for Dhopve Jetty. Road from Dapoli to Dabhol was full of curves and climbs.  While we were waiting for ferry boat at Dabhol, we got news about Karan, one of very close friend and joyful rider. His bike got punctured on the way and our support staff had to stop and fix the problem. Meanwhile, we took Jetty to cross the backwaters and reached Dhopve. We drove for another 15kms and we reached Gopalgad fort. I must say, it was one of the most beautiful locations I’ve ever seen in my life. Infinite Arabian sea covering fort walls from three sides and we could see sunset from cliff standing high besides fort.  It was one more reason for me to fall in love with beautiful Konkan.

It was getting dark and we still had to reach back to Karde where we were to stay overnight. We quickly drove towards Dhopve where Karan and Abhishek were waiting for us. Karan’s bike was fixed by now and we were ready to move towards Karde. I and Abhishek decided to ride at end of trail to make sure everyone reaches Dapoli safely. We drove through same route.  I experienced innate calmness of Sahyadri Range while driving through those quite ghats in moonlight. What a peaceful experience it was. We reached back to Dapoli at approx. 8 PM where all riders had reached before us, safely. Pratish led the troupe to Karde and we reached our Sea-facing hotel at approx 9 PM. That was probably end of ride for day 1, but definitely not the end of day. We had arranged bonfire meet-up on sea face. Everyone quickly had dinner and got together at place to share their experiences of day. Some good, some spicy experiences and we spent good time gelling up with each other. As the night went on, we were getting high on alcohol. While everyone went to sleep in some time, Me, Ketan, Abhishek and Raj went on talking about everything under sun. Ketanbaba enlightened us with some of awesomest ‘Ketan-isms’ and we thoroughly enjoyed each and every word. Finally, we went to sleep at 3 AM. What a perfect end of perfect riding day!

Getting up was really difficult next day. We got up really late and got together for briefing session at 10 AM. It was really late and so we decided to skip lunch break today. We moved towards Khed, where smooth tarmac curves welcomed us to enjoy curvy ride on ‘em. From Khed, we took left turn to move towards Kashedi Ghat on NH17. Road condition was really nice and we were cruising at 80-90 on perfectly made Maharashtra Highways. Kashedi Ghat is must-do destination for all ride lovers. Beautifully carved curves on Ghats and scenic greenery on each side of Ghat makes it worth visiting. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride on curves. Taking curves on such ghats is completely different experience. It makes you learn a lot about riding and balance. After that we took right turn to move towards Bhor Ghat. Bhor Ghat is a mountain passage within Sahyadri Range that connects NH 17 to NH 4. Roads were extremely bad while climbing the Ghats, however it was equally smooth and joyful when we moved towards NH 4. We stopped on top of Ghats to have some snacks as all of us were starving without food. A small road side vendor kept on serving Vada pao and Bhujiyas to us for almost an hour. We started from Bhor Ghat approx. at 3 PM to move towards Rajewadi.

At approx. 4:30 we reached NH 4, and stopped for Chai. So far, everyone was happy with today’s ride and thrilled to complete the last leg of ride before it was dark. We quickly started on NH 4 towards Pune. There was bad traffic and we had to control our speeds until we reached Lonavala. We halted at Lonavala at 7:30 to make sure everyone starts ride together. Driving in night in itself is a challenge. You have to have riding guts to ride in dark on mountain roads. I was leading the pack, cruising at 80-90 to reach Mumbai. Within an hour or so, I reached Lonavala where other riders too followed in next 30 minutes.  After having last Chai of the day, we officially announced end of Serenity of Ratnagiri. In my words, it was truly an amazing experience. It helped me learn a lot about riding. I definitely came out as more experienced and matured rider. Not to mention, I also made few good friends and experienced serenity of Ratnagiri district. Truly, the name of ride made justice to it.

About Author:

Tanmay Shanishchara, is part of Team Konkan Moto Tours and also a passionate rider. He believes in riding hard and enjoys telling stories about his bike rides. He owns Royal Enfield Bullet, Standard 350 and proudly calls it ‘Ironhide’.

Art of Motorcycling – Cornering on your motorcycle

Cornering is perhaps the most exotic yet challenging aspect of bike riding. Cornering is an art. Cornering is philosophy. Cornering is skill. No matter how much you read about it or practice it, you may never reach perfection of this art in single life. Finding a perfect cornering line and adjusting your motorcycle on perfect speed is something that comes with birth. May be riders like Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa got this skill as god’s gift. But for a rider like you and me, it’s a subject of constant meditation.

Looking at corner:
Looking and judging corners is a skill that comes with lot of practice. You will learn this art only by practice. Looking plays most important part in entering corner at right speed, in right lane and in right gear.
Always focus on where you want to go, not on which lane you want to ride. Don’t look at a tree standing at corner of road, but look at lane which takes you on right path. Focus ‘far ahead’ than immediate turn and try to judge your lane while looking at curve.

Choosing perfect lane:
Choosing perfect curve while taking a corner is most important. If you choose wrong lane and take too wide a curve, you might end up on opposite lane or go off road.

All curves are different and should be treated differently. However, there is one basic rule that you should always enter the curve from as much outside as possible to increase your line of sight. As you take the curve, ride towards inside of curve and while exiting, move you motorcycle to the outer side.

Riding at perfect speed:
Many a times, riders make mistake of entering a corner at wrong speed. If you enter a corner at higher speed then necessary, you will either end up braking your vehicle right in the middle of curve, losing all momentum. If you enter at lower speed, you will find your motorcycle struggling to clear the corner in effective manner and you might have to shit-up gears to get right momentum.
It is advisable to always enter the curve at lower speed to make sure there is no vehicle coming from opposite side and you have perfect leaning angle before exiting. Once you are at middle of curve and see the road ahead clearly, you should increase throttle and exit at increasing speed. This is called rule of ‘Slow in, Fast out!’

What is perfect lane and speed for any corner?
Well, there is no perfect lane or speed for any corner. Its all about your comfort and control over your motorcycle. Its about how skillfully you can clear a corner while maintaining perfect lane and speed. Never look at how rider ahead you cleared the corner. Rather, focus on how skillfully you can ride through it.

Ratnagiri – Konkan’s most diverse tourist destination

Ratnagiri is city located on the western coast of the Indian State of Maharashtra. Ratnagiri is district of forests, beaches and forts. Ratnagiri has perhaps most diverse tourist locations in whole Konkan. Famous Sahyadri Hills on east and Serene Arabian Sea on its west contributes to its breathtaking beauty. With lots of scenic sea shores, rivers, backwaters, hot water springs, forests and waterfalls, Ratnagiri offers one of most extra ordinary experience to visitors.

Jaigad fort, is one of most important place worth visiting. Its situated on the top of a mountain in Ratnagiri. Fort is just 35 kms from famous Ganpatipule beach. The fort is nestled on a cliff from where the whole bay can be seen. The bay is situated where the Shastri River merges with the Arabian Sea. The Jaigad lighthouse and a jetty port are located near the fort.

Some of the historical attractions near Ratnagiri town are Jaigad Fort, Jaigad Light House, Thibaw Palace, etc.

Apart from fort, tourists can spend their time at various creeks, seashore, rivers, hot water springs, hills and waterfalls. Ratnagiri beach is one of most beautiful location worth visiting. Tourists generally visit fort area, Ganpatipule and nearby naturally beautiful locations to spend quality time.

Ali Museum in Ratnagiri is an ancestral house of Lokmanya Tilak. The house contains lots of pictures of the great freedom fighter. Shri Devi Bhagwati Mandir is one of the ancient temples of the place and is known for its architecture. The temple is filled with devotees during the Navratri festival.

Apart from Ganpatipule beach, there are many other beaches worth looking at. Bhatye Beach and Mandavi beach are virgin beaches, away from commercialization and offers complete experience to visitors. There are facilities of Adventure sports like paragliding and watersports on few of these beaches.
Some of the religious destinations in the vicinity of Ratnagiri are Swayambhu Ganpati Temple, Swami Swaroopanad Ashram of Pawas, Parashuram temple, etc.

To Compile, Here is list of places to visit in Ratnagiri:

• Places of worship : Ganapatipule, Velneshwar, Marleshwar, Hedvi, Hatis, Parshuram [Chiplun], Rajapur
• Caves: Panhalekazi, Sangameshwar
• Palace: Thibaw Palace [Ratnagiri]
• Sea Shores: Kelshi, Murud, Guhaghar, Palshet, Ganpatipule, Velneshwar
• Beaches: Mandovi [Gateway of Ratnagiri], Bhatye, Guhagar, Anjarla, Ganapatipule
• Birth Places of eminent personalities: Ratnagiri, Malgund, Dapoli, Palgad
• Forts: Bankot, Mandangad, Ambolgad, Jaigad, Ratnadurg, Mahipatgad
• Sea Forts: Ratnadurg, Harne, Purnagad, Jaigad
• Bird Sanctuaries: Vanadi valley, Anaskura Ghat
• Exotic forests: Pat Panhale, Bavnadi valley
• Timeless Landscapes: Goval, Hatlot Ghat, Tivare Ghat, Amba
• Hill and Hill Ranges: Sahyadrian Ranges
• Rivers: Jagbudi, Vashisti, Kasavi
• Irrigation Projects: Natuwadi, Nandivali, Kolkewadi
• Water Falls: Parshuram, Prachitgad, Marleshwar
• Hot water Spring : Unhavare, Aravali, Tural, Rajapur

 

Riding together Because its Ride For a Cause!

“Some ride for Passion, Some ride for Fun.” We had a different reason when we started our ride on Sunday, 18^th September. This time, a humanitarian effort from Konkan Moto Tours was motivating everyone to ride. Ride For Cause – as it is called, was planned with a mission to generate support and donation for poor children. Konkan Moto Tours had partnered with Grant Foundation to generate support and spread awareness about this noble cause.

Earlier, on previous day me and Abhishek had been busy calling out all riders and busy preparing ride map. It was evening when we finished up creating final list of riders and charted out final route map for this ride. On other side, Pratish was assigned task of getting rider’s t-shirts and other printing material ready. He was to decide on mechanic who would join us for ride. Finally, as it happens with all such rides, everything seemed in order at 2:30 am. Now it was time to catch much needed sleep before we wake up for ride at 5:30.

It was 7 am in morning when we assembled at Kalanagar Bus Stop, Bandra. There was pinch of enthusiasm in air as we met all fellow riders for first time. We saw some old faces and some new. In next few minutes, we started our briefing session for today’s ride. Finally, at 8 am, everyone was geared up and ready to rock the tarmac. We started in single rider formation and everyone followed lead rider to reach our first destination – Vitthal Kamath’s restaurant on NH17. After crossing Vashi bridge, we took Palm Beach road to reach Panvel. And I can’t say what a pleasure it was to ride on one of bestest road of city. We were cruising at 90 – 100 kmph on this bright sunny morning and I promise, anyone who saw us that morning on palm beach road, couldn’t have moved his eyes away from this troupe.

In no time, we were at Vitthal Kamath’s restaurant. Everyone had breakfast, which followed by a short introductory session. Such introduction talks are really helpful in such rides because this is only time when you get to speak to everyone on common platform. We met people with diverse experience and diverse background. However, only thing common between each of us was passion for riding. Soon, we started towards our first re group point, Pali. Pali is situated on NH 17, and it has one of most beautiful Ganesha temple in Maharshtra. It’s one of most sacred ashtavinayak temple in Maharashtra.

Roads have been badly affected due to heavy rains this season. Elephant sized pot holes and broken tar made our journey little bit difficult. We took left turn from junction near Nagothane to go towards Pali where beautiful curves and dense trees made our journey bit easy. However, when we reached Pali, potholes had shown its effect on my bike. I realized my rear wheel was making weary noise and there was something wrong with it. Quickly, I asked mechanic to fix it and we had to open whole drum to check reason of noise. It came out that spring connecting break shoe within drum had been broken which we replaced quickly and got my bike running again. Thanks to sincere efforts of Parvezbhai.

Road to Khopoli was worst of whole journey. We would have taken more than 1:30 hours to complete those 40 kms. Broken roads, gravels and potholes made our journey miserable and our back aching. However, good and bad roads are part of any ride and true rider will take it as challenge. With same spirit, we completed this weary patch and reached Khopoli. Khopoli is an industrial town and we saw lots of industrial units in this area. It shows economical and industrial progress of this part of Maharashtra.

By the time we reached Khopoli, everyone was tired and bit irritated because of bad roads. Ride with KMT is not complete without experiencing Konkani food. We decided to stop over at Mauli Dhaba on NH4 to have complete malwani food experience. It was rejuvenating and refreshing experience to sit together and have truly Maharashtrian food with bunch of riders. Amazing food and gentleness of waiters made food more delicious. Finally, at 3:30, we started towards Panvel, our final destination for this ride.

Roads were now smooth and pretty vacant. Everyone enjoyed this patch of route the most and reached Panvel Naka with smiling face and joyful experience. We announced end of ride at 5:00 and everyone dispersed with memory of lifetime!

Photo Courtesy: Karan Diwakar Dalvi

Ecstasy of Raigad – A complete bike riding experience.

“Riding in rains is a complete riding experience. Cold breeze passing through your body and each rain drop falling on your face makes you feel so connected with nature that your soul thumps on beats of engine.” – If someone asks me about my experience of tour of ‘Ecstasy of Raigad’, I proudly flaunt above sentence. And, each rider will agree that I am not wrong. Before I share my experience of this trip, I would start with a famous biker quote: “Bikers don’t get ready. They just get up and Go!” It was similar situation when we all embarked on our epic ‘Ecstasy of Raigad’ journey. It had rained very heavily previous night and this morning was no different. I got up from my bed early at 3:30 and saw the scene outside my window. There was no way a sane person would think of going on a bike trip this morning. But, we KMT Riders are different. I called Abhishek, my partner in KMT and reconfirmed that we are meeting at 5:45 near my house.

Quickly, I get up and start gathering my riding gears. Gloves, in Cupboard drawers; Knee Guard, on corner table; Riding Jacket, on cupboard hanger! I still had to fix my pillion seat on my Bullet. I go downstairs, get my bike out of parking and start fixing pillion seat. 20 minutes of struggle, and I get completely drenched even before journey starts. Now, it was time to put on all gears and start riding. Me and Abhishek started for our first meeting point, Kalanagar Bus Stop, Bandra. Where Pratish, our partner and few other riders were waiting for us. A quick hello to each of them and Few calls to ensure everyone was reaching Shree Datta Snacks, Panvel by 7 AM. Pratish, who is known as ‘Late Latif’ in our gang, had done a fantastic job of arranging our ride t-shirts, bike spare parts and stickers etc. for this ride. Despite of working till late night, we were all thumping in full swing for our first professionally managed tour.

Komal became my pillion and Abhishek was riding with Shreya as pillion. We all reached Panvel in time, to see our organizer Vishwanath Sawant and his team waiting for us. Quickly, we decided to move towards Kamath’s – where our breakfast and first briefing session was scheduled. Heavy breakfast and some chit chat with fellow riders turned our hectic morning in to beautiful monsoon morning. Once breakfast was finished, Abhishek singalled for briefing session and everyone gathered around his table to listen how our next 2 days will be spent. Abhishek explained route, riding instructions and explained whom to contact in crisis situation. So, here we were, ready to kick start our bikes for a completely insane and one of the toughest ride for each of us.

9 bikes, one Wagon R and one Innova – service vehicle for this ride were all set for a tough day ahead. A flag off signal from Sawant and we all started towards Alibaug, our first stop – nearly 50 kms from Vitthal Kamath’s. Heavy traffic, roads full of pot holes and some water logging made riding on this patch very difficult. Also, it was first time when we all were riding together as pack. It took us some time to figure out tuning between each of us. By the time we reached Alibaug, everyone was sure that day ahead would be full of challenges and unique experiences. A chai break at corner tapri wala and we were all set for rolling our bikes again. This time, Abhishek decided to ride as lead and me, Pratish decided to follow the pack. We encountered few of most challenging water logging villages near Revdanda. Santosh, one of our riders managed to break down his bike as water logged in to silencer of his Electra 350 and it took us some efforts to turn it on again. Me, Delzad and Santosh lifted his bike holding front tyre and took all water out of silencer. Our mechanic then applied few kicks and whew! Bike started. This is one quality of Cast Iron engines, which I like the most. It never lets you down. If you know how to tackle such problems, bullets will never hold you back from riding it.

As we moved on towards Kashid, rain turned mild. Our completely drenched bodies started feeling cold air blowing from western coast of Konkan. As soon as we crossed Revdanda, rain had completely stopped. Bridge connecting Revdanda and Korlai became our first stop for photography session. We clicked a few pics, enjoyed back waters of Korlai and started riding again. Next 15 kms on coastal route, and we were near beautiful Kashid beach. It was awesome scene out there. Covered between rocky hillocks and Casuariana Groves, Peaceful Kashid beach was looking at its best in today’s rainy environment. We had cup of tea again and started sharing our ride experience with each rider. Our next stop, Murud was approx 20 kms from here and we reached Murud by lunch time. Beautiful coastal highways and lush green hills enriched our riding experience. As Shreya pointed it out, riding in rains is like – “Its dirty, but its Beautiful!”

Post lunch, we started again, covering Mhasala, Kolmandale and went towards Srivardhan. Wet roads, slushy water and continuous rains had made our ride very difficult. Everyone was in mood of enjoying this ride to the fullest. We missed some superb photo shots because of evil rain. However, everyone was feeling lucky that they chose to ride in such circumstances and could enjoy beautiful arabian sea in such cloudy, rainy environment.

It was on our route from Aarawi beach to Diveagar beach where we stopped at corner of a cliff to enjoy seeming infinite arabian sea. Beautiful sea was merging in to misty clouds at a distant point gave us a perfect sight to forget all our tiredness. We enjoyed this beauty while we waited for Ketan, Karan and Delzad to join us again. After spending 10 minutes at this refreshing sight, we started again and reached Diveagar where we were to stay for night.

Everyone dried themselves, got in to a relaxed attire and we had superb dinner in Diveagar. One special thing about Konkan Moto Tours is that we believe in giving complete ‘Konkoni’ experience to our riders. Therefore, food that we arrange for is also konkoni. Post dinner, a drinking session and some chit chat made it a perfect evening for riders. It was early morning 7 am when everyone’s cellphone got Good Morning SMS from Team KMT. 8:00 am, breakfast time and 8:30 was briefing session.  Abhishek took the lead again and handled briefing part. It was sharp 9:00 am when we started again for next 225 kms journey, covering Tamhini Ghats, Mulshi dam and Pavna dam. Today was day of Ghats, day of curves, day of enjoying natural beauty to its fullest. Road connecting Mhasala and Morba ghats is dream ride of every biker. Each curve and each slop gives you a completely new experience of bike riding. We re grouped at Mangaon and went towards Tamhini Ghat. Yet again, riders were in full passion and enjoying their romance with rains. On top of Tamhini, everyone had this huge craving for cup of tea. While everyone was enjoying beauty of Tamhini Ghat, I revved up my bike and caught Bala who had started earlier to reach next regroup point. Bala, was riding his R15 in this trip. Being a patience rider, he always takes first start and reaches last at any regroup point. I stopped my bike at a chai stall and signalled everyone to stop over. While we were here, rain had stopped for a while. Bang! Another opportunity for photo session.

After spending 30 odd minutes at this place and refreshing ourselves, we started again. A stop for lunch and we started again. By this time, my body had started feeling cold and I was shivering because of wetness and cold breeze around Mulshi dam. I still don’t know what kept me going but, as soon as I started riding again, I felt enormous rush of energy in my veins to lead the pack. It was a bumpy, curvy ride to Paud, where we encountered some bad patches and under-construction roads. But, beauty of water-full Mulshi reservoir and water falls merging in to Mulshi lake made it awesome sight to visit on bike. From Paud, we went towards Pavna lake. Pavna dam was over flowing because of three days of continuous rain and we saw lot of visitors coming from Pune to enjoy beautiful sight. Finally, we were coming close to day’s ride and we started seeing some civilization near Lonavala. We stopped for one more re grouping and enjoyed what I would say most beautiful chit chat of two days. Some photographs, some tea and we were again rolling towards Panvel.

Roads from Lonavala to Mumbai were full of fog. We were riding in full passion, clearing mist and rains. It was one of quickest journey for me between Lonavala and Panvel this time. After reaching panvel, we officially announced end of our ‘Ecstasy of Raigad’ tour. Chandni, who successfully rode as pillion for two days with her husband Renin, was awarde Pillion of Ride award. Everyone cheered up spirit of riders and thanked each other for being good co-rider along the trip.

Janjira – The majestic island fortress

Janjira fort is one the sea fort in district of Raigad in Konkan region. The majestic island fortress of Janjira was the 16th century capital of the Siddis of Janjira, descendants of sailor traders from the horn of Africa. It is one of Maharashtra’s most commanding sea forts. The forts high walls made it impregnable to everyone, even the marathas. Shivaji tried many times to conquer this fort and failed every time. His son even tried to tunnel through it.

The fort is approached by sailboats from Rajapuri jetty. The main gate of the fort faces Rajapuri on the shore and can be seen only when one is quite close to it.  It has a small postern gate towards the open sea for escape.

The word Janjira is not native to India, and may have originated after the Arabic word Jazeera, which means an island. Murud was once known in Marathi as Habsan. Some of the people also split the name as “Jal Jeera” meaning fort in the water. The name of the fort is a concatenation of the Konkani and Arabic words for Island, “morod” and “jazeera”. The word “morod” is peculiar to Konkani and is absent in Marathi.

Specialty of fort is that it is situated deep is the sea 3kms from Murud. The Arabian Sea crashes relentlessly all around the fort battered all the sides by sea waves. Janjira fort is spread over 22 acres. There are two water tanks inside fort and deep well with cold and sweet water. A wonder of nature in middlest of the saline sea provides pure water to thirsty visitors. There are 19 towers and number of turrets in in the fort. Evey tower has huge cannon on it, specially three huge cannons by the names Kalal bangdi, Chavri and Landa Kasam is worth a mention. It is said that these guns could fire at a distance of two Kms. from the fort making it impossible for enemy ships to come near. From the fort you can see the sea fort of Kasa or Padmadurg which was built by Shivaji Maharaj to counter the might of Siddhi.

The fort is an excellent example of fort building architecture and its outer walls are still in a good condition. Now in ruins, the fort in its heyday had all necessary facilities, e.g., palaces, quarters for officers, mosque, a big fresh water tank, etc.  On the outer wall flanking the main gate, there is a sculpture depicting a tiger-like beast clasping elephants in its claws.  This sculpture, its meaning difficult to interpret, appears on many fort-gates of Maharashtra.

We are sure you will be awed looking at the fort by thinking how the hell people would have built a fort in the middle of the sea? You have to take a boat ride to go to the fort, and there is a lot to see on the fort.

About location

• District: Raigad
• From Mumbai: Approx 150km – 2 hours 45minute
  • Mumbai – Murud via Alibaug, Kashid
  • Mumbai – Murud via Nagothane, Roha
  • From Pune: approx. 175km – 3 hours 30minute
    • Pune – NH4 – Paud – Tamhini ghat – SH97 – SH60 – Kolad – NH17 – Roha – Janjira