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.