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 28-29th 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.
Konkan Moto Tours 