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.
Konkan Moto Tours 