BFI Official Website India's Biggest Bike Festival
Related Articles
It all began with an early morning dash to meet up with the gang at 8 AM near Fountain Hotel on the Ghodbunder road. Being a weekend, we all overslept, as usual, but somehow ended up meeting at 8:30 AM even though, we barely got any sleep due to the excitement of a road trip the next day.
As always, immediately after meeting up with Sabya, Neel, Akshay and their ‘better halves’ – Bajaj Pulsar 180, KTM Duke 200 and Honda CBR250R, we spent a few minutes admiring each other’s bikes and catching up. This gave Sabya a chance to click a few pics on his Canon DLSR 60D. As you can see from the quality of the pics, Sabya was the official photographer for our trip, and what a mind blowing job! We were simply awestruck after we got hold of them!
Well anyways, on with the story. 4 clean bikes, 4 petrol heads, full petrol tanks and the empty National Highway 8, what did ’ya expect! And so it begins, our escapade to the remote village of Dudhani in Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Dudhani is a beautiful and remote village, off the Madhuban Reservoir, approximately 164 Kms from Mumbai. The NH – 8, in Sabya’s words was like a runway, and trust me IT WAS. Yet another chance to max our bike’s top speeds. I managed to pull a top speed of 135km/hr on my Yamaha R15 Ver2. The control of the bike at high speeds was simply tremendous, perfect amount of traction control on curves. Akshay managed to pull a mean 145 km/hr on his Honda CBR250R. Well the bike, hands down, is quite mean!
The Maharashtra border, The Four Horsemen, Minus the photographer
The ride so far was thrilling, as we had experienced during one of our previous rides to Kelwa Beach on the same highway. Years ago I had the opportunity to drive to Dudhani via NH 8 on my Mahindra Bolero Invader, and ever since that drive, I’ve always wondered what it’d feel like to ride on this highway. And so far it was thrilling to the core. Hoped this road would never end. The happy rider. After a 45 minute ride, we all stopped at a small restaurant for a quick bite. While we were busy hogging on some nice scrumptious breakfast, the localities were busy admiring our bikes, even to the extent of surrounding us while we discussed about the pics Sabya had clicked so far. Pit stop! After a quick smoke, we again hit the highway, only to be over taken by a group of super bikes, speeding towards Gujarat. Out of the entire battalion, a few which caught our eyes were a sparkling yellow Suzuki Hayabusa, a Kawasaki Ninja 650R, a BMW R1200 GS and a Honda Repsol CBR1000RR! Mind you, they had taken absolute precautions and wore every necessary means of armour while riding. Now that’s called being a responsible rider and a true role model! After crossing the Maharashtra border, we rode for another 50 kms and entered Silvassa, the capital of the Indian Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
We immediately came across a humongous temple, and it was amazingly gorgeous! We decided to take a small break and venture into the temple. Unfortunately a huge picnic group of 4 buses, filled with school children arrived to create havoc! Watching the kids, armed with footballs, cricket bats, mobile phones and Tablets (Yes, you read that right) stir up a storm; we decided to hop on our bikes and zoom off. Immediately after deviating from the Silvassa Township, we were greeted with a rarely used tarmac road that leads to the Dudhani Jetty end point. Just an FYI, every corner of this stretch of the road was like a MOTOGP racetrack! The perfect avenue…brings a smile to your face doesn’t it? Time for a quick pic! It passes through luscious green hills, small villages, rivers and finally ends at the Madhuban Reservoir. Although before reaching the jetty, we did get a chance to stop by an old bridge and enjoy the view. It was beautiful! River side fun and frolic! “Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo! Hoo-hoo! Woo-hoo!” – Guess who? The Dynamic Duo! Curious case of the speed monsters The Austrian Orange Monster -KTM Duke 200 Scarlett – Yamaha R15 Ver2 The Honda mean-machine – Honda CBR250R Old School Rocks – Bajaj Pulsar 180 m/ The gorgeous view which greeted us on way to Dudhani.
After reaching the jetty, we ventured into the waterside Dadra and Nagar Haveli Government Resort, only to find out that the rates for the AC cottages were an absolute steal. We lodged into a spacious cottage and decided to stretch our legs atop an old house boat and enjoy some of the waterside views which surrounded. ‘Dusk’ the resort’s restaurant was also quite good, although not too many choices available. Well the restaurant was just the one in that locality. While Sabya and I struggled to wake up the next morning, due to a few drinks, Akshay and Neel managed to have a quick ride around the place. We had to begin riding back on an empty stomach as the hotel restaurant was yet to open up. As soon as we reached Silvassa, the heavens opened up and it started pouring cats and dogs. So we decided to take shelter at a small roadside stall and stuff ourselves with some freshly made samosas. Throughout the return journey, we faced continuous rainfalls. However, it did not deter us and we kept on riding. And our bikes functioned marvelously. Considering it was a Sunday, there was less traffic on the highway. However, this changed the moment we reached closer to Mumbai. We stopped for a last smoke at the Ghodbunder Road before we parted ways, but not before deciding where our next trip was going to be, somewhere in the Sahyadri Mountain Range. Until then, RIDE HARD!
