Temple Ride : The Sringeri-Horanadu escapade

I'm back with yet another story of a ride. This time, we went through the malnad region to visit the temples at Sringeri and Horanadu. The time was 4.45 am, I was already late, and in a hurry was trying to fasten my bag to the back seat of my bike with a pair of bungee cords. I got onto my bike, said my goodbyes to my family, and was racing towards Iskcon, the designated start point. Being very close to my house, I reached Iskcon within 10 minutes, jumped off my bike to greet all my fellow riders. I was very excited about this ride, as I was going to be riding with a few guys after quite a few months. Also, after so many rides, our captain was the lead again. It felt good, to follow his leadership after so many months.

A quick briefing before we leave. Photo Courtesy : Vinay B R

The clock had ticked, and it was 5.05 am, but we were yet to depart. We were waiting for our very own angle bull, as he had made a last minute decision and a wild card entry in to this ride. He was quick to reach, and within the next 10 minutes, we had started off.

We took the tumkur road, and rode for around 10 kms before taking the left at Nelamangala junction towards the Mangalore road. The road was good, and we were heading towards Hassan. After riding for around 70kms, and around 15kms before Kunigal, we took a small break for some tea and snacks. The weather was cool, and there was a refreshing breeze as we started riding again. The horizon was slowly being lit up by the rising sun, giving off a warm glow. Mesmerised by the sunrise, Anil zoomed past the group, so that he could stop ahead to capture this wonderful scene. I think he did a wonderful job of it.

Photo Courtesy : Anil Reddy

We stopped after around another 50 kms at Hotel Mayura for some breakfast. Food always tastes awesome when your hungry. And boy, was I hungry. The first plate of Idli Vada, tasted great. But the next one was horrible. After the breakfast and just as we were leaving, another group of riders decided to stop at the same hotel.

Quick Fix. Replacing a fallen nut on Angle's bike

I left the hotel with a bad taste in the mouth, hoping that the next stop would provide something to change the lingering taste. We rode on till hassan and met Shashi aka Snake there. He had ditched his bull in bangalore, and come to meet us in a Scooty.
We had hardly a couple of kms into Hassan, and I found the group had stopped. Not knowing why, I got off the bike and went to check. One of the riders, had had a small fall going through a rough patch on the road. No damage to him, but his bike had taken a couple of scrapes.

Thomas Garage mechanic expertly fixing Lawyer's bike

I pushed the riders to get back on their bikes, so that we could stop at a tea shop further ahead. After tea, we were ready to say bye to Hassan. But, Hassan wasn't ready to let us go yet. Lawyer got onto his bike, and tried to kick start. The bike's kicker had got jammed and refused to move. Being the sweep, I contacted Lohith and asked him to stop, while Lawyer, Anil and myself went to a local garage to get the kicker fixed. We found ourselves at Thomas Garage. A very famous and well know bullet garage in Hassan. The mechanic here knew his way around bikes, and very efficiently fixed the problem.

Looking forward for the next stretch of roads, I got back on the bike and pushed everyone to catch up with the lead. From this point onwards, it was to be curving roads right through the ghats.
As we rode through the winding roads, there were many kids on the road waving at us. But even better was the expression of pure joy and happiness on seeing even one rider wave back to them. For that reason alone, I made sure to wave and give Hi-Fi's to as many of them as possible.

The roads here are decent, not too many potholes and completely surrounded by trees. Passing through any ghat for that matter, gives me great joy, and makes me feel like a kid too.

We soon reached the town of Balehannur, where we stopped for a break. The time was 2.20, and we had missed our deadline of reaching Sringeri before 2pm. Here, it was decided that the group would split up. One group would go towards Sringeri, and then came back till Balehonnur, then proceed to Horanadu. While the other group would head to Horanadu directly. The reason was simple, going to Sringeri and coming, meant an extra 100km, and we would save  a lot of time if we went in a smaller group. Besides, many riders had no interest in going to Sringeri.

Bikes parked in the Rain at Sringeri

I set out with 13 other riders towards Sringeri. The ghats just got better and better with deeper and tighter curves. There were a few riders for whom, the ghats was a first time experience. This meant that due to lack of experience, they were braking during the curves instead of before it. This is the worst way to manage a curve, and can more often lead to skids and accidents. Luckily, and with God's grace we all reached Sringeri safely. On reaching, I quickly gathered everyone and gave them a quick briefing on how to handle these roads. I also pulled aside terror, and asked him not to terrorize the new guys so much while trying to push them to catch up with the lead. Trust me, terror makes a great runner. He'll stick right behind your bike, not leaving any gaps until you catch up and he is satisfied.

Sringeri temple. Photo Courtesy : Vinay BR

Now someone had to look after the luggage, and so, I volunteered to stay behind while the others went ahead for a darshan. A point to note, Sringeri temple is usually closed between 2-4pm. During my wait, I started chatting with a few locals, who were extremely excited to see so many bullets. It was fun to see their expressions. A nice drizzle, cooled down the burning soils, but the winds indicated that heavier rains were to come. I prayed that this would not be the case and that we got dry roads till we reached the hotel.

Feed the hungry riders.
Photo Courtesy : Anil Reddy

We all saddled up and left as soon as everyone got back, fueled up on the way, and were heading towards Horanadu, through Balehonnur. We had a smooth ride for the next 70 kms. The last 30 kms was a nightmare especially with the sun having gone down, and roads which were almost non existent. There was absolutely no light, no one else on the road. We didn't even know whether we were on the correct route. Out of nowhere, just at the end of a curve a deep pothole would appear. I feared for the others, hoping that there wouldn't be any accidents. But never the less, we pushed on and reached the hotel at Horanadu by 8pm, parked our bikes in a neat formation and got into our rooms.

After quickly freshening up, we all headed to the temple for a darshan and dinner. Annapoorneshwari temple at Horanadu, is known for serving all pilgrims dinner free of cost. Its a really good and tasty meal, and one that you should never miss if you happen to go.
Once dinner was over, I sat with the others to take a breather after partaking such a heavy meal. Here we discussed about our future rides amongst many other things.

Discussing future ride plans. Photo Courtesy : Sreekanta Datta

Through the ghats.
Photo Courtesy : Anil Reddy

It was time to sleep and rest, so as to be ready for the next day. But all of us were buzzing with activity, and we ended up sleeping close to midnight. The next day, we all got ready to leave by 9 am. Cleaned our bikes and hit the road. A beautiful 70 kms of ghats, which took us almost 2 hours to get through. After which, we stopped to have some neeru dosa and coffee.

Neeru Dosa and coffee. Photo Courtesy : Sreekanta Datta

After a short ride of another 80kms, we stopped at a dhaba just after Hassan for lunch where we had dishes named after heroines, "Chicken Shilpa Dry", "Sheela Fish Fry", etc... The food was good, and we all enjoyed it to the core.

Lunch at Hassan. Photo Courtesy : Vinay BR

The next section was rather boring for me, and was making me sleepy, so I tried to keep myself awake by randomly slowing up and then playing catch up. What I had forgotten was that my co-sweeps would be forced to slow down and wait each time. After a couple of rounds of this, they stopped and requested me to stay with the group. I guess this mischievous behaviour on my part was due to Sidd's influence on me from the previous rides.

We rode on, stopping a couple of times in between, until we reached our end point. It had been a great ride. And I was delighted that I got an opportunity to be sweep for this great group of riders.

Temple Riders & their Rides

Already looking forward for our next ride, One Ride, April 7th. And everyone who owns a Royal Enfield Machine, is requested to join us!!