Bylakuppe - Madikeri - Thalakaveri ride

itz been long time since we - me and Jeevs tasted some serious tarmac. When Balu asked me about planning a trip to Coorg, i didn't think twice. After some planning, we five guys - Me, Jubish, Balu, Arun and Abey and three bikes - Jeevs, Shadowfax (Arun's bullet) and Balu’s Unicorn set out to Coorg on Saturday early morning.

Our plan was to ride leisurely and see places. But it was just a 'plan'. Balu was on lead, and the moment he reached Bangalore Mysore highway, he opened up his throttle and set a blistering pace. Arun was not behind, and Shadowfax started devouring the almost deserted road with aplomb. I was the tail; I kept up with them, enjoying the cool breeze and wide, smooth roads. We passed Mysore by 7.15 and stopped for breakfast by 7.30.


After a filling breakfast of dosas and pathal (don’t ask me what pathal is - itz first time i see that, but it tasted good) we set out towards Kusalnagara. Me and Arun exchanged our steeds, and by 11 we reached kusalnagara, after taking some photo session stops.


We visited the golden temple and had authentic Tibetan food from kusalnagara.




After taking ample rest, we set out to madikeri. This time I took the lead and took an alternate route - the route which goes to dubare elephant camp - and we got rewarded with lot of twisties. After lot of side stand / foot pedal / break pedal scraping, we reached madikkeri by 3 and took a home to stay. We spend evening loitering around, and watched the musical fountain at Raja seat.



Sunday early morning we started from madikeri to thalakaveri, and this time also I was leading the pack. Jeevs was performing at his best, but was not really at the pink of his health, and his alternator decided to pack off. So i had to lead without headlight ( my pass beam was working, but in thick fog, too bright a beam is seldom useless) and by 8 we reached thalakaveri, after stopping at two places for photo sessions.





While riding back, I took Shadowfax and was in the mood for total ghat banging - did the whole stretch in just one hour; and both unicorns almost kept the pace but where panting. But tell you what - ghat banging on a bullet is simply a level apart. After a marathon session of ride, we stopped for lunch by 2, and reached outskirts of Bangalore by 4.30.
From there, I took BMIC corridor till bannerghatta road - arrow straight road with no traffic - it is like a race track, and Jeevs enjoyed his home stretch. To top it off, the approach road from BMIC to bannerghatta road is kind of small off-road with lot of sand pits. I really enjoyed taking Jeevs through sand and gravel. All in all, a nice ride - 2 days, five guys, 3 bikes, and 700 odd km.
click here to see the pics. (I am teh guy wearing Green nd Black T shirts)