This blog might be different from the usual travel blog I have written in the past. The trip started with Jeff, Hebzy & Sujit forming the biker group called MotorHead on 28th Feb. When I asked Jeff why MotorHead, he simply explained, "with 10 years of riding with various biking community I felt the need to form this group where there were no rules, no leaders, no restrictions on type of bike, no fuss on riding. In MotorHead, each one of us is equally responsible to make the community and take it forward".
I have seen in the past rides, we get stuck with type of bike and divide the biking community based on type of bikes. Making it more difficult to get a rider who isn't different from usual lot. My take on MotorHead is, its good way of connecting varied interests and different mindsets with one passion i.e. "Bike ride".
The group started with Jeff sharing the link with me and same was done by Hebzy and Sujit to their friends. Except one or two, none of us knew each other. So only connect between us was Jeff, Hebzy & Sujit. So the planning started with sharing trip details and list of bikers and their Pillion. This was first time, I wasn't aware of with whom I would drive with. In my earlier trips, which was mostly with adventure bikers were my friends. This time around, I was ready to make new friends through this opportunity.
As days passed, coupled with excitement, worry started setting in as there were no drivers with empty Pillion seats left. I could see only one of the riders name on the list who did not have a Pillion. I than decided to get my car, but Jeff told not to worry. As thoughts of "Chaltha hai, drive karnese matlab hai, car ho ya bike" I had decided to take my car in case it did not work out. My car had seen as many solo rides as possible, so this was another one to be added to that list.
To give you the background how I met Jeff & Hebzy, it was in one of the event gigs in Belapur, my friends connected instantly all thanks to Sanush for his Malayalam back ground. From there on we never spoke, not until I wanted them to host an event in our office. Anyways, this is how we know each other.
Coming back to the trip, until the day of trip, I did not know whom I was paired up with. Previous night, Jeff shared Sujit’s contact and told me he would pick me up from my place. As I messaged Sujit my pick up location, with his one liner, my first impression was he was man with very few words or wasn't too happy to have picked me. As morning approached, I was ready and waiting near my pick up point. I saw him arriving and waiting, as I ran towards him, he was trying to call with a frown in his face (not that I could see that from his helmet😀). As I surprised him, he had a look in his eyes, ‘does she even know how to sit in the bike’.
We went to common pick up post picking up his Pillion, Jeff & Hebzy. As we waited for others to join in, I could see excited faces around me when we were introduced by Hebzy. I knew instantly, we all are going to connect. And there came my man, Vishal who could be with me for the day, letting me take the Pillion seat and safely drive around.
Adrenaline rush came in as I heard the Harley cruising past me and it has been my first crush. My heart always misses a beat when I hear the roar of the monster. Makes me wonder why I am not riding the monster. This again reminded me of my bike trip to Leh. As other bikers starting their trips to their destination, I eagerly waiting for trip to start. As I eagerly waited for the drive to start, tempo started building up with all of us.
We started the drive and cruised towards the destination. As Vishal started the conversation with an apology as he jumped the hump, we clicked with our conversation and I was sure we are not going to stop there. Group decided to take a break to meet Shubham and Tushar along the way. As we reached our next point we decided to have our breakfast and move towards Dhanau Beach. We took break for almost 45 mins, which also helped us to get to know each other. Ravi became our account handler and managed to get us all Dutch the expense and this continued till tea in the evening. As we started our bikes, Hebzy took the role of photographer for the journey. The first of video was shot with camera.
I was having a trip on bike after 8 months, after Leh trip this was my trip with strangers. Bear with me, as I go back in my memory to connect few of the things and get back to this travel.
We were 13 of us on 7 bikes - Shubham & Tushar on Himalayan, Ravi & Sujata on Himalayan, Vishal & Myself on Honda, Sujit & Nisha on Yamaha FZ250, Jeff & Hebzy on Bajaj Vikrant, Akshay & Aniket on Enfield & Avi on Karisma.
As we started our journey towards Dhanau Beach, we were led by Ravi on Himalayan.
Which reminded me of my Bike ride on Himalayan in Leh, were both Himalayan bikes which had power were wanting to be leading and controlled speed to ensure rest of the flock wasn’t left behind was a challenge. The beginning of every journey is always a challenge that too with strangers whom you don’t know as speed matching to each of the bikers poses a problem. As we started taking riding positions between us, in midway, we lost three of the bikes so we decided to wait for them on the side of the road in the highway. As we waited we started our first of the pictures. As we waited few more bikes drove along, as it was weekend, more bikes would be seen as we drove along.
We waited for almost 30 mins, before we saw first of the lost riders. As they approached we decided to stick with each other. As the roads further took us towards Gujarat the curves become more prominent. This also gave us the chance to bend along the curves. I have always got the rush of blood when we cruised around the curves. While biking it's most important to trust each other. With Vishal it was easy as we had already started the conversation and familiarized with each other’s style of sitting. As we tried curve bending on three of the curves, I could feel our content happiness.
As Ravi knew the roads we just followed him like flock of goose and he was able to take us to our first destination without much ado. As we left the highway and hit the village roads, I could get the sense of native feeling which has similar nature setting like the Karavali. We had few hits of dead ends, not to blame the Ravi as Google always tries to throw challenges when she shows directions. Ravi had near miss of fall when we hit the dead end. Without any injury we all turned our bikes and headed to right direction.
The nature was well set with background of village setup with animals running around freely, the kids with their smiles greeting every biker with a wave, the elders of the village gossiping under the trees, the ladies busy with their daily chores.
We reached our first destination Aswali Dam, we parked and decided to take our gear along with us. Jeff ventured to the top to check if the dam had water, as he signaled us to come we walked towards the top of the dam. It’s a small 5 min walk uphill with deserted felling setting in as you climb up. It’s a deserted dam with zero living creature. The silence was a bliss from the crowded Mumbai. The water source was looking beautiful with the background of three mountains. This scenery reminded me of Nainital lake with same background and blue water body.
As we tried to find a spot for us to settle, we found a shaded area with rock boulders to settle down with our bags. During monsoon it might be real bliss to be here.
First one to dive into the lake was Sujit with the child like excitement. First glimpse of humor from Sujit as he tried to keep us entertained with his jokes. As I hadn’t got change of clothes even with Jeff giving us heads up before the trip, so did not want to dive in. I could feel coolness of the still water as I tested the water with my toes. I decided to climb on one of the rocks which gave me the view of the lake and also allowed me to dip in my legs into the water without getting myself soaked in water. As Jeff & Hebzy, dived in and enjoyed the waters, I got pulled into the water by them. The cool water was a bliss under the scorching sun. Except three of the riders who sat on top of the rock hill and watched over us like three hawks, taking the pictures, we tried to convince them to dive into the water. They did not budge an inch and were determined to stay put on the rock. After spending more than an hour we decided to step out of waters. As we looked for a spot to get dried with the cloths we took another 30 min’s to get ourselves dried and decided to head towards the Dhanau beach.
We put our gears and continued of journey towards Dhanau Beach, we realized all the sun bathing and water splashing had made us quite hungry. Ravi was given task to find a restaurant for lunch break. As he tried to get us a decent restaurant, our hunger had taken new level altogether. Its true when they say in Karavali, sun, beach and friends can make you always feel hungry.
We stopped by at Crazy Crab Restaurant & Bar, Ganga Ashram Wadi road, with sea facing view. I needed to urgently use the washroom and headed for the washroom while others took to the seating arrangement at the first floor. First shocker was as I splashed the water to my face, it was saline water. With no warning in the washroom, it’s quite unpleasant feeling that sets in. As I went upstairs I saw few more surprised faces from the group who also had tried the saline water. Due to the proximity of the beach there are more chances of the water being saline. We took the top floor which had open windows to let the cool breeze come in. With sun rays hitting the table we now wanted to get the food as soon as possible. We waited for the waiter to come and take order which again took quite some time. As the first floor wasn’t well placed for quick service. We divided the group to Veg and non Veg and ordered the food. Coming to the food, it was below average with waiting time of more than 45 mins after order is placed. Every fresh order needed more service time. This we realised as we proceeded with main course. Each portion of food was good for 2 people. Every starter had same taste of Maggi masala, including Non veg. Due to saline water and salt content in the food, the food had extra portion of salt which made it quite unpleasant for me to gulp down the food. The food was below average and did not meet the basic standard. The total bill came up to 270 per person, which is quite reasonable. But not worth the money paid.
We decided to stop near the beach and then head back towards Mumbai. As three of the riders decided to try cruising the bike in the sand, rest of us decided to stay back and watch them from the distance.
After few rounds on their bikes cruising on the stiffer sand they stopped by to take few clicks of the Camel which was sunbathing in the beach. As they returned back two of the bikes got stuck in the sand which were freed by the macho boys of the group. As we took our last picture of the day, realization set in, this was end of new beginning and many more rides together.
We started our return journey to Mumbai, riding along the crazy drivers who did not have lane nor signal discipline, we reached Mumbai with one stop of tea break. As we took break for tea, I got second glimpse of humor from Sujit. This tea stall has been my stop for many more journeys that I have taken along this route. Just after the toll the tea stall is perfect place to stop by for a quick break.
When the journey began, I had not expected the day to end with new note of memories with special people and bunch of like minded girls and boys. Many talents found way into my blog, and one of them was video of the trip. Thanks to Jeff for creating such a beautiful video bringing back the beautiful memories of the drive and new friendship. Video link
I have seen in the past rides, we get stuck with type of bike and divide the biking community based on type of bikes. Making it more difficult to get a rider who isn't different from usual lot. My take on MotorHead is, its good way of connecting varied interests and different mindsets with one passion i.e. "Bike ride".
The group started with Jeff sharing the link with me and same was done by Hebzy and Sujit to their friends. Except one or two, none of us knew each other. So only connect between us was Jeff, Hebzy & Sujit. So the planning started with sharing trip details and list of bikers and their Pillion. This was first time, I wasn't aware of with whom I would drive with. In my earlier trips, which was mostly with adventure bikers were my friends. This time around, I was ready to make new friends through this opportunity.
As days passed, coupled with excitement, worry started setting in as there were no drivers with empty Pillion seats left. I could see only one of the riders name on the list who did not have a Pillion. I than decided to get my car, but Jeff told not to worry. As thoughts of "Chaltha hai, drive karnese matlab hai, car ho ya bike" I had decided to take my car in case it did not work out. My car had seen as many solo rides as possible, so this was another one to be added to that list.
To give you the background how I met Jeff & Hebzy, it was in one of the event gigs in Belapur, my friends connected instantly all thanks to Sanush for his Malayalam back ground. From there on we never spoke, not until I wanted them to host an event in our office. Anyways, this is how we know each other.
Coming back to the trip, until the day of trip, I did not know whom I was paired up with. Previous night, Jeff shared Sujit’s contact and told me he would pick me up from my place. As I messaged Sujit my pick up location, with his one liner, my first impression was he was man with very few words or wasn't too happy to have picked me. As morning approached, I was ready and waiting near my pick up point. I saw him arriving and waiting, as I ran towards him, he was trying to call with a frown in his face (not that I could see that from his helmet😀). As I surprised him, he had a look in his eyes, ‘does she even know how to sit in the bike’.
We went to common pick up post picking up his Pillion, Jeff & Hebzy. As we waited for others to join in, I could see excited faces around me when we were introduced by Hebzy. I knew instantly, we all are going to connect. And there came my man, Vishal who could be with me for the day, letting me take the Pillion seat and safely drive around.
Adrenaline rush came in as I heard the Harley cruising past me and it has been my first crush. My heart always misses a beat when I hear the roar of the monster. Makes me wonder why I am not riding the monster. This again reminded me of my bike trip to Leh. As other bikers starting their trips to their destination, I eagerly waiting for trip to start. As I eagerly waited for the drive to start, tempo started building up with all of us.
We started the drive and cruised towards the destination. As Vishal started the conversation with an apology as he jumped the hump, we clicked with our conversation and I was sure we are not going to stop there. Group decided to take a break to meet Shubham and Tushar along the way. As we reached our next point we decided to have our breakfast and move towards Dhanau Beach. We took break for almost 45 mins, which also helped us to get to know each other. Ravi became our account handler and managed to get us all Dutch the expense and this continued till tea in the evening. As we started our bikes, Hebzy took the role of photographer for the journey. The first of video was shot with camera.
I was having a trip on bike after 8 months, after Leh trip this was my trip with strangers. Bear with me, as I go back in my memory to connect few of the things and get back to this travel.
We were 13 of us on 7 bikes - Shubham & Tushar on Himalayan, Ravi & Sujata on Himalayan, Vishal & Myself on Honda, Sujit & Nisha on Yamaha FZ250, Jeff & Hebzy on Bajaj Vikrant, Akshay & Aniket on Enfield & Avi on Karisma.
As we started our journey towards Dhanau Beach, we were led by Ravi on Himalayan.
Which reminded me of my Bike ride on Himalayan in Leh, were both Himalayan bikes which had power were wanting to be leading and controlled speed to ensure rest of the flock wasn’t left behind was a challenge. The beginning of every journey is always a challenge that too with strangers whom you don’t know as speed matching to each of the bikers poses a problem. As we started taking riding positions between us, in midway, we lost three of the bikes so we decided to wait for them on the side of the road in the highway. As we waited we started our first of the pictures. As we waited few more bikes drove along, as it was weekend, more bikes would be seen as we drove along.
We waited for almost 30 mins, before we saw first of the lost riders. As they approached we decided to stick with each other. As the roads further took us towards Gujarat the curves become more prominent. This also gave us the chance to bend along the curves. I have always got the rush of blood when we cruised around the curves. While biking it's most important to trust each other. With Vishal it was easy as we had already started the conversation and familiarized with each other’s style of sitting. As we tried curve bending on three of the curves, I could feel our content happiness.
As Ravi knew the roads we just followed him like flock of goose and he was able to take us to our first destination without much ado. As we left the highway and hit the village roads, I could get the sense of native feeling which has similar nature setting like the Karavali. We had few hits of dead ends, not to blame the Ravi as Google always tries to throw challenges when she shows directions. Ravi had near miss of fall when we hit the dead end. Without any injury we all turned our bikes and headed to right direction.
The nature was well set with background of village setup with animals running around freely, the kids with their smiles greeting every biker with a wave, the elders of the village gossiping under the trees, the ladies busy with their daily chores.
We reached our first destination Aswali Dam, we parked and decided to take our gear along with us. Jeff ventured to the top to check if the dam had water, as he signaled us to come we walked towards the top of the dam. It’s a small 5 min walk uphill with deserted felling setting in as you climb up. It’s a deserted dam with zero living creature. The silence was a bliss from the crowded Mumbai. The water source was looking beautiful with the background of three mountains. This scenery reminded me of Nainital lake with same background and blue water body.
As we tried to find a spot for us to settle, we found a shaded area with rock boulders to settle down with our bags. During monsoon it might be real bliss to be here.
First one to dive into the lake was Sujit with the child like excitement. First glimpse of humor from Sujit as he tried to keep us entertained with his jokes. As I hadn’t got change of clothes even with Jeff giving us heads up before the trip, so did not want to dive in. I could feel coolness of the still water as I tested the water with my toes. I decided to climb on one of the rocks which gave me the view of the lake and also allowed me to dip in my legs into the water without getting myself soaked in water. As Jeff & Hebzy, dived in and enjoyed the waters, I got pulled into the water by them. The cool water was a bliss under the scorching sun. Except three of the riders who sat on top of the rock hill and watched over us like three hawks, taking the pictures, we tried to convince them to dive into the water. They did not budge an inch and were determined to stay put on the rock. After spending more than an hour we decided to step out of waters. As we looked for a spot to get dried with the cloths we took another 30 min’s to get ourselves dried and decided to head towards the Dhanau beach.
We put our gears and continued of journey towards Dhanau Beach, we realized all the sun bathing and water splashing had made us quite hungry. Ravi was given task to find a restaurant for lunch break. As he tried to get us a decent restaurant, our hunger had taken new level altogether. Its true when they say in Karavali, sun, beach and friends can make you always feel hungry.
We stopped by at Crazy Crab Restaurant & Bar, Ganga Ashram Wadi road, with sea facing view. I needed to urgently use the washroom and headed for the washroom while others took to the seating arrangement at the first floor. First shocker was as I splashed the water to my face, it was saline water. With no warning in the washroom, it’s quite unpleasant feeling that sets in. As I went upstairs I saw few more surprised faces from the group who also had tried the saline water. Due to the proximity of the beach there are more chances of the water being saline. We took the top floor which had open windows to let the cool breeze come in. With sun rays hitting the table we now wanted to get the food as soon as possible. We waited for the waiter to come and take order which again took quite some time. As the first floor wasn’t well placed for quick service. We divided the group to Veg and non Veg and ordered the food. Coming to the food, it was below average with waiting time of more than 45 mins after order is placed. Every fresh order needed more service time. This we realised as we proceeded with main course. Each portion of food was good for 2 people. Every starter had same taste of Maggi masala, including Non veg. Due to saline water and salt content in the food, the food had extra portion of salt which made it quite unpleasant for me to gulp down the food. The food was below average and did not meet the basic standard. The total bill came up to 270 per person, which is quite reasonable. But not worth the money paid.
We decided to stop near the beach and then head back towards Mumbai. As three of the riders decided to try cruising the bike in the sand, rest of us decided to stay back and watch them from the distance.
We started our return journey to Mumbai, riding along the crazy drivers who did not have lane nor signal discipline, we reached Mumbai with one stop of tea break. As we took break for tea, I got second glimpse of humor from Sujit. This tea stall has been my stop for many more journeys that I have taken along this route. Just after the toll the tea stall is perfect place to stop by for a quick break.
When the journey began, I had not expected the day to end with new note of memories with special people and bunch of like minded girls and boys. Many talents found way into my blog, and one of them was video of the trip. Thanks to Jeff for creating such a beautiful video bringing back the beautiful memories of the drive and new friendship. Video link
😍😍😍😍😍😍🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 it's a blast 🛣 never thought I will be the part of such a great video & blog too. One of the best memories in my life. Thanks you from Sujata as well. Great work guys.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ravi..this is just a beginning.. we will have many more rides and blogs to add to our memories
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