A breakfast ride to Lonavala – first ride for Yeti

So this Breakfast Ride happened with no real plan in place. All of those times when we planned, it never worked out. Ironic, I know. I also know what you are thinking – asia hi hota hai hamesha (it happens always)! My good friends from my workplace, Vishnu and Karan just randomly called me up for an idea they wanted to go through with me to check viability.

And so after that discussion, we just said to each other – lets go for a ride. And there it was, a plan made at 10 pm in the night of Saturday for 6.30 in the morning on a Sunday.

The breakfast ride

We started at 7.00 am, instead of 6.30 it was planned initially. Anticipating heavy fog and cold, I was dressed up in body warmers and the thickest jeans I could find in the closet. To top it up, I added my Woodland winter jacket. A bottle of water, head mask, and my beloved arm parters, the gloves. And of course, with Yeti, the Himalayan.

Set up and ready, we headed to Lonavala with one tea stop just outside of Panvel. The breakfast ride location was not really planned at all, and this we realized once we reached the Lonavala bazaar road. A quick 1 minute discussion lead us to Hotel Rama Krishna. To our surprise, we were not aware of this hotel being known as the bikers stop for breakfast ride.

As we started munching on Mendu Vada Sambhar, we saw super bikes around us already. A convoy of Triumph bikers – 4 different models – were too exciting to avoid. A Speed Triple, Tiger Explorer, Bonnvellie Street Twin and Thunderbird. Another bunch made up of a Hayabusa, Ducati Scrambler and Fatboy. For a bike lover, a trip down that line will show you sights that will give you wet dreams.

Moving back, we realized that we have not been taking pictures/videos of our ride. In comes Karan Ganesh, the self-proclaimed Photo/Videographer in the group. He uses the iPhone to shoot some real good pictures and videos. You must see this video.

Learnings!

Alright, a few things that we learned on the way – and after the ride. Some related to the safety aspect and they are important things.

1. Helmet for Pillion – I strongly felt that this is a must, but in spite of my insistence, we did manage to miss the helmet for our pillion riders. It was not a choice, but next time!
2. Riding Jackets – while I did put on my Woodlands, they are probably best while walking in the snow. It is a real good Winter jacket, but not a bikers one. Reminder to self – start saving money for a good riding gear.
3. Start on time, perhaps early – that is one thing that we did not do this time. Plan was to leave at 6.30 am, but we started 40 mins late. This meant, that we missed out on a opportunity to go to interiors of Lonavala to keep up with our return target. If only we had left early, it would have been great to avoid the messy traffic in the mornings and could travel to better locations as well.
4. Use a camera, mounted one – I seriously felt that I lacked this feature on my hands. Reminder to self – start saving money for a good helmet cam.

All in all, we did have fun and it will be important to keep the learning up!