12th Nov : Ride to ECR

12^th Nov : Chennai -ECR- Chennai

In Chennai, bikers have only one place to head to for a great ride – the East Coast Road, popularly knows as the ECR. Our plan for today was the ECR too, as the rains made sure the Sri-Perumbudur race track was all wet and so there was no point going that side.

We were to meet at Beasant Nagar beach road at 7am and it was quarter to seven when I got ready, so I left the hotel alone with CBR600RR (Xbhp ID) as we were already getting late. Moreover, it had started drizzling, although slow, but it would easily delay our proceedings. It was nice to see the members gather up for the ride ahead and Sachin Shavan from Royal Enfield too joined in. I had already spoken to him yesterday about the ride and it was nice to see him come on his slightly pumped up 500. Sunny, his better half, Sunil and Ashish too joined in and we all left for the ride ahead at 8am, with the rainbow in its full glory and the sun playing hide and seek with the rain.

With Ashish on the Blaze, being ridden by Sunl, as a pillion, me on the Comet without the exhaust and Sunny on the Fireblade with his better half, we all rode through the city and once on the ECR, everyone let their machines reach close to their limits, but the rains made sure the fun was spoilt to an extent. It was a surprise when suddenly the roads became all dry and the rains stopped, which left a smile on our faces and the speedometer needles started kissing the ton mark. I knew Sachin Shavan hadn’t come on any ordinary bullet. Sometimes, amongst bikers, we don’t need to speak or ask for drags with each other, but a small twist of the right wrist and a glance in the mirror does all the talking and that is what I did. I tried using all the 28 (or 30?) horses of the Comet to make sure Sachin on the Bullet remained behind but it wasn’t going to be the case. Slowly slowly the beast (that’s the bike) started gaining ground and it wasn’t long before I was following him! Damm, how could this happen? I was sure he was riding a 500, but now I was also sure that it was very well modded too, engine wise that is. As we came across a toll gate and slowed down to crawling speeds to negotiate the barricades, I again wringed the throttle, this time upshifting without letting go of the throttle. It did work to an extent, but I always remained behind him, all the way upto an indicated 140+, the speed which we both did, sitting upright and not crouching at all. Bullets sure can run, provided you tweak the engine properly!

We stopped enroute for everyone to gather up and I left early again in order to stop ahead and take a good photograph. This thing reminded me of my visit to Chennai earlier for the Royal Enfield Rider Mania, when all the bikers had come for a ride on the ECR and I had raced ahead, just to stop, climb a bus and click pictures of the gang riding together. This time though, I didn’t climb a bus, but a wall and stood their waiting for the group to arrive and utilized the zoom lens to the max.

The rest of the ride to Mahab was pretty fast and once their, we followed the gang to a lane with couple of nice restaurants. This place reminded me of Kovalam, where the majority of tourists were foreigners and the get-up of the restaurants was very much like this place.

Breakfast was cold coffee and omelettes affair, plus biking talks with Sachin.

We had heard about the temples of Mahab and proceeded there, with Ashish and the other members staying back at the restaurant. It was unusually hot and walking a kilometer to the main temple complex next to the beach was quite tiring. On the way, we did come across numerous shops selling carved sculptures of various gods and it was great to see the craftsmen working on stone, making them come to life in the shape of various idols.

Once inside the complex, we were greeted with green lawns and superb view of the beach. The waves here too seemed full of energy. The temple here seemed quite old and the carvings done on the rocks had taken a beating by the winds over the centuries, but still we could make out the figures. We spent little time there as others were waiting for us and walked back, not before we purchases little god idols, carved out of stone and were happy to buy them at a great price. The sun had taken a toll on us and we had no energy to go through the other temples.

The ride back to Chennai was quite nice, although the group got broken up. But the fun part was taking the bikes from the highway down to the beaches, where some members rode the bike in the waves, and one almost got washed off! The comet had no main stand and I used my grey cells to spin the rear wheel, dig it inside the sand and make the bike stand on its own! The beach was totally virgin, with not a single soul around and the waves, as I mentioned earlier, were full of energy and while taking pictures of the bikes with my back towards the sea, I almost lost my balance as the waves hit me and made me drown till the knees. It was easy to get the machines down to the beach, but more than double the effort taking them up back and the Blaze had to be pushed quite a lot, thanks to low ground clearance and small tyres.

Nevertheless, back on the highway, it was a speedy ride back to the city but in the traffic, I got lost and took the long way round back to the hotel, where the rest of the gang had already come. Pictures were downloaded and seen and soon Sunny and Sunil left for Vivek’s place again to get the disc pads of the Fireblade changed. I in the meantime, relaxed and tried blogging somewhat but the network was too weak to do anything.

The rest of the evening was spent doing nothing much, other than listening to songs and sorting out the route for the rest of the trip. We have also decided to do an endurance run tomorrow to Secundrbad, next to Hyderabad, around 750kms from Chennai. Yes, in one day, and we think its possible provided roads don’t ditch us. Hyderabad biryani awaits us for dinner tomorrow…