MBC — A ride to Bhandardara

MBC Rocks !

We were planning for a R-15 meetup for Mumbai owners. There was a very little response from R1-5 owners in Orkut community. Gaurav asked me to join MBC (a.k.a. Mumbai Bikers Club) as MBC riders were planing for ride. I was in. The destination was Igatpuri, Bhandardara; date October 19^th.

I informed to meet other riders at Kalyan-Bhiwandi Naka around 7:45am in the morning. Kunal was going to join me. He has booked his Yamaha FZ-16 but haven´t got it yet. So was gonna accompany me as a pillion rider. I set my cam, carried a water bottle and my tripod in the bag pack. Lubricated my bikes chain for a smooth ride. Kunal came my home at around 7:00am and we started the journey. Filled up the fuel and headed to Bhiwandi Naka. A few minutes passed and I saw a blue R-15 with the rider in maroon leather jacket and smart hand gloved. I could guess that he was Gaurav. Soon came other riders, Manish, Amol and in 10 mins Anna, Sagar, Samir, Om, Angelo and Bankim. We were 10 bikers.

We started the journey and decided the intro part to have later. A few kms ahead we took our first halt for breakfast at a Punjabi Dhaba. We had mouth watering Masala Aaloo Parathas which were almost looking llike Pizza. A good break and everyone was ready to ride long. The NH3 was not so good for the ride. There were many under construction diversions and potholes. We took a few breaks on the way. Off the NH-3 we were riding and there was a good place for photography. Check my album for the pics. We reached Bhandardara around 1:00pm. Everyone was hungry by then and we found an MTDC hotel. We had delicious chicken handi and chicken biryani there. Next we rode to the dam which was just 5-10 mins distance from the MTDC hotel. The view was beautiful there.

On return journey we decided not to take the NH-3 again but the Malshej route. We took the Sinnar-Sangamner-Malshej route. It was amazing ride till Sinnar. The road was smooth, straight, wide and no traffic on. We took just 1 halt on that road to fill up the fuel tanks. Otherwise the bikes were full on with open throttles. Kunal was my pillion rider and I accelerated on that road up to 125kmph. It took a lil time to reach Sinnar. There was a some mess in Sinnar though as Anna slipped off his bike due to a pothole. It was not major but his break paddle broke up and he got a few scratches on his leg. We found a doctor in Sinnar and got his wounds bandaged. We could not find TVS dealer to make up his bike unfortunately.

Samir took the damaged Apache and Kunal rode Samirś taking Anna as pillion rider for the remaining journey. The road was passing through some villages and we slowed down. We got stuck in a traffic jam on tiny bridge. Two idiot truck drivers were overloaded and got stuck into each other. It wasted pretty long time. Again few kms from that; me and Gaurav were far ahead than other bikers so took a break for everyone to catch us. Om came there and found that his Karizma was punctured. We were lucky as it was punctured when we took the break and got it fixed there. Meanwhile Manish had gone far away from us. Rest all of us were together.

Road was still clear and clean and a very less traffic. We now left sangamner heading to Malshej. I was following Gaurav and his signals. We rode at Malshej ghat at 90-100kmph. It was an amazing experience of cornering and riding my yamaha. By 11:10pm we were at the bottom of Malshej and again took a break. Everyone was hungry and we had Misal-pav and tea there. We were now on the way to kalyan and Gaurav noticed Manish who was going off road to find a PCO to contact us. Gaurav took him with us and we all meet up at Kalyan. It was time to split. I took Dombivli road, while others to western suburbs.

I reached home at 12. Mind blowing .. fantastic.. amazing ride I have ever had. 450Kms ride in 1 day. It was my longest ride in a day. I have been to chiplun on my karizma once. But it was around 300kms and I shared that ride with my pillion Jayesh. So it wasnt all 300kms I rode back then. MBC is a group of professional and responsible riders. I would definitely join all possible rides with MBC. I feel proud to be one of MBC guys.