Mumbai - Hyderabad - Mumbai 1466 km on FZ

Call me crazy or call me what you will but yeah its true Mumbai to Hyderabad in one night on a bike. 700 km chewed and spitted out on a cold march night. It all started with memories of last Holi festival which was nothing more than a few phone calls and wishes exchanged with family and close friends. I am not a big believer in Indian culture nor I am found of so called festivals, but there is one thing i like about festivals is that these are great means of bond and reunite with family and friends. So for this Holi i decided to ride a little , read that 700 km , to be with my Uncle and Aunt. And it all came to me in a fraction of second, it was 3:30 pm on Friday 18th march i informed my TL I am leaving early today, took my helmet and bag. The very next moment i was speed away from my office parking lot.

Reached home at 4:00 pm and informed my room mate about Hyderabad trip, packed my back pack and by 5:00 pm i was on IOC petrol pump getting fueled and filling nitrogen in tires. 5:15 pm i was on the road cruising at 80 kmph on butter smooth palm beach road. Mumbai - Pune via NH4 and then Pune to Hyderbad via NH9 was the intended route. I wanted to cover as much distance as i can in day light because once it gets dark avg speed goes down drastically. By 7:00 pm i was about to reach Pune and when I did, got stuck in rush hour traffic to me 2 hours to cross Pune and reach Solapur road. Solapur road, which is a very important highway considering solapur is an industrial town, is not in a good shape just a few 4 lane sections are there for easy riding other wise mostly its a 2 lane affair with roadworks every 5 kms to make matters worse... but still i was going on 60-70 kmph maintaining 40 kmph avg. took a few pit stops at local dhabas and sambhar vada joints and by 11 pm I covered 240 km from starting point which translates to 40 kmph avg. I wasnt good enough my target arrival time was 8 am next morning and but this rate it was unachievable not to mention that speed will go further down as night progresses because of sleep deprivation. So i decided to speed up and reach solapur, which was 160 km further, by 2 am. Took a refueling stop on outskirts of solapur and i was there on solapur by pass by 2 am. It was after crossing solapur that my efforts started paying off. road conditions improved with very sparse traffic, mostly trucks, and long down hill straits . It was the moon light and sweet sound of engine humming between my legs which kept me going. By 4 am it was reading 516 km on trip meter and i decided to take a tea break. Stopped at a lonely roadside dhaba with few truck drivers and karnatak roadways drivers. They were astonished to see a Rajasthan registered bike somewhere near maharashtra - karnataka border.

4:20 am I was back on road heading towards hyderbad at steady 70 kmph and it was around 6 in the morning when i saw sun breaking over horizon. You may not find it as important as I do but for me it was one of the moments which you preserve in your memory for rest of your life. And it was a big occasion as it was my first Night ride on a bike. around 6:30 i took another refuling break and called my aunt i'll be home in next hour or so. Not to mention she was all shocked to hear about the 700 km ride.

Coming up more on ride back from Hyderabad and Hyderabadi traffic sense (or lack of it)..... stay tuned.

PS: I've left spell check for those who mind spelling errors others can enjoy with errors \m/