hiwayREBELS

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

A trip to Mysore

This weekend 20-5-2006 our choice of destiny was Mysore. We had planned for a trip to Mysore earlier but somehow we had to drop it. This time we actually wanted to visit Coorg but one of us(that was Biru) dropped out for some special reason! To meet his imaginary Uncle. But latter we found out his whole uncle story. Though I had been suspecting him from yercaud trip, he confessed it only now as he had to drop out from the team at the last minute.

Anyway this time its Mysore the historic place. Its been raining for more than a week and the climate started to be cool and made us enjoy the trip well. Addi and I(huez) started from Bangalore on 4 AM Saturday 20 May 2006. The hiway was deserted almost till we reached Mysore. As the time closed to 5AM sunlight started to brighten the sky slowly. As we drove we saw blue and green shades in the morning sky. May be the sky is always beautiful like this every day but who knows we guys get up by 8AM or even 9! We stopped for a while to capture the moment in our eyes and in our camera as well. The morning was glorious especially with the whole green paddy fields all around us.

We've been having a lot of stops as we were going. It was like the whole highway is ours. Infact we had taken photos in the middle of highway too! Every time we saw a scenic view we stopped and took snaps. Then We had our breakfast in Srirangapatna and reached Mysore by 9AM and found a decent hotel to lodge. As I couldn’t sleep the night as soon as I lied on the bed I had a deep sleep for around 2 hours. Addi was curious about the places to visit and started to read his copy of "52 great weekend trips".

After relaxing and refreshing ourselves our first choice was to see the Mysore Zoo. We had a quick tour around and left for the Palace. The Wodayars palce was stupendous! It showed how much power and wealth they had those times. It was so disappointing that we cant take any photos inside the palace. I guess this kind of stupid rules should be removed. Anyway as we came out of the palace we had a photo session around the palace.

Now the time was around 4PM we left for Philomena's Church. The church was magnificent standing tall infact we were able to see it as we were riding from the far showing the way towards it. There was a worship service going on that time and so went in. The service was in kanada so I just made a short prayer and a thanks for our safe journey to God. Then we had a few photos taken outside the church and sat outside admiring the evening sky.

Around 7PM we had some food in a small typical mysore hotel. The food was very good and cheap too. We roamed around the streets admiring how different it is from our bangalore's all time busy streets. Then we reached our hotel room around 9PM and soon we are fast asleep.
Sunday 5: 45 AM my biological clock woke me up and its now time for Chamundi hills. Waking up at this time of day without an alarm is a historic event for me!! But the visit to chamunid hills is the magic. In 15 minutes we are on our bikes heading towards the hill. The roads were very good till the top. The view of the Palace from the hill was great. The hill was not even as tall as nandhi hills but it was all green. We spent a lot of time roaming around the hill, taking snaps.

8:30AM We climbed down the hill towards the room. On the way I lost the way and went all around the town. The best part was I don’t know the name of the hotel we were staying, the name of the area and the ultimate thing is Addi left his mobile in the room itself and I can't call him! Addi is good at keeping the routes in mind but im not. I had no idea what I have to do. I remembered suddendly the route from Philomena's church to our room. So I asked for route to philomenas church and then recollected the route we took last night and somehow I reached the room where Addi was waitning outside as the room key was with me. Fortunately Addi didn’t kill me for that.

We groomed ourselves and checked out the room and started towards Bangalore. Our plan for the rest of the day is to visit Tipu Sultan Summer Palace in Sriranga patna, Sangam, Gosai Ghaat, Kariaghatta. We had a pleasant dip in Cauvery at Gosai Ghat. The water was cold and was surrounded by dense trees and the whole view was breath-taking. We left Srirangapatna around 2PM after having our lunch there.

Our next stop was at Kariaghatta, a small hill on top of which is a temple. By the side of the hill is cauvery flowing with all its charm. We climbed the hill by stairs without knowing that there is a road till the top! But the view of cauvery from there is worth it. The road uphill was winding and was tempting to me that I told Addi that I want to climb the hill by bike. There was a film shooting was going on for a Kanada movie called "pandavuru". They were shooting a dance sequence for a song. Then I took my bike and climbed the hill. The road was narrow and steep and I loved it so much I rode down and climbed it again with Addi sitting behind me.

Around 6PM we started towards Bangalore. I touched 120km/hr zooming past all vehicles except an Accent who was driving at almost my speed just at a visible distance. We had a few stops for tea and snaks and for dinner in Bidadi. And reached Bangalore around 9:00 PM Sunday. This trip was a mix of historic monuments and a visit to nature. We were more happy that Biru missed the trip!

Friday, May 26, 2006

Mission Sivana Samudram

I was going to the pool when I felt something vibrating in my pocket. Allright guys, it was just my mobile. I wasn't able to attend it as I was riding in heavy traffic. I reached the pool and called back the guy who disturbed me earlier. As usual It was Hubert. He told me that 2moro we r going for Nandi hills. Soon after I reached home the plan changed to SivaSamudram. It was surprising as Sivasamudram was planned for next week. Anyhow I said OK for this too.This was my first long trip after doing mini trips like nandi hills and bhimeswari.

I was excited as I was told that there will be total 5 bikes. I was not worried about putting alarm as we were supposed to assemble by 8:30. So it was pretty outside my nocturnal timings.That night I slept at Suresh Gade's home. Next day I got up early and reached the assembly point(Bigbazar--koramangala).

As usual I was the first one to reach there. I called hubert to come. Soon he arrived and we came to know that there will be three bikes and total 4 people. Dinesh and Biju joined us in a short while. We fuelled our bikes near big bazar itself.

Then we started looking for roads which could lead us to Mysore. It took sometime as none of us knew about the route to take. Biju and Dinesh started to lose patience before we hit the correct road near city market. We gave away the throttle once the road turned into a Hiway. So soon we turned into Hiway Rebels. As usual I was leading the pack from the start, everyone was making unsuccessful attempts to catch up with me (Just kidding--- It was the other way around.)

The road was too good and we gave full air to our passion for driving. We stopped at few places to take snaps. After couple of hours we reached Maddur. After crossing Maddur we have to take a left to reach Sivasamudram. This is a 30 km stretch. Most part of the road is good and the view of the landscape around too. We stopped in a small town to pack our lunch. We bought fruits and bakery items.After this we planned to reach Sivasamudram without any breaks.

I reached speeds upto 95 on my disky. I could have touched more but didn't want to push my engine.After travelling a distance of 30 kms we reached a gate where we have to take a left. We stopped under a banyan tree for a small break. It was cool place with few kids playing around. Sivasamudram was 1 km from that place.

After reaching there we had a glimpse of the waterfall. Since this was a summer season the fall was reduce to a small stream. This was quite different than the picture of the place we have in HTSL calendar. We soon realised the better place to enter into water would be from the other side. We were told that we have to travel another 20 km to reach the other side. So we had lunch under the same banyan tree and soon reached the other side. The site was full of rocks with small ponds in between them.

There were quite a few people playing in it already. The water looked dirty, so we dropped any plans of entering into it. So we reached for a rock and planned to spend some time in the shade. Being an adventurous guy (Thanx to NGC and Discovery channels) I ventured out in search of good place to enter into water. After doing all kind of gymnastics on the rocks I found a miniature version of Niagara falls (It must be a microscopic version of Niagara). I called other guys to join me and soon all of us were in water. The feeling was really good. Standing under waterfall in the scorching heat of mid may. Water was cool and we had a nice time. After dressing up and coming to the solid land me and Huez had a fish fry. Freshly caught and fried in front of us. It was one of the best fish fries I ever had. Then we started back home. We stopped to have water at a hand pump. Soon Biju and party were out of sight. Huez and rode together for some time only to get separated later.

In mid way it started raining forcing me to stop at a marriage hall. Wished to go inside and wish the bride and groom. But rain stopped before I could collect the courage to go in. So I was on my bike and my next stop waould be sweet home in Bangalore. I called Huez to check if he is back. Nice to know that he was back at the same time. All in all nice break from City and good trip. Like to go back after monsoon to see Sivana Samudram in its fullest.

-Addi the HiWayBlazer.

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Do a wheelie

Yo bikies,

Here is how you can perform a wheelie. Its not that hard. Note im talking about lifting the front wheel and not the rear one. I havent done a rear wheelie. But if you wanna know about that you can get that stuff from Biru as he had done that in Yercaud infront of a speeding bus!! Thank God nothing happened other than a wheelie!

Ok now back to business. Sit comfortably on the bike and start the engine and shift to gear 1. Hold the clutch and rev the engine. I tried it in pulsar 150 dtsi. I reved it to 6000 rpm. (at this rpm my bike would go 70km/hr in 5th gear) . Now release the clutch fully in one shot. Your front wheel should've lifted a few inches!

If this didnt work ask your friend to sit on the pillion seat and do the same trick. Using a pillion puts weight on the back wheel thus making firmer contact with the road. It should work now. If it still didnt probably your bike dont have the power for a wheelie.

With a Yamaha RX 100 or Pulsar 180dtsi you can do this with ease. But be careful to do on these bikes as your bike may swing out of your hand!!

A bit of caution when you are trying this for the first time try in lower revs and and then go for higher ones.

Go nuts guys...
huez.

Wheelie performed by a professional.

How To...

Tune your bike for power or mielage

Do a Wheelie

Maintainance Tips

Tune your bike for power or mielage

Hey bikers,

Here is the procedured to tune your bikes power. As a matter of fact when you tune your bike for power you will loose a bit on mielage.

Here is the procedure: Put your bike on center(or straght) stand and start the bike and leave it to idle on neutral gear. Notice that a screw will be mounted on a screw on the carburetter. This screw adjusts the bike's power or mielage. Turn this screw to the right for more power(less mielage) or the left for less power. Only by experience you will be able to perfectly tune for your requirement.

As you turn the screw to right the engine will rev more. If your bike has a rev meter you could see it or you could hear the engine making more noise. While tuning for less power make sure its not too less otherwise the engine will stop during idle.

There are other means of improving engine power like free flow exhausts or hi performance spark plugs but they are not recomended as they will affect the engine's life.

Huez