Place: Toranmal, a remote hill station on the north most border of Maharashtra.

Distance from Mumbai: Around 550kms.

Here is the my version of the trip log.

Day 1: 18th November

We decided to meet at the Dahisar check naka from where the NH-8 starts.

I did get up on time but reached some 20mins late. Without wasting any time we quickly started the ride.

It was just 20kms crossed and suddenly I heard a big noise and didn’t know what it was. I stopped and checked it and came to know it was my chain lock had come off.

Don’t know how that happened but luckily I had a spare lock with me. But no tools to fix that.

So I borrowed some from the parked truck near by.

I had message the rest to go ahead and I will catch up later.

I fixed it some 45-50mins and headed to Vasai town to check from a mechanic whether if its correct and can make such a long trip.

It was Sunday so shops open very late today so I had to wait some couple of hours before I can start for the ride.

Around 10.15am I was back on the road. And calculated that to reach the place I will have to go at 100kmph with just 1 halt for 550 some kms.

Piece a cake…

I started first steady at 80kmph and then within no time was at 110 till I reach Navsari. Even some photos I took where I clicked on the running bike.

No time to halt and take shots.

By noon I crossed the Maharashtra border and entered Gujarat.

And in just 40mins I was at Navsari.

Stopped for fueling and some drinks and just in 10 mins was back on the road.

The road from here it a bit narrow till it joins NH-6.

NH-6 is a good broad highway. I was able to reach top very quickly. Though there is a bit of traffic but no problem.

When I reached Nandurbar I think I got lost….so the map was out from the bag so I can find some directions.

After a couple of hours of slow ride I was back on the road where I could see Toranmal 75kms.

And by this time it was getting dark. So before it gets any darker I ripped to the base of the ghats of Toranmal.

And just after sunset I started the 32kms narrow ghat to Toranmal.

This was the time very my concentration was full up. As all dark and narrow patch so one mistake can be fatal.

But it was fun.

By 7pm I was at the top and the rest of the gang had reached just 10 mins before me and also had found a place to stay. No hotel no guest house just a bungalow with a caretaker.

We dumped our bags there and headed out at the MTDC resort and ordered food. It took over 1.5 hours for the food to get ready but the wait was worth it. The food was absolutely delicious.

After dinner headed back to the bungalow and watched the G.I. Joe movie one was having in his laptop.

In just 20-25mins of the movie we started feeling sleepy. So all lights off and the snoring was on.

Day 2: 19th October

We all got up around 6.30am and were up and ready by 8.

By 9.30 after some tea and biscuits we went check out the local points and what else that can be explored.

The view from the hill point was magnificent and breath taking. Wonder how the place will look in rainy season.

By 10.10 we started ride down hill when just in 5kms we noticed an off road trail to a cave shrine. Without hesitation we took that 1.5km off road trail to the caves.

Must tell you it was not an easy path. It was small stream crossing, big rocks bouncing and riding on the edge stuff.

A punishment for the bike.

By noon we were back on the down hill road and started ride towards shahad.

Ones we were down the ghats we took a halt for drinks and started a non stop ride to Nandpur.

We took lunch over there.

It was ok not that good.

By 3pm after our tummies full and the fuel tank full it was a non stop ride to NH-8.

More than non stop, it turned out to be a fast and super fast one to NH-8.

With just one stop on the NH-8 junction we took halt directly for dinner at Charoti covering 160kms in 2 hours.

After some good meal we cruised back to Mumbai and were off to our own places having a thought of a fresh ride some other time.

PHOTOS of the TRIP:

http://picasaweb.google.com/omvaikul1/Tornamal#

The bike is rumored to be priced at Rs. 265000 ex – showroom. So I guess on road it will be around 3 lakh rupees.

Though the bike is here to give Yamaha R15 competition but due to no finance options there is a high chance that this may not affect the sales of R15. Besides R15 already got what it wanted from its launch.

250R

Here are the specifications of the Bike. Though its expensive stuff but will love to consider this baby.

I think for long riding this bike can be suitable. Considering now are National Highways are a better conditions, ripping to the top won’t be a issue.

So lets see more on this bike ones it gets launched.

Here is a quick log of the trip.

Riders:

Angelo on P220.

Amol on his Pulsar.

Sagar on the R15

and

me on my white karizma.

Places seen:

Ajanta caves and Lonar Crater

Total Expenditure came around Rs.3200 (food, fuel, stay and shopping)

Day 1

Sagar and Angelo were waiting for me and Amol outside Lodha Paradise from 7.45pm. After we arrived we started the ride by 8am on NH-3 towards  Nasik.

As its also dinner time we took halt at Bhagat Tarachand. Its the dome shape hotel on Nh-3. Food was decent. But better than taking chance at a dabha at this time.

By 9pm we got back on our bike and started zooming towards Nasik. We thought we might reach late but since now Mumbai – Nasik is 4 lane so kept speed near 90-100kmph and reached Nasik ver early.

By 11.30pm we were already looking for a stay near Dwarka.

And found it very quickly.

Room was decent and cheap. We were off to bed very quickly so we can start early tomorrow.

Day 2

I got up early and woke everyone up by 5.45am. By 6.45am we were all fresh and ready to ride. Only thing we missed was morning brushing. None of us did as no one got a paste with themselves. We were depending on the theory of at least one of us will get it.

So we had our breakfast after riding some 5kms without brushing.

By 9am we were on the SH-30 heading towards Aurangabad.

Sagar’s helmet visor fell off so we took a stop at Niphad so he can get a new one. After this 4 lane highway starts. So you know what that means…. 0 to 100kmph within no time.

After some couple of hours we entered a town, I don’t remember the name but I took a left which showed Aurangabad on the board and rest took some other route. Just after 1 hour I was at the city entrance and called up everyone. They too were nearing the city so I told them to meet me on the highway towards Jalna as we will head to Lonar post lunch.

We took a fleshy lunch at Hotel Lokseva.

From here within no time we were in Jalna town. Here onwards there are a lot of diversions before reaching Lonar. We couldn’t find Sagar around, we didn’t know he was ahead of us or behind us. So Amol went to look for him and found him in some 25 mins. Though we lost 45 mins but we were still on time to reach Lonar crater.

The road narrows down from here. So narrow that overtaking can be tricky but since its a small SH there was not much on coming traffic.

After just couple of hours we were in Lonar. I think it was around 4.30pm. We took stay at MTDC resort which just overlooks the Lonar Crater.

We dumped our luggage in the resort and after freshening up we went to check out the crater and clicked some quite a lot of shots of the crater and the place around.

After sunset we took a vegetarian dinner at the Lonar village.

It was some spicy food.

After dinner we went back to the resort and started discussion on what route to take to head towards Ajanta Caves the next day.

After deciding we slept quite early, I think it was around 10pm.

DAY 3

Since we slept early we got up early too. The sweet smell of carbon was up by 7am.

From Lonar to Ajanta major portion of the road passes through small villages and quite narrow road. We started ride around 7.30am and reached Ajanta caves around lunch time. We also caught some light showers at the entrance of the caves.

After parking you have to take the bus service they provide to head up to the caves.

By 2pm we were exploring the caves but just after covering 2-3 we decided to head for the panoramic view point of the caves.

The climb was quite tiring but fun.

After reaching the top point we took some shots and in some half an hour we started our descent towards the shopping area.

Man the climb and descend was tiring.

At the shopping area we bought a quite a lot of stones. They are these crystal types. You have a bargain a lot though. This must be the first time I ever payed to get rocks.

The rains were setting in slowly. We realized that now onwards the ride to Aurangabad will be in all rains.

Before leaving we also met our friends from ASHVAMEDH MC and also passed by the entire group just 50kms before entering Aurangabad.

As the rains were not ready to stop or slow down we did a non – stop ride to Aurangabad city. We took stay just at the entrance of the city.

After checking in we came to know Sagar had little temperature so we told him to rest and gave him medicine. Hoping he will be fine by morning.

We had dinner at the restaurant just next to our hotel. And it was the best food in the entire trip.

Today we all were little tired so after food we also went to bed early. We wanted to start early next morning so we can reach Home as early as possible.

Day 4

Though we got up early we started little late as 7.45am. After refueling and heating up the engine we started zooming towards Nasik.

For breakfast we took one small halt near a diversion where there were lot of food stalls so we were sure it will be good stuff but it turned out to again spicy stuff. I think you get a lot of spicy food in this side of the state.

Anyways from here onwards it started raining a bit and by the time we got close to Nasik it started raining heavily. So instead of stopping for lunch we decided to do a non – stop ride to Mumbai.

With just a couple of halts we reached Mumbai around 3pm.

That was one hell of a fast ride.

To and fro we covered some 1200+kms.

A Longest short ride of comes to an end with a thought of doing an another soon.

***THE END***

http://www.223cc.com/

And I have also made a showcase of my photos on

http://www.chasingthespeed.com/

Also do let me know what you think of both the sites.

Regards,

Om

My source told me that a truck was seen outside Hero Honda Fortpoint two nights back having those new bikes. One was sent to Hrithink Roshna’s place and rest for an ad shoot.

I doubt that its a new bike because according to their contract with Honda currently they cannot launch a new bike. That is why new hunk had just upgrades.

So I guess this could be the all new Karizma then. More power more bhp, better mileage, front and rare disc brakes, fuel injection and much much more.

If this news is true then Hero Honda and specially Karizma fans have finally got the thing they needed to compete with their all time rivals ‘PULSAR’.

I had started getting back to all of my physical activities.

Past 5 months was quite an experience. There were things I learnt which I won’t forget and which I would have not realized if this injury would have not been.

Now getting the strength and my self confidence back in me was only thing left to work on.

I think my time to get back at physical endurance was coming soon.

My wrist has become mobilised and the swing range was doing little better than before. But one thing was constant …..that hell of a pain.

My arm had turned rock hard, the muscles were all stiff.

It was now my sessions of physiotherapy were to begin.

The month of Feb is going thorugh immense pain. This is not what I had experience ever.

With no choice I have to go through it.