Me, My Shirley & The Road to Tirupati & Back


Thread Starter #1
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Hey guys,

I am posting my first trip report on this forum, its a big one so please bear with me. Mods this is a long one so will have to use 2 posts to put all the stuff please bear with me on this. Pics at the end


Prologue:

I have had the idea of going to Tirupati on my bullet ever since I bought the Bullet, this was something I promised God that I would do when I can. Finally I got the opportunity to fulfill what I promised now. The build up to the ride has been sceptical for me because I was not sure how I would do this ride & what hurdles I might face during the ride, since my girl was running daily it was in good condition, I had a bit of scare with her throttle cable, got it changed as I didn't wanted to take any chances. Water wash & everything is done & was ready to go on the D-day, however things did not go as planned, 4 days before the scheduled date of departure my fellow rider told me he wont be able to make it due to an important meeting, I was like can you come next day he said no, after a bit of going back & forth like this with dates, we finally decided we can go on 24th, the day before the ride he said we can start anytime in the morning. Time fixed was 9 am Dep.


24th Nov 2011 – The Journey

The previous night I went out with my family & by the I got home it was 11, started packing & thought 1 pant & 2 shirts would be enough for the trip & so packed accordingly(We had a surprise in store for us will be revealed later). By the time I slept it was 12:30 am, woke up around 6:30 feeling a lot groggy, got down to business & got ready by 8:30, I asked my fellow rider to come to my home & we can push off towards NH 7 from here, he came only at around 9 AM, we went for breakfast & after that came home got ready, locked down the house & left. It took us some time to hit the highway, once we did had a bit of traffic till after Shamshabad, the ROB is still under construction even after 4 years!!! how ironic, once we hit the 4 lane after crossing the bridge we started hitting 80-90's the road was good but it was bumpy which made me feel as if my tyre is deflated or punctured, spotted a Mercedes Banz SUV, Volvo SUV, Renault Fluence? & the other run off the mill cars we have here

By the time we reached near Kurnool it was 1:30, we had lunch at a Bharat Petroleum bunk about 20 KM outside Kurnool which on the right side heading towards Kurnool, the ambience is alright, food is very good, one can have a good meal there if wishes so. We started off after 2:30 PM & took the NH 18, the road was ok, lot of diversions crossed Nandyal around 5, at Nandyal there is a Bharat Petroleum bunk, I suggest all to NOT fill petrol or Diesel there, the machines are not in good condition & the metering is faulty my fellow rider got cheated, there is an HP bunk after that which is better & well manitained. In half hour we would be loosing sunlight, it was race against time to cover as much distance we can in the light we had, Once it was dark we had quite a time riding with eye blinding lights & half the road not being good, by God's grace we cleared the bad road by following cars & buses which matched our speed. By the time we reached Kadapa it was 8 PM, had dinner & started off around 9ish.

The Kadapa to Renigunta road is quite good, a few bad patches at 2 villages & 1 town, rest of the road is butter smooth, however we had to watch out for speed breakers, they are not nasty but can make us jump. Once again the eye blinding traffic was really testing our riding skills at night, Reached a town just before Rajampeta, there we were hit by rain I thought WTF?!?! thought about stopping but then it stopped immediately, we thought it might be just one off rain & carried on, here on it was the same tailing cars & buses, a guy in Indigo CS was leading us & slowing down whenever we did, he helped us for quite a distance, just before Renigunta we took right near the LC for Tirupati, by the time we reached my Mama's room it was 12:15 in the night. We slept around 12:30, here ended the first leg of the ride

25th Nov 2011 – At Tirumala

I woke up to rain at 6:30 AM, it was just a drizzle & thought it might just go away, slept again & woke up around 7:00 AM, got ready by 7:20, went down for breakfast in a nearby canteen & once we got ready to go, it started raining a bit heavily, we decided to move on without waiting, the rain just kept increasing & by the time we reached the entrance it was pouring, my babe stalled & she refused to start! Grrrrr so we left her there & took shelter from rain, after about 15mins the rain subsided & we tried to start her but in vain, then the kick rod started acting funny, it was falling off freely, I was like damn now this won't go up, I towed the bike all the way back to my Mama's room & then set off to Tirumala on the other bike, the ride up was wet lol to say the least, the road was slick with so much rain & I was like having my heart in my mouth all the time.

Reached the top of the hill in flat 20mins & it was completely fogged out more like cloudy I can say, the rest of the day & the next day the weather was wet. We had time before Darshan & I was thinking of booking tatkal to come back to Hyd in train, called my friend but he had trouble booking ticket, went to CRO office, at the Railway reservation counter called my friend he said give me details, but then I decided not to book train ticket, went back to Mutt for lunch & then set off for Darshan. Darshan happened without much hassle & got a bit of extra 10 secs in the temple to see the deity. After that went to see Sahasra Deepalankarana, I was thinking of taking pictures & my friend wanted to see the Deepalankarana, I rushed to the room to get my camera & tripod, I was loosing light & visibility was getting poor, by the time I came back it was raining again, but carried on like that & managed to get few pics of the main temple. We were thinking of going back down the same night after dinner, but I decided against that & phone calls were flying back & forth regarding train tickets to get my bike loaded up & hitch a ride in the train, nothing came through & I didn't book tickets. Next day woke up around 6 to find rain again, finally woke up at 7 am & hurriedly packed things & got off down hill, yet again the roads were wet but we got down without any incident.


26th Nov 2011 – Return Journey

We reached my Mama's room in about half an hour & I called him up, in the meantime I decided to unload some petrol from my bike so took out about 1 & half liter of Petrol & put it in the bike of my fellow rider, then I decided to try & start my girl up, 4-5 kicks later she came to life but then the problem of kick rod hanging loose was there, we tied it with a plastic cement bag thread but it wasn't a good solution, finally got another thick cement bag thread & made it into 2 pieces, used one & tied the kick rod & the other piece tied it to my bag, we set off at about 9:50 AM & it was raining again but not too big, filled up petrol, drew some money & then we started, I was a bit cautious because of the fear of falling off due to a skid, but nothing like that happened, we hit the NH 18 in about 20mins & started ripping at 80-90 on wet roads but were careful as well.

This was one heck of a wet ride for both of us, with railway track on our left & the trains passing us it was an amazing sight to see & quite enthralling for us. We made a continuous run of about 70KM to Rajampeta non-stop, after a little stop we started off again & kept riding continuously only slowing down but not stopping much anywhere except for nature call break till Kadapa. Reached Kadapa at 1 PM, we had a heavy lunch so that we don't need to stop anywhere. My friend suddenly announced I have no mood to ride, I was like what happened you were fine till now? He was feeling tired I could see the fatigue in his eyes, he then somehow got up washed his shoes & stuff, we set off from Kadapa

Yet again it was non-stop ride & was getting wet & getting dried intermittently, it was like rain god was playing chicken with us. At some place suddenly my bike lost power & again I was like now what? Got down & was pushing the bike out of the mud then found the connector to spark plug came off! It was surprising for me, replaced it & after short break we kept doing good speeds. At one point before Nandyal a fly went into my jacket & after going a distance I had to take off my jacket to let it out grrrrrrr. Passed Nandyal & by then we did about 280+ KM, we didn't fill fuel thinking I could reach Kurnool with the fuel I had. An interesting thing happened 4 idiots on a TVS Apache RTR 150? started chasing me (more like racing me) they tried to overtake me few times & once or twice they did & the third time I let them go ahead, finally they got tired & gave signal go ahead, I later came to know they raced my friend who was ripping at 110, apparently they got confused with him & me as both were wearing same type of jackets but different helmets.

Crossed Nandyal around 5 PM, it was from here on race against time to reach Kurnool before it becomes dark, but my luck ran out as my bike went into reserve just 33KM from Kurnool, had to drop my speed down to 60, luckily found an Essar Petrol bunk about 2KM later. Filled up & once again we raced, but it was too late, darkness engulfed us & our speeds dropped to 60, finally reached Kurnool at 7 PM, hit the NH 7 to Hyderabad, had a stop over at the BP bunk again & had garam chai & palak pakodas. Once pet puja is done we set off yet again, with my friend in lead & me tailing him. It was continuous run & we only stopped after crossing Jadcherla. Had a few close calls & saw an accident, apparently a person died on spot, but didn't see the body. We kept going, finally reached home at 10:30 PM.

Contd...
 
Thread Starter #2
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Epilogue:

I can say this at least from what I experienced, no matter how much trouble Bullets give they sometimes perform beyond their own capacity, they have the capability to carry on with minor issues without causing much trouble. I as a rider still learning about my babe & she simply amazes me at all times & unlike girls doesn't complain much, but I pamper her a lot. This is one ride I did for my Grandmom who passed away recently & hold a lot of significance for me.

1. BP bunk before Kurnool

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2. Road to Kurnool

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3. My girl on the left, my fellow rider with his ride

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4. At the Foothiils, a glimpse of the weather

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5. Lord's abode covered with Clouds

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6. Small clearing to capture the Sanctum Sanctorum

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All the pics are unedited, except for the last 2, had to adjust angle & crop out unwanted stuff in the picture. Thanks for reading
 
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Thread Starter #6
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Nice T'log there buddy. I'm not able to see the pictures unfortunately. Is it linked to somewhere else?
No pics are not linked, here is my Flickr link to see the pics

EnfieldRyder nice writeup, good to see that you take all safety precautions.
For us safety is top priority, doesn't matter we have to shell out few additional bucks for them, but its worth it so no compromise on that level. You can see the full gear we wear in the photo I posted of my friend.
 
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wow nice tlog mate. feeling the itch to start riding bikes which i had given up after getting married. never rode bullets though. suzuki samurai was my bike in those days. and riding in the rain completely drenched was some thing that i cherished. wish you lots of happy motoring.
 
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Congrats on your trip to Tirumala.

From your posts i guess you enjoyed a lot.
How long did it take for darshan, did you go for Seegradarshanam?
 
Thread Starter #10
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@Mukeshus, I did go for the 300/- ticket, the darshan was over in 2& half hour, would have gotten over in 1hr if not for the more than an hour of wait in the jail! Riding was awesome only issue I couldn't take many pics unfortunately [sad]
 

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