Weekend Ride and offroading

Just got back from a great weekend ride with Gaurav, Milind and Nikhil to Mahim beach near Kelve. Had great fun riding on the beach in pitch darkness then trying to find our camping spot again. Bad idea taking a bedsheet instead of a sleeping bag - couldn?t sleep because the bedsheet got wet because of dew.

Thanks to Nikhil, the best part was the off-road excursion off the Vajreshwari route. Some 2 kms into the road, there is a right turn towards the Balyogi ashram that?s all dirt track. The climb was mildly challenging, nothing like Arunachal, but dirttracking is what we really love anytime.

The best part by far was one of the most amazing views I?ve ever seen, right from the summit of the mountain we rode up. The panorama was mind-blowing, covering almost 180 degrees of my view. I could see hills down below which had seemed really high from the highway. From up there, I could even see the other side of those hills. It was easily over 2000 feet high. We could see the layer of smog over the whole region. On a clear day, the view would have been even better. Great place to build a house. The ashram people were laying down a new surface over the dirt track. Maybe they were planning to tar it as well. Such dirttracks don?t last forever.

We met another couple of bikers on the way up from the other side - one of them was an uncle riding a Bullet. He was totally frustrated with the track - but his face dropped further when I told him that the other side of the track is much worse. The other guy was panting as he was pushing his Avenger over the bad road.

Contrast to these dirt tracks, highways are so boring and monotonous. City car drivers drive on the highway exactly like they do in the city, cutting off people. switching lanes fast and what not. They are easily the worst on the highway because they?ve not been on highways long enough to absorb the unwritten code.