HBC Group Ride #4 – Munnar | Venkat (ADDA) Kandaswamy

Statutory warning – This is a long post of my 3 day ride with HBC on Jan 24, 25 and 26.

First the thanks

1. Honda CB 350

This could be the goldilocks bike. In spite of riding for 10 hours a day – on the stock seats and its suspension – did not feel much discomfort. And 40+ Kmpl. Thanks Honda for producing this wonder machine – perfect for touring.

2. Pratap Ramdas Sir

He is one of the core members of the HBC team. He retired from Tata Tea last year after some 30-40 years of service and had organized this entire trip right to the last stop.

3. Val

The founder of HBC. Super enthusiastic guy who just loves to ride and keeps the group alive.

Friday, Jan 24th

San took this photo while sending me off – me in full armour

Morning 5:00ish I packed all my stuff and started. Reporting time was at 5:45AM at Continental building on Electronic city.

And we waited till 6:30 AM – for one Vikram who was also our sweep. Now while waiting one parked bike fell on another bike and one of the CB 350’s accessory came loose.

We were a total of 12. 11 rider boys and 1 awesome rider girl. Some were to come in a car – but they dropped out and I was thankful they dropped out.

10 CB 350s
1 CB 300R
1 NX 500

Prathap Sir also rides a CB 350, he was riding from Cochin to greet us at Munnar.

There is something romantic about riding a bike, carrying your own luggage – all self contained. If I can add a tent and a sleeping bag and spend a night on a field instead of a hotel – it will take the ride to another level – perhaps another time.

I am riding after almost 3-4 months – and was a bit doubtful – do I have the stamina for a 500km – 10 hour bike ride in a single day? Plan B was I will take a break somewhere and return by myself next day if I could not continue the journey – and it almost happened. Will tell you a bit later 🙂

Once we hit the highway all my doubts flew away. The morning was a bit cold but totally enjoyable.

We took the under construction route between Attibele to Dharmapuri – via Rayakottai – here and there the roads are still under construction – but majority is completed and there was very less traffic. Thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

We stopped around 8:30ish for breakfast at a Wood fire Dosa place.

This is just off the Dharmapuri highway – location I saved in What3words – https://w3w.co/tries.sensitive.game

We continued on NH44 and from Salem went under the Coimbatore flyover stretch towards Theni. The day temperature was slowly rising and we took a few water breaks.

Around 1 we reached Karur and stopped at Dindugal Thalapakattu

One of the protocols I follow was to send a selfie to home whenever we stopped.

There were 3 eggetarians in the group – I ordered Egg Kothuporrotta but they forgot I guess and it came after all had paid the bill and were packing.

I took the parcel and paid off the bill and put my hand in my pant pocket – and where the bike key should have been there it was not there.

I then searched in all the pockets but the key was no where to be found.

I cooled myself and did a thorough search and found my right pant pocket had a hole! Gosh!

I had made a trip to the washroom and went there and searched. Searched in the table, beneath the sofa and got the waiter guys also to search.

Meanwhile many had already started and left to fill their tanks.

I then got an idea and put my fingers through the pant pocket and lo and behold – the key was there wedged somewhere near my knee.

Important lesson 1 – later confirmed by Gopal : In such long rides – always carry a spare key.

Apart from messing up the ride for everyone – I would have to break the trip – spend a night in Karur perhaps as I wait for the spare key to arrive from home. This almost became a forced Plan B which I mentioned earlier.

Was the last to get out and filled the tank and we continued.

Till this stretch I was following the leader pack who were touching 120s. While it was thrilling felt such speeds are not safe – that too on a bike. Even in car I try to limit to 100s.

Post lunch I decided 120 is not my cup of tea and decided to stick to 100. There were a few along with me who were sticking to 100.

The faster group will wait at the next toll anyway – so it really didnt matter what speed we were all going.

Around 4pm – I started picking a headache. Luckily they stopped at a road side tea shop before Theni and I had tea and washed my face. Felt a bit better.

[ from Aaron’s camera ]

And around 5,5:30 – we hit the foothills of Munnar. And the climb began. And immediately I forgot about my throbbing headache as the temperature started dropping and the view was just fantastic.

The best was yet to come – the highway twisties that are laid on these hills were too good to be true.

Here is Aaron’s video captured on his Gopro.

Just in December end we were in Nilgiris and the roads were ok – had enough potholes and were narrow.

But these roads were as if we were in US or Europe ( though I have never driven in Europe – what I see in movies and YouTube videos ) – truly world class.

The lines were clearly marked and road was well laid without any blemishes and best part – wide and natural curves. I could lean pretty well and felt natural riding on these roads.

We reached the resort around 7:30 PM. Pratap Sir was waiting for us.

I just slouched on the couch and did not feel like getting up. Had not subjected my body to this much stress in a day. Once I took a nice hot bath felt a lot better.

Day 2 – Jan 25th Saturday

Thanks Girish for the snap!

We went to the Tea Museum first.

Pratap Sir’s hand is there in almost all the Tata Projects in Munnar. We got a special tour of the Tea Museum.

The beautiful Tahr! once again greeted me here!

This is the brand – a co-operative now and the Ripple tea branding was there all over Munnar.

And Srishti – a short 1-2 kms ride from Munnar we then went to Srishti – a welfare center setup by Tata for the Specially abled.

All the workers are well taken care of – they have a bus which picks them from their home and drops them at work. Their kids get free education. And the papers, bags, dress materials they produce are all world class – and 100% Eco friendly. It was so heart warming to see this setup.

Pratap Sir was a hero here – everyone greeted him and even though he had retired was treated with lot of respect and affection.

All of Starbuck’s bags are manufactured here. Yes confirmed – 100% eco.

Thats a young Pratap Sir!

In the middle is founder of Srishti – Ratna Krishnakumar – she was there in the counter and I even had some friendly banter – not realizing she is the founder. Would have thanked her for this successful initiative.

This lady – forgot to get her name – was our guide and explained the natural dyeing process.

I was chatting with her and asked is that girl you – and she said yes! I gave bouquet to Ratan Sir. Just wow!

This was from the bakery. The employees are trained in Taj Mumbai from the Chefs directly. We had a sample of their handiwork – truly world class.

This is Vikram. Interesting guy! Wears an old Casio watch. Listens to golden oldies. Is the developer of Old roll [ https://play.google.com/store/search?q=old%20roll&c=apps ]. He does bouldering – climbs rocks without harness – and broke his leg few weeks back and was still recovering. He showed the video too.. gulp.

This was in the Jam section. They were receiving 5 Ton of Strawberry that day! The jams they make is pretty simple. Just the fruit and sugar – no other preservatives. I asked is there not a sugar free option – they had tried other options but nothing worked – so they are sticking to sugar.

After Srishti we followed Prathap Sir as he took us around Munnar to locations he asked us not to disclose 🙂

Teesta drinking in the greenery all around.

Some random break as we recoup.

There was road work going on so we had to take this diversion inside a very narrow dirt road and an auto and a small jeep were coming on the opposite direction. We had to take U turn and find a place on the side to let the auto and jeep pass by. It was crazy and we did manage somehow.

Few lessons learnt during this off road adventure.

Lesson 2 : I should have turned off the Traction control. It did not occur to me that time. At a few places my wheels were spinning as I tried to climb up on loose roads.

Lesson 3 : Always wear gloves / armor. I learnt the hard way – I did not know we will get into these dirt roads and had removed gloves – as I was taking lot of photos – and my hand hit an innocent looking branch and it hurt quite a bit. At the next stop I wore my gloves back. Also the roads were treacherous – had I fallen I would have scrapped my hands or might have injured it.

Lesson 4 : I have to bend my knees when I stand and ride. Vikram gave this feedback that my legs are stiff and it is dangerous. If I hit a bad patch my legs can crack – so I should keep my legs little bent.

Lesson 5 : Do not slow down while standing and riding on rough patches. The bike is hard to balance on low speeds – and anyway since we stand the shocks do not affect us since we are standing.

We reached this serene picture by the lake – it was like a nature postcard.

It was Pratap Sir’s treat. He had arranged food from Srishti’s kitchen. Yes I finished the entire Biryani plate in front me – was quite hungry after a day’s riding.