My First Travelogue- The Unforgettable Bike Trip to Ooty & Munnar :)

Happy to post my first ever triplog ;)

This was a well planned trip that could be best described as "A perfect, Super Cool Adventure".
Everything went as per the plan, thanks to ppl from BangaloreBikers for their inputs on Routes, Places etc.

Overview
Distance covered: 1300kms approx
Riders: Vinay, Nithesh
Duration: 4 days. 28th March-31st March, 2014
Imp Places visited: Ooty (Ooty lake, Doddabetta, Emerald, Avalanche), Munnar (Mattupetty dam, Kundala lake, Echo Point, Top Station)

Routes most enjoyed: Ooty-Avalanche, Ooty-Kotagiri-Mettupalayam, some state highways on the way to Munnar from Ooty (Mettupalayam-Annur-Sumanur-Sultanpet),
Munnar-Top Station, Munnar-Chithirapuram (Kochi highway), some Forest route on the way to Bodi (from Poopara may be, not sure), Dindigul-Salem etc

Planning Thread: http://trailblazervinu.blogspot.com/2014/02/ooty-munnar-trip.html

Will post the details soon.. Some pics for a Start:-

Intro & Prologue

Disclaimer: This is going to be long. Please bear with me.. its my first write up.

It all started with our growing interest and passion for Bike Rides. Me and Nithesh(@niteshnairy) are from the same College and we bought our Bikes almost at the same time (april-may'13). Ever since, we've been going on Rides every now and then with friends.

We usually plan for rides/trips on gtalk. So Nitesh once showed me a map, a Route spanning the whole of South India, i mean the coastal region.

My reaction was 'Omg. Its too much. Me n my bike are not ready for this yet'. Then we thought of hiring REs for the trip.. bla bla.. with time, we just forgot abt this. Then, when we were thinking, how nice it would've been if we had 2-3 more bikes with our classmates for company, we came across some groups- BangaloreMotorcyleclub, BangaloreBikers etc

Our passion got some much needed Inspiration :) We really liked the attitude of the ppl here(BangaloreBikers) and the fact that its not limited to any particular brand of Bikes. and in the Welcome Rides we witnessed the Riding discipline, the importance of Riding gears etc and we thought we'll first get some basic Riding gear and only then Go for such Rides.

We got ourselves the Spartan Helios Riding Jackets from 'Lets Gear Up' just a day before the March welcome ride. Also checked the knee gaurds n Gloves in Orion Motors. Liked the Alpiensters Bionic knee gaurds very much. But it wasn't in our Budget(6k). Thought of settling for Thor/fox/axo. Ended up buying none :p

My Advice: If you dont have d budget currently, just get something in your Budget. bcoz 'Something is better than Nothing!!'

Anyways, we had to manage with just the ProBiker Gloves n Helios Jacket.

Got some Valuable inputs when i posted abt the trip on the forum http://bangalorebikers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2757

It was really helpful. Thanks to S. Martin, nisnth, rohithraghav, Phanikar,shshnk28, saibkrishnan n others. We felt we r among the Right Breed of Ppl :) any info on routes/places/plan etc, no need to scratch our head. just need to shoot the question n tan! we get the answers. This is why our trip turned out to be a well planned one.

Places were finalised as Ooty n Munnar. Somehow convinced Parents abt the Ride. Thts a difficult thing to do :witsend: Their concern- 'Munnar is ok. But why the hell on Bike?' My answer- 'After some 5-10 yrs, even if you ask me to Ride, i doubt i'll be able to. This is the Time, this is the Age.. bla bla'

Well, we booked the rooms in Ooty and Munnar

Fri-Sat: Green Apple Residency, Ooty (near to Ooty Lake)-Rs.959

Sat-Sun: Jays Tourist Home, Munnar town-Rs.900

Sun-Mon: Bella Vista Resort, Chithirapuram, Munnar-Rs.1481

all prices incl. of tax

Got print out of the maps, made sure our bikes are in good condition.(engine oil, air etc). Packed our Saddle bags, kept the Vehicle documents(including service manual). Got tank full. Set trip meter to 0 and were all set for the Trip.

Came home early from office, thought of getting a Good Night's sleep as everything was ready. But as always ended up Sleeping late. Dont know if its the excitement of the trip or what, you never get proper sleep the previous n8. I was downloading mp3s of some item songs, putting it on to the mobile etc n then somehow slept at 12 or 12:30 telling Nithesh to wake me up in the morning :slp:

--to be continued..--