Yelagiri Road Trip

Chennai – Yelagiri – Chennai: Total Distance – 520Km

Bikes:

1. Pramod – FZ Orange.
2. Rajith – Pillion.
3. Abhilash – FZ Black.
4. Rajesh – Pillion.
5. Karthi – Discover 135.
6. Vetri – Pillion.

The Idea:

Karthi was suggesting going to Yelagiri for a weekend for quite sometime but we never really found time because most of us worked on Saturdays too. So we decided to run-off to that place for the Independence Day weekend. What better way to celebrate freedom other than hitting the open road. We floated the idea to Pramod and Abhilash who didn’t even give it a second thought as both of them owned Yamaha FZ and were eager to test it on the highways. Rajesh and Vetri were also happy to join the ride.

The Plan:

Planning and preparation was down to me and Karthi. The task at hand was to decide on the route which was easy because there was only one obvious route which was the Chennai-Bangalore highway. Then liquor which we got it from TASMAC and Pramod had some Smirnoff and Bacardi. Then came the stay and no one knows what happened except for me and Karthi. We got a list of hotel phone numbers and called one by one but to our dismay we didn’t find any rooms. It seems we had to book atleast 10 days in advance and for this weekend all rooms were full. We had only 2 more days and we decided not to tell the rest of the party about this and head to Yelagiri and see what happens. The only think which helped us was Pramod’s words: “We are all bachelors. We can even sleep on the platform…”

The Ride:

We decided to start on Saturday 5.30am and the meeting point was Menakshi College, Kodambakkam. When I woke up that morning I could here the rain…. Holy Cow! But all of us where very determined to make this happen and surprisingly we started at 5.30am inspite of the rain. The rain slowly subsided into a gentle drizzle. The bikes were prepped and topped up the previous day itself and the only thing left to do was hit the highway. Initially we were very cautious until we get a hold of the road conditions and decided to stop at Sriperambattur (30Kms). The wet weather got our tanks full and we needed to empty it ;) Then I took over from Pramod. I and Karthi were riding at a steady pace. Meanwhile Abhilash was playing yoyo. He would periodically gun the bike and go ahead of us and then drop back way behind us and again do the same thing. We had breakfast and tool several snaps on the way and finally we reached the foot of Yelagiri. The ride up consisted of several hair-pin bends and reached on top a around 12.30pm.

At Yelagiri:

The demon was back and we could not find any place to stay. I and Karthi set-off in search for a place to stay leaving the rest of them. This took us all around Yelagiri and all places were full but on the bright side we got to see Yelagiri. Meanwhile Pramod somehow managed to find a guy who rent out placed and finally we got a place to stay by around 3.00pm. The place was much more than we could ever wish for. We got a full bungalow for ourselves for 4400 per day. The price was little steep but we didn’t have any other choice. We then had a sumptuous lunch and headed to the lake and took a stroll around it. We were all getting ready for the night and bough snacks for us to give company. Back at the house we arranged beds and chairs in the balcony/terrace and began our session which went till 3 in the morning.

The next day we went for some random site seeing and we went were the roads took us. The roads were beautiful and the scenery was even better. We had out lunch and decided to leave by 1.00pm.

The Ride Back:

The ride down was a Blitzkrieg. I decided to take lead and wanted to test out FZ ability to break and turn. I was literally scraping the foot-peg at every turn and was the first to reach down a good 5mins ahead of others. We decided not to see the waterfalls as the locals said there wouldn’t be any water because there was no rain. We headed back home and as we hit the Bangalore-Chennai highway the heavens opened. We took that as blessing and ripped through the highway. One thing I found out was never tail a FZ when the roads are wet and never be a pillion when it rains. The rear tire picks up hell a lot of water. We were doing 90+ consistently and also 100+ at some sections. Atleast that’s what the speedo said. The only think that overtook us were big cars. We took a break at Vellore to have snacks and get some medicines for the hangover which me and Abhilash was having from morning. After that the ripping ritual started. Abhilash fell behind as he had to refuel. I and Karthi decided to maintain 90kmph because 100+ put a lot of stress on man and machine. We reached Chennai by 7.00pm and by 8.00pm all of us parted ways to rest our sore butts on our beloved beds.

Lessons learnt:

Always arrange for the stay before you start your journey if that is possible.

1. Never tail behind a FZ on wet roads.
2. Riding with a pillion is not a good idea. Avoid it if possible.
3. On busy highways with centre medians it is safer to ride on the right side.
4. DO NOT RIDE in the night.