I was on leave for the first week of May-10. Went to Gaganbawda, my native place for a week and returned back on 7th May. The heat this time around was too much. More than that leaving back The Mammoth i.e. my newly acquired Electra Twinspark home was annoying. I was itching to ride it after a looooong gap of 7 days. But the whole journey to Gaganbawda was very tiring. Decided to relax and rest for two days before resuming the office from 10th May. The Saturday was spent just lazing around and relaxing at home. Sunday as usual started late as a wake up at 9 am. At once I decided to ride out somewhere. I declared my plan to Sangeeta my wife. She also decided to join in rather than getting bored at home alone.
We set out at exactly 10am. The fist stop was at Kalyan on Murbad road at around 10.30 for refueling. After Shahad the road was empty and the heat was still bearable. This was my first seriously long ride on the Mammoth which has run 2400 kms and approaching the second service. I was controlling my urge to open the throttle up and keeping it below 65 kms/hr.
Here on we reached Murbad within an hours time. Took a much required break for some refreshments. Consumed two glasses of Nimbu-Soda and some Watermelons. Spent some 30 mins there cooling our heals. Decided to ride non-stop hereon till Malshej which is 60 odd kms from Murbad.
As the day progressed the heat began to take its toll on us. Sangeeta was really uncomfortable as she is not used to wearing helmet for such a long time and under such heat. So abandoned the plan of riding non stop. Rather we stoped at every little villege or tapri on the way which offer cold drinks. The last section of the journey, some 25-30 odd kms was really tuff. It was ghat section with Jungle and no shops of cold drinks etc on the way. The two water bottles that we were carrying had become piping hot. Finally reached by 1 pm at the famous cave atop Malshej ghat where Shani and Hanuman idols are there. Stoped there for about 30 mins before proceeding for lunch at MTDC resort.
I was expecting to find no one there due to the heat. But there were quite a few people and sizable crowd. One group of 4-5 bikers was already there. Another group of two bikes a RE Electra and Honda Unicorn reached there 15 mins after us. The electra guy was riding alone and the one with Unicorn had a pillion. Two jeeps and three cars with families were feasting on Vada Paav, Nimbu Pani, Karvanda (I don't know what it is called either in English or Hindi) etc
We ordered Chicken Handi and 8 Rotis. Due to the exertion Sangeeta could not eat much but gulped down a bottle of Pepsi. I had no problem finishing off the rest as I was really hungry. Just relaxed there till 4.30 and started our return journey. Couldn't take photos as my Kodak point and shoot digicam has developed some problem. It has no view finder and the lcd display is not working. Just cliked some photos blindly.
Reached home by 7 pm tired, exhausted and baked. Got the taste of highway riding on a RE. Though I couldn't run the bike at it's full potential, I am very glad that I haven't made a mistake by choosing RE as my travel companion. Very relaxed and comfortable. No hicups, nice handling, sure braking. Planning to do much more rides with The Mammoth.
