It was around 3.40 am in the morning of 19th September 2000, when the stillness of the night was shattered by the loud ringing of the telephone. At first I thought I was dreaming, then there was the unmistakable rinnnnnnnnnggggg of the telephone. I hurriedly got up from my bed and rushed to the telephone, picked up the receiver and said "Hello", at the other end was Kishore my riding partner "Srinidhi, get ready, I will be there in 10 mins" was all he said and disconnected.

It all came back to me slowly, our conversation the previous day, the testing work we had done all through the last month on the TVS Spectra. M/s Zen Motors, Bangalore had offered us a challenge i.e. to ride the distance of 1053 kms from Bangalore to Mumbai on their TVS Spectra (4 stroke scooter) non-stop. We being always on the look out for new challenges on two wheels had accepted the offer and further promised that we would achieve the feat within a span of 16 hrs.

This was going to be a landmark in the history of scooters. No one has traveled a stretch of 1053 kms from B'lore to Mumbai non-stop on a scooter. We were going to be the first people to achieve this unique feat.

On 18th September 2000, we discussed and decided that we would depart the next day (19/9/2000) on our historic mission at 4.00am and reach Mumbai before 8.00 pm. I didn't have any time, so I hurriedly finished getting ready and packed some last minute items and got ready. As promised, at 4.00 a.m. there was the familiar horn of the Spectra and Kishore had arrived at the doorstep. I hurried downstairs and got onto the bike.

At 4.15 a.m. we reached Yeshwanthpur Police Station, where we reported to Mr. Boregowda the constable on duty. After that we started off on our journey towards Mumbai, there was a feeling of thrill and adventure which enthused us. We expected an empty highway but it was not so, the road was full of trucks of all sizes. This did not deter us; we proceeded further and in the dim light of the headlamp made good progress during the next 1 hr. We were almost at Tumkur when we saw a truck lying on the road on its sides. The driver must have lost control and what was once a truck was lying as a heap of metal in the middle of the highway.

At around 7.45 a.m. we had covered around 200 kms and the Spectra was already running on reserve. Luckily we found a petrol bunk at Aimangala, near Chitradurga, where we refueled the Spectra. Our next stop was a little after Haveri at 9.14 am to make a phone call to Prakriti, our contact in Bangalore and inform him about our progress.

We were driving on but the sun was not out of clouds yet, this was a cause of worry for us, for if it rained then our progress would be hampered and the weather was so misty that it was difficult for us to see without the headlight on. We proceeded further praying to god that it should not rain.

After that we drove on till Belur in Dharwad District, where we stopped for fuel. It was about 11.00 am and we were happy because we were on schedule with our carefully chalked out plan. And luckily for us the weather had become better and there was no sign of rain or clouds. The sun was shining brightly overhead. Thanking our stars for the great weather we just preceded ahead and by 1pm we stopped once again for fuel. Now we were wishing that the Spectra had a larger fuel tank.

We reached Pune at 5.45 pm passing through Belgaum, Satara, Nippani and various other small towns and villages. It was here that we felt really elated and a sense of achievement was slowly overcoming us. We stopped for our last tank of petrol and made a call to Prakriti, in Bangalore to inform him that we had crossed Pune and were on our way to Mumbai. We were in the last 160 kms of our journey and we started off on a brisk note.

The final stretch between Pune and Mumbai was the toughest stretch in the 1053 kms between B'lore and Mumbai. The road was full of potholes and quite narrow as compared to the previous stretch of road we had ridden and the traffic was worse than the peak hour traffic in Bangalore. As if to add insult to injury the rear brake of the Spectra was on an all time low and almost not operating. The quest for a record made us a bit reckless when we decided to take on the Khandala Ghat in the night without brakes. All we wanted to do was to reach Mumbai before 8.00pm and achieve our feat. Thinking thus we drove on……

It was at 7.15 pm and we had crossed the Khandala ghats, Panvel and were in Navi Mumbai, almost in Mumbai but not there. A sense of achievement overcame us when we came out of Navi Mumbai and onto the Uran Bridge, which links Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. We crossed the bridge and entered Chembur the outskirts of Mumbai, it was celebration time for us, and we were 20 mins earlier than our promised time to reach Mumbai, it was only 7.40 pm and we were at the out skirts of Mumbai. The feeling of elation was great, but the strain of the journey took over and all our body parts started asking for their quota of attention. We were hungry, tired from the long ride, all our body ached with pain. We pulled over at the next dhaba and had a great dinner (It was actually a union of breakfast, lunch and dinner) our first meal for the day and since we were dead tired we checked whether the dhaba owner had any objections for us in sleeping there. Luckily the owner and staff of the dhaba were very cooperative and allowed us to retire for the night there.

That was the end of our ride to Mumbai. The next day first thing in the morning we went to Victoria Terminus (VT) and crated the Spectra off to B'lore by train and made reservations for ourselves in the night's Chalukya Express. We reached Bangalore on 21st night at 11.30pm.

Joyride by: Srinidhi Raghavendra
City: Bangalore
State: Karnataka
E-mail: srinidhilv@hotmail.com
Go for more bike adventures with Srinidhi at - http://www.ultimate-adventure.com

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