“You don’t stop riding when you get old, you get old when you stop riding”

Enter Day 1:

Ask any rider what would the toughest task to do for any ride and I am sure most of them would struggle to get a good night’ sleep. Please don’t be mistaken that riders sit all night working on the laptop completing corporate deadlines or reading storybooks to little ones. STILL possible though! Its purely that RIDE bug that keeps us awake in the mind and that excitement of beating the cock-a-doodle-do to rise first and drop a good morning in the fellow riders whatsapp group around 3 AM.

Priceless feeling

As all our smartphones chimes with multiple good mornings, the speed of pre-ride rituals increase to ensure we reach the assembly spot at the usual Tambaram point at 4AM. No matter how hard you try you try, there will always be a few fellow riders waiting at the start point before you and the usual fist bumps and pre-start chit chat starts. 😂😂 In a matter of 10minutes, the spot turned into an army platoon and passerbys keep glancing as usual. Next, our beloved captain initiates the briefing and prepared the ride groups with the respective leads, sweeps and tails. Giving it a few additional minutes, our captain being a bit flexible to include latecomers, flagged off the ride around 430 AM.

Both groups start throttling down the GST road in the dark highway and then the music begins. Like the conductors of a music symphony, the leads and the tails of the groups skip through the morning long weekend traffic, taking all the riders into the sunrise as well as the first tea stop at 535 AM at Tindivanam toll. The first tea of the ride is always special as this drains out any last bit of sleepiness that we carried from home and all riders look forward to the next item on the agenda with excitement – breakfast Soru mukkiyam saami! 😂😂

Breakfast was taken at 715AM at Arya Nivas Ulundurpet where parking for 20+ bikes was never a problem. By now, all riders were at their jovial best and the chit-chat continued on the distance covered till here. This is when we started to realize that a few riders who got delayed in the morning may GHOST us 😂😂 By now, the sun had started to show its face to us riders and we had mentally prepared to battle the heat till our next mini stop at Manapparai for fuel and tea, at around 1115AM. As we were taking time to recover from the sun blast, we also made check-ins on our rider from Bangalore, Gopu the man-child.

After braving the sun again for more than 90mins, we reach Dindugal and halted for lunch at Ponram, renowned for briyani and a lot more. The hotel was a blessing for us with its awesome AC and great seating, as well as sufficient parking spots. We were also joined by the man-child here and after a sumptuous breakfast, the groups roared back to action, ascending the hills with the thought of the bread omelette in mind 😂😂. The vistas changed drastically within climbing few hairpins and we went passed the view of the beautiful hills around the Manjalar dam. After a quick tender coconut break, we continued up the hills relishing each and every curve and bend thrown at us until we reached the cottage at Kodai town around 430PM in great spirits.

Day 2:

The chilly night of the kodai hills had given us a tough night sleep and first thing in our minds today was a hot shower. Luckily, the solar panels at the cottage had captured enough heat the previous day, so most of us had access to hot water. Owing to the long weekend, there was power shortage that week and we had to wait till 9AM for power supply to charge our gadgets. After a quick tasty breakfast, we geared up as much as possible for a rider-pillion approach and ditched the second bike for the trip to hunt for the omelette shop. The first destination for the day was Poombarai village as we had to navigate through long lines of piled up traffic in the kodai town to get out of town.

We had also arranged for some home made briyani, rice and chicken curry to be provided near the Kookal falls. This was provided by the locals who we agreed to prepare lunch at a cost and serve this near a homestay. Each of us enjoyed the delicious meal and decided to continue the journey. Next, we headed to sight the beautiful Kookal lake and from there we continued our ride towards the Kodai town to make it to the cottage before sunset. The whole of kodai town was buzzing with life now, and our tea kadai discussions were lively during this time, specially with beloved captain and his candid observations (Manja color…😂😂 ) Most of the Knights used the evening for shopping for chocolates and other things supposedly and settled at the cottage for early dinner. We used the night to relax and prepare for a long day 3 on the road and reflect on the fun day that passed.

Day 3

It was a relaxed start day at 9AM post breakfast and tea, as we descended the hills within a couple of hours. The sun scorched as we hit Trichy for lunch and the hotels were crowded with the long weekend families. We somehow managed to complete lunch by 3PM and proceed towards home battling the heat of the day. The final tea break was taken at Villupuram around 5PM where the group discussed peel-offs and snapped the goodbye groupies. Most of the Knights made it home to Chennai around 8PM after making two days of awesome ride memories in the hills of Kodai. Cheers to the Knights, cheers to the sweet sound of the CB350

Until the next ride…