Wayanad is a district in the north-east of Indian state Kerala with administrative headquarters at the municipality of Kalpetta. It is the only plateau in Kerala. The Wayanad Plateau…. and Eastern Ghats. Bla ….bla….bla….I better stop copying from Wikipedia.

Let me get it in my own words …. a beautiful district of Kerala with dense and lush wildlife sanctuaries, high altitude places and many breath-taking ghat sections and off-road patches … a rider would love to explore.

Just imagine how excited a guy like me will be, who is riding for the first time, with the very experienced group of riders to this beautiful place in Kerala, covering 1200+ kilometres starting from Chennai crossing three states to reach the destination clocking 13 hrs non-stop as per Google maps.

The questionnaires

Staring at the ceiling, questions kept popping in mind like

How will I perform?

Will I be able to keep up with the other guys?

Will I have the stamina to cover such a long distance in a single day?

What if my vehicle does not perform? 

What will I do if fatigue builds up during the ride?

Will I be slowing down the whole group? and ON ….. and ON …. and ON. The list of questionnaires in the mind was just unstoppable.

The Formation

In the first week of February 2023, I decided to join the group for the ride, a WhatsApp group was formed and we started getting ride instruction from the admins related to the ride like SOP’s, the route of travel and few other documents. The ride was to start from Tambaram and proceed via Ulundurpet – Salem – Gobichettypalayam – Satyamangalam – Chamarajanagar – Gundlupet – Bandipur to reach Wayanad. A nominal participation fee of Rs. 5K was collected from each rider. I did pre-ride checks of my vehicle and TO-CARRY essentials were discussed, as who carries what. Since I was a first timer, I was asked to carry my stuff of essentials, the rest like medical kits, Tool kits, puncture kit’s location mapping where to stop and when to stop and how long to stop were all taken care by the admins of the group.

The chosen day

At last, the day came with a sleepless night full of excitement, the early morning of 25^th Feb 2023. I was asked to assemble near the outskirts of Chennai city GST road Tambaram at 4.00 AM. I reached the meeting spot before time. I had already met few co-riders during our short rides, but some were new to me, the group captain had come there for briefing and flag off, thought about this guy, being a captain of a team, in which every guy was a dare devil, then what kind of a devil he would be. I remembered a caption

Who follow you ….. Protect them.

Who ride by you……Respect them.

Those who don’t …..show them no mercy.

Therefore, I define the captain in my own way….

After briefing

We were later formed into two groups, led by the “Lead” and followed by a “Sweep”, I don’t have to state their role, since every rider knows it by now, but the most favourite part is their skill in manoeuvring the team. I was positioned third in Group 2 and my captain was quite experienced and I was very comfortable tailing him. The Group’s tail was an ex-naval officer, currently, captain in a private airliner.  He is the eagles eye for the whole group, you feel drowsy inside your helmet, in few seconds, you will find him riding next to you, giving you a stern stare, which will keep you fresh for the rest of your ride. A very quick decision maker, always thinks few steps ahead of everyone, always conscious on the road and makes sure everyone get back home safe. I was immensely tensed to perform because of his zero-error tolerance while riding. Regarding the other riders in both the groups, all were very experienced. The ride started as planned at 04:30 AM.

Still dark but pleasant Chennai weather, with the heat of our engines and the loud exhaust notes of 22 bikes we started rolling down the GST road with full protective gears and instructions coming through our comms at regular intervals.  

The Satyamangalam – Bandipur incident

There was an incident when we started to roll out after lunch at around 1430 hrs from Satyamangalam, and were to cross the Bandipur reserve forest before 1800 hrs. one of our co-rider, sounded a S.O.S. , that he had a flat tyre. The first group was asked to proceed. The admins who had the kits immediately sprung into action to fix it, but to their surprise the damage was on the rim. As I mentioned earlier our ex-naval officer immediately advised the rest of us to catchup with the Group 1 and cross the reserved forest. Later I came to know that the bike was left behind, and the nearest service centre at Salem was asked to collect the vehicle under R.S.A. By the time they completed the RSA process, it was time for them to cross the reserve forest. We all waited at the entrance of the reserve forest and soon after 30 min they caught up with us. They covered the same stretch in less than 2 hrs, which we took us 2.5 hrs to cover. The leads in our team were continuously in touch with the fallen back group, and were advancing in a normal pace. Although due to this instance the whole group was delayed, but will still manage to reach the destination as planned. Later the co-rider was riding pillion with the other riders throughout the trip. Crossing through the traffic, reserved forest, uphill’s and downhills we reached our destination on time. The feeling of taking up a long ride was a very beautiful experience. I felt very comfortable in the group because age was not the factor it was the attitude which counts. Though everybody came from different walks of life, the most beautiful thing about the group was that everyone was in the same frequency. The best part about this group is that they never discuss about RELIGION, POLITICS or CASTE.

The Awards & Membership

There were two riders who were awarded The Knight’s membership. The moment was a very memorable moment for me. I am also dreaming to fulfil the criteria asap and qualify for the membership soon. It was party time later.

The Prehistoric Humans

The next day morning we planned to visit the Edakkal caves. Edakkal means “the stone in between”, located 3000+ feet above sea level on Ambukutty Mala (mountain), it is said the Neolithic community (also called New Stone Age, final stage of cultural evolution or technological development among prehistoric humans) used it as camping shelter. Even today we can see the engravings and images on the walls of the cave (which were incised over a period of time). It was a very steep walk up of 1 Km till the foot of the mountain and from there you had to climb 300-odd steps , after which you descend into the Edakkal Caves painting chambers. It takes about 30-45 minutes at a leisurely pace to complete the trek and walk up those steps. I took around an hour for us to reach.

After descending the hill, we had lunch and drove straight to our resort. Later we planned to visit the sunset view point at the Kurumbalakotta Hill.

It was around 1600 hrs we all started for the Kurumbalakotta Hill, riding through the beautiful landscapes of the town we reached the foot hill where a huge surprise was waiting for us. It was a moment of performance, through the off-road for almost a kilometre. The machines were tested to their optimum and all the riders navigated successfully through it. Then came the uphill task, I was a bit hesitant due to the steep climb with no steps, but the brotherhood came in to support. There is a saying in the team “no one is left behind” and we witnessed the beautiful sunset.

The cold windy evening was spent in the pool followed by dinner and group chats discussing the personal experiences of each rider, their interests and experiences. The person who spoke about himself would later choose a person about whom he would like to know and this went on from one to another. Later the admins shared their experiences about the earlier rides, the do’s and dont’s while the rides were in progress. It was very useful for the new riders like me and few others. It was already past midnight and the next day we had to leave for Chembra Peak filled with adventure.   

Trek to Chembra

The second day of our ride, the location which we planned was Chembra peak almost the highest peak in Wayanad located at 2100 m above sea level and was full of trekking. Four of us dropped the idea of exploring it and stayed back. The rest of the riders geared up at 0400 hrs with cold winds almost penetrating your spine, rode to that location. All had an idea that the trek was of three kilometres to reach the heart shaped lake. It was nowhere stated that the last one kilometre would be steep and breath taking. I thought I made a right decision of dropping out of the group for that trek. We wandered around the Wayanad town shopping when we came across the very famous ayurvedic message. Later we just rode through the town and reached our stay. Meanwhile the guys finished Chembra trek and descended to their next location for zip line.

Muddybootz zip line is around 200++ meters long which I think is the second longest in Kerala, and spans over the tea plantations of Wayanad. Located in Pozhuthana, the zipline is on the must-do thing in Wayanad for every which I missed doing it. Should do it the next visit soon.

The day ended the same way as the previous one filled with full of fun. Since everyone was exhausted and we were to ride back to Chennai, we crashed in early after dinner. In the lovely morning of 28^th I saw guys still in their beds at 5.00 am. Went down for a hot cup of coffee, to see some of our team mates were already assembling their saddle bags, wiping their vehicles covered with the night’s dew. Some engines were switched on. Around 6.30 am the resort caretakers packed us fresh fruits and sandwiches for breakfast to go.

I knew I was in the safe hands from both ends After a while gained confidence to make it as the other rider do, we roared through, with taking as planned tea & lunch breaks, maintaining optimum speeds to reach our destination on time.

Way back home

All geared up and as we rolled out the spine-chilling weather froze my hands, since my gloves were not weather proof. We stopped at a place for a coffee and that seemed like a life support for a few of us. That was an awesome four-day ride to few breath-taking places and enjoyed the scenic beauty of the place.

The trip rejuvenated me, made me feel stress free and as young as other riders.

The concluding part of my experience

Something you wish to do in your 30’s and couldn’t, don’t repent it later. Just do it when it comes to you.  For me age is just a number I am riding in the same spirit as the others do.

When people ask why do you ride?

My answer is motorcycles represent everything that’s existing in the world, the feeling you get on a motorcycle are beyond anything else made by man.

EVERYONE MAY LEAVE YOU AT YOUR WORST, EXCEPT YOUR RIDING BUDDIES