Hell On Two Wheels

Leaving Hampi at eight am our intention was to try to ride to Pune again about a 650 km ride we headed out and within twenty five minutes the GPS indicated a right turn so following the rout we find our self’s heading out of town on a back road. I knew we had to cross the river and on the gps it showed the river with a clear route across it but after riding for about twenty minutes through some of the poorest farming areas with the road getting rapidly worse and no bridge in sight we came to the conclusion that we should turn around and back track to the main road The back roads of India are not for the light hearted We saw people so poor living with nothing but the clothes on their back, little children squatting in the street with nothing on, their parents no were to be seen. This is the India that people don’t like to see but it is also the reality of so many millions of people living in this country. People had said that this is why India is such a sad country to visit and it does make one think about all the things we are so lucky to have at home. But life here is so different and the thing is that next to that small kid swatting in the street there were also older ones playing quite happily, I guess the fact that they have never seen anything better allows them to be happy where they are. This is something we have seen so many times on our travels. The road now was just a dirt track so we made an about turn and got back to the main road.

Just one more hits the Dust

Back on route the road is horrendous I have never seen so many big trucks all loaded to over capacity all trying to get their load to its destination as quick as possible so they can race back to do it again. These guys push the limit all the time and there is evidence of the ones that aren’t so lucky all along the side of the road.

Thats not a full Truck you can get six on top 

As the surface is getting worse, now the pot holes and the speed bumps are joined by the road repair and rebuild crew. The NH 13 is a major route for so many trucks and the surface is so bad  they have decided to build a duel lane highway to help with the congestion but in most places in the world you would see maybe a twenty km stretch being worked on then when that was finished may be another twenty km stretch but not here for over three hundred km the road was being worked on, so we changed lanes from one side to the other so many times each time riding through the dirt and gravel of the center meridian to the other side and back again. I am so pleases I took the BMW off road riding course with Rawhide standing on the pegs with a better view makes all the difference.

Again we are not phased by the great big truck in my lane, He isn’t stopping and he is going to pass the other truck at all cost so I just pull over and let him by. My average speed is down to below 50 kmh so I quickly come to the conclusion that we won’t make Pune before dark it is already four pm so the next best place on the map is called Solapur, we decide to head in to town to find a hotel leaving the last 240 kms to do in the morning.

You can PASS in any lane here never mind
whats in that lane

Now the traffic is nuts on the main highway but in the city it is worse so the deal is find a place quick and get off the bike. We pull over and search the GPS for hotels and several are listed so we head to the nearest to check it out. Chenty is turned away with a “we are full” story hard to believe but it isn’t our style anyway, so we make a u turn and head to the more fancy looking places around the corner. While riding back down the road some crazy kid on a Honda 150 comes out from the right across the oncoming traffic into my lane. Seeing him coming at me I move over to the left to try avoid him but I am jammed in with the traffic all around and before I can do anything, BANG he rides into the side of me hitting me on the right just at the point of my crash bars, He locks into me but with the weight of my bike I just pull him off!!  Not even a wobble from me, Down he goes in the middle of the road, OH SHIT now what. I had been told that in the case of an accident that I should never stop at the scene as the crowd can get ugly and aggressive so I slow down, check the mirrors and see he is up and picking up his bike. So I ride to the next hotel and pull into the parking lot, he has now got his bike going again and chases after me!!! At the hotel I park the bike remove my helmet and walk over to talk with him. He immediately lays the blame on me asking for 300 Rps for damage to his bike (that’s about six dollars) I say he ran into the side of me how can it be my fault???? He sits against the side of his bike with his arms crossed saying he wants to be paid for damage to his bike. With that the manager from the hotel comes out and I tell him what happened and he tells the kid to leave but No he says he has called the Police, Good I say then he will have him pay for damage to my bike and that will be around $500.00 USD, now that seems to have him worried. I offer him 200 Rps because I am a nice guy which he accepts then proceeds to call his mates to come look at the BIG BMW that ran him of the road. I chat with his mates and tell them their buddy ought to take some riding lessons and then they all leave. Shit that was close 41000 kms and this is the first time we have made contact with any other vehicle. The thing is it all happened so fast that Chenty never saw him coming she just felt him hit us and saw him go down, It is crazy that he didn’t take us down also but the weight difference between the two bikes it really gave me an advantage
.All the time this was going on Chenty managed to get us checked in the Lotus Hotel for 3500 rps a night for the deluxe suite   that’s $70.00 per night this place had better be good but under the circumstances we just wanted to get off the road.

These trucks are long and all under powered

So in the morning we leave Solapur heading for Pune, the traffic is just the same and I must say I am a little nervous to start but as the day goes by I had only managed to clip a guy on the elbow as he was walking in the street, not bad I thought. Then at around noon we were going through a very busy town with a large intersection and I am passing another one of those BIG RED buses that is stopping in the middle of the road and that I would recommend any body coming to India STAY OFF!! I have a large truck tight up my rear that is also passing the said red bus when the RED BUS decides to make a right turn I have nowhere to go and as I squeeze by, BANG the SOB hit me in the rear and my left side box Now that’s got to hurt I felt the box crunch and knew there was damage but what would be the point of stopping?? Again I am amazed that we manage to stay upright, if we had been riding anything smaller it would have knocked us down for sure. But we pull through again and I get a well done from Chenty that saw the whole thing happen this time.

Lucky again for the size of the bike and the bags around us for protection, this one I will have to find a tin basher to fix for me. We arrive in Pune to find out that he one place Chenty wanted to visit is no longer doing tours (that is the OSHO Ashram) more terrorist threats, so we check into a small hotel close by with internet to catch up on some blogging

Tomorrow we will try the back roads!!! 

This India is going to be hard in the BIKE