I was probably one of firsts to book a RE Classic 500 in Bangalore. Since the time I got it delivered, I have wanted to join a club and start riding long trips; but I was waiting for my engine to complete the run-in. Now, I have completed 2000 kms; got my vehicle serviced and is now fit for long rides, yippee!
I had joined RTMC (Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club) after I purchased my bullet and I have been getting mails on the announce rides happening month on month. So, this month it was planned to be to Raya Gopura at Melukote.
All the riders were to meet at Town Hall at 6:15 am. There were 16 bullets lined up spanning the width of the town hall entrance. Once everybody assembled, we started the ride after a briefing from the ride captain about the riding practices, regroup points and so on.
As everybody started from Town Hall, we were out of the town pretty soon though Kengeri was slightly congested. The initial plan was to meet at Kadu Mane restaurant in Ramnagara. Since it would be too early to have breakfast, we decided to have breakfast further down at Kamat Upachar – the one that’s McD’s neighbour.
Soon after we had our breakfast, we continued heading towards the destination; our next regroup point being the entrance of Mandya town. We then next met at the exit of Mandya town where we had to take right on to SH47. It was roughly 35 kms of rough roads and some ghat section leading to Melukote. It was continuously drizzling but not enough to wet us, which made riding all the more fun. The roads were wet, too curvy and not too wide; so we had to ride with extra caution. On reaching Melukote, we asked for some directions from the locals and reached the Raya Gopura – the place where many films, especially Maniratnam’s have some scenes of this place.
An awesome place located at almost 3000 ft above sea level is located at almost end of the town and is situated close to akka thangi kola. It is said that a Vijayanagara king took it as a challenge to complete the construction of the temple overnight; but he failed in doing so. The structure that stands today is what he had constructed overnight. You get a spectacular view of well beyond the Melukote town – the temples of Melukote and backwaters of the KRS from the top of the Raya Gopura.
A guide at Raya Gopura walked us down to an abandoned temple (akka’s) adjacent to the akka thangi kola. All the riders gave an informal introduction about themselves and their interests. There were many first time riders like me. I could see riders coming from various backgrounds and professions – fashion designers, radio professionals, entrepreneurs, students and so on. We then listened to story and history of the Raya Gopura, the akka thangi kola, Shravanabelagola and the surrounding 101 temples and kolas from the guide.
We headed back to Bangalore; met at the SH47 – Bangalore Mysore highway junction to decide upon the hotel for lunch. Post lunch we continued our ride back to Bangalore. We met once more for the last time at Mysore road – NICE road junction before everybody could part their ways. From there on we headed back home our own way clocking 310 kms for pure fun ride.
This was my first long club ride on my new Classic 500 EFI. The bike really performed well – refined power in excess I should say, good brakes, needless to say the right ergonomics, comfortable ride – thanks to good shock absorbers and spring loaded rider seat, larger fuel tank (I didn’t refuel enroute while many others did). Overtaking at high speeds like 90 or 100 kmph was an ease with this 27.2 bhp Unit Construction Engine of the new Classic 500 with Electronic Fuel Injection.
Longing to ride longer and longer…
Life is 2 live... celebrate life :-) 