Mangalore to Goa & back on my R15 V4: An epic 900 km ride

In Apr-2025, my R15 will turn 3. Still, there are no vibrations, loose panels/nuts or rattling of any kind so far.

BHPian sasta_rider recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

(Second) Solo Ride to Goa:

A very happy New Year wishes to everyone, wish you all safe kilometers ahead!

Quick Stats:

• Trip Start: 05-Jan-2025, 06:00 am
• Trip End: 11-Jan-2025, 02:11 pm
• Start-End of Trip: Mangaluru
• Odo Start: 25559 km
• Odo End: 26479 km
• Total Trip: 920 km

Context:

This was not my first Goa ride - I have completed two visits before: one with college friends and second one a solo ride, for the India Bike Week 2023. Goa plan with my college best friend was happening since her departure to Canada back in Aug-2021. During every long distance conversation, we used to plan and imagine how our Goa trip would look like one day! Finally, the start of 2025 itself happened with this long-pending Goa trip with the right person, who has seen me through my ups and downs of life!

From 19-Dec-2024, I was at my hometown due to year end break, new year and WFH until 20-Jan-2025. So, my start and end point for the Goa ride was Mangaluru.

Morning of 03-Jan, I dropped my R15 at Pioneer Yamaha, Kasaragod for quick check-up which included the following:

• check for any major part replacement, if any.
• chain clean, slack and lube.
• oil change (interval was not near but I wanted a smooth ride, hence I recommended this).
• break fluid top-up, as the front brake levers felt spongy due to 3-4 days of inactivity (worried about this though). Fluid top-up fixed this issue for now.

Below is the breakup of the invoice:

Glad that I had carried out this quick check-up at ASC. Prevention is better than cure: be it for humans or for our machines, does not matter!

Late evening of 04-Jan, after my work, I left to Mangaluru, which will be my start and end point of the trip. Starting from Mangaluru gave me an advantage: distance to Goa will become shorter by 50 km than if I would have started the ride from Kasaragod. I was on paid leave for a long period, carrying work laptop on my Carbonado Modpac was ruled out. This gave me enough space for dress, accessories and essentials. Both the Modpacs: 10L and 20L ones, were fully packed and strapped to the pillion footrest. Firmly placed it on the pillion seat using the 'C' type clips and to have headache-free experience during the ride, I used an additional bunjee cord from Grand Pitstop, to hold the luggage from leaning left/right.

Being born and brought up in coastal region, I assumed winter lining is just a joke during early morning rides. Only to be proven wrong this time. I was feeling very cold during the ride, until I reached Kundapura and when the sun was starting to shoot heat rays! Oh god. A lesson for next winter ride from hometown. While I rode from Mangaluru, my best friend would catch the evening flight from Ahmedabad to Goa (GOI). Everything went planned. Psych! Adrenalin was on the peak: for the ride and the trip altogether.

For breakfast, I stopped at my colleague's place who was doing his morning shift WFH, at Ankola. I was there by 09:30 am. Took an hour of break, doing as usual office gossips and then left towards Goa after an hour of resting there. The sun was getting hotter, I could feel my body being cooked from the inside. This time, I ditched the hydration bag at Bengaluru itself, as I was too lazy to wash it before the Bengaluru-Kasaragod ride.

By 01:50 pm, I reached Calangute, Goa. This place is the Indiranagar of Bengaluru for me. Do not ask me why, but I just love to stay here every time I visited Goa. Gladly, there was a car rental just next to my apartment, who offered a red Maruti Suzuki Swift (Petrol, Automatic) for INR 1500 per day, starting 9 am with a deposit of INR 3000/-. FYI, this car had the black number plate with yellow embossing of the registration number. I would have denied renting a car with white number plate.

Immediately did the payment, took the Swift and reached airport in 50 minutes. Thankfully, her arrival was delayed. I had to wait for around 20 minutes while she came with her luggage, finally: we greeted each other with a warm hug, which we missed since years! Loaded the luggage onto the tail (was good for a medium sized suitcase) and then headed back towards Calangute. I had promised to return the Swift the next day morning. My deposit was also returned within an hour of returning the vehicle. Mr. Rohit, who rented the Swift, is very professional and humble.

06-Jan-2025:

Our plan was to wake up late, slowly get ready and leave towards South Goa (biggest mistake) on my R15, for Cabo de Rama beach and fort. To those who do not know, from Calangute, it is around 80 km: which included traffic while exiting Calangute, good stretch of highway and then narrow roads as we approached the destination. For me, it was all fine as I was the rider. She had a tough time coping behind me. Before starting the ride, I had asked her to do a practise session of getting on and off the bike, just not to become embarassed in front of public. She got comfortable at first not knowing how worst that decision can be.

After breakfast at Calangute, we headed to Vega helmet shop near to KFC, where I brought her a half faced Vega helmet. I know pillion helmet is not mandatory, but her safety was important for me than just trying to look cool at a tourist place. Hence, the helmet purchase.

By the time we left the helmet shop, it was already mid-noon. Sun was just pathetic and merciless that day. She got exhausted midway, we had to stop for a tender coconut break to beat the heat. We decided to call-off the plan towards Cabo de Rama and instead, changed the destination to Colva beach. Still, too far from Calangute but was near to our tender coconut break spot. Spent some time in the nearby shack, had our late lunch and a good lemonade to get energised for the rest of the ride back. I clicked comparatively less pictures today due to the heat. I will try to keep the coming Goa itinerary short to not make it boring!

07-Jan-2025:

We decided to rent the same red Swift for 2 days since we had South Goa in plan. Aguada Fort on the way was also coveredd quikly.

A wise decision of renting Swift, we took the previous day, for her to feel queen's treatment, I can say! Covered Cabo de Rama fort and the nearby beach. Drive was calm and pleasant: had a lot of gossips, work related talks and future plans.

08-Jan-2025:

Covered Condolim beach, followed by dinner at Palms n Sands Restaurant, where we had a good beach view dinner after a tiring long walk, listening to the waves & her blabbering.

09-Jan-2025:

Early morning, the Swift was returned to the owner again, before 9 am. We decided to explore North Goa today by bike. Sudden plans but it was worth it for the day! Covered:
Parra Coconut Tree Road: To those of you are not aware, one of the shooting scene from the movie 'Dear Zindagi' was shot here. Once which was a normal road, was converted as a tourist spot with facility to park the vehicles on either ends of this road. I was quite surprised! The road was crowded during my previous Goa visits as well, but the parking facility began recently I guess. Goa'ns: correct me if I am wrong. From here, we headed to Anjuna Sunset Point where we clicked some nice pictures of the sunset, obviously!

From here, we went to Anjuna beach where we walked until sunset. Later, we enjoyed dinner with some live music at Madhushala Restaurant. My bestie, songs, food and the ambience: was just a perfect combination!

10-Jan-2025:

Check-out was at 10:30 am and she had her flight back to Ahmedabad at 9 pm. We decided to be together after checking out, somewhere on the beach shacks. So, I rented the same Swift, AGAIN. All her luggage, including her, was in the car. Whiel, I checked in to the nearby hotel from where I rented the Swift. Not a good place for the newly married couple, families or senior citizens. For a bachelor like me, it was just fine. Hope you got what kind of a place it is!

We had breakfast after checking out near Calangute, from a nasty place which I regret. After breakfast, we visited the Bom Jesus church. From there, we spontaneously decided to go to Majorda beach, absorb some Vitamin D and enjoy the Goa'n cuisine from a nearby shack watching sunset. On the way, she wanted to drive the Swift (autmatic transmission comes handy) for some distance: which she did butter smooth. She recently got her Canada DL, so I had complete confidence on her and her driving.

From 3 pm till 7 pm, we were enjoying the Arabian Sea in front and the food nearby. At around 06:45 pm, I requested bill which took some time to arrive. While, Google Map suggested we would reach GOI by 08:05 pm, which is exactly when the baggage counter closes for her flight. We got a little panicked but was able to quickly reach the airport at exactly 08:00 pm! Saddest part was, I could not even say a proper 'happy journey' or even a hug at least, as the vehicles behind me had zero tolerance and patience! She went in, confirmed that she did not miss the flight and but the flight departure from bay was delayed by 15 mins. Thank goodness!

Felt a little emotional after she left, as I could not wish her, but life has to move on. Nevermind! I reached Calangute late night, handed over the Swift and packed my bags for the long ride back home the next day morning!

Left Goa at 05:30 am while the climate outside was cold. The car rental guy (who looks after the hotel room I stayed) bid me a safe journey. These small gestures from strangers makes the day to be honest. The early morning empty road towards Karwar was scenic & worth enjoying. Due to me vibing with the nature, my energised mind did not feel like clicking some GoPro POV pictures as the recording was on. To those who are interested to watch, check out this link.

I reached 'baked' Mangaluru at 03:30 pm. Why so late? Between the Udupi-Kundapura stretch, at certain areas, the road resurfacing was ongoing. Come on, seriously? This work could have been carried out quickly during the night without disrupting the traffic. Anyways, rants aside, the trip was worth memorable except for the Zoomcar experience. Surprisingly, while I am typing this, I got a mail from the Zoomcar customer care, with whom I had been liaising since past 3 days. Fingers crossed, awaiting for the refund to reflect in my bank account as well and not just over mail:

Continue reading BHPian sasta_rider's travelogue for more insights and information.