Rode to Goa on my old cast iron Bullet 350: Covered 1400 km in 2 days

Riding my Royal Enfield through the highway till Hubbali at 70-75 km/h, I slowly got used to ignoring the kit-kit noise coming from the motorcycle and enjoyed the ride.

BHPian masterChief007 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

The farewell ride - sort of

Over the last year, I rediscovered solo riding, mostly because there was nobody else I knew in my friend circle with such a hobby. Earlier I used to be apprehensive in my riding days and had always ridden in groups of at least 2-3 or more when there were more in my acquaintance who would join in for a long ride. With time you realize that problems can come and just going with the flow is the key to remaining stress free. And if you want to freak out, you will freak out in three.

I had booked RE motoverse in 2023 but office commitments and other stuff in life kept me away from it. My plan was to ride to Goa on the Bullet attend a day or two of the festival and be back. So when it got cancelled I planned to make that trip happen solo or otherwise.

So this year I decided that I should do this trip over a weekend, the plan was extremely simple. Go to the RE garage cafe have something there and then be back the next day. This year in the month of May I decided to give it a shot, even though the whole of India was getting roasted and toasted I was steadfast to make the ride happen. Pushing 1400 kms in 2 days I felt would have been too much for the slow Bullet and that too in this heat things can go sour quickly.

To beat the heat I had frozen my water bladder overnight in the freezer, so much so there was cold water and ice throughout the day and even at the hotel in Chitradurg I could savour iced water. Only drawback is that when you want to drink a bit more water, it won't be available as the rest of it is frozen.

So I started after my office work was wrapped up, I decided to work the rest of the hours from KSTDC Chitradurga. It was hot if you stop, so I just kept riding at 70 kph via the STRR towards tumkur-sira-chitradurga. Took a break at a CCD near Chitradurga as I started hearing some kit-kit-kit sound. With the sound more correlated to the wheel speed than engine RPM I diagnosed that it may be due to the chain as when accelerating it used to disappear and when decelerating or when there is no tension on the chain it was fine.

Also, the oil was leaking from the clutch case which is a regular feature as the gasket for the clutch case is busted, like many things RE. The KSTDC Chitradurga is a nice and peaceful property. Even though I have visited the place 2-3 times now, but never visited the fort! This is an amazing achievement. Reached the hotel in the evening and had dinner. Next morning waited for the RE service center to open, they loosened the chain a little, the noise went down but was not totally gone. So I had two options, turn back or push through. I decided to push through whatever happens.

Started from Chitradurga at around 10.30 in the scorching heat and road through the glaring sun towards Goa. I was doing fine with the heat but later in the day dust was the biggest problem. Drive through the highway till Hubbali was usual sedate riding at 70-75kph. Slowly got used to ignoring the kit-kit noise and enjoyed the ride.

Last trip in my car 2 times I had suffered via the Ramnagar route (the usual route from Hubbali to Goa), so decided on the Chorla ghat. This route was however dusty as hell due to a lot of construction work, head to toe I got covered with dust and grime. Reached my hotel in Goa after struggling through the city traffic at 8 pm. Quickly changed and had a bath and went to the garage cafe for some cold beverages and some starters.

The flying flea

After dinner called up my friend and decided to meet the next day for breakfast. Will be meeting after 24 years after school. Lot would have changed but would have been fun to meet anyway. So slept off by 11.30 pm so as to start up my day by 6 am. Morning with better lighting I did take this memorable pic, built indeed like a gun, a gun that jams often but still does its work.

As my friend works in South Goa so had the opportunity to ride the empty streets of the morning to the tea point. After almost an hour of chatting and catching up, we parted and thus started a long way to home. This time around I decided to skip the Dharwad section altogether and join up the NH via Tadas. The road was much pleasurable even though a bit desolate. But I had fun riding the empty road at snail's pace (or Bullet pace whatever you may call it).

Passed through Castle Rock and Durg and it was a scenic drive. Had to stop for a train crossing too. Castlerock I remember from the dudhsagar trek I did a long time back during monsoon.

Now after I rejoined the highway at Tadas the fun part was over and the grueling ride through the head started. The throat was dry and getting off from the saddle meant to be sweating in the heavy jacket. So kept riding and riding till I could not feel any moisture in my mouth. Stopped at a roadside tea point, had a cream roll, two cups of tea and a litre and a half of cold water. At around 9 pm I reached the Dobaspet STRR entry and I knew my ride was successfully done.

Why did I name it a farewell ride, well because I did plan not to make the Bullet push through to long riding days > 400 km. So did this dash of 1400km door to door and gave it a farewell party at the RE garage cafe!

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