Ride to Nirvana of hairpin bends - Kolli HIlls

Weekend ride from Bengaluru to hairpin bend heaven - Kolli Hills | The Crew: Prashanth, Prithvi ( Duke 390 x2) Kaushik, Pawan(390 ADV x 2)

Background: Myself and Kaushik agreed that the next ride would undoubtedly be to Kolli Hills because we had spoken about it so much on our previous ride when we went to the Isha Center. The date was set as the second weekend of February 23.  

Identifying the crew: The last group ride I went on to the Kolli Hills somewhere in 2014–2015 was mind-blowing, so I was considering doing one while me and Kaushik were finalized. I called Prithivi (an old riding buddy) to see if he was available, and he only confirmed it the night before the ride: and others weren't accessible. 3 people were finished, therefore. It was agreed that we will meet at E-city toll exit at around 6:30-45AM.

About the place: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolli_Hills | https://goo.gl/maps/xBhYAyKW5urzxgLc9

Day 1: Because I live on the southern side, I left around 6:15AM, and the other two riders confirmed that they would arrive by 6:45AM. The cold breeze on the e-city flyover chilled my hands because I hadn't yet put on gloves. I soon passed the toll and stopped at a nearby bus stop to wait for people, then got busy resetting my SENA after checking on everyone.

Pritivi Arrived within 10mins and 5mins later the dialogue came "Ba guru tea shop hatra hogana illi yaak wait madodu" , as motorcycle riders tea is LOVE <3 . 

Kaushik had some traffic issues but he did reach within 10-15mins while we finished tea, thats when I saw Pawan on his bike first(Kaushik said he had told be but I still don't have memory of that :D). 

We were all done with tea and now was the time to rev the engines on the open highway!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was connected to Prithvi via the intercoms, so as soon as the ride began, we were blabbering about random stuff, talking about old rides, making fun of some motovloggers with crazy attitudes, idiots who were riding insanely, and so on ( It had been 5years since we rode together). Kaushik had already told us he was hungry so me and Pritivi thought of stopping at Shoolagiri which was about 50KM. 

Traffic was insane but within a hour we reached shoolagiri and had our breakfast and all of us were now filled with energy for next 100KMs. 

After a few minutes, I noticed that Pritivi's aux lamps were on. Knowing how the cops would react, I told him to turn them off, but he was unable to. There was a problem, so we had to stop a few times over the course of the following 2-3 km to fix it. Finally, everything was finished.

Because we were riding together, we talked about everything that happened on our previous ride to the Kolli Hills and continued on to our goal. The weather was surprisingly good, and we did not feel the heat very much. At 20 to 30 KMs after Salem, we decided to utilise the GPS because we were unsure of the exact turn we needed to make. Although the local roads we had were passable, the landscape was dry yet beautiful. Somewhere in the centre of the village, we all filled the tanks, and we rode on.

The GHATSSS: Soon after making a few pit stops for coconuts and restroom breaks, we arrived in front of the road we were looking for, we got Kaushik to lead since he had GoPro and rest of us followed him. Plus Prithvi had got his drone so this was the right ride to explore it.

The Cavalry 

Trials with the drone.

As we were having so much fun on the twisties, we did not feel like stopping anywhere. However, we stopped at a few locations to take pictures and play with the drone to record some video. Remember we had only filled the tanks and not our tummies so just after we finished all the 70 bends our tummies started growling for food.  

We stopped at an unnamed hotel( 10mts before paradise Inn hotel) and had some amazing parottas(mixed with veggies and eggs). The taste was out of the world( not even exaggerating). Do try it out when you visit kolli hills. 

Our stay VHM Mahendravanam was another 5KM from our 2nd lunch spot(Kaushik had bad stomach so he couldn't enjoy the parottas and had to look for some better place). We came over some farms on the way to the accommodation that were really picturesque, so we decided to take pictures the next day. We checked, placed our dinner order, and then departed the room to go shopping (Booze and sides)

Stay at VHM mahendravanam

The entrance.

The place where we stayed takes order for all the meals and makes it post that, there is no food that is prepared before. It has some games and great view from the room. It costed us 4K for the room and the room is good. 

End of Day 1. 

Day 2: The night was fun, the drinks, the discussions and the food. All of us got good sleep. We had breakfast and were are geared up to start our journey home. Loaded our bikes and we started. 

View from the balcony.

ADVs

My Beauty :-*

Riding down the ghats is not something I enjoy, so we did not stop anywhere and came down quickly. The weather was not really in support of us today, it was HOT and wind blast was too much. Plus the the traffic was horrendous even on the highway. We were able to do good speeds and reached bengaluru within 5-6hrs. We bid goodbye to each other at the toll and within 20mins I reached home. The boyz reached 30-40mins after that. 

For the audience : A humble request would be to not litter at any of the tourist locations 😊(no matter where you go) lets be mindful of our planet and our future generation. If you visit the place do let us know your experience in comments.