Riderz Nexus 2019: Coorg Kadamkolli Resort

December 07-08

Early morning start to the ride from Bangalore

After a lovely ride we reached Kadamkolli resort- Venue for Riderz Nexus

ThRoTLS team 

The Products on display-- found these useful

Useful for night riders. This products is on your back, connects to your bike indicators. Ease of visibility to the large vehicles

Found these arm bands interesting. Affordable & useful for night riders

The resort is well maintained, good local food cooked by the in-house cooks. We were lucky to get something to eat. Food was an issue at the event- especially for the vegetarians. Leave the food aside, the place is very scenic & beautiful. So I would rate 5 star for the resort location. Rooms are pretty basic.

Our trek in the morning treated us with this greenery

@the venue kitchen

my time to explore the place

Event night with music & games

Showing off my badges

This was my first long ride. Return journey was tiring as we started late and ended up in heavy traffic towards Bangalore. 

Goats leap- Mekedatu

A ride with the Bikernis was long due. Its been 2 months since I joined them and yet had not been able to go for a ride with the ladies. When the quarter calendar got published with Mekedatu in it with a date that looked convenient, I jumped for it. Home front taken care, the ride was planned for November 16th, day ride. The exciting part was not just long riding with the Bikernis but also with my best buddy for the first time. 

I started from home at 4:00am and met up with 3 of them first. Meeting point decided was Panchamukhi Ganesha temple on Mysore road at 5:15am. We somehow managed to get there in time. Total of 16 bikes & 17 ladies (Captain had a pillion with her). Clear instructions given on the protection gears to be in place, riding safety, who the Marshall was, who would be the sweep & the team was asked to follow the captain. 

5.30am meet

After about 1.5hrs of ride we stopped over at Vasu Restaurant on Kanakapura road. Small place known for its Crispy Dosa. Large masala dosa and Gulab jamun & a small glass of Coffee is what I had.

Hungry faces

Coffee's in

Crispy crispy Dosas

Yumm Gulab Jamun

Breakfast done, we got back on road. We rode through the narrow but beautiful green roads towards Mekedatu.

Rs.30/- entry fee at the checkpost & another Rs.30/- to enter Mekedatu. 

'Mekedatu' means 'goat's leap' in Kannada. It is said that a goat being chased by a tiger made a desperate attempt to save its life by leaping from one side of the gorge and managed to cross over the raging river below, whereas the tiger did not attempt to replicate this feat, and abandoned the chase. The point where the goat leapt has widened since then from erosion caused by the river Cauvery. It is about 110+ km from Bangalore. 

Mekedatu is a good place for one day trip, spend more time at the river bed before you get into the bus, that's where you get a chance to touch the water. River crossing in Coracle & bus ride takes you to the view point where you can see Cauvery flowing through the deep gorge.

Some photo session & fun at the entrance and we were ready to go for the coracle ride. The excitement got even better with the boatman taking us on a spin in the coracle. he charged us a bit extra for his effort. We shifted into a bus after crossing the river. After sitting in the bus we felt that if biking would have been allowed it would have a great track for us to ride through, but yes we do understand the care taken to preserve nature hence not allowing public vehicles in this patch of land. Have uploaded some videos below to show you what am talking about. With good rains this year, there is good green cover across. 

The gang

Bikernis with the bikes

Start of Coracle ride

Cauvery flowing through narrow gorge

Kalasutra designed jacket by Sameera was tried by all the girls (who could fit in :D ) and that called for a special round of photo session. A whole of lot of pics taken, photo sessions, fun time. The bus ride to see the Cauvery was a bumpy one. With Sun on our heads we were all hoping we could get something cold to drink..and just when we were starting a round of introductions to know each other better, another bus stopped and downloaded crates of cold drink. Chilled with cold drinks, happy pictures taken, it was time to get back in the bus for the ride back in coracle. By the time we returned back thirst had kicked in again, coconut water kept us hydrated this time. Lunch was at Mayura restaurant. Not great, but much needed hot food bought- self service.

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Mekedatu

The Girls

while they were busy staring down

With my bestie

Hola

Post lunch we started back on our journey to Bangalore through those green paths & hairpin bends. One short stop for a cup of coffee at Balaji Restaurant and ride along till Nice road entrance before we all split our ways towards home.

The best part about this ride was, every rider followed the instructions given in the beginning of the ride. The roles of the Captain, Marshall & Sweep were played fantastically; the Captain of the ride Sneha, ensured not a single biker is left behind and the Marshall Shwetha ensured all 16 bikes stuck together while maintaining an average speed of 60kmph through out. Thanks to the girls who captured natures beauty in their cameras and shared..I am able to put together everything because of them.

Jacket designed by Kalasutra

In the bus

DIY session with RE team & the Bikernis

I had been pestering VJ to help me understand the bike better. When I used to be riding a Kinetic I knew exactly where the problem was if there was one. My learning is mostly practicals, which meant I wanted to see what had to be done rather than hearing it in theory. The Bikernis team provided that opportunity to us ladies by organizing for a basic DIY session and thanks to Teknik motors team who patiently answered all our questions.

So what are the key points before you start off on a long bike ride...here you go:

• When choosing a bike, make sure both your feet touch the ground. :) this is advice is not necessarily for the experienced riders.
• Make sure your bike is serviced and all the identified issues are fixed before you leave for your ride.
• Check for Throttle cable, clutch cable, break pads, oil levels, filters/ strainers, tyres.
• Carry spare fuse, tubes, clutch cables
• Keep the surrounding of your fuel tank clean. 
• When checking oil level in your bike, take the bike off stand and make sure its on leveled floor. Start your bike and then do a check on oil level
• Break fuel will be visible only when it goes low (hydraulic breaks only)
• Air filter: If the vehicle does not have pick-up, you need to get your air filter checked. If riding on water terrain make sure your carry a spare air filter. Clean air filter also helps save fuel. Will cost your approx Rs.150-160. If at some point in time you do not have a spare air filter, you could try removing the air filter giving it a hit to clean and put it back on (preferably get it done through a mechanic :) )
• Fork point: to be checked atleast once a year. Make sure while cleaning water is not sprayed under the handle area as there are chances of rusting.
• Check for handle movement. If it moves smoothly from left to right and vice versa then all's good, else it would need service.
• If you get into a situation where your bike refuses to start and needs to be pushed, then get your bike into 2nd gear and push. Pushing gets easier on 2nd gear.
• When your bike is not in use you could save the life of your battery by making sure that a mat or a wooden board is kept under your center stand. Or disconnect the wires from the battery.
• If you plan to use the bike for charging your mobile then use the wiring from the ignition area and not straight from battery. Using battery area for charging will bring down the battery life.
• If your bike has a kill switch, then the right way to switch off your bike would be to bring your bike to a stop, use the kill switch to switch-off and then use the key to completely switch-off.

Hope some of the above points will help others too..

The 2hr session took place in the premises of Teknik motors, Indiranagar, Bangalore. 2hrs well spent with the team learning the importance & ABC of bike maintenance.