Solo Bike Ride to Yercaud, Tamil Nadu | TVS Ronin 225

This past weekend, I went on a solo bike ride to Yercaud, Tamil Nadu. This was also the first time I travelled since my solo travel to Bikaner way back in 2018. Covered roughly 500 Km both ways, rode in scenic hairpin bends, dropped bike on my foot, got locked out of my hotel room at 3 AM and got hit by a bus on one of those hairpin bends (no injuries) on the way back.

‍

Planning for the Ride

I am a bit of an over-thinker when it comes to travelling. I start by visualising all aspects of travel to make it as predictable as possible. It includes the normal stuff like booking a stay beforehand, making a list of stuff to pack. And the more abnormal things like looking at all available pictures of the hotel/resort to know where the reception is, where to enter, where to part my bike etc.

Roughly a week before my heavenly Out of Office (OOO) window started, I went into planning mode. I had already decided I’ll visit Yercaud because it’s only 230 Km away from Bangalore. I started by making a list of things to pack in Obsidian. It included my riding gears, clothes and other stuff. I also have a pre-ride check list – things to do before leaving the apartment, and before the bike starts. The last one is a work in progress.

‍

Ride to Yercaud

I left home at 4:30 AM on Friday, hoping it will be less crowded at Yercaud. Just outside of my building, my bike’s side stand betrayed me and the bike fell on my leg. Luckily, since I was wearing my riding boots, it prevented a serious injury. The pillion footrest rested on my boots, which would have punctured any normal shoe and injured my toes, foot, ankle etc. Anyway both my bike and I survived the early morning ordeal and went on our way.

Google Maps navigated my through a bad patch of road filled with rubble, with hardly any street lights until I merged onto NH44. The entire ride on highway was very pleasant with beautiful roads, limited traffic, scenic surroundings. NH44 is beautiful.

But again, Google Maps diverted me off NH44 and took me through extremely bad and broken roads, from the middle of farms and houses until I was able to get back to NH44 just before Salem. Through these experiences, I learnt to be very skeptical of Maps trying to take me away from a National Highway. It’s better to avoid highways early morning before dusk and during nights.

‍

Getting Locked Out of My Room at 3 AM

I booked a one night stay at Chill Breeze Resorts just couple days before my planned arrival at Yercaud. The room was great, the room service and lunch was great as well. The resort had a steep slope from the entrance, which made it a bit uncomfortable for me as a biker. Parking was a challenge on the slope.

I arrived at the resort just before noon. I had lunch and then took an afternoon nap after a long, exhausting ride. I decided to chill out in the resort itself in the evening as well and went to bed early as well.

Around 3 AM, I woke up from my slumber, went out to check on my bike. Ended up locking myself out and left the room’s keys inside. No one was available at the front desk at the time. My only option was to kill time and wait till people wake up – till 6 AM. Luckily I had my phone with me, so passed some time scrolling Reels, reading some news and blogs, petting some cute pups.

Requested the staff to open my room at 6 in the morning. And I pissed off from the resort within 30 min.

‍

Ride Back to Bangalore

The early morning ride back down from Yercaud was very pleasant. Saw a lot of bikers making their way to the top. As I navigated my way down through 20 hairpin bends, I failed to notice a truck and bus coming up. I committed to the hairpin bend, missed the truck but the bus lightly tapped by bike. The driver abused me in Tamil which I couldn’t understand. Anyway, with no injuries, I picked up my bike and continued towards Bangalore.

For some reason, the ride back was a bit more tiring. After the first 70 Km from Yercaud, I had to stop every 30-40 Km to take a few minutes break to rest my bum. Despite the slight discomfort, the rest of the ride was pretty much uneventful.

‍

Learnings

Do not overpack: For just a one night stay, I packed up a lot of stuff most of which ended up not being that useful.

Do not carry backpack on shoulders: It would be better to either get a tail-bag or tie luggage on the pillion seat. What I considered to be a light backpack still ended up causing shoulder pain and discomfort across across a distance of 230 Km.

All the riding gears, all the time: Accidents, even minor ones, don’t happen on a predictable schedule. On this ride, my riding boots (even cheap ones) saved my foot from a potentially serious injury.

Bike accessories: Need to better protect my bike from potential fall damage and other accidents. Need to install a better crash guard, break and clutch lever protectors etc.