Dusky had just clocked 850kms and it was exactly a month since i bought her so it was time for her much required first service. I call it much required because firstly there is always this concept of break-in period in bikes which prevents you from not riding fast or not try to do too many adventurous stuff. Having said that was not ready for taking her to any offbeat place before i have spent time with her for a while. Secondly, the first service also ensures nitty-gritty if any with the bike is resolved and there is oil change from what is given from the company when we get the bike and everything is set for the next few thousand km. I had already got a reminder call from the Jawa service center ( Skanda Motors in my case ) who had asked me when i will be bringing my bike for the first service. So finally on Saturday, i decided to get it serviced and the next day which was a day with not much of work commitment for me ended up being a solo ride day with Dusky.
I had decided about this place few weeks in advance itself and apparently i had got to know about this place from a biker/youtuber/moto-vlogger BigBangBiker who had apparently gone on a ride to this place along with his mom on a 310GS.
I had done my homework and even Google aunty said that it would take anywhere close to 2hrs to reach this place from my home. From my initial calculations, i knew there wouldn’t be any “non-highway” kind of road and mostly, in the end, it would be a village road but i was taken by a bit of surprise in the end (but not much). I set off from my home by around 6 am as i sort of anticipated quite a few enthusiastic people to come here for their Sunday morning drives/rides. The drive was pretty smooth and i took the airport-road, chikkaballapur, gowribidnur rd. I did have to go back to google aunty and ask her regarding a turn which i was supposed to take to enter the village leading to the dam. This is exactly the stretch which was a bit surprising which i couldn’t gauge from the satellite maps. But not that it was anywhere close to being difficult or un-doable but just that i was not mentally prepared. And owing to teh fact that i was riding a new bike which has not even done 1000km and in a remote village I was worried of the puncture and such stuff. But as always Google aunty never disappoints with her directions she directed me exactly to what was supposed to be parking place at the dam.
it was close to 8 am on a winter morning but the sun was already up in the sky and there were already 2 more families who had come there in their cars and a couple on their Interceptor for the morning drive. As i was riding for 2hr i decided i will sit for a while and take rest and then take some photos of the place. But after some time i realized after scanning the place there isn’t much anything to shoot apart from the old bridge on one side and waterfront which was occupied by the families for their hour-long 1-2-3 jump pictures for instagram. Then i realized morning or the winter might not be the best time as the mountains were backlit and the skies were pretty dull. At this point i decided will take a few shots using my drone and then i could see more and more people started to come down by that time. So i decided to stop my bike on the narrow pathway leading to the bridge from the main parking area ( there isn’t anything designated like that but you can make out that this is where you have to park before you walk down to the water ). After getting few inquiries about the bike from one set of people and others who decide to poke their face into my phone to see what the drone is capturing, i was finally done and i wrapped up the visit and started my ride back home. Luckily now that i knew what is the road like, i was able to ride back faster and easier on return. So by lunch, i was back home and was reliving the memories from my whats apparently a first long ride on Dusky.