Konkan Moto Tour’s Tour of Serenity of Ratnagiri was one of such enduring ride, where our skills and patience were tested to its best. It was 2 days of pleasure mixed with some of the challenging routes and difficult riding conditions. We encountered almost all sorts of roads and situations during this ride. We drove through smooth tarmac roads, curvy ghats, difficult off-roads and some of dusty patches too. Riding conditions were equally challenging. Swinging mood of weather also played its game throughout day by swinging temperature from pleasant low to humidly high. But overall, it was a pleasure ride where each rider enjoyed every bit of it!

It was around 4:30 of Saturday morning and my alarm started ringing. I got up from my bed and immediately called Abhishek to wake him up. Quickly, I put on my riding gear and went downstairs to kickstart my bike. By approx. 5:30, I was with Abhishek and we headed to pick up Ramesh – Mechanic for this ride. As decided earlier, we were to reach Kalanagar Bus stop where Aditya, Sandeep and Pratish would join us along with Service vehicle. It was 6 AM when we all got together at Bandra, to head towards Panvel.

Sun was rising and we could feel the heat early in morning. It was pretty clear that this would be a hot, sunny ride and we were mentally prepared to take the challenge ahead. We reached Vitthal Kamath’s at approx. 7:30, where all other riders were waiting for us for breakfast. After heavy breakfast and some good chat with old rider buddies, everyone was now ready for ride. Passionate riders kick started bikes in full spirit to embark on another memorable journey of life. It was approx. 9 AM when we started on NH 17.

We reached Tol Phata in less than 2 hours. A quick break for chai and we started again towards Dapoli.  So far ride was smooth and everyone was enjoying. Sun was playing its role and we were enjoying bright and sunny sight around Western ghats. Dapoli is a beautiful place with Sahyadri range near Khed District and Arabian sea on other side. We had awesome Konkoni lunch at Dapoli and we moved towards Dabhol to take ferry boat for Dhopve Jetty. Road from Dapoli to Dabhol was full of curves and climbs.  While we were waiting for ferry boat at Dabhol, we got news about Karan, one of very close friend and joyful rider. His bike got punctured on the way and our support staff had to stop and fix the problem. Meanwhile, we took Jetty to cross the backwaters and reached Dhopve. We drove for another 15kms and we reached Gopalgad fort. I must say, it was one of the most beautiful locations I’ve ever seen in my life. Infinite Arabian sea covering fort walls from three sides and we could see sunset from cliff standing high besides fort.  It was one more reason for me to fall in love with beautiful Konkan.

It was getting dark and we still had to reach back to Karde where we were to stay overnight. We quickly drove towards Dhopve where Karan and Abhishek were waiting for us. Karan’s bike was fixed by now and we were ready to move towards Karde. I and Abhishek decided to ride at end of trail to make sure everyone reaches Dapoli safely. We drove through same route.  I experienced innate calmness of Sahyadri Range while driving through those quite ghats in moonlight. What a peaceful experience it was. We reached back to Dapoli at approx. 8 PM where all riders had reached before us, safely. Pratish led the troupe to Karde and we reached our Sea-facing hotel at approx 9 PM. That was probably end of ride for day 1, but definitely not the end of day. We had arranged bonfire meet-up on sea face. Everyone quickly had dinner and got together at place to share their experiences of day. Some good, some spicy experiences and we spent good time gelling up with each other. As the night went on, we were getting high on alcohol. While everyone went to sleep in some time, Me, Ketan, Abhishek and Raj went on talking about everything under sun. Ketanbaba enlightened us with some of awesomest ‘Ketan-isms’ and we thoroughly enjoyed each and every word. Finally, we went to sleep at 3 AM. What a perfect end of perfect riding day!

Getting up was really difficult next day. We got up really late and got together for briefing session at 10 AM. It was really late and so we decided to skip lunch break today. We moved towards Khed, where smooth tarmac curves welcomed us to enjoy curvy ride on ‘em. From Khed, we took left turn to move towards Kashedi Ghat on NH17. Road condition was really nice and we were cruising at 80-90 on perfectly made Maharashtra Highways. Kashedi Ghat is must-do destination for all ride lovers. Beautifully carved curves on Ghats and scenic greenery on each side of Ghat makes it worth visiting. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride on curves. Taking curves on such ghats is completely different experience. It makes you learn a lot about riding and balance. After that we took right turn to move towards Bhor Ghat. Bhor Ghat is a mountain passage within Sahyadri Range that connects NH 17 to NH 4. Roads were extremely bad while climbing the Ghats, however it was equally smooth and joyful when we moved towards NH 4. We stopped on top of Ghats to have some snacks as all of us were starving without food. A small road side vendor kept on serving Vada pao and Bhujiyas to us for almost an hour. We started from Bhor Ghat approx. at 3 PM to move towards Rajewadi.

At approx. 4:30 we reached NH 4, and stopped for Chai. So far, everyone was happy with today’s ride and thrilled to complete the last leg of ride before it was dark. We quickly started on NH 4 towards Pune. There was bad traffic and we had to control our speeds until we reached Lonavala. We halted at Lonavala at 7:30 to make sure everyone starts ride together. Driving in night in itself is a challenge. You have to have riding guts to ride in dark on mountain roads. I was leading the pack, cruising at 80-90 to reach Mumbai. Within an hour or so, I reached Lonavala where other riders too followed in next 30 minutes.  After having last Chai of the day, we officially announced end of Serenity of Ratnagiri. In my words, it was truly an amazing experience. It helped me learn a lot about riding. I definitely came out as more experienced and matured rider. Not to mention, I also made few good friends and experienced serenity of Ratnagiri district. Truly, the name of ride made justice to it.

About Author:

Tanmay Shanishchara, is part of Team Konkan Moto Tours and also a passionate rider. He believes in riding hard and enjoys telling stories about his bike rides. He owns Royal Enfield Bullet, Standard 350 and proudly calls it ‘Ironhide’.

The ten pupils at Applecross Primary had their second week of Ready Steady Bike today. We were treated to another stunning day with the views across the sea to Skye. My friends Rhona and Gerry also volunteered to join me with Mrs Gillies to run the session. Four of the younger pupils worked on how to safely mount & dismount their bike, as well as steering skills. The group of older pupils also practiced mount & dismount before working on their cornering. Click here to see a short clip.

We finished with a short game of ‘Bike Twister’ – see the photo above.

Jim Sutherland

nineonesix-guiding

Looking at corner:
Looking and judging corners is a skill that comes with lot of practice. You will learn this art only by practice. Looking plays most important part in entering corner at right speed, in right lane and in right gear.
Always focus on where you want to go, not on which lane you want to ride. Don’t look at a tree standing at corner of road, but look at lane which takes you on right path. Focus ‘far ahead’ than immediate turn and try to judge your lane while looking at curve.

Choosing perfect lane:
Choosing perfect curve while taking a corner is most important. If you choose wrong lane and take too wide a curve, you might end up on opposite lane or go off road.

All curves are different and should be treated differently. However, there is one basic rule that you should always enter the curve from as much outside as possible to increase your line of sight. As you take the curve, ride towards inside of curve and while exiting, move you motorcycle to the outer side.

Riding at perfect speed:
Many a times, riders make mistake of entering a corner at wrong speed. If you enter a corner at higher speed then necessary, you will either end up braking your vehicle right in the middle of curve, losing all momentum. If you enter at lower speed, you will find your motorcycle struggling to clear the corner in effective manner and you might have to shit-up gears to get right momentum.
It is advisable to always enter the curve at lower speed to make sure there is no vehicle coming from opposite side and you have perfect leaning angle before exiting. Once you are at middle of curve and see the road ahead clearly, you should increase throttle and exit at increasing speed. This is called rule of ‘Slow in, Fast out!’

What is perfect lane and speed for any corner?
Well, there is no perfect lane or speed for any corner. Its all about your comfort and control over your motorcycle. Its about how skillfully you can clear a corner while maintaining perfect lane and speed. Never look at how rider ahead you cleared the corner. Rather, focus on how skillfully you can ride through it.

Immediately after coffee, we were on our bikes and rode into the sunrise…

"on days like this, I feel this big....!"

We rode around the hills all morning and felt our day could not get any better…until we came across this little sign….

hello!

Eric, being the more religious of the two of us, proceeded to a quick prayer to the God of Motorcycling….

"Lord, I have no idea what I have done to deserve this...but thank you!"

Perhaps because of the excitement or because he was not sure exactly what religion he actually belonged to, he proceeded to cover off other possibilities of thanking The Bearded Fella above…

I have also joined in the appreciation but with a slightly different approach…

...insert insulting comment here............

Once we got over the excitement of a road sign, and thanked our lucky stars for not getting caught acting like two idiots, we continued on and enjoyed the twisties up ahead to their fullest extent…We also went passed some pretty amassing scenery…

Not content with the fantastic weather, awesome ride and great company I kept teasing my mate for getting on his knees so easily earlier on. Finally, he had enough and once we pulled over…

pulling the gloves off...big mistake

he came over to swiftly box me in the head…The next minute, I would have been on the ground bleeding if…

I am the Stig....

I didn’t keep the helmet on…he got back onto his bike in disgust…and with a sore right hand. He rode much slower after that…and true to form, he blamed his bike…

Eventually we ended back in Devonport where the Spirit of Tassie was waiting to take us home…our awesome weekend was over…fuck!

the sight of the weekend being over...

onboard, we caught up with other fools on bikes…

who chose to leave the comforts of the concrete jungle behind (it rained all weekend in Melbourne…) to explore the Tasmanian wilderness…We exchanged war stories at the bar over a beer or four…

So this was the Mad Dash to Tassie, we planned about 600 kms but ended up doing about 1,000, just because it was so much fun!

I want to thank Eric for his mate ship, awesome company, putting up with my shit, not letting truth get in the way of a good story…and more importantly…

no no...thank YOU

choosing to keep that fart all for himself in the cabin…

Coming up next: we convince another mate Daniel to join us for another Tassie run, Eric upgrades his bike on the side of the road, Daniel throws caution to the wind and takes off his training wheels and I ride my awesome bike again…

Will the upgrade be faster for Eric? will Daniel make it back to Devonport? will they decide not to put up with my shit anymore, beat me up and leave me for dead?…Stay tuned!

Dream descents are made of open roads, tight corners and beautiful views. Timed correctly, the descent into Muir Woods has all three. Descending from the top of Sequoia Valley Road down Muir Woods Road is an amazing journey. Though not as long as the Stinson Beach descent, Muir Woods is a good way to brush up your descending skills with a long series of technical twists and turns along the 1.5 mile descent. Once at the bottom, there is a rush of endorphins from the wild ride that will carry you the rest of the way to Muir Beach for your return up CA-1.

Distance: from San Francisco Ferry Building 26.62 miles; from the Marin Crossroads 8.19 miles; from Somewhere Over the Rainbow 4.11 miles

Difficulty: Absolutely Wee Fast Fun!!
Descent on Route: 695 feet (212 meters)

Download your route sheet here: Directions – Boom Boom Pow

Download your Ride to Muir Woods and Return to Sausalito Route Sheet here: Directions – Bay to Muir Woods to Ferry

FOR A MORE DETAILED LOOK click here for the full Geoped Map provided by g-map-pedometer.com.

Elevation Map for the Route provided by MapMyRide.com

The descent into Muir Woods starts at the top of Sequoia Valley Road and the end of Somewhere Over the Rainbow.  This is Marin County Bike Route 6.

Miko at the entrance to Muir Woods, Panoramic Highway and Muir Woods Drive

From the top of Sequoia Valley Road, cross Panoramic Highway onto Muir Woods Road.

Intersection of Sequoia Valley Road, Panoramic Highway and Muir Wood Road

The descending starts right away.

Entrance to Muir Woods

View from the Top

Round the first corner and the next corner looms in the distance as you are already on picking up speed.

Round the next corner and the snaking road ahead gives you a visualization of the ride you are in for over the next mile and a half.

The road snakes below as you further descend into Muir Woods

This technical descent is all about control in and out of the numerous corners all the way down the side of the mountain.  The mental checklist for cornering running through your mind constantly, “find the line, brake before the turn, inside knee up and out, release the brakes so you don’t lock or slide, initiate the turn, counterstear, hit the apex, accelerate out” and half a second later it starts all over again!

Miko executes perfect cornering technique as she leans and counterstears while hitting the apex of one corner and has her head up looking at her path through the next.

After the first relentless set of corners, you get a brief reprieve to catch your breath and can gain some speed.

And then it’s back to high-speed cornering.

Keep your eyes up to watch for the corners, random pedestrians and cars that are much, much slower than you!

Cars on this road tend to be driven by tourists who can go as slow as 10 mph.

If you get frustrated, you can pull over and give the car a couple of minutes to get ahead of you and start your descent again. No worries if you stop, the grade is steep enough you will pick up speed quickly and be back leaning into the next corner with ease.

Under the canopy, the road starts to degrade and the rough surface makes the descent even more challenging.

Just a few corners left when you see the sign pictured above.

You will then come upon a relatively flat straightaway and the last big turn at the ranger station.

After you round the corner you’ll see the entrance to Muir Woods straight ahead.

And you might even see the car you gave a two-minute head start to at the end of the descent.

Welcome to Muir Woods

Take a break if you need it.  Bathrooms are at the end of the parking lot.  The descent is over, but there’s still another 2.5 miles until the intersection with CA-1 and Muir Beach.

From the entrance, head to the right.

View from the entrance to Muir Woods

The next part of the journey is relatively flat with a slight downward gradient.  Follow the road and you will pass cars parked along the road.

Muir Woods is not only a great descent for cyclists, but it’s also a favorite spot for hikers.  Many trailheads merge near the bottom of the descent.

Not long after leaving the Muir Woods entrance, you will enter Mt. Tamalpias State Park.

Just over a mile from the base of the descent you will come upon a couple of houses.

Then the last mile and a half to CA-1, the trees open up into a valley.

The stop sign indicates you have reached the end of Muir Woods Road and Bike Route 6.  This is where The Dog Days Are Over and Boom Boom Pow intersect.

Muir Beach and CA-1 South toward Sausalito and San Francisco is straight ahead, while CA-1 North toward Stinson Beach is to the right.

Go straight at the stop sign toward San Francisco and pass by the Pelican Inn.

The Pelican Inn is on your right, just before Pacific Way.

The intersection of CA-1 and Pacific Way in Muir Beach is the end of this journey, but the starting point of the trail that returns you from both Muir Woods and Stinson Beach back to Sausalito.

Whether this is your first time on a technical descent or you are brushing up from a long off-season, Muir Woods is fun and challenging. Though on every bike tourist’s map, you don’t see too many there. The rewards of Muir Woods are not only in the amazing ride and spectacular views, but also in the stories you share with your friends from the ride.

WeLikeToBike.com would like to welcome our friend Kelton to our rides!  You have seen him in some of the pictures above, stay tuned for him to take the spotlight as one of our featured stunt people in the video for the return to Sausalito!

Miko and Kelton at the top of Marin Headlands

Kelton and Jon taking a break at the top of Marin Headlands

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Leaders

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The man of the evening Jon Gibson being interviewed A beautiful Wind Waker piece that s likely way out of my price range and was already sold by the time I saw it

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View Demo MegaZine 3 Features

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