For sometime, I wanted to ride on NH-3 (Thane-Nashik). Had good review of that stretch and Kasara ghat was calling. Add to that, a new GPS enabled phone and Co-Pilot external GPS. Combine that with a free weekend morning and there you go!
Got up, dressed up and came down. It was time to setup the stuff for first time. The GPS mount is still in transit so I had to find a way to get the stuff mounted. Results? Desi Jugaad!!
The wrist strap tied to GPS unit was put into tank lid and lid was closed. Scotch tape was used to keep it fixed. Equipment was setup, I set destination, Igatpuri on Nokia's Maps Navigation and started.
First roadlock? bluetooth headset was not charged and it quickly died. No more turn by turn navigation :(
The road was nice, smooth tar throughout the ride. Perhaps the contractor was honest! Construction is going on so there are alternate one side patches. Road cleared up as I approached Kasara and I was really wishing to twist throttle and hit 100 kmph mark. Second service is due soon so the urge was controlled with lots of efforts.
New section in
Kasara ghat is now operation and ghat was pleasure to ride. But it ended quickly and I found myself at Igatpuri. There was a moment during the ride when I was feeling like returning cause the ghat was not coming, the straight road at low speed was getting little boring. The ghat was little abrupt :(
It was 8am and 100km on tripmeter. There was no good dhaba in sight so I decided to return. New ghat section on return journey was good too and it ended again quickly.
Finally I stopped after Kasara ghat and had a misal-paav. The owner must own oil drills in Gulf. It was evident in the misal.
Return ride was quick and soon I was home. I hit the 100kmph mark for few secs, first time on Raptor! But otherwise stayed between 80-90.
For return journey I used Nokia's Sportstracker. Maps application used earlier does not give you connectivity to Google earth or trip log. Sportstracker does but it does not give you turn by turn navigation. Sportstracker also gives you an account on its own portal where you can see your ride on map and statistics. I guess you can track your ride online but I am yet to try it out.
Riding is fun, and riding with GPS is added fun!
