The name “Slopes of Hell” invokes images of the Dakar Rally, massive boulders, crazy trails and so on. The 36 riders who ultimately enrolled for this ride were given fair warning for what was to come. Special instructions were passed on to ensure each one was dressed in the appropriate safety gear. Needless to say, we were all excited for the ride to come.
As we assembled at 6:00 AM at Green Park, Baner, Pune, the briefing contained the same instructions. “Be careful, avoid hard breaking, follow the line, look for proper footrest in case you stop, stay in the high rev-zone”. Basically a recap of everything that was taught to us in the “Off road training session” (blog coming soon) – Check out the video below for an amazing recap of the session on the KRRC Channel by the very talented Vinil Chacko.
We set off at 6:35 AM, and reached the location on the foothills of the Kamshet ghat in about an hour. Looking up you can see the final destination – the tower right up there at the peak.
As we regrouped, instructions were passed for the ‘faster riders’ to start off. Vikram and Lalit being the hard core offroader in the group set off with a few of us, as we started off.
The actual slopes of hell are fun to ride on. Steep ride up, about 45 degrees slope, with completely broken gravelly, muddy, rocky paths. The rain over the past few days had rendered parts of the path slightly mushy as well. However, thankfully, it wasn’t complete slush, so there was not much loss of traction for the bike tyres.
The last part of the climb was through thick green foliage with a very narrow trail. This was the must fun part, particularly with the hill on the left, and a sheer drop on the right. Rocks on the road meant we were weaving out way around the obstructions, making this an extra challenge.
As we reached the top, we were greeted with some amazing view. Open clear skies, a gorgeous panorama of the Mumbai-Pune highway and clear visibility for several kilometers.
A parallel peak also has activities for paragliding – we saw quite a few people there and parachutes in the air – definitely a spot for you adventures and thrill seekers.
We chilled on the top for a while, with a few folks walking up the steps to chill on the top of the hill. Bikes cannot go to the absolute top due to massive boulders blocking the way (we tried 🙂 )
As there is very less space up top to congregate, the leaders took a call to have the rest of the gathering back at the base. (also chai ki latt kagi thi!). We set off on the way back, and this was a bit more challenging with Mother Gravity playing a role in taking the difficulty up a notch. A couple of bikes had a tough time controlling the speed and did take a couple of minor falls due to emergency breaking, but nothing serious.
Chai commenced with the introduction session of the new riders. We also felicitated riders achieving KRRC milestones
- Vikram – Badge for completing 5 rides
- Pinakin – Star for completing 10 rides
- Abhinay – Wings for completing 50 rides! 40+ of these rides were in the last one year, pretty much a club record of sorts.
Congratulations to all the winners!
The ride didn’t end here. There was a huge open field with a slight elevation right there. The whole group took off riding over the field, and, as always, posing for an epic group photo graph!
Finally, with all our saddling and off-roading appetites satiated, we set off for the short quick ride back home. The ride back was quite fun too, with Ride Leader Umesh zooming off on his Dominar. Brilliant ride back, super fun as always!
Here’s to the next one!
Route Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/rPzHdbiRnxeZviDi7
all images by Anwar K. (KRRC)
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