Road trip on a bike vs car

First let me establish my credibility on this subject of road trips (RT). I do a lot of them! I'm addicted to travel. The longest car drive I've gone on was a 900 Km drive over 4 days and the longest I did on a bike was the recent Masinagudi trip - 1400 kms in two days. I have done close to 6 car trips and 2 bike trips.

I've never done a LONG RT in a bike, so this Masinagudi trip was the first. I had quiet an enlightenment of the differences between bike trips and car trips.

1. Bike is much smaller than it looks. I was in a bullet and even that seemed smaller to all the stuff I was carrying. I had a backpack filled with biscuits, water, juice, two sets of clothes, rain protection gear and MY CAMERA(DSLR). (And the other rider just had shorts and raincoat in a pouch! ) I didn't have lot of space in the back. But I was able to adjust due to my thin frame.
2. Take two plastic covers, big ones.  One, to keep all the stuff in when it starts to pour and another to put the trash in. Believe me, India is beautiful. Some of the places I've gone through is so beautiful, I can't begin to describe it. Hence, I carry a cam to show everyone that. So please keep the place clean, wherever you go. 
3. It's a bike, you need more protection. Wear shoes, jeans and a tough denim jacket if you do not have professional gear. Most importantly, wear a helmet. It might be no one's fault when an accident happens. But, better safe than sorry. 
4. If it's not a high-tech helmet you are wearing, the chances are there is no provision for ventilation. When you are riding/sitting pillion for quiet some time, you begin to feel sleepy for two reasons - highways are smooth, so monotonous and the when you have the visor of your helmet closed, you don't get fresh air in. So to avoid falling asleep, and eventually falling off the bike, you better open the visor for some time after an interval of time. 
5. Take all the time you need to gear up before you get on that bike. Gear up well. 
6. Bum is gonna hurt so bad after a long ride on a bike, you wont even want to sit for at least 3 days after the ride, unless you are an IRON BUTT. :)

please add more tips for bike RT's, if you got any!


cheers

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Masinagudi Trip

Masinagudi, a beautiful small little hamlet in the middle of a Jungle. Optimum Stay: two nights and a day.

The first one hour was nice. I was telling myself "This is easy!". The next hour, it got numb. I said to myself "This isn't all that bad!". And then it started - began to burn.
It refers to the part of the body that's on the seat! Yes, I went by Royal Enfield from Chennai. 1400 kms, two days. I had a good time, partly scary - was the pillion when the bike was doing 120 kmph and mostly awesome - great place, great ride (my whole body will agree except for the cells that had to sacrifice sensitivity by constantly rubbing against the seat and some muscles in the back), great photos.

The route we took (google maps)
Chennai - Krishnagiri - Hosur - NICE road - Mysore - Bandipur - Masinagudi

We came back :(google maps)
Masinagudi - Gundlupet - Asanur - Chamaraja Nagar - Dhimbam - Sathyamangalam - Salem (dont get into erode, take the bypass) - Krishnagiri - Chennai

Experience and route!
 On the way to Masinagudi, the roads till Mysore are boring - wide, monotonous. From Mysore to Bandipur the road is a bit narrow but the view on the sides is great.
Bandipur to Masinagudi stretch is pure bliss, why wouldn't it be, its surrounded by forest and we were lucky to spot a tusker, Wild Boar, Bisons, Peacock/hens, Deers. And the weather was awesome.
PLEASE DO NOT LITTER.
And then we entered Masinagudi. Small hamlet, beautiful place. We didn't have anything booked in advance so we had to settle for something not that great. The climate was awesome- slight drizzle and cold - a welcome change for Chennaites.

Coming back:
Next day morning, we started from Masinagudi by 9 AM, Went through Gundlupet which has a lot of old temple ruins, we didn's stop as we wanted to reach Chennai by 10PM, at least. Stopped at a home mess, Banneri Amma mess, in a small village and had delicious idlis for breakfast. Entered forest roads and were on it till Asanur. We had no luck with sighting animals. Then to Dhimbam, Bannari (famous temple there) and superb ghat roads.

We reached Sathyamangalam by 12 noon, took a thirty minutes rest and left for Salem. Took the Erode bypass and reached Salem by 2:45. Had yum lunch at Hotel Raja's and left Salem by 3:30 and reached Krishnagiri by 5 and then Chennai by 9:15.

More photos taken during the Masinagudi trip

Cheers

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