1200 Kilometres to Pench

LONG RIDE · APRIL 2026

A Year That Tested the Machine

If 2025 had a theme for me and my Versys, it was this: something will break. And it did. Multiple times.

It started with battery outages. Plural. Then the suspension — seven years old and simply done. Unni, at the Kawasaki service centre, took one look at it and said what I already suspected: it had run its course. He also advised getting one rated for my build. That narrowed things down to the Hyperpro suspension, which after a lot of research seemed just right for both my weight and the bike.

The catch? It was coming from Amsterdam.

What followed was a small logistical adventure of its own. Friends, relatives, biking buddies — I tried every route I could think of to get it shipped here. Finally, my uncle from Hyderabad came to the rescue. He was visiting London and then Gibraltar. I got the suspension shipped to London, it rode along with him to Gibraltar, then Portugal, then Hyderabad, and finally made its way to me in the middle of the year.

Unni fitted it. The bike felt alive again. I was ready to ride.

Except the bike had other ideas.

In the last six months of 2025, I went through two battery replacements and bought a brand new one. None of it stuck.

Manish and Jaggi from Urban Moto (you might remember them as Gear Gear) and Unni from Kawasaki all had a go at figuring out the root cause. One more breakdown later, Jaggi finally cracked it — a socket connector running close to the engine had failed. The Kawasaki part would take 45 days to arrive. But Jaggi had a jugaad ready: a custom-made ceramic holder. Fitted it. Problem solved. Just in time, as it turned out.

The Ride We’d All Been Waiting For

The Annual Versys India Riders Meet was in Pench this year. And I wanted to be there.

I’d only done a couple of rides to Mangalore in 2025, so the idea of a proper multi-day ride — 1200+ kilometres, more than 30 Versys riders from Bangalore, all heading to Pench — had me genuinely excited. The bookings had sold out in six minutes flat when the group announced it. Six minutes. I was nowhere near that fast.

But somehow, the waitlisted folks like me managed to get rooms at a second resort, about 20 minutes from the main one. Close enough.

Day 1 — Bangalore to Adilabad (900 km)

The 3am alarm that wasn’t needed

The plan was a 4:30am departure from Esteem Mall, about 30 kilometres from home. That meant waking up at 3, being out by 3:30. By the time I slept the night before — after the palpable excitement and the packing, unpacking, repacking, and packing again — it was already 11:30pm.

I decided to be sensible. Wake at 4, leave by 5. Catch up along the way.

Excitement had other plans. I was up every couple of hours checking the clock. By 3:15am I gave up, got geared, and was out of the house by 4:15. Already late. I missed the group at the departure point entirely and rode straight toward the first breakfast stop at Penukonda.

I reached just in time to watch everyone gear up and leave. Sanjay stayed back with me for company. We ate, rode together to Hyderabad, and parted ways there as he had family to visit.

Lost in Hyderabad

Hyderabad is its own beast. I tried to find the group, tried to trace them to a lunch stop called Pista House, but the maps kept routing me to an expressway where bikes aren’t allowed. I asked locals for directions. Found myself hot, hungry, and increasingly irritated.

The group was scattered across different stops. My mind was equally scattered. I made a call: ride it out to Adilabad at my own pace.

I found a tucked-away little spot off the highway called Old Trees Café. Great chicken steak, a long rest, camera and headset charging — exactly what the moment needed.

By the time I headed out of Hyderabad, it was 4pm. I caught up with the entire group at a toll just before Adilabad. And even then, I couldn’t keep pace with their lightning-fast riding. We eventually met at Hotel GK Classic in Adilabad. I was sharing the room with Leslie.

Showered, rested a bit, then headed up to the hotel terrace for beers and dinner with the gang. A good end to a long first day.

Day 2 — Adilabad to Pench (275 km)

Breakfast that deserved a mention

We left after a brilliant roadside breakfast that Kishen and Jabi had found — Swagath Tiffin Centre, Adilabad. The kind of place you’d never find unless someone who knows pointed you to it.

It was warm, roads were decent, and we reached Nagpur in good time. The group regrouped at a bar about 10 kilometres from the main resort — some pre-Pench fuel, let’s call it that.

Welcome to Tuli Tiger Corridor

There was a grand welcome waiting at the main resort. Lunch, introductions, old friends and new faces. I was then directed to the second resort — Tuli Veer Bagh’s property in Turiya, a few kilometres across the border into Madhya Pradesh, about 20 minutes away.

The rooms at the second resort were something else. Mine was bigger than my apartment back in Bangalore. It opened into a jacuzzi and a shower area the size of my living room. I stood there for a moment just taking it in.

And then my roommate informed me that he had booked for two people specifically to get a room to himself.

Fair enough. I moved across to an equally magnificent room on the other side and paired up with a rider from Pune. No complaints there.

The First Night — Party at the Main Resort

We bussed back to the main resort — lights, music, and a couple of self-appointed DJs making the most of the ride over.

The event had been put together with real care. An LED wall cycling through photos and videos of every rider. Professionally shot portraits. A drone filming overhead. Food counters and drinks running through the evening.

The band played, a lady “sang”, and the crowd politely applauded — mostly between the buffet and the bar. The crowd really came alive when a few riders from within the Versys group took the stage. The real highlight was Pankaj, the lead singer, who gave it everything he had.

For the second-resort folks, the night stretched till about 11:45pm — at which point the bus threatened to leave without us.

The bus ride back deserves its own paragraph. Heavily enthusiastic passengers dancing to South Indian music. The driver trying his best to concentrate. He did graze the side of a toll booth — luckily at low speed, with only minor scratches to show for it.

We stopped at a bar near the resort when two members disappeared to get cigarettes. We sat cooped up in the bus for over 40 minutes waiting. A brief, uh, discussion followed. We reached back to the resort and called it a night.

Day 3 at Pench — Tigers and Meditation

The unexpected morning ritual

We woke up to a small but tasty breakfast. Vivek, a V1000 rider, a chartered accountant, and a yoga and Vipassana practitioner, offered a short meditation session to whoever wanted in. After the previous day’s long ride and the previous night’s festivities, it was exactly the kind of magic the morning needed.

The safaris

I had the morning safari that day. Came back with nothing much to show. But I managed to get on the afternoon one too — and was lucky enough to watch a tiger for a good twenty minutes.

Here’s the honest note-to-self though: doing both safaris meant missing most of the group photos and planned activities. As much as I loved every minute in the jungle, I’d have equally loved spending that time getting to know the riders from across India. Stick with the group’s plan next time. Side hustles can wait.

The Second Evening — DJ Night

Everyone was well rested. The LED wall was back, this time showing all the activities I’d missed while I was out on safari. An appropriate reminder.

The evening was warm with gratitude — for the organisers, for the years of doing this, for the community. Several riders had made it to every single Versys meet across seven years. That kind of commitment deserves a word stronger than respect.

And then the announcement: the next VIR meet. Pondicherry, January. Hosted by Versys South. I made a mental note. A very firm one.

My roommate for the trip took the stage and sang Maeri by Euphoria. Beautifully. The entire group was surprised in the best possible way.

I kept the drinking light that night. I had 1200 kilometres of riding ahead of me.

The Return — Pench to Bangalore

Many riders left at 4, 5, and 6am to make Bangalore in a single day. We left at 8:30 after breakfast. I tried to stay with at least a small group for as long as possible.

Hyderabad scattered us again, as it does. Rush hour this time, and we needed to cross the entire city to reach our hotel near the Bangalore highway. Roads, traffic, wrong turns — all of it.

At one point, I spotted a helmet and a Versys and the rider waved at me. I followed him. Then I got distracted on a ring road for a moment and lost him on a turn. A few calls, a U-turn, and we found each other again. We reached the hotel at 7pm. Tired and genuinely hungry.

The hotel had no food but allowed us to order in. Decent biryani. Adequate rest. A party started in one of the rooms — strong beer only. I retired early.

The next morning, I headed out with Ram — an old-timer and ex-RTMC club member who had been my roommate — and Anand Gore. The three of us rolled out together. It didn’t last long. Anand stopped for petrol and his bike’s battery chose that exact moment to give up entirely. He asked me to find a chai spot ahead and said he’d catch up. I was already too far ahead to turn back, and he had Ram for company — so I was back to riding alone again.

While hunting for morning chai, I stumbled upon Rutwij and another rider at a roadside chai stop off the highway. They had stayed back in Hyderabad with friends and were only now heading home. Rutwij had packed Bun Maska from Cafe Niloufer — soft buns loaded with butter — and we sat there, dunked them into hot chai, and had a very proper breakfast. Both were on litre-class Versys bikes, and after the chai they were gone in a flash. Back to my own pace.

I spoke to Anand while riding. He had eventually managed to get going, but the battery was clearly on its last legs. Every time they stopped, the bike had to be push-started. Ram stuck with him through all of it — exactly the kind of riding companion you want when things go sideways on a highway.

The group came back together a couple of times on the way — once for a quick tea and snack stop midway, and finally for lunch at Koteshwaram in Devanahalli, just before Bangalore. A fitting last stop before home.

A good ride feels like an understatement. It was the kind of ride that reminds you why you ride in the first place.

Now all that’s left is to wait for Pondicherry in 2027!

Pictures from this Epic Road Trip