CEATXPLORER: WILD WILD SOUTH

Our CEATXPlorer Prateek Chaturvedi takes up an epic ride through the forest reserves in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu with a visit to Ooty as the icing on the cake.

THE pandemic brought about a slew of changes in our lives. Ever since COVID came knocking on our doors, it affected everything around the globe, including the way we travel and to some extent, where we travel as well. It was September 2020, right after the first wave of COVID that my wife and I decided to move to our hometown, Lucknow, from Bangalore. It was a temporary change but a big one still.

Since moving to Lucknow, we had mostly been riding to the usual destinations in northern India; the Himalayas, Lahaul, Spiti, Uttarakhand, Northeast, and so on. Our most recent ride was the 30-day-long Unexplored Spiti Ride. After nearly two years, we are visiting Bangalore and as happenstance would dictate, we got an opportunity to ride for xBhp and CEAT for their #CEATxPlorer project.

Opportunities like that do not come by frequently so we instantly said yes! After all, who can say no to a monsoon ride opportunity that will let you explore the wilderness of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu? So, the first weekend after we got the information, I sat down to work on the itinerary. After having stayed in Bangalore for nearly a decade, charting out a route was not a problem. The problem was arranging for a motorcycle as Bella (my G 310 GS) was in Lucknow.

After pondering over a few options, I picked up the Royal Enfield Scram 411. I have been wanting to ride one over a long distance for a while now and I finally got the chance to. Coincidentally, the Scram 411 comes fitted with the fantastic CEAT Gripp XL tyres as stock so that was sorted too. For the route, I decided that we will be riding through forest reserves, in addition to a few more of my favourite places in the Nilgiri mountains. Everything was set, we were ready to go, and so, with a cloudy skyline and a prediction for a thunderstorm, we started our ride on a fine Sunday morning!