While looking for touring tips, Senthil Kumar came upon Iron Butt Association (IBA), an online community dedicated to long-distance biking. The endurance tests offered by IBA attracted the young software engineer. He settled on Iron Butt Saddlesore, a 1,000-km ride that had to be done in 24 hours.
He found out that five riders were listed on the IBA website for completing rides running into more than 1,610 km in under 24 hours in India. Mark Kiecker (Yamaha R15; 1,632 km), Melroy Alphonso (Yamaha FZ16; 1,649 km), Deepak Vasudev Dongre (150cc Pulsar; 1,697 km), Akshay Kaushal (180cc Pulsar; 1,733 km) and Arnob Gupta (Karizma 220cc; 1,702 km).
And so, Senthil decided to do a Chennai-Vizag-Chennai trip on his Yamaha Fazer — the two-way ride would entail covering 1,700 km. Thanks to timely advice from a friend, Senthil called off the trip. “He told me that the road to Vizag, a port city was invariably congested with heavy vehicles carrying cargo to and from the ships.”
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Senthil had done trips to Coimbatore in the past; every time, he would be taken up with the scenery along the way and the quality of the roads. However, for the Iron Butt test, he could not do a Chennai-Coimbatore-Chennai ride, as the cumulative distance was only 1,000 km, way short of the requirement. Finally, he decided to do a Chennai-Coimbatore-Chennai ride, followed by a Chennai-Madurai-Chennai one, all within 24 hours.
He left Ambattur at 6.11 a.m. on October 2, and stopped three hours later at the first checkpoint, Krishnagiri, to fuel up. The next stop was Salem, followed by Perumanallur, 50 km before Coimbatore. “I turned around at Perumanallur to avoid getting trapped in the city traffic at Coimbatore.”
He took the same route back and stopped at Tambaram, from where he set out for Madurai via Villupuram and Kottampatti (a small town outside Madurai). From Villipuram to Kottampatti, heavy rains made riding a Herculean task.
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Another hiccup during the 24-hour journey was near Tiruchi. “I lost about 20 minutes waiting behind a line of trucks in the wee hours of October 3, thanks to a minor accident involving a truck and a car.”
These setbacks proved minor, because Senthil made it back to Ambattur at 6.03 a.m. He had covered 1,665 km in 23 hours and 52 minutes. “I am the first to achieve this feat on a Fazer,” says an excited Senthil.