Coast to Coast 2021: Kozhikode to Kochi

I start early again and I am ready by 6:15 am. It’s a challenging day as I need to sort out my engine noise problem and also a close inspection yesterday reveals that my rear tire is due for a change.

The first light of the day is out and I crank up the engine around 6:45 am. The engine does feel a bit heavy with that noise. I plan to get it inspected as soon as I find a service center along the way.

It’s a beautiful morning and within no time I get to see an unobstructed view of the coast with few people on their morning jog. The weather seems cold and helps to cheer me up. The roads will mostly run parallel to the coast today. This is my observation after studying the map the previous night.

Riding for just 10kms and I am taking my first ferry in Kerala. I see the Sun rising slowly behind the dense vegetation of palm trees. Its colors gently dissolve into the sky and the waters. The ferry is partially crowded and most of the people are going by their daily business, some to buy fresh fish which I come to know only later.

The ferry attendant is blurbing something in Malayali which I don’t understand. I only know that he is asking for the fare and with some hand gestures, I hand him some 15rs which according to people standing nearby is more than what should I have given to him. I ignore it and get myself busy watching the beautiful surrounding. For a second, I wish if I could own a boat here.

I get down from the ferry and park my bike to take some photos. Immediately, I am approached by a swarm of policemen who bombard me with all sorts of questions. Like I am some kind of terrorist, entering illegally from another country. I find out that they are the coastal police who are on patrol. This all happens due to my out-of-the-world costume which they think is somewhat alien. I try to sell my story for being here and they leave me after taking all my details. The camera is in recording mode and I capture all the dialogues.

Adventure for me had just leveled up within 10 km of ride. God knows what else was coming for the day.

I get totally mesmerized by the route I am riding on. Sometimes, I feel like riding in the city and a few minutes later the feeling is like I am riding inside some forest. Such a drastic change of topography. Welcome to Kerala I say to myself.

The politicos didn’t even spare the trees to advertise themselves up.

Riding close to 150kms, I arrive at my 2nd ferry point at Azhikode. Like the first, this journey is also short and quickly I find myself approaching Kochi.

Chasing the coastal roads lands me in trouble as the roads are blocked due to excessive sand deposition by the sea. Somehow, I try to pass over it with my bike power but I am met with a broken patch of the road ahead. I re-trace my step back up to a certain distance and take a small narrow road that joins another parallel road, original to where I was riding in the first place.

Ever since morning, I am trying to find a good backdrop to take some snaps and around 10:30 am I touch my both feet on the ground and click some ‘been into Kerala’ shots. Till now, all the shots are clicked by the GoPro live during the ride. After a quick hydration break and resting for 5-10min, I am back to riding.

I am closing in on the capital now and on the way, I meet one fellow person on a moped. I tell him my situation to which he happily escorts me to a place that looks like a spare parts shop. I tell him that I am looking for a service center so that I can get my bike checked. In Kochi you will get everything, that’s what he tells me. I push forward.

I search for Royal Enfield center on Google and start my navigation. It’s around 15kms from my current location.

I reach the place around 1 pm. I take my bike inside but have to wait for quite a while. Even after that, I don’t get any help. Frustrated, I phone the lady whom I had called before reaching this place. I vent my frustration on her and finally, someone is standing right in front of the bike. I explain the situation to them. After much thinking, analysis, and talking to another fellow person they are convinced that it’s the “play between Connecting Rod and Crankshaft” which is causing that hammering noise. My initial judgment is that “they even quite don’t know” what the issue is. They tell me it will take 1 week to sort out the matter following which I tell them it’s not possible for me. I can give max 2 days. That’s what I tell them. The repair of the bike seems out of scope for them.

I phone my local service person in Pune and am directed to call Sachin Chawan directly. Mr. Sachin used to work in Royal Enfield heading the ‘Rides’ section pan India and was directly the right hand to the then CEO of Royal Enfield, Mr. Sid Lal. I phone Sachin and explain the situation to him. Help is immediately offered and I am directed to head to a company-owned service center at Chembumukku which is not far away from my current place. I am told to meet Mr. Peter who will guide me. I rush.

I try calling Peter upon reaching but he says he is not there over the phone. I am directed to meet Mr. Vineeth who is the service manager. They both have already spoken to each other over my matter. Suddenly, the guys surround the bike and things get serious. Discussions start to happen between us and even my Pune service guys are on the hotline trying to help them and pinpoint the issue. After much debate, the root cause for the noise is binned to “the play between the connecting rod and the crankshaft”. They jump into action. They assure me that they will ready the bike by tomorrow so that I can continue on my journey the day after tomorrow. Other problems such as Seat mount broken and rear tire worn out are also shown to them. They assure me of the complete service of the bike and tell me not to worry. A dedicated team of experienced service engineers is assigned to handle my job card. I try to tell them to keep the service cost as low as possible. I guess the welding on the seat mount had given up somewhere inside Kerala.

With one issue solved, It’s time to solve another one and that is of a decent stay somewhere closeby. I use the “Booking” app and get a good deal of 850 bucks per night. I book for 2 nights stay. The hotel is within 2 km radius.

I find the task of carrying all my luggage by myself tiresome. I book an Auto to drive me to the hotel and off we go. I think he is not happy ferrying me with all that luggage. He demands a luggage fee from me. We agree on some fixed value. Reaching the destination we find ourselves lost and the hotel we try to search for is not there. The driver is going mad and he leaves me there with all my luggage on the pavement. I have reached the place but am not able to locate the hotel as the name board is missing. Finally, after much searching, I come to know that the place where I got dropped was correct one only thing is that the hotel went by a different name. The afternoon heat is killing me and I am sweating profusely from the inside.

I check into the hotel and freshen up myself. The service guys have called me in the evening once they open up the engine.

After a good bath and sorting all my luggage, I rest for a while and around 5 pm head toward the service center for a look. I enter the service bay and see my bike all stripped down. The parts were kept nicely on the worktable. My guy nicely working the engine.

I get the information that the engine teardown is complete which was the major time consumer. We discuss further things and they assure me the bike will get ready by tomorrow evening. Big relief for me.

The Royal Enfield guys assure me about the work and I leave the place. It’s dusk and getting dark. With nothing more to do, I head towards the city center for some authentic local shopping of Kerala spices. A requirement stated by Mom from back home. Due to the breakdown, I get this opportunity to stay in Kochi and do the shopping. Had the bike been behaving normal, I might as well skipped Kochi and adding to that, the shopping part. Its a blessing in disguise I think.

The shopping bag weighs a ton and I take a cab back to my hotel. The spices bought added another bag to my bike luggage and another burden for me to carry further. Evening dinner is ordered from Swiggy following which I sleep peacefully knowing that I will be back on the road soon.

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The next day morning is spent washing all my stuff. It’s dirty as hell after riding for more than 4000 km. Even my laptop bag is not spared. I left them to dry inside the room while I head outside for breakfast. I am a little late for breakfast and it’s around 10:30 am. I yearn for Dosa but it’s not available and have to settle on cold Idli and one local item whose name I forget.

Back to the hotel again, following which I head to the service center to check up on the bike condition. The work is still in progress and meanwhile, I and another person from the service center head outside to buy a new rear tire for the bike. We reach in 5 mins and I get the tire I wanted. I settle for CEAT GRIPP XL which costs me 2400rs.

Back at the center, I get a new front seat without any additional cost. It’s an old seat from a new bike that got damaged during the transit from the Plant to the Dealer. It has got a 5 mm hole in the middle and I am totally fine with it. Performace is important than aestheticism for me.

I spent the entire afternoon there itself refusing to go back to the hotel. In the meantime, I get my Antigen Test done from the local nearby hospital just to be sure of my condition, and also no one should stop me at the Kerala- Tamil Nadu border if any check happens. They say the reports are due the next day and will be sent over email.

Everything is done from my side for the journey to resume again and I finally get to lay my hands on the bike around 6:30 pm. I test drive it and all seems OK. The noise is heard the way it should sound. I am happy and thank the entire Kochi RE team and staff for their tireless efforts for the past 30 hrs. Peter is finally seen at the showroom and I get to meet him. I fall short of words in describing the work his team has put in. We take a group photo and hands are waved to each other. The wish me luck on my next journey while I head back to hotel to do the packing.

With the packing done along with dinner, it’s an early good night for me and I prepare myself for the next leg of the journey after the breakdown. The border is not far and I am excited on the part that I will be entering Tamil Nadu and inching closer to my bucket list destination of Kanyakumari.

I spend my last night of Kerala without any worry in my head!