Monday, August 8, 2022
Adventure in Vermont
I want to begin by acknowledging what a privilege it is to be able to traverse geographically on a motorcycle.
In that a well made Suzuki. cant say enough of its performance and reliability not to mention its handling.
A perfect tool to cover vast distances with minimal fuss.
Since I am a regular to yearly easter vstrom rally which happens around May in North Carolina, I am fortunate to meet people from various places.
one such person was Harmut, a 72 year old gentleman, a German at that, no nonsense, to the point character, who genuinely promoted the event he is part of yearly,
only this time near his home ( New York), the north east US. The group is called as North East Vstrom group and the event is called, North East Vstrom Rally, NEVA
for short.
This year it was planned for four days between Aug 4th through 7th at Danville, Vermont, a quaint historical village with a small population.
It is quite a hike from souther Michigan, roughly 720 miles one way.
Most of the attendies were camping in tents in a campgroud:
my arch nemesis this trip was perspiration, especially in the nether areas. the cloth clutches to the skin due to friction and caused severe monkey butt.
the high humidity, high air temperature and occasionaly rain didnt help dry up the undie. Anyway, will have to figure this one out before next long ride is these conditions.
Michigan is flat and featureless for motorcycle riders, excluding the trails that is. So there is an amount of expectation when you ride out such long distances.
The great appalachian range extends all the way up north, so Vermont terrain is mountainous.
The campsite was clean with bath house close by and a refreshing swimming pool. after each ride, we would go into the pool for some much needed relaxation from heat.
The hosts were incredibly kind and welcoming, they offered me food after my 14 hours on the road, let me tag along to explore the local countryside.
they also provided valuable suggestions on how to overcome my Monkey butt. One of them noticed that my chain needed lubrication, unfortunately I didnt carry mine, due to space constraints.
Luckily, a good samaritan shared his, Rick from Toronto, the tall, cool and composed veteran.
we didnt get to share our past riding experiences, though I would have liked that to happen since most members have been riding even before I was born.
On day 2 we did around 220 miles zig zagging the white mountain, though I would have preferred a faster pace, it was still OK.
The day presented with overcast conditions and rainy sections, some double lanes, and a few single lane forest roads, all paved.
somebody took a lot of time to research and put together GPS routes. The twisties are not comparable to the ones in North Carolina, but any day better than Michigan roads.
Local food was american cuisine, soups and sandwiches and omlettes.
I have to mention about the gas prices, historically high for my time in the continental US, slightly more in Canada, as I had to traverse aroun 550 miles through Canada.
The mileage in the local rides was extraordinary. The economy is best when the RPM is at 4000 or lower, it starts consuming more fuel as the RPM increases beyond 4500 RPM.
On Day 3, I set out with another small group to explore some offroad and potentially a secion of BDR (Backcountry discovery routes). BDR's are very popular amongst locals in the US.
A challenge a dream for dual sporters. we also hit some really nice twisties comparable to the ones from North Carolina, however they were very short and bugged with traffic, leaving no pleasure in carving through it. But, I made the most of it, thanking again for my fortunes.
The return was uneventful, kept riding thick and thin through traffic jams until got home to my loving Family.
To hear the magic words from my 2 year old daughter "Daddy".
It takes a strong woman to let her husbad scoot away like this for days together, So, I am deeply appreciative of this fact too.
would I motivate myself to ride 700 miles to North East, may be if the circumstances are outstanding.
I would rather ride 600 miles to get to Smokies for far better twisties.
you never know what the future holds. For now, I am grateful and feel lucky to be able to be doing this.
I dedicate this ride to my original riding club from Mysore, the bulls of mysore motorcycling club.
I did miss them and hopefully we can do it together soon.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Raid De Kolli
I had to share the Kolli Ride experience with you all. This is one more humble effort to capture few of the moments through the ride which made it all the worthwhile. Fellow BOM members Ram and Deepak sprouted the idea of riding to Kolli, mainly because of the exhilarating number of hair pin bends. Seventy in total one way into the hills add to this MM Hills ghat section and Sathy ghat section.
The combination was a treat for bikers from BOM. When the ride was announced by Deepak to the main list BOM members, we got around 12 confirmations, out of them, eventually seven riders had to back out due to some engagements which needed attention.
Nonetheless, the ride was happening and had to happen big time. There were groups starting from Mysooru and Bengaluru. Me and Ramanna starting from namma Mysooru and DJ, Masthi and PV starting from Bengaluru.
We started at around 5 30 AM after a tea break from the famous BOM stop tea stall. This is the second time me and Ram were doing this stretch, earlier time being the Yercaud Ride. We rode through T Narsipura and through Kollegal to reach our first stop, also a breakfast stop, some 120kms from Start point. Sun rose through the BiligiriRanganabetta (hills). As we were riding due east, we had to face the brunt of Mr. Sun. My new investment, Mr.Rayban yielded fruits. Then we arrived at the foothill of Malai Mahadeshwarabetta (Hills) for breakfast. We had reached there in good time.Lovely Rice Idli’s and green chilly chatni filled us up till the brink. This was a place which looked like a shrine in all aspects, with people offering incense sticks at the “Mahadwara” main entrance to the hills. Atop the hill is a beautiful temple of Shiva. We did not stop to disturb Shiva, as he was busy interacting with his true devotees (us).
With minimal traffic we made steady progress through the Ghats and bumpy roads. We had to reach Salem by 10/11AM to meet up with the other guys. It was getting hotter by the hour, but all sweat/heat would vanish when our wheels were doing the talking. So we let them do the talking, singing and yodeling. Ram was running a bit slow to our standards as he had a new bore. So we stuck below 100kmph on the NH47 leading to Salem. Soon, by 10 30 we were in Salem, called up Masthi to find out their whereabouts. DJ was apparently hungry as he had not had his breakfast, so they had gone inside the Salem city to eat. They caught up with us soon after. By around 11 AM all four of had gathered together and were heading straight to Rasipuram on the NH47. Needless to say, when four bikers wrench their throttle on an open highway, even a Merc slows down to have a look, assuming Merc had mustered enough strength to go beyond 120kmph.
We absolutely rocked the highway all along, the looks on each of ours face when we stopped just before Kolli Foot hills narrated the story of four fully satisfied souls. We were brimming with happiness, shaking each other’s hands; we just could not stop praising the ride so far. It wouldn’t stop there, we still had the main section to do, the enviable Kolli Ghats and the 70 hair pin bends.
Whatever the legend has to say about the Kolli Malai, I felt her like a mother, beautiful at each and every turn, giving the best ambience possible. She never made us feel like we were new to her, she was more than happy to serve us, with love and care.
Unlike other ghat sections that I have been, Kolli is pretty well designed with better banking and more space for the vehicle. We usually hit a straight and then a hair pin bend, but here the whole thing is a hoolaloop, some right/left turns would never end, these are not the hair pin bends, mind you. It was a live show of Kolli, mesmerizing.
We had traversed the entire 70 hair pin bends even before we realized it. That was the moment when even time stood still, I made sure that we had really done those 70 bends, only after confirming did we ride to the cottage.
Masthi had already booked a cottage for us, big enough to accommodate five people. Kolli is still nascent to commercialization. We had reached the destination at the right time for lunch. We were served with a large pot of rice, a pot of sambar, a pot of rasam and a pot of palya. Between four of us, we finished off five people’s food. Once again we were all filled up till our throats. Even a heavy meal was not enough to put us to sleep; we got freshened up to visit AkashaGange waterfalls, 11 kms from the cottage. We rode out pretty slowly and cautiously as we were not wearing our safety gear. Unfortunately for us, the entry is restricted to entrants after 4PM, and It was 4 30 PM when we reached. The guard said that, it would take around 3 hours to climb down and up the 1000 plus steps to and from the falls.
Amidst all these excitements, three members from our fellow bullet Club, KTMC also made their way into the cottage we were staying. We met Evin, Inian and Bhuvan. PV also arrived sometime after that. We welcomed the evening with full strength. Prepared for the party, pepsi, soda, etc.
We were also treated to some lovely food for dinner, thanks to Inian and Bhuvan for arranging the Chicken. There went rounds and rounds about rides happened, to happen and so forth. We called it a day by 10 30PM.
Mr. Sun woke up way too early for us to welcome him. We dragged ourselves out of our beds by 8AM. Got freshened up and were ready for a photo session with all the bikes and the bikers. The cottage people treated us with five dosas each, once again filling up our tummy. This is one ride, where I have always had my tummy satisfied.
After all the, to do discussions, we all geared up for the return leg. Me, Ram and Bhuvan were to ride till Sathy together and from there Bhuvan would deviate towards Coimbatore and we would continue towards Mysooru. The other three guys, DJ, PV and Masthi left towards Bengaluru. We rode together till Salem and then split into our ways.
Bhuvan lead us through to Sathy, all of 200 odd kms done over 80kmph minimum. Thankfully the road from Sathy to Chamarajanagar is new and in good condition. We reached home by 6 30PM with awe for Kolli Malai.
The combination was a treat for bikers from BOM. When the ride was announced by Deepak to the main list BOM members, we got around 12 confirmations, out of them, eventually seven riders had to back out due to some engagements which needed attention.
Nonetheless, the ride was happening and had to happen big time. There were groups starting from Mysooru and Bengaluru. Me and Ramanna starting from namma Mysooru and DJ, Masthi and PV starting from Bengaluru.
We started at around 5 30 AM after a tea break from the famous BOM stop tea stall. This is the second time me and Ram were doing this stretch, earlier time being the Yercaud Ride. We rode through T Narsipura and through Kollegal to reach our first stop, also a breakfast stop, some 120kms from Start point. Sun rose through the BiligiriRanganabetta (hills). As we were riding due east, we had to face the brunt of Mr. Sun. My new investment, Mr.Rayban yielded fruits. Then we arrived at the foothill of Malai Mahadeshwarabetta (Hills) for breakfast. We had reached there in good time.Lovely Rice Idli’s and green chilly chatni filled us up till the brink. This was a place which looked like a shrine in all aspects, with people offering incense sticks at the “Mahadwara” main entrance to the hills. Atop the hill is a beautiful temple of Shiva. We did not stop to disturb Shiva, as he was busy interacting with his true devotees (us).
With minimal traffic we made steady progress through the Ghats and bumpy roads. We had to reach Salem by 10/11AM to meet up with the other guys. It was getting hotter by the hour, but all sweat/heat would vanish when our wheels were doing the talking. So we let them do the talking, singing and yodeling. Ram was running a bit slow to our standards as he had a new bore. So we stuck below 100kmph on the NH47 leading to Salem. Soon, by 10 30 we were in Salem, called up Masthi to find out their whereabouts. DJ was apparently hungry as he had not had his breakfast, so they had gone inside the Salem city to eat. They caught up with us soon after. By around 11 AM all four of had gathered together and were heading straight to Rasipuram on the NH47. Needless to say, when four bikers wrench their throttle on an open highway, even a Merc slows down to have a look, assuming Merc had mustered enough strength to go beyond 120kmph.
We absolutely rocked the highway all along, the looks on each of ours face when we stopped just before Kolli Foot hills narrated the story of four fully satisfied souls. We were brimming with happiness, shaking each other’s hands; we just could not stop praising the ride so far. It wouldn’t stop there, we still had the main section to do, the enviable Kolli Ghats and the 70 hair pin bends.
Whatever the legend has to say about the Kolli Malai, I felt her like a mother, beautiful at each and every turn, giving the best ambience possible. She never made us feel like we were new to her, she was more than happy to serve us, with love and care.
Unlike other ghat sections that I have been, Kolli is pretty well designed with better banking and more space for the vehicle. We usually hit a straight and then a hair pin bend, but here the whole thing is a hoolaloop, some right/left turns would never end, these are not the hair pin bends, mind you. It was a live show of Kolli, mesmerizing.
We had traversed the entire 70 hair pin bends even before we realized it. That was the moment when even time stood still, I made sure that we had really done those 70 bends, only after confirming did we ride to the cottage.
Masthi had already booked a cottage for us, big enough to accommodate five people. Kolli is still nascent to commercialization. We had reached the destination at the right time for lunch. We were served with a large pot of rice, a pot of sambar, a pot of rasam and a pot of palya. Between four of us, we finished off five people’s food. Once again we were all filled up till our throats. Even a heavy meal was not enough to put us to sleep; we got freshened up to visit AkashaGange waterfalls, 11 kms from the cottage. We rode out pretty slowly and cautiously as we were not wearing our safety gear. Unfortunately for us, the entry is restricted to entrants after 4PM, and It was 4 30 PM when we reached. The guard said that, it would take around 3 hours to climb down and up the 1000 plus steps to and from the falls.
Amidst all these excitements, three members from our fellow bullet Club, KTMC also made their way into the cottage we were staying. We met Evin, Inian and Bhuvan. PV also arrived sometime after that. We welcomed the evening with full strength. Prepared for the party, pepsi, soda, etc.
We were also treated to some lovely food for dinner, thanks to Inian and Bhuvan for arranging the Chicken. There went rounds and rounds about rides happened, to happen and so forth. We called it a day by 10 30PM.
Mr. Sun woke up way too early for us to welcome him. We dragged ourselves out of our beds by 8AM. Got freshened up and were ready for a photo session with all the bikes and the bikers. The cottage people treated us with five dosas each, once again filling up our tummy. This is one ride, where I have always had my tummy satisfied.
After all the, to do discussions, we all geared up for the return leg. Me, Ram and Bhuvan were to ride till Sathy together and from there Bhuvan would deviate towards Coimbatore and we would continue towards Mysooru. The other three guys, DJ, PV and Masthi left towards Bengaluru. We rode together till Salem and then split into our ways.
Bhuvan lead us through to Sathy, all of 200 odd kms done over 80kmph minimum. Thankfully the road from Sathy to Chamarajanagar is new and in good condition. We reached home by 6 30PM with awe for Kolli Malai.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
On top of the world
The Land that Echoes Splendor
After a long time I have something to write about. Ask any biker about his dream ride, the answer would most probably be Ladakh, the land of high passes.
So was our dream, to ride to this mesmerizing region, the mighty Himalayas. I started planning for this ride six months before the actual take off. The dates for the ride were decided five months early.
The plan spanned for a total of 16 days, in which we also needed to travel to and back from Delhi, collect the bikes and set up other miscellaneous things.
As a part of our preparation for this demanding endurance ride, our prime importance for us was to get the bike and ourselves in a road fit condition. As usual I sat with the mechanic and got the work done together, which eventually yielded good results.
Optimus, yes that is what I call my ride; he is a 350cc shining machismo, with a 60W headlamp, RD 350 handle bar, custom made free flow silencer and loads of style.
I never had any apprehension regarding Optimus’ performance during this ride; he was as sound as a whistle.
Putting up brief information about the ride execution:
There were many first things for me, a ride into the Himalayas, such cold, altitude, and also flight. The first thing that got my blood rushing was the plane take off, I was watching out of the window like a child, with awe and appreciation. My joy knew no bounds when the jet engine was opened up for the take off. I had boarded the flight with sleeping mat in one hand and riding gear in the other and of course with gum boots on. Right from the first check in counter, people knew we were set out for biking, many even enquired and wished us a bon voyage.
From 23 deg, 15% humidity to 35 deg 70% humidity, that is the transition in the climate we had to face from Bangalore to Delhi. The crew member announced that the local temperature is 34 deg on our arrival.
Even Jayanti aunty warned us that Delhi is like a cauldron; Jayanti aunty is my close friend’s mother working in Delhi. She is a teacher and also a mother far from home for us. We took a taxi from the chaotic Taxi walas, every one of them wanted to snare an extra buck from us.
We directly went to the railway station to get the bikes out. We were informed that the bikes had arrived at the yard. We had a hard time locating this place, as the local contact did not co operate well enough, and more so did not even receive the calls. We being unable to understand the local Hindi clearly worsened the situation. The heat zapped us, by the time we walked to the bikes with the entire 30 kg luggage; we were totally dehydrated and exasperated.
Somehow, we mustered enough strength to get petrol to the bikes and start off towards Jayanti aunty’s house, which is located in Kalkaji, some 8kms from the place.
With a lot of difficulty we navigated and found her house, we had to pay one guy 100/- just for him to show us this place.
She was like an Angel to us that day; she helped us recover, with lot of fluids and good food. We also freshened up and had a good night sleep.
The plan for the next day was to ride till Manali around 550kms, starting at 4AM. Aunty guided us with route to reach the famous NH1 also called the GTR (grand trunk road).
All three of us were ready to start off by 4AM sharp. Aunty made some tea for us.
We found our way out onto the NH1 quite easily, passing through Raj Ghat and Red Fort.
By the time we hit the NH1 it was already 6AM.
Riding on NH1 early morning without much traffic was fun; we covered good distances, averaging 70km per hour of riding.
We were greeted by heavy rains in Ambala, where all of us got completely drenched; we were riding in the rain like we had no other option, crazy stuff. There were hardly any other vehicles on the road; even four wheelers had parked off on the side.
Once we passed Ambala, the rain subsided, and we regathered our energy through a brunch after Chandigarh. The Ghat sections start 60kms after C’garh, as you start gaining altitude. The Ghat section was infested with a lot of trucks, as Bilaspur the next town is a hub for cement production. Maneuvering through this 50km stretch Ghat section was tiring, as it was also hot. Somewhere in the way, other two guys lost their way and had to comeback 20kms to join the Manali road, by which time I waited for them and decided to stop a little further ahead in some shade.
Three of us caught up very soon, but we had lost time, almost an hour. We reached Manali by 8PM, the police check post guys collected 100/- for each bike to let us enter Manali, mainly intended for maintaining the NH from Manali to Leh.
We rode straight into Old Manali and found a decent three people room for 500/-. The room was well furnished with a sit out and three well cushioned beds. Had a hot shower and got freshened up, went out to do some shopping, the market is series of stalls selling mostly winter clothes and shawls. The streets were pretty crowded, one of us also needed to visit an ATM, which he eventually failed because of the long Q.
After a very comfortable stay and sleep, woke up to find out that my rear tyre was flat.
Thankfully we found a puncture Walla nearby, which saved our pain to do it ourselves, for which we were well prepared. We rode into the Himalayas from here, I was completely mind boggled by the green mountains, and flowing streamlets, it is a paradise in motion, every km, you find something to awe at. We reached a place called Marhi by 11AM, just to watch the drama unfold. The Rohtang pass was closed, the situation so bad, that vehicles were stuck for five days on either side, at least on the Manali side people get to eat something, but the other side is cold and inhospitable for night. Temperatures touch 0 deg. Truck drivers told us that the situation is hopeless on the other side and the pass wouldn’t open for another two days easily.
After a long wait we saw four bullets get through from the other side, as narrated by them, they had to wait for two days and stay in horse stable over the night, and that the land slide is still happening.
At last at around 4PM the police left us go through, but the bull dozer was still at work, as we could see the boulders running down the cliff onto the road. Once the landslide had retarded bikes were allowed to go through, in a flash, we crossed Rohtang, it was already 6PM and it was getting colder. We rode on till a place, where we found a roof. This place where we got the room is called Sissu a small town in Lahaul district of Himachal Pradesh.
The morning brought a fresh list of expectations, more mountains, more passes and beautiful landscape.Rajan a Bed graduate owned this house cum rooms at Sissu, eventually he became our friend, and he wrote out a letter addressing to his elder brother Vijay @ Serchu, which was slated to be our next day's halting place. Serchu means golden drop, Vijay's campsite is named after this, as Goldrop adventure camps.
Before we started for the day, we knew where we would camp. Serchu is 140kms from Sissu. One has to cross Keylong, Jispa, Baralach La to reach Serchu.
We started at around 9AM and rode through some amazing landscape,the best part though was through Baralach La pass,
the mountains were clad with thick snow and the feeling we had is beyond words.the snow was melting because of the Sun and the water was flowing across the road, BRO ( border road organization) has done a wonderful job, by keeping the road in reasonably good condition, given the odd of the altitude and that it is a pass with extreme conditions.Although none of us are shutter bugs, we still couldn't restrain ourselves from clicking away loads of pictures.We reached Goldrop by 1PM, with lot of time to spare, we considered resting for half day.
The tent was placed with three cots and thick quilts to cut the cold. We took a walk across the plane to catch a glimpse of a gorge. the view once again very beautiful, we would have loved to take the bikes there, but unfortunately we did not have spare fuel, so had to be contended with the walk.The temperature started dropping by the hour, by 6PM the winds were heavy and it was cold, all of us packed ourselves with woolens and were treated to some dinner and went off to sleep with a hot water bag tucked inside the quilts.
The night was pretty cold, barely managed to sleep well, the Sun was out 7AM, which was indeed like a booster shot to us. After packing up, we were almost ready to leave and we notice that my rear tyre is once again flat.We had to once again do the drill of removing the wheel and taking it to the puncture wallah for more assistance.luckily the puncture guy was just 7kms from the place we stayed. He charged 80/- for fixing the puncture alone. We got back as fast as it was possible and fixed the wheel and set it to motion.
This day, we had our task cut out, around 260kms of more mountains. With two punctures behind my head, we headed with caution, especially me! First challenge we faced was the Gata loops,
in the 21 loops we climb up like 4600ft in altitude, making it one of the most intimidating ghat sections.The road snakes through, with superb landscape on the backdrop.after climbing the Gata loops the road condition is even more challenging, not a wise challenge to take when your tyre is in vulnerable state, but we had no other option.We had to keep moving, we passed through two high passes, first it was Nakee La and second was the Lachung La.
After the tiring passes we had a pit stop at a place called Pang.
Pang is a kind of cold desert, which leads into the thrilling Moray plains and the mighty Tanglang La.
Moray Plains was very exciting for many factors, first there is no road, second the whole plain is the road, in between you can find distance indicator stones, if you are lucky, it stretches for 45kms. we could hardly find other vehicles in this stretch. The Moray plains demanded our best efforts to keep going. right after the Moray plains lies the Mighty Tanglang La, @ 17,500 ft it is the second highest motorable road in the world.
the pass spans for almost 60kms, longest for any pass.
Atop Tanglang La i could feel lack of oxygen and my head started to ache, so took few quick snaps and decided to climb down the altitude. I almost zipped down the pass and stopped at Rumtse for a break and regroup. I started getting severe head ache. but some rest and tea made me feel better. more so, Rumtse is at 13500ft, with better oxygen levels. It was already 4PM when we gathered at Rumtse, and we were told that the road till LEH is very good tarmac without any challenges. So was it, a quick breeze of a ride with a lot snaps.We enjoyed every bit of the good tarmac and awesome scenery and considered it as the results of our earlier hard work through tougher terrains.Reached Leh at 6 30PM and found a room in a place called Shanti guest house, on Changspa road.We got room @ 700/-. once again the room had three cots with excellent quality rooms condition. First thing we did was to get fresh and eat good food.
Leh is a small township, with a large tourist base. most of them foreigners. After having checked into the room, i took off to find out more about LEH, i rode straight into the Market. Most of the shops were either winter wear shops or adventure gear/organizers shop. Along with these, there was also a large set up of souvenir outlets, where one can buy exotic paintings, rare stones, metal artifacts and Tibetian handicrafts. Although overly priced, a good session of haggling can get you good deals.
In the evening we just chilled out at a local restaurant, made friends and had loads of fun, there was also a guy performing with fire. The guy was pretty good with his skills. Leh is at its commercial best in three months alone, when the roads to Leh is opened. The food was quite expensive, and adding to that, the quality did not make us drool either.Even water bottle is priced 20/- for one liter.
We had one rest day at LEH,during this day, we had to draw money and get the bike washed and checked for further ride. We also got the inner line permits for Nubra Valley and Pangong Tso through an agent.The other thing we did was to buy few souvenirs for ourselves, all three of us got same type of T shirt done. We selected the design and the tailor embroided that and gave it to us by evening. We once again went to the same restaurant, to celebrate one of fellow rider's birthday.We also rented a three men tent for our next day's probable camping.
The D-day, passing Khardung La, might sound as exciting as it is.Called the K Top, this mountain pass is the highest motorable road in the world, at an altitude of 18,360ft.Khardung La is 38kms from Leh, most of it tarmac, but as we near the pass, the road becomes challenging. We stopped on top for few memorabilia, I picked up a pen stand with clock for my brother and K-Top printed T shirt for myself.
We pushed off after spending few minutes, as the high altitude pass would have very less oxygen content in the air. Climb down was as scenic as it can get, albiet the road is just gravel and flowing water across. After we reached khardung town, the roads are too good, Khardung is at around 14,000ft right about Leh's altitude. We had a break there and pushed off towards Diskit.Every kilometer through this section made me feel high, i kept saying to myself " This is what we came here for". There were a lot Army trucks commuting. Most of them, I guess the BRO people. Diskit is at around 10000ft, and the temperature was quite warm, making us feel better. but the disadvantage with low altitude regions is the deadly water crossings called the pagal nallahs. The water can be upto 2ft high flowing across the road, washing out the tarmac, and left with nothing but boulders.The next stop was at Hunder , to catch a glimpse of the double humped camels. There was a camel breeding center, where the tourists were provided with camel safari facilities. Hunder has Sand dunes like any other desert. Such a stark contrast, sand dunes in between mountains and rivulets flowing just few hundred meters away!!.
The ride thus far had already filled our senses with pleasure and pride.But as if that was not enough, we planned to camp near Panamik, we settled down at a town called Sumur.
We camped inside a home stay kind of place, a parachute had been put up for shade. People here are sometimes in emergency cases provided with food on parachutes by the army, and the lucky guys who get hold of these make use of it by having a makeshift roof.The dinner was nice and cosy. The owner's name is Tsewang Dorgee, even he eventually became our friend. They had Apple and Apricot trees inside their place.
With a beautiful garden, no wonder why Nubra valley is known as "Valley of Flowers".
As we thought, everything was going fine, I again woke up to find out that the rear tyre is flat!! One more drill of removing the tyre and getting the puncture fixed, Tsewang and I went to nearby village and got it fixed, it was already 10AM by the time we were ready to push off to the hot spring. The rivulets flow vigorously in the valleys.We had to tackle water crossing as deep as 2feet with water gushing across. Because of threat of increase in the water levels, we decided to rush to the hot spring have a look and get back as soon as possible.
So we did, the hot spring is a spot in Panamik just 20kms from the Siachen border.Hot water emerges out of the ground, hot enough to boil an egg in ten minutes.On a serious note, we found egg shell skinned out after boiling them in the spring.
The Sun was out, and it was hot, a bad sign, given the fact that ice melts faster.
We left the hot spring and headed back to Leh. The ride was all about reminiscing our stay and ride through K Top. Every turn reminded us about the nature's beauty.
We reached Khardung in good time, by 1PM. We had stopped for Lunch, but none of us were hungry to eat Maggi once more, Few chocolates was our lunch.
The bike started smoking when I tried to start. There was no power in the first gear. I got terribly anxious, but sensitivity prevailed, we checked for engine oil, and it was short. Fortunately we had two liters of spare engine oil. It consumed more than half a liter of oil. Now started the actual climb, from 12000 ft to 18000 ft in 40kms.We were stopped at North Pullu by the Army, as the road was blocked in the Khardung Top because of heavy gushing water across the road. The Army let us go only after making us wait for two hours. We just rushed to get across the K Top once more. We had one tough water crossing, where the water was too furious to be taken easily. Since it was already evening, the K Pass was full of water crossings, my front brake disk pad got completely worn out, front brake was making noise along the way. We reached back to our hotel room at seven.This day marked the half way through for us in the ride, exceeded our imagination and happiness.
The next destination was Pangong Tso. We once again laboriously managed to pack the luggage and set off for yet another adventure. This time it was the world's third highest motorable road, through the mighty Chang La pass. Chang la is the toughest of the passes, bearing no respite to man and the machine. It was cold, low oxygen levels,washed out tarmac,plenty of water crossings and adding to that cliff edges on the side of the narrow roads.
We stopped as soon as we scaled the Chang la on its foothill at a place called Durbuk.We once again had to settle with noodles for lunch.The region is the Changthang plateau, there are plenty of army bases in this region, felt like a theatrical warzone.
With landscape so beautiful, it was hard on us to keep our eyes on the road, they would often wander around the scenery!! We reached Pangong Lake by 2PM, i had only dreamt of riding there, but then it had happened, i pinched myself to realize the reality.The feeling was awesome, a feeling of having achieved something, having undertook the hardships to reach this serene place made complete sense.We were quick to get to the lake bed and spend some everlasting minutes. I was listening to "nothing else matters" from metallica, the image will be ever etched in my mind!!
With heave hearts we decided to cover some ground towards Leh, we rode back to Durbuk, crossing many pagal nallahs on the way, as it was already 4PM, we also helped two other bulleteers fix their front tyre puncture. We needed a place to crash, and what we got was a home stay called the Chang La Queen, The owners were extremely mindful of our tiredness and made sure that we had a comfortable stay by providing great food (prepared from freshly picked vegetables and Spinach). Happy we went to sleep.
Yet another morning in the land of mountains, i woke up first at around 6AM, weary about the rear tyre puncture. And yes my rear tyre had once again given up. Arranged for the puncture tools and started the work myself, removed the wheel then the tube,
but could not find any puncture in the tube, but playing it safe, I put a new tube ( of course with two punctures!) and sealed the wheel, we were set to ride out to leh by 8AM, even the breakfast was good, and all this at a take away price. I pushed on ahead, just to make sure that I crossed Chang La before there is one more puncture.
But my worst nightmares came true, when the tyre went flat at half way through Chang La climb. I pulled the bike to the side in desperation. I had run out of my spare tubes, So i had to borrow a new tube from fellow riders, upon removing the tube, we realized that the tube was put in twisted!! So this time we made sure that the tube went in properly. The pressure wouldn't increase with the foot pump, all three of us took turns to bloat the tube. So with whatever we did, we pushed off towards Leh, Thankfully I managed to reach Leh without another puncture.but that was not the end of it, the moment i reached the mech shop, it went flat again!!
The mech asked me for the old tube, of which we had thought of discarding somewhere in Leh. The mech cut the tube axially and put a full sleeve arrangement on another tube, and promised that I will reach Delhi without another puncture, he also asked me to keep the pressure no less than 40!!.
So there we were, lodging into the same hotel, walking around the town and marveling about the ride.
With the rides and the riders all set to the return journey, it was a heartfelt experience to leave Leh.We bid goodbye to Leh in the morning and set off to Serchu. Needless to say this 260km stretch was as exciting as when it was when we came through for the first time, but this time we rode with a bit more of confidence. But the mighty Tanglang La and the treacherous morea plains gave a shiver in the bone with never ending pass, cold and dust and roads. All three of us were exhausted when we reached Pang, so we took almost half an hour break at pang. The bikes and us, were completed coated with thick layer of dust, courtesy of the Morea plains. Me the "brave" guy, thought of taking off roads through the morea plains and ventured into the tracks less taken, and after riding for some 25kms, i see that there are no other people around, not even army guys. I did not even have spare fuel." Mera tho gaand phat gayi thi" was the kind of situation i was in. But fortunately, after riding for 5 more kms, i could see two truck, i cut across the plain and chased them and ultimately found the road, which had a milestone pointing to Pang . with ten more kms to go, i was clueless as where the other two guys were, but i found Appanna waiting at one of the tents, Prashanth arrived some minutes later. Happy to have survived the deadly morea plains, we encouraged ourselves to reach Serchu by dusk.So we did with much effort, passing countless water crossings and passes and Gata Loops.
Unfortunately we did not get the tent at the place where we had camped will on our journey to Leh, as the whole set up as booked. We took our chance and went looking for an alternate camp site and luckily found one, but at the same cost as we had paid for our earlier stay. The facilities was not good and even the hospitality could have been far more better.
Any which way, nothing was going to deter us, we beat the cold for the night and were all set to ride to Sissu, with meager 140kms to do, we took it easy, reached Sissu by 1Pm, and Rajan the home stay owner and our friend by this time, took us to a local hotel where we got fresh lamb curry and rice, we were much obliged to take the offer and hogged until we could fill any more.This day we had crossed Ladakh and were back in Himachal, Sissu is in Lahaul valley, and yes it is beautiful.
Our final frontier was the dreadful Rohtang Pass, it had already started raining in the morning, and we knew pretty much, that this day's ride would be the end of the adventure for three of us.
The plan was to reach Kullu by afternoon and get the bikes checked, but heavy rains at Rohtang pass almost strangled us, we took like four hours to cross Rohtang. almost rode through in first gear only. By the time we crossed Rohtang it was already 2PM, we stopped for light lunch at Marhi and find our feet in the wet conditions.The rain was incessant, no respite, hence we had to push off in the rain, it was hard on us to ride in the rain and cold, all of us were completely drenched.Somehow managed to reach Kullu by 6PM. My disk brakes had once again given up. We took a room in a three start hotel for just 1500 for one room, in which three of us adjusted. had hot shower, got fresh, and wore anything that i could find dry and reasonably clean. Then we went out the Kullu town for dinner and to buy some gifts for our families, i bought two Kullu jackets for my parents and we bought a Kullu shawl for Jayanti aunty.
At the end of the day, we knew our adventure was pretty much over. and moreover we were no more in the high altitude region.
The next day we went to the local RE dealer for fixing our disk brakes, and the guy did not know how to fix it, and made it only by 2PM. we had a lost a lot of time. So rode almost non stop to Chandigarh. One thing i can never forget is the lunch that we had here, it was awesome at a very good price, i would recommend this dhaba to Rocky and Mayur, they are anchors of a serial called "Highway on my Plate".
Final day's ride was from Chandigarh to Delhi, the temperature shift was quite a margin from 10 deg to 30 deg!! Prashanth's bike broke down just after C'garh. Me and Appanna decided to carry on and complete the ride, and he would put his bike on a transport in Chandigarh itself. We reached Delhi by 10 AM, and retraced our way to Jayanti aunty's house by 12PM. Without even getting freshened up, we went to the railway station to handover the bikes for shipping.
Hence there it was the official end of our ride!!
These 16 days defined a lot about biking, nature and man himself, where he stands between them. For the young readers, who get inspired to go to Leh, please take a note, all three of us had a fair amount of riding experience before venturing into this, along with some knowledge about the bike's mechanicals. We also carried spares, medical kit, vehicle documents and wore protective riding gear.
Ladakh is a connoisuer of my thus far rides.
And not to forget, without my Parent's support, excellent job from my mechanic and wonderful co riders, this ride would not have been successful.
Will see you on roads again,
Till Then Happy Thumping
Signing off with a message for young riders
After a long time I have something to write about. Ask any biker about his dream ride, the answer would most probably be Ladakh, the land of high passes.
So was our dream, to ride to this mesmerizing region, the mighty Himalayas. I started planning for this ride six months before the actual take off. The dates for the ride were decided five months early.
The plan spanned for a total of 16 days, in which we also needed to travel to and back from Delhi, collect the bikes and set up other miscellaneous things.
As a part of our preparation for this demanding endurance ride, our prime importance for us was to get the bike and ourselves in a road fit condition. As usual I sat with the mechanic and got the work done together, which eventually yielded good results.
Optimus, yes that is what I call my ride; he is a 350cc shining machismo, with a 60W headlamp, RD 350 handle bar, custom made free flow silencer and loads of style.
I never had any apprehension regarding Optimus’ performance during this ride; he was as sound as a whistle.
Putting up brief information about the ride execution:
There were many first things for me, a ride into the Himalayas, such cold, altitude, and also flight. The first thing that got my blood rushing was the plane take off, I was watching out of the window like a child, with awe and appreciation. My joy knew no bounds when the jet engine was opened up for the take off. I had boarded the flight with sleeping mat in one hand and riding gear in the other and of course with gum boots on. Right from the first check in counter, people knew we were set out for biking, many even enquired and wished us a bon voyage.
From 23 deg, 15% humidity to 35 deg 70% humidity, that is the transition in the climate we had to face from Bangalore to Delhi. The crew member announced that the local temperature is 34 deg on our arrival.
Even Jayanti aunty warned us that Delhi is like a cauldron; Jayanti aunty is my close friend’s mother working in Delhi. She is a teacher and also a mother far from home for us. We took a taxi from the chaotic Taxi walas, every one of them wanted to snare an extra buck from us.
We directly went to the railway station to get the bikes out. We were informed that the bikes had arrived at the yard. We had a hard time locating this place, as the local contact did not co operate well enough, and more so did not even receive the calls. We being unable to understand the local Hindi clearly worsened the situation. The heat zapped us, by the time we walked to the bikes with the entire 30 kg luggage; we were totally dehydrated and exasperated.
Somehow, we mustered enough strength to get petrol to the bikes and start off towards Jayanti aunty’s house, which is located in Kalkaji, some 8kms from the place.
With a lot of difficulty we navigated and found her house, we had to pay one guy 100/- just for him to show us this place.
She was like an Angel to us that day; she helped us recover, with lot of fluids and good food. We also freshened up and had a good night sleep.
The plan for the next day was to ride till Manali around 550kms, starting at 4AM. Aunty guided us with route to reach the famous NH1 also called the GTR (grand trunk road).
All three of us were ready to start off by 4AM sharp. Aunty made some tea for us.
We found our way out onto the NH1 quite easily, passing through Raj Ghat and Red Fort.
By the time we hit the NH1 it was already 6AM.
Riding on NH1 early morning without much traffic was fun; we covered good distances, averaging 70km per hour of riding.
We were greeted by heavy rains in Ambala, where all of us got completely drenched; we were riding in the rain like we had no other option, crazy stuff. There were hardly any other vehicles on the road; even four wheelers had parked off on the side.
Once we passed Ambala, the rain subsided, and we regathered our energy through a brunch after Chandigarh. The Ghat sections start 60kms after C’garh, as you start gaining altitude. The Ghat section was infested with a lot of trucks, as Bilaspur the next town is a hub for cement production. Maneuvering through this 50km stretch Ghat section was tiring, as it was also hot. Somewhere in the way, other two guys lost their way and had to comeback 20kms to join the Manali road, by which time I waited for them and decided to stop a little further ahead in some shade.
Three of us caught up very soon, but we had lost time, almost an hour. We reached Manali by 8PM, the police check post guys collected 100/- for each bike to let us enter Manali, mainly intended for maintaining the NH from Manali to Leh.
We rode straight into Old Manali and found a decent three people room for 500/-. The room was well furnished with a sit out and three well cushioned beds. Had a hot shower and got freshened up, went out to do some shopping, the market is series of stalls selling mostly winter clothes and shawls. The streets were pretty crowded, one of us also needed to visit an ATM, which he eventually failed because of the long Q.
After a very comfortable stay and sleep, woke up to find out that my rear tyre was flat.
Thankfully we found a puncture Walla nearby, which saved our pain to do it ourselves, for which we were well prepared. We rode into the Himalayas from here, I was completely mind boggled by the green mountains, and flowing streamlets, it is a paradise in motion, every km, you find something to awe at. We reached a place called Marhi by 11AM, just to watch the drama unfold. The Rohtang pass was closed, the situation so bad, that vehicles were stuck for five days on either side, at least on the Manali side people get to eat something, but the other side is cold and inhospitable for night. Temperatures touch 0 deg. Truck drivers told us that the situation is hopeless on the other side and the pass wouldn’t open for another two days easily.
After a long wait we saw four bullets get through from the other side, as narrated by them, they had to wait for two days and stay in horse stable over the night, and that the land slide is still happening.
At last at around 4PM the police left us go through, but the bull dozer was still at work, as we could see the boulders running down the cliff onto the road. Once the landslide had retarded bikes were allowed to go through, in a flash, we crossed Rohtang, it was already 6PM and it was getting colder. We rode on till a place, where we found a roof. This place where we got the room is called Sissu a small town in Lahaul district of Himachal Pradesh.
The morning brought a fresh list of expectations, more mountains, more passes and beautiful landscape.Rajan a Bed graduate owned this house cum rooms at Sissu, eventually he became our friend, and he wrote out a letter addressing to his elder brother Vijay @ Serchu, which was slated to be our next day's halting place. Serchu means golden drop, Vijay's campsite is named after this, as Goldrop adventure camps.
Before we started for the day, we knew where we would camp. Serchu is 140kms from Sissu. One has to cross Keylong, Jispa, Baralach La to reach Serchu.
We started at around 9AM and rode through some amazing landscape,the best part though was through Baralach La pass,
the mountains were clad with thick snow and the feeling we had is beyond words.the snow was melting because of the Sun and the water was flowing across the road, BRO ( border road organization) has done a wonderful job, by keeping the road in reasonably good condition, given the odd of the altitude and that it is a pass with extreme conditions.Although none of us are shutter bugs, we still couldn't restrain ourselves from clicking away loads of pictures.We reached Goldrop by 1PM, with lot of time to spare, we considered resting for half day. 
The tent was placed with three cots and thick quilts to cut the cold. We took a walk across the plane to catch a glimpse of a gorge. the view once again very beautiful, we would have loved to take the bikes there, but unfortunately we did not have spare fuel, so had to be contended with the walk.The temperature started dropping by the hour, by 6PM the winds were heavy and it was cold, all of us packed ourselves with woolens and were treated to some dinner and went off to sleep with a hot water bag tucked inside the quilts.
The night was pretty cold, barely managed to sleep well, the Sun was out 7AM, which was indeed like a booster shot to us. After packing up, we were almost ready to leave and we notice that my rear tyre is once again flat.We had to once again do the drill of removing the wheel and taking it to the puncture wallah for more assistance.luckily the puncture guy was just 7kms from the place we stayed. He charged 80/- for fixing the puncture alone. We got back as fast as it was possible and fixed the wheel and set it to motion.
This day, we had our task cut out, around 260kms of more mountains. With two punctures behind my head, we headed with caution, especially me! First challenge we faced was the Gata loops,
in the 21 loops we climb up like 4600ft in altitude, making it one of the most intimidating ghat sections.The road snakes through, with superb landscape on the backdrop.after climbing the Gata loops the road condition is even more challenging, not a wise challenge to take when your tyre is in vulnerable state, but we had no other option.We had to keep moving, we passed through two high passes, first it was Nakee La and second was the Lachung La.
After the tiring passes we had a pit stop at a place called Pang.
Pang is a kind of cold desert, which leads into the thrilling Moray plains and the mighty Tanglang La.
Moray Plains was very exciting for many factors, first there is no road, second the whole plain is the road, in between you can find distance indicator stones, if you are lucky, it stretches for 45kms. we could hardly find other vehicles in this stretch. The Moray plains demanded our best efforts to keep going. right after the Moray plains lies the Mighty Tanglang La, @ 17,500 ft it is the second highest motorable road in the world.
the pass spans for almost 60kms, longest for any pass.Atop Tanglang La i could feel lack of oxygen and my head started to ache, so took few quick snaps and decided to climb down the altitude. I almost zipped down the pass and stopped at Rumtse for a break and regroup. I started getting severe head ache. but some rest and tea made me feel better. more so, Rumtse is at 13500ft, with better oxygen levels. It was already 4PM when we gathered at Rumtse, and we were told that the road till LEH is very good tarmac without any challenges. So was it, a quick breeze of a ride with a lot snaps.We enjoyed every bit of the good tarmac and awesome scenery and considered it as the results of our earlier hard work through tougher terrains.Reached Leh at 6 30PM and found a room in a place called Shanti guest house, on Changspa road.We got room @ 700/-. once again the room had three cots with excellent quality rooms condition. First thing we did was to get fresh and eat good food.
Leh is a small township, with a large tourist base. most of them foreigners. After having checked into the room, i took off to find out more about LEH, i rode straight into the Market. Most of the shops were either winter wear shops or adventure gear/organizers shop. Along with these, there was also a large set up of souvenir outlets, where one can buy exotic paintings, rare stones, metal artifacts and Tibetian handicrafts. Although overly priced, a good session of haggling can get you good deals.
In the evening we just chilled out at a local restaurant, made friends and had loads of fun, there was also a guy performing with fire. The guy was pretty good with his skills. Leh is at its commercial best in three months alone, when the roads to Leh is opened. The food was quite expensive, and adding to that, the quality did not make us drool either.Even water bottle is priced 20/- for one liter.
We had one rest day at LEH,during this day, we had to draw money and get the bike washed and checked for further ride. We also got the inner line permits for Nubra Valley and Pangong Tso through an agent.The other thing we did was to buy few souvenirs for ourselves, all three of us got same type of T shirt done. We selected the design and the tailor embroided that and gave it to us by evening. We once again went to the same restaurant, to celebrate one of fellow rider's birthday.We also rented a three men tent for our next day's probable camping.
The D-day, passing Khardung La, might sound as exciting as it is.Called the K Top, this mountain pass is the highest motorable road in the world, at an altitude of 18,360ft.Khardung La is 38kms from Leh, most of it tarmac, but as we near the pass, the road becomes challenging. We stopped on top for few memorabilia, I picked up a pen stand with clock for my brother and K-Top printed T shirt for myself.
We pushed off after spending few minutes, as the high altitude pass would have very less oxygen content in the air. Climb down was as scenic as it can get, albiet the road is just gravel and flowing water across. After we reached khardung town, the roads are too good, Khardung is at around 14,000ft right about Leh's altitude. We had a break there and pushed off towards Diskit.Every kilometer through this section made me feel high, i kept saying to myself " This is what we came here for". There were a lot Army trucks commuting. Most of them, I guess the BRO people. Diskit is at around 10000ft, and the temperature was quite warm, making us feel better. but the disadvantage with low altitude regions is the deadly water crossings called the pagal nallahs. The water can be upto 2ft high flowing across the road, washing out the tarmac, and left with nothing but boulders.The next stop was at Hunder , to catch a glimpse of the double humped camels. There was a camel breeding center, where the tourists were provided with camel safari facilities. Hunder has Sand dunes like any other desert. Such a stark contrast, sand dunes in between mountains and rivulets flowing just few hundred meters away!!.The ride thus far had already filled our senses with pleasure and pride.But as if that was not enough, we planned to camp near Panamik, we settled down at a town called Sumur.
We camped inside a home stay kind of place, a parachute had been put up for shade. People here are sometimes in emergency cases provided with food on parachutes by the army, and the lucky guys who get hold of these make use of it by having a makeshift roof.The dinner was nice and cosy. The owner's name is Tsewang Dorgee, even he eventually became our friend. They had Apple and Apricot trees inside their place.
With a beautiful garden, no wonder why Nubra valley is known as "Valley of Flowers".
As we thought, everything was going fine, I again woke up to find out that the rear tyre is flat!! One more drill of removing the tyre and getting the puncture fixed, Tsewang and I went to nearby village and got it fixed, it was already 10AM by the time we were ready to push off to the hot spring. The rivulets flow vigorously in the valleys.We had to tackle water crossing as deep as 2feet with water gushing across. Because of threat of increase in the water levels, we decided to rush to the hot spring have a look and get back as soon as possible.
So we did, the hot spring is a spot in Panamik just 20kms from the Siachen border.Hot water emerges out of the ground, hot enough to boil an egg in ten minutes.On a serious note, we found egg shell skinned out after boiling them in the spring.
The Sun was out, and it was hot, a bad sign, given the fact that ice melts faster.
We left the hot spring and headed back to Leh. The ride was all about reminiscing our stay and ride through K Top. Every turn reminded us about the nature's beauty.
We reached Khardung in good time, by 1PM. We had stopped for Lunch, but none of us were hungry to eat Maggi once more, Few chocolates was our lunch.
The bike started smoking when I tried to start. There was no power in the first gear. I got terribly anxious, but sensitivity prevailed, we checked for engine oil, and it was short. Fortunately we had two liters of spare engine oil. It consumed more than half a liter of oil. Now started the actual climb, from 12000 ft to 18000 ft in 40kms.We were stopped at North Pullu by the Army, as the road was blocked in the Khardung Top because of heavy gushing water across the road. The Army let us go only after making us wait for two hours. We just rushed to get across the K Top once more. We had one tough water crossing, where the water was too furious to be taken easily. Since it was already evening, the K Pass was full of water crossings, my front brake disk pad got completely worn out, front brake was making noise along the way. We reached back to our hotel room at seven.This day marked the half way through for us in the ride, exceeded our imagination and happiness.
The next destination was Pangong Tso. We once again laboriously managed to pack the luggage and set off for yet another adventure. This time it was the world's third highest motorable road, through the mighty Chang La pass. Chang la is the toughest of the passes, bearing no respite to man and the machine. It was cold, low oxygen levels,washed out tarmac,plenty of water crossings and adding to that cliff edges on the side of the narrow roads.
We stopped as soon as we scaled the Chang la on its foothill at a place called Durbuk.We once again had to settle with noodles for lunch.The region is the Changthang plateau, there are plenty of army bases in this region, felt like a theatrical warzone.
With landscape so beautiful, it was hard on us to keep our eyes on the road, they would often wander around the scenery!! We reached Pangong Lake by 2PM, i had only dreamt of riding there, but then it had happened, i pinched myself to realize the reality.The feeling was awesome, a feeling of having achieved something, having undertook the hardships to reach this serene place made complete sense.We were quick to get to the lake bed and spend some everlasting minutes. I was listening to "nothing else matters" from metallica, the image will be ever etched in my mind!!
With heave hearts we decided to cover some ground towards Leh, we rode back to Durbuk, crossing many pagal nallahs on the way, as it was already 4PM, we also helped two other bulleteers fix their front tyre puncture. We needed a place to crash, and what we got was a home stay called the Chang La Queen, The owners were extremely mindful of our tiredness and made sure that we had a comfortable stay by providing great food (prepared from freshly picked vegetables and Spinach). Happy we went to sleep.
Yet another morning in the land of mountains, i woke up first at around 6AM, weary about the rear tyre puncture. And yes my rear tyre had once again given up. Arranged for the puncture tools and started the work myself, removed the wheel then the tube,
but could not find any puncture in the tube, but playing it safe, I put a new tube ( of course with two punctures!) and sealed the wheel, we were set to ride out to leh by 8AM, even the breakfast was good, and all this at a take away price. I pushed on ahead, just to make sure that I crossed Chang La before there is one more puncture.
But my worst nightmares came true, when the tyre went flat at half way through Chang La climb. I pulled the bike to the side in desperation. I had run out of my spare tubes, So i had to borrow a new tube from fellow riders, upon removing the tube, we realized that the tube was put in twisted!! So this time we made sure that the tube went in properly. The pressure wouldn't increase with the foot pump, all three of us took turns to bloat the tube. So with whatever we did, we pushed off towards Leh, Thankfully I managed to reach Leh without another puncture.but that was not the end of it, the moment i reached the mech shop, it went flat again!!
The mech asked me for the old tube, of which we had thought of discarding somewhere in Leh. The mech cut the tube axially and put a full sleeve arrangement on another tube, and promised that I will reach Delhi without another puncture, he also asked me to keep the pressure no less than 40!!.
So there we were, lodging into the same hotel, walking around the town and marveling about the ride.
With the rides and the riders all set to the return journey, it was a heartfelt experience to leave Leh.We bid goodbye to Leh in the morning and set off to Serchu. Needless to say this 260km stretch was as exciting as when it was when we came through for the first time, but this time we rode with a bit more of confidence. But the mighty Tanglang La and the treacherous morea plains gave a shiver in the bone with never ending pass, cold and dust and roads. All three of us were exhausted when we reached Pang, so we took almost half an hour break at pang. The bikes and us, were completed coated with thick layer of dust, courtesy of the Morea plains. Me the "brave" guy, thought of taking off roads through the morea plains and ventured into the tracks less taken, and after riding for some 25kms, i see that there are no other people around, not even army guys. I did not even have spare fuel." Mera tho gaand phat gayi thi" was the kind of situation i was in. But fortunately, after riding for 5 more kms, i could see two truck, i cut across the plain and chased them and ultimately found the road, which had a milestone pointing to Pang . with ten more kms to go, i was clueless as where the other two guys were, but i found Appanna waiting at one of the tents, Prashanth arrived some minutes later. Happy to have survived the deadly morea plains, we encouraged ourselves to reach Serchu by dusk.So we did with much effort, passing countless water crossings and passes and Gata Loops.
Unfortunately we did not get the tent at the place where we had camped will on our journey to Leh, as the whole set up as booked. We took our chance and went looking for an alternate camp site and luckily found one, but at the same cost as we had paid for our earlier stay. The facilities was not good and even the hospitality could have been far more better.
Any which way, nothing was going to deter us, we beat the cold for the night and were all set to ride to Sissu, with meager 140kms to do, we took it easy, reached Sissu by 1Pm, and Rajan the home stay owner and our friend by this time, took us to a local hotel where we got fresh lamb curry and rice, we were much obliged to take the offer and hogged until we could fill any more.This day we had crossed Ladakh and were back in Himachal, Sissu is in Lahaul valley, and yes it is beautiful.
Our final frontier was the dreadful Rohtang Pass, it had already started raining in the morning, and we knew pretty much, that this day's ride would be the end of the adventure for three of us.
The plan was to reach Kullu by afternoon and get the bikes checked, but heavy rains at Rohtang pass almost strangled us, we took like four hours to cross Rohtang. almost rode through in first gear only. By the time we crossed Rohtang it was already 2PM, we stopped for light lunch at Marhi and find our feet in the wet conditions.The rain was incessant, no respite, hence we had to push off in the rain, it was hard on us to ride in the rain and cold, all of us were completely drenched.Somehow managed to reach Kullu by 6PM. My disk brakes had once again given up. We took a room in a three start hotel for just 1500 for one room, in which three of us adjusted. had hot shower, got fresh, and wore anything that i could find dry and reasonably clean. Then we went out the Kullu town for dinner and to buy some gifts for our families, i bought two Kullu jackets for my parents and we bought a Kullu shawl for Jayanti aunty.
At the end of the day, we knew our adventure was pretty much over. and moreover we were no more in the high altitude region.
The next day we went to the local RE dealer for fixing our disk brakes, and the guy did not know how to fix it, and made it only by 2PM. we had a lost a lot of time. So rode almost non stop to Chandigarh. One thing i can never forget is the lunch that we had here, it was awesome at a very good price, i would recommend this dhaba to Rocky and Mayur, they are anchors of a serial called "Highway on my Plate".
Final day's ride was from Chandigarh to Delhi, the temperature shift was quite a margin from 10 deg to 30 deg!! Prashanth's bike broke down just after C'garh. Me and Appanna decided to carry on and complete the ride, and he would put his bike on a transport in Chandigarh itself. We reached Delhi by 10 AM, and retraced our way to Jayanti aunty's house by 12PM. Without even getting freshened up, we went to the railway station to handover the bikes for shipping.
Hence there it was the official end of our ride!!
These 16 days defined a lot about biking, nature and man himself, where he stands between them. For the young readers, who get inspired to go to Leh, please take a note, all three of us had a fair amount of riding experience before venturing into this, along with some knowledge about the bike's mechanicals. We also carried spares, medical kit, vehicle documents and wore protective riding gear.
Ladakh is a connoisuer of my thus far rides.
And not to forget, without my Parent's support, excellent job from my mechanic and wonderful co riders, this ride would not have been successful.
Will see you on roads again,
Till Then Happy Thumping
Signing off with a message for young riders
Monday, January 4, 2010
Operation Desert Wind
What best way could have been there to celebrate the New Year than riding through the Thar Desert and Sahyadris? This was something I had dreamt of, a ride through Rajasthan. The way the drama unfolded was worth being there. Taking a look around our country first hand, with a hectic schedule and dangerous traffic to be careful about, made sure that the 10 days went past very fast. It was like a war zone out on the National Highways, unbelievable number of trucks, trailers, heavy vehicles and fast cars. I at one point had terrible vibes for choosing these highways for riding.
Two bikers, me and Nahas Bhai, were sure about the way we were going invite the New Year that is on the full moon day, somewhere in the Sahyadris. But as the saying goes, “man proposes, god disposes” it turned out a bit different.
I was riding my Mach 350, Optimus, and Nahas was riding his black beauty Electra 4S. The preparation for me had started almost three months before. So by the time I informed Nahas about the ride it was Nov 24th, just a month before. We had our bikes prepped up well in time, I suppose. Both of us made sure that we take safety as a treasure, and then riding will be a pleasure. We were totally committed to safety. We used AGV helmets, authentic riding jackets, gloves, knee guards and good shoes.
The plan was to transport, or rather carry the bike as luggage till Mumbai and ride on from there. So we needed to pack the bike safely, we borrowed the packing material from the RE showroom, who were very glad to help us. We had to remove all the petrol from the bikes; I had it planned, so that not more than a half liter would be left in the tank. To remove the left over petrol, the front should be at a higher inclination, any platform can be used for this, and put the bike onto side stand, as all the remaining petrol would drain out. All done, we tipped the person in charge for loading the bikes.
24th Dec 2009, Thursday:
Our first day of journey, in Sharavati Express, Mysore to Dadar Junction.
We got to the railway station by 4AM, the train was scheduled to leave by 6 15AM.
We wanted to make sure that the bikes were on the same train. After parking our luggage, I went in patrol to find if the bikes were in place. The luggage coach was sealed; we hoped our bikes were inside. The train came to life only by 5 45. We had reservations at different coaches, so we had to adjust somehow, that we can be placed together. We got a side berth, secured our luggage and were set to the journey.
The best part of the journey was through Dandeli reserve forest section. We caught up with the sunset. The sun merged into the horizon, defined by the trees.
Our berths were in the end of the coach, u can guess what that implies, a smelly experience:-P. We had terrible time coping with it in the night; it was cold, the windows refusing to get closed completely. To add to the trouble the train got late by two hours.
To Route
View Larger Map
25th Dec 2009, Friday:
We begin the ride.
Train arrived at 7 15 at Dadar Junction. Gladly we received the bikes in a safe condition, except for few extraneous scratches. The parcel people were already at work, unloaded the bikes, and got the gate pass and the approval from Octroi department.
We needed fuel, as we had dried up everything before loading; first we towed them out of the station, put on our riding gear and kicked off to the nearest petrol bunk. Petrol is cheaper by 3rs in Maharashtra.
It was already 8 by the time we could start navigate out of Mumbai into the south western highway. The roads in Mumbai had a waterproofing surface. Shiny and slippery I guess. Hence we had to take it slow and steady till we got out of Mumbai. Rode on till Vasai, 60kms from Mumbai for our Brunch.
The air had a tinge of coolness in it.
The highway had very heavy traffic; there is still some road construction work under progress. We covered around 200kms in good time, given the traffic jam near Toll plazas.
As we neared Surat, I noticed Nahas Bhai’s engine oil was leaking through his breather from the air filter box. The leak got worse as we rode on. So we stopped at a petrol bunk to pick up some engine oil. We decided to ride till Bharuch, where we located a RE dealer. Inconspicuous to the scene, there was a long trailer taking a u turn in the six lane highway. We braked as soon as we saw it, but it a bit late for Nahas Bhai to react, as he was blinded by another trailer which was changing the lane due to the later. He hit the side rear tyre of the trailer head on, may be at 50kmph. By what seemed, we felt, it was fork bend. We were lucky to find a bullet mechanic, just one km away from the spot, place called Ankleshwar. We rushed to him for a solution. The gentleman’s name is Maktoum Bhai, in his mid 50’s, has done a lot of modification work on the bullets. What shocked us was the Chassis itself had been bent, hunched actually. We felt that our ride was over before it started. Maktoum Bhai with all his influences assured us the bike would be ready by 27th noon.
They started removing all the parts attached to the chassis including the forks and the rim of front tyre. The gentleman even helped us find a good hotel room nearby. Hospitable indeed. With heavy hearts we settled in the room.
26th Dec 2009, Saturday:
We slept for a long time, woke up at 8 30, got ready, not knowing what’s in store.
By the time we reached Maktoum Bhai’s garage, the bike was completely disassembled and the parts were being sent to the place, where the bend is removed by hydraulic techniques. We wanted to use that time visiting a nearby place. We were suggested Sardar sarovar, 80kms from Ankleshwar. We went on my Bike. Sardar sarovar is located north east of Surat, in a district called Rajpipla. This is a dam built on the river Narmada, named after Sardar Patel. Went around the dam site, which spans 32kms. This dam is the most controversial Dam, remember Narmada Bachao Andolan. It was because of this!!
Finding a hotel for lunch became a problem, we had ride back to Ankleshwar for food. As we returned few hundred meters from the garage, I had a flat tyre. On first look I picked out a small thorn and showed it to Nahas Bhai, as that was the culprit. We pushed the bike to Maktoum Bhai’s garage and removed the tyre for puncture. On closer examination, it was revealed that a 2 inch nail was embedded firmly into my tyre, shredding a part of the tube. Chassis had not yet arrived by then, so Maktoum Bhai took us to a non veg hotel for dinner. The chassis had been repaired as we gorged on our food. Maktoum Bhai rushed to get the Chassis, and fix it for us. The mechanics four of them worked till 9 30 PM to re assemble the parts. Some part of the work still remained.
At one point, I felt, we could get the bike by the same day, seeing the rate at which they were putting it together.
27th Dec 2009, Sunday:
The plan for the day was to visit a place called kabirvad, a pilgrimage center, with centuries old banyan tree. And get back to receive Nahas Bhai’s bike by noon. Kabirvad is 40kms away from Ankleshwar, so reaching the place didn’t take much time. One has to cross the river Narmada to reach kabirvad on a ferry. The place had a lot of visitors, most of them students, being a Sunday it was apparent. Had a nice photography session, with the sunrise and the reflections on the river.
As scheduled, we got back to our hotel, packed up our luggage, checked out and waited for Maktoum Bhai to deliver the bike. Only by 2PM were we able to resume our ride. We thanked all the mechanics for their kind help extended to us. This can happen only in India
The target for the day was Palanpur, some 400kms from Ankleshwar. We made it quite fast till Ahmedabad, but got stuck in the mess of finding our way out to Palanpur, lost precious time. It was 9 15pm when we reached Palanpur. Rented a room at hotel Cappal, yes you read it right; it is Cappal (pun Intended).
We were absolutely tired for the day, sipped a hot cup of tea and went to sleep. What I have to mention here is the part of night riding we did, almost 180kms of it. Nahas Bhai took the lead, during this stretch. It just exemplifies the strength of the man. He is the same person, who had an accident a day before, who is already taking up the mantle. Cheers to you mate, Proud of you.
We were on schedule, albeit we had lost one and a half days.
28th Dec 2009, Monday:
We were supposed to reach Bikaner by the end of the day, which is 560kms away. We were also supposed to spend some time in Jodhpur ogling at the Fort. We knew what the day expected out of us, determination got us moving. It was damn cold in the morning, even the leather gloves weren’t enough to keep our hands warm. I had to tie my handkerchief around my mouth to protect from the cold air. Sunrise greeted us at Abu road; thankfully the Sun was out and smiling, may be just for us.
Stopped for breakfast in a roadside dhaba near Sirohi. Treated ourselves with tawa roti with ghee and channa masala and dahi masala.
We resumed our ride from there a kept riding till Jodhpur non stop. Nahas Bhai’s bike again started showing signs of trouble. This time though it was starting trouble. But still ride able. We had a miserable time locating the Mehrengarh Fort, in Jodhpur. It’s a huge fort with amazing art work, like none other. Got full use of my new camera. Spent two hours inside the fort. I also sat on a camel for a stroll, and some posing!!
It was already dark by the time could start off towards Bikaner. Had a typical Rajasthani Lunch, Bajre ki roti, kher sangri and others I can’t do justice by remembering them. Once again we caught up with Sunset. Nahas Bhai immediately stopped for few quick snaps. I too capitalized on that.
The roads from Jodhpur to Bikaner via Nagaur, is two lane state highways. Thankfully there was not much traffic to counter. But as rode on Nahas Bhai’s starting trouble kept increasing, after some distance he lost complete compression in his valves. Then we knew, something was really wrong with the engine. We didn’t even stop for dinner because of the problem. Our only stop was at Nagaur for a cup of tea. It was getting colder as the night progressed. We somehow managed to reach Bikaner by 10 30PM. Thanks to Anwar Sir, a friend of my dearest Kashyap uncle, we found a nice and cozy room at a good price. Exhausted, we crashed to sleep.
29th Dec 2009, Tuesday:
We had to find a mechanic for repairing Nahas Bhai’s ailing bike, which was the first thing in the morning we did. Actually the valve seating had been damaged. Left the bike for repair and left to visit the Junagarh Palace. I had also spotted an Army sales store on a road, so traced it back and bought few things for brother, friends and myself.
Junagarh Fort is still privately owned palace opened for public viewing. This is perhaps the most beautiful of the fort palaces in Rajasthan, with splendid interiors. Spent nearly three hours inside the fort, we were among the first visitors for the day. A large number of foreign tourists were also there. The design is a visual treat. A museum is attached to the palace, exhibiting the things used by the kings of Bikaner. The weather was very pleasant; this is the peak season for tourism in Rajasthan.
I had been following the TV show, Highway on my Plate, a show by NDTV Good times; two gentlemen go around the country tasting the cuisine. Few episodes covered Rajasthan, so I was well aware of the food specialties in Bikaner. Especially the sweets, the ghewar, rasgulla and few others. We went into the market in search of sweets, as directed by a localite. I gorged into the ghewar which had pista condensed milk on top of it. Ghewar is perforated and bread like, crispy stuff onto which this pista flavored condensed milk (Creamy) in poured. Also had a dripping Rasgulla and A masala ki Dhokla (Gujarati Special Dish). As if that was not enough we went in search of a hotel for some main course. I ordered two butter naan, was later humbled by their size, and couldn’t even finish one.
We got the bike only 5 30 PM, we were advised to get the tappets tightened every 400kms. Immediately we rushed to the hotel, cleared the bills, put on the saddles and started towards Jaisalmer by 6 PM. What lay ahead of us, was a 330 km stretch of out of the world landscape, with equally good road. The evening was cold; we passed through Phalodi, Pokaran to reach Jaisalmer. Stopped somewhere near Phalodi for dinner at a road side dhaba. Surprisingly the place was buzzing with truckers. There was background song on lord Shiva that was being played. After a nice dinner we started off toward jaisalmer. The atmosphere was getting colder by the hour. Nahas Bhai’s bike again started to make some strange noises, we though it was the loose tappets. We reached Jaisalmer by 11 PM. So that sums it up for the day the last stretch , Bikaner to jaisalmer covered in four hours ( 330km) including a dinner break and during night ,Can you imagine the road???
We stopped at the first sighting of a hotel for room, we were offered a cozy room at affordable price, and the hotel name is Desert Tulip. One more exhaustive day in Rajasthan came to an end.
30th Dec 2009, Wednesday:
I knew that the day had some surprises for us, so it did. Once again our prerogative was to find a mechanic get the tappets tightened. We were guided to a Sardarji mechanic. He after analyzing gave us a shocking revelation that the crank shaft has been completely damaged. The reason behind it was that the guy who serviced Nahas Bhai’s bike had just replaced the engine oil, but not the oil filter . So that stopped supply to the crank shaft.
We were left with no option but to end the ride there, and parcel the bike back home, salvage whatever we were able to ride this far. But my biking instincts always would make me ride back, wouldn’t matter if solo. So we discussed between each other that I would carry on to Mysore from Jaisalmer on my Bike (Optimus). And he would reach home ASAP by any means. That meant, he needed to go to the railway station for booking. I in meantime went to visit the Jaisalmer fortified city, which are infact a series of hotels offering a fort like rooms fro tourists, most of them were foreigners. The place was flaunted with tourists. One Scottish gentleman was perhaps admiring my bike where I had parked it. He shared that he used to own one of these some 30years back in Scotland. These are the kind of things that make a bullet special
Quickly went around the fort, made use of the camera, bought some goodies for my friends and left to extend an helping hand to Nahas Bhai. By then he was still waiting in the queue. We found out that the bike can be parceled to Bangalore directly. We once again removed the petrol from Nahas Bhai’s bike and got it ready for packing. By then it was time for me to start the ride back. So after sharing our best wishes, I left jaisalmer.
Return Route
View Larger Map
I coarser along for few kms and suddenly remembered, then Nahas Bhai’s vehicle documents were with me. So had to rush back 30kms to give it back to him. Took 40mins to return to the same spot after returning the documents. Just got going very fast from there on. Covered a lot of distance in good time. Had lunch at Barmer junction. The NH15 which connects Jaisalmer till Sanchor via Barmer, is almost straight, with very less traffic and mind blowing landscape. Had a stop for a quick snap.
Reached Palanpur by day end, and took a room in the same hotel, Hotel Cappal.
Too bad, Nahas Bhai wasn’t with me
31st Dec 2009, Thursday:
The last day of the most eventful year was going to end with a bang.
Started off from Palanpur by 7 30AM, towards Ahmedabad, this was one more very cold stretch I had to encounter. No two words about the road between these two places, was of best quality. Found my way out into Vadodara. I felt tired, as I had not had breakfast, so had to stop in a place called Nadiad. The strain had started to take over me. But that was temporary, as I hit the road again. This part was not eventful as I was only concentrating on riding back at least till Ankleshwar and pick up Nahas Bhai’s Tool kit from Maktoum Bhai’s garage. Had to get through a 5 km long traffic jam near Bharuch. Replenished my system with some food at Ankleshwar. Bid a hearty good by to Maktoum Bhai and left towards the Sahyadris. The plan was to reach Saputara and celebrate the New Year there.
Took a deviation at Kadodra towards Bardoli. The Sahyadris start from Vansda National Park. Ghat section started as I crossed Vansda, the atmosphere was pleasant. The ride was soul refreshing; I got rid of all the strain in my body. It was not only new year eve, but also full moon day , the moon felt, to have increased in size two times, and almost want to get on pillion with me ;-) .
Saputara is on the way to Nasik, infact right on the way, no deviations. The only available rooms hill top villas, with exuberant price list.
Option less; I decided to ride to next lodge and stop. Found a decent hotel only 45kms from Saputara. The route was through hills, curving along. With the bright moon giving company to me. The room was in Dindoori. That is how the year ended for me, exotic
1st Jan 2010, Friday:
Happy New Year.
Riding through the escarpment of the Sahyadris is something I would want to do anytime.
Long steep, curvy turns, is like a treasure for bikers. Even with my entire luggage (Saddle). I was comfortably gliding through the road. Had breakfast at Sangamner. Breakfast was batata vada with pav and paper dosa. Called up all my dear ones from here to wish them a happy new year. Got back on the bike, and started the remaining journey.
Started feeling very tired as I approached pune. A gentleman helped me out of Pune. Special thanks to him. Once I hit the NH4 it was like butter, stopped for quick lunch at McDonalds. The NH4 stretch from Pune to Hubli is excellent. So mustered enough strength to reach Hubli by night.
2nd Jan 2010, Saturday:
Mission accomplished
Started from Hubli with a meager 440kms to do. The NH4 is being repaired at a lot of places between Hubli and Chitradurga, one has to be very careful at the diversion, far too may diversions. took the NH4 till Hiriyur, and took a deviation towards Mysore. Reached home by 5 30PM.
To summarize, this ride was the most successful and enjoyable ride in my life till now. I would like to thank all who made it possible, my parents, my friends, my well wishers and my company. A special thanks to Nahas Bhai, for setting examples on handling adversities effectively. Never lose hope. Do what best you can do in the given time and resources.
Will return to thump, till then Njoy Maadi
Ride Pics :http://picasaweb.google.com/prathapchandra.sp/RajasthanRide#
Two bikers, me and Nahas Bhai, were sure about the way we were going invite the New Year that is on the full moon day, somewhere in the Sahyadris. But as the saying goes, “man proposes, god disposes” it turned out a bit different.
I was riding my Mach 350, Optimus, and Nahas was riding his black beauty Electra 4S. The preparation for me had started almost three months before. So by the time I informed Nahas about the ride it was Nov 24th, just a month before. We had our bikes prepped up well in time, I suppose. Both of us made sure that we take safety as a treasure, and then riding will be a pleasure. We were totally committed to safety. We used AGV helmets, authentic riding jackets, gloves, knee guards and good shoes.
The plan was to transport, or rather carry the bike as luggage till Mumbai and ride on from there. So we needed to pack the bike safely, we borrowed the packing material from the RE showroom, who were very glad to help us. We had to remove all the petrol from the bikes; I had it planned, so that not more than a half liter would be left in the tank. To remove the left over petrol, the front should be at a higher inclination, any platform can be used for this, and put the bike onto side stand, as all the remaining petrol would drain out. All done, we tipped the person in charge for loading the bikes.
24th Dec 2009, Thursday:
Our first day of journey, in Sharavati Express, Mysore to Dadar Junction.
We got to the railway station by 4AM, the train was scheduled to leave by 6 15AM.
We wanted to make sure that the bikes were on the same train. After parking our luggage, I went in patrol to find if the bikes were in place. The luggage coach was sealed; we hoped our bikes were inside. The train came to life only by 5 45. We had reservations at different coaches, so we had to adjust somehow, that we can be placed together. We got a side berth, secured our luggage and were set to the journey.
The best part of the journey was through Dandeli reserve forest section. We caught up with the sunset. The sun merged into the horizon, defined by the trees.
Our berths were in the end of the coach, u can guess what that implies, a smelly experience:-P. We had terrible time coping with it in the night; it was cold, the windows refusing to get closed completely. To add to the trouble the train got late by two hours.
To Route
View Larger Map
25th Dec 2009, Friday:
We begin the ride.
Train arrived at 7 15 at Dadar Junction. Gladly we received the bikes in a safe condition, except for few extraneous scratches. The parcel people were already at work, unloaded the bikes, and got the gate pass and the approval from Octroi department.
We needed fuel, as we had dried up everything before loading; first we towed them out of the station, put on our riding gear and kicked off to the nearest petrol bunk. Petrol is cheaper by 3rs in Maharashtra.
It was already 8 by the time we could start navigate out of Mumbai into the south western highway. The roads in Mumbai had a waterproofing surface. Shiny and slippery I guess. Hence we had to take it slow and steady till we got out of Mumbai. Rode on till Vasai, 60kms from Mumbai for our Brunch.
The air had a tinge of coolness in it.
The highway had very heavy traffic; there is still some road construction work under progress. We covered around 200kms in good time, given the traffic jam near Toll plazas.
As we neared Surat, I noticed Nahas Bhai’s engine oil was leaking through his breather from the air filter box. The leak got worse as we rode on. So we stopped at a petrol bunk to pick up some engine oil. We decided to ride till Bharuch, where we located a RE dealer. Inconspicuous to the scene, there was a long trailer taking a u turn in the six lane highway. We braked as soon as we saw it, but it a bit late for Nahas Bhai to react, as he was blinded by another trailer which was changing the lane due to the later. He hit the side rear tyre of the trailer head on, may be at 50kmph. By what seemed, we felt, it was fork bend. We were lucky to find a bullet mechanic, just one km away from the spot, place called Ankleshwar. We rushed to him for a solution. The gentleman’s name is Maktoum Bhai, in his mid 50’s, has done a lot of modification work on the bullets. What shocked us was the Chassis itself had been bent, hunched actually. We felt that our ride was over before it started. Maktoum Bhai with all his influences assured us the bike would be ready by 27th noon.
They started removing all the parts attached to the chassis including the forks and the rim of front tyre. The gentleman even helped us find a good hotel room nearby. Hospitable indeed. With heavy hearts we settled in the room.
26th Dec 2009, Saturday:
We slept for a long time, woke up at 8 30, got ready, not knowing what’s in store.
By the time we reached Maktoum Bhai’s garage, the bike was completely disassembled and the parts were being sent to the place, where the bend is removed by hydraulic techniques. We wanted to use that time visiting a nearby place. We were suggested Sardar sarovar, 80kms from Ankleshwar. We went on my Bike. Sardar sarovar is located north east of Surat, in a district called Rajpipla. This is a dam built on the river Narmada, named after Sardar Patel. Went around the dam site, which spans 32kms. This dam is the most controversial Dam, remember Narmada Bachao Andolan. It was because of this!!
Finding a hotel for lunch became a problem, we had ride back to Ankleshwar for food. As we returned few hundred meters from the garage, I had a flat tyre. On first look I picked out a small thorn and showed it to Nahas Bhai, as that was the culprit. We pushed the bike to Maktoum Bhai’s garage and removed the tyre for puncture. On closer examination, it was revealed that a 2 inch nail was embedded firmly into my tyre, shredding a part of the tube. Chassis had not yet arrived by then, so Maktoum Bhai took us to a non veg hotel for dinner. The chassis had been repaired as we gorged on our food. Maktoum Bhai rushed to get the Chassis, and fix it for us. The mechanics four of them worked till 9 30 PM to re assemble the parts. Some part of the work still remained.
At one point, I felt, we could get the bike by the same day, seeing the rate at which they were putting it together.
27th Dec 2009, Sunday:
The plan for the day was to visit a place called kabirvad, a pilgrimage center, with centuries old banyan tree. And get back to receive Nahas Bhai’s bike by noon. Kabirvad is 40kms away from Ankleshwar, so reaching the place didn’t take much time. One has to cross the river Narmada to reach kabirvad on a ferry. The place had a lot of visitors, most of them students, being a Sunday it was apparent. Had a nice photography session, with the sunrise and the reflections on the river.
As scheduled, we got back to our hotel, packed up our luggage, checked out and waited for Maktoum Bhai to deliver the bike. Only by 2PM were we able to resume our ride. We thanked all the mechanics for their kind help extended to us. This can happen only in India
The target for the day was Palanpur, some 400kms from Ankleshwar. We made it quite fast till Ahmedabad, but got stuck in the mess of finding our way out to Palanpur, lost precious time. It was 9 15pm when we reached Palanpur. Rented a room at hotel Cappal, yes you read it right; it is Cappal (pun Intended).
We were absolutely tired for the day, sipped a hot cup of tea and went to sleep. What I have to mention here is the part of night riding we did, almost 180kms of it. Nahas Bhai took the lead, during this stretch. It just exemplifies the strength of the man. He is the same person, who had an accident a day before, who is already taking up the mantle. Cheers to you mate, Proud of you.
We were on schedule, albeit we had lost one and a half days.
28th Dec 2009, Monday:
We were supposed to reach Bikaner by the end of the day, which is 560kms away. We were also supposed to spend some time in Jodhpur ogling at the Fort. We knew what the day expected out of us, determination got us moving. It was damn cold in the morning, even the leather gloves weren’t enough to keep our hands warm. I had to tie my handkerchief around my mouth to protect from the cold air. Sunrise greeted us at Abu road; thankfully the Sun was out and smiling, may be just for us.
Stopped for breakfast in a roadside dhaba near Sirohi. Treated ourselves with tawa roti with ghee and channa masala and dahi masala.
We resumed our ride from there a kept riding till Jodhpur non stop. Nahas Bhai’s bike again started showing signs of trouble. This time though it was starting trouble. But still ride able. We had a miserable time locating the Mehrengarh Fort, in Jodhpur. It’s a huge fort with amazing art work, like none other. Got full use of my new camera. Spent two hours inside the fort. I also sat on a camel for a stroll, and some posing!!
It was already dark by the time could start off towards Bikaner. Had a typical Rajasthani Lunch, Bajre ki roti, kher sangri and others I can’t do justice by remembering them. Once again we caught up with Sunset. Nahas Bhai immediately stopped for few quick snaps. I too capitalized on that.
The roads from Jodhpur to Bikaner via Nagaur, is two lane state highways. Thankfully there was not much traffic to counter. But as rode on Nahas Bhai’s starting trouble kept increasing, after some distance he lost complete compression in his valves. Then we knew, something was really wrong with the engine. We didn’t even stop for dinner because of the problem. Our only stop was at Nagaur for a cup of tea. It was getting colder as the night progressed. We somehow managed to reach Bikaner by 10 30PM. Thanks to Anwar Sir, a friend of my dearest Kashyap uncle, we found a nice and cozy room at a good price. Exhausted, we crashed to sleep.29th Dec 2009, Tuesday:
We had to find a mechanic for repairing Nahas Bhai’s ailing bike, which was the first thing in the morning we did. Actually the valve seating had been damaged. Left the bike for repair and left to visit the Junagarh Palace. I had also spotted an Army sales store on a road, so traced it back and bought few things for brother, friends and myself.
Junagarh Fort is still privately owned palace opened for public viewing. This is perhaps the most beautiful of the fort palaces in Rajasthan, with splendid interiors. Spent nearly three hours inside the fort, we were among the first visitors for the day. A large number of foreign tourists were also there. The design is a visual treat. A museum is attached to the palace, exhibiting the things used by the kings of Bikaner. The weather was very pleasant; this is the peak season for tourism in Rajasthan.
I had been following the TV show, Highway on my Plate, a show by NDTV Good times; two gentlemen go around the country tasting the cuisine. Few episodes covered Rajasthan, so I was well aware of the food specialties in Bikaner. Especially the sweets, the ghewar, rasgulla and few others. We went into the market in search of sweets, as directed by a localite. I gorged into the ghewar which had pista condensed milk on top of it. Ghewar is perforated and bread like, crispy stuff onto which this pista flavored condensed milk (Creamy) in poured. Also had a dripping Rasgulla and A masala ki Dhokla (Gujarati Special Dish). As if that was not enough we went in search of a hotel for some main course. I ordered two butter naan, was later humbled by their size, and couldn’t even finish one.
We got the bike only 5 30 PM, we were advised to get the tappets tightened every 400kms. Immediately we rushed to the hotel, cleared the bills, put on the saddles and started towards Jaisalmer by 6 PM. What lay ahead of us, was a 330 km stretch of out of the world landscape, with equally good road. The evening was cold; we passed through Phalodi, Pokaran to reach Jaisalmer. Stopped somewhere near Phalodi for dinner at a road side dhaba. Surprisingly the place was buzzing with truckers. There was background song on lord Shiva that was being played. After a nice dinner we started off toward jaisalmer. The atmosphere was getting colder by the hour. Nahas Bhai’s bike again started to make some strange noises, we though it was the loose tappets. We reached Jaisalmer by 11 PM. So that sums it up for the day the last stretch , Bikaner to jaisalmer covered in four hours ( 330km) including a dinner break and during night ,Can you imagine the road???
We stopped at the first sighting of a hotel for room, we were offered a cozy room at affordable price, and the hotel name is Desert Tulip. One more exhaustive day in Rajasthan came to an end.
30th Dec 2009, Wednesday:
I knew that the day had some surprises for us, so it did. Once again our prerogative was to find a mechanic get the tappets tightened. We were guided to a Sardarji mechanic. He after analyzing gave us a shocking revelation that the crank shaft has been completely damaged. The reason behind it was that the guy who serviced Nahas Bhai’s bike had just replaced the engine oil, but not the oil filter . So that stopped supply to the crank shaft.
We were left with no option but to end the ride there, and parcel the bike back home, salvage whatever we were able to ride this far. But my biking instincts always would make me ride back, wouldn’t matter if solo. So we discussed between each other that I would carry on to Mysore from Jaisalmer on my Bike (Optimus). And he would reach home ASAP by any means. That meant, he needed to go to the railway station for booking. I in meantime went to visit the Jaisalmer fortified city, which are infact a series of hotels offering a fort like rooms fro tourists, most of them were foreigners. The place was flaunted with tourists. One Scottish gentleman was perhaps admiring my bike where I had parked it. He shared that he used to own one of these some 30years back in Scotland. These are the kind of things that make a bullet special
Quickly went around the fort, made use of the camera, bought some goodies for my friends and left to extend an helping hand to Nahas Bhai. By then he was still waiting in the queue. We found out that the bike can be parceled to Bangalore directly. We once again removed the petrol from Nahas Bhai’s bike and got it ready for packing. By then it was time for me to start the ride back. So after sharing our best wishes, I left jaisalmer.
Return Route
View Larger Map
I coarser along for few kms and suddenly remembered, then Nahas Bhai’s vehicle documents were with me. So had to rush back 30kms to give it back to him. Took 40mins to return to the same spot after returning the documents. Just got going very fast from there on. Covered a lot of distance in good time. Had lunch at Barmer junction. The NH15 which connects Jaisalmer till Sanchor via Barmer, is almost straight, with very less traffic and mind blowing landscape. Had a stop for a quick snap.
Reached Palanpur by day end, and took a room in the same hotel, Hotel Cappal.
Too bad, Nahas Bhai wasn’t with me
31st Dec 2009, Thursday:
The last day of the most eventful year was going to end with a bang.
Started off from Palanpur by 7 30AM, towards Ahmedabad, this was one more very cold stretch I had to encounter. No two words about the road between these two places, was of best quality. Found my way out into Vadodara. I felt tired, as I had not had breakfast, so had to stop in a place called Nadiad. The strain had started to take over me. But that was temporary, as I hit the road again. This part was not eventful as I was only concentrating on riding back at least till Ankleshwar and pick up Nahas Bhai’s Tool kit from Maktoum Bhai’s garage. Had to get through a 5 km long traffic jam near Bharuch. Replenished my system with some food at Ankleshwar. Bid a hearty good by to Maktoum Bhai and left towards the Sahyadris. The plan was to reach Saputara and celebrate the New Year there.
Took a deviation at Kadodra towards Bardoli. The Sahyadris start from Vansda National Park. Ghat section started as I crossed Vansda, the atmosphere was pleasant. The ride was soul refreshing; I got rid of all the strain in my body. It was not only new year eve, but also full moon day , the moon felt, to have increased in size two times, and almost want to get on pillion with me ;-) .
Saputara is on the way to Nasik, infact right on the way, no deviations. The only available rooms hill top villas, with exuberant price list.Option less; I decided to ride to next lodge and stop. Found a decent hotel only 45kms from Saputara. The route was through hills, curving along. With the bright moon giving company to me. The room was in Dindoori. That is how the year ended for me, exotic
1st Jan 2010, Friday:
Happy New Year.
Riding through the escarpment of the Sahyadris is something I would want to do anytime.
Long steep, curvy turns, is like a treasure for bikers. Even with my entire luggage (Saddle). I was comfortably gliding through the road. Had breakfast at Sangamner. Breakfast was batata vada with pav and paper dosa. Called up all my dear ones from here to wish them a happy new year. Got back on the bike, and started the remaining journey.
Started feeling very tired as I approached pune. A gentleman helped me out of Pune. Special thanks to him. Once I hit the NH4 it was like butter, stopped for quick lunch at McDonalds. The NH4 stretch from Pune to Hubli is excellent. So mustered enough strength to reach Hubli by night.
2nd Jan 2010, Saturday:
Mission accomplished
Started from Hubli with a meager 440kms to do. The NH4 is being repaired at a lot of places between Hubli and Chitradurga, one has to be very careful at the diversion, far too may diversions. took the NH4 till Hiriyur, and took a deviation towards Mysore. Reached home by 5 30PM.
To summarize, this ride was the most successful and enjoyable ride in my life till now. I would like to thank all who made it possible, my parents, my friends, my well wishers and my company. A special thanks to Nahas Bhai, for setting examples on handling adversities effectively. Never lose hope. Do what best you can do in the given time and resources.
Will return to thump, till then Njoy Maadi
Ride Pics :http://picasaweb.google.com/prathapchandra.sp/RajasthanRide#
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
V Ride: Mysore-Kanyakumari-Rameshwaram-Mysore
Having heard about Kanyakumari and rameshwaram in the geography/History books in School, it was quite overwhelming to think about a ride to those places, let alone actually ride there. We from Bulls of Mysore, had long standing plans to ride to KK. It finally materialized on 27th Sep 2009.
Five Bullets , Five riders were all set to conquer our dreams.
For all of us this was going to be the longest ride to date. hence the excitement knew no bounds. Even sleep eluded us on those nights, before the start of the ride.
I should not forget to mention about the ayudha pooja we did on our Steeds a night before the ride. We were blessed by the almighty for our mission.
Let me introduce you the riders and their Steeds before getting into the ride.
1. Wilson D'Souza on his Silver Electra 4S
2. Prathap(Self) on Optimus(Mach 350)
3. Bharath(Body) on his Mach 500
4. Diwakar(DJ) on his Black TBTS
5. Akshay on his Iron Hide, Black Std 350.
27th Sep'09
We were all set to start from
Five bulls moving in tandem must have been quite a sight to the bystanders. Our first stop was after tackling the rough roads from Gundlupet to Bandipur. The forests have evolved into green haven for birds and animals alike. There is something with the curves and men, isn't it? (Pun Intended) the bandipur section till Gudalur, provided one beautiful curvy ride. We were enjoying every sweep of the curves. they were smooth, with good grip and broad enough for us to relax while banking. We made it a point to fill up our tanks in Gudalur, as it is cheaper by 3rs from Karnataka.We stopped at Gudalur for Breakfast, had sumptuous food, we could feel the heat of the day, I removed my warm liner from the riding jacket to counter the heat. had loads of cold water. The second leg would see us riding through Nilambur and Thrissur to
At a crossroad after nilambur, a deviation to Thrissur was missed by DJ and Body, so three of us had to wait for them to realize the absence of their friends behind and return the unanswered missed calls. They had rode past 10Kms. After having realized, they unassumingly came back to join us at the crossroad. The roads were a bit bumpy, giving a test to our backs and bottoms. We stopped at Thrissur for Lunch. We had already covered close to 320Kms. We continue our ride towards
We took the NH47, towards Kollam, It is well laid with double lane, Throughout we were challenged by the traffic, and all along we could see human habitation. Which delayed our plans to reach Kollam by day break. We reached Kollam by 7 PM. Searched for rooms and got one at Ambadi Hotel at a good price. We dislodged all our luggage, on came the beach wear, moved towards beach for dinner and to have some fun.
We went to bed by 12AM resolving to wake up by 6AM and start towards KK and reach there by earliest.
28th Sep '09
Woke up to the alarm ring tone of Akshay, the most punctual among the group, closely followed by me and Body doing the last honors . We started by 6AM towards
We reached KK by 11 AM, All of us parked our bullets next to Gandhi Mandapam to celebrate our accomplishments. We all congratulated each other on such a marvelous ride. Willy came up to me and said that, he felt he was a complete rider, I replied with a grin, saying that we still need to complete the ride for you to feel like that. My father is a traveler himself, so he had contacts at KK, which helped us find the hotel at reasonable price. We surrendered to some rest after lodging in.
With great anticipation we freshened up to have a sight of the Vivekananda rock memorial, on a ferry. But to our utter disappointment, the day being Vijayadashami, the ferry services were closed for the day. However, we moved towards the temple and had a view of beautiful Kanyakumari. On this hand, the people were is lesser numbers, allowing us to move around with ease.
After a nice tea and bajji's we got ready with our cameras for the spectacular Sun Set.
overwhelmed with the nature's beauty, we returned towards our rooms.
All of us took a walk around KK after dusk.When five people full of attitude get together, then the fun is altogether different, needless to say, we had one hell of a laughter session. The walk was also for the search of a place where we can find some Beer. At last, we found it, Akshay was jubilant about it. The beer didn't seem like beer. Disappointing we returned to hit the beds.
We were to start towards Rameshwaram by 5AM. The Hotel warden gave us some useful information regarding the route to be taken.
29th Sep '09
Unfortunately, after a tiring evening , we woke up only by 5 30AM. After freshening up we thought of starting off, but since it was time for sun rise, we stopped for the sunrise. Here the Vivekananda Rock Memorial and the Thiruvallur statue are quite a sight at this time. captured few photos had tea and started towards Tuticorin. It started drizzling after few kms from KK, the road was curvy with lot of bumps. I took a turn(left) a bit like one in dry conditions and paid the price for it, my rear tyre slipped plunging me into a fall. the speed was around 50kph. I had a scratch on my left leg. Others helped me out to remove the bend in the gear lever. Akshay had some Old Spice after shave, which he applied as tincher, my god it hurts when its poured onto flesh. Bruised but not beaten, we started back again, keeping a steady pace.
The
A bridge leads into the city of rameshwaram, without which, it would be isolated from rest of
There was also an Elephant ( read Tusker) inside the temple. We retired to bed after a light dinner, planning to go to Dhanush Kodi early morning.
30th sep '09
Akshay woke me up at 5 45AM and said that we going to miss the sun rise as others were still were asleep and we needed to get ready. but I suggested we push off status quo, without even brushing our teeth, me and Akshay pushed off towards Dhanush Kodi.
The place is 15km with road, and another 10km on sand . We almost caught the sunrise. but the obstructive clouds anyway spoilt the view. I have seen nothing like Dhanush kodi before, both of us were transfixed at the sight of it. We rode till the tip, where the land meets Water. Spent few minutes and started back. The ride back felt very fast, in no time we hit the tar road. We met Willy, DJ and Body on our way back. Took the room key and instructed them about the route. Got back to the room, freshened up and used up my last pair of fresh clothes. By the time we had our breakfast and packed up the others were also back. So we bid adieu to the great city by 11 AM. Next destination was
After doing first aid to Body, we were determined to reach
The reason we wanted to reach
1st Oct '09
A day filled with surprises, we bid adieu to body and Akshay for a wonderful ride, and wished we could do more of them in the future. Started off towards Mettur. Missing Hogenekkal falls weighed heavily on our minds. We had breakfast in a thatched hotel. As we entered Kar border, a big arch welcomed us. So we stopped for few snaps. A few hundred meters ahead, we saw a diversion and a mark board saying, 28kms to 
The background was filled with mountains of MM Hills range. went around the falls on a rented round boat. Had fun to the brink. Packed up and left
Photos : http://picasaweb.google.com/prathapchandra.sp/VRideKanniyakumariRameshwaram#
We Ride therefore we Exist.
-PC
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