Sumeet Popli

Jungle Mein Mangal

2008-02-19T10:06:00.000-08:00

Rode on the previous weekend (8-10 Feb) to the jungles of Kumaon with the Royal Beasts (RBs). 7 riders in all. 2 AVL 500s, 2 TBs, 1 Machismo 350, 1 1979 STD 350 and 1 Suzuki Intruder :)

I had been planning to ride to Manali on that particular weekend to attend one of the wedding functions of a dear friend, but unfortunately due to super heavy snowfall in Himachal over the preceeding two weeks kinda cancelled the "mid winter afternoon wedding" in Manali. Meanwhile, the RBs had this ride planned, and since the leaves were approved decided to head out with them to the kumaon jungles. Destination was Binsar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binsar_Wildlife_Sanctuary), about 90 kms from Nainital in Almora region of Kumaon. All in all a super lazy ride and an amazing experience in the wild. Unfortunately I don't have a camera :( hence i've put borrowed link from another riders' gallery.

The ride began at 6'ish in the morning on Friday, 8 Feb out of Delhi when 6 of us were flagged off by a couple of other RBs members'. NH24 has been redone magnificiently over the last couple of years and is a butter smooth ride till Moradabad in UP. But still the cane farmers with their overloaded tractor trollies rule these road. early morning dew, a light drizzle and juices squeezed out of fallen-over sugarcane from the trollies made is like a roller skating ring out there. Took it as easy and stopped for breakfast at Gajraula, the Giana Dhaba here has been a favorite of travellers on this route, located at the most convinient distance to stop for breakfast for early starters from Delhi. A few parantha and tea made the morning :) The intruder with a miniscule fuel tank of 17 litres (compared to its size) was gulping those litres by the minute. Utter confusion on the quanitity of octane boosters to add. 87 octane....91 octane...93 octane.... how many ml's of booster required to make it 97 octance?? was the koshun. ;)

Lazily rode till the Moradabad Toll booths. We'd planned to avoid the Rampur-Rudrapur-Haldwani route and get off NH24 after the moradabad toll booths to reach Nainital thru Kaladungi. It proved to be a super wise decision, extremely smooth roads thru the jungle besides the Jim Corbett National Park. Amazing twisties on this routes with dense forests on either side, was a delight to ride thru this stretch. I remember I had taken the portions of this route during my visit to JC Nat. Park last year to visit the Jim Corbett Memorial located at Kaladungi (also called Chotti Haldwani). Finally after a relaxed 9 hour ride we reached Nainital ~ 3 PM. A tankup for all, more importantly the intruder which was returning 8-10 kmpl and kept running low on fuel soon after tanking up :P. We'd decided to halt at SaatTal (SevenLake), 22kms from Nainital and 80kms from Binsar. These guys had been here earlier and were of a strong opinion that this should be the night halt. Lovely place it is, would rate it amongst the best most serene and peaceful places I have seen. A beautiful lake, clean smoky water, very fade mobile network (only BSNL with a strong enough signal) few guest houses and a chain of 6 restaurants by the lake side. Took up a couple of rooms at the Uttaranchal Tourisms' Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigal Tourist Rest House. While some of slept thru the afternoon, I and others went out to make arrangements for the night, I'd forgotten the OMR :D. A long night with total Bakar and some ice breaking for me, I was riding with these guys for the first time. Rode with another batch of RBs to Pushkar a couple of months back, but all new faces this time.

Woke up the next morning to see the 7th rider sleeping in the other room. Abhishek on his 1979 std 350 started from delhi at 6 pm the previous night arrived at SaatTal at 5 f*ckin AM. Its really scary and spooky out there, dense forest and no lighting watsoever in the vicinity. Once its dark, the restaurants shut and the whole place is pitch dark. it was scary walking from one room to the other. Crazy guy, riding thru moradabad-rampur-rudrapur in the middle of the night, on a 30 yr old bullet, which lost its tail lights to the bumps. (Tau...thats Bulleteer spirit for you, wanna attempt that on your plastic :P)

Morning we rode to Binsar through another set of fantastic roads in the wilds of Almora. Nice long sweeping twisties and butter smooth roads made the day. The wildlife santuary was another delight for the eyes and the lungs, you expect that everytime you visit Uttaranchal/ Uttarakhand. Spend some time at Binsar, in the solace of greens. A couple of hours at the Sanctuary and we turned back, again to SaatTal where'd we'd spend the second night as well. On the return leg Rohan (on a TB) discovered that his new rear sprocket was almost cleaned out...suprise, shock, relief...almost everytime one breaks down, more often than not, you find a workshop/ mechanic nearby. Thats what happened, Rohan had stopped to check his sprockets right outside a mechanic;s shop who had the required sprocket (though partially used, it was much better than the one on which he'd been running. By the time we reached SaatTaal, it was pitch dark and the guy up front (a good 200m ahead of the pack) stops abruptly to avoid running into a deer galloping across the road. Another deer by the road and pair of brightly lit fox eyes showed us the way to the Rest House. :) Another night of Bakar, Old ride stories and ofc OMR :)

Scariest part of this ride. Had to wish Amrita happy birthday at midnight, for which I was required to walk 30m away from the rooms hunting for netwok. And the HE MAN did it :P At midnight, apni jaan hatheli pe rakh ke, apni dharam patni ko phone ghumaya aur happy birthday bol daala :) Kya pata koi junglee jaanvar mujhe khaa jaata. ok 30 is exhajjerated, it must've been 20m :)

The next day pretty inconsequential. All we did was rode back through the same route we'd taken 2 days back. Only Rohan got some action, as he cleaned out the replacement sprocket as well. but then right in front of a spare shop in Gajraula :)

A nice and relaxing ride. I'm in love with those jungles. Pics from Rohit's Camera

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/rohit.royalbeast/BinsarFeb2007

4 Camels for a Bullet 500

2007-11-19T11:59:00.000-08:00

Yeah! Thats exactly what I was offered at the Annual Camel Fair at
Pushkar yesterday. A bunch of traders offered me 4 healthy young
camels for my Bullet 500.

I wonder what it would've been to return to Delhi on a cart pulled by
4 young healthy camels. hehe :)

Anyways. I rode with 6 other Bull riders of Royal Beasts to the annual
Pushkar Fair on the 17-18 nov. weekend and had a nice time in Ajmer and Pushkar.

Here are all the pics

Some Teasers:

Diamox and Old Monk (was: Losing Virginity, In Style (Teasers))

2007-10-15T05:31:00.000-07:00

Hi

After the ride in the snowy mountains, I decided to blog is as a day-to-day account. Created a new blog. If you have time, you read through it DIAMOX AND OLD MONK

Me and my friend Rohon finished our 2 week trip to the mountains yesterday.
We finally covered the distances like this
Delhi - Manali - Leh - K-top - Leh - Kargil - Srinagar - Patnitop - Pathankot - Faridkot - Bhatinda - Ambala - Chandigarh - Dehradun - Rishikesh - Auli - Joshimath - Rishikesh - Delhi.

Total Distance Covered ~ 3,800 kms.
The Trip saw some twists and turns, changes itinerary, breakdowns, riding in sub zero temperatures, riding to the top of the world (while it was all snowed out).

Schedules and Itineraries changed with weather conditions. Nubra had to be called off, so too ChangaLa + Pangong Tso. revised plan of hitting Jaisalmer also changed owing to the increasing temps in the plains. Plans to hit Malari on 12 Oct. had to be aborted owing to lousy Eicher Road Atlas' wrong route (will explain in detail later)

As for the Title of this post, this is how virginities were lost:
For the new Bull:
On 1 October, she lost her virginity to highways, covering 636 kms on the Delhi - Manali Stretch
On 4 October, she lost her virginity to Leh
On 5 October, she lost her virginity to the top of the world. Conquered Khardungla buried under 2-3 inches of snow.
On 10 October, she lost her virginity to mid trip breakdowns, she had to be hauled up on a pick up truck to the RE workshop in pathankot :( (this is some thing i hope she didn't like too much, and would love to stay away from mid trip b/downs as much as possible)

For me:
I lost my virginity to Leh and the top of the World
I lost my virginity to white water rafting :P at Rishikesh.

Here are some of teasers from the Ride

Early Morning, October 3: 17 kms before Baralacha La:

Same Morning. Slept on a clear night (with surrounding shades of green). Woke up to White morning.

Conquered Khardung La (18380 ft) while the road lay buried under inches of snow.

Beauty Lies in the Beast. The Beast is Beautiful

2007-09-11T04:37:00.000-07:00

I have been lazy and enjoying life for over a month now....should've posted this long back.

On August 2, I got BULLED. Graduated from Plastics to Metal, Got myself the all new RE Bullet Machismo 500 LB Limited Edition. A 2 week booking-delivery lag and I was riding, No Thumping On....

All Aluminum 500 cc, 24 BHP, 40 Nm Torque, >130kph speed...thats as good as anything is available in India...Woaaaah! she runs wild...throttle response is truly and honestly amazing...the power from each stroke is felt separately....

A low revving engine, making sweet noise, stands out in the crowd. High set saddle, traditional Speedo+Odo with Ammeter on the console (yeah!!! no fuel indicator) Thats Retro RE for you...

The Running in (as per the manual) is done now, running 1.5k+ now... and dying to hit the open roads with "NH" suffixed to them... :)

Some more Pics:

Narkanda - Hatu, July 2007

2007-07-16T23:28:00.000-07:00

It all started on the wrong foot. With only 2 people (out of 12 confirmed till the day before) finally making it to the morning of 14 July at AIIMS. Kamlesh rode from Gurgaon and he was already 30 odd down on the trip meter when i met him at 3.45 AM on a thundering night. The 30 minute shower was good enough to drench us completely. The slippery surface left me kissing the back of an Indica 10 kms into the ride, No harm done, we carried on. It kept drizzling while we crawled to the Delhi Bye-pass in an hour. Quick Chai and Sutta break, and we headed on NH1.

Nicely covering places, the first butt break came near Sonepat in an hours time. Heavy winds and constant drizzle kept us company. Soon after, at 7.30, took a leak-break which turned into a freak break. A short circuit wiring (apparently in the indicator cables) spread all over the wiring leaving white smoke coming out of the battery compartment first, the head assemble after that, and finally near the ignition switch. The ignition was gone, no spark in the spark plug, meant trouble, all electricals were down. Without realising the spark was gone, tried to disconnect all not-so-important component and restore the ignitions, no luck but. We were 15 kms ahead of Karnal now. Desperate calls back to Delhi to find an Bajaj Dealer in Karnal/ Kurukshetra. Deciding to move on, Shri Krishna Bajaj at Kurukshetra was the destination. Managed to load the bike up a 3 wheeler goods carrier, which took us to the showroom/ service centre 18 kms away in 30 minutes. With no pro-biking support here, the skilled mechanic, had to open up the seat and the tank to trace the burnt wiring from terminal to terminal. Finally the guy gave direct lines thru to the spark plug, the head lamp and the tail light and we were good to go. Kick start, key not required, headlamp and tail light on auto-on mode. Finally headed out of the service station at 12.30 and stopped at the first Dhaba near Kurukshetra for Dal Makhani, Shahi Paneer and Tandoori Rotis.

Then on there werent too many issues. But having lost 5 hours in restoring the electricals, we were way off the target to reach hatu by evening. Hatu seemed distant and dark to us. Riding hard thru Kalka to Shimla, finally managed to reach Shimla ~ 6 PM. Enroute, we got company with Navnit riding solo on his 25 day old P200 from Mumbai to Spiti to Leh. Picked up supplies at Kufri, still hopeful of making it to Hatu, the 3 of us headed up to Narkanda. With the weather getting colder by the minute, touched down at Narkanda at 9.15 PM. Finally deciding to call it a day here, my back was really really sore. The hard riding thru Shimla-Narkanda with frequent rough patches took their toll on the back. We would retire in Narkanda at the HHPWD Guest house. Dinner followed by OM and bakar, we finally slept at midnight.

The morning was hazy and dull. With a chill in the air, we grabbed a quick breakfast and headed up 9 kms to Hatu Peak. The Never-ending-road is a myth. The road stops right here only a metre away from the valley. Spent a blissful hour at the peak clicking pics amidst the clouds and mules.

Hatu, the highest altitude i've ever attained lived up to its name completely. Worth the pain, worth the climb, worth everything.

The return was marked with Navnit carrying on to Spiti, while Kamlesh and I descended down to Shimla. With no further issues and Lunch at Kufri, Delhi was a mere formality. With the back still tingling from the previous day's grueling ride up, came down at an easy pace till Kalka. Kalka to Ambala took an hour, Ambala to Delhi (home) another 3.

Still nursing the sore back. Looking at options.

Pics are here.

160 kms of Kerala, on an Electra

2007-06-11T23:44:00.000-07:00

Last week was the offsite (with wife) organised by my office at
Kovalam, southern Kerala. The first two days, full of work were
followed by 2 chill madi days.

Decided to hire a bike, all I found were bulls, settled in for an
electra, roamed around trivandrum, poovar and kovalam. The first time
i rode a bull (felt like the king of the road) and adjusted decently
well to the reverse foot controls (got confused at times while
breaking and downshifting on turns) - almost had a crash in the greasy
conditions)

Rode in the Rains, with the lovely Kerala countryside.

Met Jay, our local Nomads to help us find amazing crabs and
prawns on the kovalam beach (got sick of the north indian-ised food at
the Leela) with the lovely Arabian Sea breeze with KF.

All in all, a wonderful 2 days, only 160 odd kms though...extremely
satisfying.. :) Lots of cocunut trees, sand, sea and the rain.

Awful pics taken from mobile phone camera are HERE

Got my First Riding Jacket!

2007-02-25T00:11:00.000-08:00

For all of us who ride on the Highways, safety is the primary concern. Having the right protection and Gear is extremely important. More often than not, the road is safe,its you who is unsafe. As a part of my endeavour to keep myself safe..got a great riding Jacket last week...

Told Tanmay (my friend in the US) to get something with similar specs on this link

From My Jacket

But the lazy one ordered this only...and left me in a 300$ debt...anyways..his credit period is six months...i'm happy about both, the jacket and his credit period...I'll be secure the next time I hit the roads...well..to an extent, at least

The Mother of them all!!!

2007-02-24T23:03:00.000-08:00

For years and years I always thought the H-D Fatboy and V-rod were the best cruisers ever...

The love affair with cruisers started last year after I saw the world on my avenger...

A couple of weeks earlier i saw this massive machine in a market in Delhi, it said Rocket III, i'd never heard of this...on examining closer I couldnt believe my own eyes...23 fuckin hundred CC..., 3 cylinders...Triump motors (what the hell is that?!!! was the question in my mind..) Got home and got googling..what I found was simply amazing...

have a look...

Also I clicked some pics of this raw beast in life.... And also added to my "wishlist"

woah!!!!

From Rocket III

Shimla, Feb. 2007

2007-02-18T02:49:00.000-08:00

North India saw a turn of weather and this february has been the coldest one for years...to the extent that the Hill Station of Shimla recorded the highest february snowfall in the last 99 years. For the last two weeks, Shimla (and the higher areas of Himachal) had been buried under one foot of snow. Made a perfect reason to hit the Station.

I'd been wanting to cover up bits of himachal since my Jaisalmer Trip, to complete a triangle rides to Uttaranchal, Rajasthan and Himachal for sometime..Ideally I wanted to cover Kinnaur but due to the heavy snowfall kinnaur has been completely cut-off by road.

Rohon was to accompany me for the ride. Saurabh got stuck at work and couldn't get his bike ready for the ride. Rohon would also spend Friday, 16 Feb night at my place to get an early start the next morning.

Day 1, Saturday Feb 17, 2007: Delhi - Panipat - Ambala - Kalka - Shimla

Our day started at 0345. We woke up after a 2.30 hrs sleep and got ready to hit the raods in 15 minutes time. At 0408 we were on our way. A quick fuel stop at Alipur and we headed into the Foggy night. Piloted by an Indica and Zen we rode for some 60 odd kms before taking a breather close to panipat at 0525. Odo: 65..a dearth of cigarettes encouraged me to get a bundle of bidi which would last me the entire trip.

The Fog got denser a we crept through, This time it would be a 17 tonne truck to escort us for the next 30 kms. and then a perfectly synchronised ride with an Innova and Scorpio. The four of us kept close to each other for the next 60 kms, everyone complementing each other...the scorpio and the innova taking leads in tandem and the two of us stayed 30 m behind them @ constant 70-90 kph. The visibility varied between 25-100m all throughout, but we were safely escorted till our second stop for tea a little before Ambala. The milk man riding the rajdoot was too entertaining...and asked us if we were "firangi"...Arrival Time: 0715, Odo: 180

From Shimla Februa...

We started off again after chilling for half hour, realising that our rain protective gear we bought the day before was coming to good use. The Fog and the mist started condensing on our suits. The Carabin Rain Suits also protected us from the severe cold, kept the winds out very well..good buy...worth a 1000 bucks i must say.

Anyways, after brachin off NH1 at Ambala we were slowed down by the city traffic in Chandigarh, Panchkula and the under construction NH 22. Nothing great in this leg. Mostly boring and we took our stop at Kalka just before starting our incline to Shimla for fuel and Tea. Arrival: 0905, Odo: 255.

The beautiful Himalayan Twisties treated us well..except for a few lanslides, the roads were lovely and inviting. Beautiful surface, excellent surroundings and high spirits :-) made the perfect recipe to make it memorable. As we approached Shimla, there was hardly any signs of snow on the roads or surroundings and we were starting lose our spirits. Felt as if all the snow had melted before our arrival. Finally arrived in Shimla at 1135, Odo: 346 kms

Its just so amazing, just as we entered Shimla city the colours changed from green to white. Felt as if it was a "no entry" to snow before Shimla. After a lot of speculation and two agents taking us for a walk in Shimla city in search of a cheap hotel we finally settled for one on the mall fro 450 bucks. What we learned here was that the Shimla Narkanda highway was under a feet of snow and no vehicle could go beyond kufri. and a two wheeler cant even get to Kufri. Our eyes lit up by these remarks and our target was to get as far as physically possible and enjoy the snow before it melts.

After riding for hardly 12 kms towards Kufri, we realised only 4 wheelers could go beyond. Too much black ice, water and snow making it extremely dangerous to ride further. Anyways it was only a matter of a few hundered meters and all 4 wheelers wouldnt go further either.

This is what we got...I would just let the pics do the talking

From Shimla Februa...

The climb down from Kufri were the toughest 12 kms of my life...Took us 45 minutes to ride down with all the ice on the roads...slowly but steadily we made our way down to shimla, still overwhelmed by the 2 hours we spent in the snow.

From Shimla Februa...

The Evening was to be total chillaxing time at the Mall...bought food, drinks, snacks and walked around the mall and ridge for a good 2 hours

From Shimla Februa...

Day 2, Sunday Feb 18, 2007: Shimla - Kalka - Karnal - Panipat - Delhi

Nothing of too much consequence on this day. except for a couple of videos i shot while riding in the twisties..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RBZIk3-rIM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-bhqt83org

Day Stats.

Total distance : 336 Kms
Total Time on the Road : 7:45 Hours.

TOTAL DISTANCE TRAVELLED IN THE TRIP 710 Kms.

Complete Photoset
http://picasaweb.google.com/DEL430/ShimlaFebruary2007

The RD Drag

2007-02-06T03:09:00.000-08:00

One Helluva sunday it was!

Two days back, i landed up at the Dhaba at Qutub Institutional Area to catch one of the regular BCMT meets only to realise that there was no official meet, but still manage to find Shamik and Guptaji. After chatting and hogging for a while, we (Shamik and I) decided to push off for a movie, but house full was all we got.

A few months back Shamik had got his hands on a ealry 80's RD and got it rebuild. But something went wrong and soon the entire electricals would give away. The entire wiring of the RD had given away leaving him high and dry with his the RD stalled. He had to be dragged tied behind another bike from his house in Delhi to the guy who did his RD (Sumit) in NOIDA some 20 kms away. I think it was Manik who did it then.

From RD Drag

Some days back (after getting the wiring one all over again) there was another wiring short and the bike had lost all electrical once again. I decided to be nice to Shamik who'd been waiting for someone to drag him and the RD to NOIDA again, and volunteered for the drag. What followed was my toughest ride till date. Tougher than my first ever ride which was in the Kumaon and Tehri Twists.

Tied a nylon rope from my poor Avenger's back rest to the leg guard of the 160 f**** KILOGRAMS of the solid iron RD + another 60 odd Kgs of Shamik. It seemed as if all the universe had stalled. Dragging the 220 kgs behind me, which would include travelling in city traffic for 20 kms, negotiating right turns, left turns, U-turs, Red Lights, flyovers, and overtaking vehicles was one hell of an effort.

From RD Drag

And for some odd reason or simply to make my life hell, Dear Shamik decides to take the route which would have congested roads, lots of slow moving traffic, some buffaloes, rickshaws and cycles. For those who know Delhi, he avoided the the DND and decided on the route thru the Okhla Barrage!!!!!

With the RD trailing me a mere 1.5 metres, it was a gigantic task to get the pickup off a stationary position, a sudden jerk would jolt me and send me off balance. Everytime I had to pick up to create tension in the nylon rope, my heart would beat faster, the screeeetchy noise coming off the back rest would make me look back if it was still there. With time and practice (all in a duration of 20 kms and 1 hour) I learnt how to tow a vehicle.

From RD Drag

Also met Sumit at his garage where he worked hard on getting the other beauties on the road.

At the end of it all, I just earned my self experience on dragging a RD behind me, and A CHILLED BEER!!!! for which Shamik readily agreed to :-)

And my bike got SHEER TORTURE!!!!

Jaisalmer, Dec. 2006

2006-12-30T00:47:00.000-08:00

Finally after a lot of resistance from home and the GF, I was hitting the road for my grand new year ride welcome ride to Rajasthan and Gujarat.
Those who accompanied me on the this ride were Saurabh and Ashwani again, Rohon had chickened out for some seriuos professional committments. Saurabh had already been in a little pain from the ailing left knee of his, but still decided to come for ride, so tempting it was.
This was also the same time Dr. Arnob Gupta was attempting his Saddle Score Ride (http://ironbutt.com/ridecerts/getdocument.cfm?DocID=1 from Chennai to Jaipur. Having already achieved the Iron Butt (100o miles in 24 hours couple of years back), he aimed higher. Was supposed to be his witness at the terminal point in Jaipur, and then continue riding with him the next day towards Mumbai, before branching off the NH8 at Himmatnagar to continue to Kutch.
Bhuwan Singh, a fellow Nomad and BCMT member, was to join us for the II Leg (Gujarat) at the same time when Arnob would start his return to Mumbai. This was the setting for the ride.
Leg I -(Day 1- Day 3) : Rajasthan for Saurabh, Ashwani and me.
Leg 2 (Day 4- Day7/8) : Rajasthan, Gujarat.
The three of us (Saurabh, Ashwani and I) decided to discover as much of Rajasthan in 3 days as possible and return to Jaipur on the night of 26th to start with Bhuwan and Arnob on the 27th. Out initial plans were to cover up the desert districts of Jaisalmer and Barmer for the first three days.
What happened in the following days was mix of high and dry....not very inclined to write the complete trip log, just a brief of it all...
Day 1.
Started from Gurgoan @ 0445 hrs to arrive in Jaipur @ 0915 to meet bhuwan.

From Rajasthan (De...

Travelled thru Kishangarh, Ajmer and Beawar to finally reach Jodhpur @ 1730 hrs.
Day Stats :
Total Distance covered : 625 kms
Total Time in the Saddle : 610 mins.
Avg. Riding Speed : ~ 58 kmph
Highlights of the Day:
Breakfast with Bhuwan, great highways of Central Rajasthan
Day 2
Left Jodhpur @ 0815 hrs and travelled to Jaisalmer and Sam, through Phalodi, & Pokhran.
Day Stats:
Total Distance covered : 350 kms
Total Time in the Saddle : 260 mins
Avg. Riding Speed : ~ 80 kmph
Highlights of the Day:
B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L NH15 most of the way, some twisties
Saurabh took a fall negotiating a hairpin - broke his leg guard. I went off road to bite some desert in my efforts to negotiate a calf who decided to run across the highway without notice.
Stayed the night at a Camp Site in Sam (40kms from Jaisalmer city) and visited the last accesible village (without BSF permits) towards the Border.
Day 3:
Sam to Jaipur via Jaisalmer, Nagaur, Pushkar and Kishangarh.
Day Stats:
Total distance Travelled : 639 kms (my personal best in 24 hours)
Total Time in Saddle: Not sure (too many turmoils in day, so didnt record)
Avg. riding speed : again no times, so no Avg.
Highlights of the Day:
Very disappointing day. Woke up to learn that Arnob had to call off the Saddle score ride at Lonavala when he was all set to crack it.
Saurabh's knee just got more painful and decided to head to Delhi with Ashwani the same day
Mother and GF combined emotional forces and made me call off the the gujarat Leg.
Terrible handling problems with the bike. Too much sway while riding fast.
Ashwani went off road near kishangarh and damaged his bike and self (nothing serious though)
Ashwani and Saurabh stayed in Ajmer for the night. I was ahead of them, and before I could realise the fall Ashwani had, was too far towards Jaipur to return. I decided to continue to Jaipur and wait for Saurabh and Ashwani to reach in the morning to continue to Delhi.
Day 4
Jaipur to Delhi
Day Stats:
Total Distance covered : 310 kms
Total Time in the Saddle : Disappointments from previous day, didnt record
Avg. Riding speeds: Insufficient data
Highlights of the day:
Got the bike repaired. Apparently the front rim needed some realignment (probably coz of my going-off-the-road-to-avoid-calf-and-fall episode the previous day).
Saurabh and Ashwani arrived at the same time the bike was ready to hit the road.
Finally hit Delhi @ 1900 hrs.
Total distance on the Trip: 1924 Kms
Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/DEL430/RajasthanDecember2006

Devprayag, Nov. 2006

2006-11-29T00:46:00.000-08:00

2 days, 4 Riders, 5 States, 1000 Kms.

Riders Profiles:

1. Ashwani Asthana, 25, IT Pro. ? HH Karizma (Oct 2006) ? No Prior out Station Rides.
2. Rohon Bhuyan, 25, Creative Designer ? Bajaj Avenger (Oct 2005) ? No Prior out station rides
3. Saurabh Sachan, 23, IT Pro. ? Bajaj Avenger (July 2006) ? The only experienced rider with 2000 kms of long rides under his belt.
4. Sumeet Popli, 25, Civil Engg. ? Bajaj Avenger (Jan. 2006) ? Not much of out station riding only a 250 kms single trip.

The Plan:
The ride was planned two weeks back between Saurabh and Me at the weekly BCMT meet. After long and tiring speculations on who all would be joining us on the ride, it was left to the two of us, a friend of Saurabh (Ashwani, who works in the same office as his) and Rohon (Got him from the Orkut community of Delhi Avengers) to hit the road. Although the night before the ride we were six to go, but two guys had to back out the night before.

Saurabh, Ashwani and I met on Thursday night to decide on the route, rendezvous point and other detail. The initial plan for the ride was settled for Delhi-Lansdowne-Dehradun-Chakrata-Ponta Sahib-Ambala-Delhi to be covered in two days. This is how it turned out.

Day One: Nov. 25

My first major ride was to get a kick start. It is probably the first time that I woke up at 0300. A total of 4 alarms blared in my eardrums and finally got up at 0310. Called up Rohon and Saurabh to get their status.

I was supposed to meet the two absentees near my house at 0330 and ride with them till CP, our rendezvous point. Finally at 0350, gave up the hope of them showing up and headed to the rendezvous point alone (I had the absence messages in my chat box, but i missed them somehow and was caught unaware). Till this time, only I knew that we were short of two guys. It was good to see Rohon waiting there for us. It?s the first time I met him, and got almost 45 min. to interact with him before Saurabh and Ashwani arrived.

The Introduction session, general guidelines and Line up pic took another 10 min. before we headed east (0500 hrs.) to exit Delhi at Ghaziabad, traveling into Meerut and Roorkee. We had originally plan to leave by 0400, but Saurabh and Ashwani arrived a little late, and we lost an hour there . We lost our way in Ghaziabad, missed the Hapur By-pass and ended up on the road to Bulandshahar. The realization came after 10 kms into and had to return back.

The first pit stop came at the Meerut by-pass (65 Kms out of Delhi, 0700). The early morning chill of the Western UP almost froze us and thank god for the two cups of tea each one of us had we were able to carry on. Ashwani got a minor nature call, and stood there for 10 min against the road shoulder. Poor Junior was protected with 4 layers of thick clothing that it was a real exercise finding Him (which the rest of us realized later on during our calls as well).

At out Second Stop at Roorkee we realized that were taking longer and tedious route for Lansdowne. While interacting with other travelers, we realized that the Alternate route to Lansdowne through Bijnor was much better (both in terms of Road Condition and Traffic, also much shorter). Although we knew route, but the info on the route was it was really bad and a definite No No.

This particular stretch of the Highway, Delhi-Meerut-Roorkee (along with a few other highways of Western UP) is a really notorious 2 lane undivided highway. You need to be extra cautious and make sure u stay out of the path of the UP Roadways Buses coming from the opposite in your lane. Plus the roads are filled with the Sugarcane farmers, with their overloaded, crawling tractor-trolleys.

Finally at Haridwar, where we went off the NH, we got a breather from the trucks and heavy traffic. Heading into the forest land (with elephant-crossing warnings all over) we got the first stretch of clear roads, and started our ascent to Lansdowne. Although the warnings were for Elephants, all we got to see was monkeys.

A little bit of problem with Rohon?s brakes forced an unscheduled stop at Bhaguwala (1100 hrs), and we were off again after 20 minutes.

Only Saurabh had rode in the mountains prior to this (on his last months ride to Shimla ? Narkanda), and really really tested the other three. Finally we reached Lansdowne at 1330 hrs. (running late by almost 2 hrs.). A really tedious and steep ascent on single lane mountain roads, the three of grew from being novices to better mountain riders. Our first stint with the mountains (through Kotdwar) was a real tough one and we were getting used to gear shifting skills and Engine-braking.

Somewhere on this route, Saurabh waving to kids overshot the hairpin and slipped in the gravel, we also took our refueling stop and enjoyed the nature.

After trying to figure out what to do in Lansdowne, with hardly any restaurants, Hunger pangs hit me hard. It was already 1400 and only 3-4 hours of daylight left for us.

We were still unsure about where to stay the night. After some speculation and local advice, we headed to Pauri, 80 Km of steep ascent with much better two lane roads. The first sight of Rawat Dhaba 8 kms out of Lansdowne, I refused to carry on further and we decided to settle down for lunch. Yummy anda paranthas and dal roti and lots n lots of advice from the Dhaba people ate 45 minutes. Finally, we headed to Pauri at 1520.

It was this stretch to Pauri, where all of rode at an amazing speed and kept on going finally reaching Devprayag at 1900hrs after 120 Kms of riding. We learned quick and averaged almost 35 kph on the incline. This is where we would take out halt for the night.

A major part of the last stretch was done in the dark with single lane road. The entry at the Devprayag saw our first stint of a checkpost, a thorough check of all our documents, the route we took, where we were headed and the purpose of the ride. The wireless was the only thing disturbing the calm of the night, the other side asking questions to the three guards who stopped us. After a satisfactory interrogation, we handed them our visiting cards and invited them to Delhi

Got two nice and cozy rooms at the Garhwal Tourist Guest House for 460 bucks. This is where we decided to name the ride ?The Fling?. The bottle of Vodka (Brand: FLING) we deserved after a long and tiring day, where we worked really hard, had spilled in my bag left us with Dal, Roti, Gobhi Aloo, Papad, Onions, Mirinda and Limca. Along with some Suttas.

We decided our route for Sunday during the night; we were to take Devprayag-New Tehri-Chamba-Ghanolti-Mussouri-Dehradun-Herbertpur-Chakrata-Herbertpur-Poanta Sahib-YamunaNagar-Karnal-Delhi, starting at 0430.

Day Two: Nov. 26

After a nice sleep in the ?rajai? we got out of bed at 0510, an hour later than we had planned to. A tank up at a near by HP Petrol Pump, a quick route guide from Uttaranchal Police, and we were off in the morning darkness.

The Sun finally came up at 0700 and forced a few photography stops. Negotiating the Hairpins, with the sun blazing right in to our eyes, we were slowed down further. In the morning light, the snowy peaks in the distance were breathtaking, a Golden Glow on the grass lands and long shadows in the Valley made it a heavenly ride.

While in Tehri the valley beautiful that once was, now converted in to a Reservoir for the Tehri Hydro Development Project, Got a bunch of village kids to interact with and clicked some of them.

The breakfast break 10 kms before Chamba was a handful, with yummy aloo paranthas and Egg-Bun to go with Tea. Never had to stop anywhere for food for the entire afternoon and evening after that.

Around 10 Km ahead of Chamba, we had our first major Breakdown, the rear tire of Rohon?s Avenger punctured. The mechanics within us got down to work. Taking the rear tire out was quite a task, and took a good two hours for us to hit the road again. Saurabh, Rohon and Ashwani had to return to Chamba to get the puncture fixed. This was only the start of the problems with the avenger, The rear drum breaks started behaving madly and we couldn?t get it up to Rohon?s satisfaction. Coming downhill, 5 kms later, Rohon lost the braking and slipped at a wet turn. Another 45 min. of desperate attempts to get the bike braking normally, we headed to Mussouri, hoping to get it fixed it there.

While in Mussouri (1515 hrs), the mechanic worked on the bike, changed the brake shoe, but to no avail, for some reason, the leather refused to get a grip on the drums. Finally at 1700 hrs we got desperate to head home. Change in Plan ? no Chakrata now, and straight home while Rohon decided to stay with a friend in Dehradun, and get the bike repaired at the Bajaj Showroom on Monday and reach Delhi later.

With only three of us left to ride till Delhi, with time running out, we got stuck in Dehradun Mad Evening Rush. None of us had a clue that it could get as bad as it was, getting to Herbertpur and then Poanta Sahib was a real pain. Bad Stretch of the road didn?t help us either.

The alternate route, Roorkee-Meerut-Ghaziabad was out of the question with the same old undivided two lane highway, with heavy weekend rush heading to Delhi adding to the trucks and UP Roadways buses.

We finally had a nice stretch of 25 km once we hit Haryana, beautiful 2 lane highway (NH72), but this too was preceded and succeeded by bad stretches up to Pipli, where we were to hit NH1.

Finally after 175 kms from Mussouri, at 2200 we hit Pipli and got a breather and hit NH1. It felt amazing to hit the throttle and cruise on to Delhi. The Karizma had a one on one with a Merc C220, matching it at speeds of 120 kph. Finally after 20 min on NH1, 27 kms later, we took the dinner stop at Karnal. We had been in the saddle for 5 hours now, with only direction and bungee cord adjustments stops.Ee took an hour long dinner break.

Finally we hit Delhi 0100 hrs on Monday Morning. We split our ways at Madhuban Chowk (14km in to Delhi). Saurabh still had 60 kms to go and Ashwani another 20 while I lived right there. With the office bells sounding for the morning, both of them decided to head home, despite repeated requests to spend the night at my place.

These were the final trip readings

Saurabh's Trip : 1043 Kms
Ashwani's : 1010 Kms
Sumeet's : 966 Kms

Rohon will be back in the evening today.

Check the Photos here

(Written on November 27, 2006)

BCM Touring / Bike Nomads

2006-11-01T00:45:00.000-08:00

Again through Orkut, while browsing through another bike community, got a link to Bike Nomads. After checking out the site and yahoo group, I was more than happy to join an experienced group like Bike Nomads.
Soon after my introduction to Bike Nomads, one nice Gentleman named Hitanshu Gandhi ;-) invited me to a meet of Bike Nomads and BCMTouring in Qutub Institutional Area on Oct. 28. Gleefully accepting the invitation, I made my way to QIA in the hunt for a responsible group of riders, who share similar riding styles and respect the road. What I got at the meet was something I never expected, met people like Yogesh Sarkar, who've done Ladakh twice...and once solo...woahhh!!! And there were others who've done a lot of riding. I was just a novice.
I fell in love with the group, for the love for bikes, travel and FOOD, it felt so good see everyone hog at the parantha's, maggi, macaroni etc at the dhaba.
At that time they all were planning for a ride to the Pushkar Camel Fair, to be held on the first weekend of November, much to my disappointment coz I wouldnt be joining them. I was to ride to Neemrana, to the Fort Palace, now a popular heritage hotel, to celebrate 5 years of my relationship with my girl friend Amrita.
Anyways all said and done, I would be riding on the 5th Nov. weekend. Not with BCM Touring though.
This is the link to the Bike Nomads Website www.bikenomads.com
and the link to BCM Touring www.bcmtouring.com

Delhi Avengers

2006-08-30T00:42:00.000-07:00

For the first 8 months of getting my bike, I'd used her only for the regular city commute, from home to office and back and other daily routine stuff. Till now I never realised that I was a part of a much bigger community, and I was missing out on most of the other uses of 2 wheels.
It happened in October 2006, when after months of interaction, people from the Delhi Avenger community on Orkut decided to meet up. The meet saw 7 guys turning up, all on the same machine, the Bajaj Avenger. After the initial introductions and a nice breakfast (aloo poori) at the Nathu's Sweet Shop in Bengali Market, we decided to head out on the road.
After much speculation and apprehensions, we finally hit NH8 and started towards Jaipur, heading out of Delhi. Most of the guys were excited for being a part of the group and were stunting and riding at higher than required speeds. I guess the adrenaline rush was too much, or just the sheer excitement of being a part of a BIKER GROUP. Something I could notice in most of the people was they had no clue about the bike they were riding, the specifications and details, could not ride in a straight way, wouldn't care about the safety of self or others on the road, but would try to perfom stunts and ride fast. When it finally came down to riding a little further, most of them chickened out. All this was much to my disappointment.
My riding style (the way I see it) is that of a responsible rider, someone who respects the road, respects the rights of everyone else on the road, and more often that not follows all traffic rules (at least in the city). I try my best to stay calm on the road, not let anyone intimidate me in to doing something stupid, be with myself and enjoy my ride.
Somehow, I knew that these fellows are not the kind of bikers I would be comfortable riding with. I needed a group of responsible and safe riders, which I could be a part of. I knew itsie bitsie things about my bike and how to take care of her, but I needed more knowledge and more insights into how much I could do with her.
One good thing that Riding with the Delhi Avengers did to me was, I developed a crush for the empty highways. I on a personal note was extremely happy with my achievement. 140 odd kms for the day and a run on one of the better straight line highways around.

Delhi Avengers - Took a break!

2006-01-30T00:48:00.000-08:00

It'd been more than 3 months since I rode with Orkut Delhi Avengers community fellows. I missed a couple of their other meeting, and tried to refrain as much as possible from being a contributor.

In the mean time, at a highly embarrasing meet of BCMT which i clubbed with The Delhi Avengers, history repeated itself. Similar to what happened 3 months back, was happening in the City now, much to my personal disappointment and a sorry face to Yogesh for trying to club the meet.

Anyways, since then, i'd pretty much tried to stay away from the group. In the meantime a couple of guys, whom I introduced to BCMT/BN were banned for their actions (stunting/speeding).

My worst fears came true a couple of days back, when the Delhi Avenger Group (who by now had named themselves Avenger Rangers, got their stickers made and are also planning T's) met again. Three of them while ripping together on the Noida - G.Noida Expressway hit each other @ 100 kph and left themselves and their bikes in a mess. No broken bones or serious injuries to them, but the three Avengers would be needing a lot of repairs. Something i was always afraid of since the first time I met them. As I also mentioned in one of my earlier entries about the adrenaline rush and the kicks they got by being a part of a Biker Group and just to excite and entice themselves further, they went and got the stickers made. They just cooked disaster for themselves.

Anyways my best wishes to them for a speedy recovery, and hopefully some sense in their heads to be more careful on the roads.

Friday has Arrived

2006-01-15T00:41:00.000-08:00

In January 2006, I decided to get myself a bike. It was to be a Bajaj Avenger. The reason for buying this bike was that this one looked good, was pretty much affordable and a Bajaj make. The good thing about the Bajaj Bikes is their reliability and are very rugged as well. Most of the people around that time had the Pulsar as their first choice city bike, but somehow i've never quite like the Pulsar.
Although Avenger shares the same engine as the Pulsar 180 DTSi, some slight variations are there...plus the overall chassis and the design of the bike has been changed from a city bike to a cruiser for the relaxed and chill people, like me.
I decided to name my bike Friday, after all it came on Friday the 13th.
After much speculation on which loan to take for the bike...finally narrowed it down to GE Countrywide and took the loan of Rs. 40,000 @ 8.5% for 2 years.
For more info on what Friday is like...check this : http://www.bajajauto.com/avenger/index.asp