Jaisalmer, Dec. 2006

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

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

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

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!

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

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