Thrills of touring

Welcome aboard!

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Thu, 31 Dec 2099 20:55:00 +0000

I'm on a touring spree thats fascinating and I love to share it with you. Traveling has opened bigger doors in my life that taught me patience, determination and responsibility. It may sound unrealistic but one has to experience it to believe it. Every place I reach has something new that takes a place deep in my heart and I wish it could also dwell somewhere else. Thus, this blog was created.

You may find experiences and photos as you dig deeper into this website and I hope you get hooked by some of the content. This is my first attempt of such a kind and I greatly rely on your comments, so let me know whatever runs in your mind. Make use of the comments section at the end of every post, or you can mail me at praveen.selvam@gmail.com.

The "been there, done that!" Map

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Sun, 29 Nov 2099 13:18:00 +0000

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The Big Rides

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Sat, 31 Oct 2099 13:10:00 +0000

SaddleSore 1600K on Ninja 250R in 21 hours

A SaddleSore attempt through Chennai - Madurai - Chennai - Salem - Chennai, covering over 1,600 kms in about 21 hours on the Kawasaki Ninja 250R. The write up describes how the idea came up and what I went through to complete it. Read more

One Ninja please! Make it green.

The plan was to ride down from Pune to Chennai on the 220 and ride back with a brand new Ninja. But there were more surprises than I anticipated! Read more

Links: Part 1 | Part 2 | Bike Review | Picasa album

Just got Leh'd

A road trip through the great Himalayan mountains and the exotic valleys of Kashmir. Read more

Links:
Highlights & Slideshow: Best of Leh
Detailed Blog: Day 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 , 13, 14, 15
Picasa albums: Best of Leh | Album 1 | Album 2 | Album 3

Diwali Ride 2008 for a good cause

We rode to Pondy to meet some kids at an orphanage. We spent time with them chatting, eating and bursting crackers. Read more

Roads to Paradise

1500 kays of pure fun! An adventure trip through the dense forest of Valparai and reaching places in Munnar before the rays of the sun does. Read more

Links: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Picasa Album

Tri State Road Trip

A four day road trip through the jungle and hills of Wayanad, Bandipur, Mudumalai and Ooty. Read more

Links: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Picasa Album

Weekend Madness

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Tue, 29 Sep 2099 13:13:00 +0000

Yercaud 2010 - Tri State G2G
On the 19th of June 2010, about 100 bikers from xBhp met at Yercuad, Tamil Nadu. Riders came in from three states, namely Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.
Links: Flickr Album

Bhimashankar mid forest cooking experience
We ventured into the wild and cooked a great meal of chicken!
Links: Picasa Album

Kashid beaches
A weekend getaway to Kashid with work pals!

Wayanad mid forest experience
Swapping jobs got me a 9 day break. Talking to my cousins, we got ourselves an Innova and headed deep into the jungle to enjoy the beauty of the wild.
Links: Part 1 | Part 2 | Picasa Album

Adrenaline ride to Gingee & Yelagiri
3 months since the last ride, and 3 months to go for the next one. Finding it so hard to control, we got ourselves on the saddle to get some adrenaline!
Links: Day 1 | Day 2 | Picasa Album

xBhp - Yercaud
28 Riders from xBhp organized a mega Inter State ride with Chennai and Bangalore members exploring the hills of Yercaud through twisty roads to ecstasy.
Links: Day 1 | Day 2 | Riders | Picasa Album

Yelagiri; when cupid strikes
The whole Chennai xBhp gang on its way in search of serenity.
Links: Picasa Album

Tirupathi Ghat Madness
We ripped the ghats of Tirupathi one Sunday and here are some pictures.
Links: Picasa Album

F.R.I.E.N.D.S. to Yelagiri
4 guys from a similar origin travel to Yelagiri to celebrate the return of a great personality!
Links: Picasa Album

F.R.I.E.N.D.S. to Pondy
3 old pals meet up for a weekend getaway to Pondy.
Links: Picasa Album

Chit Chat Rides

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Mon, 31 Aug 2099 12:28:00 +0000

Casual ride to Vedanthangal

Mahabaleshwar Magic

Lavasa

xBhp Track day - Feb '09

Beach X

Yamaha R15 Ridden on xBhp's birthday

Birthday ride

Raid on a rainy day

Vagabond Ride

Crazy road trip for lunch

Vedanthangal; first impression

A small meet on the ECR

Yelagiri picture flashed on xBhp's banner

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Fri, 31 Jul 2099 12:42:00 +0000

Monday, July 28, 2008

I was not in town for a day and did not check the latest updates in xBhp ultimately. The forum was undergoing maintenance with lot of functional and cosmetic make over. I logged on this morning and a flashy new xBhp with a blue theme was right in front of me. I had always been for the neutral attitude of blue and liked the theme without any second thought. The small buttons and menu bars were well done. The huge xBhp banner on top had changed. It was... Hey, wait a minute. That guy in the second photo is me! Yes, ME! ME! ME! Wow! I was in a hell load of surprise. The photo had been worked upon and used up in the banner.

I was astonished by what I was looking at! I recognized the guys in the left pictures as well. They are from Bangalore and we were on a ride together to Yercaud. As for the picture in which I was there, it was shot when the Chennai xBhp gang made a trip to Yelagiri. Kiran was the guy who shot this picture. I had jumped off the wall when Kiran clicked the picture at the right moment, lying down on the road.

I'm not sure how many consider this as news, but it is an honor for me to see a picture with my contribution on xBhp's banner.

A big thank you to Kiran who shot the picture and to Sunny who has got the picture at that spot.

You may check this out at http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/.
P.S.: Banners are updated now and then. Please don't be disappointed if you can't find the banner as shown above.

Casual ride to Vedanthangal

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 19:25:00 +0000

Some pictures from a Sunday morning ride to Vedanthangal...

First stop for some tea.

A few birds for the sake of formality.

The serene place.

The marshy area that attracts birds.

Silence and serenity.

A nice time to talk.

Links: Flickr album

SaddleSore 1600K on Ninja 250R in 21 hours

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 05:40:00 +0000

This write up is about how the idea of a SaddleSore came up in my mind and how I completed it. If you wish to know just the ride stats, please click here.

Prologue

“It’s a weird thing to do. Trust me, it is. 1,600kms from home to home in about 21 hours to achieve what? I’m still thinking. But there is a voice from within that assures me I did the right thing.”

They call it a SaddleSore. I first read about it on xBhp and then heard about it in a small gathering of bikers. It is about riding very long distances in a stipulated period of time. I found it completely stupid and unreasonable. Late last year, I was planning to ride from Pune to Chennai. The topic came up again, when a friend of mine gave me more information about the community that backs these rides, called the Iron Butt Assocaiation. I checked up the website. It didn’t look so cool, but it certainly had been up for ages. It had a long list of achievers and an interesting set of rides. Most importantly it conveyed the message that this is not about speed, but endurance. After reading through for a while, I liked the principles behind the idea and wanted to attempt it. My first attempt was obviously from Pune to Chennai, wherein I had made a lot of plans. However, through the ride there were quite a few surprises and I ended up not completing it. It was a great learning though.

Monday, at work

I somehow couldn’t keep my mind away from some thoughts. The mind thinks about exactly what you don’t want it to think. Sometimes certain things misfire in life for no fault of anyone specific. We always have a lame excuse for it, “Think, it’s for the good.” I don’t take such excuses and always strive to take control of my life. In one such attempt, I decided sitting like this at work with a disturbed mind and yet smiling at people won’t really help. I wanted to do something big; something that will last in my mind for a while; something that will shadow the turbulence. I decided to attempt a SaddleSore; again.

I didn’t think too much about it. I didn’t validate if it was the right thing. When I had the thought, I could feel the slightest amount of adrenaline my body generated. That was enough. I informed my colleagues, and started charting out a quick plan. I recollected all the learning from my previous attempt and got to a plan that looked good enough. I strategically chose my routes and speeds. The Ninja was the obvious candidate for the run. However it was due for a rear tire replacement. I called up the service folks to place an order, but they told me it was going to take a few days before the tire arrived. I decided to go for it with the present tire in place. I didn’t want to wait since I had the other risk of letting this crazy thought wither away. Allen was a little hesitant when I told him about the tire, but he wished me the best since I’d already made up my mind.

I’d chosen to ride from Chennai to Madurai and back which would clock around 900kms. I decided to continue again to Salem and return, which would be another 700kms. I created a ride plan with estimated speeds and planned time of arrival at every checkpoint. The advantage of this route was that, depending on how good I was at the end of the first leg, I could always choose to continue to do the second leg or just terminate the run.

I filled up the tank, checked the tire pressures, bought the stuff I wanted to carry and hit the bed early. Folks at home only knew I was riding somewhere, but had no idea about this run.

Route: Chennai - Madurai - Chennai - Salem - Chennai

View Larger Map

Tuesday

I woke up at 2:30AM as planned. I was in for a surprise. It was raining outside and I was shocked to see my plans go in the drain. I wasn’t ready to attempt a rain ride with the kind of rear tire that was on the Ninja. I chose to sleep and head to work rather. My colleagues were happy to see me around, but I assured them that I’d only pushed the trip to the next day, but not cancelled it.

Wednesday

I’d hardly slept. The excitement was much more since there was a delay. I packed the tank bag with some basic stuff. I got my camera, some chocolates, a pack of glucose, chargers for the gadgets, rain pants and a bottle of water. I’d setup a real time tracker and shared it with my friends so that they can see where I was, every moment. I setup the GPS on the handle with some sensible maps loaded on it this time. I could have sneaked out of the house, but I made sure my Mom was up and helped me start from home.

The rules of the ride insist that there has to be witnesses for the start and end of the ride, which will help verification processes which happens at a later point in time. To document the ride, it is expected that one has to collect receipts from ATMs, fuels stations or any other place which will produce a computer generated time stamp.

I rushed to the nearest ATM and got a statement with the time and place printed as ‘03:30AM’ and ‘Alandur, Chennai’. I switched on the iPod and caught the NH-45 to head towards Madurai. It was dark outside and my visor wasn’t very new. I had been using it for a few months now and I could see the glare from opposite vehicles although I patiently cleaned it before leaving. It was going to make a key difference since I slowed down every time there was a glare, rather than taking a chance with the open highway. There wasn’t much traffic, but for the most of what was there, it was lorries. I passed through roads that were slightly wet and realized that it had rained at some point. In the one day I had lost, I checked up the weather websites to make sure I was going to have a dry day, at least for my first leg.

Tindivanam was my first checkpoint, but I was passing through that in slightly over an hour. With all the excitement and energy, I wasn’t in any mood for a break. Rock ‘n roll, I moved on. The sky slowly lit up. The sun was somewhere behind me, not to forget that I was riding south west. I was getting conscious when the odometer crossed 200kms. The Ninja has a range of 240kms, after which every kilometer is just a chance before the fuel light comes up. I decided to halt at my next checkpoint, Veppur. It wasn’t before I stopped there, that I realized it was too small a town to expect premium fuel. The fellow at the gas station assured me that I wasn’t going to get it anywhere on the highway unless I was ready to venture into some popular place like Vilupuram. That sounded like a big no-no. With a heavy heart, I agreed to fill it up with the amount of regular fuel that would take me till Trichy. I was very sure I wasn’t going to get a printed receipt at this place, so got a bill with the details hand filled. It was good since it at least had the information about the place although the timestamp was missing.

I pulled over at a tea stall close to the gas station to relax a bit. After all, a 220kms nonstop ride certainly needs at least a small butt break. As I sipped the tea, I could feel something small in my mouth. I initially thought it was tea powder, but then when I took it out, I realized it was a fly. Wah, what a way to start the day! The devil in me gave the shop fellow one dirty look. The very little angel in me reminded me road trips are road trips. So I chose to throw away the fly and finish off the remaining tea. Yes, I did. I paid up and got back on the road.

Trichy wasn’t too far. Slightly over a 100kms. I rode faster taking advantage of the light. I was able to confidently boost to 120 kmph since there was very less traffic so early in the morning. I could sense I was getting closer to Trichy even without having to look at the GPS. There were more people on the road and I could see the city from far away. I pulled over at a pretty huge BP bunk at the entrance of Trichy. My efforts went in vain to know that I had to go inside the city to get premium fuel. I wasn’t ready to waste time and therefore filled up my tank with regular fuel. The good thing was that I got a computer generated receipt.

Back on track, I proceeded towards Madurai, a place 140kms ahead. I was quite inhibitive about this route. I wasn’t sure of the road condition between Trichy and Madurai. When I inquired people while planning this ride, I heard mixed opinions. So, when I charted out the plan, I kept the planned average for this route to be 70 kmph which is very low when compared to a standard average of 90 or above. To my surprise, this route was extremely cool, rather the best of the stretch from Chennai. It was a four lane road, with very less traffic or people crossing. It did not cut through any village or town too. I could easily cruise at 120 to 140 kmph with a lot of confidence. I reached the entrance of the city even before the sun’s warmth was felt. Before entering the city, I spotted a very big BP gas station on the highway on the other side of the road. I decided to stop there on the return. I had to take the road into the city since I needed solid proof to mark the end of the leg. I went in search of ATMs. The first receipt I got from a bank read ‘Matuthavani Offsite’. Damn, I had to find another ATM to get another receipt that at least had the name of the city, apart from the area name. After a bit of fishing, I managed to find one.

450 done; 1150 to go!

It was a good feeling to start back and head towards home; really. I headed straight to the BP gas station on the highway after getting the receipt. I topped up to the brim and estimated for the other tank ups. I decided to stop next at the same gas station near Veppur. With that, I could get back to Chennai. I checked the plan to see how I was doing on time. I realized that I was exactly as per the plan till Trichy and was actually making up time beyond that. It was because of the fact that I’d estimated an average of 70 kmph for the stretch between Trichy and Madurai, but was actually doing speeds of 120 to 140 kmph. I wasn’t tired nor was feeling the need for some rest. I decided to cross the reasonably busy roads of Trichy and stop for a long break.

I could slowly start feeling the warmth of the sun. Somewhere near Trichy, I saw shops wide open indicating I could expect people walking up on the road to claim their space. I was watchful. I slowed down when I passed the city without the pressure of falling below averages. I overshot about 20kms where I decided to halt. In a small shop by a restaurant, I got myself some pepsi. I wasn’t in the mood of eating. I chose to gobble a couple of Perk chocolates and emptied some of the glucose I had. I called up Allen to update him on the status and ask him how the tracker was doing. He was mentioning that Google had done a good job on that.

Mentally prepared to fight heat, I rode at constant high speeds without any issues. That was the moment I realized how big a blessing the Ninja was. The temperature of the bike was well within control, it was delivering power to quickly pass every vehicle on the road, and yet very easy to maneuver. Somewhere on the way, I realized that the iPod was getting stuck once or twice. But it resumed playback without me having to do anything about it. After a while, it stopped. I wasn’t ready to waste time on troubleshooting it and chose to do that at the next fuel stop.

At Veppur, I had no trouble getting back to the same gas station for a top up. This time, I could feel the heat of the engine when the bike wasn’t in motion. After the top up, I pulled over to check the iPod. I was shocked to see that it had no charge. I had charged it the entire night, but the battery had become too old to serve like a new one. I’m such a music addict that it puzzled me for a moment as to how I was going to handle it all. So long to go and so much stress to tackle and no music at all! It took me ten seconds flat. That’s all! Ten seconds to convince myself this is reality and I will have to live with it rather than cry or try to alter it. I put the player and the headset in the bag and moved on. After all, what’s a road trip without surprises?

The sun was getting hotter slowly sucking the energy out of me. Getting closer to Chennai, I had to fight more traffic. I had considered this in the plan, but practically facing the lower average for various reasons like this was indeed painful. At Tambaram, I had faced enough vehicles, traffic and heat making me long for a break. I didn’t want to stop since I knew that all this lasted only till I crossed the Chennai bye pass and got back on the next highway to Salem. I stopped by a gas station at Vandalur, topped up and took a few minutes to relax the muscles. I started fighting the traffic again to get to the other exit of the city which connected me to the next highway. The time was 1:45PM when I was back in Chennai. I was an hour ahead of schedule.

900 done; 700 to go!

I decided to take a long break for lunch before starting my second leg. I halted at Motel Highway, one of the most common places for people who take this route. At first I was a little hesitant because of the crowd, but I assured myself that the service was going to be fast. When I stepped in, the air conditioning was such bliss. The food arrived in no more than 10 minutes. I patiently chewed it, swallowed it and enjoyed every bit of slow things happening around. During a fast ride, even the smallest break of doing nothing can make one smile. I got myself a copy of the bill and stepped out. I updated Allen, and the two of us were happy that things were going as per plan, or rather slightly better.

I was doing well on energy, not much of body aches and wasn’t even bothered about music anymore. I crossed the outskirts pretty fast and entered the no nonsense highway area. I could confidently cruise at 130 kmph and the engine responded pretty well without issues. The temperature still was under control and that surprised me. I asked myself, “These bikes need just speed, don’t they?”

The GPS was going a little crazy when I crossed Kanchipuram. It was asking me to take a U-turn when I was so sure I was on the right track. I thought it was probably because I hadn’t configured it well enough. I didn’t bother to stop and spend time on it, since I had done this stretch of the highway so many times that I knew every place by the mile. I wanted to cover as much distance as possible when there was broad daylight. Initially I had thoughts of stopping at Vellore, but my favorite gas station was at Ambur, which was another 50kms away. I decided to push further and arrived at Ambur around 4:00PM.

I took a good break, wet my hair to beat the heat and did some basic exercises to relax the body. I had roughly 180kms to reach Salem before the sun would go down. I planned for one stop at Krishnagiri where I wanted to stop at a gas station that my Uncle owned. It would help me with two things. One, I could get a receipt. And two, I could leave my iPod there for charging so that I could collect it on the way back. I had already drenched my t-shirt a little bit and when I got back on the saddle, it felt pretty cool after all that water treatment. The nice break and the exercises really helped regain some energy and felt really fresh.

Enjoying the beautiful orange sun that was no more at the peak or hot, I was at Krishnagiri in my brother’s gas station in a jiffy. I handed over the iPod, collected a receipt for some snack purchase and pushed off from there. The sun was still very visible giving me a good feeling I would be able to reach the target on time. When I crossed the next checkpoint, Dharmapuri, I realized that Salem wasn’t too far from there. Since I wasn’t very tired, I thought I’d make use of the last few minutes I had light and moved on.

Closing Salem, the traffic was on again. This time, I really didn’t have a choice. I had to make it into the city to collect a receipt to mark the end of the leg. I patiently weaved through the traffic with a good feeling that I was still able to make it in good daylight. I got an ATM receipt and also filled the tank up.

1250 done; 350 to go!

I was surprised to see that there was still light. I had to choose whether to sit in the middle of the crowded city in the name of relaxation, or head to the outskirts for some rest. I chose the outskirts, obviously. I targeted to reach A2B, which is a big gas station with a nice restaurant. I reached that spot when the sun slowly disappeared behind the horizon. I didn’t need fuel, just rest. Not bad at all, it was 6:30PM then. I ordered some dosa and vada, slowly munched it in with Allen on the phone. We were happy for the fact that I was doing well on time and it was looking positive that I was going to complete the ride this time around. I spent about an hour taking rest and assured myself that I was going to ride patiently back home. I had anyways planned for a slow ride due to poor visibility in the dark.

The ride to Krishnagiri from there normally takes about half an hour, but took me about 45 minutes this time. I was that slow. I enjoyed the moon right above and the beautiful stars that patched the sky. I took it really easy and finally stopped at the gas station eagerly waiting to grab my iPod. When I checked it out, it was completely charged and so was I! I paid up for some more snacks to get a receipt and moved on.

I think it was a matter of mind set. I was just 250kms from home and on what I call as the home stretch; a highway I know by the mile. I was almost sure that I was going to complete this ride. I was feeling positive about that very fact when I realized that slowly my body was starting to give up. It wasn’t fatigue; I was so sure. I was so brisk and I could observe and sync with the traffic at ease. But I had to shift my seating position very often to make myself comfortable and my knees were slowly starting to ache. I had to stop after 50kms although I knew the fuel stop was just 20kms from there. I chose to stop and relax rather than push. I always believed in safety, which is why I had called off my first SaddleSore attempt although I was so close to getting it. I took time to exercise and relax my body. I didn’t have to worry about anything. I was doing so well on time.

Getting back on the bike, I made the quick stop for refueling and pushed to Vellore. Despite the fact that I was listening to the music I liked, I wasn’t able to fight this stress with ease. The body pain was getting a little irritating. After controlling the throttle, brakes and clutch for so long, the wrists were slightly hurting too. But they weren’t as bad as my knees or back. I made a fairly long stop at Vellore, but on the highway. I munched the remaining chocolates and emptied the glucose box. I was planning to tackle the remaining 130kms with a break or two.

Kanchipuram, somewhere in the middle was the first one. When I got there, I sat on the road again waiting to give enough rest to my body. After Kanchipuram, I was very close to the city. I was watching every mile for things I could recognize and trying to recollect how far home was from there. Unable to bear with the irritation, I made one more stop just outside the city near Poonamalee. I questioned myself, as to whether this was fatigue or body ache. I was so sure that this was just body pain, since, in the state I was, I could’ve still driven a car for a few more hours. But what I had given up was sitting on the bike in that same posture.

Minutes away from home, I strolled through the city streets. Every small bump hurt. I stopped at an ATM very close to the house. The receipt I got did not have the name of the city printed on it. I was so frustrated that I decided to just get home first. When I reached the road on which my house was, I was literally counting the seconds in reverse before I could get off the saddle. My brother opened the gate for me. I parked the bike and we took the car to go to another ATM nearby to get a receipt that contained the name of the city. It read ’00:20AM’ and ‘Alandur, Chennai’.

1600kms; all done. No wonder they call it a SaddleSore. Phew!

The idea of this whole ride sprung up in my mind in an attempt to handle some frustration and a state of helplessness. It is very difficult to tackle emotions when in the sway of it. I’m glad I had the senses to do something abnormal, to convert all the energy I was wasting in that turbulence, into positive energy that comes from this accomplishment. Nothing disappears, not even that state of helplessness nor the new feeling of accomplishment. But when they coexist, one shadows the other giving us a choice to take better control. It was a fantastic lesson learnt, and most importantly, boosted the confidence of being able to handle my own self.

Ride stats

I’ve collected all the receipts and I’m in the process of documenting the ride. It will be a while before I can send this across to IBA and they do all the verification. Once complete, I’m pretty positive I’ll be making it into their list of the World’s toughest motorcycle riders. Wow, it feels good to say that!

Distance covered as per Ninja’s odometer: 1628kms

Total time taken: 20 hrs, 49 mins (3:30AM, Jul 14 2010 to 00:19 AM, Jul 15 2010)

Cost:
Fuel – Roughly INR 4,700
Food – Roughly INR 300

The Ninja was no less than brilliant during the entire ride. Although I had a bad rear tire that was due for change, the amount of handling I got wasn’t that bad. I had to brake real hard in a couple of instances and I stopped well ahead without having to panic. There was a bit of fish tailing though.

The flat surface of the Ninja's rear tire.

The temperature of the bike was well in control even during the hottest time of the day. All that the bike wanted was wind to keep it cool. So higher speeds only meant a cooler engine.

I started the trip with a tank of high octane fuel. During the first leg, the bike ran on mostly normal fuel. The second leg was completely premium fuel. It was just fine all through. The efficiency was around 20 km/liter, but I’m not very sure about that.

The other funny fact… Considering that an average Ninja rear tyre lasts for 10,000kms and costs INR 8,500, the ‘rear tire cost’ would be roughly INR 1,400! I wonder what is the cost and life of the front one. I haven’t hit the bar yet to know that!

Yercaud 2010 - Tri State G2G

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 17:18:00 +0000

Photo credits: John, Sumanth, Dinesh, Aparajith, Sriram, Ragav & myself

Click here to view some tit bits on how this video was made.

On a weekend

The fun began at four in the morning. When I reached the Chennai Trade Center, everyone else was already there. I could see Kiran out in one corner fiddling with something. I saw Apar and his brother. There were no other familiar faces. I handed over to Apar's brother, the extra jacket I was carrying for him. Kiran came by waving, and introducing me to a new face who was to handle the cash for the Chennai gang. We gathered around in a circle with a round of introduction. We discussed some basic ride tactics before starting the engines are pushing off from there.

Grouping in front of the CTC early Saturday morning.

I was leading with Apar closely following by. After about ten minutes, I couldn't see any of them on my rear view mirror. I stopped by and waited for them. Apar came by after a few minutes and told me that there was a stop for some cash. However, we couldn't find the others. We waited by a junction for close to twenty minutes and were getting a little worried. Thats when Kiran called up and said that they'd taken an alternative route and we had to catch up. I had Apar and his brother with me. The three of us were quite fast hoping that we could catch the rest very soon. At some point, I lost Apar and his brother on the rear view mirror. I thought they had stopped by for some fuel and so I moved on.

I had driven for close to an hour, but there still was no sight of the gang. I was worried and got down to check if I had calls. I saw a message from Kiran asking me to meet them at Kanchipuram. When I checked the GPS, I had crossed that place much earlier. I decided to stop at the entrance of Vellore which was just ten minutes from where I was. I parked the Ninja on the corner of the road making sure it wouldn't disturb the traffic. I walked to the tea stall close by to grab some tea and waited for the rest of the gang. They all trickled in, one after the other. Once everyone was there, we moved into the town to have breakfast at Saravana Bhavan.

Breakfast at Saravana Bhavan, Vellore.

The insect massacre.

Chennai x men posing.

The cameraman (Me) shooting a video.

Quickly after breakfast, we got back on the highway. There were three guys who were in the front accompanying me. Kiran swept as usual ensuring nobody was left behind. We made no stops until Krishnagiri. Being the first to reach, I went into the town to buy some duct tape. I was carrying a video camera this time to experiment with some videography. I made a quick visit to see my brother too. I got calls from the gang asking about each other's whereabouts and I gave them instructions to regroup. I finally got a call from the Bangalore folks telling me that they had reached too. I got back to the Chennai gang and led them on to where the Bangalore folks where.

Where the Banglore members waited for Chennai to arrive.

On the left side of the highway I saw the huge number of bikes parked on the service lane. There were riders clicking pictures, chit chatting all along the stretch. When the twenty bikes from Chennai made an entry, there was a huge noise, cheering from people and whistles too. Riders waved to us welcoming us with all due respect. It was a great feeling to see such a large turnout. I glided through the service lane as if it were a pit lane and finally made a stop somewhere close to the beginning. I saw a lot of unknown faces. I walked to the end where I could see Praful and John. We greeted each other and began to organize the group. We were about 75 bikes then and we needed a strategy to ride through the highway. Praful split the gang into a fast group and a slow group. He put me on with Santa, who had a neat looking Comet.

Starting, after Bangalore and Chennai regrouped.

The group of fast riders assembled in the front waiting for the leader to start. With Santa and me in the front, we slowly started cruising at 60 - 70 kmph after which Santa decided to fall behind. I took the lead and sped up to a 100 kmph. I was being very closely followed by some of the other members in the group. I was quite unsure of what speeds where being followed before we regrouped. It appeared to me as if I was relatively slower and increased the cruising speeds to 110 - 120 kmph. I took overtakes with caution so that the group wouldn't break apart. We decided to stop at A2B, which is a gas station with additional facilities. It took us about thirty minutes to get there. When we stopped and looked back, we had about 10 bikes of the 20 that started in the fast group. I waited on one side of the road while the rest moved on to the gas station to park the bikes and settle down. Minutes later, Praful and Santa showed up with the rest of the gang. It took more time for the others who rode patiently to reach the spot.

While the entire gang waited at A2B, we gathered together for a round of introduction. We certainly couldn't get to know all, but it was a good start. We tried calling up the Kerala folks and got to know that they were heavily delayed. We spent some time around the gas station chit chatting and then settled down for lunch. We stuck to the standard South Indian meals for everyone, which made the arrangements easier. Kiran took up the hard job of tracking all the orders that were placed and ensuring everyone had their lunch. I spent some time experimenting with the handycam, trying to fix it to the back seat of the Ninja with some bungee cords and duct tape. I was able to successfully mount it, but the seat was too shaky and the video wasn't convincing enough. I quickly finished lunch and got back to my experimentation. This time, I removed my GPS from the mount and taped the camera to it. I used to mount to fix it to the bike. The test video I took was a little shaky, but I was happy with the result. I was now waiting to get to the ghats to get some nice videos.

A round of introduction at A2B.

Lunch at A2B.

Praful, organizing the huge group into three smaller riding groups.

Before we started, Praful did the organizing again. But this time, we decided that we split the group into three; the hyperfast, the fast and the slow. I had a feeling in the back of my head that hyperfast was a diplomatic term used to refer to a hooligan group and very soon did I get to know I was to lead it. The first group started riding out closely followed by the others. I was leading the entire pack at a fairly fast pace. We passed through the small ghat section before Salem which had a few unexpected speed bumps causing some distortion in the formation. A few couple of bends down the road, I couldn't see the others on my rear view mirror. Very shortly, I could see one of the bikes flashing the light, slowly approaching towards me. It sent a chill down my spine. I wasn't ready to hear any bad news. I parked the bike and looked through the mirror waiting for the tiny object to become bigger.

The rider said that a blue R15 was hit by a dog and the others had stopped by. He assured that the rider was safe, there was no fall and nothing except the fairing was broken. It was a big relief to hear the news. The few of us who had overshot took a u-turn and proceeded back to the spot where the other waited. The R15's right side plastic was broken by the dog that was hit and most importantly, a blue 220 that followed the dog ran over it, and managed not to fall. We patched up the R15 with the duct tape that I had and requested the rider to join the slow group so that the bike wouldn't take much of a beating.

The plan was to regroup before Salem so that I could lead the gang through the city on to the ghats. Do to this small delay, the entire gang had passed us and were up ahead. With 20 odd kms left to Salem, we made our way through the slow riders group to catch up with the rest who were up ahead. I was so sure the slow riders were cursing us for cutting through the formation, but I didn't have a choice but to make it to the leader. We stopped just before the entrance of the ghats to make sure everyone was around. Praful, myself and a couple of others started first to take our positions at some nice corners to click pictures and shoot videos. After a 20 minute wait, the riders zoomed past one after the other. I captured them on the video camera in various angles suitable for editing. When the last rider passed by, we started off from there and met the rest of the gang at the entrance of Yercaud.

Riders storming the ghats.

Regrouping after the ghats, before entering Yercaud.

We had booked two hotels at Yercaud. One was the primary place of stay, where we could accommodate 50-60 members. The other was Hotel Aishwarya where we could accommodate the rest. Kiran led an initial set of 30 riders to Hotel Aishwarya and came back to lead the rest of us to MM Holiday Inn, where most of the gang was to stay. When all of us had reached the place, Kiran helped allot the rooms so that there would be enough space for the Kerala gang when they would arrive. Folks who stayed in Aishwarya started coming in one by one after having dumped all their luggages in their rooms. Most of the riders chose to roam around the small place of Yercaud to visit view points, while some of us chose to stick in the hotel to keep chatting about bikes. Tea was served in the mean time, which was a treat to the grumbling tummies.

M. M. Holiday Inn, the primary place of stay.

Mr. Yuva, also seen like this.

On one side of the hotel, the bonfire was being setup with chairs arranged around it. Music was played, but all of it was from the left over CDs the hotel folks had. We could connect our portable players since we did not have the cable for it. We went around hunting for one, but we couldn't get hold of one, neither could we even buy a decent set of music CDs. Disappointed, we came back and rather chose to turn off the music. People were back by then and the crowd was having fun around the place. Around 9, dinner was ready. Most people were hungry and rushed to the buffet area, while some chose to laze around and have it a little late. By the time all the gala settled, it was close to midnight.

The bon fire.

Praful on the other end was constantly in touch with the Kerala guys trying to help coordinate their route to the place. The ten odd riders were already split up due to various reasons including weather, bad roads, etc. Close to Salem, one of the bikes had also given up and they had to troubleshoot it right there. At some point when they knew it wasn't going to work any longer, they chose to store it in a mechanic shop and proceed up hill. We waited for them and finally met them at the entrance of Yercaud. We escorted the riders to the hotel, helped them with the food and facilities. Once they had settled down, we went to our respective rooms and crashed.

The city of Salem as seen from the top of the hill.

I was too tired to even notice who else was there, sharing my room. I knew one was Praful, but only in the morning did I realize Kiran was there too. By the time I'd woken up, Kiran and Praful were already out. Kiran was busy getting the things ready for breakfast. while Praful I think was out taking pictures. I freshened up quickly and joined the rest of the gang for breakfast. When everyone was done, we grouped together in the parking area in the hotel to click some group pictures. We had a good time ragging Johny bhai as he tried setting up the camera and clicking group shots. Some riders decided to leave right after that since they had to reach their respective destinations sooner than planned. We bid farewell to them and moved to a small open area just beside the hotel.

Johnny bhai's first attempt to click a group picture. Notice him in the first row.

Johnny bhai's second attempt to click a group picture. Notice him in the first row.

Johnny bhai's final attempt to click a group picture.

Err... I really can't explain this!

This was an empty space where we could park all the bikes and take group shots. It took us a good one hour to park all the bikes on either side of the road. We had to make sure that the bikes were safe on the road that was in a slope. Once everything was in place, we spent time posing around in groups and clicking pictures. The Kerala folks had to cover quite a lot of distance that day and decided to leave quickly. Once we were done with the photo shoots, we got back to the hotel and started packing our stuff. Lunch was served in parallel. Kiran, myself and the financial volunteers from the different cities gathered together to do the accounts and settled it to the hotel folks.

x men posing.

Most of the riders. The lens wasn't wide enough to cover all the bikes.

x men posing with the bikes.

Over enthusiastic shutterbugs, to say the least.

A lot of the riders were losing patience since it was well past noon and decided to start by themselves. We had roughly 70 bikes left when we started the return leg. I spent quite some time with the video camera again trying to mount in to my helmet. I used a bungee cord to first strap it tightly and then used duct tape to adjust the angle to the desired level. I left a few minutes earlier so that I could test the setup and also find a sweet spot to start the shoot. I was followed by another rider and we managed to take the wrong route and get lost. We waited for about 20 minutes and later realized that the bikes were obviously not going to come that way. We went all the way back from where we had taken a detour and then took the right path. I was slightly racing down so that I wouldn't miss the ghat section shoot. The rider behind was having a hard time catching up with the Ninja.

What I call as a helmet mount.

We were done with almost 16 of the 20 hair pin bends in the hill. I was slowly losing hope that I would find these guys. Suddenly just before a corner, I saw Kiran and some bikes standing with a black 220. When I stopped, Kiran came by and explained that there was a small fall and that he was trying to fix things. He asked me to proceed and alert the group waiting down, since there was no signal in the place these guys were standing. I chose to send the message with the rider who was with me, and came back to help these guys. The fall had caused the fairing of the bike to shift out of place, but the handlebar and forks were in tact. The front mud flap was scraping with the wheel and the guys broke it apart to let the wheel move freely. After the small tinkering job, Kiran took it out for a spin to ensure that the bike was ridable. When he returned, he nodded signing positivity. He asked the rider of the bike to take his ZMA and rode the broken bike till the downhill. I managed to shoot a small video around the very few curves that were left.

All the others were eagerly waiting for us down there. I saw a sign of relief in some of the faces when they came to know there was nothing major that happened. Kiran and I chose to stay back to take the bike to the mechanic shop to completely remove the mud flap. We asked the rest of the gang to move on to A2B and wait for us there. Back at the mechanic shop, we couldn't remove the nuts since they were too tight. We rather chose to chop them off with a blade to save time. I asked Kiran to lead and offered to follow. I expected him to do somewhere around 60 or 70, but this bugger opened the throttle wide to take it to 120. I was starting to wonder what exactly was wrong with the bike! We entered A2B in no less than 40 minutes, only to find that the rest of the gang had just made it there a few minutes back. We were close to Dharmapuri then. The Bangalore folks had about 130 kms to cover, whereas the Chennai folks had close to 300. We decided not to waste time and quickly gathered the Chennai folks. We bid farewell to the Bangalore gang and got back on the highway.

There were two Chennai groups now. One was us, while the other was the slow group that started an hour before we started from Yercaud. We were planning to meet them at Vellore for dinner. I indicated all the riders that I would be going up and down the line for a few minutes just to grab a video after all the hard work I had put in to mount that camera on to the helmet. I shot a good five minutes and finally parked the bike by the side to find out how the recording had come. I was shocked to see that the shakes caused during the ride had corrupted the current recording as well as the one recorded on the ghats. I was left with the small clippings I had taken the previous day. Well, all I could do was just smile and start riding again. I had a group to catch.

At Krishnagiri, the road splits towards Chennai, where the gang waited. We took a small 5 minute break and moved on. I was constantly on the watch since riders are prone to getting tired after so much stress. Most riders had got the hang of the others in the gang and the chemistry between them was becoming slowly visible. Apar was leading the gang with Kiran sweeping. Kiran also had a couple of slow riders with him and patiently rode with them to ensure their safety. Just after Ambur, we synced up with the other group that was ahead. Calculating the timings, it was clear that we could catch them at Vellore. Just as planned, they were waiting for us at the entrance of the town. When we regrouped, we chose a hotel on the highway to have dinner. We got a separate A/C hall and we ordered stuff that was ready to save time.

Some riders went into the town to top up while the rest of the gang waited on the highway. We chose to stick together as a group from then on. Our only checkpoint was Kanchipuram before finally parting off just outside Chennai. We stuck to average speeds of 85 kmph that was comfortable to everyone. I was leading the pack and was happy to see the entire group on my rear view mirror most of the time. 80 seemed to be the magic number, since anything more than that, some of them at the end were lost. When we stopped at Kanchipuram, some even complained they were falling asleep. I reassured them I had the same problem too, and so chose to dance to the tunes playing between my ears.

I checked my mobile to find that John had left a message saying that the Bangalore group had reached safe. It took us slightly more than an hour to finally reach the Poonamallee bye pass where we all agreed to finally meet. Kiran was still the patient guy at the end who rode with the slower bikes. When they arrived, we all thanked each other for the wonderful time we had spent in the last couple of days. I left John a message saying that we had all reached safe. One bike after the other, we slowly cleared out the place.

Close to 90 riders, this was the maximum turn out an xBhp G2G has ever had (as on June 23, 2010) and I'm glad I was a part of it.

Tamil Nadu xBhp

Karnataka xBhp

Kerala xBhp

Links: Flickr album

Mahabaleshwar Magic

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:42:00 +0000

Sandesh and myself last saw each other about a year and a half ago. I remember the two of us sitting on the 220, talking about super bike plans. And now when we met, he'd managed to get himself the mighty Yamaha R1 and I'd settled for the Ninja.

It was supposed to be a quick Sunday morning ride, but Mahabaleshwar turned out to be a beautiful surprise that we didn't expect and it was evening when we returned.

The foggy morning roads.

Stopping for some breakfast.

Mahabaleshwar magic.

Some view point, for which I can't remember the name.

The point inside the woods where we decided to stop for a chat.

People think R1 is a track machine. We think otherwise! :D

Bidding farewell just before the Katraj tunnel.

Lavasa

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:18:00 +0000

Before I could realize, it was time for me to head back! I'd been in Pune for 6 months now and I had never met the Pune xBhpians even once. I called up a few folks and made sure I made it to one of the dinner meets. It was glad to have known everyone around. Shortly later I got a message about a Lavasa ride happening the next morning. Why would I miss it?

First stop for a glimpse of the sun rise.

The dam wall near Lavasa.

The partly built Lavasa.

Chilling out by the lake.

The gang. Inder, Sagar, Praveen (Selvam), Niks, Prathap, Praveen (Shirali)

So... Does the Ninja qualify for an off road machine? ;)

Sager doing the honors.

Inder closely following.

View the picasa album

One Ninja please. Make it green! - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 08:49:00 +0000

Before I shamelessly boast about my new pride, I will have to thank the following people who made the Ninja a possibility.

Allen

Prithiv

Prathap

Thanks to Praful for his contribution to the photos as well!

This article is an experience on how I made my Ninja dream a practical possibility. If you are probably interested in the ownership experience, you can directly jump to this link.

Earlier

The Ninja was finally launched in India after such a long wait. I even stopped waiting for the product and was blindly saving money for the next bike. Suddenly, one day I saw a Ninja standing in one of the Probking showrooms in Pune. It got me run for more information and I got the news confirmed that the launch had happened. I called up folks trying to find out their reviews on the bike. I couldn't get much except for the reviews written for xBhp. After the very short research, I had decided to wait, though I had the money in hand. And trust me, it was a tough decision for me.

I flew down to Chennai on a weekend to take up some exams. Generally my exam centre used to be Velachery. For once, it happened in Adyar, where the Probiking showroom was located in Chennai. I had to pass through that and look at the beautiful bike standing there. It was a heavy dose right in the morning and it forced me finish the exam earlier than I expected to finish it. I ran to the showroom to check out the bike. I had already been a customer of Probiking for a few years now and I knew most of the people there. When I looked at the bike in flesh, my jaws dropped! It was huge!!! Much much bigger than how it looks in a photo. I almost decided to book it, when my mind again stopped me. I looked down and told the folks there that was going to come back after 6 months, and walked away.

Just after lunch, I had to take up my next exam. I had to pass through the same showroom, and looking at it, I had now gone overboard. This exam was shortened as well and I went back to the showroom. I saw the Manager of the showroom patienetly explaining to one of the customers about the price of the bike and its features. By now, I was completely familiar with all those. I waited patiently until the Manager was done with that customer, and he finally came to me and said, "I'm sorry to have made you wait, Sir. How can I help you?" I didn't have much to say except, "One Ninja please. Make it green!" I paid off the advance right that moment without further questions, to book myself a slot for delivery. I was assured a delivery in a few weeks' time.

I was depending on my savings to buy the bike and when I really needed it, I wasn't going to get it for various reasons. Thats exactly when my cousin, Prithiv helped me source the huge sum for a temporary time until I got hold of my cash. I had problems getting the cash from him to the showroom. Allen was helpful soul who ran between the ends of the Chennai city to complete all the formalities for my bike.

After all this was done, I got a call from the showroom telling me that the bike was ready for delivery and all I had to do was just come down and pick it up!

Wednesday

It happens before every ride. Its so hard to sleep and I just don't understand how the excitement just is so high. This time, apart from a the fact that I was planning to ride down to Chennai from Pune, it was also the fact that I had booked myself a new Kawasaki Ninja 250R. I was going to head to Chennai on the 220 and return on the Ninja with the engine breaking in pretty much in mind. I had informed my other 2 pals staying with me in the apartment that I would be gone by 4:30 AM and I was ready as said. I packed the saddle with basic clothes and some spares. I put the gadgets in place and started the engine, that woke up the security sleeping nearby. He didn't do much, but turned the other way around and fell asleep!

We had a team outing at Chandni Chowk the previous night and I was just recalling about it as I passed the place and touched the highway. The NH4, so early in the morning, so empty and quiet. It was a pleasure to enjoy the cold wind and slow moving sparse lorry traffic. I passed through the first toll gate and chuckled thinking of the numerous toll booths I would be crossing the next few days. Pune to Chennai and back would be around 2,600 kms and that single factor kept me smiling constantly. Just before the Khatraj tunnel, I was passing by the vast highway that ran between two mountains and there was absolutely no illumination except for the reflectors on the road. The stars covered the entire dark sky patched between the mountains. All this reminded me of the 8-bit car racing video games that we used to play with the night mode on. I passed through the tunnel that echoed the engine grunt of my bike as well as the lorries. Pressure was mounting in my ears and I found it hard to control.

Exiting the tunnel, the dark highway continued and the engine was getting warmer. My speeds gradually increased when it happened... All of a sudden, I saw complete darkness. I could feel the wind still blowing hard on my body, but my brain wasn't processing anything. Moments later I realized that the bike was quickly decelerating without me applying any brakes. The console, nor the head lamps were functioning. The vehicle had shut itself down and it was slowing very quickly. I didn't have much time as I was quite unsure of what was right in front of me and I was moving real fast. I controlled the bike to the best of my skills and finally brought it to a halt. When I finally rested both my feet down, I could feel sand on the left and the hard road on the right. I understood I was on the left edge of the road and was glad I was on a straight stretch.

At the end of the road, I saw some light and started pushing the bike towards it. As I neared it, I realized it was a petrol bunk. The guy signaled me to get the bike to one side so that he could fill up some fuel. I had to tell him that the bike had some issues and that I needed help. He told me that the earliest mechanic was somewhere nearby and would come only by 8. I looked at the GPS and it showed 5:04 AM.

Not quite sure of what to do, I decided to do some basic troubleshooting with the pathetic technical knowledge I had on bikes. I saw a slope nearby where I pushed the bike up and riding it down to try the 'push start' technique. It showed no signs of hope. I then decided to park it and give it a check. I unloaded the saddle and checked the console first. The tachometer was stuck at 6k, and the console wasn't working irrespective whether the ignition was on or off. I had a feeling the fuse had blown. I removed the seats and searched for the fuse box. I managed to find one and checked it. It looked fine. I knew there was one more fuse, but no idea where. I tried waking up my friends but none except Kiran seemed to pickup. He assured me that it was a fuse issue and asked me to check again patiently. Unsuccessful, I called up my cousin, Prathap, back in Pune explaining him the situation. As I was talking to him, I sat down beside the partially stripped bike, when I spotted a small box near the battery. It was the second fuse! I checked it and found that I had blown. I was happy that I found the problem and immeditely dug my bag to reach out for a spare. I installed it in no time, and the bike came back to life!

I was grinning as I packed the saddle again and happily told me brother that I'm continuing the journey. I put my leg across and pushed the bike off the main stand when it suddenly shut itself again. The fuse... gone! Now I had a strange feeling something bigger was wrong. I tried one or two fuses and finally found that there was an electrical short somewhere. I was in no position to find out where. Without wasting much time, I called my cousin again and asked him to source a bike and come to my rescue. I was about 50 kms from Pune and when I told him where I was, I was pretty sure he was cursing me from inside. But then, he didn't have a choice, did he?

I took some time resting by the bike watching the lull fuel station come to life as vehicles started coming in one by one. A good one hour, or maybe more passed by when I was getting a little restless sitting there doing nothing. The small dhabha inside the fuel station had opened up and I decided to have some tea. I slowly pushed the bike to the entrance of the dhabha when my hero entered! My cousin was there, all dressed in a slick jacket, namesake helmet and pretty decent gloves. I wondered how he sourced all these so early in the morning.

After explaining everything that had happened, we grabbed ourselves some tea and got back to work. I unloaded the 220's saddle and loaded the luggage on the other bike that he had brought. I asked him to sit on the 220 and I got on the other bike and started pushing it. I was sure he hadn't done things like this before and ensured I was gentle with every push. Honestly, I didn't want to slow things down with another clumsy fall! I must admit that Prathap did a great job for a first timer and gave me enough room to push through. We continued this exercise for a while, before we found ourselved in the city traffic.

Wading through the vehicles, we were heading for the Probiking showroom on FC Road. We were there minutes before the service center opened and grabbed the first position in the queue. The guy who had service my bike a few days back was sitting right there, as I walked to him and explained the problem that happenned earlier that morning. He started check the issue and found that a wire under the fairing had a small cut that made contact with the fuel tank that resulted in an electrical short. I was frustrated as this was a result of the servicing he did, when he had to remove the fairing to fix some fork issues. He didn't take enough care to insulate the wires back properly and thus my problem. I was still smiling on the outside since I didn't want him to screw up things again. I waited and spoke about it to the service center's Manager. That fellow was least bothered and just nodded to everything that I said. I wasn't surprised at things, as I didn't have too much hope on these guys.

Fixing the bike, I decided not to risk it by starting the ride on it again. I wanted to have it throughly checked at some other place. So, on the way back home, we stopped by some bus offices inquiring tickets to Chennai and alternatives. I settled for a 4 PM KSRTC bus to Bangalore, after which I was planning to take a train.

Bidding farewell to Prathap and thanking for his help, I was back home. I quickly refreshed and checked for train tickets. The bus generally reached Bangalore by 8 AM and so I booked myself a 8:15 AM ticket in Chennai Express. With a few hours left for the bus, I wrapped up some pending office work and got ready for my bus. Meanwhile I wrote out a small letter to share what I had in mind...

Dear Ninja,

I heard that you have been registered by now and you're waiting for me to pick you up. I started from Pune early this morning with your younger brother Mr. 220. He has not been in a good mood today. He decided to shut himself down in the middle of a highway and refused to start. When I checked up on him, he had his fuses blown and also had an electrical short somewhere. It has taken me a while to tow him back to Pune and to get him back to his senses. He seems to smile now, but I need to get him thoroughly checked, before I can attempt this ride again with him. I've therefore decided to ground him here and I'm coming there by bus, train, magic carpet, or whatever god damn thing it takes. Just hang in there, I will see you soon.

Love,
Praveen

I left home at about 2, had lunch on the way and headed to board the bus. I was helped by a friendly auto rickshaw wala who traced the bus stop and dropped me there for a good price. The wait was short and the bus arrived. I got some snack packs and a bottle of water and crashed into one of the last seats even before the bus started. Even before I realized, the bus had come out of the city and made its first evening break somewhere near Satara. I just got down to get into my senses and make sure the bus was on time.

When it started again, I stared outside the huge window pane beside me. In the back of my mind I was just imagining how it would have been if had been through these lovely ghats on my bike. Somehow I could console myself thinking of the amazing ride back. The bus played 'Rangeela' and 'Dil Chatha Hai' back to back. I knew both of them were worth a watch. But without any translator, I chose to doze off as much as possible. With very limited stops for dinner and midnight passenger pickups, the bus made it on time to Bangalore.

Thursday

When I woke up to broad daylight, I found the conductor shouting out place names and the name boards in all the shops outside read 'Bangalore'. I was watching out for the railway station outside which the bus stop. The moment I spotted it, I was thinking of ways to quickly cross the roads and catch my train. I was well ahead, it was just 7:3o and I had 45 minutes for departure. At platform 3 stood the train, for which I had to do the morning exercise through the overhead crossings. I remember booking a window tickets, but to my surprise, the type of bogie allotted had a different seat alignment and I had a middle seat. I was already tired after the 15 hour bus journey and I was worried if I could even recline a bit.

To my surprise, nobody boarded to either of my side and I had the entire seat to stretch myself for a while. I did try to doze off, but the excitement that I was just hours away from the green monster kept me wide awake doing every single activity to keep me engaged. I watched families trying to switch seats, kids staring outside the windows, heard chai walas shouting loud, TTE helping people, smelling hot dosas, and the loud thug thug noise from the rails. Stations passed by until I finally stepped out on Chennai land. I literally ran out of the station trying to cross the road to the local train station. I bought a ticket to Guindy and impatiently waited staring at the empty tracks. For a moment I thought I should probably take an auto, when I spotted the train slowly approaching from the corner. I sighed out of releif and boarded the crowded train and found a small place for my bag and myself.

From the Guindy station, I took an auto ride home, where I waited for my parents to arrive. Meanwhile I refreshed and got ready after the 24 hour ride from Pune to Chennai. I hadn't told my parents that I was going to buy this bike. I wanted to make this a surprise for them. The previous sentence can also be rephrased as... I didn't know how to justify my need for a second (expensive) bike and thus, this excuse. The moment they arrived, we took the car to the Probiking showroom in Adyar.

My heart was beating heart as I climbed the stairs leading my parents. By now, they would have understood that I was going to buy a bike. I walked them to the corner where a green Ninja meant for display stood majestically. I turned back, looked into their eyes and told them I was going to buy this bike. I didn't know what was to follow. In the moment that followed, my brain processed every single movement my parent's body made. Seconds later, they smiled out and gracefully hid the shock I had given them. My Dad was very selective with his words and refrained from too many questions. He just said that the bike looked good. My Mom on the other end was grinning. I'm sure she liked the bike. She asked me about the price, which I never revealed to her till the end. In any case, my dad was all ears when explained to him about why this was a premium bike and what sort of advancements it offered. However, I couldn't gauge much from the reactions his nod meant. In a while, the two were happy for my purchase and left from the place, after I assured them I could take care of the formalities. Though I didn't have a 100% nod from my parents, I was glad I had crossed half the bridge. It will take them a while to digest, won't it?

The Manager of the showroom walked by and guided me to the basement, where my big boy was registered and stood ready for pickup. Surrounding the bike, were the delivery head, service advisor and the service engineer who was going to attend the bike. The delivery head, Mr. Narayanan was a courteous gentleman who gave me a warm welcome. He started with a thriller, "Hello Mr. Praveen. Congratulations! This is your Kawasaki Ninja 250R!" What do you think I could have even done? I was smiling like a kid on the outside and dancing on a wet road on the inside. My friends had arrived by then to make this event so memorable for me. Mr. Narayanan went through all the features of the bike right from the chasis number to engine breaking. I patiently listened to everything and finally gave them a shocker they were least expecting. I looked at Mr. Narayanan and asked him, "Sir, these are just awesome features. But then, I'm going to drive this all the way down to Pune and I'm starting tomorrow. Do you think anything is going to give up?" Mr. Narayanan assured me that the bike is one of the most tested bikes in the world and has a proved track record and should hopefully not give up. Soon after the briefing, the vehicle was taken upstairs for me to drive out. I was still surrounded by the elite crowd of the showroom where I got on the bike, shook hands with everyone who made the delivery so memorable and twisted the throttle gently.

I drove home and gave my sister a surprise and took her for a short ride. I'm not sure if she had ever been on all the curves of the Kathipara fly over in one single shot ever before. Returning back home, I had dinner with my family and make short trips to meet a couple of my pals in the city and show them my new pride. I returned around midnight and took good rest so that I could start my long return leg the next day.

Move to Part 2...

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One Ninja please. Make it green! - Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:30:00 +0000

Friday

I did try sleep for a long time, but my trouble was excitement again. Getting ready, I topped up and checked the air pressure. I made a quick trip to the Chennai office and shared the good news with people there. During my return from the office, I called one of my cousins in Vellore and told her I would visit them for lunch. But then I warned her I would be really late and would take more than 3 hours to make it.

With just one tank bag in hand, I chose to take the most vital things that I would need for the next 3 days. With a heavy and hug tank bag, I went around the house searching for and old piece of soft cloth to place on the tank before resting the tank bag on it. Setting things in place, I slowly rolled through the busy roads in the hot sun. It wasn't long before the radiator fans started spinning and I had a nice hot air treatment from the space around the handlebar and from beneath the legs. I had to bear with it until I moved out of the city and exposed the bike to a little more air flow on the highway.

I was strictly advised to follow the engine break in rules, failing which I may have undesired effects on the engine. With these conditions in place, the vehicle wouldn't do anything more than 58 (to be exact) on 6th gear. I had a great company of slow vehicles all along the way. If you had ever seen a really slow lorry overtaking another pathetically slow lorry, that is exactly how I performed every single overtake. I was also conscious not to ride in a single speed and had to vary the RPM within its limit, as much as I could. On top of this, I had never ridden a superbike every in my life time and I had no clue how to tackle the sporty position of the saddle. In less than half an hour's time, I started developing pain in various parts of the body. About 100 kms from Chennai, I was even considering quitting this ride and placing it in Vellore. At that point, I stopped by a shady location for some tender coconut. Quenching the thirst, I went around the bike mentally judging the distance between the saddle and the handlebar.

When I got back, I tried different positions to understand how they reacted on the different parts of my body. I tried various postures until I finally managed to figure out a comfortable enough posture that caused minimal stress. Learning by myself, I reached Vellore, where a delicious meal awaited. It took me slightly more than 3 hours to cover a distance of 130 kms. The heavy meal demanded enough rest before I could start again. Back on the road, I realized there are 3 common things one can expect with the Ninja.

People ask you the cost.
People want to know the mileage.
People coming in the front signal that the lights are on. This vehicle is a sport model and does not have a separate switch to control the lights. One the engine is switched on, the lights will glow, you get to only control the high or low beam.

It was becoming a common sight for me when cars zipped past and suddenly I saw its brakes being applied. They would pull over and wait for 'the super slow Me' to pass by and admire the bike. The Ninja has an amazing road presence and gives everyone an impression that it is certainly a bigger bike than what it actually is. It was yet anther patient 3 hours before I reached my brother's place in Krishnagiri. I called up my family and my friends updating everything that happened since the last time I met them the previous day. This was the first ride where I started after telling my parents and secondly they knew where exactly I was heading to. I refreshed myself and waited for for my brother, Prithiv to arrive. He walked in from the gate and I didn't have to tell him where the bike was parked. He went straight to the bike and had just a few words to say. "Ooh... Sexy... Sexy!" I told him about the bike and he took it for a spin. He came back and told me that he couldn't feel anything special within the 4k RPM that was to be maintained. I had to agree to it as that was simply the fact. We joined the rest of the family for yet another fantastic pasta dinner. I checked my mails after the dinner and promptly went to bed.

Saturday

4 AM. I slowly opened the door to ensure that I wasn't going to wake anyone at home. But I had mistaken. A small squeak from the door was enough to wake my Aunt, who was already expecting me to wake up. I heard he walk into the kitchen trying to make something for me to drink. I took some time to get ready and walked down with a packed bag. Drinking the chocolate milk she had prepared, I bid farewell and joined the highway.

I was constantly searching for a fuel station that sold octane fuel. The bike required a minimum of octane 91 and anything below that was going to hurt the engine. I managed find one just before Hosur, where I realized that the tank was still full. The bike had run close to a 300 kms with 9 liters of petrol and that was amazing mileage. Of course, not to forget the fact that the bike hadn't even started walking. It was still limping on one leg. I sent a message to Praful telling him about my whereabouts since he had promised to meet at the entry to Bangalore. It was quite bright when I reached the place and Praful took a few more minutes to arrive.

When I saw him stopped the bike and got down, I stepped towards him and stretched my hand for a shake. He grinned, winked and said, "Woo... Who wants to meet you anyway? I'm here to see the bike!" I laughed at him as made multiple rounds around the bike, stooping over and under, making note of every detail the bike had. Back on the bike, he led me through the 6 lane Bangalore bye pass where he tested top speeds of his 220 and I was shamelessly letting TVS 50s overtake me. At some point, he pulled over to tell me that John was going to join us in a while. While I looked around the empty roads, Praful was busy clicking pictures of the Kwacker. After a ten minute wait, I reminded him that I had a few hundred kms to cover and that we could slowly keep proceeding and could ask John to join us on the way. Praful left him a message and we moved on. I left it to Praful to ride the Kwacker and have a feel of the bike.

From the place where the good stretch of the bye pass ended, we had to fight through really horrible traffic for more than half an hour until we finally stopped by a decent hotel on the highway for some breakfast. Our first round of food and John arrived in sync. I was real glad to meet John after quite a long time. He was so excited about the bike and I could see that happiness all over his face. He borrowed the key to move the bike a little to click some pictures. Praful and myself spent a long time eating and discussing the route I was going to take. Along with John we noticed people surrounding the bike admiring it with a million questions in mind. In the middle of this, I got a call from an unknown number. The person on the other end was none other than our dear Mr. Narayanan who had called to enquire about the bike's performance. He assured that things were fine and also gave me the contact to the service engineer in Pune. He added that he had already informed the person in Pune about my travel and that I would be arriving there for service very soon. Just after the call, he sent me a message with all the information to contact the Pune folks. Now, I started wondering if I had purchased a Kwacker or a Mercedes.

Bidding farewell to the two riders, I got back on the saddle to continue my patient journey. I was promised by Praful about great roads till Chitradurga, after which it might be quite unpleasant until Hubli, which was my target for the day. I was making a lot of lorry driver friends on the way as they waved to their superbike pal, and rocked their heads with me to the music I was listening to. Shortly before Davangere, I was joined by a 'Bajaj Discover' friend who requested to ride beside me. I chuckled and nodded to him and to this moment I honestly didn't expect that level of courtesy from him. Just before Davangere, my throat was dry and I pulled over at a small snack bar for some Pepsi. It was coincidence that the guy pulled over as well and that his shop was the one just beside the snack bar. He took the initiative to buy me everything that I needed and even before I could pay, he settled the bill. When I tried to pay him back, he refused to even get a penny from me. Man, is this the power of a superbike in India?

A little after Davangere, I saw really long stretches of road that went on and on as long as my eyes could see. I stuck to the leftmost side of the road fearing to be hit by even the slowest moving traffic. Good cars were doing 140+ speeds comfortably and I couldn't risk moving to the right. I stopped by a hotel for a mini lunch, with nothing but curd rice and a cool drink. I continued my ride after this as the sun was slowly setting. The bad roads Praful was talking about had started. I had to wade through mud patched and had to also ensure that I wasn't going to hit this bike with very low ground clearance. I crossed every speed breaker with extreme caution and avoided every possible sharp stone. I remembered some of these places and we had ridden this same highway at pretty much the same time, some time back. The only difference was that the direction was right opposite.

It was certainly a pain to fight the dirt every lorry contributed to and to find my best possible path in the turmoil. The hard exercise continued for about an hour when the happy incident happened. My bike reached 800 kms on the odometer. I was now licensed to cross the 4k mark on the RPM but again, had to limit myself to 6k. I had been thinking about this milestone for the past 100 kms. It was now time to take it on. I waited until the mud patches came to an end and the highway began. I chose to rev it 4th gear on. So made sure I had enough clearance on the road ahead, advanced to gear 3, then twisted the throttle with anxiety. I was stunned by what I heard. It sounded nothing less than every other bike till the orange needle crossed 4.5k. Immediately beyond this point, I heard a sizzling 'VROOM' sound from the engine that comes out of a superbike and I was glad all those money that I had saved didn't really go for a toss. I shifted gear after gear until I reached top gear on 6k RPM. I looked at the speedo and found that I was doing slightly less than 90 kmph. Now that, was amazing. I was so happy about how much surprises the bike held for me in a matter of 2k RPM. Though the baby Ninja started its roar, I couldn't let it scream beyond that point. Well, what's life if you get everything one shot, right?

Happy with what I had got at the fag end of the day, I crossed Haveri and almost reached Hubli when I passed by a good hotel on the left. About a km later, I realized that maybe that hotel was the right spot to halt. Should I have entered Hubli, I would have had to hunt for a secure hotel with good parking, etc. So I turned the bike over and entered the place. I was really glad at the parking setup and the security guard there. There were rooms available for the night and I inquired for the price. Looking at the hotel, I was expecting a tariff of 1,000 bucks, but the guy gave me a slick deal, just 350! He didn't have a single occupancy, so gave me a double occupancy. I thought the good times were really rolling! I ordered some food, went do to clean the bike's chain, tipped the security chap a 50 bucks and hit the sack right after dinner.

Sunday

I was up on time for once. Packing all the things quickly, went down and switched on my bike. I left it idle for a while for the engine to warm itself up. The hotel was in the middle of the highway and most of the lights were switched off so early in the morning. I looked up to see the dark sky with stars decorating it to perfection. It was pretty cold and I paid attention to properly tucking my jacket sleeves under the gloves to avoid the rush of cold air.

The highway was literally empty at this point. The major traffic was the route buses that ply across cities. Some of the Volvo buses were really fast. They can be spotted on the rear view mirrors as those monster size vehicles with numerous lights in front. When I was doing about 80 kmph, they nearly zipped pass at speeds higher than 110. It made complete sense on how one such bus could take me from Pune to Bangalore in a matter of hours. I passed through small ghat sections, but I couldn't appreciate the beauty around as it was still dark. As the sun slowly came out, I was nearing Belgaum, which was the first major city I wanted to cross that day.

Just near a place called Sankeshwar, I went in search of a fuel station that has octane fuel. Surprisingly, none of them had octane fuel and I had to proceed 30 kms before finding one. I realized that it was getting close to noon, when I could no more have my jacket sleeves tucked in. I had to unbutton them to let air circulate into my jacket. At some point, I noticed a huge 'M' sign on the left side of the road. It was a McDonald's in one of the fuel stations. I decided to stop by for some breakfast. The parking was literally empty so early in the morning and I parked the bike in a spot that would be visible from inside. I didn't want to leave the bike unattended. The moment the security guard saw me, he came running and claimed it to be a car parking. I tried convincing him that I would return soon, but he insisted that I move the vehicle. Just as I pushed the vehicle to the nearby two wheeler parking lot, I saw a guy walking out with jackets, a packed shoulder bag, helmet and gloves. Then, I noticed a bullet parked nearby.

Not bothered much about any of these, I went in, removed my biking gear and placed the order. As I waited for the order, I picked up the camera and stepped out for a couple of pictures. I noticed that the guy was still there, staring at my bike. I picked up a conversation with him and in came into my story, Wilson Fernandes! We got to know each other a little bit and talked about bikes, when a lady shouted through the delivery window that my order was ready. Wilson left the place as he was in a hurry to make it to Mumbai by 5. I got back in and enjoyed a happy meal!

Back on the highway, roads were becoming a little irritating as they had minor bumps everywhere though they appeared to be flat, at least visibly. After covering close to a 100 kms in one stretch, I decided to take a break. I was slightly more than just a 100 kms from Pune. I messaged all my pals in Pune inviting them for a party that night. I called up my brother and asked him to get ready to cook some chicken. I got back on the saddle and started to ride. In less than 5 minutes, I saw someone on the left side of the road, waving a hand asking me to stop. It was Wilson!

I remembered him telling that his bike had a problem and I was suspecting that it was the same thing. When I took and turn and met up with him, he told me that the bike wasn't starting. I have a pathetic knowledge on the technical details of a bike, but decided to give it a shot. After I heard the problem from him, I found it to be similar to what happened to Allen in the last ride. I tried to recollect what he did and we tried the same stuff. But it didn't seem to work. I called up Allen and he asked us to try a couple of alternatives. Nothing seemed to work, when a man just walked by. To our luck, he was a mechanic and offered to help. Checking out the bike, he told there was a problem with the tapets and started work on it. In a matter or 15 minutes, he got the bike to start. He took another 15 minutes or more to fine tune things and also to ensure nothing else was a problem.

We decided to tag together from there on. I thought Wilson was going to be a little slow, considering that he had a bullet and it was an old 350 STD. But I must admit that he accelerated very slow, but touched good speeds of 80+. I had a hard time keeping up with him in some places. We stopped in a shop for some refreshments and clicked a picture together. Very soon, we passed through a small tunnel, after which Wilson pulled over. He asked me if something was wrong in the back side of his bike. I thought he was asking about the engine grunt, as said, "No." He was actually pointing to the tires that had very less air. We were lucky again to find a puncture shop just around the corner. When the guy inspected, he said that the tyre had a problem and was because the tube being used did not belong to a bullet. Wilson later told me that on his way to Velankani from Mumbai, his rear tyre bursted, and had to replace it in the middle of nowhere. The guy he managed to find, put in a tube that he had and did not actually belong to a bullet. He also added that, he had to spent that night in a bus stop on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere. This guy also had a fishing kit in his bike's storage box and said he likes stopping by rivers, for a fresh catch and some live cooking.

I had already told all my friends about the evening party and it was already 3 PM. I made sure that Wilson was going to be fine, and I had to part with him at that point. I didn't stop anywhere after that and headed for Pune. I skipped the first few entries from the highway and took the one through Chandni Chowk. The busy Sunday evening had a lot of Beemers and Audis filling the road. Inside Pune, I had the radiator fans coming back to life. More irritating were the people on bikes who wanted to show off by racing with me. How could I ever tell them that I had a really painful sore butt after riding for more than a 1000 kms, and that my intention was not to race? I did manage to touch Viman Nagar from Chandni Chowk in less than 30 minutes. The moment I saw the entrance to my apartment, I thought about the numerous days I had imagined about entering that very spot on the Ninja. And finally, it was actually happening. I slowed down for every single speed breaker and took a right around a corner, to head for the parking under my apartment. I was someone walking towards the life, who turned back listening to the engine grunt and ran towards me. It was Prathap. He had just arrived at the apartment. The moment I parked the bike and removed the tank bag, he had the same words as his brother, "Ooh... Sexy... Sexy!"

With a sense of accomplishment and excitement, I went up to the apartment, called up everyone and confirmed the party plans. As the food was getting cooked, I took a friend with me and went in search of a bed sheet to cover the bike. We bought one and came back, but the bike was much bigger than we expected it to be. We went back and bought a couple of those, to finally cover it up and tie them in place with thin jute ropes. The nights party went well, and I kept boasting about my new possession, the Kawasaki Ninja 250R!

Kawasaki Ninja 250R - A new owner's experience

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:32:00 +0000

I'm not an auto journalist, nor am I technically sound with bikes. I just bought a Kawasaki Ninja 250R and I had the opportunity to ride it for over a 1,000 kms in India and with a brand new bike. I'm just sharing very few points based on my experience. I believe every bike is unique and so is every rider. So, I'd really appreciate if you could try to ride the Ninja to truly know what it is.

Some quick bits:

Stunning looks. Quite irresistible for anyone looking at it. Simply turns heads.
Sporty riding posture. Very difficult to get used to in the beginning. However constant use and a little experimentation can help rider find a good posture.
I found the engine to be very normal till 4.5k. Beyond this lies a magic in the grunt. At 4k RPM on top gear, the bike does slightly less than 60 kmph. At 6k on top gear, the bike touches close to 88 kmph and shows off a thirst for more. Engine grunt exposes a superbike DNA.
Rear view mirrors well placed and functionally useful.
Analog speedos and tachos are fun. However, a missing fuel guage highly bothers a tourer like me.
During the first phase of break in (0-800 kms) I got a mileage (rough) of 38 kmph and in the second phase (800-1600) I got a mileage (rough) of 30 kmph. I would also like to mention that I did wring the throttle much swiftly in the second phase to enjoy the grunt.
I noticed fairing vibrations post the 1000 km mark.
The gear box was pretty smooth during the first phase as the engine was still not being revved hard enough. However, moving to the 6k mark, I found it to be pretty hard. Sometimes the gears didn't engage with a soft push.
I observed a few false neutrals, but they didn't bother me much.
Lights din't have an on/off switch which is quite a botheration in a country like India, where every other person in front signals it. Head lamps are pretty decent for the package. Nothing major to complain about. But for a tourer on a dark highway, the lights didn't give me enough confidence to cross the 80 kmph mark. HIDs could help, but the warranty gets void.
When cruising in a specific speed, I sometimes found it hard to even heard the sound of the engine, but things were the other way round when you accelerate or use engine braking.
I'd strongly recommend decals, but not very sure of where to get them done. If you do know of one, please suggest.
Chain tension needed a bit of attention. They became a little loose when I completed 1,350 kms.
Octance 91 fuel recommended. Octance 97 optional, good if used.
Vehicle does not start when side stand is in place. I'm happy to have the feature.
Ride quality is brilliant and the vehicle moves in one piece without any rattling noise.
Brakes are very sharp and effective. Give enough confidence to wring the throttle. Both wheels have discs.
I'm a pathetic bender, but still managed a take a couple of sharp corners. Kudos to the tires and the build of the bike.
Seats are big, but hard. Rear seats can be replaced with a panel that makes it look like a single seater. Price range between 3-4k.
Vehicle has no main stand. Swingarm stand for the rear wheel can be purchased as accessory for 5k.
Service manual claims a service every 6k kms, except for the first service, which is quite good news, with respect to maintenance.

I completed 1,350 kms during the ride and took it for service as well. Apparently, at least in Pune I believe mine was the first Ninja to be serviced. I was received well by the service team in the Shirode Autos in Kothrud, Pune. The vehicle was serviced right in front of my eyes, patiently and responsibly. I had very few minor issues and all of them were rectified during the process. The Service Advisor, Mr. Kiran was helpful and patient guy who took responsibility for the entire process and made sure he was there when the servicing was done. If it is Bajaj's intention to make their Ninja customers feel special and exclusive, I must admit that they have been doing a stunning job so far!

A little later after completion of break in...

I rode the Ninja from Pune to Chennai last weekend.

I was able to complete the ride in a day. It took me about 19.5 hours, but this was with a lot of unexpected breaks. Without them, I can confidently vouch for 17 hours.
The bike is so much fun to ride. Zips to 100 and delivers decent pickup in the 100-140 range. It does show gradual acceleration beyond 140 to 150+ speeds, but there are clear signs of stress.
When there is strong winds opposing, there is a drop in 5-10 kmph. I experienced this as I approached the coastline.
Cruising at 120-130 constantly, the bike delivered a consistent average of 22 km/litre. Dropping speeds will certainly increase average.
Being a rev-happy engine and maximum power delivered in the 10k-11k RPM range, it is hard to control the bike from red lining. It doesn't hesitate to rev higher, and thus requires quick glances at the console while accelerating.
Yet again, ground clearance was never a problem.
At greater speeds, the wind helps push the body back which reduces pressure on the arms. The position is so comfortable, which helps ride for longer times without breaks.
Higher revving is more screaming. There is nothing that can be done about it. I like the sound from inside the helmet, but I'm not sure how it sounds from outside. For the first time in my life, I stopped my music player just to listen to the 7k+ howl.

With the Kwacker doing just the right amount of speed and providing great riding posture, I'm convinced about my purchase that I've made a great decision!

Read the full experience...

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Bhimashankar mid forest cooking experience

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 07:19:00 +0000

On a Tuesday

The Government of Mahrashtra had ordered all Companies to shut down in order to help employees to vote. Since this wouldn't take us an entire day, we decided to get away to a nice forest land called Bhimashankar.

We had a great time cooking in the middle of the forest and getting out a car that stuck in slush!

Starting off from just outside the office space.

Stopping by for some breakfast.

Breakfast at some dhabha.

Got a chance to ride Adi's comet. Man, it was such a brilliant bike!

A small break...

The group joined very soon.

My favorite activity... Exploration!

Countryside beauty.

Remember the King size life we were talking about?

Getting the bikes in to the forest.

Peace...

The cooks in action.

Spent some time cleaning my ride.

Relaxing a bit while the chicken was being cooked.

Livi with some stone carving.

Clear waters.

Yummy yummy chicken, almost ready!

Killing time with Pepsi photography.

A final snap in the forest before (at least) thought we could leave.

Getting Adi's bike out.

In deep shit! :D

Try every possible option to get our SUV :D out!

A waterfall nearby.

Jaya and Chris.

Chandan and Adi atop the waterfall.

The beautiful waterfall!

Kashid

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:36:00 +0000

Over a weekend

Two days of memorable fun and madness I will never forget in my life. It was at this place called Kashid. Close to 200 kays from Pune and a lot of my work pals decided to hit it for the weekend.

Grouping at Chandini Chowk with some tea early Saturday morning.

Starting off...

Stopping every now and then for some chit chat.

My first big fan in the gang; Mr. Panky!

The scenic route we took.

Enjoying the beauty of the lake.

The gang; most of them.

Breakfast at Hotel Green Gate.

Supriya and the stallion.

A beautiful piece of nature.

A Fiesta!

The big gang of pals.

Dog fight! :D

Adi and Supriya; supermodels.

Posing by the small stream.

Flying monk Mr. Ramakant.

Supermodels!

Enjoying the small stream.

Chandan, the moto girl.

Driveway

Kashid beach!!!

Free parking space.

Enjoying the sea.

Screaming out in the waters.

Surabhi's castle

Mr. Kala sculpted in sand. Courtesy: Supriya, Ramakant, and others.

Little mermaid

Clair's artwork in sand.

Obscene mermaid

Reaching for the skies

The F mantra

Camp fire for the party.

Evening party. Adi grilling some fish and potatoes.

On the meadows.

Contrast

Gliding through the roads.

Venturing into the meadows again.

Luka's Thunderbird stuck. People helping it out.

Lunch at Green Gate on the way back.

Best of Leh

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 03:24:00 +0000

Highlights

Day 0

Riders arrive at Delhi; bikes still in transit.
Ripped off at a hotel. 2,500 bucks for staying for 7 hours. Desi cola sold for 200 bucks.

Day 1

Bikes arrive in Delhi.
Pulsar 220 has major issue. Takes whole day to rectify.

Day 2

Start from Delhi. Sleepless whole night. Halt at dhabha for 2 hours to get some sleep.
Meet new rider, Pankaj.
Kiran's bike fumes under the fuel tank. We strip the bike to fix the issue ourselves. Pankaj parts and proceeds.
Halt at Mandi for the night.
Delhi to Mandi – 500 kms – 3 AM to 8:30 PM

Day 3

Start from Mandi. Allen takes 'power nap' in the middle of the road for 15 minutes. Reach Manali in 2 hours.
Buy 4 two liter Pepsi bottles, and pour out the Pepsi to carry fuel.
ATMs not working until 11 AM. Cash in high demand.
Allen falls sick inhaling petrol fumes. Rest at Manali for the day.
Mandi to Manali - 100 kms - 3:30 AM to 6:45 AM

Day 4

Start from Manali and cross Rohtang Pass. First experience of ice and stream crossing.
Meet new riders, Ashish and Komal.
Cross Tandi, last fuel station. Next one 365 kms ahead.
Cross Baralachala. Cross the toughest and deepest stream with bare feet.
Halt at Bharathpur; the highest camping location in Ladakh. Approx. 16,000 ft. above sea level.
Manali to Bharathpur – 198 kms – 4 AM to 7 PM

Day 5

Freezing early in the morning. Hard time getting ready. Ashish is sick. Komal stays back with him.
Cross the 21 Gata Loops.
Allen's bike breaks down. In the middle of nowhere. 8 hours of travel away from cell phone signal or any spares.
After 3 hour wait, some bulleteers offer help and manage to move on.
Halt at the next immdiate camping location, Pang. Visit Army camp for some medical attention.
Bharathpur to Pang – 100 kms – 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM

Day 6

Head out of Pang. Cross Moore Plains, a cold desert at 16,000 ft.
Cross Taglang La, the World's second highest motorable road.
Vegetation from Rumtse. Finally at Leh!
Pang to Leh – 180 kms – 8:30 AM to 4 PM

Day 7

In and around Leh.
Visit Leh Palace, fort and some shopping.
Procure permits to visit other places around Leh.

Day 8

Apar's bike punctured. Rides pillion on the 220.
Head to Pangong Tso Lake.
Cross Chang La, the World's third highest motorable road. Free tea at the top, provided by the Army.
Allen's bike breaks down again. Manage to temporarily fix and move on. Reach Lake in the afternoon.
On the way back, Allen's bike gives up at the top of Chang La. Bike pushed back 60 kms to Leh.
Leh to Pangong Tso and back – 300 kms – 6:30 AM to 8 PM

Day 9

Start late to Khardung La.
Reach the top of the Pass pretty easily. Finally, traveled the World's highest motorable road.
GPS shows 800 ft. lesser than the altitude marked at the top Khardung La.
220 clutch cable snaps while tightening. Replace spare
Leh to Khardung La and back – 150 kms – 12:30 PM to 6 PM

Day 10

Start the day with drizzles. Prepare for rain ride.
Pass through the Magnetic Hill.
Some exoctic snow capped moutains seen on the way. Snow appears silver and clean due to the rain the previous night.
Halt at Kargil for the day.
Leh to Kargil – 220 kms – 9 AM to 6 PM

Day 11

Head towards Srinagar.
Caution message at a place: CAUTION! You are under enemy observation.
Visit the Drass War Memorial. Drass; the coldest inhabited place (-60 deg.) in 1995.
Pass through some of the most exotic valleys of Kashmir.
Reach Srinagar in the evening.. Chikkara boat ride in the Dal Lake.
Kargil to Srinagar – 200 kms – 7 AM to 4 PM

Day 12

Foggy roads in the morning.
Allen and Kiran overshoot 50 kms without realizing. Have tea and get back on track.
Meet at few Tamil army men.
Kiran drops bike due to weight. Front brake level replaced.
Srinagar to Jammu – 300 kms – 4:30 AM to 5:30 PM

Day 13

Highway ride back to Delhi. Sync up every 100 kms.
Jammu to Delhi - 600 kms - 7:30 AM to 8 PM

Day 14

Spend at Delhi. Inquire packers and movers and fix up deal.
Visit India Gate. Pick up some stuff from Imran's place.

Day 15

Head back to base.

4 guys, 15 days, 2900 kms, 18380 ft. above sea level.
BEEN THERE DONE THAT!

Check out the day by day detailed blog.

Just got Leh'd

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:11:00 +0000

Warning: This story is a time killer. It has a detailed blog on the road trip to Ladakh with information on what happened every day. If you don't have enough time, you may check out the Best of Leh page, where there is a quick slideshow with the highlights of the trip.

Prologue

It was late in the evening, about half past nine. I was hungry, sitting in the Delhi airport gaping at passengers collecting their bags and walking off. I had to wait until my friends arrived, so that we could sync up and crash for the night. Something big was waiting for us in the next couple of weeks. We had planned a road trip to the Himalayas, and finally our dream was coming true. I was still wondering what happened to the bikes. The last time I spoke to my friends, they told me that the bikes were heavily delayed in transit and had still not arrived in Delhi. We had shipped them from Chennai a couple of weeks ago, and something was just not right. I was still waiting.

The person at the information kiosk was going a little uneasy with me, as it was the third time I was inquiring about the Chennai flight to Delhi, in the last 30 minutes. Finally, the conveyor belt started moving and passengers started arriving. It wasn't a big deal spotting my pals in the crowd. Allen had a clean shave with a French beard and his hair was all neatly done. Had it been some time in the morning, his shades wouldn't have been inside the bag. Kiran was all excited. He was skinnier than the last time I'd seen him. And same old Aparajith, aka Apar, with his glasses!

We quickly picked up trolleys, collected our bags and made a move out of the airport. We tried reaching the bike transportation fellow, but he refused to respond. With questions in mind on where to go and what to do, we walked out into the city that was waiting to rip us off!

Start the ride...

A fiasco to begin with

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:13:00 +0000

Day 1/15 - Delhi

Delhi is one of the oldest metros in India and has quite a history. Not to forget the nature of a lot of people who wait for you to make the slightest mistake for them to take control of the situation. Kiran had been in this place recently for a few months and had experienced a lot of such situations. Taking his guidance, we decided to take a pre-paid taxi to a nearby location so that we could take some rest for the night. The queue was quite long and took us a good half an hour for our turn to come. We had to wait for a bigger car to dump the entire luggage we had.

Having got one, we asked the driver to take us to a cheap hotel just to stay for the night and move out early in the morning. Trouble began. The cabbie refused to take us to any hotel that cost less than 2000 for the night. He continued to argue saying that there was no such place in the area that would cater to our budget. Unable to find alternatives so late in the night, we finally landed in a place a little later than midnight who agreed to charge us 1500 if we checked out before 7AM. We ordered some food, gobbled them up and still continued to try and reach the bike transportation guy. Quite unsuccessful, we fell asleep very soon.

At about half past five in the morning, the crazy frog ring tone started ringing. The nature of this ring tone is that it is highly irritating and continues to ring until the battery charge lasts. Getting up, we decided to make it to the godown of the packers and movers and try and catch hold of the fellow. I called up one of my friends in Hyderabdad to get some Internet help over the phone. He figured out the location and address for us. About 15 minutes before we could leave, we got a call from the transportation fellow informing us that the bikes had arrived. Jumping with joy, we were more bothered about the fact that the bikes had reached rather than the fact that the idiot had been fooling around for about a week.

Kiran called up and arranged for a taxi that was waiting for us outiside. It was 15 minutes past 7 when we walked out of the room. The bugger at the reception charged us an extra 250 bucks for that. That wasn’t all. When we checked the bill, the food was about 900 bucks. We just had 12 rotis, 2 subjis and a 2 liter aerated drink. The drink was a desi cola, for which he charged 200 bucks. Fed up of everything that was happening, we settled the bill and moved out.

The taxi ride lasted for about half an hour and ended somewhere in the outskirts of Delhi where some container lorries where parked. Our bikes were parked in a corner, all covered with the packaging material. Paying off the cabbie, we unpacked the bikes and checked them for any damages. Allen’s Thunderbird and Kiran’s Karizma refused to start. My Pulsar 220 and Apar’s Apache RTR came to life with the push of a button. It was then that we realized that all the fuel had been taken out of the bullet and the ZMA. Both the 220 and RTR were fuel injected and the crooks didn’t know how to steal the fuel. I took Apar with me to get some fuel for both the bikes. As I rode the 220, I realized that one of the wires was disconnected and there was a small rattling noise under the fairing. I knew this couldn’t be something serious, however wanted to take it to the Probiking Service station for a quick check.

Loading the entire luggage, we headed straight to the fuel station nearby and fill the tanks a little bit and to have Apar’s bike checked for emission control. Our plan was to meet Imran, a member of Delhi xBhp, who had been guiding us a bit in Delhi so far. His place was in Noida, which was about an hour’s drive though the traffic. We missed each other a little bit in the traffic, but managed to regroup and make it to Imran’s place by 11. He was waiting there to head out with us for breakfast. After quickly unloading the bags and refreshing, Imran took us to a south Indian restaurant nearby where we had nice dosas and idlis.

Heading back home, we met up with couple of other xBhpians who gave us good company. LP was one of them, who accompanied me to the nearby Probiking Service station. The service engineers there didn’t understand anything other than Hindi or Marathi. I was finding it hard to communicate to the service engineer on what the problem was, and that’s exactly where LP helped me out. However, the service engineer took his sweet own time to investigate. There was bad news. He said that the battery had drained out and the starter clutch had an issue. Without much choices left, we agreed to leave the vehicle for over 6 hours for the issues to get resolved. It was now clear that we would have to start the trip only the next day. Meanwhile, we spent time at Imran’s home charting out maps and other plans for the trip. Later in the evening, we collected the bike and met up with a few other xBhpians for dinner. Heading home, we packed all the stuff and hit the bed.

As bad luck might have it, there was a power cut. But for Allen and Apar, the rest of us found it almost impossible to sleep. The room didn’t have too much air circulation and forced us to move out. We sat outside the entire night and it was about time to leave.

Back to Prologue | Move to Day 2

Fighting against the odds

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:13:00 +0000

Day 2/15 - Delhi to Mandi – 500 kms – 3 AM to 8:30 PM

It was 2:30 in the morning. Those in the bed got up and joined the rest in the final packing and loading. Refreshing and gearing up, we bid goodbye to our sweet host Imran and officially started the trip with a delay of 1 day. Kiran led the way through the dark city streets to a fuel station. We filled up all tanks to the brim and continued our search for the highways. Kiran and Allen led the way, with Apar and I following the two. This pretty much remained the same order throughout the trip for various reasons at various times. I didn’t have a great map on my GPS, but I had setup a user trail from Delhi to Chandigarh, that helped me follow the route to a fairly good extent.

All excited, we forgot to worry about the sleepless night that we just crossed and continued to gradually improve speeds and started munching miles. After about and hour of riding, we had reached the proper highway where Apar and myself chose to pick up the faster options. At some point, we stopped by a dhabha only to realize that Allen and Kiran were missing. We called them to find out that they had stopped a little earlier as Allen was sleeping and was finding it hard to ride. We decided to halt at a nearby ‘Jhil Mil’ dhabha to get some sleep. We spoke to person there and got some space to take rest for about an hour and a half. I can’t forget to mention the fact that we shared the space with some truck drivers!

When we came out of that space, it was bright and sunny. Apar and Kiran were watching the bikes and bags for us, while Allen and I had got ourselves some sleep. We reenergized with some tea and packed our saddles again. The idea was to reach Manali for the night.

After crossing Panipat and Ambala, we were riding focused towards Chandigarh. On the way, we met another biker, Pankaj, heading in the same direction. We were excited to know that he was riding to Leh as well. His original plan was to ride with a couple of his friends, but they couldn’t make it for different reasons. He tagged along with us, as we entered the region around Chandigarh. There was a speed limit of 60 kmph enforced on the highway with cameras and cops strictly monitoring the traffic. We were warned multiple times by Kiran and Pankaj about it, and it took us quite some time to cross the city.

By that time, Apar and I were going down on energy without proper sleep. We decided to go into the city to get some Red Bull, when the others would proceed through the highway. The two of us went in and figured out a shop to get 4 cans very quickly. But then, we realized we had got ourselves lost inside the city. The GPS was a little helpful in getting us back to where we started. But we had to reach the highway from there to sync up with the others. The people of the city themselves seemed so confused with the routes that they kept guiding us in opposite directions. We finally managed to get back on track and meet with our other half at a dhabha for lunch. Meanwhile, Pankaj had parted and moved on. His trip was much shorter than ours and therefore didn’t have much time to lose. We wrapped up lunch pretty quickly as well thinking of the time we had lost thus far.

Apar and I stuck together all the time, though we had no idea about the other two most of the time. We were moving towards the evening as we slowly started experiencing inclination on road. We had a feeling we were nearing the foothills. At a small town called Ropar, there was a deviation to head to Manali. It was closely followed by a railway crossing where the two of us waiting for the train to pass. That was when we got a call from Kiran telling us that his bike was fuming under the tank and had stalled. Not so happy to hear the news, I got his location and headed back to that point. I instructed him to get hold of Allen and bring him back as well. On the way, I mentally registered any opportunity for s mechanic and was happy to find positive signs. At some point, I saw Kiran standing on the opposite side of the road, pretty terrified.

He explained to me that he just filled up his tank and that it was fuming from under. He switched off the ignition and was thinking what to do. Allen arrived meanwhile and we tried switching back the ignition. Fumes reappeared. Allen went to get hold of a mechanic while the three of us moved the bikes and luggage to a much shady location. After quite a while Allen returned alone saying that nobody was ready to come over to fix a faired bike. We were left with no choice but to try fixing the issue ourselves.

With the knowledge and experience we had, we put some team effort to strip off the tank and analyze the root cause. We found that the fuel level sensor had a short. We snapped it out and insulated it to fix the issue. Putting things back together, Kiran was ready to ride again, except that his fuel level indication wouldn’t work.

We crossed Ropar together and started to ascend. We were nearing sunset and it had been a tough ride so far. The only thing that kept exciting us ware the small valleys that kept exposing themselves now and then. Taking breaks more often than we ever wanted to, we pushed it hard to reach a place called Mandi. This place was a 100 kms before Manali, which was our intended destination. Unable to ride any further, we found out a nice place to stay for the night. Food was decent, but I hardly remembered its taste due to the tiredness. Finishing it quickly, I put all the gadgets for charging and hit the bed.

Back to Day 1 | Move to Day 3

Stuck at the foot hills

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:55:00 +0000

Day 3/15 - Mandi to Manali - 100 kms - 3:30 AM to 6:45 AM

We had no issues having a dreamless sleep. Everyone was that tired and sleepless. It would have been nice to have a few extra minutes, but we had to force ourselves early in the morning to make up for what we hadn't covered the previous day. We were out and riding at 3:30. It was dark outside and I was the sweeper. Since my bike was fuel injected, I had to take extreme care not to let the fuel levels drop down. Doing so would cause my fuel pump to burn out. I therefore stopped by a fuel station, letting the others carry on with their ride. Just after the fuel station, the township ended and I was riding through the curvy roads in pitch darkness. There were no streetlights or opposing traffic for me to have felt safe. I stopped by for a minute to enjoy the moment, and later realized it wasn’t so very enjoyable! I kept rolling through the roads with extreme caution, as I could never guess what was beyond the darkness that surrounded me; it could have been just mud, or a river or even a 200 feet cliff drop.

After about 45 minutes or so, I spotted the rest of the riders waiting for me round a corner to sync up. Shortly after that, we entered a tunnel that lasted close to 3 kms and was fun to ride in. At that point, Apar and I decided to leave the rest of the pack behind and move on with a relatively higher speed. Somewhere close to Manali, the two of us halted by a bridge enjoying the river that was flowing under. The clocked ticked quickly and we were starting to get worried that the other two had still not come. Just about the moment when we decided to head back, we saw the two bikes coming over. Allen was smiling from inside the helmet and shouted, “Dude, I just took a power nap.” Kiran added, “This freaking lad exits the tunnel and all of a sudden stops the bike by the side of the road and just fell flat. Of course not to forget that he asked me to wake him up in fifteen minutes!”

The sun was slowly coming out and people started coming out of their houses. Vehicles started appearing on the road. The first sight of snow capped mountains were such a welcoming sight. We were advised that Manali was the last point to get some cash in the pocket and to source some fuel. Beyond that, Tandi was the only fuel station till Leh. Not having any fuel cans, we head straight to a fuel station to ask if he had one. There was no option of other stores as it was just 6:30 in the morning. We filled up all the bikes, but couldn’t find a can yet. Not left with too many options, we decided to buy 2 liter Pepsi bottles and empty them to create containers. We already had 4 empty bottles, so just bought 4 more to create space for a total of 16 liters. Not willing to waste all the Pepsi, we gave some to the fuel station guy to store it somewhere else and drink it later. Excited by it, the guy replied back, “Sir, do you want a can to carry all this? I can give you one!” This was the same bugger who replied he didn’t have one in the beginning.

Filling the 10-liter can that he gave, we moved on in search of an ATM. Of the 3 ATMs that were there in Manali, 1 was out of cash and the other 2 had technical issues. We were told that they would be back working by 10:30 or so. Without many choices, we found a sweet spot by a dhabha where we parked the bikes and ordered some food to munch. Soon after the meal, we created some sleeping space around the bikes are dozed off. Allen wasn’t reacting well to the petrol fumes and started puking. We thought that he would be fine in a while, but wasn’t showing signs of improvement.

Around 10:30 we sent Apar and Kiran with all our cards to the ATM to get about 20,000 cash, which would help us, manage normal and emergency situations till we got to Leh. The poor fellows came back after a good 1-hour with just 13,000. They told us that they were waiting in the queue in the first ATM that ran out of cash just before their turn. They had to repeat their penance outside another one, and they were not allowed to use more than one card per person.

Meanwhile, Allen’s health had deteriorated and he needed a good sleep and some medicine to get back to normal. We decided to cut out the day’s ride at that point and looked out for a decent hotel to rest. A chap nearby overheard the conversation we had about finding a room and chipped in to give us some ideas. Not long from then, Allen was resting on a comfy mattress, we had dumped the bags, ordered some nice lunch and was waiting for it. Not having slept well in the last couple of days, we took good rest until late in the evening.

Kiran and I got up and took a stroll through the market to get a couple of 5-liter cans for the fuel. We found a nice way to tie them on to the 220’s grab rails. Quickly heading back, we had some light dinner and dozed off.

Back to Day 2 | Move to Day 4

Optimistic and vanishing into serenity

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 19:02:00 +0000

Day 4/15 - Manali to Bharathpur – 198 kms – 4 AM to 7 PM

The early morning packing took us a while since we had never packed fuel on the saddle. We also had to ensure that Allen stayed away from the fumes. Our target was to cross the Rohtang Pass as early as possible as it generally attracted all the tourists at Manali. At around 9 or 10 AM during the day, it was most common to see traffic jams that took hours to clear. We were progressing well through the ascending roads. A Pass is generally a road that runs through a high altitude mountain, giving us scope to enjoy the beauty surrounding it.

The sun slowly started coming our giving us a better picture of what surrounded us. We saw more and more snow capped mountains, but the temperature was also dropping. We took time to enjoy the beauty and let trucks and other vehicles pass by. It was the first experience of riding through muddy terrain without safety rails exposing drops over few hundred feet deep. We also had the opportunity to talk to a few monks (informally known by us as Buddha-men) when we took a break by a breathtaking valley. I was constantly watching the GPS to see at what altitudes where were at.

We were warned about AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness), which was common among people and affects the person due to lack of oxygen. To help fight it better, we took a tablet each that helped avoid dehydration. However, we had to remember to drink a lot of water though we never felt thirsty. The trick was to try and use the oxygen in the water during the lack of enough oxygen in the air around.

Apar and I were certainly traveling at a much slower pace than the other two, taking pictures and enjoying the beauty. Not realizing that we slowly starting to descend, we proceeded through the muddy terrain to meet with the rest of the gang waiting by a small shop that served Maggi noodles. Allen then told us that the small stone like marker that we had just passed marked the peak of the Rohtang pass. We then realized what to expect the next time we were ascending a Pass.

As we enjoyed the mildly spiced and garnished noodles, a couple of bulleteers joined us. They were on the way to Leh as well, and agreed to ride with us bringing our total strength to 6. We saw more bikers crossing us on the opposite side; we just waved to them and proceeded. Most of the places we say beyond Rohtang were breathtaking, but the fumes of the trucks that had gone past were still in the air. The mountains had no vegetation or trees to absorb the gases and cycle them. This was quite irritating, but didn’t have much of a choice.

We crossed on of the first Nalas (rivers) during mid-day. It wasn’t very rapid or deep, being quite gentle on us. These Nalas generally seep through the ice/snow as a result of them melting. Therefore, during the course of the day, the water level starts rising making it harder to cross them.

Allen joined the bulleteers leaving us far behind. Apar and I stuck to the end spending a lot of time on pictures. Kiran was the only unlucky guy stuck in the middle without company. I have mention that his bike was now running without an air filter. The altitude and reduction of air density took a toll on the bike and he had to do so to for his bike to try and cope up with the environment. At a place called Tandi, we found the last fuel station, after which Leh is a good 365 kms away. We ensured all our tanks and the fuel containers were filled up.

Sometime mid afternoon, we reached a place called Keylong on the way. We stopped by for some lunch. I tried out a Tibetan dish called the Thukpa. It was a mix of watery noodles and some meat. Man, it tasted real good.

I never forgot my sun block at any point; I was told that we were relatively closer to the sun when at higher altitudes and the sun continues to burn down the skin, though it felt very cold all the time. Back on the saddle, we realized we were falling behind schedule and were pushing it a little hard to make it to Sarchu. This was our planned destination for the day. We couldn’t speed up much through the terrain, so ended up reducing the number of breaks that we took. There was a tough Nala to cross, where I lost the silicone tips of my Bose headset, as I posed by the rocks. I gave it a quick search, but moved on after realizing it would be foolish to be too optimistic at that point.

The temperature was dropping quickly and we saw the other bikers waiting by a rapid Nala. Allen and Kiran were waiting on the other side, asking us to remove our shoes and cross it. Fingers crossed, I entered the stream with the bike and found it hard to balance. Obviously I had to place my feet in the water, and it was a pleasurable experience only for a couple of seconds. Immediately after that, it was like needles poking at the same time, so uncomfortable that it distracted me from balancing the bike and making it across. With a little bit of struggle, it managed to get out quickly. Apar followed me thorough the path, but wasn’t very successful in getting through. He was stuck in the middle, when Allen and Kiran had to step back in to get the bike out.

It was more of the evening time and we were ascending what was known as Baralachala. It was one of the windy passes we experiences through the trip and it forced us to wear the jackets with the thermal lining. The good thing was that we were riding through more snow and beautiful water mass. The sight of the blue water body with the reflections of the snow-capped peaks was a breathtaking sight. The time was close to sunset and we had close to 40 kms to Sarchu. In such a terrain it would take more than an hour to reach the place. We found a small place called Bharathpur very close to Barlachala. It had a few tents in the middle of a beautiful valley surrounded by snow capped peaks and a lake in between. We checked out the tents and found excellent beds and quilts to make us feel warm. Who would decide to continue to ride on such cases? We obviously decided to take shelter there for the night.

We had a French couple giving us some company through the evening. Dinner was served inside the tents itself. They also sold woolen socks, mufflers and other items that we needed at the moment. They provided quilts that were about 2 inches thick. I used a couple of them as I tried hard to go to sleep in the cold.

Back to Day 3 | Move to Day 5

A day of surprises

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 13:54:00 +0000

Day 5/15 - Bharathpur to Pang – 100 kms – 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM

I’d told the folks the previous night that the alarm bells would be ringing by 4 in the morning and we need to be riding by dawn. Listening to that everyone moaned as they hit the bit.

Early next morning the alarms rang without fail. Noone by me, dared to respond and wake up. It looked very promising to me and I tried to peek out of the double layers of quilts that were over me. Surprise, surprise! It was colder than I could even imagine and I immediately tucked my head back inside. For a moment I couldn’t understand if this was real. I checked the watch again to see if was really morning. Yes, it was. I made no second attempt and was convinced I would be trying something really foolish trying to get out of the warmth I’d saved all night under the quilts. I pushed the alarm by an hour and dozed off. One hour later, the same episode repeated itself and I decided to push by another hour. At 6, it was a little bright outside, and this time, Kiran had also responded to the alarm. I convinced him that we’d have to leave soon and woke up the others.

Now, there was a bigger problem. The water in the buckets outside was frozen. It was windy that made it even colder. We knew staying inside the tent would do no good and had to step out to finish off the nature calls. We wrapped ourselves with everything we had, from thermal wear, sweater, muffler, monkey caps and riding jackets and stepped out in search of a good spot. Each of us picked a different direction and kept marching until we were convinced we had some privacy. Completing the big mission, we were back in the tent huffing and puffing without enough oxygen to breathe. By this time, the owners of the tent had waked up and were preparing some tea for us. Drinking the hot liquid made us feel better after which we started loading the bags on to the saddle.

Unfortunately, of the two bulleteers that stayed with us, one was down with nausea and low energy levels. He was unable to eat or drink anything and collapsed beyond control. We decided to get him some rest, so left the two bulleteers there and proceeded from Bharathpur.

Practically, Leh was very much reachable from there if we pushed it a little bit. So, with a lot of optimism in mind and positive thoughts, we rode through the snowy mountains for quite some time. I had advised the guys to sync up once in a while since we were now traveling in an area with no cell phone signal or mechanic support. Remembering those words, the folks waited mostly for me, who was the sweeper most of the time.

This day, it was Apar’s turn. He wasn’t doing well, but tried his best to keep himself going. He didn’t want to give in to the energy drain and fought well against it. At some point, Allen and Kiran stopped by a camp, where a guy needed some help with his bike. The two helped him fix it up in about an hour or so. Meanwhile, Apar and I proceeded to the next settlement to get some rest. When Allen and Kiran were back, we moved on.

There was this mountain that had 21 loops, knows as the Gata Loops. It is nothing very special from the regular hairpin bends in the hills, except for the fact that these fall on the same side and are together visible from the top. I remember passing by a truck that had tumbled in one of the loops. At the top of the hill, we synced up, took a small water break and proceeded.

Allen was going a little too fast, so I asked him to tail. I let Kiran and Apar move first as Apar wasn’t feeling well. At some point, I noticed that Allen wasn’t anywhere in my rear view mirror. I asked the other two to keep going and waited for Allen. Time passed by and I was getting worried. A truck passed by and the driver signed to me saying that a vehicle was stuck at some place. I immediately turned the bike and went in search of Allen. After about ten minutes, I saw coming out of a turn that was far away. He was slow, but was steady. When we almost neared each other, he didn’t stop the bike and continued to ride. He shouted to me saying that the spark plug had carbon deposits and that he had fixed the issue. I followed him for a while, but the bike stopped again. He continued to explain that the engine generally burns a fuel and air mixture. At a higher altitude, since the air was lesser, the engine was burning richer fuel, which ended up as carbon deposits on the spark plug. He cleaned it up again, and put the spark plug back. The bike started, but never moved. When tried to do so, it choked and stopped. We tried to repeat the process, but were in vain.

The two of us were sitting there, in the middle of nowhere with the heaviest bike of the lot having broke down. The other two were far ahead beyond communication. A cell phone signal or mechanic support was a good 8-hour drive from where we were. Staring at the dry mountains and the sun above, we sat there hoping some vehicle would come by to offer some help.

After a while, three bikes appeared from around the corner. We didn’t have to signal to them. They stopped by, just by looking at us and understanding our problem. We explained to them what had happened. They dug their bags for any matching spark plugs, but couldn’t find one. They offered some suggestions, but none of them fixed the issue for us. Quite disappointed, they wished us some luck and left place. We were left to staring at each other, again!

Minutes passed and we spotted Kiran approaching us. We were wondering about Apar and understood that probably Kiran left him somewhere to take some rest. We were right. Kiran told us that he had crossed the Nakeela Pass that was just after the place where we were standing. He helped Apar settle down in the middle of a riverbed to get some rest and came back with tools to help us. He also mentioned that he got the information that we were stuck, from a truck driver as well. After a few attempts, we were convinced we couldn’t attempt cleaning the spark plugs. We had to try something different. Kiran had a pretty tough rope, which we decided to tow the vehicle with.

I unloaded my excessive baggage and transferred them to Kiran’s bike. Not having done such an experiment before, we were very careful during the attempt. The region being muddy with very steep drops, we found it had doing this thing. My bike did not go beyond the first gear and was undergoing immense strain. I had a feeling I wasn’t doing the right thing, but we had to move on from there. Staying there would be of no good. As the engine screamed its heart out, I was managing the pull with extreme difficulty. All of a sudden, at some point, the rope snapped! That marked the end of the experiment.

We parked the bikes and decided to wait for some truck that might pass by, so that we could load the bike on to the truck to move it to some place where there are people. It was now a few hours since we’ve been waiting and we were also worried about the lonely sick Apar. Suddenly, like messengers of God, a few bulleteers appeared from around the corner. We waved them to stop and they were more than happy to offer help. When they heard about the problem, they said that they had a Scorpio following them that had some spares. When the vehicle arrived, they dug the bags to find out a matching spark plug. They couldn’t find one, but they got some emery paper, which generally helps cleaning spark plugs. Cleaning it with the paper and putting it back did the trick. They said that this would take us to a nearby settlement, where we could reach for the army guys to get some help. We couldn’t thank them enough for what they’d done. After clicking a picture with everyone together, we moved on from there.

The next settlement’s name was called Pang, which was right after the Nakeela Pass. Allen never stopped his bike anywhere, fearing that it might face issues starting again. We met up with Apar right after the Nakeela Pass. He was doing much well than what he was, a few hours back. After all this confusion, Allen just realized that he’d dropped off his gloves somewhere on the way. Kiran had tucked them somewhere in the saddle, but they had fallen off during the bumpy ride in the Nakeela Pass.

At the entrance of Pang, there was a check post, where we had to provide information about all our vehicles. I had to climb a few stairs, and was finding it quite hard. I sat down on one to take some rest. Looking at that, the person at the check post said that we could be low on oxygen and advised us to visit the army camp to get some medical aid. He added, saying that if we got some oxygen for 10 to 15 minutes, we would be totally back to normal.

With the josh of listening to that, we head straight to the army camp asking for help. The medical officer there examined us and said that our pulse rates were all perfect. He advised us to have some food, as the last meal we had was during previous night. He gave us some tablets for acidity and headache that helped us a bit. Right opposite to the camp was a tent, where we got some food to eat and place to stay for the night.

Back to Day 4 | Move to Day 6

Light at the end of the tunnel

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:07:00 +0000

Day 6/15 - Pang to Leh – 180 kms – 8:30 AM to 4 PM

We woke up to the kerosene fumes from the cooking area. It added up to the energy drain we were experiencing, making it even harder to get back to normal. Brushing our teeth and refreshing ourselves, we had a hard time loading the saddle. It took three of us to load one saddlebag. Everyone was panting for breath right after that. The lady who owned the tent suggested that we quickly move on from Pang, which would make us feel better.

Just ahead for us through the day were two main spots, namely the Moore Plains and Taglangla. Crossing that would get us to relatively lower altitudes and much closer to Leh. Finally, we saw light at the end of the tunnel.

Starting from Pang, we were welcomed by a small hill and some truck traffic along with its fumes. Allen still continued to be in front, and stopping as less as he could. Kiran followed closely with Apar and myself at the end spending time on photos. We thought climbing the hill would show us a couple of valleys and bring us back down like it took us up. But then, we were wrong. For a moment, we couldn’t believe our eyes. Taken aback by scene, we parked the bikes for a moment and looked around at the vast area of flat land that lay in front of us. For miles together, we would see nothing but, plain flat terrain. We realized that we’d reached the Moore Plains.

We had heard people talk about it and the fantastic pictures they used to bring back. I quickly looked at the GPS, which showed an altitude around 16,000 ft. There were no actual roads except for truck trails. However, there was quite some number of trucks visible now and then. None of them bothered to follow any of the tracks. They found it more comfortable to make one.

It was so tempting to wring the throttle and just zip past, but there were sand spots in random locations, which would certainly topple the bike if driven quite fast over them. We had to cruise at slower speeds. We stopped by in the middle of the cold desert for a couple of pictures and continued move on. We spotted a couple of dogs in a dry area and wondered how they even survived there. It took us about an hour to cross the entire desert land and then, we were back in the middle of mountains.

Watching the beautiful shades of brown, we kept progressing at a good speed. Slowly we were ascending some hill as the temperature was dropping pretty quickly. Moments later, I realized that it was the winds that was the reason for it. In some time, it also started snowing a little bit. We stopped by to take a break and enjoy the beauty. Kiran’s bike started struggling to climb by then. Allen was nowhere to be seen. He was right in front, in constant motion. It was the Taglangla Pass that we were ascending. The climb was becoming difficult by the minute due to the increasing altitude and temperature drop.

Just around a corner, Apar and I spotted the other two waiting beside some big machines trying to clear up the road. We realized that there was a landslide that had blocked the roads. They estimated a half and hour wait time for them to make the passage temporarily commutable. However, we managed to talk to them and get a sneaky path across. All of us were on full riding gear with as much protection we could have from the cold. But I was shocked to see the people working with bare hands in such cold conditions.

Struggling against the winds and altitude, we made it to the top of the Pass in another 10 to 15 minutes. The other 3 bikes parked it by the small stone structure that marked the top of the pass and began clicking pictures. I chose to click mine by the board that marked it. We were at somewhere around 17,500 ft. Allen walked up to me and said that he wasn’t too comfortable at that altitude and wanted to descend at the earliest. With most of us in the same condition, we decided to move on as quickly from there as we could. I was watching the GPS constantly to see if we made it below the 16,000 mark to get some rest. The moment we did, I overtook all the bikes and signaled a break. As we parked the bikes by the side of the passage, we noticed a puny RX-100 and Bajaj Chetak crossing us. We were awestruck that, these machines attempted these tough terrains.

The roads were slowly becoming better after we came below the 14,000 mark. There was tar. We targeted a place called Rumtse, for lunch. From about 10 kms away, the countdown began, we were that hungry. Very close to Rumtse started greenery and great roads. This wasn’t a big town, but something like a relatively big village. It had buildings and camping sites. We found a nice dhabha to settle down for lunch. Though such luxury was there, we ended sitting outside the dhabha in the sun for the lunch. Having been in much higher altitudes in the last 48 hours, we were finding the 14,000 feet a little hot!

We just moved from that place when a few foreigners landed there for lunch. The roads beyond Rumtse had nothing to complain about. They were so smooth that we could cover about 40 kms in an hour. Considering this speed, Leh wasn’t very far away. It was less than 2 hours from where we were.

The scenery that we saw en-route was stunning. We suddenly came across a few hills that were reddish pink in color. I believe it is because of the minerals they were rich in. We were beginning to see valleys and rivers running through them. One of my personal best was the Indus River and the Nuba valley. As we passed by this small place called Karu, we noticed that the road split; one of them went to Leh and the other one was going to Pangong Tso Lake. This was one of the lakes that we wanted to visit, but needs a permit that can be got only from Leh. So we had to go to Leh without having any second thoughts.

There were more canals and army area while we neared Leh. We stopped by the board that said “Wecome to Leh” to celebrate the moment we touched the place. We were so glad that we had finally made it sans all the surprises we had to face in the last few days. We had made it with a delay of 2 days, but it really never seemed to bother us that moment.

Leh had a lot of people, especially foreigners. We inquired our way into the town market to find out a decent place to stay. As we were asking a traffic cop for some good options, a guy saw us from a distance and drove down in his car. He said that he had rooms in his hotel and that he could cater to our budget. We followed his car to his hotel. Negotiating the prices, we were only disappointed that it didn’t have TV. The moment he knew that we then had second thoughts about staying there because of that reason, he immediately arranged for one.

It had been quite a while since we had taken a proper bath. So we requested him to provide us some hot water. Meanwhile, Allen and Kiran took Allen’s bike to a mechanic shop nearby to sort out the spark plug issue. They had left he bike there, agreeing to collect it the next day. The two mentioned that they met a bulleteer in the mechanic shop who gave them a compatible spark plug for Allen to use. I could see all the excitement in Allen’s face. After the refreshments, we regrouped in the room that had the TV, and enjoyed a slideshow of all pictures in the point and shoot camera.

Having used most of the buffer days we had, we now had to create some buffer time for the future. As per the new plan, we decided to pay off the hotel fellow some extra bucks, who agreed to get us a permit for visiting all the places that we wanted. We decided to spend that time on local sightseeing. We had allocated one day each for visiting Pangong Tso Lake and Khardung La.

After all the planning, we enjoyed a nice meal and crashed for the day.

Back to Day 5 | Move to Day 7

The place called Leh

noreply@blogger.com (Praveen Selvam) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:18:00 +0000

Day 7/15 - Leh

This was a relaxed day in the entire ride. We didn’t have deadlines to get up and get ready. We could stretch a little in the beds waking up late having having a relaxed breakfast. Our itinerary for the first half of the day was to attend to the bikes.

Allen’s bike had the spark plug issue. Kiran’s bike had isuues all over. Apar’s and mine needed an oil topup. We couldn’t get the specified oil grades in Leh. After a little bit of hunting and consulting with the Chennai Probiking Service Engineer, we chose something that would do good for the moment and for a topup. Kiran had bad news; Juma, who was apparently the mechanic, said that the piston rings had worn out in the Karizma. However, he mentioned that it wouldn’t be a threat for the moment and that Kiran could manage and ride it until Delhi. Allen spent a while with this guy before he was satisfied with was done to his bike. By the time we rolled off back to the room, it was a little past noon.

I got a call from one of my friends in Chennai telling me that another close pal was on the line and that there was something interesting to discuss. Hooked by the topic, I spent almost an hour over the phone, well knowing that it would cost a bombshell. The rest of the folks were sitting in the room enjoying some program on the TV. I had to go back and shoo them to get ready, so that we could do some local sightseeing. By this time, the hotel guy had got the permit for us to visit the places that we wanted.

Anyways, lunch first! We dropped by a nearby hotel for a pretty expensive meal. Quickly wrapping it up, we asked the hotel guy for some nice places to visit. After the discussion, we decided to make it to the Leh Palace and the Shanthi Stupa. There were other places like monasteries, which didn’t seem to interest us much. The Leh Palace was well visible from anywhere in the town. It was in an elevated location on top of a hill. But then, it was surprising that a lot of the local people were unaware of how to reach the place. Finally, there was one gentleman who pointed to the right direction and helped us. We just took two bikes and rode pillion. It was about a 10-minute ride to the top.

Parking the bikes by the entrance, we walked to the ticket counter to buy the entry tickets. We noticed something interesting; the timings for the palace were mentioned as ‘Sunset to Sunrise’. The building looked majestic from the outside. Curious to know what was in there, we stepped into the main gate, after which it was darkness for a while. There were a couple of paths, at the end of which there was light. We chose to explore them one by one.

At the end of the first path, there was a flight of stairs that led to hall where a lot of paintings and pictures were displayed. All of them portrayed the lifestyle and landmarks in Ladakh. There was some information on the wildlife and vegetation as well. Quickly glancing through all of the content, we returned to the original passage to head in the other direction. Walking that way, we had to pass by a couple of halls where construction was going on; I believe the place was being renovated. At the end, there was door that led to a balcony, from where we could see one complete half of the beautiful town of Ladakh. Mesmerized by the beauty of view, we sat by the balcony walls, chit chatting for a while and clicking pictures.

We got back into the hallway where we came from and climbed a couple of floors. The last one was a ladder that was quite shaky. Being windy, it was a scary climb to the topmost point of the building from where we could see the other side of Leh. I was astonished to find that one half of Leh was completely dry, but the other one was full of greenery. The wind that was blowing was as if we were standing in front of an air conditioner. From there, we could see another structure atop a hill, which was even higher. Now we had to take a call on whether to visit the Shanthi Stupa or the other Fort.

We chose to go to the Fort, but had no clue on how to get there. We saw a vehicle coming from that side, and were almost sure that we had to catch that road to get to the Fort. We still had no clue on how to get to that road, and chose to off road via the shortest path algorithm that we could think of. It involved a little bit of inclinations that made us turn back, we ventured and made it to the Fort. From the area where we parked the bikes, we had to climb a few stairs to get to the topmost part of the structure. Kiran, Apar and I were puffing and panting before we could reach the spot, but Allen chose to settle down halfway. Most of these were ladders and some of them weren’t attached at the top. With the camera in one hand, it was quite a balancing act, but was fun helping each other get to the top. Once we had reached the topmost point, we could see the entire Leh from there, which was a breathtaking sight! It was one half of dry mountains and the other half of pure greenery.

After we were done with the place, we chose to split. Allen wanted to visit a temple to donate some money, Apar insisted that he would wear only Reebok socks, even in Leh and went in search of one. Kiran and I head to an Internet café. Kiran had to reschedule his flight and I had to backup all the memory cards on a DVD.

At the café, after Kiran was done with his job, we didn’t get a machine to burn the DVDs. So we just went in search of a Xerox store to photocopy the permit. The fellow charged us at 3 bucks a copy! Back at the hotel, we were waiting on Allen and Apar, so that we could tank up all the bikes and the cans.

The two came in after a while. Allen was all excited about this T-shirt guy who made custom embroidery T-shirts. He took me to the store, where we chose a good design for all of us, that read “World’s Highest Motorcycle Expedition – LADAKH – been there done that”. The guy agreed to give it to us the next day late evening.

With one day gone at Leh, our plan was to visit Pangon Tso and come back the next day itself.

Back to Day 6 | Move to Day 8