Delhi-Shimla-Delhi: 812kms in 2 Days.
It all happened last month when our Delhi Moderator
Aryan strikes us with an idea of
“induction ride” for the new riders who are new to xbhp or to touring. One fine day a thread was up
“Delhi Newbie Induction Ride” mentioning the eligibility and section criteria supported by the
R1 rider and moderator Ken Da.
Before the actual ride our mods decided to test our riding styles. We had a ride to
Manesar Mcd and to
Dhauj for the off road session accompanied by
Manan, Chintu and Nitin.
The final list of riders-
• Petro
• Psycho
• Zayn
• Thechamp
• Sikhbiker
• Aryan
• Ken
Dates were changed and ride was finalized on
29-30th November but the destination was unknown till the last minute. We all started with the preparations. I changed my bike tires to tubeless and borrowed a jacket and a helmet. I had to convince my parents for the ride and after a hard effort I was successful. I was all set for the ride. We all met at xbhp dhaba an evening before the ride to discuss some do’s and don’t and the meeting point.
DAY-1
We all decided to meet at
Delhi Byepass at 0445hrs. I started from home at 0415hrs reached the destination as it is only 14km from my place. I was not aware that
“ONE” will also accompany us on the ride. Ken Da was wearing his Great Indian Roadtrip Jacket and Pants, he came to me and explained me about how we are going to ride and they will keep an eye on all of us and evaluate us on our riding style, team work, planning etc….!!!
The Ride begins…… We moved at 0510hrs and after crossing Panipat, we halted for few minutes
And after crossing
Karnal, Petro came to know that his gear lever is missing and he was riding on 5Th gear ☺. He managed to ride ahead and we stopped after
215kms on a Dhaba at outskirts of
Ambala. We had a few rounds of pranthas and started again. Meanwhile R1 was surrounded by spectators.
After crossing
Zirakpur, the roads were pathetic as highway was under construction. We reached
Panchkula and started searching for Bajaj Service Station. After spending about 2 hours we got petro’s bike repaired and started our ride again.
Struggling with traffic in
Pinjaur and
Kalka Main market, we stopped at
Parwanoo to start our hill ride, Engine Temp of R1 was 106°C. Ken da advised us to make 2 groups as we cannot ride in hills in group of 7 people. 1st group “Zayan and thechamp” and 2nd “Sikhbiker, petro and psycho”. He asked all of us to stop before 2-3kms from Solan and we all followed the instructions. Now the Group 2 started first and next stop was at Outskirts of Shimla, I enjoyed every inch of riding in the hills and Ken and Aryan Da helped a lot to improve our leaning and bending techniques.
On my way to Shimla I stopped at In and Out to have a cup of coffee as I was feeling sleepy, within a minute Aryan passed on his “ONE” and the sound was …..!!!!! (Don’t have any words).
We reached
Shimla 356Km by ODO,
now we were in the need of a hotel with enough parking space to park our Pulsars and the “ONE”. I called my Dad but he suggested my cousin’s hotel doesn’t have safe parking for the “ONE” as it was adjacent to the bus stand. So, Ken Da suggested
Hotel Holiday Home...!! We checked in and we got 3 rooms for Rs. 3300/-. These were really good rooms with heater and all the basic facilities. Now, we needed something to eat as we didn’t have anything after our break at Ambala.
We marched towards the Mall Road and found a nice restaurant named
“Sher-E-Punjab”. Me and thechamp are veggie so we ordered Kadai Panner and Dal, and Chicken Curry for others. As Petro lives on Soups, so a chicken soup for him. After filling our tummies we went to mall road. Our Photographer Aryan and Psycho started their favorite work and meanwhile Ken Da interviewed all the riders. We spent around 3-4 hours at mall road.
Some one really enjoyed the jalebi….
Beautiful Shimla…!!!!
Ken Da called all the riders in his room and we had a quiz session…!!! It was fun. We discussed some points about the next day’s ride and places we were going to visit.
Good Night for now n Bike Dreamz….!!!!!
Day 2
As discussed last night we all have to leave for Mashobra for some off road sessions by 0700hrs. I woke up at 0600hrs, Psycho was almost ready by that time. I drunk a can of Red Bull and was ready for the ride.
We all head towards the parking lot and as we were going for an off road session, Aryan Da let “ONE” there and came along as a pillion with Ken Da. Our next stop was Mashobra. Meanwhile we stopped in between a couple of times for clicking the pictures. And at one stop main stand of Ken Da’s bike broke down. We enjoyed every moment of the hills. Finally we reached our destination, from there we started our off road session till Mashobra on the Track of SMC. On our way me and Zayn took a wrong turn and reached Kufri. The track was amazing with mixture of tarmac and gravel. Luckily I was the first to reach Mashobra after Ken Da. From there we stopped at Sanjoli for prantha munching break.
We all reached back Hotel by 1130hrs, now our next destination Delhi. We ignited the sleeping lion the “One”. There was nothing much after that as we rode continuously with some short intervals like at Solan for gas till Karnal Haveli.
We had some snacks and clicked some pictures and after Murthal we were jammed into bumper to bumper traffic.
We dispersed near Delhi by pass. I reached home by 2130hrs, ODO 812km.
This induction ride with the Mods of Xbhp was my memorable experience of life.
Hope to ride with them again… Please forgive me about my writing skills I know this is not my cup of tea.
Enjoy Touring
Ride Safe
Regards,
Sikhbiker-Jasmeet
My Self Evaluation
1.Organisation and Planning - 4
2. Mental Preparedness - 5
3. Bike Preparedness - 5
4. Safety Precautions before the ride 5
5. Safety Measures during the ride - 4
6. Team Spirit and Involvement - 4
7. Overall Improvement before and after the ride -5