L.P.

Some of us got back from a tantalizing trip to Lansdowne over the weekend

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The following people made it on their steeds:

The trip started for us @ 4 a.m on Saturday [12th] from the CCD on NH-24.

The following was the route Followed :-

Noida - Delhi- Ghaziabad-ModiNagar- Meerut-Mawana-Bijnor-Najibabad- Kotdwar-Lansdowne.

My Trip meter says 510 Kms.
The trip was fantabulous with amazingly panoramic views with beautiful vistas for photography. We were lucky to run into rain only sparingly , infact it was very refreshing when we did. All of us got back safely without any incidents and accidents.

We were a bit skeptic about starting initially with all the heavy rain predictions etc.. but i guess my persistence to ride even if it rained paid off well.
The initial 1 hour was a bit difficult ,the Meerut roads being really great ..the trucks and the Potholes adding to our woes. But we rode slowly and carefully.

The water filled potholes made it impossible to judge how deep they actually were, a few of us got their shoes soaked, but we made it out safely without any accidents.
Having quicky crossed Meerut , we headed towards Mawana.



Here i have to mention the roads, the roads between Meerut and Mawana are splendid, Kilometers and Kilometers of Freshly Laid Tarmac ( a biker's dream come true ), not too wide but superb flawless / deserted roads surrounded on both sides by Sugarcane fields.
They are so serene to ride in, combined with the early morning breeze.. One feels so laid back and you remember Nirvana and glad to be away from the honking congestion of Delhi.

The Open roads strangely don’t entice you to race/ drag, we felt content on having made it, escaping the mundane regularities of our lives for a while.
The next stop was near the water Reservoir, where we took a butt break. for around 30odd mins

Post Mawana, we hit Najibabad..where the roads were worse infact there were no roads at all due to a flyover/ bridge construction with a muddy off roading track instead of roads.

One notable fact is all through the ride all of us rode in good formation [ 2x2 , and 1 after the other with adequate spacing and the staggered way ] and waited up for each other incase some one got caught up and hardly any drags.

We stopped for Lunch / some Yummy butter smeared paranthas and Lassi..Probably we were really hungry coz we found the Paranthas to be really good. Could hardly wait to get to the hills.

After Najibabad, the roads till Kotdwar are again very beautiful with the jungles on either side of the road, very very refreshing.
The greenery kindda gets to your soul lifting all tensions and aprehensions that you have had.

Starting Kotdwar, we hit the hills of Garhwal in the Himalayas , the hills mesmerized us with their fresh air and we took a stop at a fall that was enroute . The Solitude that the Himalayan hills have to offer is unparallelled. Having lived in the Nilgiris for 8 years , and having been to Darjeeling , you have to trust me on this.

The water was cold and really fresh ....we got rid of shoes and washed out hands .
And it was the time when An R15 started to take a Bath,soon we could see 2more R15's inside along with the rider's and then a Thunderbird and in the end a Bullet and Finally the Discover also.


After an hour spending there, the Sunshine that was there went and the weather changed with slight spur of droplets and we again started to ride towards the destination which was still around 35odd kms left,
Eventually we crossed a couple of bridges and saw the board that directed towards the start of hills. as told by Bandhav. And Beautiful Vista’s Follows:


And following the same I discovered that the Tire of My bike was punctured, and getting the benefit of the tubeless tire I decided to carry it further although it created a problem, we had been climbing continuously.. with a distance of 10-15 feet between each rider, and suddenly we saw that were at 792M above the sea level after we took a left turn, i could not see the person riding in front of me, and the visibility reduced to approx 30% of what it was.. as suddenly Water filled clouds came in the way and we started to feel the rain touch our face hands clothes, and finally water droplets on the tarmac.




The punctured tire was making a lot of problem as it started to defalte, Many thanks to Shally and Saaki who were riding behind me and slowly and very patiently. So that i can take it up! finally we managed to climb a couple of more kms completely by this time the Tyre got deflated completely.. i took the SLIME from the bag,and filled it in the tyre.. the tyre got inflated to approx 12-13 ounces of air and i started to hit the hills once again,and the vista’s were just beautiful.



Due the same I was behind everyone and it took me atleast 20mins to catch the rest of the crew, In a couple of more minutes, It read.. "Garwhal Rifles welcomes you to LansDowne."
And we paid the Toll there of Re 1/- per ride and rider! and headed towards the Central Market in the small town, and then a group B.E.A.utiful girls greeted us with smiles uptil there cheeks,and informed me that I had a Flat tyre, i could not say,greet them or even pass a Smile as all of us were wearing Balcalava's and then nice Eye Gears Also..

This Sign Board was an immediate Morale Booster for us xbhpians who had their as$es whipped since 4 am [ Guys from Sohna added another 70 kms ]

Well we guys took a longish break at a tributary en route where there was this small off-roadish track leading directly to the river side, infact it was perfect for the Bikers and the steeds to take a dip in the cold water.

We spent an hour or so washing and cleaning the bikes [ no matter how n when u clean / get your bike cleaned] washing our bike with our own hands in the Yamuna water actually increased the bond we had for our Bikes dubbed the " Bike Prem " by Umesh .

The lads have a fun fooling around in the water, we spent a good deal of time in the water, which was a refreshing break from Delhi's humid n scorching heat . After a while it looked like no 1 wanted to get out of the water. After around 2 hours or so we moved on, I think all the bikes looked spanking new, well at least mine sure did, for that matter so did the other ones.

The route from then on was very picture perfect , there was this one place where you can see 2 hill tops and 2 valleys and 2 of them were covered with clouds and probably was raining there,

the third one surprisingly was sunlit. The pine trees actually tell u that you are really above mean sea level, the green ferns longed to be captured in a few nice Macros. But, Didn’t have a Camera so Managed without the Macro’s.


We hit Lansdowne Cantt by 5 :30 p.m., but we needed to fix L.P.'s flat tyre .Here i have to mention that Garhwali people are very co operative / helpful .Most of the guys were tired and wanted to hit the bed.So did we, ordered some piping hot tea, which i guess was the best tea i tasted since siliguri / darjeeling , ooty and my mum's tea.

While most junta hit the beds, Me n Anant decided to visit the War Memorial Museum in Lansdowne. The entry fee is a Minimal 20/-,
The Museum has an entire history of the Garhwal Regiment starting from WW1 , WW2,Pakistan / China Wars, IPKF, Operation Vijay[ Kargil] etc.
The Museum has a lot of facts / medals /pics etc, We got to know how lansdowne was named after the then Viceroy Lord Lansdowne.

It has an amazing collection of Guns, Pistols, Mortars & swords ranging from ancient to the recent ones. I think a few pics could have been taken, but not sure whether photography is allowed inside Army Museums.
Afterwards , we also saw the Troops of Garhwal Rifles doing their routine exercises.

Nothing eventful happened after this, post the dinner / chit chat sessions (which was quite entertaining with a few hilarious jokes) we called it a day.The next morning we left Lansdowne @ 12 approx after a sumptous meal of Paranthas [ is it just us or all of us have paranthas ] ????

Oh n btw there was some serious eye candy in the scorpio who stopped there.

We stopped for one final Bike photography session,



before we started on our journey back much more carefully on our way down, as the roads were initially a bit wetter.


Soon we Hit kotdwar and then Najibabad, where we stopped for a break.Oh n yeah we went to this Royal Enfield showroom on the outskirts of bijnor , which was yet to become operational.
Unfortunately they didnt have wat our guys were looking for.We stopped @ Bijnor at a dhaba for Lunch which was quite heavy.

Post Lunch , we rode at a much more leisurely pace and reached Mawana late in the afternoon, and then Meerut by evening.
Meerut onwards it was a real pain in the a@# due to the really pathetic roads, the truckies , the dust, the heavy traffic, no traffic sense, and nasty potholes.

We were back in Delhi by 10 p.m. Overall it was an amazing trip.. met some really nice people [ Umesh - his superb sense of humour, Shashank aka Superman- the chilled out dude just like his ride, Zayn & Shally - the eager n ever friendly guys, nice blokes].
Experienced the freshness of the himalayas , and let it fill our souls with the fresh breeze and the amazing views.

Attached Thumbnails

         

         

 

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Sunny

Best Motorcycle Blogger Contest Entry Approved

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zayn

Still remember that trip unforgettable awesome trip.......Nostalgic..
full marks although we were not having a camera but we still managed to get some good nature snaps...
KUDOS to all..
Anant - Blue R15
L.P. - Blue Discover
Shashank - Silver Bullet
Umesh - Blue Thunderbird
Zayn - Red Pulsar 150
Shally - Blue R15
Saaki - Black R15

Cheers.

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Ride Safe & Ride Long-->
Zayn

L.P.

Thanks Wasey, It was Fun Riding with All you Guys!!

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himanshumm

Hey Guys Congrats on completing a wonderful ride, nice write up LP, but really you guys should have carry with you any camera more than 3.5 pixcel.. that would have really adds a cherry pie over your cake of ride.. but needless to say a good effort

best wishes..

indianz_alive

Simply great photos with a 2MP camera. Almost felt like riding with you guys...

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inder.cool

Nice show L.P

The log is very well narrated and pictures are nice too..!!

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budding_biker

hey Lp nice write up, i enjoyed it all the way through, pics are good, and ur photoshop work is also nice...thumbs up 4 u

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mostwanted_racer

@ L.P.: Great Trip Log (Write Up) with great pictures, no can imagine such pics from 2mp Camera.. Too.. Good....

Congrats to all for completing such wonderful ride... will definitely vote for you guys...

All the very best, Good Luck...

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Dipen

Anant

Well trying to mark my presence after a long long tym....

@ L P :: Beautiful LP,,, yar u have refreshed all the buffers of memory...

Good,, 1 or ride decide karne ka mann ho raha hai ab to...


@ Zayn :: Bhai photographs to aapke cell phone ki wajah se aa gaye nai to latak gaye thhe ye moements....

Thanx Zayn thanx a lott dear...

And i wish to make one more memorable trip with all u guys....

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