Shivanshu

Green Ride coz the natural vegetation in the hills of Uttarakhand was in there full bloom and it was a total blessing to our eyes and Wet Ride because the rain Gods welcomed us from Day One of the ride till we reached back to Delhi.

A ride to upper reaches of Uttarakhand was always there in my mind, but few circumstances always led to cancellation of the plan. Hence, when my friend Rakesh told me about plan to go to Valley of Flowers, I was excited. All ready to go and warning all about the monsoon season in full swing we started our preparations, though we hardly knew that all the rain gears would be of no use after day 2.The interesting part is that we did few routes in night, reaching or crossing the stretch after midnight, and wherever we stopped for tea break or dinner break, the locals got psyched up. And the road condition was marvelous (yes that’s sarcastic), it would have been better if we would have had KTMs or Husquees. But the beauty of Uttarakhand is something which is amazing, I was completely mesmerized by the natural beauty. It would not be bad to say here that while riding in Uttarakhand we were completely uncertain as per where will we reach and where will get stuck. The Rain God was always there with us, whether it be day or night, there were numerous landslide which we encountered. Overall the ride was awesome and the enjoyment was to the max.

Now let me give you the intro of all the riders:

Manish Jha (MJ) - Yamaha YZF R15 (blue)
Rakesh R Shankar (Anna) – Yamaha FZ16 (blue & white)
Seema – Pillion with Rakesh
Me- Yamaha YZF R15 (black)

The D-Day(Depature Day guys) plan was that MJ and me would rendezvous with Rakesh and Seema at Lansdowne. As MJ had his office till 3am, so after taking a good sleep and having lunch at our own dhaba, we both had to leave Delhi by noon time. And till that time Rakesh would reach their via Haridwar. More would be explained in the detailed blog soon, till then enjoy few teasers

__________________

Save the Earth - We are the one who are running out of time, as Earth will take it own time to heal but that time may not be enough for us.

http://www.ridesafewith.me
I dont just ride my bikes, I live with them.
Yamaha RX100 (1987)
Yamaha YZF R15 (2010)
GIRed 2012

MG

Topic Approved

__________________
Join xBhp On



My photography page: Gourab Das Photography

suhaib.faizy

Congratulation.
luking exciting. waiting for full log and pics.

jd666

man oh man.. the muddy slushy way does bring back some memories.... But why the lansdowne route and not the conventional thru haridwar, rishkesh and then on further??

__________________


My offerings to the gods of speed -

- KTM Duke 200
- Yamaha RXZ 5 speed

cosgeo99

WOW Lovely slush. Waitin for pics of the bike drenched in it

__________________
------------
The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page

Mumbai - Banglore - Mumbai (1662 Km) in 24 Hrs.

Catch me @ TourerByTheLake

beruoist

Nice Teasers...Would love to know about the Route details

Cheers
Biru

__________________
MY SPACE....http://musafirhuyaron.blogspot.com/

"सैर कर दुनीया की गालिब,जिन्दगानी फिर कहा.
जिन्दगानी गर रही तो ,नौजवानी फिर कहा!!"

rockyrakesh5

Before I start the day 1 there is some thing i'd like to recall, a close friend of mine asked me to explain the trip in a sentence on the day I returned to Delhi and all I could say was – “30% Adventure, 30% Endurance and 40% sheer stupidity!”
There was one thing I decided when I was climbing up to Gagaria on day 3 of the ride, that I will write the truth and will hide only minor facts pertaining to personal importance to individuals! Cause this trip broke down each one of us at different stages, but it is not important on how we broke but how we overcame to complete this ride! This ride for a change was not just about riding endurance, it was about physical endurance and above all mental endurance… this ride had called upon a few real close calls but we survive to tell the tale.. Enjoy da ride through our words as the pictures have not done the justice to portray the beauty we saw and experienced through our very eyes.

Day 1: Seema and I: NOIDA – Haridwar – Lansdowne: 12th Aug, 2011

The day was sultry and I had finished a whole days work in NOIDA and left to pick seema up from Haridwar at 11pm. This time is the best to leave to haridwar Via Meerut – Muzafar Nagar – Roorkee as the traffic is more towards the entry into Delhi. So with ease and hardly any rain reached a Friends place in Haridwar at 2am. It is to be kept in mind that my FZ’s sprocket has been changed from the Stock 14*40(front*rear) to 13*42 for the Hills..! So the bikes low and mid are impeccable but at the cost of top end speed (90km/hr from 110km/hr). So hence, this stretch was the most frustrating one but the brains kept reminding me that I shall reap the benefit on the mountains…!
So after a well deserved good night sleep, Seema and I pushed off to Lansdowne at 11.45am as the update from the Shiv and MJ was that they will leave to Lansdowne at around noon from delhi and catch up with us in Lansdowne. This ride was mostly pleasant with a few miles of planes and as we cross Kotdwar the hills start. I have been to Lansdowne once before and with a pillion back then as well and the memories where fresh as I remembered wasting a good new Puma Testastradas rubber sliders and having to buy a new one during my downhill exploits about a year back so as always started to uphill a bit cautious to get your eyes, brains and the pillion comfortable with the twisty’s and a few corners down realized that the suspension setup was way lower than it was just to find that it was in step 3 as against my favorite setting step 5 of 7. what a way to begin a ride on to the twisties.
We reached Lansdowne at 3.30pm with not much fuss and all that was running in my mind was how much I wanted to experience the Downhill of Lansdowne alone and with no pillion or baggage and this was the chance!!!! So headed out to catch Shiv and MJ, not only for exploiting the downhill but to also get the suspension setup back to what I enjoy. This was when I found this Rainbow standing upright and the same for your eyes.



So I ride down with a loose floating rear but what fun it was made maximum use of the sprocketing! Just this time made sure my shoe was safe as we had a few more days left in the ride and a trek to complete. So MJ, Shiv and I rendezvous, to ride back up to Lansdowne. Not too many pics for this day but a few to come for the next few days…!! Just a glimpse of what you are about to see from Day2. Shiv and MJ your side of the version awaited.

jd666

^^ great pics... the road looks yummy for some nice lean angles..

__________________


My offerings to the gods of speed -

- KTM Duke 200
- Yamaha RXZ 5 speed

Shivanshu

Great Rakesh good going.... yes JD those were mouth watering roads alas they didnt lasted too long :P

__________________

Save the Earth - We are the one who are running out of time, as Earth will take it own time to heal but that time may not be enough for us.

http://www.ridesafewith.me
I dont just ride my bikes, I live with them.
Yamaha RX100 (1987)
Yamaha YZF R15 (2010)
GIRed 2012

Shivanshu

D-Day: 12th August

It was around 1030hrs and I had my bike all ready. The luggage was just waiting to be loaded, then only I see one of our common friend Chib coming in. He was coming to see me off and also I had to take the cramster waist pouch from him. He helped me in loading the bike with the luggage and it was all done within 30mins of time. Then came MJ, his sleeping bag was to be loaded on top of his backpack, which was tied on the rear seat, that also got done. Now all done, we went to our Dhaba to munch on something before we leave for this sweet n short journey till Lansdowne. Yes I told you before, that we (MJ and me) were regrouping with Rakesh and Seema at Lansdowne. Hence after filling our tummies, we left the dhaba and I stopped at the temple enroute to take blessings for this trip. Then we went to tank up our steeds. All this made us depart from Delhi by 1300hrs. Finally we left the Petrol Station waving goodbye to our friend Chib. The route which we were to take was Delhi – Meerut – Bijnor – Najibabad – Kotdwar – Lansdowne (260kms). Now as we turned right from Ghaziabad red light, that’s it rain Gods welcomed us showering their blessing. We both were like okie this wasn’t expected so soon, though I knew from the weather forecast that we will be facing rain…. And yes ofcourse who doesn’t know about the traffic jams around that area. Now till Bijnor it was raining, sometimes heavy downpour and at times drizzle. I was like wow what a start… though I love rains. We didn’t stop anywhere, we kept moving sometimes at good speed and sometimes crawling coz of the rain finally reach Kotdwar at around 4:30pm and that was the first halt and MJ was cursing me for not stopping for food breaks. We had few snacks out there along with tea, and then moved ahead to Lansdowne. Enroute as we were climbing up saw Rakesh coming downhill. We then stopped for him and then we three rode together. The most amazing thing was that I have been to Lansdowne many times but the greenery enroute was so beautiful that I cant express. The riverside where I always used to get down and rest there was all surrounded by big bushes and plants. It was a good pleasant view to my eyes…. watching the green hills everywhere. We reached Lansdowne at around 1830hrs. Had tea and pakoras with Rakesh and Seema and then was chit chatting with them. Yes it started drizzling after a while, we unpacked our luggages and then settled in room. Had good dinner in our room and called off the day by around midnight.

There are not much of pics of this day as it was raining and I was in no mood to take out my camera and get it wet. The shots you see are from next morning i.e. 13th August at around 0700hrs. So enjoy the pics now:


our room


the Beautiful View


the cloudy beauty


Up above the Clouds


the Hotel


the Tree went Go Green


I love it


another one


Mesmerizing

__________________

Save the Earth - We are the one who are running out of time, as Earth will take it own time to heal but that time may not be enough for us.

http://www.ridesafewith.me
I dont just ride my bikes, I live with them.
Yamaha RX100 (1987)
Yamaha YZF R15 (2010)
GIRed 2012