prashantbhardwaj

Mega Ride… The word cherished by every BZian was out again. We were heading out to some remote Himachali abode and the news spread thorough the electronic media. All forms of queries poured in ranging from the duration of the ride to the route and place. The organizers knew the route details and were a bit skeptic about taking a huge. But then, what better training grounds can the novice riders get than such roads. Thirty five people woke up early and assembled at an otherwise busy street to head out on a ride each of them would cherish.
Many were curious and apprehensive about the ride they were about to endure. Others were precautious of the ride to come, as this time we had the maximum number of riders who were heading out to the hills for the first time, twenty in count to be precise. Yet, leaving all the apprehensions and other doubts aside, we head out to NH22 at 5:00 A.M. one fine Saturday morning.





Day 1: Chandigarh – Solan – Shimla – Narkanda – Rampur – Mashnoo – DaranGhati

Unexpectedly, I was handed the job of a ride sweep this time whereas TheRoyale took the job of ride lead. With not much traffic on the road, the group reached Shimla at 8:00 in the morning and I was impressed by the speed till now.
We took the road to Sanjauli and then planned to reach Dhalli via Dhalli tunnel but it turned out in the pile of confusion when the police closed the tunnel for an Hour and the groups disintegrated due to it. After half an hour and oodles of calls to the group leads, all the groups came back together at Kufri and the ride commenced again.



The roads after Kufri are still in a bad shape but only till a few KMs after. The fun had started, the novice were learning while the experienced once were having a gala time… the roads became better after a few KMs and continued thereafter. Unexpectedly, the Theog – Narkanda road had been tarmacked and we enjoyed sailing through those butter smooth roads. It is always a pleasure to look at motorcycles sailing through the roads with proper distance and taking turns one after the other in a uniform fashion. Enjoying the nature around and the view of the roads ahead, we moved forward to Narkanda. At Kufri, a call was made to the owner of The New Himalaya Dhaba and he was duly informed to start preparing breakfast for 35 hungry monsters heading his way.







The Ride:



The Rider:



Approaching Narkanda:





At Narkanda:



At Narkanda, the group relished over some nice Aloo paranthas, Tea and Sandwiches and got ready to move forward. The roads after Narkanda were and still are in good shape and the satiated riders cruised through Kingal and then to Rampur where the groups assembled again. I came in last and it was a sight to see such a huge group parked at the river side, enjoying the view and the smile at each face affirmed that they were enjoying the ride too. Later, all were instructed to follow a single file formation from there on. This is the place where we left National highway and rode on the state highway to Mashnoo. Many riders being new to this touring business felt uneasy on such roads while I was having a gala time on those narrow and neatly tarmacked roads. A butt- rest stop later turned out to be an opportunity to click some pics of fellow group members and indulge in some chit chat.

At Rampur:




Enroute Gaura:
















As we progressed towards Gaura and then to DaranGhati, the roads deteriorated and went from being patchy to non -existent. In the name of roads, we had dirt tracks with steep incline and huge gravels. To add to the woes of fellow bikers, the sun went down too and the group was riding in Pitch dark now. Some of us were fairly comfortable with it but there were others who were riding on such tracks for the first time and a few who had pillions too… but that did not hindered in the BZ spirit and the group slowly but steadily moved ahead to reach The Hidden Himalayas camps at 6:30 in the evening.

Approaching Daran Ghati:







As for me, I was stuck along with three other riders and a punctured Electra and no tube to replace. We called the owner of the camp and he was kind enough to send a pick-up van to fetch the Electra and bring it to the Camps.
Once we reached at the camps at around 8:00 at night, a customary introduction round began followed by five hours of Beer, booze, music and dance.

A Glimpse of the fun:















At 1:30 in night, satisfied and tired me retired to the tent to sleep of the day’s roughness…

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The Fastest Indian!!

Noor

Triplog approved

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xtremevirus

Awesome bro.. eagerly waiting to read more.. Thanx for the share.!

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prashantbhardwaj

Thanks!!
Next part coming right away...

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The Fastest Indian!!

prashantbhardwaj

The thing about group rides is that you come across people with different perception to life, different expectations and different styles to life. The same happened this morning. While some woke up early to witness the magic of sunrise others went out on a short trek while some others like me, slept through all that. But then in the end it comes down to what you want from life… The guys enjoyed the sunrise and trek while I on the other hand relished over some nice and cozy sleep.
The Magic of sunrise was quite evident from the pictures I saw later…







































The group had breakfast amidst the mountains, soaking in the warm morning sunshine and got ready to move… Assembled the group in formation and we started our ride back. Last night, it got dark and we cold not see the beauty of the place but today, we realized the serenity of the place and rode right through it… We reached Mashnoo and then Rampur.



Here the group disintegrated into smaller groups and rode at there own place. Next stop was Narkanda and again The New Himalaya Dhaba was selected as lunch point. I was the ride sweep and reached the place at around 3:30, time good enough for the first group to leave. By the time I left Narkanda, it was 5:30 in the evening and the winter chill was evident at this place,
I for one did not wanted to reach back late. So the leads of the group was informed about the next stoppage which was Shoghi a good 70 odd KMs from Narkanda.





The groups met again at Shoghi where we had some tea and started for Chandigarh. We took athe road to Dharampur via Barog. Coming through this route at night has its own charm. While on one side you can feel the calmness of a full moon night n the other side, The lights of Solan city provide a fascinating view of its own.



We reached Chandigarh at around 11 at night, bade everyone goodbye with promise of more such rides in the future.



The end…

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The Fastest Indian!!

vivek.n

Wow Wow wow!.. Great Ride you guys had. What was the size of the Group?..

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A next door biker..

Ride To the Coastal Heaven

suhaib.faizy

Superb Ride, such a wonderful group.
i would like to join your group.

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Life is what happens to us when we are busy making other plans.

ridermax

Really amazing ride guys !! The pictures are lovely. Great going !!

Take Care & Ride Safe