Thread: The culmination: The bike give-away ceremony!

Today, model turned VJ turned actor Rannvijay handed over the keys of a spanking new Hyosung ST7 to Praveen Selvam at a colorful ceremony at the Express Avenue Mall in Chennai.

Praveen Selvam was declared the winner of Wrangler/xBhp's True Wanderers contest among the 10 finalists from different parts of India. The top 10 finalists in this contest were sent on a 7-day all-paid motorcycle trip to a destination of their choice. They had to blog and upload the pictures while they were on the move.

Praveen's blog was finally declared the winner based on his pictures from the trip and the overall quality of his blog.


You can check out the winner blog and the blogs from other finalists here: tw.xBhp.com

a still from the bike give-away ceremony

Congrats Pravin!! The travelogue was very beautiful.

Congrats Praveen....

Congrats Praveen Bro . Enjoy

Wow... i should start working on my writing skills... Ill might get to improve my riding ones in return!!!

Actor and MTV Roadies' star Rannvijay Singh admitted to a pang of envy as he handed Praveen Selvam the keys of a Hyosung ST7. The 26-year-old software engineer from Chennai received the 678.2 cc cruiser for winning Wrangler's “True Wanderer” contest, which required 10 finalists to ride through scenic places for seven days on the trot and simultaneously blog on truewanderers.com about their experiences.

Biking experts from XBHP that evaluated the travel accounts of the 10 were greatly impressed with Selvam's narrative style and the pretty pictures he had clicked along the way. The weight of readers' votes also tipped the scales in Selvam's favour.

Over the seven days, Praveen covered roughly 3,000 km on his Kawasaki Ninja 250R on a route of his choice: Chennai-Yelagiri-Avalanche (Ooty)-Munnar-Hogenakkal-Gingee-Puducherry-Chennai. While planning the trip, he went partly by the book and partly by intuition. He followed the rules of touring to the letter and carried all the safety gear. He was equally diligent in matters of technology. His gadgetry included the tracker Garmin GPS 76CSx, a Canon 550D camera that was supported by a variety of lenses (a Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM, a Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM and a Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II VC), a GoPro Sports camera and a Joby Gorillapod. He processed his thoughts with a Dell Inspiron N5010 and a Dell Tablet.

Led by his intuition, he first chose places high on greenery (Yelagiri, Avalanche and Munnar) and later places (such as Gingee) that contrasted sharply with them. “The result is a fascicle of images that offer great variety,” says Praveen. As someone who has ridden in various parts of the country and blogged extensively about these trips — a fact that comes to light in his travel-blogging site, thrillsoftouring.com — he knew just what to expect from this solo ride and what would make it memorable, not for himself but also for readers. Praveen says he challenged himself to do things that would make for engrossing narration and arresting visuals — such as pitching in the middle of nowhere for a siesta, while on the Yelagiri-Krishnangiri-Ooty route. Besides significantly adding to his stable of bikes, True Wanderers has strengthened Praveen's resolve to start an online community that would encourage other long-distance riders to share their experiences on the road. As the latest poster-boy of touring adventure, he must be able to rally other bikers around him.


Source: The Hindu : FEATURES / METRO PLUS : The rewards of wanderlust

Thread approved and merged

why don't they arrange some of these contests in South India..

Went through his blog

His Photos and Blog is Refreshing !!!!!!!!!!
His blog made my day. Now I have to work

A True Wanderer.