Gourab Das, aka MG’s journey from Bangalore to Umiam Lake and beyond clocking over 3300 km on his TVS Apache RTR 200 4V:
The start of 2016 has been great for me. February and March were good in terms of travelling and exploring new places and just when I thought I would lie low, I got a call from Sunny asking whether I would be interested to ride from Bangalore to Shillong on the new Apache RTR 200 for Maxbhp festival. I immediately said yes without even thinking how I would manage leaves, since you don’t get such chances every day.
Fast forward to 15th April. I was super excited to board the flight to Bangalore for my 3000+km ride to Shillong. 16th, morning the all-important day when I got my hands on the new Apache RTR 200. There was a small flag off event by the TVS guys which made me feel like a VIP and the realization that my moment of glory had arrived. Darryl from Naked Wolves Bangalore came to see me off. The original plan was to start around 7, but could start only by 9.30.
Day 1: Bangalore – Nellore
I was happy to get a white Apache RTR. My last big ride was on a white RTR 180. Got a green engine bike which had done just 2 km, but to do 500-600 km per day I had to push from the outset. The bike is superb to ride in the mid-range and the creamy power delivery coupled with excellent exhaust note makes it one addictive machine to ride. Progress was good and the road surface was super. Kept hydrating myself every hour and a half to beat the heat. Before the ride, I checked that the average temperatures would hover between 40-43 degrees till I reached Siliguri, so it was important to keep the liquid intake up. In the subsequent 4 days I had an average intake of 7 litres of water plus some coolers.
AP greeted me with 2 lane fantastic winding tarmac. Stopped less and shot mostly with the GoPro so that I didn’t miss out on the memories. Joined NH5 (now NH16), the Chennai – Vizag highway at Naidupeta. Was happy with the progress considering I was riding at 80-90 all throughout and thought that could easily reach Ongole for the night. But some emergency work from office made me halt at Nellore around 130km before Ongole.
Day 2: Nellore – Vishakhapatnam
By the time I finished my work and started my day, it was already 8. Got food packed from the hotel so that I didn’t need to stop soon. Also got the engine oil changed so better speeds were on offer! It was usual 4-lane ripping till 3pm after which I got bored and took the longer detour to Rajamundry through country roads. And it was a great decision, East and West Godavari deltas in Andhra are always beautiful to explore irrespective of the season. Stopped quite a bit in the 90 km stretch for photos and to soak in the beauty. Crossing the Arthur Cotton barrage over Godavari outside Rajahmundry was special, the total length was close to 4 km and you have huge Godavari River by your side. Joined back on the NH16 and stopped at Vizag for the night. Could have gone ahead but wanted to visit Rushikonda Beach in Vizag.
Day 3: Vishakapatnam – Bhadrak
Office work meant another late start but still covered the beach road of Vizag and the popular Rushikonda Beach. Luck took me to Kailasagiri, the highest point in Vizag from where the entire city and both the beaches on either side are visible, a vantage point which one should never miss. As I knew, Vizag is indeed the best beach hub on the eastern coast and it has a certain charm to it. Started my usual ripping by 11 and entered Orissa around 3PM. Stopped at one of the dhabas near the border to have one of the best veg meals of the trip. The weather turned overcast and it became quite pleasant for peak summer evening. Met few xBhpians on the way in Bhubaneswar and stopped at a small town called Bhadrak for the night.
Day 4: Bhadrak – Malda
The only day in the entire trip when I started at 6AM. Made very good progress and touched Kolkata by 11AM. Met quite a few bikers and close friends on the way till Burdwan and could leave Burdwan only by 3PM.
Kolkata-Siliguri: passing through Malda is one of the worst sections of road in India. Had done this stretch in 2011 and promised myself that will never touch this stretch till it improves yet I’m back! Didn’t take the usual NH 34 from Kolkata passing through Plassey, Behrampur. Instead rode an extra 50-60km and took the NH2 till Burdwan and then take some unknown SH cutting through rural Bengal and join back NH 34 at Morgram hoping for the best. The initial 10km leaving Burdwan was quite scary and I was preparing for the worst but thankfully the road post that was beautifully laid two-lane for a good 130 km through sprawling green fields on either side. The last 30 km to Morgram was again bad and took almost 1.5 hours. This was the hottest day in the trip and with very high humidity levels I started losing energy and had to take a longish break at Morgram.
Was pleasantly surprised to see four-lane to Farakka and made up quite some time only to get stuck in the perennial traffic jam of Farraka Barrage. Last time it took me 1 hour 15 minutes to cross the barrage which is a stretch of 4 km and this time I bettered it by 45 minutes and took a painstaking 2 hours. Wonder when the traffic will ease at Farakka, considering this is the only bridge over River Ganga which connects South to North Bengal and North East. Stopped at Uday’s place at Malda, a very old xBhp member from Delhi.
Day 5: Malda – Darjeeling
Yes Darjeeling was on my mind even before the start of the trip and I wanted to touch it even if for a few hours. With Queen of Hills in my mind the weather changed drastically and dark clouds greeted me as soon as I started from Malda. The weather was better than what most hill stations can offer in this season even though I was still riding through plains. With such great weather the bad roads were not a deterrent and I was enjoying the ride.
Joined Avinash at Siliguri who rode from Delhi on another new Black Apache RTR 200. It was clear by this time that the weather would not clear and we encountered a lot of fog, chill and rain on the way to Darjeeling. Which also meant that spotting Kanchenjunga from Tiger Hill was impossible. Avinash came to my rescue, as he bought a new set of rain gear for me, so I was safe on that front.
Within kilometres we were greeted with fog and low hanging clouds and by the time we reached Mirik visibility reduced to 20 metre or less. At some places it was less than 5 meter and we had to ride really cautious to see where the road was going. The road to Darjeeling is quite narrow and full of twisties which means you cannot go fast even if the visibility is good. By the time we reached Darjeeling we were shivering in the cold and it was such an irony that just yesterday evening same time I was frustrated with hot and humid weather!
The cloud cleared for 5 minutes and got a glimpse of Darjeeling with the falling evening light. This was the only time the weather cleared up a little bit in our entire stay of 12 hours in the Queen of Hills.
Day 6 – Darjeeling – Guwahati
With the visibility down to zero, we didn’t go to Tiger Hill and proceeded towards Sevoke instead. With two riders together, the next 3 hours were spent clicking, which meant slow progress to Sevoke. Which is a beautiful place to stop, grab something and soak in the beautiful Teesta River flowing beside. Guwahati was still a good 500 km away and we decided that we would stop less and try to cover maximum kilometres and take a call around 6PM.
North Bengal is beautiful. The districts of Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar are dotted with multiple forests, water bodies and tea gardens all around. It was so green that one would get a feeling that he is riding in peak monsoon. Pity that I couldn’t stop at all and had to rely again on GoPro for on the go pictures. All throughout the roads were excellent and we reached Guwahati by 9PM even though I faced heavy downpour.
Had two moments on the way to Guwahati. In the afternoon got a scare and had to hit the panic button when I couldn’t find petrol in 5 consecutive pumps and had to ride a good 70 km in reserve. The second one was when I almost hit a fox at night standing bang in my way, thankfully it didn’t budge at all and I could make a last minute heroic move to save the both of us.
Day 7 – Guwahati – Umiam
The weather continued to be good and we were joined by Deepak, the third Apache rider who rode from Chennai and many other bikers from Guwahati. The road between Guwahati to Shillong is an absolute delight to ride. The turn for Umiam came quite fast and the first look of the lake made me realize what a fantastic spot it was for such a great biking event. You ride through a narrow road with pine trees dotting the side of the road. The actual event happened beside the Umiam Lake.
Day 8 & 9 – Maxbhp Festival
I chose to stay back and cover the event while the other two rode to Dawki. There was quite some talent which was evident in Motocross, Autocross and Stunt challenge which were not only well executed but the performance of each of the participants was an eye opener. The overall mood of the event was quite impressive and for the first time it was brilliantly executed event. Kudos to Jdan and the whole Shillong xBhp team. Live bands and stunts by two time stunt champion Aras on Day 2 made the whole event even livelier. Stayed back even after the event got over to spend some time on the lakefront and the experience was unmatched.
I was sceptical about summer before the start of the ride but this was one such ride which I really enjoyed and the memories will remain with me for a very long time to come.
