MARATHON MAN



Akshay Kaushal, who tried to race into record books by completing a round trip of the Golden Quadrilateral in 100 hours, fails to achieve the feat, but becomes the only second Indian biker to travel 5,846 km in one go. He shares the thrilling experience with Harsh Vora


Akshay Kaushal, who left Ahmedabad on May 17 for a round trip of the Golden Quadrilateral, returned to the city at 3.30 pm on Saturday, almost 53 hours later than he intended to.
While disappointment was evident in his speech and demeanour (he wanted to travel almost 6,000 km on his bike in 100 hours, but managed to in 153.3), exhaustion , surprisingly, wasnt . Probably because his mind was harking back to the thrilling experiences of the endurance-testing journey or because he was priming himself to hit the road again soon.
There might be several explanations for Akshays remarkable vitality, but one thing is for certain: our man, a bike fanatic , is fairly content with his performance on the road. And he should be. For, the Mirror correspondent, despite failing to race into record books, is still the only second person in the country to complete a round trip of the Golden Quadrilateral on a two-wheeler .

ROUGH WEATHER SLOWS DOWN RECORD-RUN

IT WAS a ride of my lifetime, he said. I always wanted to travel so much distance on my bike. I am very satisfied.
The Mirror correspondent rode his machine , a Bajaj Pulsar, in harshest conditions . Sweltering heat sapped his energy in the first leg (Gujarat to Maharashtra) of the trip and incessant rains roiled his chances to enter the Limca Book of Records in the second and third phases. Akshay still soldiered on steadily and confidently.

ROAD SAFETY, AND NOT SPEED, DEFINES BIKING

BIKERS, AVID ones in particular, are often associated with reckless driving. Akshay, however, drove his motorcycle with responsibility; not once did he sidestep road safety rules in quest for the biking record. I may not earn a spot in the Limca Book of Records, but I have proved one thing: safe motorcycling is possible in India. A motorcycle, like other vehicles, is without a doubt a safe mode of transportation, he said.

GOING THROUGH THE HOOPS

AKSHAY SPENT more than a month to train himself for the arduous journey. He, in fact, stayed awake for more than 60 hours to test his stamina.
He also spent more than Rs 20,000 to ready his motorcycle for the trip. He even carried extra engine oil with him. All the preparations, however, seemed inadequate as Akshay faced a number of obstacles from rough weather to rough roads during his journey.

WHEEL OF WOES

BEFORE LEAVING Ahmedabad, I made sure that my bikes tyres were up for the challenge. In the third leg of the trip, however, rear tyre had a puncture. I had to push my bike because waiting for help would have ruined my timings, he said. During the trip, my bikes lights also developed a snag. I fixed them myself, but they posed a problem at night.

WEIGHT OF EXPECTATIONS

APART FROM carrying the weight of expectations of his friends, co-workers and biking community, Akshay also had to carry a bag weighing more than 20 kg on his back. This is because the lids of his bikes luggage cabinets blew away when he hit a speed of 100 kmph.
The odds were stacked heavily against me. Bad weather, technical snags and at times even traffic it seemed as if the world had conspired against me, Akshay said.
I, however, didnt give up. Encouragement from my mentor, Mandeep Singh, colleagues and members of an online biking community, http://www.xbhp.com, helped me push my body and my bike against their limits.

READY FOR THE ROAD AHEAD

THE BIKE enthusiast, who is also the second Indian to travel 1,734 km (Ahmedabad-Gurgaon-Ahmedabad ) within 23 hours, said that the recent journey had prepared him to face the curve balls that life might throw in future. I feel a lot more confident now. I am ready for bigger challenges in life, he said.

PRIME NUMBERS



150 LITRES

Amount of fuel Akshays bike consumed

20 KG

Weight of the bag he carried on his back

18 HOURS

Time Akshay slept during the seven-day trip

BEST & WORST ROADS

The stretch on which Akshay enjoyed riding his bike, a Bajaj Pulsar, the most was the one between Bangalore and Chennai. He, in fact, met a budding biker, on the stretch. Akshay gave the biker tips on safe driving He hated driving in Allahabad.The roads in the north Indian city were poor and traffic was worse. He also found driving his bike in Orissa inconvenient. He found speed breakers at every 30 metres


TRICKY TIMES

It was not just the weather that troubled the Mirrorcorrespondent. He was humbled by a much smaller entity: a bee.Thats right, he was stung by a bee during the trip Akshay faced difficulty in communicating with people in Orissa as most of them didnt speak Hindi.When he gestured for tea at a roadside stall, two people there misconstrued it as an obscene sign. Luckily, they later realised that he meant just tea