I participated in the SJOBA Thunderbolt Rally 2009.

The rally was held on 20th-21st-22nd last week and was held between Chandigarh and Shimla. The rally distance over two days was about 600+ kms, with 200+ kms of competitive stages. There were six competitive stages each day.

I took part on my new karizma-R in Group-D. I was the only competitor to have taken part anywhere from central/south india. This was my first rally and I got to meet a lot of great riders from the North. It was more amazing to note that the rally fraternity is so friendly and helpful to newcomers. I felt at home and pampered with information and guidance.

SJOBA rally is a very well conducted rally and has been running for the past several years. Rohan Pimpley suggested me to take part in this rally as this would expose me to a very good bike rally fraternity from the north. 25 bikes took part in the 2009 rally. I finally finished 6th in Group-D and 18th overall.

I also wish to thank Akshay (akshay4384) for helping me locate things in Chandigarh and Vivek Sharma (viveksh) for attending the SSS. It was great meeting both of you in person.

The rally:
I had a plastic fly mudguard which had a crack near the mount during the recce. Due to this I had to ditch the mudguard and borrow a stock one. Luckily Yogesh Lakhani lent me his stock mudguard before scrutiny. However, heavy rains one night before the rally had me worried. The competitive sections were dirt and slush is bad for stock mudguards with little clearance. I didnt get sound sleep that night, but was optimistic.

Day1: The rally went as per schedule. The feeling after flag off was beyond words. Stage 1 went fine. Stage 2 had a lot of slush. My riding shoes were covered in mud and kept slipping off the stock footpegs. On one of the turns I noticed deeper slush at the last moment and couldnt' brake as my leg slipped off the pegs. I went through slush at a higher speed, lost control and fell @ 4 kms in Stage 2. I had a cracked mudguard, broken headlight assembly (but bulb was intact!), and a well bent handlebar. I didnt get a rally handlebar, so I was running stock and paid the price. I unbent the handle with whatever energy I had left in me and continued through the stage. I had some pain in my left leg which made it hard to shift gears. After an hour I was used to the bent handle and was doing confortable speeds. Not wanting to give up having come this far, I proceeded to Solan (which was the Transport route) and got the headlight fixed. I was late in transport by around 10 minutes, but I was happy to be back on track. I had to get the light fixed as I knew I'll end up riding at night. Rest of the stages went smooth and fast. However, since a few of us who faced problems on Day 1 were already late, we ended up doing the Stage-6 at night. This was Bailakti-Mashobra competitive and we covered it in fog, slush and with broken headlight which pointed right and towards the sky. .. It was complete adventure. I also noted at that point that the local reflector that I got fixed at Solan couldn't take the heat from my 100/90 bulb which melted through the reflector travelling down and even burnt the plastic dome. I entered Park Ferme with a bright smoking headlight! .. Koti resorts at Park Ferme was very cold. Most riders were seen holding tools but weren't able to really work on the bike since it was cold and Park Ferme wasn't well lit.

Day2: With about 3-4 hrs of sleep the previous night, everyone was back early for last minute work on the bike after the Park Ferme opened at 6am. Flag off went as normal and Day2 was high speed thrills. The transport stages were fast tarmac and some of the competitive stages had tarmac stretches too, so most of them had their throttle pinned. No hiccups on Day2 except for my bungee chord which snapped and I had to do two stages with a heavy bag on my back, which stopped me from adjusting my weight around and made it hard to stand up quickly on rough sections (esp. Parwanoo-Bhojnagar). The feeling after completing Stage-6 on Leg2 (Chakki ka mor) was beyond words!. I zipped fast through evening traffic and reached Chandigarh as my headlight still had problems and I wanted to cover as much as possible in day light.

This rally has left me with great memories and experiences. I'm thankful to everyone who pitched in and helped me take part in this.

Some photos which I took from the recce and the rally:


Chalada - Tehra : My favoure stage in the rally.
Smooth gravel downhill. Scary when fast but a lot of fun.


A beautiful sunset in Chail. Took this pic during recce.


At the flag off at St.Johns - Leg1


Snow near Chail: Leg 2 transport


My bike

Cheers,
Praveen