Day 1 Log
The Banshee’s Himalayan Odyssey
Text : Sandeep Goswami (Old Fox) and tips by Sundeep Gajjar
Pictures: Sundeep Gajjar (Sunny)

Superbikes are a heavy and tricky handful anywhere. And they become so all the more in heavy traffic, on bad roads and narrow mountain twisties. We got all this and more on the recent ride on two R1’s to Narkanda and Hatu Peak in Himachal Pradesh. We had been gunning for a ride on the ‘One’s to the mountains once the bikes had been run-in and Narkanda, some 70 odd kms beyond Simla, seemed a good destination to head to. An unusually severe and extended monsoon with the subsequent landslides had taken a heavy toll of the roads high up but we were game for it. Nothing like the proverbial ‘baptism by fire’ as a preamble to the long pan-India ride ahead.

Day 1: Saturday Nov 1st ‘08 (by Sundeep Gajjar [Sunny])

• Start off real early, always. Specially if you are in a metro city. Call center cabs have made us forget the meaning of really serene, quite and beautiful mornings.
  
• Carry two helmet visors along : One clear for early morning pre dawn and post dusk and one tinted for the day. Dont rely on shades, you could encounter dark long tunnels en route in the mountains which could leave you virtually blinded if you dont stop and take your shades off. With a visor you can simply pull it up while entering.
  
• Needless to say, dont overspeed, specially on relatively empty highways. If you go beyond 150kmph you yourself will be the one to blame if someone crossing the road causes a crash. In India, no one expects something to hurl at them at 200kmph!
  
• even on a green light be very cautious and keep a 360 degree watch. Similarly, early morning dont stop abruptly at a red light, specially in the middle of the width of the road, most of the drivers dont obey early morning signals due to sparse traffic and they might crash into you from behind.
  
• In general, on a highway it is safer to be faster than slower to the rest of the traffic.
  
• A 190 rear does not guarantee you more traction on loose gravel in the mountains because the contact patch is roughly the same as on Indian bikes having thinner rubber but the momentum is greater.
  
• Try taking corners at 2nd or 3rd gear in the mountains, specially if roads are not that good.
  
• Try to find a position in which you balance the load on your wrist and shoulders, don't stiffen your wrist, shocks from potholes could damage it in the long run.
  
• Try not to carry heavy stuff on your back, though this is one thing which I dont follow.
  
• On open and plain stretches loosen a bit by stretching a bit while riding the bike one leg and arm at a time. Do shoulder circles too. Blood circulation often falls to a minimum due to high pressure on the shoulders, wrists and thighs.
  
• Install a light on the visor. Under braking the lights (even when on high beam) angel down on the road failing to illuminate a substantial area ahead on the road despite of them being bright. This is a very dangerous thing.
  
• Choose your line well ahead of taking a blind turn, anything could be around the corner. Don't even think of changing lines in an emergency on a superbike on Indian mountain corners. Your luck might run out.
  

Shammi, Goldwing rider, getting a good massage at a dhabha in Murthal


Bikes lined up in Murthal


L-R: Manan C, Vrooom, Puneet (Roger), Old Fox, Rishi


Vrooom sharing a lighter moment


To Shimla


Coffee stop near Parwanoo at a Cafe Coffe Day Outlet


Trees en route Shimla


The Good Roads...




The not so good roads...





Then some more good roads...



The 1 followed by 15..


Evening, beyond Shimla...






Almost pitch dark...


At 7810ft in Narkanda

Day 2: Sunday Nov 2nd ‘08

text : Sandeep Goswami (Old Fox)
Photos: Old Fox and Sunny

Sunday dawned really early for us. We were out and headed for Hatu Peak by 0615 hrs to catch the rising sun. The road to Hatu is narrow, about a foot and a half to spare on either side of a Sumo. And the gradient is daunting, especially at some hairpins. The only saving grace is the good surface. The WIDE turning circle of the 1’s made tackling those hairpins, with the gradient, quite a job. Bottom gear, low rpm and on the clutch with feet sticking out like out-riggers was the standard operating procedure. Hatu top was silent and alone, just for us. And the sun was just beginning to peek from behind the eastern peaks.

The photo-session got underway with gusto. The bikes were shot first and then our friendly neighbourhood lensman turned his loving attention to Manan’s enthusiastic antics. The chap is a trained gymnast and can do standing cartwheels with a Daijya held in one hand!. A proposed action sequence of clicking him mid-air in a flying-kick stance went sort of wrong on the landing part and our fittest became temporarily lame. A badly twisted knee (later diagnosed as an overstretched tendon) put him out of action. Hats off to Manan’s ‘never-say-die’ spirit that he managed to ride down Hatu and all the way to Delhi the next day with that busted knee.

Some villagers came over for ‘darshan’ at the Hatu Mata temple and one of them was carrying a locally made muzzle loading gun. Sunny, our understated creative, requested a borrow of the weapon and I ‘shot’ him with the branded R1, gun in hand, gun raised, bowed with gun at arm’s length and finally gun on camera tripod. Great! The sun was high up by now and the ‘light’ not really flattering for the bikes, we bowed in obeisance at the temple and started the descent. A pond halfway between Hatu-Narkanda had attracted Sunny’s attention on the way up. Now, with the sun up, he panned into action. Rode the branded R1 over grass and slush to the far end of the pond to take HDR’s that would make the scene look straight out of a place like Alaska. Good going there. Another half hour at that location and we returned to the hotel and our belated breakfast.

The rest of the day was spent in fixing Manan, checking out the bikes, updating the site (Sunny did that, we were the overseeing advisors) and lazing around in the hotel lawns in the afternoon sun. Wanted to visit the nearby Tani-Jubbar Lake but someone from the hotel staff said a tree had fallen across the road enroute and the authorities would take time in clearing it. And also didn’t want to leave the injured Manan all alone behind. Talk of group ethics :-D. We were planning an early start for Delhi the next morning to avoid getting caught in rush-hour Simla traffic (you bet it is just that at office-time) and so turned in rather early post dinner.



A photo from the last evening


To Hatu


To Hatu Peak


10,500 feet at Hatu Peak


Black and White


Black and White 2






L-R: Rishi, Manan, Sandeep Goswami, Sunny


Showroom at 10.5k feet!


Manan Relaxing after an acrobatic session




Rishi probably looking into the future and contemplating the tyre puncture


The mighty R15








Manan cartwheeling




The Hatu Mandir


Coming down from the Hatu Mandir


Vistas from hatu peak


Vistas from hatu peak


Road back from Hatu is very narrow, you often have to give way to four wheelers, and you s houldnt be caught on the dropside, specially on a superbike!



At Hatu Peak




He raam, agli baar mujhe R1 dena, R15 nahi!


DSG Advert Interrupt


Catch!


End the War!


Road from Hatu to Narkanda




Decadextrous Manan!


The result after a Kung Fu jump!


Back to Narkanda


Lake Hatu








Sunset from Hatu Hotel


Relaxing in our hotel garden



A tree in our hotel garden

Day 3: Nov 3rd ‘08

TEXT: SANDEEP GOSWAMI (OLD FOX)

PHOTOSGO!


Curios, very curious onlookers at a roadside Dhabha en route Delhi