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The Mighty NH8 Conqured
Conquering the Mighty NH8:
To start with lets see what NH8 is all about, covering a total length of 1,375 kms, this connects the Indian capital city of New Delhi with the our Financial capital city of Mumbai. Dubbed as the economic back bone of India, The road has earned the unique distinction for the highest traffic density in India.
Well to be frank I never thought this much, as usual before I did this ride. My ride off in the monsoon the second time in two years and this time it’s the otherways. Last time I made it to Chennai from Surat on the 7th July, 2009 ( the post is available in the following link http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/tourer/8...nnai-fz16.html ) and exactly a year after that drenching adventure, it was again time this time to ride hard, as my job compelled me to shift to Delhi from Silvassa and yup with all the experience of the rain last time I was not gonna miss this for anything. Job was all tight so the trip got postponed by almost a month and I knew time was of essence as I will miss the western disturbances for a clear ride through ant the monsoon indeed was advancing though late by a whole week.
The initial plan was to attend my cousins Marriage reception in Mumbai and then head straight through the NH8 covering the whole of NH8 end to end but as fate has the last say I had to head back to my factory in Silvassa for a few days in an attempt to get in some nosey issues that had mushroomed during the marriage visit. Well while heading back to Silvassa had a minor slide in the rain on the highway due to the newly constructed road on the far left lane having a very high level difference to the existing road. On the rain the visual imparity and the mirage of still water hit hard as I was caught unaware at 80Kph with the front wheel managing to climb up the existing road and the rear wheel failing to do so. Crashed after managing to bring the bike down to 40 odd Kph and yup ending up scratching da tank bending the front fork and vola even if I could I cant ride da next day if I finish work in factory in a single day. When I got up from crash to inspect I figured out that the existing road was almost 8 inches higher than the existing one well da gloves and the jeans did its part but unfortunate the jeans I luv driving on the RBK casual fits was torn beyond ride worthy. Well took da whole of that day to get da bike straightened got da service done and da chain lubed but I knew it was going to take a few days of work for me ter officially so I decided to let my imaginations run wild as the Yamaha guys in Vapi couldn’t find someone competent to match da custom (R15 blue with a higher purple shade) of my bike to mask the scratches. So decided to do something wild guess something not so suited for my age and profession but had to do something to beautify the scared FZ16 of mine. Well once done was all up and ready to hit da long rainy journey up north on 4th July, 2010. Well as da day was 5th July, 2010 Bharath Bandh, so no risks one more day delay.
Finally my journey through the NH8 began with cloudy threatening skies, cool breeze and of course a hot cup of tea from a dear friend of mine in Silvassa which I call my ex-home now. Exactly a day less than a year from my last tour this was a tour that had a very different feeling than the last time. The plan was same as the last time two days 1320 kms to cover Udaipur the first day halt and the Noida by the sun down the next day. Well it sure did sound easy straight forward, the experience of Surat to Chennai was by far the same and so my journey began with what a perfect monsoon is like, cool winds and threatening clouds. The mistake of this journey was as simple error no rain pants so the lower half of the body was totally exposed to the elements of nature and so began a day with chances of rain high and as a matter of fact no rain for the first 100 kms of the journey then the rain gods refused to relent till I crossed Modasa which was almost the end of Gujarat. I was so engrossed in riding through the rain that I forgot clicking pictures till I reached Rajastan and the best part of the ride for the first day was,
Crossing the tropic of cancer.
Taking a SH leaving the NH8 just before Ahmadabad and connecting back up the NH8 in Shamlaji. (All without knowing how to read Hindi)
Well one of the biggest setback as a South Indian I realized in this trip was that, as a tourer in India you need to know Hindi quite well and to read hindi at 100 kms/hr was all together a different ball game. The majority of SH12, NH59 and SH 59 this detour talks you through a minimal number of route Boards in English as a matter of fact the SH’s have none. Thank God I carried the GPS enabled phone of mine to help me through this section as most of it is sparsely populated to my surprise.
Above all the highlight of the day was the discovery of “The land of white roads: Rajasthan” the most striking thing you realize as you enter Rajasthan is the fact that the roads suddenly turn White, Rajasthan is known for the Marbles but never did I realize that the roads will reflect this fact and this is something that you will find in every picture of mine here on if you look close. As you get close to Udaipur the things get better we are greeted to a set of flowing twisties and here you can see that the local stone that makes the road look white play spoil sport, though the grip is surprisingly good the road has a tendency to deform, you will find some of the corners having deformation matching to truck tyre marks and the bad part of driving through this…. especially after 600kms is that the illusion of a white road, none of these deformations can you see when you are attacking the twisties at well over 90 km/hr. The last part of the day was an exciting segment thoroughly enjoyable.
My night halt was is Udaipur in a very nice resort called Rajputana, well appointed place which I reached at 18.00hrs giving time to check my bike and some good food with rest for the next day this was a great place to stay in and check out for the night. Early next day morning I went for some pictures of the famous palace of Udaipur and some checking out of the nearby places. I Pushed for Noida.
The second day was a complete surprise, clear day and the target was Noida by late night latest. The minute you exit Udaipur you realize that the NH8 takes a new form all together the roads are only two lanes as compared to the earlier day when the Golden quadrangle treats you with four lanes of wide roads, the NH8 after Udaipur was a two lane twisty road with no median and numerous speed breakers through the way. Well that sure did slow me down quite a bit. The ride of 5 hrs flat out with no stops for anything from 9.30 hrs to 14.30 hrs, I could cover only 270 kms. The thing that slowed you down worst was the wind and on top of it the wind was inconsistent as the rods winded through the hills covering this region which gives a pulsating odd pause of head wind, accompanied by winds sweeping across the driving lines with the tail wagging relentlessly having to follow the direction of the front wheels. Pictures of the second day as i left Udaipur.
Then came along the thunderstorm 40kms before entering Jaipur the weather turned lethal with the lightning finding the way to the ground through a couple of trees as I watched the charred remains of the tall tree, driving through the road now had a totally different perspective. Though the four years of engineering thought me I’m very well insulated from grounding as the only point of contact of a bike to the ground was the tyres and they are made of Rubber…! But no matter how much the brain debates about it the senses start to react sharper as you see yourself drive in to a rain storm that looks more like clouds from the movie “INDIPENDANCE DAY” when the invasion starts. Well there are no words as at least your vision extends up to a kilometer distance and you can find yourself drive right into the rain. It should have taken 80 seconds for me to drive from the first sight of rain drenching everything on its way before I hit it myself, it was a moment when you tend to have goose bumps, then even before you have the first drop of rain touch you your body is already feeling cold, it was an Enigma everyone has to feel.
So my plans to reach Delhi was to the dogs as I was cold, wet and Physically drained booked myself into a hotel in Jaipur, The Following day was almost uneventful as far as the drive was concern Reached Noida by 15.00hrs after leaving Jaipur at 10.00hrs taking it easy on the bike, but the blessing in disguise was the chance to explore the Famous Pink City all morning and here are some pictures for you to enjoy.
Till my next trip till then TC, Drive Long, Drive Hard & Enjoy Every Single Bit of it Harder.
The route map is available in the link below:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=100110036417358133771.00048c889bd8c0d60155e
To start with lets see what NH8 is all about, covering a total length of 1,375 kms, this connects the Indian capital city of New Delhi with the our Financial capital city of Mumbai. Dubbed as the economic back bone of India, The road has earned the unique distinction for the highest traffic density in India.
Well to be frank I never thought this much, as usual before I did this ride. My ride off in the monsoon the second time in two years and this time it’s the otherways. Last time I made it to Chennai from Surat on the 7th July, 2009 ( the post is available in the following link http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/tourer/8...nnai-fz16.html ) and exactly a year after that drenching adventure, it was again time this time to ride hard, as my job compelled me to shift to Delhi from Silvassa and yup with all the experience of the rain last time I was not gonna miss this for anything. Job was all tight so the trip got postponed by almost a month and I knew time was of essence as I will miss the western disturbances for a clear ride through ant the monsoon indeed was advancing though late by a whole week.
The initial plan was to attend my cousins Marriage reception in Mumbai and then head straight through the NH8 covering the whole of NH8 end to end but as fate has the last say I had to head back to my factory in Silvassa for a few days in an attempt to get in some nosey issues that had mushroomed during the marriage visit. Well while heading back to Silvassa had a minor slide in the rain on the highway due to the newly constructed road on the far left lane having a very high level difference to the existing road. On the rain the visual imparity and the mirage of still water hit hard as I was caught unaware at 80Kph with the front wheel managing to climb up the existing road and the rear wheel failing to do so. Crashed after managing to bring the bike down to 40 odd Kph and yup ending up scratching da tank bending the front fork and vola even if I could I cant ride da next day if I finish work in factory in a single day. When I got up from crash to inspect I figured out that the existing road was almost 8 inches higher than the existing one well da gloves and the jeans did its part but unfortunate the jeans I luv driving on the RBK casual fits was torn beyond ride worthy. Well took da whole of that day to get da bike straightened got da service done and da chain lubed but I knew it was going to take a few days of work for me ter officially so I decided to let my imaginations run wild as the Yamaha guys in Vapi couldn’t find someone competent to match da custom (R15 blue with a higher purple shade) of my bike to mask the scratches. So decided to do something wild guess something not so suited for my age and profession but had to do something to beautify the scared FZ16 of mine. Well once done was all up and ready to hit da long rainy journey up north on 4th July, 2010. Well as da day was 5th July, 2010 Bharath Bandh, so no risks one more day delay.
Finally my journey through the NH8 began with cloudy threatening skies, cool breeze and of course a hot cup of tea from a dear friend of mine in Silvassa which I call my ex-home now. Exactly a day less than a year from my last tour this was a tour that had a very different feeling than the last time. The plan was same as the last time two days 1320 kms to cover Udaipur the first day halt and the Noida by the sun down the next day. Well it sure did sound easy straight forward, the experience of Surat to Chennai was by far the same and so my journey began with what a perfect monsoon is like, cool winds and threatening clouds. The mistake of this journey was as simple error no rain pants so the lower half of the body was totally exposed to the elements of nature and so began a day with chances of rain high and as a matter of fact no rain for the first 100 kms of the journey then the rain gods refused to relent till I crossed Modasa which was almost the end of Gujarat. I was so engrossed in riding through the rain that I forgot clicking pictures till I reached Rajastan and the best part of the ride for the first day was,
Crossing the tropic of cancer.
Taking a SH leaving the NH8 just before Ahmadabad and connecting back up the NH8 in Shamlaji. (All without knowing how to read Hindi)
Well one of the biggest setback as a South Indian I realized in this trip was that, as a tourer in India you need to know Hindi quite well and to read hindi at 100 kms/hr was all together a different ball game. The majority of SH12, NH59 and SH 59 this detour talks you through a minimal number of route Boards in English as a matter of fact the SH’s have none. Thank God I carried the GPS enabled phone of mine to help me through this section as most of it is sparsely populated to my surprise.
Above all the highlight of the day was the discovery of “The land of white roads: Rajasthan” the most striking thing you realize as you enter Rajasthan is the fact that the roads suddenly turn White, Rajasthan is known for the Marbles but never did I realize that the roads will reflect this fact and this is something that you will find in every picture of mine here on if you look close. As you get close to Udaipur the things get better we are greeted to a set of flowing twisties and here you can see that the local stone that makes the road look white play spoil sport, though the grip is surprisingly good the road has a tendency to deform, you will find some of the corners having deformation matching to truck tyre marks and the bad part of driving through this…. especially after 600kms is that the illusion of a white road, none of these deformations can you see when you are attacking the twisties at well over 90 km/hr. The last part of the day was an exciting segment thoroughly enjoyable.
My night halt was is Udaipur in a very nice resort called Rajputana, well appointed place which I reached at 18.00hrs giving time to check my bike and some good food with rest for the next day this was a great place to stay in and check out for the night. Early next day morning I went for some pictures of the famous palace of Udaipur and some checking out of the nearby places. I Pushed for Noida.
The second day was a complete surprise, clear day and the target was Noida by late night latest. The minute you exit Udaipur you realize that the NH8 takes a new form all together the roads are only two lanes as compared to the earlier day when the Golden quadrangle treats you with four lanes of wide roads, the NH8 after Udaipur was a two lane twisty road with no median and numerous speed breakers through the way. Well that sure did slow me down quite a bit. The ride of 5 hrs flat out with no stops for anything from 9.30 hrs to 14.30 hrs, I could cover only 270 kms. The thing that slowed you down worst was the wind and on top of it the wind was inconsistent as the rods winded through the hills covering this region which gives a pulsating odd pause of head wind, accompanied by winds sweeping across the driving lines with the tail wagging relentlessly having to follow the direction of the front wheels. Pictures of the second day as i left Udaipur.
Then came along the thunderstorm 40kms before entering Jaipur the weather turned lethal with the lightning finding the way to the ground through a couple of trees as I watched the charred remains of the tall tree, driving through the road now had a totally different perspective. Though the four years of engineering thought me I’m very well insulated from grounding as the only point of contact of a bike to the ground was the tyres and they are made of Rubber…! But no matter how much the brain debates about it the senses start to react sharper as you see yourself drive in to a rain storm that looks more like clouds from the movie “INDIPENDANCE DAY” when the invasion starts. Well there are no words as at least your vision extends up to a kilometer distance and you can find yourself drive right into the rain. It should have taken 80 seconds for me to drive from the first sight of rain drenching everything on its way before I hit it myself, it was a moment when you tend to have goose bumps, then even before you have the first drop of rain touch you your body is already feeling cold, it was an Enigma everyone has to feel.
So my plans to reach Delhi was to the dogs as I was cold, wet and Physically drained booked myself into a hotel in Jaipur, The Following day was almost uneventful as far as the drive was concern Reached Noida by 15.00hrs after leaving Jaipur at 10.00hrs taking it easy on the bike, but the blessing in disguise was the chance to explore the Famous Pink City all morning and here are some pictures for you to enjoy.
Till my next trip till then TC, Drive Long, Drive Hard & Enjoy Every Single Bit of it Harder.
The route map is available in the link below:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=100110036417358133771.00048c889bd8c0d60155e
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