Great Rakesh you finally initiated it yeah my story is yet to come and it will be up here shortly tonight. Abhinav great write up. now waiting for more and you can certainly put up the pics as well. Where is Manish? He needs to write atleast first day...

@rakesh and Abhinav, great going buddies. It's just the starting with Xbhp. Pour in some pics as well.

Regards'
Sikhbiker-Jasmeet

Eco Ride 1: Delhi - Naldhera

Distance: 400km (approx.)

Route Taken: Delhi - Ambala - Panchkula - Solan - Shimla - Mashobra - Naldhera

Riders & there rides:

1. Abhinav (xbhp ID - ab85) on Bajaj Pulsar 150
2. Himanshu (xBhp ID - hi.manshu) on Bajaj Pulsar 180
3. Manas (xBhp ID - Manas) on Bajaj Discover 125
4. Manish (xBhp ID - munish) on Bajaj Pulsar 220
5. Rakesh (xBhp ID - rockyrakesh5) on Yamaha FZ16
6. Shivanshu (xBhp ID - shivanshu) on Yamaha YZF R15




Left to right- Shivanshu, Munish, Abhinav, Manas, Himanshu and Rakesh



and our respective steeds

I can see the devil holding the butt

yeah bro you have sharp eyes the vision speaks up. need to ride with you now


DAY 1

Eco RIde was planned for 11th Feb to 13th Feb, 2011. I went to xBhp office on 10th Feb and then discussed the whole ride with Himanshu. After that I thought of meeting the riders before the ride, but all were busy. Well this was something which I wasnt comfortable with, as I always prefer to meet the riders a day prior to ride. And specially this time I didnt knew any of them. We decided the meeting point at Millenium Park, on Friday so conveyed the same to all the riders through call.

There was this guy Rakesh, who had to join the Eco Ride with us, but unfortunately was out of Delhi for some official work. He was having problems in getting his flight back to Delhi tonight i.e. 10th Feb. Now here is where the fun started. I came back to my room after all discussions and everything with Himanshu. I came back had couple of work so did that and then in evening started packing up. Around 9pm I got a SMS from Rakesh, the conversation goes on as (its the actual SMS which I got, so mods kindly exscuse the SMS lingo which is prohibited on our forums):

Rakesh: Sorry Guys, couldnt catch da flight.Will try catching up with all in Naldhera, if I am lucky. if not have a good trip. cheers.

Rakesh: Pls let me know da route. Is it thro Shimla - sanjauli-naldhera. I will leave later afternoon.

Me: mm thats bad, well dnt worry may b next time. If you ahve to come then your route is shimla-sanjauli-mashobra-baldeyan-naldhera. if u leave then keep us updated.

Rakesh: Great. How many riders expected? How does da last section look after dark?

Me: Arnd 5, have you ridden in hills in dark? mm tarmac is smooth. Bt then there is no hard n fasr. so let us know if u coming alrite. N if u coming then keep us updated.

Rakesh: Take me 4 granted wil leave Delhi by 4should reach shimla. Worst case will halt in shimla 4 da night. I ve tried too hard to get ther to giv up no. so wait for me ;-)

Me: Alrite then u better get some sleep n try to b there b4 dark. If u reach Shimla till evening let me kno will come there to excort u to Naldhera. If v r a group then v staying together in nite, n yeah ride safe n dont rush. Just keep us updated wherever u halt for breaks. Godspeed.


Well after this SMS conversation between Rakesh and me, I started feeling a bit uneasy, as this guy never answered my question if he has ridden in hills in dark, and also if he has riding experience or not. This got me a bit worried. As over confidence and over enthusiasm is at times fatal, and specially while touring whether on Plains or on Hills, these two things can go drastically wrong.

After sometime I was fast asleep, to get up at 4am the next day. I got my Bike ready prayed along with her and then left to meet HImanshu near IIT flyover. after sometime Himanshu came and then we left for Millenium Park. Yes we were a bit late to reach there. Found Abhinav, Manas and Manish waiting there already. A small conversation made me clear that the riders are going to touch the Highway for the first time, so now I know what to do. Ride with them as them. With a brief of group ride, formation clauses, safety factors, signals of stopping and all we finally touched the tarmac at around 0630hrs.

All the riders rode perfectly, initially there was some doubts but as they got used to the conditions, all were smooth. And if there was any mistake, I used to make sure that I correct it then and there. I was keeping a constant look at the riders behind me with my rear view mirror. The ride till hills was great. Now before climbing the hills, I stopped and then again briefed the riders of how hills are different from plains, and so are the riding conditions. After that briefing we touched the mighty himalyas. Riders were all excited and it was visible on there face. We stopped for lunch before dharampur after riding few kms up in hills. And then I asked them what they have learnt and if there is any confusion in this riding conditions. There were few queries which I answered them. I also told them not to eat full stomach, as a bit of hunger always keeps your brain active, which is the criteria for riding in hills.

Finally we reached Naldhera and since it was dark. I was updating the whole movement of our group to Old Fox Sir. And it was decided since the Resort is aorund 5kms offroad in hills. It would not be safe for the newbie riders to take them in night. Hence, it was decided to stay in a Hotel at Naldhera, which is one of my personnal favourite.
So we all parked our bikes in the parking area, and went in to keep our helmets and have a cup of tea before we start unloading our louggage. When I went in, checked my mobile and saw Rakesh has left Delhi at 1630hrs, and till now after 3hrs, there was no update of him. Which got me really worried.

Well lets see what lies ahead, till then i will just get some pics here, as i knwo reading is boring for many


Himalayas, I Love them.


another view


pit stop, riders go click happy


my Angel


cmon other riders give us your side of the story

Ride Experience.

Hey Shivanshu seems like my SMS's where read twice.

Well Im gonna wait till Munish gets his word in so that the first round is complete... Where is he by the way?

The level of excitement was really on top as the date of Maiden ECO RIDE was approaching. I was really happy to see that Shivanshu was accompanying us for the ride. He has been to Naldhera couple of times and has an experience of riding in hills which others riders including me did'nt have.
The day of the ride, me and Shivanshu decided to meet at Shani Dev temple next to IIT gate. After a brief prayer session, we both decided to meet our new members for the ride at Millennium Park. Munish, Abhinav and Manas had already reached the meeting point, all geared up for a ride of lifetime.
After conducting the paper checking and briefing them with fundamentals of group riding, we started our journey towards Naldhera.

It was a fun filled ride and the riders rode very well matching up with each others speed and following the rules. We were greeted with bright sunshine and smooth roads that kept us motivated and fresh during the entire ride. We took breaks every couple of hours to make sure that the riders are not tired or feeling dizzy as I knew the main challenge of riding is yet to come.

During the ride we came across many challenges like weather conditions, tough mountain roads and blind turns and thats where Shivanshu's experience came to rescue us. Before we entered Kalka, Shivanshu had a detailed discussion with all riders on how to ride on hills, making sure that you honk at blind turns, allowing bigger machines to overtake us, using proper indicating techniques, and importantly how to take a turn on mountains.

The first glimpse of hills near Kalka gave us a clear idea of what lies ahead of us. The uphill ride was very challenging for all of us. Suddenly our speeds dropped from 80km/hr to 30 to 50 km/hr due to conjusted roads. After having our lunch at a local dhaba and a cup of tea gave us immense strength and stamina to ride. In the meantime the riders got to know each other very well and the atmosphere was filled with jokes, pulling each others leg and our centre of fun was Abhinav who had a great sense of humor. Slowly and gradually small mountains and valleys were replaced by huge peaks loaded with forest and blinding turns.

We reached Shimla around 6.30 pm in the evening and already the riders were dead tired to ride anymore but the distance sign board always motivated us to go ahead as our destination Naldhera was just 30 kms away.

After reaching Naldhera at around 8 pm in the evening, we decided to stop at Hill View hotels which is right infront of Naldhera Golf Course. The distance of 5 kms from the hotel to our resort was great for off - roading. We did'nt want to take risk in the pitch darkness to ride those roads, so we finally decided to halt. The hotel was well furnished and very polite and helpful staff. After taking rest for a while and dinner, we thought to checkout the surrounding. To my surprise, I've never seen a clear sky full of twinkling stars and even a half moon was illuminating the surroundings.

In the meantime, Rakesh one of the rider who could'nt join us during morning kept us informed about his movements. Me and Shivanshu were really worried as he riding all alone and that too he was riding in the hills in the night. At around 1 am in the night Rakesh met us in our hotel and with huge sigh of relief we were really happy to see him.

Next morning, the first thing that all riders did was to get their cameras out to click the beauty of mountains especially the sunrise. We could also see our resort. After profile photoshoots and breakfast we finally headed towards our resort: Niblic Greens.

The stretch of 5 kms from hotel to resort was one of the toughest terrain that we ever came across with an incline that almost took our breath out while climbing it on our mini monsters. We were warmly welcomed by Kochhar sir and greeted with a hot of cup of tea. The glimpe of the resort was amazing, surrounded by lush green mountain from the back and a huge valley in the front. It is a great place to enjoy life with your family and friends. Our rooms were in the form of tents loaded with all the facilities that a 5 star hotel has.

Post lunch, we decided to explore the surroundings and we took our bikes for a photoshoot. One of the unique experience of the ride was when strong winds blew through those huge pine trees and the sound of the gusty wind and leaves created an illusion that their a river flowing some where close by. We also went to a nearby Kali temple and prayed. We were blessed by Goddess Kali in the form of two golden eagles flying. Its a rear sight to see golden eagles near Kali temple which is auspicious.

We even played cricket on top a hill in the evening which was one of the best moments of the entire ride. Evening was filled with more fun, chit chat pakoras and tea and also a unique ritual of worshiping the dusk. The weather was also showing its power as slowly and gradually it started becoming cloudy.

The day had finally arrived when we had to ride back to Delhi. No one wanted to go back. Even weather did'nt allow to ride early as it started raining since early morning. But we finally decided to head home. Packed with woolen clothes, riding gear and rain coat we started our journey only to realize how tough its gonna be.

During our half way every one was literally shivering with almost frozen fingers. Rakesh suggested that we should use surgical gloves to keep our finges warm and he finally managed to get it for all riders.

It was one of the toughest ride that we had ever done in our life. The journey was full of unforgettable moments, we saw sunshine, fog, rain, and even small landslide as well that made us extra cautious while riding. We parted ways with Rakesh near Panchkula and our journey continued. The entire ride was marred with rain but even it could not deter our passion of riding. After our dinner at Karnal Jhilmil dhaba, we pushed hard to reach home and finally reached Delhi around 2 am.

The maiden ECO RIDE was over, but it gave us a reason to smile, a reason to ride more, it gave us a family.

I'm really thankful to all the riders for making this maiden ECO RIDE a huge success.

Looking forward for more such ride coz we all believe "MORE IS NEVER ENOUGH"

amazing eco ride

hello this manas maity from ranchi jharkhand and i have already done the eco ride with xbhpians. this was a life changing ride for this was my dream from last 8years to ride with xbhpians and it comes true. i just love the way they ride on highways and on hills they r great riders we should have learn many many tips from them. when we r entering the hills i was affraid of that but when they given us the tips of hill ride the ride becomes so easy for me. i always want to do rides withs xbhpians.

amazing eco ride

i would like to thanx the all xbhpians groups to give us such a fabulas platform.

About ME:

26/Male/Noida.
m Munish Sharma and i believe that m bitten by travel bug by birth As my childhood dream was always to be a Truck Driver who could enjoy Tasty Dhaba food at any road side junction as well as cud travel on daily basis.
I don't consider my self a Pro Biker but still almost every weekend you could find me early morning on NH 1 on my way to home or sometimes for late night snacks @ Cumsum or Noida Sec 59. As per riding style I consider myself a Safe Driver rather than any Biker who's more crazy about thr stunts or speed. My only intent to drive a bike is just to be free from normal routine. Just Free!!

About Ride:
Eco-ride. 400+ KM.

About Co Riders:

Abhinav:
A nice Kid who kept the team in jolly mood

Manas:
Passionate Bike Xpert whose life revolves around Bikes and Xbhp. Salute to his dedication. God Bless ya.

Rakesh:
Real Biker.....wana ride along with him on any futur trip.

Shivanshu:
A good Team Lead & a Grt Guide...'ld love to race someday wid ya whn i don have to follow you within speed limit

Himanshu:
A good Host & Dost.

Munish :
Fill in the blanks............................................



About Ride:

Before ride
Fight at office for Friday leave .......dash ...dash...dash ..blah blah balh....office drama
Atlast i was on my way to the meeting point.

On ride:
I reached Millenium PArk @ around 5:20 and met Manas with his custom crafted bike (came all the way from ranchi) along with a huge bag(which was filled with xbhp magazine and every possible tool for Bikes ) ...shortly abhinav the dude joined us with his pulsar and with a very small potli wearin cool Red DSG JAcket.
After a little wait our host and guide himanshu and shivanshu joined us on R15 and pulsar and briefed us about the trip and checked our docs for the ride. So finally we're all set for the ride.

As per the Xperience level we were given position within the group nd i was supposed to ride at 4th(2nd last ) position well my frst reaction
"ok try karunga.." becasue it was tough to follow a discover and pulsar with pulsar 220 which easily cud reach 90+ within few seconds.
But ths was d fst time i 'll b the part of Grooup Riding So just nodded in agreement.

Just 15 mins to the ride and first confrontation with Group riding Rules as Abhinav and Manas ( religiously following Shivanshu) took some ultra dangerous cut and were swinging like Jeetender on the road to keep there ZigZag position. I was like " WTF MAn Hw we gonna reach Naldhera".Somehow we reached Delhi border and i filled my Bike Tank with 500 bucks then after a brief discussion about our riding style we resumed our journey to the heaven.

We lost lots of valuable hours within delhi so when we reached sonipat the sun was almost up and the traffic started to pour all around us.However after that petrol stop all the bikers were showing great skills so reached karnal smoothly and there on roadside dhaba we had our first official stop of cup of tea along with bread butter.Our dude abhinav is allergic to Tea as well as he didnt brought any sweaters ...Watt to lagni thi.
But for rest of us we started enjoying each othr cmpny.We all shared our thoughts about the journey so far and planned our strategy ;0

Then the real ride begin as we were in the middle of day time traffic all the way to ambala. The condition was really chaotic in the middle of cities and i stupidly lost my cool over a truck driver when he almost struck two of our riders hmmmm... well the problem was more about the construction along side the road which causes three of us to ride parallely which was not as per the plan.Well after crossing the city ...shivanshu took charge and set all the points straight.

So finally we reached ambala and had some lassi along with some snacks. On an average our speed was about 70 km/hr which was not really satisfying when u r habitual to 100+ on NH-1 especially when other vehicles were joomin ahd .
But surely till this stop of journey i learnt lots of new things about patience and discipline

On my previous rides whenever i get tired i use to tag along any VIP car or any Taxi and i keep my focus to follow that vehicle and here i applied the same approach from the beginning to stay in the group formation.

Well around 12 we crossed Chd and made a stop just before the Kalka Border as we were just about to start our journey in Himachal valley.
The weather was too good to be true and the road was also too smooth apart from some patches.

Well the mountain ride was always fun for me especially on daytime when you got to see Awesome Scenery after every turn........I was enjoying the valley when suddenly our dude Abhinav attracts my attention when he started swinging again especially on sharp curves....I was riding @ 40 or something and he must be crossing turns at 60 ....Thnx to the supreme power that the traffic was only one sided.

Well as on any hilly area 4 wheelers mostly travels in bunch so there's not much opportunity to overtake so with our consistent pit stop and average speed we finally reached shimla around evening. I was not too much comfortable riding at night because of my specs but surprisingly Night ride was quite safe there as my focus was completely on road and cud see the headlights of upcoming vehicle on corners to moderate speed. Atlast we reached our stop for the night "Hill View Restaurant" which was just opposite the golf course and also allows a wonderful view of the Valley.

In the Hotel:
We drove arnd 400+ but still our body was totally fresh(thnx to slow speed and lots of pit stops) then we all started sharin our own part of stories and history ...at tht time i came to know about himanshu and shivanshu & xBhp commune.During this discussion shivanshu told us tht there's a guy cumin all the way alone from delhi to join us by midnight.
Frst reaction was obvious...."Pagal hai kya vo ??"
well whn tht guy informed us tht he rchd CHD then d question comes to mind ..."arrre bike kaunsi hai bhai ke pass?"

Well jo bhi tha we decided to do the JAgran till our Crazy Bike Rider join us and by 1 or 1:30 we heard the sound of FZ
and tadaaaaaaaa!! Our Super Biker Rakesh is here !!

So after more GUPSHUP about the ride we all went to Bed to regain our energy for the 2nd day trip


Lessons Learnt:
Alwayz keep Specs Backup & cleaner during night riding.
Backpack or Saddle Bag are best for long rides.
Riding gear is Must !!

to be continued...

hi Munish, Well u posted finally.

great log.

Am i really??

Seems like our Dude is writing here for a girls hunt
Just kidding....

Sure Bro any time.....
Im always ready...!

This was a nice read....