thank you guys for your wishes...

sorry for the delay in the log...not able to find time these days,its difficult to bring it on quickly as it would be my first log ever and no experience in writing anything ever before...there wouldnt be much pictures as you know for a saddlesore run you always need to be on the move,so i'l get into the details of the planning and everything to atleast have some data into my log

thank you for your wait and curiousity for the log..will do my best to post atleast some part of it....

Congratulations!! A great achievement considering the steeds.

Hi guys! This is my first log ever after having written some stupid essays back in school for which i never got good marks (obviously you'll know why as you go through this one).So please excuse me for all the mistakes,crap etc etc. If you cant,please make an attempt to read on...even then you cant?...just get the...ugh your smart to understand that.

This being the 1st one as i myself never loved writing anything and for that matter even reading! Ofcourse until i read some stuff back here with guys exceptionally good at writing and explaining their experiences.A special mention of Alankar Misra,whose 'Leh Diaries' you must have read by now..if you havent,go and die(as he says!) Seriously i respect his passion for writing and the command over his language.I definitely am going to steal some lines from his diaries without his consent,for those were the lines which inspired me to write this one.Here they go...

"Why pen down the anticipation, the possible journey or the disappointment, the experiences beyond? To share with those before me? But they've already experienced it. I'll only be telling them what they already know. To share with those after me? But they'll experience it some day. I'll probably be ruining their surprise. To share with those that never will? If they did not care enough to experience it themselves, will they really care about my perspective on it? Then who am I doing this for?

When in doubt, resort to logic... If I rule out those before me, those after me and those that never will, it leaves me with me. I write this for myself. I write this as a retirement plan. For in my final days when the body is less than ideal, when the mind is fickle, when those around me lie in wait for my convenient demise, I will have no better company than the memories I create here and now. And while the arrow of time will force my brain to flush out details to make way for new information, as the memories fade quickly and the details become sparse - ripe for nostalgic rewriting - it is this digital ink that will help me travel back in time, relive the moments, stay true to the experience, remember/realize that my life was not wasted, that I spent it with friends, with family, with faithful machines that braved the toughest terrains to allow me to live life instead of getting through it, to forge friendships that would stand the test of time, to forget those that betrayed me, to remember those I lost, to the Universe that came together to make me...me."

Thank you alu bhaiya for those touching lines ! I know you wouldn't mind me putting them here.(if you do...let me know how many ice-creams i owe you!)


Part 1:

It all started at some xBhp G2G in the monsoons of 2010 when someone mentioned something about a saddlesore(i thought that guy had some problem with his __ , well some advanced kind of problem much complicated than piles)

The topic continued (helpfully letting me know what it exactly meant) with guys discussing it as seriously as they were discussing some sort of nationwide problem,or as exciting as if they had found the secret to get into katrina's bedroom! Nevertheless i was as usual pulling some or the other's leg and having fun.I found it disinteresting as i always believed that riding on the bike to some place with friends was all about having fun,exploring new places,enjoying the cool breeze,keep watching at eye-soothing things that nature has blessed us with and capturing it in the lenses apart from my memory.

Tanmay was quietly listening to everything(i never knew what was going on in his mind then).
Karan: Chal na bhai apan bhi saddlesore martey!
Me: Haah ! paagal hai kya be #$%$#! (yeah that was my actual reaction)
Tanmay still quietly listening and thinking.

After that several G2Gs happened,not a single mention of this ride ever again.Karan however kept asking me about it and me always changing the topic.

In the month of January 2011,karan,tanmay and me finally started discussing about this one.(me still not game thinking these guys just dont know what all planning this one would need!) The dates being tentative and tanmay and me getting busy with college and 'personal stuff',karan planning a trip to GOA with his other friends,all again resulting to push us the date(which was never finalized) further.In short...chod na baad mein dekhte hain.

In the mean time i again came across Ketan Nikharge's IBA Saddlesore log (which i had avoided to read for a year now).I went through a few lines,surprisingly which i found interesting and continued reading through the night. I was amazed by his enthusiasm,determination,confidence,stubborness for completing the ride despite the problems he faced.A reply on that thread and a quick message to him on his phone congratulating for what he had done almost a year ago! (he surely must have thought what a nut i was...sure i am!)

Exactly around this time tanmay again spoke about this ride to me and I explained him about what we were going to do wasnt something we could just go,do and come back like taking a random girl out for a spin or even for coffee.But i was surprised to see his seriousness for this one(all that thinking he was doing before showed up here).In no time i said 'lets do it'.

I thought of doing this ride exactly when Ketan had done it last year,the 4th of February as an appreciation to his feat.Unfortunately that didnt happen due to some reasons.But i had a general idea of Ketan attempting a Bun-burner on the same route soon.A quick message to tanmay saying 'lets wait till they do it,we will get to know about the road conditions for real'.

Several meet ups,rides including the 550km round trip to ranzangaon,discussions with Nitin Manore aka DK,riding with guys,knowing their passions,their views about biking helped me a lot in my way of looking towards biking.I decided a saddlesore attempt should not be just for a certificate from the Americans(whom i positively hate...dont tell Mr.Michael Kneebone about this) but an opportunity to test the biker within me!

6th feb, xBhp Mumbai DIY G2G was planned.I knew DK,Ketan and Tushar were going to be present there to discuss about their Bun-Burner.So,I had to make it there despite of it being on an early sunday morning and me having a sleepover the previous night! A quick call to our beloved BANNED member Veeral at 4am in the morning(bugger was wide awake...dont ask me what he was doing..coz probably i was doing the same thing)
Veeral: Chal naa jaate hain,DIY kisko karna hai..jaake #$%^ masti karte hain...maza aaega rony ki kheechne mein !
Me: Chal nikal.
I was still apprehensive of reaching goregaon as i had to leave from andheri,before waking someone up from sleep and dropping her at sion and then coming back home to pick up my bike.(too much for a lazy ___ like me) I still did and to my surprise even Veeral had reached my place then.(OM can do wonders to him) We reached there in my cage.(the determination to collect all kinds of information for the saddlesore attempt had got me there)
With all other guys around i hardly could even speak about the ride with DK,Ketan and Tushar,but the information collected then was again useful.

I kept looking for information on the internet for the ride throughout the week.12feb was my birthday and i thought of gifting myself this saddlesore(bloody that sure i was).Tushar called me up that week asking if i could be the 1st witness for their Bun-Burner which they were going to start on 12th feb itself.With friends planning surprises for me i somehow managed to confirm Tushar and DK that i could be there on that morning.(i was looking for pointers you see).

The previous night i wanted to ride(the best thing i could do,it being my birthday as well as my bike's 1st b'day!) I rode on the NH8 to meet up my dear xbhp friends who greeted me and with the birthday bumps already gave me a 'saddlesore' even before my ride.(may be that helped me during the actual endurance test) I was surprised to see Mr.Arnob Gupta there,whose logs i was just reading that evening. All in all giving me a good feeling about the saddlesore ride.

I rode back only to stay back at Ashish's place and getting to know a lot of things about bikes,bike gadgets and accessories from him.Left early to meet up Tushar and rode to panvel,their Bun-Burner's starting point.Surprisingly even Tanmay turned up there (whom i never expected despite telling him about the starting point and time). A quick questioning by us,noted some things and wished them luck for their journey.Tanmay and me got back to Panvel's McD to discuss about our ride till the sun rose and the first rays appeared on the horizon.Actual plans for the ride had started then!

nunu beta -- you are turning out to be a writer--

good going

+ A lot

Alankar, some serious competition coming up

Well narrated so far Nin...
I m sure alu will not mind you copying his mind boggling write up from Leh Diaries
I am eagerly waiting for your saddlesore log now... Bring it on

Great stuff Ninad and Tanmay. Its been raining Iron Butters of late. At this rate Mike Kneebone is definitely going to initiate an India iron Butt chapter soon .

Doing a SS1K on such small capacity bikes is quite a feat of both courage and endurance not to mention good riding skills.

Am attaching a screen shot from the Iron Butt website listing some exceptional rides and small capacity engine bikes ridden in India figure there. Also listed are a couple of other certified attempts on 50cc models.



Incidentally the 50CC rides listed on the IBR site refer to their Coast to Coast Ride in under 50 Hrs.
There have been very few successful attempts at SS1K on small engined bikes.

On a more serious note though and definitely not taking anything away from Nin's and Tanmay's effort, endurance rides do stretch the safety aspect rather thin. And I do wish all those who attempt them do not compromise on riding safe in any way. Your life is a lot more valuable than a certified endurance run. When you attempt such a run, do not chase the clock. Just ride to the best of your abilities and let the timing come by itself. IBR is not bigger than your life.

On a more serious note though and definitely not taking anything away from Nin's and Tanmay's effort, endurance rides do stretch the safety aspect rather thin. And I do wish all those who attempt them do not compromise on riding safe in any way. Your life is a lot more valuable than a certified endurance run. When you attempt such a run, do not chase the clock. Just ride to the best of your abilities and let the timing come by itself. IBR is not bigger than your life.

Golden words none other than by Oldfox sir....

thank you ravi

seriously? i'm glad you all liked it....
and no uncle i do not stand anywhere in comparison to alankar bhaiya..

@alu bhaiya..tussi tension na lo...aapki dukan band karneka mera koi plan nahi hai

thanks sachin....that would take time but i'll do my best to write it soon...

thank you OF sir for those golden words...

and i couldnt agree more to whatever you said and that's the only reason why i have mentioned a NOTE at the start of this log in RED.....we ourselves never compromised anything related to safety,infact safety was our priority for this ride no matter if we couldn't even complete the ride...the backup we had in case of any unwanted,unexpected incident during the ride was absolutely foolproof...apart from the basic necessary things like medicines,fluids,clothes,safety gears,ropes,torches we also carried extra petrol and bike accessories like fuses,bulbs,spark-plugs,tyre tubes,phone charger etc. Plus we ourselves were carrying 2cellphones(me 3 for that matter) equipped with GPS,GPRS.Our friend Ashish was continuously tracking us on the GPS back here in Mumbai.Bajaj SVC guys had lend me support,assuring any kind of help required at any of their workshops enroute.

good you pointed it out to all and i myself would quote the advice you've given in the 1st post of this log itself.

Thank you.

@ Ninad :- Hearty congrats dude. I didnt even think you would do something like this, not that I didnt believe your skills but it was your attitude and laziness didnt make me think you wold attempt this.

@ Tanmay :- Man you too caught me by surprise. a hearty congrats to you too.

It looks like SS is too easy these days. But its only when you go for a long ride understand what a saddle sore rider might be feeling.

Congrats to both of you again.

Very well done, i had doubt's 135 would go the distance without breaking down, but the bike has proved it self, congratulation to you both, your arse's are made of iron

CONGRATULATIONS to both of you! Thats an achievement well deserved!

Hey Nin.Good writing skills ,now bring on your travelogue.

Thanx man! I know,the funny guy was never taken seriously but unfortunately underestimated! I had to do something to show show my calibre,to show what i can do ! Im glad am back with an answer and a tight slap on the face of those who poked fun at me which was insulting at times.

no man ! dont be under an impression that anything is easy while doing a saddlesore..it surely would be a death-trap !

thanks for your wishes again man...lets ride together soon

hahah no they are not...bahu normal che thank you for your wishes

thank you !

thank you sir...well the best things do take time...and im in no hurry to finish off the log asap

still will find time and bring the next part soon

Part2 :

We again met to discuss about the ride at the Barista outlet(more often to check out the girls there).But ofcourse we did plan a few things from the basic route to all the necessary things we would be carrying along.



My first question to tanmay:'how serious are you about this ride?'
Tanmay: 'Damn serious,we are gonna complete this.'
Me: 'Even if i face a prob,or some prob with my bike? Would you still continue?'
Tanmay: 'Noh! no way!'
Me: 'Thanks same here.I'm doing this ride for our friendship.I wouldnt mind quitting this ride even if either of us have a problem.'
Tanmay: 'Same here.'
I was so overwhelmed with this confirmation and thought we are definitely going to do this and come back successful.

A sip of the cold coffee,look at the map (and ofcourse the cute chics around) we continued the discussion regarding what speed we are going to maintain,how many breaks,what all to eat during breaks etc etc.

Initially:
250kms - 4hours - avg speed 62.5kmph - Total time 28hours ( so that was ruled out)

Then:
300kms - 4Hours - avg speed 75kmph - Total time 23hours (which meant we had one hour to spare which eventually would be utilized in the small breaks we would take in between)

So pratically even if we maintained 80kmph throughout we could cover 240kms in 3hours (which was ahead of 216kms in 3hrs) and thus we could afford breaks of 20mins easily.

Later met up ashish and told him about our plan.He was so excited about all of it but couldnt join us for personal reasons.He however was very interested in planning everything and yes because of him everything was possible finally.He provided most of the ideas for changes onto the bike for the ride.He removed the charger from his bike and whole-heartedly fitted onto mine.(No one would do that) Ofcourse i promised him i wont screw up with that thing I'm damn sure had i been there a month earlier,he would have even fitted an HID onto my bike.

I had made a small camera mount by myself,thinking it would be useful for clicking pictures of the odometer and fuel receipts quickly,thereby saving atleast some time which would be used up in removing the gloves,getting out the camera,clicking and putting it back in the tank bag.(Little did i remember about my waist pouch then.)

Pictures of the mount will be added soon.
This pic was taken with the camera on the camera mount.


Ashish making the xBhp sign in his way !


However the mount was hitting the tank bag and also the turning radius of the bike decreased due to this.I didnt want to try anything new and didnt want to risk anything by restricting any free movements of the handlebar.Got it removed at the last moment.

Ashish's mechanic AlamBhai helped us fit the charger,lube the chain and other parts and have an overall check of the bike.He was satisfied and so were we.

Tanmay,George Uncle and Ashish at Alambhai's garage.




After leaving from there met up tushar on the way to discuss about his Bun-burner ride.Knowing what all to do and not to do,especially how i was going to manage my sleep was suggested by him.(I did exactly as the way he said).

Came back home,had mom's handmade lovely food(thinking it might be the last time im having it).I didnt sleep that night cause the next day at around 9pm we had leave for our ride.So basically the plan was too sleep till 7-8pm,get up and leave for the ride.It would have been impossible if i would have slept at the time when i normally do sleep.

The entire night i was surfing the internet,finding pointers for the saddlesore run.I came across Incubus's saddlesore attempt on his RX100. I was totally zapped reading what all problems he had to face and yet he completed the ride in 27hours ! Me to myself: If he could do this,we surely have to do this !

Look at the post which i posted on his thread that night and came back with another post as soon as i came back from the ride!

screenshot-

As time for the start of the ride was nearing,the heart started pumping faster (no,i wasnt nervous but the fact that i was going to do something great,something big had its effect) Reached ashish's place in the afternoon of 17th feb.Packed everything that was required carefully without missing out on anything.

Tanmay arranging things in his tank-bag


Some of the items from my tank-bag and the riding gears.


check List:
1.Extra 2ltr Bottle of petrol
2.Engine Oil
3.Tyre Tube
4.Fuses
5.Spare key
6.Bulbs
7.Spark plug
8.Charger
9.Entire tool-kit
10.Swiss knives
11.Scissors
12.Medicines-Including combiflame,crocin,betadin etc. also for loose motion,nausea,headache etc
relispray,band-aid,crepe bandage,dettol,soframycin etc.
13.Glucon-D
14.Maaza/Slice ( we purposely avoided Redbull)
15.extra sim cards
16.extra cell phones
17.Tank bag
18.extra back pack (which was tied onto the rearseat)
19.riding gears.
20.Camera
21.extra batteries
22.Torches
23.Dry fruits/snickers/nutribars/cakes
24.Water (2bottles of 700ml each)
25.Rope (both of nylon as well as jute)
26.Pieces of wire.
27.Spare clothes to wear (just in case)
28.spare cloth for wiping the face/visor
29.Rubber bands
30.Cotton
31.maps.
32.GPS
33.coins

Riding Gears-
1.Helmet with a clear visor
2.balaclava
3.Clear glasses
4.Jacket with a liner + inner thermocot/thermal wear
5.Gloves ,inners +extra pair of gloves
6.Knee Guards
7.Shoes,socks + extra pair of socks

After neatly packing everything,we wrote emergency contact numbers and blood group on each of our tank-bag's upper part and then went off to sleep.(I dont know what tanmay was doing with ashish and his brother then may be he will tell you all later). I slept like a dead man and got up at 7-7:15pm only to see tanmay already awake.(i seriously doubted what they were doing)
We went down to mask our bikes with masking tapes so that the magnets on the tank bag didnt scratch the fuel tank. We also had to fill our stomachs with something where George uncle was already waiting for us.Had some healthy sandwiches and a can of Amul Kool Milk.A few tips and good wishes from George uncle and his stern words 'remember you would be the first one to do it on a 135cc,you have to do this'. I said to myself 'now you dont have to let uncle down'.

Came back to ashish's place,wore all the riding gears,took blessings from Ashish's parents and came down to leave for the ride.

Tanmay and Ashish taking extra printouts of maps.