Here I am, amidst the wide stretch open highway with a roaring wind blazing past me acquainted by a constant grunting sound of an engine that runs beneath. I am listening to one of my favorite songs, that of Mike Posner’s – “Please don’t go” and thinking about my sweetheart...

Baanggg! Thudd! The bike wobbles and quivers but I manage to brake it swiftly to ground zero. I murmured, “Oh! Gee, not a puncture in this mid jungle”. It was only after I had inspected the condition I learnt about a tyre burst. A burst that nearly left the tyre tread so wide open that not even Sumsher’s (aka Mohan Niroula) puncture kit would have mended it.

29 hours before the invidious incident….

I remember, I got a call from my dad last night informing me about the strike being called off. My immediate feat was to inform my other three fellow riders. I checked the time; it was 9 AM. I realized that I had not even packed up my stuff yet. Normally, it takes me only 10 minutes to pack up my stuffs and eventually I end up missing few things which are mostly important. I had this sense of fear all these days, right from when the idea of this “Wild West” trip came on my mind. The sense of perpetual fear that ran through my nerves was not that of being stranded in one of those recurring strikes but it was for the roads, the path, that was left unexplored, and the journey which few of us can only dream of. One of the most important gadgets that we thought we would miss dearly was a GPS navigation. To be on a safer side, I started taking pictures from Google Maps and saved on to my cell phone. Less convenient, but quite a fistful when you have none. I had to collect this puncture repair kit from our fellow colleague, and for that I had to stop by my office to acquire them. We then shopped for the sticky emery material that is used to fill the gap holes, another example that justifies our ad-hoc preparation for the trip. Thanks to Mohan Niroula for this addition on to our traveling bags, we were rest assured that we would easily deal with normal tyre punctures along the trip. (First mistake, we never considered a tyre burst and nor its thought ever hit us even in our wildest dream, coz for everything else we had our puncture kit with us.)

Present moment: Day 2

..... Bang... phisss! The bike starts wobbling all of a sudden, never estimated that our human body is so good in handling reflex nerves. In a matter of a second, it could perform three actions all at one time: blow horn to notify my fellow rider at 100 mt distance (but in vain), assume it to be just another puncture & gleaming internally for carrying the puncture kit and check the speedo for the speed at which the incident (tyre burst) took place. My fellow rider Mohan KC was so much into this race to catch up other fellow rider Manzil Gurung, riding a R15 that he failed to hear my signal. Now, according to science and Newton’s law of relative motion, I would have never made my dream trip when any fellow rider acquaints with my story. And, who knows this travelogue could have never existed. I later elaborated this incident to my dad on my return; of course, I didn't mention anything about the three digit speed and the racing mode that we were on at that particular moment. However, his words did sent cold waves through my spine and then to the brain. It was only then I realized that I survived a major accident, which luckily, never took place. As the bike started struggling, I got off the bike to inspect the puncture, I was literally smiling and I was murmuring, "Oh! Thank G, we got the puncture repair kit".



It does not take a rocket scientist to tell that no puncture repair kit in the world could have fixed that. The tyre burst incident was a result of various significant factors which comes into play. Firstly, scorching heat on Terai region during the summer, more than preferred air pressures on tyres and, here it comes... wait for it... yes! High speed cruising! Remember, I wrote about the instant reflex action in a matter of second that I mentioned at the start of this paragraph... I missed out one more important thing; I had applied both the brakes simultaneously. The Speed that I noted was 87kmph and by that time I was already braking. I reckon the speed at which the incident took place somewhere to be above 100kmph, sorry I don’t have exact figures but I do have incidents/events that support my claim. But for that, you need to continue reading this.

And, there I was stranded in the middle of nowhere with wide stretched roads, hazel trees along the steaming vapor that were rising from the black top lane. I was rest assured that I was blessed for a high time adventure trip. We are gifted with such technology advancement, yet, I was stranded in a zero network zone. A villager passerby who had returned from gathering sticks from the woods suggested that I may find a tube repairer at some distance kms. I then decided to ride the bike at slow speed in spite of the tyre condition, wobble and the resulting consequences coz there was no way I would have dragged even my own babe in that scorching heat. Factology: A top reason why you shouldn't mind paying extra bucks for a tubeless radial tyre. After few kms of quivering ride, I then came across a place name "Ameliya", a place that constituted of few huts, a police check post entry and thankfully a cycle repair shop. I checked my cell's single bar of hope, the first number that I dialed was that of Mohan KC, but it took me until the operator reminding that "the guy you are trying to call has used up all his battery juice in calling up his special someone." I got my other fellow rider number from a friend’s friend, but believe it on my luck, even a liquid cooled, forged piston and DiAsil cylinder bike’s minimal vibration was too much that accounted to the call being missed. He had his mobile on silent mode and thanks to some geniuses from China who forgot to put vibration when on silent mode.



The longest 37kms of my life:

I was a helpless lad, who was anxiously waiting for my fellow riders to realize that their fellow partner was missing amidst the thick dense jungle pave way. It was only after 42kms away from the burst up incident, did they realize that I was gone missing. Meanwhile, I lay down on a rope weaved bed, with my eyes closed under a shade of a tree, reminiscing every moment which came by as a flashback of the day gone by, my frustration were all subdued and I totally forgot all those invidious incident that just happened. The flashback memoirs came from my hometown, Bhairahawa, the place where I lived my childhood and the very place, where we decided to rest on our first day. It was one of the awesome feelings to be home, to meet my family, friends and close ones after a really long time. But, we never expected what my hometown had to offer to us when we were back from our Nainital trip via same route. I will come to that point later on. I was also longing for a chilled beer that we had just an hour ago some 54 kms back. But, I had to be satisfied with a bottle of mineral water but that too tasted awesome under my condition.

After several unsuccessful attempts to inform my fellow riders backed by a resolute weak signal operator message. I was wondering how our perfect road trip started fizzling due to the very incident. I was literally cursing myself and the thought of never having to exchange our bikes started hitting me. Moments passed and it was only after an hour and half, I got this call from Manzil and in a matter of 30 mins, they were in line of my sight. The tube repairer explained, how bad the condition of tyre was and at the same time emphasized how difficult it is to find a Fazer bike’s tyre in a remote place in and around the radius of 70kms. We were given two options by him, either to go 74kms forward or trail back some 37kms. Obviously, we chose the shortest and convenient one as the repairer had this link with his supplier from where he used to bring his repairing kits, tubes and tyres.

Inflation in 37kms:

When the tube repairer called his supplier inquiring about the availability and price, the reply was yes and Rs.5200 respectively. But, by the time we covered 37kms taking the bike’s rim wheel carried by Monty, 37kms all the way back to a place called “Lamahi”, the price had gone up to 5500. We were literally frustrated, exhausted and to add to that woes we had to “bargain” just because we had no option and even the supplier took advantage of that. That was a little setback because it is eminent when you are on a trip with calculated and estimated budget without considering the worst case cash crunch such as tyre burst. The new tyre was fitted on to the wheel rim and there we had to part away with another 100 bucks for the fitment charge, but we later realized that they fitted the tyre on rim with opposite rotation flank. By, the time we returned to our base (where our other rider and the bike was), it was already 6 PM, we were damn hungry and the dusk was starting to settle. After having light snacks and tea while the wheel was fitted on to its bike placement, we thanked the policemen who helped us communicate with their fellow men on the nearest post (which wasn’t much of the difference because by the time the call was made, my fellow rider were already passed the nearest post). We had 74kms (Nearest place Kohalpur; rest stop for Day 2) to travel and we were all dependent on our twin eyes crafted on our babes (read bikes). As, we moved on, the visibility started to relinquish and the surrounding started to cool much to our liking, the condition was perfect for riding. We started to enjoy cruising along the dead woods with roaring engines coming from underneath. At times, we even did the “Rang De Basanti” thing and that is to turn off all three of our bike’s headlight and ride for few seconds on a pitch black visibility. That was scary! But, definitely an experience to add on and by this time, we almost forgot what happened during the day. I read it somewhere that going on a trip is as good as reading a book and a good long ride can clear your mind and revives freshness in you. I could hear the wild insects flying by and some of them hitting us and lot of them crashing at the headlights. I felt sorry for my bike and for them eventually. We were worried of numerous things, firstly, unavailability of hotel room at Kohalpur, dacoits, wild animals running into us and lastly, empty tanks. I gazed at my fuel meter which was blinking but I figured out that I could travel easily up to our next destination. At about, 9 PM, we reached Kohalpur (521kms from Kathmandu) and refilled our babes tank because we had to leave early the very next day. We found a nice lodge along with food and after having them after a refreshing bath, we dozed off to sleep. I realized that my back was paining like hell and it was not because of the long tiring journey but it was for a reason that while we were carrying the wheel to replace with a new one, due to its heavy weight, it was resting at the back of my hip bone which eventually was too much to take during that long 37kms up and down route.

Day 3: The “D”-day!


We woke up at around 5:30 AM and had tea and off we continued our early morning ride towards our destination. We were extremely happy and excited for making it up to this point. The next destination was Mahendranagar, which is the extreme city in the Far Western region of Nepal, some 209kms from Kohalpur. Since we were heading west, I could see the red and orange streamline of sunrise right behind us through the Rear View Mirror (RVM). The scenic beauty was mesmerizing enough to remember it till our life time. The picturesqueness sight backed by the warmth acquisition of sun made me think about my travelogue. I was collecting all the memoirs of the days gone by one after another, to add them in my travelogue. We were riding through the “Bardiya Rastriya Nikunja” which is basically a secured and patrolled by Army men. Just as we entered its perimeter, I noticed that my fellow rider Monty was struggling to handle his bike. He, eventually, slowed down to the side because he was hit by a flying bird that came straight at him. The bird struck him so hard that s/he eventually died on the spot. My friend was generous enough to bury it, showing his softer side. R.I.P. Dhukkur!



4 check-posts in 12 kms: That was one hell of a security to cope as on each post we had to turn off our engine and provide them with necessary information to enter their respective regions. As, we traveled further, we realized that the roads were too awesome to not to wring the throttle. Soon enough, we were blazing past each other, shifting gears normally at higher RPM zones. Few kms further, we could not stop admiring to the master structure that was in front of our eyes, it was Asia’s longest suspension bridge, the Karnali Bridge. We could not resist stopping by for our photo session. The wind was strong enough to hinder our movement fluently. Then, our photo shoot commenced, we tried many new poses, some of them funny ones and after almost half hour mark, we decided to move on. The wind that was blowing across the bridge was too strong for even our wind tunnel tested bikes to adhere to it.



The fastest speed of my life:

Just as we moved few 500 meters, we stopped by to try some fresh fried fishes from Karnali River. They were tasty and yummy; we enjoyed every last bite of it. A cup of tea and followed by few snacks, we continued to our destination. A lot of things were going on our mind, the contentment for making it till here, fear of some rough patches that we may have in store and many more. But, we decided to take full control of the wide open stretched roads. The roads were too perfect, just awesome to ride. And, there we thought of giving a run for the money to our babes (read bikes). By, this time, we were cruising at around 100kmph, down shifted it to the 5th gear but it was difficult to red line even till 9k rpm, so shifted again to the 4th and off she goes zooming past the “9k” mark. I reckon my other fellow riders were doing the same too coz they were within my horizon. I checked my speedo, it read 108kmph, shifted to 5th gear, fully crouched on the tank and leaning forward and by this time it was already in the 119kmph zone and finally I clogged the top gear (6th gear), boy, I was so excited, my ecstasy level were nowhere to be controlled coz I just did the fastest speed of my life. 131kmph on speedometer and it was one of the awesome feelings that one could have. Ameliorated my previous best by 4kmph and I was feeling damn good about it. I figured out that it would have gone some 7-8 kmph more but by the time, let’s say, I cared for myself and my family to not to go further. But, someday, I will break that too coz records and milestones are meant to be broken.


At about, 11 AM we reached the far western region of Nepal to a place called Mahendranagar. We left our bike at one of my dad’s close acquaintance, took two rickshaws and off we went to the City of Lakes. By the way, due to some problem while applying for permit to take our bikes to India we had to continue the rest 139 kms journey by roadways transportation. We had to cross the Nepal-India border on a hatchback, just kidding, local tangas. And, then we had to board the roadways bus. As we ascended to the hills, the temperature started to drool dead cold. By, the time, we were almost there to the city of lakes, it started drizzling heavily. After almost 5 hours of bus ride, we set our foot on the most beautiful scenic view, city of lakes, the Nainital.



We had a momentous adventure over there; we could not help but enjoy the mesmerizing view from our hotel top. It seemed like a heaven on earth, all those glittering lights and view of lake were breath-taking. We even visited many tourist spots, went on to the hill top on a horse back and much more. But, during all these high-time exciting moments, we dearly missed our bikes. If only, my other fellow riders had their papers ready with them, we would have conquered the scenic beauty on our ride. After spending two days in the city of lakes, we tread back to our dens. I remembered we had to cover 4 hours straight non-stop 209 kms of night ride amidst the dense Bardiya jungle on our return. On our way back, we even visited “Lumbini” – the birth place of Lord Buddha, and yes! It falls in Nepal, just in case if you don’t know.



The other thing that we missed in Nainital was nice decent looking girls of our type. But, when we reached my hometown Bhairahawa, there were ample of them, as there was this street festival which was scheduled for that day. With street lights, discos on the street, good food stalls and people dressed awesomely. A lot more than me, it was my other two friends who were overjoyed. They left Bhairahawa with a promise to be back for the next street festival which is scheduled in some 5-6 months. The very next day, we were back to our hideouts, collecting memories and images of the trip, most of them were awesome. We were tired, we were exhausted, we burned up lot of fuels and went through many more. The bikes performed amazingly well, with no ill glitches apart from the tyre burst which was unavoidable. We really had a good ride together, ameliorated our speeding milestones, explored the unexplored far western region of Nepal and above all, our friendship bond among the fellow riders grew much stronger. By, the time I write my travelogue, we have already thought of our next biking trip and this time we will do, all we can to take our bikes out of our country, Nepal.