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Inspirations: Threads like 3413 kms in 4 Days by Sandeep Bagchi, Saddlesore 1600K done in 22 hours, etc etc. Which lead to this.....
These were the kind of threads running through my mind. The huge distances covered, the places seen it all seemed so enticing. So much so that I literally dreamed of doing something like that too. Well until then going to the nearby town of Cuttack from Bhubaneshwar which was hardly 20 km away used to be a big deal. Back then a 50kms ride to Cuttack and back was HUGE.
But then I visited the 'Tourer' section of xBhp, something which I did not even look at even after being on the forum for more than 6 months. And then Pandora's box opened, the notion of seeing the world on something with two wheels became so strong that I had to experience it for myself too. And that's when this happened......
Prologue
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Back then I had my trusty old Honda Dio and quite frankly it was back burner on long rides. Once had done a smallish 200kms picnic ride on that, and till that time it was the longest I'd ever gone on two wheels.
Then the Thebagchi a.k.a. Sandeep Bagchi did his 3413 km ride and I was amazed at what human spirit can do. It was only through the course of his thread that I learned about stuff like 'Saddle Sore', 'Bun Burner' & 'Iron Butt' and dreamed about doing something like that of my own. Till date that has been a dream only.
Even though I did not have a proper
The evening before the 'ride' neither me nor Swagat had decided where to go, moreover Swagat was not sure his folks would allow him to venture out so far on a bike in the heat. Just before I wound up for bed that night, I recieved a message from Swagat informing me that he's still 50-50 for the ride and he wanted me to wake him up in the morning, and he'd assess the situation then and let me know. Folks....Grrr!!! I was thanking my stars at that moment that I live 2K Km away from my parents.
Note: All pics are clickable for view larger versions.
Disclaimer:- I'm not sure if its evident from the pics or not, but I confess that we had only one helmet to share between us and that too was a half faced variety.
Note to Mod(s):- Pic's aren't watermarked as they were clicked more than a year back. Please excuse!
These were the kind of threads running through my mind. The huge distances covered, the places seen it all seemed so enticing. So much so that I literally dreamed of doing something like that too. Well until then going to the nearby town of Cuttack from Bhubaneshwar which was hardly 20 km away used to be a big deal. Back then a 50kms ride to Cuttack and back was HUGE.
But then I visited the 'Tourer' section of xBhp, something which I did not even look at even after being on the forum for more than 6 months. And then Pandora's box opened, the notion of seeing the world on something with two wheels became so strong that I had to experience it for myself too. And that's when this happened......
Prologue
__________________________________________________ ____________
Then the Thebagchi a.k.a. Sandeep Bagchi did his 3413 km ride and I was amazed at what human spirit can do. It was only through the course of his thread that I learned about stuff like 'Saddle Sore', 'Bun Burner' & 'Iron Butt' and dreamed about doing something like that of my own. Till date that has been a dream only.
Even though I did not have a proper
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The Disussions henceforth
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Me: I just did 235 kms, came from INS Chilka. The roads were too good, atleast for majority of the trip.
Bharat: Abe tu garmi kidhar **** ***** tha? <where the **** ***** were you in this heat?>
Swagat: Abe pagal ho gaya hai? Kya aawara type ghum raha hai? <Gone nuts or what? Whats the point of riding so much in this heat?>
Me: It was an enlightening experience, I realised that I too can see places and cover huge distance on two wheels. This is practise for my saddlesore ride?
Bharat: Tu sahi mein pagal ho gaya hai...koi aise hi bike mein ghumta hai kya? Phele apni bike toh khareedle!!! <You seriously have lost it, does anyone in his right mind travel so much on a bike for no rhyme or reason. And first get yourself a bike first>
Swagat: Arre yaar, ye sab Bagchi wagchi, alag duniya se hai. Kyon time waste kar raha. Josh hai theek hai, lekin aise waste mat kar. <Bagchi, etc are from another world man. Why are you wasting your time emulating them. I understand the raging hormones and everything, but you could utilise that energy elsewhere.>
Me: Forget it, no use arguring with you guys! You'll never understand what free biking is all about.....
A few weeks later....
Swagat (the biker inside him has risen): Abe chal kahin bike mein long distance ghumne chaltein hai! <Hey, lets go somewhere far of on a bike.>
Me: Saale ******** abhi aaya na line pe.... <****** now you start feeling what I'm feeling>
Bharat: Abe tu garmi kidhar **** ***** tha? <where the **** ***** were you in this heat?>
Swagat: Abe pagal ho gaya hai? Kya aawara type ghum raha hai? <Gone nuts or what? Whats the point of riding so much in this heat?>
Me: It was an enlightening experience, I realised that I too can see places and cover huge distance on two wheels. This is practise for my saddlesore ride?
Bharat: Tu sahi mein pagal ho gaya hai...koi aise hi bike mein ghumta hai kya? Phele apni bike toh khareedle!!! <You seriously have lost it, does anyone in his right mind travel so much on a bike for no rhyme or reason. And first get yourself a bike first>
Swagat: Arre yaar, ye sab Bagchi wagchi, alag duniya se hai. Kyon time waste kar raha. Josh hai theek hai, lekin aise waste mat kar. <Bagchi, etc are from another world man. Why are you wasting your time emulating them. I understand the raging hormones and everything, but you could utilise that energy elsewhere.>
Me: Forget it, no use arguring with you guys! You'll never understand what free biking is all about.....
A few weeks later....
Swagat (the biker inside him has risen): Abe chal kahin bike mein long distance ghumne chaltein hai! <Hey, lets go somewhere far of on a bike.>
Me: Saale ******** abhi aaya na line pe.... <****** now you start feeling what I'm feeling>
__________________________________________________ ______________
The evening before the 'ride' neither me nor Swagat had decided where to go, moreover Swagat was not sure his folks would allow him to venture out so far on a bike in the heat. Just before I wound up for bed that night, I recieved a message from Swagat informing me that he's still 50-50 for the ride and he wanted me to wake him up in the morning, and he'd assess the situation then and let me know. Folks....Grrr!!! I was thanking my stars at that moment that I live 2K Km away from my parents.
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, and thus a small photo session started.
Finally the man was ready, I asked him, "Abe itna time kyon laga" <Why did you take so much time?>. He said, "Dheere Dheere kar raha tha ki awaz naa nikle!" <I was moving slowly so there's not much sound!>. The bugger had sneaked out of his house.
Anyways we started finally at around 5.10 AM towards NH-5 I had already covered 9 kms on the trip meter by then from my house.
Since I had upped the speed to around 90 Kmph the trademark Apache150 vibes was beginning to show its ugly face in the form of slight butt ache. So I decided to take a small butt break. It was 6AM and we had covered about 47 Kms from under Swagat's apartment. Yeah, just 47 kms and we took our first break! And we had a smallish photosession.
Man! We felt like we were the kings of the road, the wind in our face, the cool climate and the silver beast under us. Our feelings of euphoria were short lived, a black ZMA in full flow just blew past us at god knows what speeds and all this with a heavy pillion. And this was in those days that we'd be taking panga's with ZMA in the city. I had a dreamy moment then, where I imagined myself riding a ZMA and blowing past everything and what not.
A few kms off Chandikhol we spotted this totalled Indica. I shudder to think what may have become of the occupants.
The "Ride"
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I got up in the morning at around 4.15 AM, and called up Swagat to check if he could come. I got a affirmative reply, and swung into action to get ready as I had to go to the other side of town to pick him up. I was ready in about 20 mins and was off to his place. I was waiting under his apartment at around 5 AM when I remembered people on xBhp take pics of their bikes before they start , and thus a small photo session started.
Finally the man was ready, I asked him, "Abe itna time kyon laga" <Why did you take so much time?>. He said, "Dheere Dheere kar raha tha ki awaz naa nikle!" <I was moving slowly so there's not much sound!>. The bugger had sneaked out of his house.
Anyways we started finally at around 5.10 AM towards NH-5 I had already covered 9 kms on the trip meter by then from my house.
In those days NH-5 used to be the Holy grail of roads for us, it was pretty wide and traffic was quite sparse. So usually we'd be WOT on these roads. The gameplan was the I ride one way and Swagat rides on the way back.
I was riding at a peaceful 70 Kmph as the bike was kindda low on fuel and I din't want to feel the Apache150 vibes up my spine so early in the morning.
I was riding at a peaceful 70 Kmph as the bike was kindda low on fuel and I din't want to feel the Apache150 vibes up my spine so early in the morning.
Since I had upped the speed to around 90 Kmph the trademark Apache150 vibes was beginning to show its ugly face in the form of slight butt ache. So I decided to take a small butt break. It was 6AM and we had covered about 47 Kms from under Swagat's apartment. Yeah, just 47 kms and we took our first break!
And we had a smallish photosession.
Man! We felt like we were the kings of the road, the wind in our face, the cool climate and the silver beast under us. Our feelings of euphoria were short lived, a black ZMA in full flow just blew past us at god knows what speeds and all this with a heavy pillion. And this was in those days that we'd be taking panga's with ZMA in the city. I had a dreamy moment then, where I imagined myself riding a ZMA and blowing past everything and what not.
A few kms off Chandikhol we spotted this totalled Indica. I shudder to think what may have become of the occupants.
This mountain had caught my sight and was half in a mood to explore that instead of riding to Paradip. I asked Swagat if knew a route to up the hill, but alas the sun was rising and the fog that I wanted feel would vanish by the time we would reach up the hill.
We reached Chandikhol and took the turn-off for Paradip on NH-5A. We took another break here and some pics started getting clicked.
After this we decided to ride non-stop till Paradip. This section of the highway was not fully complete and most of the time were alternating between lanes as one section would incomplete and one section would be used for both directions of traffic.
Swagat was trigger happy with camera all the way till we reached Paradip.
Swagat was trigger happy with camera all the way till we reached Paradip.
We knew Paradip town had started once the Beer distilleries started showing up. I was amazed by how well laid out the small town was and it had proper roads too. We roamed around town for a bit.
After a brief circle of the town our stomachs started to rumble we decided to stopover for breakfast. Which was 3 hours after we had started from Swagat's house after covering 156 Kms.
After a sumptuous breakfast of I don't remember what, Swagat said he'd been to this beautiful beach long ago when he had come down here with his dad. So begin searching for the beach. We din't find the beach exactly, but we found a nice spot to chill out, click pics. The shore line was lined with rocks and there two abandoned apartments a few feet away from the shoreline, which kindda added to the ghostly desolate look. Sadly I did not get any pics of the apartments, but did still capture some amount of the beach.
Enroute to the beach
The Beach
Posing time
Swagat
Me
Apache
<My most Fav pic of the Apache ever>
Posing time
Swagat
Me
Apache
<My most Fav pic of the Apache ever>
Finally the heat was getting to us and we knew we had a long way to go back home. We decided to move on, plans of riding back in the evening also occupied our heads. But know we had to prove to ourselves that we can ride in any terrain in any climate. So all ego's pumped we started our return journey. This time it was Swagat at the handlebar's, and boy oh boy we were pushing the poor Apache to its extremes. Speeds were hovering around the 100 kmph mark all throughout the return trip. With so much heat in the air and our water bottle gone hot, we stopped somewhere before Chandikhol for refreshing ourselves with Coconut water. We din't stop too much on our return trip, and din't click many pics either. We only breifly stopped before Cuttack to refill fuel as the Apache was hardly giving around 40 kmpl.
Swagat rode all the way back in his trademark 'Ride it like you stole it' style and we were back in Bhubaneshwar in a jiffy. Swagat dropped himself off at his place and I rode back slowly to my house in the searing afternoon heat.
Swagat rode all the way back in his trademark 'Ride it like you stole it' style and we were back in Bhubaneshwar in a jiffy. Swagat dropped himself off at his place and I rode back slowly to my house in the searing afternoon heat.
Back home at 12.35 with 345 kms behind me, I was feeling elated. I had not only done the max kms in day on two wheels in my life, I had also done it without a hitch. And as a bonus point I gave myself a pat on the back for doing this crazy ride in the peak of Summer heat.
As I walked into my apartment, my room mates watching TV almost stood up as I entered the room. They could see my face had been blackend exposure to the sun, dirt and sweat. All they asked me where did you go? And I only replied "Paradip".
I din't need the tripmeter to tell me what I had achieved at a personal level. I knew that what I had done is a minnow compared to the tours that I had read about on the forums. But this ride for me, was like a new beginning to my life. I realised that this is what I have yearned to do all these years, this is what gives me the kind of happiness unlike anything else.
I did not get myself a bike for the next 6 months. But as soon as I did get mine, I took it for first real tour. A solo 1000 kms round trip of Chennai-Bangalore-Chennai.
Still for me, this trip to Paradip and the smaller solo ride to Chilika and back is something that I will be close to my heart. These rides gave me the mad thirst to tour around on two wheels and I also learnt a lot of things of limitations of one self that one should always listen to.
I apologise if the thread is not exciting in terms of numbers & destinations, but I really felt like sharing this ride with all of my biking brotherhood. This was my birth into the world of touring.
As I walked into my apartment, my room mates watching TV almost stood up as I entered the room. They could see my face had been blackend exposure to the sun, dirt and sweat. All they asked me where did you go? And I only replied "Paradip".
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I din't need the tripmeter to tell me what I had achieved at a personal level. I knew that what I had done is a minnow compared to the tours that I had read about on the forums. But this ride for me, was like a new beginning to my life. I realised that this is what I have yearned to do all these years, this is what gives me the kind of happiness unlike anything else.
I did not get myself a bike for the next 6 months. But as soon as I did get mine, I took it for first real tour. A solo 1000 kms round trip of Chennai-Bangalore-Chennai.
Still for me, this trip to Paradip and the smaller solo ride to Chilika and back is something that I will be close to my heart. These rides gave me the mad thirst to tour around on two wheels and I also learnt a lot of things of limitations of one self that one should always listen to.
I apologise if the thread is not exciting in terms of numbers & destinations, but I really felt like sharing this ride with all of my biking brotherhood. This was my birth into the world of touring.
And I'm Loving it.....
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Note: All pics are clickable for view larger versions.
Disclaimer:- I'm not sure if its evident from the pics or not, but I confess that we had only one helmet to share between us and that too was a half faced variety.
Note to Mod(s):- Pic's aren't watermarked as they were clicked more than a year back. Please excuse!
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