Firstly I need to thank the XBHP Forum, the frequent G2G's and endless chitter chatter from the members that Inspired me

Its been 2 years of Super-biking; about 12 months of dreaming to get home the WORLDS TOUGHEST BIKER title.

I wanted it but never knew how to get it. many folks would often say"you have a SBK you can do it 8 hrs -16 hrs" and other such guesstimates would be mentioned in conversation. Most folks would not understand high speed riding narrows a riders vision narrow and you tend to see way farther ahead to anticipate the unanticipated - like that stray dog or Cow not to mention people. This causes a huge stress on the mind and body.

Adding to this SBK's are typically in the heavy (>180 kg) with limited range leading to frequent fuel stops adds to the burden.

Special thanks to Roshan Romano, for bearing the pain I usually am. He attempted the S1600k in his GT650, completing it successfully

Here is how our journey to achieve the WORLD’s TOUGHEST RIDER title started out. The plot started in Nov-Dec 2013 right after the shivannasumdura trip. originally planned to happen in Jan 2014 it kept getting postponed finally on 1st March.

1) We moved it from Dec 2013 to Jan 2014 as I was too lazy to get the new Tires fitted on the Bike
2) Then came the busted Sprocket, shortage of cash prevented me from having them re shipped from my Sister place in US to India
3) Then came the Income tax deduction, no money for funding the fuel expense
4) Then came the Riding suit not reaching India.

DHL called me on 28th Feb 2:00 PM - " Sir you package has arrived from US" the very next thing I did was to take the day off from work headed to DHL picked my new goodies. Once I reached home first order of business was to get the Front, Rear sprocket and Chain set replaced. It was 730PM by the time the sprockets were swapped out.

It was 11.30 PM by the time I was fully packed and prepared for the trip then it HIT me "Oil change scheduled at 20K KM am at some 19k" deciding its too late i just packed the 4 Liters of oil I had in stock in my saddle bags assuming I can do a change if needed en-route. i know some of you would be wondering at this point "What was he thinking?" well I was not. I was being the natural overconfident self.


01-March-2014 the D Day

First Call 4:00 AM

Roshan Romano - "Bro you awake"
ME - "Sleeping of course, Dude I need a few more hours of sleep"

Second Call 5:00 AM

Roshan Romano - "Bro you awake"
ME - " Dude I need a few more hours of sleep


Calling Harish 6.30 AM

Roshan – “Bro, where are you?”
Me - “Not now, let target 6am”
Roshan – "Hmm its 6.30 you know"
Me - “!#@$#% , am late. see you by 7.30”


Next 30 minutes was a rush trying to suit up, and I had a nerve to take selfies


I finally reached Roshan's house at E-City, At the last minute we decided to change our start point to NICE Road Toll Booth as the Recipt will have the Bike number punched on it.


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Start Point of ride: NICE Ring Road, Toll Both, Entrance from E-city
Date: 01-Mar-2014 Time: 08:40 AM
GPS Coordinates: 12.858786, 77.655846
Bike ODO Reading: 19114 kilometers




Pitstop - Loo Break



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Stop 1: Indian Oil Petrol Pump, Davengere
Date: 01-Mar-2014 Time: 11:45 AM
GPS Coordinates: 14.413287, 75.985597
Bike ODO Reading: 19399 kilometers




Yes !!! You guessed it right, I did an oil change after deputizing one of the IOC attendants



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Stop 2Date: 01-Mar-2014 Time: 13:36
GPS Coordinates: 14.9954034, 75.2120064
Bike ODO Reading: 19513 kilometers

At this point I was starving. It was either lunch at CCD or it repeat of a scene from the MADAGASCAR where the Alex the Lion was going to eat the Marty the Zebra.



After a plate full we proceeded

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Stop 3: HiQ MRPL COCO, Hubli
Date: 01-Mar-2014 Time: 14:16
GPS Coordinates: 15.3183837,75.1436704
Bike ODO Reading: 19550 kilometers

Choose to stop for a quick refuel as I had used this fuel pump before and was the last known outlet serving good fuel



soon as we crossed the toll gate had to stop again to tighten the saddle bags.



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Stop 4: Hindustan Petrol Pump, Yeluru
Date: 01-Mar-2014 Time: 16:56
GPS Coordinates: 16.8105382,74.2859115
Bike ODO Reading: 19790 kilometers

Roshan Bike the low fuel indicator starts to Flash and within another 10-15 km the Yellow low fuel indicator lights up. Since we were in middle of nowhere, unknown terrain we decided to tank up n the first fuel outlet we see for 500 rupees each; this should buy us time to find a suitable hi-tech pump.



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Stop 5: BPCL Petrol Pump, Nagewadi, Satara
Date: 01-Mar-2014 Time: 18:10
GPS Coordinates: 18.2048994,73.9378684
Bike ODO Reading: 19892 kilometers

102 kilometers (1 Hour 14 minutes) later we found ourselves a fuel pump serving SPEED, so it was time to tank up these babies. it was time for another Photoshoot!!



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Exact Turn Around Point: 18.3038712,73.870186

Realized that my Left rear indicator was loose and decided to do a stop to tighten it. I did this Just before the Turn around point. Soon as i tighted mine I realised that GT650 front indicator was dangling by the wire



Some Quick Hayabusa Doodwala Pictures