Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Thanks man!



Day 2 (Apr 28, 2014):


I headed east from here and I had to pass through Buffalo again. I got stuck up in the morning peak hour traffic there. After a while, I hit the I90 and I was on that road for most part of the day. It was straight roads with very less to no traffic! Oh yes, I got a new pair of earbuds here and got rid of the sock.




I took very short breaks and kept chugging along. Sometime around late afternoon, I got off the interstate in order to touch Vermont. These were beautiful two lane roads. I hit the border in a while.








After getting to the New Hampshire border, I called up my friend and host for the night in Framingham. We had a fundraising event in his place that evening at 8 p.m. The actual plan was hit Maine too and then get to the event but that seemed to be a little far away now. I kept Maine for the next day and headed towards Framingham.




It was a beautiful ride but after a while the two nights of less sleep started taking its toll! I kind of fell asleep when riding a few times! This was too scary and this is when I made it a point to get at least 7 hours of sleep every day. I also had my first experience with rain! It looked like it was going to rain and so I wore all my rain gear. I just hit some brief showers after that. I made it to his place with some time to spare and I was tired as hell. My eyes were just half open and I had to take a cold shower to awaken up. We had some twenty people over and I spoke to them about my cause and the ride. They were all very encouraging and supportive. They left after a while and I crashed around 11 keeping an alarm at 7. I needed the 8 hours of sleep!

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

[MENTION=38495]MAXzma[/MENTION] helmets off to you.......... no words still wanna say AWESOME

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Helluva ride you had! So many visit the States but few have seen it all, hardly any the way you have ..

I remember the Pikes Peak track from a competition I saw on YouTube last year, hosted by Tiff Needell of Fifth Gear, and was actually a promotion of the Range Rover Evoque. What a thrilling track to be riding on!

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Thanks!

Yes the Pike's Peak highway is one 'BEAUTIFUL' road! It is warm when you start down and in some thirty minutes you will be riding through snow all around. There is a race held there every year called the Pikes Peas International Hill Climb.


Day 3 (Apr 29, 2014):

I hit the road at around 8 this morning! It got a little late, but I needed the rest. A big thanks to my friend and host Sathish for putting together the fundraiser and also making sure I get the much-required sleep!




It was cloudy and so I decided to start with the rain gear. The plan was to first head north and hit Maine. I took the I95 to get there through New Hampshire. I encountered some brief spells of rain and a lot of heavy crosswinds on the way.






Once I got there, I had to backtrack on the same road. I did not have a host for the night so the plan was to ride as far as I could on I95. I took short breaks and kept riding. I hit some rain once in a while but otherwise the ride was uneventful. Sometime by early evening, I hit New York City after riding through Rhode Island and Connecticut.






I was near New York City and I wanted to see the Statue of Liberty. I could not get to the island for sure so I checked for the road that is closest to it on the mainland. I put it on maps and it said 30 minutes. I could spend that amount of time! The traffic was increasing and I accidently took a wrong exit. Huge mistake! I ended up fighting with downtown New York traffic for almost 2 hours to get where I wanted to go! The stop and go for all that time took its toll on me. I started getting a little tired. I finally got to a place where I could see the Statue of Liberty from far, one more thing to be scratched off that list!






Now I wanted to get back on I95 and ride as far as I could, then take a motel there. I got back on I95 but my plans were foiled! It had become dark by now, it was pouring too! To top it off, roadwork was happening on the highway! I could ride through one of these risk factors at a time, but all these combined together was too much. I decided to break for the day and took a motel in New Jersey itself. I had dinner and was in bed by 10 p.m. The plan was to start early tomorrow; hopefully the storm should have passed.


VIDEOS:

Riding through Downtown New York City
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Riding out of New York City
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Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Helmets Off awesome ride and awesome bike looks like the indian roads might have given the confidence you have xD

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Oh for sure! Riding in the highways here can get a very boring at times. No one comes in between and you have to keep going in a constant speeds in almost straight roads!

And apologies for not giving any update for the past few days. I am a little held up at work and heres a pic from a short ride this Sunday. Will put up Day 4 today.

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Every time I go through the thread, I wish I could be there. Not many can embrace the opportunities like you have. Hats off!

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Thanks man!



Day 4 (Apr 30, 2014):

Since I had slept very early last night, I was up by 6 in the morning. I got ready and was ready to hit the road by 7, it was pouring still! I checked the radar and could see storm clouds over New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. That was the direction I had to take. I could either sit there for another day hoping for the storm to pass or I could just ride through it! I decided to just go ahead and get out of the storm, it turned out to be one tiring ride!










I entered Virginia around 3 in the afternoon. Even though I was almost dry, riding in the rain for all this while made me made me feel very low! As soon as I entered Virginia, the rain had stopped. I stopped at a gas station to fuel up and refresh. That is when I hit the first mishap in the ride! After I fuelled up, I was trying to put the lid back on and I heard a snap. The key just broke in half with one half inside the fuel lid! F***!




I rode on to hit I81. I had to go south from here, but I had to take a small detour to hit West Virginia. I missed the Virginia sign earlier but I had to backtrack to I81 and go south, so I took the picture here. The speed limit increased to 75mph here and I increased my speeds too. I rode for a while till the sun had set where I took a short break in a rest area to see where I could stop for the night. The actual plan for today was to get to Charlotte, NC but that was too far away. I decided to ride on the I81 as far as I could and then stop in the next city.

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Hats off to you buddy for the great ride for a greater cause.

Cheers
Biru

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Helmets off to you. Fantabulous ride you had there. Superb !!!

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Thank you Biru bhai!

Thanks bro!




Day 5 (May 1, 2014):

I have read somewhere that 40% of the motels in the USA are run by Indians. The motels I have been staying in the past two nights were run by Indians too! I woke up after a long sleep and played with Google Maps for a while. I was around 200 miles behind my actual plan. I was to ride through the today, which is one of the most famous biking roads here. Since I was a little behind, I had to drop it and try to get back on schedule. So I came up with an alternative route that would take me to Atlanta, GA by that night after hitting the states on the way. I hit the scenic I81 again; this was most beautiful Interstate in the ride so far. I also noticed this morning that the oil level had reduced below the marker. I was currently running on the sponsored Lucas Oil. This was not available in many places, so I decided to move over to some other readily available oil. Motorcycle shops have to be searched to found here, so I moved over to the Shell Rotella T6 Full Synthetic Oil, readily available in any Walmart. This is diesel engine oil that has been tried and tested in many bikes. [MENTION=32286]psr[/MENTION] sir introduced me to this and I was using the Rotella T3 on my Karizma with great results. I used the Rotella T6 for the remaining part of the trip, almost 9,000 miles and the bike performed exceptionally well!




I hit Tennessee a little later, sadly I had to get off the I81 now and take a different highway. This was a beautiful road too! After riding through some traffic due to a road construction, I reached the North Carolina border. All these roads were beautiful highways laid on and around the mountains.















VIDEOS:

Entering North Carolina from Tennessee Timelapse
Entering North Carolina - I26

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Helmets off to you sir.
Amazing TLOG till now. Videos are awesome too.
Seriously man. Wonderful Job done for a Wonderful Reason.


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Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Amazing ride my friend, great way to explore that vast country. Congratulations on completing this epic journey!!!

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Goutham what a lovely fairytale expedition ...I could read your narration all day and still be searching for more. Good to see your Determination , Effort , Perseverance for a noble cause, and through your narration you have kept us spell bound....

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Nice ride for a great reason...classy clicks too...:thumbup:

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