Re: First Blood- A taste of the Highways.

Awesome captures, waitin for the full log

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Re: First Blood- A taste of the Highways.

Awosome pics. Specially the second one!

Re: First Blood- A taste of the Highways.

rollon man

Re: First Blood- A taste of the Highways.

Great photography brother!! Bring on the rest.

Cheerz!!

Re: First Blood- A taste of the Highways.

Awesome pics... :thumbup:

Subscribed....

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Re: First Blood- A taste of the Highways.

A bit of a lengthy post, give it some time.

^{As this threads going to be about first rides and virgin motorcycle touring experiences, I would like to start with a brief introduction about who I am and the beginnings of my zest for motorcycling. The write up may end up being long and boring but I guess I want to get it all out there, its essential for doing justice to how I feel about riding now and how it has helped me grow as a human being and I don't know of any better place to share it at other than xbhp among like minded people . So its not just going to be a travelogue of a couple of road trips, its going to be a bit more than that I Suppose.}

When I was about to get out of school, I always wanted to own a karizma but then the apache rtr with ABS came out ! went bonkers for that one until I saw the Fz 16, boy how I used to fantasize about riding it to college everyday and making them girls go crazy. But thanks to my father, I didnt get any of those bikes and no luck with the girls going crazy part either ! Because I didn't get into an engineering college as I promised I would so they didn't get me a bike as they Promised they would. But this is all history and perhaps pretty boring as well, as history is and the irony is I graduated in history ! .

Cutting to the chase, I got the Duke 200 as my first bike, when I finally convinced my parents that I was responsible enough to ride one. But I had no luck convincing them to let me get introduced to the highways. That remained a taboo for more than a year, "there wont be any further discussions on this topic if you want to keep that bike" is what my dad said. And then one fine day an all suited up gentleman (I presume he was suited up) decided he didnt want to take the flyover and stood up on his breaks came to a dead stop in the middle of the road and took the left instead and I came to a panic stand still behind him giving the auto rikshaw behind me an amazing opportunity for a fun pile on, so he ran his auto right into me, running over all my dreams of that first ride on those beautiful hill roads. I missed an exam that day, and naturally at home it was all a story I had come up with cause my mother was dead sure I was riding rash and overspeeding. And then I had another accident and the bike was sold. (I am a bit embarassed of the stupidity behind this one, but I accept that it was completely my fault and I have definitely learned from it and stopped being so reckless. Its part of growing up I suppose ). This is when I finished my graduation and decided to take up photography as a profession. (With which I am still struggling) and this is also when I bought the KTM Duke 390, with some help from my father who I am sure is a softy for motorcycles no matter how much he may pretend to be otherwise .

And it was in the beginning of this year when my father asked me to get out of the house and travel a bit. All by myself, "Stop being a sissy and get out, go see how its done" is what he said. Back then I didn't know what he meant by "it" but now after constantly travelling for the past 5 months, I guess I am starting to figure it out. So I packed my bags and moved to shimla and stayed there for almost two weeks. I dont know why shimla, I had been to some places before heading out to shimla, I had driven to jalori pass last year with friends, Munsiyari in 2012 I guess and Rohtang before that. But I chose shimla, and in the next 10 days or so, I fell so much in love with the queen of hills that I knew I had to come back, perhaps ride to this place and may be do the entire circuit that I did last year in a Scorpio with my friends, that was to cross the jalori pass and head to manali. And little I knew that the laws of the universe were already set in motion to make it happen.
Lets add a couple of pictures before this gets more of a torture :P

These were taken during my trip to Shimla. Did not ride there, but this is where I believe the rider in me was initiated.

Sunset over Shimla :



Another one :



Mall Road evenings :



Shattered windows and broken doors :



Reflections of world heritage :



Kalka Shimla toy train :



Old Houses :



Rays :



NEW DELHI - JALORI PASS - NEW DELHI

Alright now starting with the first ride, this one I did with people who are way more experienced than I am, with experiences of riding in the almost hostile terrains of leh and spiti, they were miles ahead of me in the game. I met Prateek bhaiya ( bhaiya comes naturally for him ) through xbhp. Got to know him better when we did a shoot together last year. Went to cover Bishal bhaiyas wedding, who also happens to be a great photographer and a very experienced rider along with being a fellow xbhpian. Some people are such gems that they just naturally make you feel grateful to have met them and have them as your friends, these guys are those kind of people. It was Prateek bhai who asked me if I was up for a quick photo-ride to jalori pass and back in three days ! . And when I asked my father all he asked was when are you leaving !.The world works in weird ways. So me samrat bhaiya and Rahul bhai, we left on 7th may 2014 early morning. And naturally me being the most inexperienced and hyper of the lot I almost reached back home missing the turn towards Ambala, and was chased down by samrat and prateek bhaiya as I was too busy riding to even look at my phone ( Imagine tongue rolling out and speeding up like a retard on the highway trying to eat up all that wind ). But then was soon brought to my senses by the lot .

Performance notes : Although the bike returned a decent mileage of around 28-30 kmpl even though I was constantly doing 120-130 kmph, I had to make a lot more frequent stops than the others to top up the fuel as the tank is really a shame. The SOL 68SII lid performs really well at high speeds but I soon had my fingers popping out of the crapster blasters :P even before hitting the hills.

After our first halt at zirakhpur, where I waited for the guys with a big smirk across my face, from finally being on the open roads, being the subject of curious gazes and a sense of deep adventure for what lay ahead,we soon hit the hills after a quick brunch and it was all knee scraping glory from here on ( not quite knee scraping, more like toes :P ).
First few shots of the ride. :

Somewhere near kalka :



The right kind of curves :



Look how comfy that seat looks :P :



Hows the view from down there ? :




This guy makes the best chai in the world :



And this is where he does it ! :



Have to mention this here, anyone going anywhere via shimla, there is this truck repair shop right before shimla. Do stop here and sip on one of the best tea you are ever going to have. This uncle runs a shop thats actually an old run down jeep, and the tea he makes is amazing specially if like it a bit on the sweeter side

Moving on, you can experience some of the best hill roads after moving about 10kms away from shimla towards narkanda. And lots of fresh grown apples if you go in the present times, the harvesting season is just around the corner I suppose. We kept riding and clicking and riding and clicking till we reached Narkanda. A few more shots :

Couple of shots of the bike :



I am a sucker for the low angle :



And then their was some awesome light play:



And this was the last shot before reaching Narkanda :



After a long day of riding and exploring my bike in ways I had never explored it before and not to forget having pain in the areas of the butt that I didn't even know existed, we ended the first day of our ride in Narkanda where it started drizzling as soon as we reached, but then again ridings not the only thing that is a common passion among us, so we straight away headed out for some awesome food and a hell lot more of pictures. Which will be coming up in the next part of the Logue.

Stay Tuned ...

Re: First Blood- A taste of the Highways.

Eagerly waiting for the rest!

Re: First Blood- A taste of the Highways.

Great pics man..U were destined to be a photographer..

Re: First Blood- A taste of the Highways.

Superb clicks. Like it a lot

Re: First Blood- A taste of the Highways.

Classy pics bro, keep up the great work!
*Subscribed*

Re: First Blood- A taste of the Highways.

Very nice. Maybe someday I will ride this route

Re: First Blood- A taste of the Highways.

Wahhh...Superb brother...waiting for the rest....Its an eyecandy...Especially I loved that sunrise and nightscape photos

Re: First Blood- A taste of the Highways.

Absolutely mesmerizing pictures and nice narration.
Thanks for sharing. I am tuned in

Re: First Blood- A taste of the Highways.

Nice clicks man, bravo!!

Ride safe.

Re: First Blood- A taste of the Highways.

Cool pics man, you sure are good at photography. What instruments are you using?

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