Re: From scorching heat to freezing cold! A ride of a lifetime! (Nagpur - Leh - Delhi

Travelogue Approved

Re: From scorching heat to freezing cold! A ride of a lifetime! (Nagpur - Leh - Delhi

Congrats brother!!!
Thats a long trip there.

Please post the pictures in the thread itself (not as attachment) please.

Keep Riding!!!
James

Re: From scorching heat to freezing cold! A ride of a lifetime! (Nagpur - Leh - Delhi

yeah, me being a first timer am not very sure on how to do that..hope i can figure something out soon! first installment coming in soon!

Re: From scorching heat to freezing cold! A ride of a lifetime! (Nagpur - Leh - Delhi

pics not visible.....; good write-up though!!

Re: From scorching heat to freezing cold! A ride of a lifetime! (Nagpur - Leh - Delhi

Hope this does the trick!

Re: From scorching heat to freezing cold! A ride of a lifetime! (Nagpur - Leh - Delhi

[MENTION=29371]veyron999[/MENTION] : congratulations for getting leh'd
nagpur to delhi via leh - what a trip!
gr8 fotos there too!
way to go man!

Re: From scorching heat to freezing cold! A ride of a lifetime! (Nagpur - Leh - Delhi

congrats varun and can you tell me the exact date this pic was taken?

Re: From scorching heat to freezing cold! A ride of a lifetime! (Nagpur - Leh - Delhi

Your trick worked & I can see the beginning of a great photo/travel -ogue. Keep posting, mate!!

Re: From scorching heat to freezing cold! A ride of a lifetime! (Nagpur - Leh - Delhi

SQUARE 1: Preparation and Planning.


― G.K. Chesterton

No, I don't know who G.K. Chesterton is! Actually I just googled "quotes on human satisfaction" and copy-pasted the first one that was in English! (if you know what I mean).
This I did just to rationalize my craving for getting back on the highway, that was sitting in my head since the previous years Nagpur-Goa trip.
We humans are never satisfied, trust me on this one, once you get addicted to touring then my friend there is no looking back!

The feelings, emotions running through your mind and body on "The Day" are ones that you just can't forget.
Warming the bike up just a little bit more than usual,
looking back at your home for just one last time because you know it will be a while before you return and you know you will be a changed man when you return!
revving the bike just that little bit more in each gear, just because you want to prepare it for tough times that may lay ahead.

I could go on and on with those feelings!
But you have to be there to feel it!

Coming back to facing the reality that I am sitting in front of a laptop and not on my bike, I better get to trying to recollect all the planning and preps we did for the Ladakh trip.

I've had it in my mind for quite some time, so I had passed on my idea about the trip to my family. So when the actual time was a few months away, the sound of it didn't blow any one away!
That was a major booster as you had someone who was supporting you, not only financially but also psychologically.
Then, the next question was whom to take along?
The core group was Amogh and I.
There were many other guys enthusiastic about the trip too. Although we weren't exactly advertising our ideas for expanding the group, we had told a selected few about it.

In the end,
on grounds of the group chemistry, similarity of the riders and similarity of the rides(bikes), cruising speed, etc.
we ended up deciding that on such a long trip we would prefer keeping the number of riders to a minimum, and minimum meant only I and Amogh were to go.
The decision was also based on I having heard and read beforehand that the Ladakh trip is not only a test for endurance, but it also tests how the group dynamics are, and how deep and true the friendship of the riders actually is.

The trip is known to be a friendship breaker.

Anyway, no friendships were broken, thankfully ! We ended up making a couple of friends instead!

So, permissions from home and the riders having been decided, the next step was making purchases for the ride.

On earlier rides, we used any random denim/leather jackets for peace of mind. But for this one, we knew they wouldn't suffice.

THE GEAR:

After many days searching, and loads of cash lighter

I got:
1) DSG Triton Riding Jacket.

2) Cramster Twister riding gloves.

3) Fox Raptor knee/shin guards.

4) Already had a LS2 Phobia riding helmet.


OTHER ACCESSORIES:

->We needed proper saddle bags, so went ahead and purchased the Viaterra Claw
ViaTerra Claw - All-In-One Motorcycle Luggage System

->and for the extra stuff : cameras, chargers and small knick knacks I got the Cramster Turtle Tank Bag.
Tankbags, TURTLE - Magnetic Tank bag

I will be reviewing most of the products I used as this thread progresses.


SOMETHING UTILITARIAN!
I always had the nag of doing some mod, not performance oriented but something utilitarian on the bike.
We realized that we would be needing navigation as we can't always count on the sign boards to be there! That was sorted as I had Sygic (MapMyIndia) on my android smart phone.
But Android+smart phone+GPS = horrible battery life.
Also, we weren't very sure how long our digicam batteries would last taking into account long riding hours and lots worth clicking !

So, after discussing with Amogh, we found out a solution! I ended up ordering:

150 Watt DC/AC Inverter

It is an APC 150W Inverter. It converts our motorcycle battery's 12V to 230V AC, so we could charge anything ranging from a mobile to a laptop on the go!

The size allowed me to fit the inverter under the seat of my bike, although it was a very tight squeeze. No structural mods though.
I will post some pictures of this later.


More on this later.
Stay tuned.

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----


Thanks for the heads up guys!
There is lots more up ahead! [MENTION=13163]darkknight[/MENTION], this was clicked on 12th June. I was talking on phone! Had coverage there! O.o

Re: From scorching heat to freezing cold! A ride of a lifetime! (Nagpur - Leh - Delhi

Sorry for the delay guys!

I realized earlier that I haven't mentioned anything about the bikes yet.
So we shall resume from there.


THE RIDES:

I took my ~3 year, ~30k kms old R15 v1 and Amogh took his 2.5 year, ~20k kms old Apache RTR 180.
The R15 had no modifications done, whatsoever.
A week in advance, I got the bike thoroughly serviced at the Yamaha Service Center at Nagpur. The mechanics there, over past years had become good friends and thus did an excellent job at it.

I had a 2000km old Motul 300V already in the bike, so I decided to let it be and change it in Delhi. Had checked the quality and it was good, just topped it up a bit.

In case anyone ever passes through Nagpur and requires any help regarding that, you can PM me and I will provide you the number of the mechanic there.


THE PLAN:

The route decided was :

Riding Day 1: Nagpur - Jhansi
Riding Day 2: Jhansi - Delhi

Halt at Delhi for 2 days, get the bikes checked up one last time before the trip and I had decided to change my rear MRF tire(stock) to CEAT Vertigo for the Ladakh terrain. So, that was to be done in Delhi.

Riding Day 3: Delhi - Jammu
Riding Day 4: Jammu - Srinagar
Riding Day 5: Srinagar - Kargil
Riding Day 6: Kargil - Leh

Halt at Leh for 1 day to acclimatize.

Riding Day 7: Leh - Khardungla Top - Nubra Valley
Riding Day 8: Nubra Valley - Khardungla Top - Leh

The original plan was to visit Pangong Tso too but due to some circumstances, it had to be cancelled.
The return leg was planned via Manali.

Riding Day 9: Leh - Sarchu
Riding Day 10: Sarchu - Manali
Riding Day 11: Manali - Delhi.

So, with the boring part over I can start with Day 0 and "the day" later today.


Here are a few pics of us trying to fit the Viaterras for the first time! The 3 strap anchorage seemed to be a bit weak, but it lasted very well along the trip.
That's me and my bike!





That's Amogh with his white RTR!

Re: From scorching heat to freezing cold! A ride of a lifetime! (Nagpur - Leh - Delhi

I love the title of this thread. It's an awesome experience when beginning u r facing heat and nearing the destination super cold.. Looking forward for some more photos..

Re: From scorching heat to freezing cold! A ride of a lifetime! (Nagpur - Leh - Delhi

thanks man!
and here you go !


The riders! Me and Amogh!



Taj Expressway!

































View from Leh Palace.

Re: From scorching heat to freezing cold! A ride of a lifetime! (Nagpur - Leh - Delhi

keep pourin' bro!! some magnificent shots I see!.

Re: From scorching heat to freezing cold! A ride of a lifetime! (Nagpur - Leh - Delhi

DAY 0:

I am a person who really enjoys doing things at the 11th hour. I just enjoy the rush! It gives you a feeling that you are doing something/going somewhere!
This spells disaster when you have too many things to do and too little time.

With my exams just over 2 days before, I was in a state in which I was tired because of the mental and physical stresses associated with final year engineering exams and way too excited to go to sleep! So i have been missing on precious sleep even before the ride has started.


There were loads of things to be done on the last day, and the 47 odd degree temperature in Nagpur at that time wasn't doing any good either.

As it turned out to be, the rear tire was leaking air but not at an alarming rate at all. There were two nails in the tire too!

I was in two minds whether to get it repaired or not, I had been riding in the same condition over a month or more by then and the drop in air pressure wasn't much. I was to change the tire in Delhi anyway so.

"Are you mad or what? "
"You crazy? Is that even a question!!"

That was what Amogh and another friend of mine had to say when I told them of my dilemma!

So I got that fixed, had three punctures! Good that I got it done.

Bought the spares, paid the bills before leaving the house, packing yet to be done, yet to clean the house and way many more things left.

I was at the service center only, getting the bike washed, chain lubed and front brake pads changed when I got a call from dad.

Dad, who works with the Press in Delhi had lots of colleagues who were more than happy to want to run a story on our ride from Nagpur. Turns out to be they wanted me to go to the Times of India office, meet a reporter there. With all the list of pending things along with time running short and then this! I was in a tight situation, but this was not one thing I wanted to miss on! Rushed directly to TOI, called Amogh on the way while I tanked up for the ride next day.

After having that done and the photographer having taken our photos, it was 8:30PM and I had not even started organizing the stuff I needed for the ride.

I remember how weeks before the ride I and Amogh were talking about how we would sleep at 9:00PM and get up at 3:00AM and leave at 4!
The initial plans having been overshot dramatically, we ended up sleeping at 2:00AM! Amogh and I stayed together so there was no problem about meeting somewhere and stuff.

We woke up at 4, and planned to leave around 6:00AM because, another reporter from a local newspaper 'Dainik Bhaskar' was to come to make a video report for a local news channel! Yep, we were on TV too!

Here are the newspaper clippings :

This one is what came in Times of India on Sunday, 2nd June 2013.



This one came in Dainik Bhaskar on Monday 3rd June 2013, the image isn't very clear. I'll post the link to their website post too.

LOL!! Jajba!


Here is the link to the article.
Clipping of ?????? ??? ????? ???????, 03-06-2013 :readwhere

The weather was just horrible, the city breaking recording some of the highest temperatures in India!
Family and relatives were worried rightly about the conditions, but for us once decided there was no looking back..

This was the tank bag which Amogh used. He got it made from a local tailor in Nagpur. Was good, but slightly small.