Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

one of the Dream places to ride :-) Wonderful and awesome set of pictures with neat narration - Ride Hard n Safe.

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

Now dont block me

Thanks shahbaz Btw I havent visited Leh yet Shouldve done it when I had the chance.

Thanks a lot [MENTION=66628]Sal[/MENTION] and [MENTION=12405]bikerfas[/MENTION], it was always a dream for me to ride these places and I never thought I would be doing them that too this year! Slight change of plans and luck resulted in this

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

If I remember correctly, you did planned it na? and posted in RTR forum? What went wrong?

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

Deep inside he wanted to do Alps!
BTW, Leh is planned by most of us every year and gets shelved for some reason or another. For me, it's the 2nd year in a row.

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

hahahah! Btw, checking on forums, Getting to leh isn't good idea now. Taxi unions strike kept entire city off today.

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

No man.. you must be thinking of someone else All I did was read travelogues and say I will do it this year, I will do it next year etc

Haha
So next year you are going then?

Also heard that Rohtang is limited to only few vehicles per day and someone tried driving on Pangong Tso and polluted it with engine oil Its really sad such things are happening.

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

One of the best travelogues on Xbhp. Congratz on finishing Mission Alps sir.Breathtaking views,Beautiful curvy roads,Great bike,one passionate rider,Awesome photography and very well narrated..Everything is perfect about this travelogue.

Thanks for sharing such wonderful experience with us.

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

Thanks a lot [MENTION=70157]Munaf[/MENTION] for your appreciation! Spending so much time preparing the travelogue makes it all worthwhile when reading such comments.
And no sir please, I am just an aam aadmi

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

The mighty Alps!
Been following this thread very closely,
Amazing pictures and a lively tale, Post more soon we sitting here in cubicle farms are stuck midway through the journey.

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

You travelogue is such high quality that it is almost better than most here accompanied by some stunning pictures.
Are all the pics taken from the go pro?
Reading your log reminds me how worthless I am sitting in my office when such beauty can be enjoyed!
I mean this is every biker's dream buddy.
You are fortunately living it and how!
My next to do list in this lifetime:
1. Rent a bike and do Europe.
2. Isle of man TT on a superbike.
3. Ride the golden quadrilateral full in one go.
Thanks to you I am dreaming again.

Sent from my XT1033 using xBhp Connect mobile app

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

Thanks a lot Omi.
I too am stuck now in cubicle farms btw I will try to update it by tonight or tomorrow morning at the earliest.


Man, you are simply showering praises now! Thanks a lot for your kind words
If its any consolation, I too am sitting in office and only by writing the travelogue, I get to relive those moments!

It is indeed every biker's dream, which I never thought would come true for me *touchwood*.
Also I remember my dad telling me when most people get an opportunity to work here, they usually keep thinking about how to manage, how to get used to new place, language, food, culture, cost of living etc but there I was googling info on which countries accept Indian license, where to rent motorcycles, reading travelogues of various rides in Europe etc We bikers are sure different

Your to do list is brilliant! You never know, you might achieve those dreams sooner than you think
If only UK would accept EU visa, I could've gone to isle of man

Btw, only riding pics are from GoPro, rest are from Nikon D5200.

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

wow! great pictures! thanks for sharing

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

Day 3, Part 1 : Early morning ride

I woke up few minutes before the alarm and got out of the bed without a second thought! Wish it would happen on normal weekdays as well
The plan was to leave by 6:00am, cover three mountain passes and come back for breakfast before 10am. The expected distance was around 100kms but adding all the stoppage time for pics and admiring the scenery it was just enough time!


Also since all the luggage will be in room, the bike will be a lot lighter which made riding passes even more fun!


Starting early was one of the best decisions I made! In cold places like these, life starts late even though sun rises before 5am This meant I had empty roads all the way, almost as if the mountain passes were made just for me!

A nice energetic morning, awesome empty curvy roads, landscapes shifting between blue, green and white with occasional peekaboo from the sun and a set of two wheels.. what more does a biker want? I can never forget this day!


Here is the map of the route.






Good morning!






The first pass was Nufenen pass and the road from the hotel directly lead to it.


In just a couple of minutes of riding and covering few hairpins I reached this spot, overlooking the town of Ulrichen.






The hotel is somewhere amongst those buildings.






Some more pics of the landscape towards Nufenen pass.






Put the Gorilla pod to some use





Now that's what we are talking about











Not a soul around, I mustve come across 5 or 6 cars and one motorcycle in 20 min






Golden mountain!






The hairpins of Nufenen. There mustve been better view of those but I was lazy to look for it






A short video of the ride




After climbing the hairpins, I reached this spot.






The snow capped peaks and early morning sunshine.. perfect combo.





















Went a little ahead and there were few buildings and a hotel at the top of Nufenen, all yet to be opened.






The making of above pic! I didnt know GoPro was on btw.






Right after I crossed the buildings, I came across this amazing sun rise!
















Some more landscapes along the way.






Here I got a message from Mobistar, my mobile network, welcoming me to Italy but I was a bit confused as I knew I was close to Italy border but I never intended to cross into Italy now, but the GPS was showing I was on right track so I assumed the tower from Italy must be within range. Also the villages here had boards in Italian even though they are part of Switzerland.


A small stream nearby.






This region had lot of greenery






It was a simply fantastic ride all the way. Corner after corner of smooth well maintained tarmac with zero traffic and landscapes, which I dont need to describe how they were


After some more riding, came near the town of Airolo from where I have to take deviation for San Gottardo Pass and Tremola Pass.






No, they dont love Times Of India (TOI), Its a brand of portable toilet






That road you see above is part of San Gottardo pass.






The two passes are quite interesting. If you look at them in maps they overlap each other. This is because San Gottardo is a newly built pass which is almost like a highway with wide sweeping corners. Tremola is an old pass route which is made of cobblestone. I had read in my Alps book that the Tremola pass is not very fun to ride (is kinda obvious, cobblestone hairpins? who wants that ) and one gets a fantastic view of Tremola from San Gottardo.


I was riding on San Gottardo and my GPS which was on "curvy roads" mode kept on suggesting me to take Tremola and I thought why not give it a try, lets have a look


And this is Tremola pass. Apart from me, there were only a couple of cyclists and a trekker on this route!






You can see the tunnel of San Gottardo at the top.











The empty panniers were rattling all along











Reached the top. Yay!





The soft suspension of Ninja 650 made it easier to ride on these roads. Can't imagine how it would be on a bike like Duke 390
Finally reached the top of the pass and it joined the main road near a lake.


There was a monument here to commemorate the first flights by aviators over this pass.












They couldnt have squeezed few more names there?






After riding for sometime, stopped here to take a quick break and enjoy the scenery.











I was wondering what that building was!





While I was a clicking a cyclist came nearby asking if I had any oil as his chain was squeaking. I didnt have any and we talked for sometime regarding both our rides. His was a couple of weeks long ride through the mountains. He also explained that the building in the above pic is the exhaust of the ventilation system for tunnels. By then another cyclist arrived with lot of luggage and he sure had oil with him


Some more landscapes on the way
















After this point I had to go through Furka pass to reach my hotel. And guess what, I would be riding Furka pass twice as my next plan for the day involved riding this pass in other direction. So I didnt stop for any pics now and enjoyed the corners to the fullest


I reached the hotel at 9:35am, with more than enough time for breakfast. Freshened up a bit and had the usual European breakfast buffet and cleared my room.


Here is a sneak peek of the next part

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

Mesmerizing to say the least !!

EU is beautiful, in the right weather its a bikers paradise.

Quick question: The still shots from the GoPro, are they frames from a running video or pictures taken in still mode ?

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

Short & Simple = AMAZING Adarsh bro.