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To start off, like every college student, I was on a tight fiscal crisis at the start of my college year. Searching for a motive to save, a sudden thought just crossed my mind, among others. It went off like: where will I park my bike for the summer break? Is it safe in Mumbai, in my absence?
Then as the days passed by, these thoughts developed into more of a concern. The only way out was to take the bike back home. But how? Transport or ride it.
Here starts my journey of saving and thinking and re-thinking because the decision was pretty vague, impulsive and not approved by my parents. Maybe it was too early to ask. Nonetheless, I started saving for the trip. Cutting down on my excess expenses and luxuries was my only option. Walking to college for 30 minutes was a reasonable option for me than to hire an autorickshaw, vada-pav became a staple snack with a cup of tea, Maggi replaced my dinner for many days, and going for an outing was a big no-no. Friends thought I’m crazy for they also declared this idea as a dream, which wouldn’t turn into a reality.
10 months later, I saved up-to Rs. 8000 and the only thing left was taking my parents’ approval. The day was inevitable and I needed an excuse. In February, I called my dad to let him know of my plan. Initial response was as expected, a BIG NO. Thankfully, I had improved my negotiating skills in college and was able to convince him of my plan. He wasn’t fully convinced but anyhow he let me proceed.
April 30: All shopping was done for the tour, namely, bungee cords, protein bars, Glucon-Ds, some casual snacks and 2 litres of water. No, I didn’t opt for saddle bags because I wont tour much. All the luggage was packed in couple of school bags. One was a Wildcraft, and it was pretty accommodating. I stuffed majority of luggage in that bag. Second bag was a VIP laptop bag in which I stuffed my eatables, cables and chargers, a Mickey Mouse stuff toy I have since I was a year old. I slept at 9:30p.m. with a mix of excitement and fear.
May 1: Set alarm for 4 a.m. but woke up an hour late
Took half an hour to suit up, do the final checks, mount the luggage on the back seat, and then re-check again for any loose ends. The ride began on 6:04 a.m.
It was sunrise but I chose to keep my headlights on. 25 minutes into the ride, outta nowhere, a ZX10R buzzed past me and put my helmet abuzz -_-. He was soon joined by a Daytona 675R and these guys passed me again, scaring the s*** outta me again. My plan for the day was to reach Vadodara by evening around 4-5 p.m. Met another group of riders on my way.
I reached Hotel Ahura (a famous place for breakfast on NH8) on 7:52 am. Temperature for just about okay, not too hot nor too cold. the route was pretty straight forward on the NH8. Many picturesque sceneries came on the way but as this was my first tour, I focussed more on reaching my destination.
200 KM stop was at a fuel pump, not for refuelling though.
Continuing forward, the first stop of the trip was at a McDonalds in Gujarat. Didn’t order much except a coffee and a burger. Stop duration was around 20 minutes mainly because I had to charge my mobile phone. One thing I realised was how effective OnePlus’ dash charger is. My mobile’s battery reached from 75% to 92% real quick.
Next stop was for refuelling. Fuelled up for 650/- and got a tank full. I wasn’t risking running on reserve thus, I was refuelling as the fuel indicator started blinking.
(Mileage information at the end)
I was just 100-150 KMs away from my destination for the day. I booked a certain Nilkanth Inn in Vadodara. Costed 750/- but was VFM. One thing I realised later was that the hotel was a bit away from the NH. Google diverted me towards Gujarat State Highway. The roads were very good on the State Highways too! I reached around 1:30 p.m.
One thing I realised was I could’ve done a bit more and had a lot of day left. But I decided to take rest nevertheless. Day 1 wasn’t a lot tiring, though. Maybe this was because I was filled with excitement.
May 2: for the second day, I woke up a bit late and was on the road by 7:30 a.m. while tying the luggage, I met 2 kids staring at me like I was some alien I asked the younger one of the two to click a picture of me and took a selfie with the two.
The plan for the day was to reach Bhilwara in Rajasthan. I was to stay at a friends’ for a couple of days and then continue forward towards home. Asked the hotel manager to fill the water bottles because I was certain of the heat being near about 40 degree celsius.
Google diverted me through the State Highway instead of the NH. Continuing, the next stop happened due to some uncertainity feel of the bag on the back.
As I entered Rajasthan, the heat increased and to worsen the situation, there was construction work going on for a considerable stretch of road and thus, there was dirt all around. The heat felt like never ending. Stupid of me, I was searching for a McDonalds all my way till a point I realised that there were
none to be found. I took some pics en route.
The same dirt filled stretch continued for quite a lot of distance. And, I broke one indicator in the way. The front right one. That was because I didn’t anticipate distance between 2 traffic cones and just sliced in between them. The indicator took a hard hit and stopped working.
I reached my destination around 5 p.m. Took rest the whole day and headed to Meja Dam near Bhilwara with friends the next day. The heat was such that it forced all of us to take a dive in the reservoir there.
May 4: The last day of my trip. Final destination: Faridabad. I just had one aim, that was, to reach home as early as possible because the last day was a bit lengthy. 531 KMs to be precise.
The heat was a lot and it forced me to take around 4 stops in Rajasthan itself. After around 250 KMs, I started to feel tired due to dehydration. My eyes were almost closing as if I was to fall asleep. Took another stop and poured some water on my head and helmet which helped a lot as the helmet was quite hot. I damped my balaclava too because the heat was nowhere to stop. Even Faridabad was as hot as Jaipur, maybe a degree cool. Stopped to purchase some biscuits and soft drink. Drank a ½ litre bottle of Sprite and a litre of water.
About 6 p.m. , I reached Throttle Shrottle, Gurgaon and took some refreshments. After 15 minutes, I was in front of my house in Faridabad, safe and sound, and, on-time too because there was violent thunderstorm just after a couple of hours I reached home.
Mileage records:
337 KMs for 11.73 litres of fuel= 28.729 kpl
275.4 KMs for 8.43 litres of fuel= 32.66 kpl
313.8 KMs for 8.73 litres of fuel= 35.94 kpl
287.4 KMs for 8.39 litres of fuel= 34.25 kpl
293.4 KMs for 8.45 litres of fuel= 34.72 kpl
Averaging at 33.2598 kpl
Riding gears:
Helmet: MT Thunder 3 SV Effect + ASG SG-02 Bluetooth headset
Gloves: Rynox Evolution Pro (short cuff) and Cramster TRG 2 (full gauntlet)
Jacket: PGS Riding Jacket
Pants: Tarmac Riding Pants
Boots: Speed boots (full size)
Then as the days passed by, these thoughts developed into more of a concern. The only way out was to take the bike back home. But how? Transport or ride it.
Here starts my journey of saving and thinking and re-thinking because the decision was pretty vague, impulsive and not approved by my parents. Maybe it was too early to ask. Nonetheless, I started saving for the trip. Cutting down on my excess expenses and luxuries was my only option. Walking to college for 30 minutes was a reasonable option for me than to hire an autorickshaw, vada-pav became a staple snack with a cup of tea, Maggi replaced my dinner for many days, and going for an outing was a big no-no. Friends thought I’m crazy for they also declared this idea as a dream, which wouldn’t turn into a reality.
10 months later, I saved up-to Rs. 8000 and the only thing left was taking my parents’ approval. The day was inevitable and I needed an excuse. In February, I called my dad to let him know of my plan. Initial response was as expected, a BIG NO. Thankfully, I had improved my negotiating skills in college and was able to convince him of my plan. He wasn’t fully convinced but anyhow he let me proceed.
April 30: All shopping was done for the tour, namely, bungee cords, protein bars, Glucon-Ds, some casual snacks and 2 litres of water. No, I didn’t opt for saddle bags because I wont tour much. All the luggage was packed in couple of school bags. One was a Wildcraft, and it was pretty accommodating. I stuffed majority of luggage in that bag. Second bag was a VIP laptop bag in which I stuffed my eatables, cables and chargers, a Mickey Mouse stuff toy I have since I was a year old. I slept at 9:30p.m. with a mix of excitement and fear.
May 1: Set alarm for 4 a.m. but woke up an hour late
Took half an hour to suit up, do the final checks, mount the luggage on the back seat, and then re-check again for any loose ends. The ride began on 6:04 a.m.It was sunrise but I chose to keep my headlights on. 25 minutes into the ride, outta nowhere, a ZX10R buzzed past me and put my helmet abuzz -_-. He was soon joined by a Daytona 675R and these guys passed me again, scaring the s*** outta me again. My plan for the day was to reach Vadodara by evening around 4-5 p.m. Met another group of riders on my way.
I reached Hotel Ahura (a famous place for breakfast on NH8) on 7:52 am. Temperature for just about okay, not too hot nor too cold. the route was pretty straight forward on the NH8. Many picturesque sceneries came on the way but as this was my first tour, I focussed more on reaching my destination.
200 KM stop was at a fuel pump, not for refuelling though.
Continuing forward, the first stop of the trip was at a McDonalds in Gujarat. Didn’t order much except a coffee and a burger. Stop duration was around 20 minutes mainly because I had to charge my mobile phone. One thing I realised was how effective OnePlus’ dash charger is. My mobile’s battery reached from 75% to 92% real quick.
Next stop was for refuelling. Fuelled up for 650/- and got a tank full. I wasn’t risking running on reserve thus, I was refuelling as the fuel indicator started blinking.
(Mileage information at the end)
I was just 100-150 KMs away from my destination for the day. I booked a certain Nilkanth Inn in Vadodara. Costed 750/- but was VFM. One thing I realised later was that the hotel was a bit away from the NH. Google diverted me towards Gujarat State Highway. The roads were very good on the State Highways too! I reached around 1:30 p.m.
One thing I realised was I could’ve done a bit more and had a lot of day left. But I decided to take rest nevertheless. Day 1 wasn’t a lot tiring, though. Maybe this was because I was filled with excitement.
May 2: for the second day, I woke up a bit late and was on the road by 7:30 a.m. while tying the luggage, I met 2 kids staring at me like I was some alien
I asked the younger one of the two to click a picture of me and took a selfie with the two.The plan for the day was to reach Bhilwara in Rajasthan. I was to stay at a friends’ for a couple of days and then continue forward towards home. Asked the hotel manager to fill the water bottles because I was certain of the heat being near about 40 degree celsius.
Google diverted me through the State Highway instead of the NH. Continuing, the next stop happened due to some uncertainity feel of the bag on the back.
As I entered Rajasthan, the heat increased and to worsen the situation, there was construction work going on for a considerable stretch of road and thus, there was dirt all around. The heat felt like never ending. Stupid of me, I was searching for a McDonalds all my way till a point I realised that there were
none to be found. I took some pics en route.
The same dirt filled stretch continued for quite a lot of distance. And, I broke one indicator in the way. The front right one. That was because I didn’t anticipate distance between 2 traffic cones and just sliced in between them. The indicator took a hard hit and stopped working.
I reached my destination around 5 p.m. Took rest the whole day and headed to Meja Dam near Bhilwara with friends the next day. The heat was such that it forced all of us to take a dive in the reservoir there.
May 4: The last day of my trip. Final destination: Faridabad. I just had one aim, that was, to reach home as early as possible because the last day was a bit lengthy. 531 KMs to be precise.
The heat was a lot and it forced me to take around 4 stops in Rajasthan itself. After around 250 KMs, I started to feel tired due to dehydration. My eyes were almost closing as if I was to fall asleep. Took another stop and poured some water on my head and helmet which helped a lot as the helmet was quite hot. I damped my balaclava too because the heat was nowhere to stop. Even Faridabad was as hot as Jaipur, maybe a degree cool. Stopped to purchase some biscuits and soft drink. Drank a ½ litre bottle of Sprite and a litre of water.
About 6 p.m. , I reached Throttle Shrottle, Gurgaon and took some refreshments. After 15 minutes, I was in front of my house in Faridabad, safe and sound, and, on-time too because there was violent thunderstorm just after a couple of hours I reached home.
Mileage records:
337 KMs for 11.73 litres of fuel= 28.729 kpl
275.4 KMs for 8.43 litres of fuel= 32.66 kpl
313.8 KMs for 8.73 litres of fuel= 35.94 kpl
287.4 KMs for 8.39 litres of fuel= 34.25 kpl
293.4 KMs for 8.45 litres of fuel= 34.72 kpl
Averaging at 33.2598 kpl
Riding gears:
Helmet: MT Thunder 3 SV Effect + ASG SG-02 Bluetooth headset
Gloves: Rynox Evolution Pro (short cuff) and Cramster TRG 2 (full gauntlet)
Jacket: PGS Riding Jacket
Pants: Tarmac Riding Pants
Boots: Speed boots (full size)
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