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No, this is not a war of bikes. Nor is this a war of bikers. This is a humble recounting of some extraordinary events that happened during a biking week in September, 2009.
Barely a month had gone by when I hit the road once again. And before long the rain hit me as usual. It had been raining hard for the past week, harder than what one gets to see in these parts. I was on the road for barely a few minutes and it was already raining. I find myself yet again on a bike in the rain, without petrol yet again, standing at a petrol station waiting for the attendant to fill her up. But this time I was better prepared. I had my full suit raincoat, saddlebags protected from inside, weatherproof spraying on my boots and I was not on my R1 but on my lightly modified 220FI.
P220 modified for offroad:
Day1 September 12th, 2009
In less than half an hour I had joined the others on NH1, Nitin on his modified Zma and Vivek on his new acquisition… I will leave that for the moment and let the pictures do the talking!
Which bike?
We were on the GT Karnal road at 0430 hours, NH-1 in the direction of Chandigarh, but this time we were to bypass to go towards Vashist in Himachal. The rain was not torrential like last time. But it was there, constant, omnipresent; a fine drizzle like the way it rains in Europe, not hard enough to wash away everything in a downpour, just light enough to put a fine slushy slippery layer on the roads to make it really dangerous for two-wheelers and with every passing vehicle, your visor got a newly laid layer of fine spray that did not do wonders to visibility. Add to it the strange behaviour of my 220 FI with the new setup that I did not have time to get used to. The knobby tyres made my bike wobble in a strange way at speeds higher than 90kmph on tarmac made slippery with slush and rain.
Bikers are like warriors. They take on adversity after adversity without batting an eyelid. Looking at accuweather, I could have easily stayed on in the airconditionned comfort of my bedroom and petered away my days watching television and walking malls! Instead I was out here risking my bones feeling like a cat in the rain, yet again and looking forward to more. And did I get more!
Catch up wait:
Wait over
I will skip the breakfast details and all those useless details though I love food. I will move on to the getting “more” bit. While bypassing Chandigarh, we came across a broken bridge on the highway. And all the water was flowing underneath the bridge in a rush. And obviously we bikers, like the rest of the vehicles had to cross this stream of current of muddy water. A truck had got stuck. Vivek obviously was the first to hit the stream and he easily crossed it without a thought, like a biker would! Nitin and I followed. I hit it in 2nd and kept the throttle going. The water came up higher than the clutch plates and part of the engine fins were submerged. But I kept the throttle going still and about 25 metres later came out to some more slush and mud. Unfortunately I do not have photographs.
This time we waited for Nitin
His chain had come off. It took him some time to get it in place and he finally managed to join us. In the process he missed out on an exciting soup! He would make up for it later.
After that crossing, somehow, the three bikers fell out of line and separated and dispersed and proceeded along different paths to the same destination for the next hour. I caught up with Vivek on the initial climb to the hills. Nitin caught up with us a little later at Swarghat. And then we rode together yet again for the next couple of hundred kilometres and a little over four hours. We stopped once to refuel, once to buy Thums Up, once to drink it and take pictures and once for landslides!
Stop to shoot at the dam!
Shot during a landslide break
Some 75 kilometres short of Vashist, I prefer staying at Vashist rather than Manali which I find resembles Karol Bagh more than anything else, Vivek, Nitin and I stopped to have samosas. Over our last rides, it has been established that Nitin eats like a bird. Hence Vivek and I ordered one samosa each and Nitin ordered FOUR for himself! Reached Vashist in the evening and went for a quick very HOT dip in the local hot water public pool. Nitin was initially reluctant to enter the hot water spring due to hygienic reasons. Then he was reluctant to get out since he had well settled in the warmth of the water. That was when I asked him about the brand of his sexy underwear! He looked so embarrassed.
The Samosa breakhttp://www.xbhp.com/talkies/294608-post26.html
Day 3 and 4 Updated here: http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/296825-post61.html
Barely a month had gone by when I hit the road once again. And before long the rain hit me as usual. It had been raining hard for the past week, harder than what one gets to see in these parts. I was on the road for barely a few minutes and it was already raining. I find myself yet again on a bike in the rain, without petrol yet again, standing at a petrol station waiting for the attendant to fill her up. But this time I was better prepared. I had my full suit raincoat, saddlebags protected from inside, weatherproof spraying on my boots and I was not on my R1 but on my lightly modified 220FI.
P220 modified for offroad:
Day1 September 12th, 2009
In less than half an hour I had joined the others on NH1, Nitin on his modified Zma and Vivek on his new acquisition… I will leave that for the moment and let the pictures do the talking!
Which bike?
We were on the GT Karnal road at 0430 hours, NH-1 in the direction of Chandigarh, but this time we were to bypass to go towards Vashist in Himachal. The rain was not torrential like last time. But it was there, constant, omnipresent; a fine drizzle like the way it rains in Europe, not hard enough to wash away everything in a downpour, just light enough to put a fine slushy slippery layer on the roads to make it really dangerous for two-wheelers and with every passing vehicle, your visor got a newly laid layer of fine spray that did not do wonders to visibility. Add to it the strange behaviour of my 220 FI with the new setup that I did not have time to get used to. The knobby tyres made my bike wobble in a strange way at speeds higher than 90kmph on tarmac made slippery with slush and rain.
Bikers are like warriors. They take on adversity after adversity without batting an eyelid. Looking at accuweather, I could have easily stayed on in the airconditionned comfort of my bedroom and petered away my days watching television and walking malls! Instead I was out here risking my bones feeling like a cat in the rain, yet again and looking forward to more. And did I get more!
Catch up wait:
Wait over
I will skip the breakfast details and all those useless details though I love food. I will move on to the getting “more” bit. While bypassing Chandigarh, we came across a broken bridge on the highway. And all the water was flowing underneath the bridge in a rush. And obviously we bikers, like the rest of the vehicles had to cross this stream of current of muddy water. A truck had got stuck. Vivek obviously was the first to hit the stream and he easily crossed it without a thought, like a biker would! Nitin and I followed. I hit it in 2nd and kept the throttle going. The water came up higher than the clutch plates and part of the engine fins were submerged. But I kept the throttle going still and about 25 metres later came out to some more slush and mud. Unfortunately I do not have photographs.
This time we waited for Nitin
His chain had come off. It took him some time to get it in place and he finally managed to join us. In the process he missed out on an exciting soup! He would make up for it later.
After that crossing, somehow, the three bikers fell out of line and separated and dispersed and proceeded along different paths to the same destination for the next hour. I caught up with Vivek on the initial climb to the hills. Nitin caught up with us a little later at Swarghat. And then we rode together yet again for the next couple of hundred kilometres and a little over four hours. We stopped once to refuel, once to buy Thums Up, once to drink it and take pictures and once for landslides!
Stop to shoot at the dam!
Shot during a landslide break
Some 75 kilometres short of Vashist, I prefer staying at Vashist rather than Manali which I find resembles Karol Bagh more than anything else, Vivek, Nitin and I stopped to have samosas. Over our last rides, it has been established that Nitin eats like a bird. Hence Vivek and I ordered one samosa each and Nitin ordered FOUR for himself! Reached Vashist in the evening and went for a quick very HOT dip in the local hot water public pool. Nitin was initially reluctant to enter the hot water spring due to hygienic reasons. Then he was reluctant to get out since he had well settled in the warmth of the water. That was when I asked him about the brand of his sexy underwear! He looked so embarrassed.
The Samosa breakhttp://www.xbhp.com/talkies/294608-post26.html
Day 3 and 4 Updated here: http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/296825-post61.html
For sale?
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