as you know im a guy who wouldnt read anything very long..or for that matter READ anything!(sadly thats what kept me away from reading this for a year now) but i swear i read this one whole-heartedly and boy i'm actually a fan of you ketan bhau!

believe me i started off reading this one and got so engrossed that i avoided the calls i never generally do(how dare i do that!)...and even if i attended a few...i hardly was listening to the soft,sweet voice when i had been reading exactly the opposite like the harsh and difficult conditions you were facing...excellent narrating skills that you have!

about your biking skills i am hardly anyone to comment since now you are the 'toughest rider' amongst us ! Congratulations for your feat ! I am really proud of you...lets ride soon !

P.S. : In future i'll definitely send my kids to your place for them to listen to stories narrated by you.

Thank you very much Ninad! Am repeating the same thing I told you over sms.. These words mean a lot for me.. As encouragement.! I'll be honest, I swear even I don't know what kept me going that day.. may be it was the previous failure, the financial crunch or something else.. Those ~26 hours were indeed the toughest hours of my life. I missed my family and Amruta(GF) a lot.. Was literally on the verge of crying as I was approaching Pune, the end point. It was TOUGH time!

Have something similar on cards for near future and I just pray to god that no such unforeseen incidents take place during any of the rides, be it with me or my co-riders..

Thanks once again and yeah, Let's ride soon!

my bad...i saw this reply late...very late..in fact we did many rides together in between

all said and done...now you are one of the few TOUGHEST riders all over the world...im glad we have such people around aai, vahininna majha namaskaar...tyanchi tujhyasathi kalji mee samju shakto pan aata mala anand aahe ki tyanna KHATRI aahe tu kai kai karu shaktos ani tula tyanchyawar kiti prem aahe

haha.. Nakkich!
But am pretty sure Another Saddle Sore thread will soon be up with another great achievement. You know what this is all about...

Ride safe buddy and Good luck for all your Future rides!
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@ All, here's something which I just posted on Mumbai/Pune offline thread -

Hi guys,

Am feeling very proud to let you all know that I, along with Tushar Jadhav and Nitin Manore has finally fulfilled our Long awaited Dream - The Iron Butt Association, California's Bun Burner 2500K Title.

According to IBA personnel, this is the 'Largest Group in India to complete the Bun Burner 2500K ride'. We completed the task on 12-13 Feb 2011 by riding more than 2500 Kms between Mumbai and Chennai. In fact, we also successfully completed the Saddle Sore 1600K at Nelamangala, Karnataka before moving ahead and completing Bun Burner. We'll be sending all our documents to IBA for verification very soon.

There's a lot to write about and a LONG list of people to Thank. Don't worry am not gonna go all OT by posting our ride report on Offline meet's thread but will definitely mention few points and Thank a few very important people.

In India, sane riding itself has so much risk involved in it. Attempting/achieving something like IBA Saddle Sore/Bun Burner is at least 10X more difficult. Needs meticulous planning and prices execution of all the plans. We are glad that we managed to complete this ride in the safest possible way and without any mishap. People around the world accomplish such rides with ease but if you go through the IBA's achiever's list you'll notice one thing and that is most bikes are more than 500CC and more powerful. Doing it on sub 250CC bikes make it even more interesting Bun Burner rides are true compliments to the word ENDURANCE. And now when I look at this ride I understand how EASY it was/is to complete a Saddle Sore. It's a race to find the perfect balance between your Body, Machine, Time and Distance. Secondary things like road condition, traffic and weather can easily make or break your ride.

It's always better to have a good company for such long rides and am glad I had it for this ride.

Riding with DK was fun as usual. His sense of humor helped us rejuvenate during our breaks. Tushar, man you rocked in this ride. Great Stamina and control. You are one of my favorite co-riders now on. My kind of biking. Thanks for the company guys..........

First of all, Thanks to Sunny for helping us with CEAT sponsorship. OF sir, thank you for your vital tips just before the ride and of course your Good Wishes.

Vishwas sir(Pune xBhp), thanks to you once again for all your suggestions and tips. You helped me a lot. I tried to be in touch with you during our ride but couldn't continue that beyond a certain point of time.

A BIG thanks to my bro, Mandar Vichare, for your riding Gloves and Tee I really bothered you a lot for my ride Thanks man!

Thanks to Ninad and Tanmay for being our Start Witnesses. They rode to Panvel at 4.30 in the morning specially for us. Means a lot dude. Thanks to Praful Tripathy for the quick update of NICE road and Hosur Road. DK did have a chat with some of the CSS Jan 2011 riders for updates regarding road condition of and beyond NH4. I don't know who those guys are but hey, Thanks to you too! I don't know if you should write it here or not but I couldn't have done this ride without my Mom's help and support. She stood by me in my Saddle Sore ride and once again for the Bun Burner. Proud to have a mom like you.

Anyway, so I conclude this short 'Ride Report'.

Ketan Nikharge & Tushar Jadhav = 2 X IBA Saddle Sore 1600K
Ketan Nikharge, Tushar Jadhav & Nitin Manore = 1 X IBA Bun Burner 2500K

It is not a co-incidence that your saddle sore log is topping tourer section on the day you completed your Bun Burner.

Hats off to you all.

Congrats to all three of you on this great achievement. Hats off.

Thank you Vishwas Saheb and Jonak

Congrats Ketan, DK and Tushar..... you guys are too good !!!
Ketan, you didn't say that it would be so soon

Thanks sirjee for wishes.

Congrats on the Bun Burner ride ketan..

How much time does it take for the certificate and verification process from IBA?

Thank you Strider. There's no particular time frame as such for the certification process. My Saddle Sore ride was certified in comparatively shorter time than some other peoples' rides. It depends on how clear the documentation is, work load on IBA representatives(you can read in their web site that most representatives are full time workers and they work with IBA for part time), verification with witnesses etc.

George sir, didn't I tell you nothing's fixed In fact we were almost on the verge of postponing our ride by a week or two. But am glad everything happened as planned

Received an email from the editor of Iron Butt Magazine. They feel my Bun Burner 2500K travelogue is worth publishing in their magazine and that it'll be there in the upcoming issue of the magazine. Feels good! Just replied to his mail sending him some high res pictures of our ride which they wanted. Will be waiting eagerly for the magazine

Why I am posting this here is because though it's the Bun Burner article, it also has some reference to my Saddle Sore ride. Finally made it to the IBA magazine Feeling great!

Sharing another news with you people:
Here's my small write up on Endurance biking and my past IBA rides in today's issue of "Sakal" - a well known Marathi newspaper.

मित्रा! मारलेस! तोडलेस रे! सुंदर लिहिले आहेस! आनंदाश्रू निघाले माझ्या डोळ्यातून! अप्रतिम! मनापासून अभिनंदन! तुझ्या डोळ्याला काय झालेले ते पाहिलेलेस की नाही घरी आल्यावर?

- ललित

केतन दादा लिंक द्या सकाळच्या वेबसाईटची.

Sorry for that Sunil, I am posting translation of it. And I will take care of it for my future posts.

English Translation:

Amazing Achievement Ketan! Awesome! The writeup is like an icing on the cake! I Heartiest Congratulations! Did you check what had happened with your eye? And Also if you could post the Sakal papers website link, I would be more than happy read it!

Cheers!