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The Himalayan xPlorers (HX) 5 Teaser : 6 xBhp Members : 7 Days : Delhi - Leh - Delhi
Photo by caravikiran
Day -1 and 1 Triplog by caravikiran
Day : - 1 (Minus One) 22nd August 08.
Vivek and me had reached Delhi in the morning at 9 from Hyderabad. MG had gratefully there to receive us.
We had parceled our bike and they had reached Delhi the previous night. We decided to pick the bikes and then proceed with our other plans. After a long wait in the auto (for almost 30 mins – thanks to the closed rail crossing) we finally reached the parcel service. Then we had to wait for the person there and finally we saw our bikes, and I was so excited to see her J, We and our bikes had reached Delhi in good condition (barring the broken front brake lever of Vivek’s ZMA) and a big step closer to start HX 5. I had some work in Pro-Biking and vivek had to get his brake lever changed so we got busy with those things. By this time Ishaq had landed in Delhi and to his frustration his bike was shipped to Okhla godown of Gati. He had a very tough time coming out of that area. MG & Vi left me in the Bagga Link pro-biking and went to meet Ishaq and get Vi’s bike in condition. I was used to seeing my baby serviced in pro-biking but this time it was a pro-biking center in Delhi. My bike has been to Pro-biking centers in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Delhi. Chennai also looks a possibility now J.
Called up Bunny, he was leaving to catch his flight from Pune(Or Mumbai is it ?).
By the time MG, Vi & Is came back to probiking, it was around 8 PM I think. I was waiting from past two hours at probking. But proking atmosphere makes me feel at home J. By this time I had tied all my luggage (Saddle bags, big bag pack & tank bag) to the bike and it looked nice with all the luggage.
We had two options : 1) either check into a hotel, eat and sleep in which case we would end up sleeping at around 12 and we had to get up at 4 in the morning. 4 hrs of sleep wasn’t going to be enough before the long 600 kms ride the next day.
We took the second option 2) ride down to outskirts of Delhi and decrease the distance for next day. So Vi, Is and me said bye to MG and rode down around 40 kms outside Delhi and stayed in a Haryana tourism resort dreaming about HX 5.
Day : 1 - 23rd August 08
HX 5 dream finally saw the light of the day. But that was not before 50 more kms into the ride on day one. Around 5 AM was the initial plan to start from Karnal Pass from Delhi. So we thought Bunny, Nitin Bhai & Chandeerjeet won’t start before 5:30 and won’t reach our place of stay before 6:15, but to our disbelief, they had reached by 5:30 AM. We 3 had a tough time getting ready so quickly and could hardly get sound sleep actually. We weren’t aware that endurance test had already begun. Early start was to ensure we reach Manali by 7 atleast and take sufficient rest before next days ride. By things were planned differently for some of us. The ride went on smoothly. NH1 was awesome. I find it very difficult to ride at 80-100 without feeling sleepy. But I had stick with the group as well. I had a plan. I was the last to start from the resort (and that was not the last time I started last J). Ch was relatively slow. So I caught him very quickly. Then I went ahead of Bu and then Ni & Vi. Then I went past Ishaq and stayed ahead for some time. Then slowed down completely to about 40-50 and caught the Ch from front J who was riding last. Make sure everything was fine with him and then again started my usual speeds. Two rounds of this back & forth plan and we had reached our breakfast point. I was about to overtake Ni, who was leading, when he indicated me to stay behind as we are nearing our stop. We all had our break fast and I enjoyed Parantha & Dahi with butter.. yummy..i still remember the taste.
Then we set off again, within some time we had reached outskirts of Chandigarh, we all got together there since the route through Chandigarh was quite confusing and easy to take a wrong turn. Most of us tanked up since petrol was relatively cheap in Chandigarh.
We bid good bye to the lovely roads of NH1 and started to proceed towards Manali. Again the roads were pretty good, single laned divider less roads.Soon the ghat section started, I was excited, I always loved climbing ghats, it was mouth watering. We took a stop here..we were all set to reach Manali by 6-7. Then we were searching for a hotel for lunch desperately. Bunny got a call from Ch that his bike’s chain had given way. We all went back by which time Ch had managed to put his chain back and ready to proceed again. Then we finally got a place and had lunch. Ch started off early from the point. And I was last to start again J. Ch had stopped at a near by mechanic shop for repairs. It was decided that Ni, Vi & myself will proceed towards Manali and Bu,Is & Ch will get the repairs done and then come. We 3 started off. We were riding together. At one point I was just behind Ni Bhai when he wanted to stop & luckily missed a mishap, I was wondering why was he riding like that. I also pulled over to the side. Then he told me he was feeling very sleepy. We had cool drinks by the time Vi also joined us. All 3 of us left, me being the last again J. Then I stopped again for bio brake and lost track of Ni & Vi. There is one dam beautiful dam after Mandi (I think).. and fortunately all the gates were open, it was a very pleasant sight. Photography is prohibited at this dam. Vehicles pass above the dam. I was doing 10 kmph to enjoy the beauty of the dam. Stopping on the dam is prohibited. Then came the loooooonnnnnggggggg underground tunnel. It needs a special mention as well. I had never before rode through such a thing in my life. I caught up with Vi near Kullu. Ni bhai had ripped off. It was night by now. We didn’t have too much difficulty riding to Manali since he had Osram Night Breaker bulbs for his headlight and needless to mention about 220’s headlights. We reached Manali, meanwhile Ni had booked a hotel for all of us at Manali, he guided we both to the hotel. We had constant updates from Bunny about their progress and they reached a couple of hours after us. We had dinner and dozed off imagining the adventure in store for us from tomorrow.
Kms coverd on day 1 : around 600 Kms.
Total cumulative Kms for the trip : 600 Kms.
Departure Time from Delhi : 5:30 AM.
Arrival time at Manali : Around 9 PM.
Rest of the days are coming up soon.
Photo by caravikiran
Day -1 and 1 Triplog by caravikiran
Day : - 1 (Minus One) 22nd August 08.
Vivek and me had reached Delhi in the morning at 9 from Hyderabad. MG had gratefully there to receive us.
We had parceled our bike and they had reached Delhi the previous night. We decided to pick the bikes and then proceed with our other plans. After a long wait in the auto (for almost 30 mins – thanks to the closed rail crossing) we finally reached the parcel service. Then we had to wait for the person there and finally we saw our bikes, and I was so excited to see her J, We and our bikes had reached Delhi in good condition (barring the broken front brake lever of Vivek’s ZMA) and a big step closer to start HX 5. I had some work in Pro-Biking and vivek had to get his brake lever changed so we got busy with those things. By this time Ishaq had landed in Delhi and to his frustration his bike was shipped to Okhla godown of Gati. He had a very tough time coming out of that area. MG & Vi left me in the Bagga Link pro-biking and went to meet Ishaq and get Vi’s bike in condition. I was used to seeing my baby serviced in pro-biking but this time it was a pro-biking center in Delhi. My bike has been to Pro-biking centers in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Delhi. Chennai also looks a possibility now J.
Called up Bunny, he was leaving to catch his flight from Pune(Or Mumbai is it ?).
By the time MG, Vi & Is came back to probiking, it was around 8 PM I think. I was waiting from past two hours at probking. But proking atmosphere makes me feel at home J. By this time I had tied all my luggage (Saddle bags, big bag pack & tank bag) to the bike and it looked nice with all the luggage.
We had two options : 1) either check into a hotel, eat and sleep in which case we would end up sleeping at around 12 and we had to get up at 4 in the morning. 4 hrs of sleep wasn’t going to be enough before the long 600 kms ride the next day.
We took the second option 2) ride down to outskirts of Delhi and decrease the distance for next day. So Vi, Is and me said bye to MG and rode down around 40 kms outside Delhi and stayed in a Haryana tourism resort dreaming about HX 5.
Day : 1 - 23rd August 08
HX 5 dream finally saw the light of the day. But that was not before 50 more kms into the ride on day one. Around 5 AM was the initial plan to start from Karnal Pass from Delhi. So we thought Bunny, Nitin Bhai & Chandeerjeet won’t start before 5:30 and won’t reach our place of stay before 6:15, but to our disbelief, they had reached by 5:30 AM. We 3 had a tough time getting ready so quickly and could hardly get sound sleep actually. We weren’t aware that endurance test had already begun. Early start was to ensure we reach Manali by 7 atleast and take sufficient rest before next days ride. By things were planned differently for some of us. The ride went on smoothly. NH1 was awesome. I find it very difficult to ride at 80-100 without feeling sleepy. But I had stick with the group as well. I had a plan. I was the last to start from the resort (and that was not the last time I started last J). Ch was relatively slow. So I caught him very quickly. Then I went ahead of Bu and then Ni & Vi. Then I went past Ishaq and stayed ahead for some time. Then slowed down completely to about 40-50 and caught the Ch from front J who was riding last. Make sure everything was fine with him and then again started my usual speeds. Two rounds of this back & forth plan and we had reached our breakfast point. I was about to overtake Ni, who was leading, when he indicated me to stay behind as we are nearing our stop. We all had our break fast and I enjoyed Parantha & Dahi with butter.. yummy..i still remember the taste.
Then we set off again, within some time we had reached outskirts of Chandigarh, we all got together there since the route through Chandigarh was quite confusing and easy to take a wrong turn. Most of us tanked up since petrol was relatively cheap in Chandigarh.
We bid good bye to the lovely roads of NH1 and started to proceed towards Manali. Again the roads were pretty good, single laned divider less roads.Soon the ghat section started, I was excited, I always loved climbing ghats, it was mouth watering. We took a stop here..we were all set to reach Manali by 6-7. Then we were searching for a hotel for lunch desperately. Bunny got a call from Ch that his bike’s chain had given way. We all went back by which time Ch had managed to put his chain back and ready to proceed again. Then we finally got a place and had lunch. Ch started off early from the point. And I was last to start again J. Ch had stopped at a near by mechanic shop for repairs. It was decided that Ni, Vi & myself will proceed towards Manali and Bu,Is & Ch will get the repairs done and then come. We 3 started off. We were riding together. At one point I was just behind Ni Bhai when he wanted to stop & luckily missed a mishap, I was wondering why was he riding like that. I also pulled over to the side. Then he told me he was feeling very sleepy. We had cool drinks by the time Vi also joined us. All 3 of us left, me being the last again J. Then I stopped again for bio brake and lost track of Ni & Vi. There is one dam beautiful dam after Mandi (I think).. and fortunately all the gates were open, it was a very pleasant sight. Photography is prohibited at this dam. Vehicles pass above the dam. I was doing 10 kmph to enjoy the beauty of the dam. Stopping on the dam is prohibited. Then came the loooooonnnnnggggggg underground tunnel. It needs a special mention as well. I had never before rode through such a thing in my life. I caught up with Vi near Kullu. Ni bhai had ripped off. It was night by now. We didn’t have too much difficulty riding to Manali since he had Osram Night Breaker bulbs for his headlight and needless to mention about 220’s headlights. We reached Manali, meanwhile Ni had booked a hotel for all of us at Manali, he guided we both to the hotel. We had constant updates from Bunny about their progress and they reached a couple of hours after us. We had dinner and dozed off imagining the adventure in store for us from tomorrow.
Kms coverd on day 1 : around 600 Kms.
Total cumulative Kms for the trip : 600 Kms.
Departure Time from Delhi : 5:30 AM.
Arrival time at Manali : Around 9 PM.
Rest of the days are coming up soon.
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Cool man...Guess, some hyderabadi has been there!
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