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**viny** · 03-09-2010, 04:46 PM

Originally posted by nav75 View Post

Do army allows crossing of Zoji La in night?

No one stops if you want to commit suicide. Doing Zoji La or Fotu La during night on a bike is a sure shot suicide attempt. DCS failed in the attempt hence we see him here.

Army and BRO stop the movement only during winter or when there is heavy snow fall otherwise its open.

If there is full moon time, then also its risky, and if its no moon night, then its dark as black and I am sure one could get scared by the echoing sound of his breath itself with silence everywhere else.

**pads** · 03-09-2010, 04:59 PM

Originally posted by kurtrules View Post

So I thought of putting up this thread where people can also share the toughest ride (in a particular day) that they have gone through, which is part of any trip undertaken. Where skill, patience, endurance and fitness were all put to test, at maximum. A ride you rate the highest on the toughness scale! One that comes above all.

I'll start with mine.

Kaza - Batal - Chattru - Manali - Chandigarh : 530 kms, 22 hrs

Out of the 530 kms, 460 were in hills. This done on the last day of my Spiti trip. I had to reach office on sunday and thus I did this on a saturday!

18 of those 22 hrs were spent in riding on river beds/dirt/portions of black ice/rocks/mud & slush, and finally negotiating every corner and twisty with precision, on the last leg!

The ride that I completed yesterday (Udaipur - Chandigarh, 1000 kms, ~19-20 hrs) too had me floored, but it was more tiring than tough, one which involved kilometer after kilometer riding on long straight roads, where I was just munching miles and nothing else, and hence does not come even close to the ride stated above.

Waiting for you to share yours

Nice thread...... n nice ride of yours......

Originally posted by prafultripathy View Post

Toughest ride so far would be a crazy one day ride from Chennai(NH46/NH7)-Bangalore-Nandi Hills(NH7)-Bangalore-Chennai(NH4/NH46) 823 Kms in about 18 hours.

hey Praful the roads are atleast good at this stretch....... but tiredness is something which we have to overcome n ride....... n thats a difficult task.......

Originally posted by rachitkohli View Post

My toughest Journey was the Mumbai-Leh-Mumbai. But the toughest ride from that journey was, returning from Pangang_Tso - Leh.

A damn memorable n tiring ride........ overcoming nature's call

.......

Originally posted by bluevolt View Post

For me, it has to be Ghorbunder - Pune during the GAD trip. It was not like that the road was bad or whatever, but a lot of traffic (ID festival) on a very hot day in riding leathers. I felt like I was put in a microwave and someone had turned the knob to 'cook well for two hours'

traffic traffic n more traffic........ makes a biker's life living hell......

Originally posted by Old Fox View Post

There were two and I can't choose between them. So I'd better write about both

.
1. Circa 1996. August. Two riders. Yours truly astride his trusty KB100 RTZ Delta and a friend on his Shogun. We did Delhi-Jammu-Ramban-Jammu-Khajjiar-Palampur-Mandi-Manali-Keylong-Patseo-Manali-Larji-Jalori-Narkanda-Delhi in 8 days. Almost continuous rain for 5 days. Shoja-Jalori-Khanag was a mere pack-track, some 15-20 ft wide then. Gradient fit for a mule. At places, we had to get off our bikes and push them up while in 1st gear. Narkanda-Shimla was being widened and mud-slides galore at almost every third turn. Took us 7 hrs to get to Shimla (normally less than 2) and we were caked with muck and slush till a little above our knees. No hotel would give us a room (seeing the filth no doubt

) Washed our legs (pants, shoes and all) at a roadside tap. My 'slipped disc' made it bad for me. Was riding on 6-8 asprins a day to kill the pain.

2. Circa 2004. January. Three riders. I rode my CBZ classic and the other two had a Fiero and a P180 (both classics). Rode to Kinnaur. It snowed very late that year and so we chanced it. Couldn't go beyond Nako. Road frozen over, at places had a 2ft thick slab of ice where water was running across. Very cold. Stayed the night at Puh even though saw thin alto-cirrus in the western sky (a sure sign of the famous 'western disturbances' - read 'snow' where we were). Sure enough it started snowing early next morning. Woke up at 6:30 to realize the road already had almost a foot of snow on it. Rushed with our packing and were on the road within 30 mins. The snow was deep but soft as the residual heat of the road kept it moist. But the wind was nasty and wind-driven snow made for near-whiteout conditions. Temp down to about minus 12 degC (I had a pocket thermometer just for fun

). Fingertips went blue within the first hour and we'd warm them by gripping the engine. Puh-Powari took 6 hrs. (usually doable with an hour and a half).

Tough, tougher n waiting for toughest.......

Originally posted by sheelpriye View Post

the return trip from Maldah where i had crashed my P-180 following crimson
the bike wasn't up even after repairs and i was really fatigued, had to stop and pour water over my head every now and then, the whole helmet and soaked and had to encounter hazardous on-coming traffic with their high-beams
too much for a fatigued rider and an ill motorcycle(the T and rim were bent)

even the roads are one of the worst on this NH....... very pathetic roads n many trucks to irritate you at night.......

that stretch made my life also a living hell....... even the diversions.......

Originally posted by dcs View Post

but of all the rides that I can recall in the past, the toughest being from Leh to Ludhiana where in we rode almost non stop in 48 hours.

non-stop for 48hrs

........ r u people mad......

Originally posted by ketan_r15 View Post

Well for me..my toughest ride so far is my SaddleSore ride!

The link is in my signature. It was indeed tough both physically as well as mentally. Had to go through a lot of unforeseen obstacles.

The second toughest ride for me is Mumbai - Hedvi - Mumbai solo ride. Lost my way in between, roads full of dust, villages so remote that I had tough time finding fuel and then very restricted time frame to get back home

Yes..it was tough for me

your saddlesore will be toughest because of the sores

.......

mine will be during this Holi on my brand new P220(DOB--8thFeb'10)........ just planned at office to go to B'lore for the celebration....... so went to service centre only to find that my low beam not working....... so dropped the plan for the night....... the next day again took the bike to SC to get it serviced and to repair the headlamp........ got back my bike at 1:15pm....... n started directly from there........ was carrying my laptop n small things in my laptop bag....... by the end of the journey I was feeling Hercules(carrying whole world on my back)....... till 6-7pm everything was fine but after that suddenly road with no divider....... then also going smoothly but to make my life hell the construction area started........ it was slow n tiring........ saw my watch n it was 11pm....... so stopped for dinner....... again started n later found a stretch of around 100km which was in good condition........ I wanted to reach fast so was riding at 110-125 at night(riding in front of a Logan n later Scorpio)......... this helped a lot....... at some place filled petrol but the pump owner wont accept any card except petro card...... so had to drain back petrol and continue with my ride........ at last reached B'lore at around 4am......... few hrs of sleep n my God,,,,, Holiiiiiiiiii....... we can skip this part

.....
return journey, again started late....... at around 10:30am......... reached at 11pm....... then saw the condition of in which I was riding the previous night....... no wonder it took so much time.......
thanks to my P220 for its strong headlamp n good brakes which made my journey easier........ n done more than 4000km within 1 month

.......

**biker boy** · 03-09-2010, 05:23 PM

Wonderful threat!

Great initative Kurt.
My toughest ride has been:

From - Drass to Chandigarh
Time taken - 32 hours

And prior to this was Delhi to Chandigarh

.

@DCS

Thats one real tough ride, hats of to you, specially crossing that Zojila pass in the night!

- Amit

**rennycornelius** · 03-09-2010, 05:27 PM

My toughest and most "stupidest" drive was with my friend which started when he got a call from his family to reach UJJAIN (75kms from INDORE) ASAP.

He has a PULSAR 150 UG3, so we jumped on the bike and started, (to top it only i was wearing helmet with no other protection and he was in t shirt and jeans..

)

We started ripping the bike then it started takking hiccups and we found out it came to reserve, luckily the fuel station was 10 kms away so we filled it to the brim and rode off like maniacs.

There was this 8kms stretch which was in pathetic condition and as we were in hurry we took that whole stretch at the speed of 60-70kmph, and after crossing it the road became silky smooth and it seemed like we'll reach there in 45 mins, but we were wrong after driving 5 kms more his brake line bursted and the front brake went numb

(it bursted so bad that the fluid got sprayed all over the alloys, front mudguard and tyre, making the mudguard look "chitkabra")

we thought this is probably not our safest day to ride but still we started doin 60-70kmph, and i was relying on engine braking and rear brake only,but story didnt even ended there,after riding for 25km more the bike started taking hiccups and stalled. we looked at each others faces and there was this sign on the road saying UJJAIN-35kms.

i opened the plugs and found out one is not taking the enough current, (DTS-I remember, it runs on two) so i begged for a safety pin from a villager aunty, cleaned the plug which looked best of two, and fitted it back (my friend didnt changed the plug from the day he bought the bike and the odo showed 22500kms.

)

then started the bike but it was taking hiccups and then we finally made it to UJJAIN with one plugged, hiccup taking, no front brake bike.

**Mik** · 03-09-2010, 05:34 PM

After reading some of the amazing triumphs of human grit over the averse conditions, i hereby declare that no ride of mine was tough

Just one day worth mentioning.
The kumaon trip was jinxed for me. First day, had an accident (low beam gone and high beam started pointing to the stars) and all day long my rear wheel was going all over the place in the rains.
On the third day we needed to do Pithoragarh to Noida (around 500km) from sunrise till sun down as i couldn't have rode in the dark.

All was going well but suddenly my left foot started feeling a bit wet. I thought that maybe it was some splashed water but soon i was feeling a bit dizzy. Took off the socks to see that a leech had drunk my blood to its hearts content. Quickly removed it but the blood won't stop flowing. Manan was carrying a chappal with him and i wore that. With every gear shift, little drops of blood fell on the road. An hour later, in Almora, got the thing bandaged but it became blood soaked quickly. Had to ignore all of that and we rode all day in crazy traffic near haldwani and towards noida, weak, dirty and all of that wearing a chappal on a bike with a headlight smashed and suspect handling

Oh yes, we did make it to Noida by sun down.

**dcs** · 03-09-2010, 05:50 PM

Originally posted by kurtrules View Post

Leh to Ludhiana in one go!

Crossing Zozila at night!

I bow to thee!!!

It was not a record that we decided to put up, it was out of sheer ignorance.

Originally posted by nav75 View Post

Do army allows crossing of Zoji La in night?

Very True, the army people do not allow the vehicle movement from 12:30am to 3:30 am but we managed to go past the barrier( off road the barrier area) as the faatak was closed but there was no single human there.

Originally posted by rachitkohli View Post

dcs..!! You are the man.. Applaud..!! I know this stretch & you do in 48 hours including night passing the zozila..!! you got balls man..

Balls or no balls, its just that I did something that I would request noone else to do. It was not a wise act.

Originally posted by pads View Post

non-stop for 48hrs

........ r u people mad......

Not a very healthy comment though, but we just could not find a decent place to stay. Also, we tried sleeping on a khaat at a dhaba, but as the luck would had it for us, the owner was not there, and the staff was too drunk. had to run away from the Dhaba.

Originally posted by biker boy View Post

@DCS
Thats one real tough ride, hats of to you, specially crossing that Zojila pass in the night! - Amit

Am saying it again and again, we dint do it for the sake of adventure or for the sake of experiment. We were very ignorant of the route and especially after doing the Kargil Dras route, one tends to think that he is in close range to population. If I ever knew what was in store, I would have prefered staying at dras on the road. and as for the question of how we managed to stay alive, well, if I ever come up with a blog or a trip logue of Leh, you guys will understand how I managed to be among you after all that.

Originally posted by Mik View Post

All was going well but suddenly my left foot started feeling a bit wet. I thought that maybe it was some splashed water but soon i was feeling a bit dizzy. Took off the socks to see that a leech had drunk my blood to its hearts content.

Oh yes, we did make it to Noida by sun down.

Miks, This is worth saying- Anything for the Passion!!!

all cheers
dcs

**tourer_kashif** · 03-10-2010, 01:37 AM

Very nice thread...

Still to navigate any real tough terrain.
However my 2 hr ride towards Munnar from Pollachi through Eravikulam NP in dark became really difficult due to following.

mild rain,bad roads in ghat without any fencing at many places,adding to the misery was dense fog with visibility of hardly 10 mts.wet n shivering,wiser up with no specs(blurred visiblity), it was getting foggy.lots of broken tree branches on the road maybe due to heavy wind sometime back.
And the fear of unknown.

But I still rate it among my best biking experiences.I would love to do it again.

**Abhishek B** · 03-10-2010, 03:41 PM

I would rate two of my rides on equal footing:

1.This ride was unplanned and more of a compulsion. It was done in Dec. 2009. Thanks to CAT organising body, this year CAT was more than studying for me.
My exam on 29th Nov got cancelled and I came back to Delhi from LKO.
On 7th Dec at 2100 hrs, I came to know that my exam has been rescheduled on 8th morning in LKO. With Fog creating havoc in train & flight timings, I decided to ride whole night in order to give my exam the next day. I rode in spine chilling cold throughout night, without informing my parents, to reach my exam centre directly in morning.
Though 540 kms in 10 hrs is not that big a deal.... but the tension and anxiety made it harder.

Got to leave urgently.... will be posting 2nd ride later.

**old_novice** · 03-10-2010, 05:36 PM

i am dumbstruck by the really tough rides here
i am a novice in comparison, have not done many rides, 4 to be precise
i went to Goa with shiva, razor and spidy last year in peak monsoon
just before reaching goa for some reason head light and tail light stopped working and we reached goa pretty late. That was a saturday
All the other three decided to spend few days in goa but I had to come back. I planned to start really early on Sunday so that I can reach Mumbai in daylight. But overslept and started only at 9:30 AM. Drove like crazy, it rained heavily but didnt stop. Finally around 4 I found a Hero honda showroom/service center where I got my bike fixed, after that took it easy.

**Praful** · 03-10-2010, 05:55 PM

Originally posted by dcs View Post

Well, every ride for me is the toughest from the previous, not that I go to Lands unknown, its only for my stupidity that keeps on increasing day in and day out.

but of all the rides that I can recall in the past, the toughest being from Leh to Ludhiana where in we rode almost non stop in 48 hours.

We started off from Leh at around 11am and after visiting the Pather Saab Gurudwara and the Magnetic hill, we reached Kargil roughly at around 7:30pm. Should have ideally stopped at that place but instead rode further to Dras. Had our Dinner at Dras and despite being told by the Locals not to go ahead, we both rode from Dras at 11:30pm and went ahead to Ghomri. It was one of the most stupid act where in we had no one to company us apart from Wild life, darkness, sheer cold and no roads. We had the most frightful night that time and finally reached Sonmarg at 5 in the morning. post sonmarg, we decided, not to sleep and pushed it to our limits to reach Ludhiana without taking any sleep. In all, it was an amazingly, stupid and daringly adventurous ride where in we covered close to 1300 kms in 48-50 hrs.

dcs

Leh - Ludhiana in 48 hrs, Zoji La at night.... *Jaw on Floor*......

**darkknight** · 03-10-2010, 06:04 PM

Mine -bun burner attempt - mumbai-bangalore-almost chennai & back...

2500 kms in less than 48 hrs....

hallucinations (that included actually seeing animals such as elephants,horses,tigers

wherin there were none

),stiff neck,surprisingly no bad back or bums but seriously always adjusting the posture for better comfort to vegetables

..

All in all a memorable ride indeed....

Ps:raring to go again........soon

**ketan_r15** · 03-10-2010, 06:43 PM

Originally posted by darkknight View Post

Mine -bun burner attempt - mumbai-bangalore-almost chennai & back...

2500 kms in less than 48 hrs....

hallucinations (that included actually seeing animals such as elephants,horses,tigers

wherin there were none

),stiff neck,surprisingly no bad back or bums but seriously always adjusting the posture for better comfort to vegetables

..

All in all a memorable ride indeed....

+1 to each n every word above..

A truly memorable ride...!

Ps:raring to go again........soon

Ps: Would love to join you guys for this one..

of course if you allow

**shrinathrao** · 03-10-2010, 07:08 PM

Originally posted by darkknight View Post

Mine -bun burner attempt - mumbai-bangalore-almost chennai & back...

2500 kms in less than 48 hrs....

hallucinations (that included actually seeing animals such as elephants,horses,tigers

wherin there were none

),stiff neck,surprisingly no bad back or bums but seriously always adjusting the posture for better comfort to vegetables

..

All in all a memorable ride indeed....

Ps:raring to go again........soon

wow now thats what you say as a combination of racing and touring to the fullest.

**DarthVeda** · 03-10-2010, 10:21 PM

Originally posted by tourer_kashif View Post

Very nice thread...

Still to navigate any real tough terrain.
However my 2 hr ride towards Munnar from Pollachi through Eravikulam NP in dark became really difficult due to following.
.

You missed out on the best scenic route in south india Kashif, I just rode halfway through to Udhamalpettai and returned back to Munnar and to Cochin just to enjoy the scenary!!! it's mind blowing

**desideep** · 03-11-2010, 11:26 AM

on my way back we were strangled in Matayan area after Drass sector. we were on 4 bullets and 3 of them were out of fuel. so at around 10PM at night we had no place to stay. we were able to manage staying at a BRO camp at around 1 at night. ZOZILA was going to open at around 4 AM. so i keept awake all night. at 4 Am started riding from Matayan with empty cans on my bullet with a pillion. and we rode to Sonamarg through Zozila and realised no petrol there and then we moved further looking for petrol and we found it at Rehzan we rode back all the way and got back at around 10 AM.
Now how is it tought. i had been riding from a day before started at 6AM and was stuck just outside Kargil with no food no sleep and nothing. to reach Matayan and realise no petrol and then keep away all the time to go and cross the tough Zozila and then be back riding through it again still havent slept more than 24 hours in the hills.. oh sorry mountains. and then ride back to Zozilla and get to srinagar. realising it is not where i want to stay. (we got to Srinagar at 4 PM) then kept riding till jamu all the night through. no good hotels then started riding again without any sleep and reacheced DCS's place in ludhiana. spent 2 hours with him(after Jammu i was riding alone on a 1977 bullet that had not been keeping very well). and then heading to bathinda further 200 Km at night full of those MACHARs.

hmm this one was tought i just realised after typing it all here

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