Ok I make this point a bit more clear. Since there will be 9 people in the group so it would be better if you guys have booking for some major places like Bilaspur,Manali,Leh,Srinagar. It will save a lot of time and energy as after ride it will quite frustating to keep visiting different places and look out for options of stay.

Daily expense here means to give your approximate budget for the day which you would like to spend. For example some may say that don't want to spend more than Rs250 for each night stay. Depending upon that hotel rooms will be booked. So give your personal budget preference.

For food I suggest that don't look into individual consumption. Whatever the bill just divide it by 9 and the one who will be handling the money(Satyen is what I suggested) will pay it everywhere and let everyone else know their share.

Formation is decided based upon the riding style. It means Vishwas and Aman will always be at the tail and they will be riding at good 10-15minutes behind the second last group. This has been done so as to have better utilisation of time else what happens is if 2 guys stops the rest 7 also follows suit and the whole group is delayed.

if its of any help you guys can use my track for reference

Nokia Sports Tracker Beta

check the dates from 06.06.09 to 26.06.0.. there will be a lot of broken tracks because of nokia symbian restarting all the darn time

one thing I wanted to ask --is investing in cramster riding pants a better thing as opposed to just having the knee guards

Find my comments above!!

A few suggestions.
Do what ever but try to start from Delhi as early as possible. The heat will be bad, make it very bad, if you guys leave in a relaxed manner and riding with the riding gear on won't be easy.
I'll suggest you guys be out of Delhi city limits by 7am MAX
In that case Bilaspur is a very near by target. I'll suggest (as Praful already mentioned), aim for Manali for the day. Doing it in 2 days, specially when you guys can start fresh and early from Delhi, to me is a waste of 1 day.

Day 3 will be a tough day.
You could be slowed down by the tourist traffic at Rohtang and keep buffer for any delay due to traffic being halted due to blasting work (for widening the road).
And then once you cross Darcha, the next possible place to stay would be at Sarchu (tents at Bharatpur might not be up so early - they were not last year). What this means is that any delay and you might be riding via Snowed Baralacha La in evening time.

So may be Manali - Darcha and Darcha - Leh (this will then get a bit long day but then once you cross Tanglang La, the rest can be done even if it gets dark).

If you plan to do Wari La then why come all the way back to Leh? Instead why not head towards Tangste (towards Pangong Tso) for night? Yes, you will have to cross Chang La and for that you got to reach Sakti (after crossing Wari La) in time.
Fuel might be an issue, that you can solve by either carrying extra or few faster guys ripping back to Karu and tanking up their bikes and carrying spare for rest.

Planning to prepare for Raid?
Use one of the buffer days or the days saved if merged Day 1 & 2 (as suggested above) together. Spend good time of early morning at the lake, enjoy it. Head to Leh and then rest there. Do Leh - Lamayuru the next day and then Lamayuru - Sonmargh after that.

lol, I just gave a presentation on Analysis Paralysis Syndrome! I am out of this ride, ,..... err wait you said ... Me accounts manager and I will get all the money! Wow! On second thoughts I am in.

Jokes apart, some concerns
1) How will the line of "Wait, I 'now' have a 'friends' loaded GPS on me" change the formation?
GPS = No Getting lost at crucial places like Ahmedabad Ring road, Delhi, Udaipur bypass etc!

I thought we decided against riding to Sarchu directly after some tips and hence Darcha was planned? Also I hope you guys are considering the altitude shifts especially at Pangong Tso!
At some places the Kilometers munching looks good on paper, but would we noobs survive the rapid changes in the altitude? and Considering that this terrain is not so ride friend (both bike and rider wise) are we becoming a bit too ambitious?

Also my preference
12 June Day 12 - Sonamarg - Srinagar (141 kms) -- Petrol -- Srinagar
13 June Day 13 - Srinagar - Amritsar (454 kms)

HAVE to be closer to home as the days go by.

ROFL.. Good one...

My answers in RED

@nav-I hope I'm able to answer your concerns but thanks for pointing the mistake that I made.

I very much agree with merging Day 1 and 2. I don't have knowledge about the places above Manali, but I feel we should consider the recommendations by Praful and nav75.

Also about the formation, I think that can be altered later on if it doesnt fit well with the group. I don't know the riding style of many; the most I've ridden with from this group are Spidy and Winzee.

No probs.

Duronto reaches Delhi by 7am'ish. Add another 2hrs to it for bikes to be out of station. That's 9am. What about if (sadly) some bike suffer some damage in the journey? Also what if the Guys riding from Mumbai (for some reason) gets late? I though guys were planning a day halt in Delhi for bike checkup and all before starting next day. I'll suggest you guys do this. This way you can start early morning next day and make it to Manali the same day.

Also the Delhi heat will take its toll specially those traveling via train (in a/c). Suddenly riding in traffic + riding gear + heat.

That's better and what I expected.

There won't be any formation thingy for Mumbai-Delhi stretch because 9people are not going together.


As of now the only day which is on tougher side is Manali-Sarchu, rest everything is ok because now the Lumiyaru thing is gone.


@Aman-Please read what I had written over there.

@nav-Yeah you are right but as of now there will be people who are riding all the way from Mumbai and reaching on 31st evening/night. So 700+700+550 doesn't makes sense to me and also the concern of the guys coming over in train on 1st morning. Getting out of AC train and straightaway doing 550kms is not easy.

Yup you are right but the above formation are made thinking about the riding styles of the members and their temperment. You and Vishwas are at the end beacuse I feel that you both are very cool and composed and can handle any unforeseen circumstance.

So the reworked suggested plan for Day 10 onwards
10 June Day 10 – Pangong Tso - Chang La - Leh
11 June Day 11 - Leh - Magnetic Hill - Drass
12 June Day 12 - Drass - Sonmarg / Srinagar - Based on what the group decides on that day
13 June Day 13 - Around Srinagar
14 June Day 14 - Srinagar - Jammu(289 kms) -- Catch Train to Pune in evening --

@Satyen/Aman and others - Please put up your rough budget for hotel per day.

So your itenaray is final! Nice... The vetrans doing well to chisel it in shape.

See you guys in Leh, most prolly on the 7th. I have PM'd my number to Inder.

Umm Gee! I meant the GPS maps till the last bit and back!

PS: At this juncture I would like to bring to your notice one small bad habit that I have.
Not sticking to the plan, so.... please bear with it!

My daily budget for hotel stay + food will be between 500-1000 per day. If any good accommodation is available, I would prefer that to a cheap one. I don't mind staying in a tent costing 10 bucks, but if anything better is available, I would go for it.

Better sleeping arrangement + sh**ting arrangements means fresher person next day.

I don't know about others but riding non stop for 13-14 days in difficult terrain will take its toll on body and bike. Since we can't do anything about the bike, let the body rest as much as possible in as best manner as possible.

Again being the last rider in the group, I can get up late, have late breakfast etc. Only worry is if others finish all food before I reach, I will have to resort to cannibalism.

Yeahhh.. I'm coool!
hmmm... so I guess the one's riding from Mumbai didn't plan well. If they are arriving on 31st night/1st morning, then I can understand the problem. Anyways, I will in Delhi 3 days before the start!

Budget.. to be very frank, I dont have any constraints. Whatever suits the group. I can adjust per the situation, and I'm sure so can others, after all we are tourers!