Getting Leh'd : Anger Management

The city of Budhkarbo at night

I woke up at 7am, opening my eyes I saw a few empty beds and a few with people snoring away. I stepped out and took another view of the valley. Very different from how it was the previous night. Apart from the small town the valley was completely empty. The camp also looked very different. It had been filled with military trucks the previous night, with no space for even an extra vehicle, but by morning the camp bore a deserted look. After my morning oblusions, I went to the mess to have some breakfast. I hogged myself down on some awesome puris, with some soya veggies and scrambled eggs.

Getting Leh'd : War Stories

Trying to utilise my acting skills

So, as you have read so far, we were all at the Drass army camp, with a broken down bike and a scary night's sleep. Para woke Bala, Gogo & me up at around 6. The prime focus was to try and fix his bike. I could only imagine how badly Para must have been praying, probably to some new gods as well, hoping that somehow we would manage to get his bike up and running. We removed the petrol tank and emptied it. Then pulled out the fuel filter and pump assembly and tried cleaning it. This is one awesome part of being the sweep. At every point, we are constantly discovering and learning more & more about our bikes. Gaining more confidence in our skills each time. After cleaning it and assembling it all back, we were all hoping, praying, begging for it to work, but alas, once-in-a-while prayers rarely work, and no miracle happened. Poor Para, god only knows how he felt. Much to his dismay, I had to secure the tow rope onto his bike again. The army officer told me that we might be able to find an empty truck at Drass town, and so the tow till town started.

Getting Leh'd : The dreaded Zojila

Paddling around Dal lake

The day started similar to one at home, I woke up and got off the bed close to 8am. The rest of the gang had woken up much earlier and head out to see the beautiful dal lake. Dal lake has a huge number of house boats, where tourists can choose to spend the night. Apart from this, smaller covered boats, called shikara can be hired to take a round of the entire lake. Post 7.30am, the floating market starts off. Merchants paddle up next to your shikara and show off their items for sale.

Getting Leh'd : Fuel issues

Saddles up and ready to go!!
Photo Courtesy : Anil

It was a comparatively relaxed start from the military camp at Udhampur. Everyone saddled up and assembled for a briefing. The lead announced that the two runners would switch positions. Gogo would become the lead runner & Vikram the sweep runner. Also discussed was the stops and the route. The itenary was to cross patnitop, reach peerah for brunch, then cross the famous jawahar tunnel and aim to hit Srinagar by 5.30pm.

Getting Leh'd : Crossing in to J&K

Riders getting Ready.
Photo Courtesy : Para

My phone's alarm started buzzing at 3.30am. Somewhere in the dream I was in, I kept hearing this annoying sound, and that pulled me out of my sleep. I sat up with a jerk on the bed, a disturbing habit of mine, which normally scares the hell out of whoever is sleeping next to me, but not Bala. I struggled trying to wake up the grunting boar (literally how Bala sounds when he's asleep). Seeing many of the other riders through the window, I saw they were already saddling up, and so I ran to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. There was no need to bathe, as I had smartly done it the previous evening.

Getting LEH'd : The start

Getting Leh'd : The Epic Saga Unfolds!!

Ride to the upper fort (Melukote)

Hi guys!! I'm back after almost a month of not riding anywhere. Well, after a rather sleepless night, enjoying with my club brothers and watching RCB win their last match of the running in this year's IPL, I woke up, after about an hour of sleep at 5am on Sunday, 19th May, 2013. For the first time, there were 6 bullets parked in my house. A fact that I am indeed very proud off, and one that even my grandfather loved. We got ready, had some coffee and hurried onto our bikes being already quite late. We were supposed to be at the start point, 25kms away, by 6.30, and the time was already 6.25. Well, the others would have to wait.

Ready to leave

Pre-ride breifing by Shridhar

Kolli Hills - The winding mountains

At the start point

This was a well planned ride. A sync ride for the 2013 Leh riders. A ride meant for us to get to know each other better, understand riding patterns and just have a jolly good time. I have been preparing myself for the mecca of rides to Leh for quite some time now, learning from my mechanic on how to fix various problems that might arise in the bike. I was hoping to utilize my newly learnt knowledge during this preparatory ride to Kolli hills, and so was all the more eager. We were 13 of us in the group, expecting 3 more to join us at Kolli hills directly.

One Ride, One spirit - 2013

Pre-Ride Briefing. Photo Courtesy : Vinay BR

One Ride, an event started by Royal Enfield in 2011. Their mission was simple. They asked all RE owners to take their bike out and go on a ride on the first Sunday of every April. This is where Royal Indians Enfield Owners Club comes in. The thought of going for a ride is great, but where? with who? and how to handle breakdowns?? That's why, we as a club, sent out invites to as many Royal Enfield Owners as we could asking them to ride to Tonnure Kere with us. Finally, on 7th April, 2013, at 6am, there were 120 bullets standing in front of ISKCON, raging to go. Many riders were new, while few were club members gone absconding. It was great fun to meet people after such a long time, and made me proud to be part of such a buzzing club!!

300 kms for a Dosa!!

Yes!! It's as crazy as the title suggests. We at RIEOC, are just that crazy about riding our bullets!! It all started as just another discussion on what to do on the upcoming Sunday. This soon changed to a plan to ride till Mysore, to enjoy some amazing dosas from Hotel Mylari, Nazarbad. The last few rides had all been executed flawlessly. They hadn't been boring, but they certainly lacked the excitement and anxiety when everything goes wrong!! Not saying that everything went wrong in this ride, but a few things certainly did.

Breakfast at Tumkur : The unexpected ride

Well, this one's a bit funny. It all started on a Thursday afternoon, a random thought crossed a mind. What shall I do this Sunday morning? His hands were itching for the handle bars, his legs for the gear. As soon as that question was posed to the rest of the club by this rider, within an instant, a group was formed. We had no destination, we had no start point, no idea what so ever except for the fact that we all wanted yet another ride on Sunday. So started the discussions. Half an hour later, we had decided the place, the riders and the time. By now, you must be itching for me to reveal the details, well here it is. We decided to go to Pavithra Idly hotel, Tumkur with a plan to leave by 6.30 am with 11 bullets, 2 xylos and 19 people starting from opposite Iskcon on Sunday.

Temple Ride : The Sringeri-Horanadu escapade

I'm back with yet another story of a ride. This time, we went through the malnad region to visit the temples at Sringeri and Horanadu. The time was 4.45 am, I was already late, and in a hurry was trying to fasten my bag to the back seat of my bike with a pair of bungee cords. I got onto my bike, said my goodbyes to my family, and was racing towards Iskcon, the designated start point. Being very close to my house, I reached Iskcon within 10 minutes, jumped off my bike to greet all my fellow riders. I was very excited about this ride, as I was going to be riding with a few guys after quite a few months. Also, after so many rides, our captain was the lead again. It felt good, to follow his leadership after so many months.

A quick briefing before we leave. Photo Courtesy : Vinay B R

Southern Spice Ride : The Journey Back

Having visited Kanyakumari and getting rather disappointed at not seeing the sunrise, it was time for us to head off to Madurai. As soon as I stepped out of the AC cooled room, the heat of the land hit me. My shirt was completely drenched with sweat by the time I got on my bike. The sun was bright, but still covered with clouds. I placed my saddles on the bike, tied them up, wiped the sweat of my eye brows, zipped up my jacket and got on my bike. Ready to go. As you might recall from the previous blog post, we headed out for a quick photo session before departing from Kanyakumari.

Southern Spice Ride : The Land of the Windmills, Kanyakumari

Here is Day 2 to Day 3 of the our epic Southern Spice Ride. I narrated our story till Rameswaram in my last post, this time, I'll tell you to journey to Kanyakumari.

We were all very late to leave Rameswaram. It was close to 4 pm  and we had 250+ kms to cover. This time the planned route was Rameswaram - Toothukudi - Kanyakumari. But as luck would have it, we found the Toothukudi road to be in bad shape, and hence opted to go via Tirunalveli.

View Larger Map

Southern Spice Ride : Road to Rameswaram

Road to Rameswaram

I recently embarked on a ride that we christened "Southern Spice", where we planned to cover Rameswaram, Kanyakumari and Madurai in 4 days. A total of 1700 kms. It was an epic ride with varying weather conditions that really tested our tolerance to heat.

It was a warm Thursday morning, 4 AM to be exact, with 11 people ready to start off from Madiwala Police Station. To see us off, were a couple of friends and fellow club members. The route was simple. Bangalore - Hosur - Krishangiri - Salem - Dindigul - Madurai - Rameswaram. A total of 650 kms.

Ride to Kurudumale

Mom with my bull. Not happy, that I have woken her up so early yet another time!!

On a early Saturday morning, I joined the pack, near K R Puram hanging bridge. This was a breakfast ride for those of us craving to be on the road again. I had just got back my bike from the mechanic, with a de-carbonised engine and instructions to ride the bike carefully for the next couple hundred kms. I was excited to get me rehabilitated bull back on the roads.

Temple Ride : Road to Manthralayam

It's time for me to tell you all of another story. This time around, we decided to go to a different type of location, a Religious one. Don't believe anyone who says, that motorcycle riders and motorcycle enthusiasts, are hardened men and woman who drink beer and smoke cigars. Well, most of the time we might be like that, but there are other sides to us as well. Over the year, we will be embarking on many such temple rides, to seek the blessings of different deities, for the sole purpose that we get a chance to go on more rides.

Manthralayam, is a town in Andhra Pradesh, home to the devotees and followers of Guru Raghavendra Swami. It is around 250 kms from Hyderabad and 400 kms from Bangalore. Smoking and consumption of Alcohol is strictly prohibited in this town.

Coorg - The Land of the Warriors

Hi Guys, I'm back again. This time to tell you about my recent trip to Coorg, Karnataka. Coorg is around 270 kms from Bangalore, and is known for its coffee. In fact  the chain of Cafe Coffee Day and its parent company, Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Company Ltd, source most of their coffee beans from the vast fields of Coorg.

Beaches, Beauties and Booze

Goa is to India what Hawaii is to the world. It is one of the biggest holiday destinations in India and has many attractions for people of all ages. It is also the only place in India where gambling is legalized. Beautiful beaches, filled with a variety of people from all over the world. Booze flows here more than water. Roads are jam packed with people and energy even at 3 in the morning. Think "Spring Break", but throughout the year!!

The Thump that Binds

Ask any of the riders who came to Rider Mania, and they will surely tell you, that the feeling of brotherhood was so deeply engraved into our hearts after this event, a feeling, which we are sure will remain for a long long time.

I left you all with a glimpse of my ride up to Goa!! The problems faced on the way, the drama and the confusing confusions. Now its time for me to tell you all about the event we had come for, the fun we had and much more.

Where Beer is as Cheap as Water

Rider Mania, an event arranged by Royal Enfield Motors Inc at Goa, India every year during the last week of November. Its a must-see for any Royal Enfield aka Bullet fan. Riders from all across the country & the world converge on this one location to celebrate the spirit of riding and the joy of owning this beautiful bike.