Hello readers,
This is Anuj and I’ll be taking you through my journey of riding motorcycles through roads and no-roads
How it started?
The love for motorcycles kicked me early in school, around class 9th. The time, when Bajaj Boxers and Hero Honda Splendors were retiring and new generation 150cc Pulsars and Apaches were taking up the space.
I started riding on my friend’s bike, and continued to do so on my father’s Bajaj Boxer.
The bike had a longer seat as compared to bikes now with split seats. All of us being kids and thin. Generally, 3-4 of us would use it for our tuitions, Holi celebrations and all. Petrol cost was 40-50 INR/litre and mileage ~80 kmpl, money was not an issue.
Enjoyed riding the bike for 2 years and then moved to Kota for JEE preparations.
The love for bikes couldn’t resist me having one there. A school junior from my hometown got himself a Pulsar in Kota and rammed it in my Kota time.
I remember tripling our way to buy JEE forms in Kota, and dodging the police on the way 😀
Working my way around PCM, I realised I would make it to IIT and hence I called up parents and asked them-
“If I crack JEE would you give me a new bike?”
They had to say yes, what other option did they have? 😛
In my final year, the results came ~5-6 AM and all I waited for was for the showrooms to open.
At 10:30AM, I was the first customer at Honda showroom, 12:30PM I was home with a brand new Hunk.
It is still with me for 12 years now and continuing !
All of that time in the Insti, every now and then I found ways to get a bike from security or rentals to head out.
Cut to COVID times, when I had to leave Mumbai to come home.
I started watching videos of some moto-vloggers riding around the Himalayas. Riding in snow, through narrow patches, water crossings, winds, dust and mind boggling sceneries.
Repairing their own bikes and showing a riding brotherhood on the roads.
And that planted a subconscious thought in me to explore off-road biking and level up my riding game along with understanding of motorcycles.
I went to Manali WFH in Dec-2020. Roaming around the mountains in 4×4 Jeeps, made me excited about riding those roads when snow melts.
As the snow started melting around late Feb, I started riding a Royal Enfield Himalayan in the mountains.
Within a span of 3 Months I did around 6000 Kms. covering:
- Manali to Tirthan
- Manali to Kasol
- Manali to Bir
- Manali to Solang
- Manali to Chandigarh
These routes were a great preparation for understanding rules of the mountains and getting to be a pro on the curves.
Around July 21 when the routes to Spiti and Ladakh opened up, I planned my first off-road trip to Chandrataal Lake.
The distance between Manali to Chandrataal is around 115 Kms and it took us around 8 hours.
The route we took was: Manali- Solang- Atal Tunnel- Koksar-Gramphoo- Batal – Chandrataal
Between Gramphoo and Batal, the 60 kilometres long stretch is possibly the worst I have ever driven on. It is simply a nightmare of a road and the speed remains restricted between 10 to 15 kilometers per hour.
Located at 1400 ft altitude and freezing temperatures makes the terrain even harder.
A little context of the riders on the trip:
In these 6 months of Manali stay (From December to July), I lived in a hostel where I met and bonded with: Praveen- A fun guy with curiosity for life, music and bikes
Mrinal: An army brat, poet, vocal, and love for bikes
Vickey: a singer, musician and a big foodie
All of us had zero off-road experience in practice, but in theory each of us knew one thing or other about off-roading. Also, talking to the riders for all these months also gave a perspective.
We knew the major risk is to fall and get either the rider or the bike injured.
The location being completely remote, there isn’t any repair shop available. Other than the fellow riders who could help if they have the spares. All of us were acclimatized to the cold, so the temperature was not a big issue. Water crossings and getting ourselves drenched in cold water and then continuing the ride was an issue though.
Some theoretical riding jargon ahead, just read it for the sake of enjoying anecdotes ahead :
Saddling: controlling the bike while standing on the foot pegs to lessen the load on rear shocker and also reducing jerks on the back and shoulders.
Riding uphill on low gears: While riding up slope the gears have to be lower 1-2 to keep the chain tight and deliver maximum power in the bike.
A loosened chain on 3-4 gear might break easily and would give lesser power to the bike
Engine Braking: While riding down, the gears should be kept to 1-2 to not let engine go beyond a fixed speed .Normal braking might lead to brake plates getting hot and eventually failing brakes.
Anecdote: