New year ride to Sirmour district

A small request to all: Enjoy nature, enjoy your travel but please don’t spoil MOTHER NATURE. Refill bottles, don’t throw plastic in water bodies or roads. Dispose your garbage at proper place. Cheers!

"Let's ride again to some nearby place, like we rode to Dalhousie." I could remember only this conversation on phone with Vaibhav.

"Yeah, when are you coming to Delhi? I want to ride as well, a weekend ride may be." Vaibhav replied.
At Biker Zone facebook group Ranjeet posted and asked us to confirm by 24th December if we are coming to Chandigarh to ride further ahead.
On 27th December, I called Vaibhav and confirmed my ride. A few quick adjustments he made to his other plans and we were ready for exploring a lesser known, lesser visited district of Himachal - Sirmour district.
As I reached Delhi, I called Vaibhav at my place and discussed about the ride with some Red Label.
On 30th December 2011 night, we left for Chandigarh on volvo. Reached there at around 1am and assembled at Archit's flat. Ranjeet picked me from ISBT and Vaibhav had some other work so he left. We assembled at Archit's room at around 2:15 am on 31st December. Prashant and Satish also joined us there and all 5 of us were now ready to ride.

Room of a biker

The bikes were out, 4 of them:
1) Bullet Electra 4s (Archit's) : Riders Me and Vaibhav
2) RE Desert Storm (Prashant's Thor)
3) CBZ Extreme - Ranjeet's and
4) P180 - Satish's. 
 
The bikes looked fresh and thirsty to raid some new roads in Himachal. We left and in no time hit Chandigarh-Shimla highway. As we moved towards Dharampur, we stopped for a tea and ordered Parathas. It was 31st December morning and was very cold, and we started having general conversations at Dhaba.


A few days back in Hyderabad I met Bullet riders of Hyderabad - Wanderers club and I remember a conversation between them : "Morning time is the riskiest to ride, the truck drivers are sleepy and can hit you." The other guy nodded and said "Yes and we shouldn't ride after 6pm, before it's dark we should settle wherever we are", another guy agreed to previous 2 statements and added "Yes, if we are stuck in night or morning with a fault or puncture, we will be left with no other option than to get stranded in the mid of the highway." For once, I thought about it then smiled and thought about the fun of night riding in hills with less traffic, reflecting light which makes us aware if someone is coming from opposite side, that chill in the spine and a sense of thrill.

Ok, so after having a good round of tea/parathas/bakchodi we started for Dharampur and then took a right and a quick left from there(not towards Nahan). A few kms ahead there is a Y shaped road and we had to take the left one. It was there when we all started feeling the real cold inside our double layered gloves.

Moved further ahead only to stop at roadside and gathered some sticks and wood and lit up fire. We sat again and till that time it was 6 am. Since we had no fixed destination, se we were enjoying all these long stops for bakchodi. Now we reached this place ---- and stopped for attending nature's call and breakfast/tea. Now when everyone started feeling sleepy at around 8:30 - 9 a.m., Vaibhav was active and took the lead. I was a pillion rider on Electra 5s and now we entered Sirmour district.

For the first time, I was without my own bike and as a pillion I had my own apprehensions. I kept alert and made sure Vaibhav is listening to my tips and unwanted guidance.
The landscape now looked similar to lower areas of Uttarakhand, we kept moving and passed many places. Ranjeet remembered the names of most of the places on the way. Now the sun was sharp and so were we, as we crossed villages of Sirmour, one after the other.
Finally we reached Haripur Dhar and decided to stay there. Went to some temple at the top of the hill. It was nail biting cold so after getting a decent room we opened up our stock of Rum and Vodka. We had a good dinner later and then we dozed off, all 5 of us celebrated New Year in deep sleep.

At our hotel in HaripurDhar

Beautiful Sunset

Bikes parket next to 'theka'

Haripurdhar village



One of these 3 was our dinner



Stairs leading to temple

Renuka Ji lake

The next morning was fresh and we were supposed to head back for Chandigarh via Renuka ji and we started off after a heavy double breakfast. Had our lunch at Renuka ji and continued via Nahan towards Kala Amb. It was there I parted from the group and boarded a bus back for Delhi.

Another day at home and I flew back to Hyderabad. It was a short, crispy trip to Delhi and Himachal and I wish I could get more time for such trips to escape from madness of city life, from madness of dull, boring people & places. It's almost after 7 months I am writing this blog and my heart still remains there in Himachal.

Cheers,
Puneet!!!

My MM540 Restoration complete

A small request to all: Enjoy nature, enjoy your travel but please don’t spoil MOTHER NATURE. Refill bottles, don’t throw plastic in water bodies or roads. Dispose your garbage at proper place. Cheers!

A little off topic, not related to my travels but just for my own memories I am documenting this one.

I always wanted to have a jeep, back since I was a kid. And finally in the month of April I was randomly checking some jeep pics and came across and internet listing of mm540.
I was tempted, called Dilip Bhai(my friend in Hyderabad) and shared this idea of buying a jeep with him. Then checked my account balance and called the seller. A few negotiations, a small test ride and I got that mm540.
It was an old 1990 model - very hard, lazy like an arrogant bull. I had to tame it and to tame it I had to start rebuilding it.
It took me almost 35-40 days, paper work is still pending, to rebuild it.

I had to check lot of internet links for help, till one stage I was reading good info from teambhp.com but later when I wanted to ask for more I was declined a membership by teambhp moderators. I don't know on what grounds, but I was even more charged to do all the work, necessary findings by myself.

In rebuilding Cobra (that's what I name my jeep as), many people helped me.
Special thanks to my dad, noopur & rahul for some fundings :) and Nasser (the seller) who guided me on a lot of things.

So when I drove the jeep for the first time, I immediately realised that first thing to be taken care of is mechanics and later I can work on looks.

So this is all what I did to Cobra:

Stage 1 : Brake liners, clutch plates, pressure plates, bearings, front frame change, labor & miscellaneous things - Rs 11000

Stage 2: Tinkering, denting, body lining, painting(green) - Rs 15000

Stage 3: Front seat lining, all seat covers(rexine), some mats, new rear seat and replacing the old seats with cushions -  Rs 8000

Stage 4 : Old tyres from Afzal Gunj market : 265/70/R16 - 3 michelline tyres and 1 falken tyres in reasonable condition. - 1500 each = 6000  + 200 fitting +  300 (discs) + 4000(tubes + balancing)= 10500 total. My rim size was stock mm540 - 6.00 - 16" with 4.5 inch thick. A little problem in negotiating sharp curves as the steering is very hard now and I had to go with 1 disc each just at the intersection of axle and tyres to give a little more space to tyres.
The new tyres were like 7000-8000 each, I didn't wanted to invest too much on tyres since at first I wanted to check mechanicals and then do any significant investment on tyres.

Till this point jeep was running but without top.

"Top & tyres will give your jeep a breather", quoted Nasser and I couldn't agree more with this statement.

I got the top work done at Jameel's workshop in Bahadurpura. He gave me 3 options:

1) Half top - 2500
2) Simple top - 5000
3) Half top + convertible top on rear side - 8500

I chose the 3rd one and got the top work done.

Stage 5: Top work + Bars fitted (with leather covering to make 2.5inch dia bar look thicker like 4 inch)
Cost - 8500+ 2000 = 10,500

So in all 5 stages which lasted for 45 days I spent around - 52K


My raw jeep cost = 78000 + paper work(still pending) 1500 + 52000 = 1,35,500

I have to get a stand by tyre, tube,a jack, spanners, some sticker work.

Will post the pics soon :)

Tips for Ladakh Ride

A small request to all: Enjoy nature, enjoy your travel but please don’t spoil MOTHER NATURE. Refill bottles, don’t throw plastic in water bodies or roads. Dispose your garbage at proper place. Cheers!

 

Tips for Ladakh Ride :


Must carry clothes & accessories for self–

1) A good warm jacket.

2) Body warmers (including lowers).

3) A pair of extra socks.

4) Some t-shirts (for layering which keeps cold air away from body due to insulation formed between layers)

5) Good solid shoes(ankle height preferable, avoid sport shoes)

6) A woolen cap (monkey cap will be good to cover ears, neck)

7) A woolen muffler.

8) A pair of good sunglasses.

9) Helmet, riding jacket, riding accessories like knee guard, elbow guard etc depending on what kind of jacket and lower one wears.

10) A rain suit is must. Lower of rain suit can be directly worn over the body warmer’s lower.

11) A good spf sun screen lotion – A big must, else you won’t be recognized after coming back.

12) A pair of cotton gloves inside and riding gloves over it.

13) A small torch and a small knife optional (swiss knife).



To keep your bike fit:

First and foremost – bike should be healthy, serviced and clutch plates, pressure plates, brake shoe, wheels, battery, electrical in top notch condition.

Carry spares:

• Clutch, accelerator wires.
• Spark plug, adapter.
• Complete tool kit.
• Puncture kit including spanners to open tyres and to take tube out.
• Extra tube.
• Extra chain link.
• A little mechanics to adjust air-fuel mixture replace wires and make puncture/replace tube.
• One foot pump will suffice for group.
• Headlight bulb.
• Big plastic to cover your stuff.
• Bungee cords to tie your stuff.
• Some cans for carrying extra fuel; take extra fuel from Tandi from where next fuel station wouldbe after 365 kms. You might get fuel in black, but quality wouldn’t be necessarily the same.
• A few random checks before starting - Check brake, oil level, lights & indicators.
• Saddle bags or carriers to tie bags are must. Don’t tie bags on rear seat, it won’t remain intact.

Some tips for a Rider:

1) Drink lot of water, always tie one extra bottle over your luggage as water will become lukewarm because of sun and it will be pleasant in that cold.

2) Remember Ladakh is the only place in world where if you keep your feet in shade and your face in sun, you can get frost bite and heat stroke at the same time. So don’t over cover yourself if you feel cold and suddenly don’t remove all the clothes if you feel hot.

3) Beware of the rocky & slippery road, ride slow, enjoy the nature and don’t think yourself in a rally (though you will be tempted at times to ride fast and negotiate those curves and mud).

4) Eat less for initial 3-4 days as digestion is aerobic process which requires oxygen which is less there. Particularly on Manali – Leh highway. Once the body is acclimatized to higher altitudes, eat everything out there.

5) Carry some medicines like – Diamox (pop a tablet before going to sleep in Manali), some pain killer (Disprin), Paracetamol, a tablet for vomit & lose motions, a mosquito repellant cream, glucose powder, chocolates & glucose biscuits which will give
instant energy to body.

6) Try to hit the road early, reach your destination and enjoy the place.

7) Don’t drink much alcohol if you feel uncomfortable due to AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness). At most of the places where there are chances of getting hit by AMS there are army hospitals providing free oxygen. Don’t hesitate to use them.

8) Be courteous with locals and don’t make fun of their simplicity, style or traditions.

9) The rule says – The vehicle coming in upwards direction has the right of way. Some people don’t know about it but many follow it.

10) Don’t expect variety of food on Manali – Leh highway, expect Rice – Dal, Maggi & tea mainly except at a few towns where you can get chapatti, mutton and some veggies as well.

11) While returning back from Kashmir, try not to ask questions from locals like – Have you seen a terrorist? Do you know any? Why are they doing like this and all. They might get offended.

12) Our army provides free tea at some places, mingle with them and make their day as well.

13) Avoid following short cut trails unless you are in a 4WD.

14) Try Jhang(rice beer) in Keylong or Darcha or anywhere else in Lahaul.

15) Don’t think too much while riding – RIDE FREE, just keep headlights on and keep an eye on the fellows.

16) And most importantly - Environment there is fragile, so love nature don't spoit it. Don't spread plastic waste. Thanks!


Distance from Delhi to Leh -->

Delhi to Manali - 560km
Manali to Leh - 475 kms
Total - 1050 kms(approx)


Best months to travel - June 1st week to October 1st week.
Avoid August if you don't want to get stuck at Rohtang pass.Best Itinerary in my opinion:

 Day 1 - Delhi - chandigarh - Shimla (250 +100) = 350

1st stop at Zilmil Dhaba just after Karnal(Haryana) - 120 kms from Delhi and have the best parathas of North with white makhan and tea..
In Chandigarh must try Pal Dhaba in Sector 22D for best mutton and chicken for some early lunch.
Start early this day as sun will take all the fluids out so make sure to cross chandigarh by 11 am..

Day 2: Shimla - Narkanda - Sainjh (take a left from here) - Anni - Jalori Pass (some 3200metres) - Aut - Take a right and follow highway to Kullu - Manali. Halt at some budget hotel in Old Manali.
Again start early this day to enjoy a drink in Johnson cafe Manali in night. Don't take too many breaks, P&S cameras are best for this route.

Day3: Manali - Rohtang Pass(Rohtang means pile of dead bodies, so be careful :)) - Gramphoo - Koksar(Have lunch here) - Tandi (get tanks refill) - Keylong(headquarters of Lahaul district) - Darcha (It is a makeshift village on banks of river set up by locals only for 5 months a year) Some 150Kms
Stop there, cheap and nice surroundings. You can try some Jhang there (Rice beer) If you want luxurious stay with toilets and nice beds, then stay at Jispa camp some kms before Darcha.
Expect pagal nullah on this stretch. I heard it has lost it's charm so won't be much difficult for riders to cross.

Day 4: Darcha - Sarchu - Pang. You will cover some passes like Barlacha La, Nakeela and Lachungla, along with Moore plains and Gata loops(remember old ad of Avenger) Some 140kms
This stretch will test you as a rider, stamina is needed, avoid alcohol here and drink lot of water. Don't do much physical activities and ride safely. You will see beautiful Suraj Tal, Deepak Tal on the way.

Day5: Pang - Rumste - Upshi - Leh some 180 - 185kms
This day you wiill cross Tanglang la, which was toughest on route at our time.
Apart from it, this route is good and you can cover at a good, easy pace.

*Now if you are short of time:
Do Day 3 - Manali - Sarchu(230kms)
Day 4 - Sarchu - Leh(230-240kms)

Day 6 - Complete Rest and local market visits. Get your permits for Pangong lake & Nubra valley (per person around 50Rs) easy process at DM office opp. to polo grounds, Leh...


Day 7 - Leh - Khardungla (some 37kms) Steep incline and you reach some 18300 feet at highest motorable road in the world.. (after marsimik la which is not promoted as a tourism spot due to it's strategic location) You can either go to Nubra valley and stay one night there or come back to Leh.. All depends on time and mood of riders...

Day 8/9 - Leh - Pangong Tso - Leh (290kms)
Start early to enjoy time at lake.. Don't stay there unless u have ur own tents.. On this route you will cross mighty chang La, another ass breaking pass.. Tangste at 110 kms on this route from Leh has good retaurants and some options to stay...

Day 9/10 - Leh and start for Kargil. It is 220 kms from Leh passing through Fotu La.. I suggest to stay at Drass instead of Kargil which is another 2 hours from there.
Must see Drass war memorial

Day 10/11 Drass - Srinagar (some 175 kms) through Zoji La. You will cross beautiful Sonamarg..

Day 11/12 - Srinagar - Jammu (250 kms of a full traffic highway)

Day 12/13 - Ride a lot on this day and reach Delhi from Jammu..Start early and take less breaks ...

Acc to me in these days, this will be the best route.. Rest you can alter places to stay a few kms ahead or behind, depending on group's pace..

I might have missed some/lot of points, if you have any other doubt in mind feel free to share.

Cheers!!!!

Dehradun to Deoria Tal

A small request to all: Enjoy nature, enjoy your travel but please don’t spoil MOTHER NATURE. Refill bottles, don’t throw plastic in water bodies or roads. Dispose your garbage at proper place. Cheers!

In February 2011, I got my bike serviced and wanted to take it for some ride. I was thinking about going to Chitkul after a friend - Abhishek asked me about the ways to reach Shimla, Kasol, Kinnaur. I helped him with his itinerary and he booked his train ticket from Kalka to Shimla and he was supposed to start on 2nd March for Himachal. I kept thinking about Himachal on the 1st March night and next morning I woke up and realized that 2nd March is Maha Shivratri date, so I thought of going to anywhere related to Shiva, a wild idea of going to KedarNath in March stuck my mind and I packed my saddle bag to start from Bidholi, the village where I was staying. It was 8:30 in morning and Abhishek called me to confirm about something, I told him about my sudden plan of Uttarakhand, anywhere I could reach on KedarNath road was fine with me. I asked Abhishek if he wanted to join and he was quick to cancel his Himachal trip and join me. We started at 9 am, straight to mechanic and I had to get my tank cleaned as it rained a lot for last 2-3 days and some water poured inside tank and was giving trouble. We had our tea there and started around 11 am, I wanted to leave the city asap and hit the highway. And we reached Rishikesh from where one could read 2 sign boards, 1 each for Gangotri and Yamunotri.

"Bhaiya KedarNath k liye kahan se jana hai"? I asked a driver and there I got to know that it won't be possible to reach Kedarnath in this season without special permits and guides. So we decided to head straight on the highway, just to have a feel of the place, the weather, the roads, the food and may be to check out the sangam at DevPrayag.

We stopped at a Dhaba on the way to have our food and kept moving. Crossed DevPrayag, then Srinagar and then at Rudraprayag I missed the right turn for Badrinath as I took the bypass road and kept moving ahead. As we moved ahead, clouds started hovering and it started raining. For sometime we could manage but heavy downpour forced us to take a shelter for tea at GMVN resort at this place just before Tilwara.

"We have to go according to the mood of nature", I thought looking at clouds while sipping the tea and eating pakoras. We asked for Bhang there but were told to go to Ukhimath to get some, the mood was upbeat, so was weather and we decided to go to Ukhimath and halt there for the night and decide from there itself about our next place on the route.

For those who don't know - Ukhimath, at an altitude of some 1300 meters is the place, where idols from Kedarnath temple are kept in winters and is on the way to Chopta. It is a small, busy town - somehow reminded me of Rampur in HP but is at a higher altitude than Rampur. We had no plan to go anywhere so we decided to stay at Ukhimath. Arranged Old Monk there to beat the chill as at that moment I couldn't think of anything better. After having our quota full, we were relaxed to an extent that our cold clothes didn't affected us anymore, even mosquitoes were disappointed to disturb our sleep.

Day 2:

I woke up early hoping for some sun, but the clouds mocked at me with no intention of letting me witness the grand peaks around the area. Still after waiting for sometime we braved them, and started for Deoria Tal.

A left turn from Duggalbitta on  Chopta road took us to village Sari from where one can trek for Deoria tal. The best thing about Deoria Tal is the view it offers for surrounding peaks, but we could see clouds all over so half heartedly, we started walking up towards the Tal. Met many guys over there, made them friends and got to know that one can stay overnight at lake side at very cheap rates, arranged by these guys.
After we managed to reach to the Tal in rains, as expected there weren't many good views of the peaks around. Still we walked here and there and spent some time at a small makeshift tea stall. Sipping tea there was so fun and much needed eggs got some energy back in our bodies.
And then we descended back towards Sari, my wish of witnessing some peaks was not fulfilled, so I thought next would be - to stay at some place on banks of river at some peaceful, remote location. And as we sat at a tea stall in Sari, we decided to stay at GMVN guest house in Tilwara. Located at a beautiful location right on the river bank, it has eco friendly cottages for stay. We got a pack of cards with us, so spent some time there and then after having dinner in Tilwara village, we slept. 

DAY3:

Next day, was supposedly our last day as weather was in no mood to improve, so we decided to go back to Dehradun. But not through the usual route, we asked some guys and they told us about an alternate route via Ghansyali>Chamba from a cut right from Tilwara market. That route was very bad, there were lot of bad patches filled with rain water and slowly we cruised towards ghansyali. Time passed and we were going with very few breaks, still time was passing very quickly. We crossed Ghansyali and could see Tehri lake water extended. It was a beautiful view, with clouds, sun, huge lake on one side, huge mountain on the other, and 2 riders on a bullet on a straight road.

I was in love with that road already so we stopped for eating something there at road side.
It rained in between and we continued, then a heavy downpour caused sun to shine again and our clothes were all wet, still we kept going.
Crossed Chamba, new Chamba, then Dhanolti in dark, took Mussorie-Dehradun highway and reached back home in Bidholi at around 10pm.
We ended our cold and rain-full ride and I was happy to raid another new road in Himalayas.

Pic time: