Its a pity that we had to leave Spiti ...

We stayed at Tabo as it became dark and cold in a whiff which was totally expected. On a motorcycle its going to be a little brutal riding with the windchill and lack of heating equipment. It was a fine homestay and no complaints at all. We slept that extra one hour as we had very little riding to reach Kaza, a quaint village in the Indo-Tibetian border. Lot more people, gasoline availability and ATMs made life a lot simpler. It made me feel very sad that we had to leave the Spiti valley. So I made up mind that I will be back here, may be in the winter ?

Whats more to come was gnarly roads, more amazing people and the road to keylong via Batal and Kunzum la. I am going to let the photos do the talking !

Home stay in Tabo

The Spiti river

Thats me trying to run to pose, but the camera beat me to it !

First glimpse of Kaza

No Caption required !

We stayed in Kaza that day, did some much needed laundry and more or less spent the remainder of the day gazing around without any real purpose. It was nothing short of awe.

The road from Kaza to Kunzum 

We found this massive plains in the middle of nowhere and we were hell bent on getting some throws!

And, Yes - 2 hands...that how you catch the disc :) 

The roads got gnarly, and the scenery became heavenly ..

At Kunzum La

First sight of snow and we had to park and explore !

and Yes, Gnarly roads anyone ?

If you're on the wrong motorcycle, its the difference between enduring and having fun

Single tracks and the Spiti river !

You can literally see for miles ! 

Terrible terrible roads and lots to learn ! Yeah, So what...we kept dropping our bikes..

The gruelling 176 kms from Kaza to Keylong is the epitome of adventure on a motorcycle. Even on Dual sport machines with ample OOumPH, it took us a good 10+ hours on the saddle (with lots of stoppage to enjoy the scenery, of course). With 70+ kms of amazing tarmac, the remaining 100 kms took most of the 10 hrs of riding.

I cant imagine being back there on the 'wrong motorcycle'. Even with light weight motorcycles, its nothing short of a battle. The terrain is absolutely unforgiving and there is no room for error. Its key to know your limits. Not to mention the altitude. Yes, we dropped our motorcycles. It was hard to pick them back up and continue 'unbroken'. The water crossing or what the locals affectionately call "Nalaas" are extremely excruciating to cross. The water crossings on the leh-manali highway after Jispa and ZingZing Bar are a 'joke' compared to the ones that you'll encounter in Spiti. The water is freezing cold and the later you are during the course of the day, the bigger the water crossings. The inhospitable conditions will make you feel like shit at the end of the day. A false dilemma, or false dichotomy sets in, I was even wondering why I like doing this.

If not for the great tarmac from Gramphu to Keylong, which brings some life back into you, the road or the lack of any will break anyone and everyone. True story.

It was 8pm !

We live to ride another day and reach keylong to enter the lahul valley

And, Its that time of the year... Here's wishing all you dual sport delinquents and other goofy quirky motorcycle enthusiasts an awesome year ahead ! Keep the shiny side up and the rubber side down, see you on the road in 2015 !

  

Spiti'ness

It was Nice sunny day in Reckong Peo. At approximately 7500 ft, its something that I could get used to.  Oh boy were the women pretty there ! Drop Dead Gorgeous, simple, comprehensive yet concise. I was drool mongering like Jim Carrey from 'The Mask'. No kidding..

I was talking to myself, telling me to concentrate on the narrow spirally roads rather than gaping at strange pretty women in awe! Yep, I think thats about time when I realised that my chain slider washer had fallen off from the previous day and the chain was in contact with the swingarm making an unpleasant noise. Wallah ! Double wammy time ... I found this little guy in my rear tyre.

Nailed it ! 

I was fortunate to find a puncture shop right next to the little mechanic who helped me with the washer and a bolt to fix the chain slider. 

We had some spare time to catch up on breakfast, and guess what. I encountered the bestest aloo paratha's in the world. True story.

It was a laid back day as 'early' did'nt happen, thanks to a flat tyre. But, Better now than tomorrow or dayafter or the day after that... In hindsight, I am glad that it happened where there was help. I was carrying spare tubes, puncture kits, A Mini air compressor, tyre irons, etc. However, I am no expert in changing tyres. So, It can be a little scary or lets call it 'adventurous' if it happens in the wilderness.

We rode many precarious wooden bridges and I had to stop and take a photo of at least one of them !

Believe it or not,  We were asked to pull over as road maintenance folks had planted Dynamite a little further ahead ? Yes, Dynamite. We even heard it go off. It was a blast !

More himalayan wildlife

Waiting for the road to clear, I decided to pose for a (cliche'd) profile picture that can used in social media. I was such a stereotype.

There's something about Spiti. I am definitely going back. I am not sure if it was the quaint villages, the amazing people we met, The raw untouched beauty of the valley or the himalayas starring right at you from places and angles that you've not seen her. The terrain is nothing like the leh-manali highway. Surprise after surprise. Even the moon was out in broad day light.

When you're here on your motorcycle, the first thing that strikes you is the fact that the perceived "I am totally incharge" is lost. You are anything but in control.

"the natural forces are so great that human endeavours to tame them barely register"

And then, you reach Nako .. Or i'd like to remember it as the quaintest place I've visited, and l'll always remember it as "Shang-ri-la" in my head.

Shang-ri-la

Lets throw in some 'moon land' in spiti, shall we ?

With the day coming to an end, we decided to stop at Tabo for the night. The sun was setting and the light was spreading beyond the horizon. It was all a little delusional. The sight was utterly unreal. Dispersion of light is a beautiful thing, whats even more extraordinary is Spiti valley itself. Gnarly roads, great people and the ever fascinating himalayas are going to make any mortal keep coming back !

I am no photographer, its just Spiti is that beautiful!

So remember this, Spiti's gonna keep you guessing and thats how awesome it is. It was a pity that we leave Spiti to enter the lahul valley soon.

What keeps you guessing ? - SPITI

Glory days begin

No Guts, No Glory ...

Every day from today will be glorious and nothing short of Epic. Paved roads, No roads, Single lane tracks & trails is pretty much what it is, A Side of India few travelers know Exists...

We started our day with shallow rocky shoulders stretches and slowly finding your way through small villages to the eastern side of Kunzum Pass. It would take us 3 days to reach Kaza khus and we would begin our ascent towards Kunzum which was open for tourists only a day before our departure from Delhi. We wanted to halt at Parwarnoo on Day 1, however with lots of mile munching we were closer to Narkanda, which was our halt for Day 2.  So we gunned to reached Kalpa.

Thats #bluesbaby re-bungy'ing his luggage..

Apparently, what we were riding was the NH22. The roads were rather dusty and glory just began. From what I recall, everyday the condition of the roads kept deteriorating, bringing more glory. It took us a decent 3 days to get used to packing our luggage and reaching the state of "fall free". In Hindsight, Fall free is such an illusion !

All day on that eventful day, we were riding beside a tributary of the Great Sutlej. All I can say is, she was alive ! Its more than just background sound as she eventually paves the way slicing through the valley. It was quite sad to see dams being constructed. Dams block free flowing water, and that sucks. Soon, there will be no white waters here after the hydro projects begin in full swing.

Last fuel station enroute to Kalpa

The roads are non existant. Its just mud and dirt all the way till you reach the little town of Rekong Peo, and then ascent to Kalpa, a little village uptop.

Road work and clearing rubble in progress

Fire roads all the way

How epic is epic ?

Why would people build a dam and get rid of all this awesomeness ? I just didn't get it. China and India are already in a geopolitical cold war like situation with the rivers of the himalayas. Oh yes, I am talking about the Bhramhaputra. The Zangmu Dam is under construction now in tibet. Whats more alarming is so called "Tibet's largest hydropower station", The Zangmu was partly operational this Sunday (Yes, Yesterday ..The 23rd of November 2014).  This is bad news. Remember the flash floods in Uttarkashi last year ? Well, we can expect many more in this region of northern eastern India, and the Zangmu is solely to be blamed. Sometimes civilisation as a term is abused quite much. To generate an estimated 2.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, the indigenous people (mostly tribes) are going to get displaced. Remember James Cameron's Avatar ? Yep, Same story. The truth is none of these tribal people need the 2.5 billion whatever and have been living in peace and harmony. All of a sudden we just want to screw with their livelihoods and go bat shit on them. 

If you want to help the cause, you can sign the petition here

Back to gnarly roads!

It was a glorious day indeed. The next morning was epic'er .. I saw a Moth, The Kinnaur Kailash from little Kalpa and even ate some stolen apples from the previous day..

A moth...

...The Snow capped Kinnaur Kailash

The little kalpa !

..And Stolen Apples..

Plains to Mountains - II

It was an early morning and a very hot day in Delhi. All packed and ready to munch some miles, we left the sweaty hot city hoping for better weather as we intended to reach Shimla that very day, and enter blissful Himachal pradesh.

The road out from NCR can leave you a little confused, and we had some assistance with GPS from our smart phones. Sooner than we thought, we had escaped from the noisy busy city to the calmer country side and halted for some much needed food.  Little did I know that I will have to settle for aloo parathas for every meal, every day, the next few days. But meh..It was hardly boring..

 Man! the butter was just....damn

Twisties start !

Shimla is roughly 400 km from Delhi and we managed to reach there a little after lunchish time. Not bad at all considering the roads were terrific and full of tarmac. Piece of cake day.

We stumbled upon this tiny weeny place that served maggi with the best view in Shimla. A small break became a big one and we were beginning to really enjoy the better weather too !

We took a poll amongst us and decided that we will spend the night elsewere and not in Shimla. We took a detour thro some amazing twisties to "koti", a near by village in the district. The road to koti were  narrow single lane curvies heading downhill. Koti was nothing short of pretty in spite of the fact that we reached there when it was a little dark.

Silhouettes at its best ! 

We were really excited about the gnarly roads and terrain that we would encounter the next day, on our way to Kalpa, a tiny village off the little town of Rekong peo in the Kinnaur district, entering the pristine Spiti valley.

The Truth about "Adventure" bikes in India

Hello There !

This post is kinda not related to the Himalayas nor is part of my great epic story.. Its just something I always want to write about,  "My perspective".

Over the last couple of years there are a lot of "talks" and mumbling happening over this topic. The Buzz Off late,  or let me call it the most abused word in the motorcycle industry - "Adventure Motorcycles". I was left shattered when they burst the news that the "KTM Adventure 390" and all its renderings were nothing more than "rumours" and an internet hoax. I was willing to sell my soul to the devil for a lightweight "go anywhere" dual purpose motorcycle. Intermot and EICMA 2014 saw some big launches (KTM SuperAdventure 1290 which is actually a chruch-on-wheels? & the India bound KTM 1050 Adventure which is a smaller church-on-wheels).  Not to mention that India already has the V Storm 1000 and the Triumph 800XC selling here. Obviously they come at the premium because they are indeed "premium" motorcycles. So will be the KTMs once they touchdown.

When the SX Enduro, BMW F650 and Hero Impulse were being sold, no one wanted them. They were either cheap, very expensive or underpowered. Oh, BTW..Notice the "were" for Hero Impulse ?  Because my friend, Hero NO LONGER MAKES THEM. TRUE STORY. I urge you to grab one when you can.

I feel that people are over emphasising on the "un necessary" a wee bit too much in 2014. All of a sudden everyone wants a Harley ? Everyone wants to own a Hefty big dirt bike that you cannot lift when you drop it and Never actually go on a "real" adventure but just pose and cage their life away ?

Another whole new topic is "upgrading". WTH is upgrading ? I see a lot of Fat guys on big adventure bikes because they are sold here and they can afford it. Very obviously those bikes are far more comfortable than the previous bike(s) they owned, but that doesn't mean squat and You, Fatman, can never ride trails or have "dirt bike fun" & PS: What is you ride is not "dirt worthy", BTW.

I am sorry, but thats the truth - No pre load adjustment or damping or rebound adjustment is going to compensate for all that excess fat. On the contrary, I wish I was bigger. I am tiny guy at 5' 9" weighing a little over 65 kgs.

Enough ranting !

Here's some snow photos to cool things down a little...

The Road or the absence of it after Batal towards Keylong from Kunzum la

15ft of snow atop Baralach la !

I am sure some people are going to get offended by this post and some might even agree with me. But the real truth is this:

You can adventure ride anything if you wanted. I know a guy who rode his Bajaj m80 "milkman" bike across India to the Himalayas and back, and others who strap jerry cans to the back of their (very) old two stroke bikes and disappear for a few weeks and months together...and womygawd, did I mention 2T oil ? 

Having said that, I really wish the Ducati Scrambler rendering shown had seen light instead of the actual one..

Conclusion (My Opinion) : Large Adventure Bikes are "All fart - No shit", Stop buying them and write a petition to the motorcycle industry to start making fun small adventure bikes that can lead to divorces :)

James Gordon Jr : Why's are small adventure bikes better Dad? 

Lt. James Gordon: Because we can drop them and pick them up.. 

James Gordon Jr.: KTM and BMW didn't do anything wrong ?

Lt. James Gordon: They are not wrong, but they are not the motorcycles you deserve, and we certainly dont need one right now. So we'll make small adventure bikes ourselfs, because they can take it. Because they are not going to be a BMW tomorrow. They're a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A Dark knight !


And, you get to do all of this ....Cheers

So.. it was thro' Kaza to Leh

It was the month of June. My friend who had accompanied me in 2013 decided to make 2014 a himalayan year too, Oh sorry, let me rephrase "Great Himalayan Year".. Another friend who has never ever ever ever....ever.. been on a long motorcycle trip / adventure made it too. He not only made it, but went the extra mile to plonk a 223 motor in his Hero Impulse and other fun stuff that was necessary. I couldn't complain. So, How cool is cool ?

And yeah, A Storm is brewing...All my friends own a Dual-sport now... You're welcome ?

So it came down to the route and "plans"...and "schemes" and lots and lots of discussions. However, I had already made up my mind. Leh was the final destination and it was going to be thro' Kaza, Spiti valley. But guess what ? Democracy happens. I hated democracy that day. True story.  Slowly but surely, I could slyly convince my friends saying horrendous lies wearing invisible devil horns. Anything for the sake of adventure.

With that said, I still had to break-in and ride around town quite a bit after the new pistons. The motorcycle felt great. I was able to hold highway speeds of 100 kmph with 1/8th throttle and things got funky after the carb mod. I highly recommend a 33mm carb to anyone who has done something similar.

In hindsight, I really had to fix the overheating exhaust pipe and figure a way to extend my DIY racks to hold fuel cans.. As of now, I had no job and had a tonne of free time.

Titanium woven pipe wraps ordered from eBay

DIY Fuel can holders for 2 x 5 lts 

It was quite simple after. We shipped the bikes to Delhi last week of June, I ordered a windscreen off the internet, and even ate some sandwich..

Reporting for Adventure, Sir!

Who knew a harley winscreen will be a perfect fit ? damn..

Vetti makes awesome sandwiches or what ?

How Retarded are Large Motorcycle group rides ?

Over much time spent on the road, I have noticed a trend of crazy increase in the number of motorcycle clubs and groups (Particularly in India). Partially due to the the market expanding to the availability of "big bikes" in india. Now, you can choose between the likes of Harley Davidsons, Aprilia's, Big Honda's, Kwakers, and goddammit its a big list.

Personally, I find riding with a group extremely restrictive. I have had terrible experiences riding with "Clubs" and groups and I feel that most of them are no good. As most of them comprise of  (Old) people who are cagers (and posers). No offence to old motorcyclists, I am very specifically talking about the few who have started riding post mid life crisis know-it-all people who'll patronise you and tell you things like Harleys are great motorcycles. NO..They are not. Harleys Suck.

Actually, I prefer to ride alone. When I ride alone, I go where I want to, when I want to and Eat when I am hungry. Group rides are OK for short rides, but not an adventure of any sorts. I ride with friends and fraternity if at all I am riding with a group. You see its very different from a Large group or any club. Clubs have a social orientation, and you could always quit one and join another (lame) one. There is no sense of brotherhood in true sense. Clubs or Groups are full of people who probably own the same motorcycle / manufacturer or something else in common that is less intimidating..

Himalayan Moonrise over Nubra

I hate to sound like a philosopher, But No group ride can end with camping in a sand quarry without dinner, fire for the night from asphalt and diesel, and an impeccable Himalayan moonrise over Nubra!  Unintentionally, I met with a bunch of like minded folks in Leh and we decided that we will spend the next 5 days riding together in the valleys of awesome.

PS: If you look close, my friends butt crack is visible

To conclude, Big Groups = More Fools ..Now who wants to play mother hen over grown ups ?  So How Retarded are Large Motorcycle group rides ? ...Very....

Hmmm....

It was 2014, a brand new year. Time flew. It was the end of January already and I was recovering from a moderately serious motorcycle accident. More like, I ran out of talent in one of the spirally corners of the awesome Dandeli forest enroute to Goa in Northern Karnataka, South India. I was riding to attend the 2nd edition of Bike Week. I had some soft tissue damage in my right hip, popped my right shoulder and missed my liver by an inch, Or thats what the doc said. The morphene was good, and I was in crutches attending the Bike week.  Cant complain.

I recovered pretty darn well, but it was very hard to explain to people why motorcycling is unforgiving and it always will be. Falling off a motorcycle doesn't make one stop riding. I was not going to stop riding either. Motorcycling is unforgiving. Period. I would like to think of it as a WIN. My road bike is a ER-6f, Which was totally totalled in Dandeli. I still had the cheap indian rip off of the crf 230 which I could hop on while I was waiting for the Kwaker to get fixed.

I was very promiscuous with a casual and unselective approach.  I had to do something to the motorcycle. Ideally one should change the front forks of the bike, but its relatively a lot of work, and nothing is a "straight fit"

There was significant and noticeable wear of rubber on the knobbies of the stock tyres, as I was having way too much fun in the city riding on pot holes and catching air time in speed bumps

The tyres had a decent few thousands of kilometres left, So meh.

Nothing like airtime in Hunder !

However, I was rather curious about testing a 33mm carburetor (Pulsar NS200) along with the BBR Bigbore kit (240cc kit, however, please beware that its only a 230cc kit and BBR people lie just like everyone else) which is a straight fit. Now how about that ?

So I was relentlessly searching for the best deals on the internet. I was all over crfsonly, amazon, motosport and many other websites. You could easily say that I was "addicted" in Feb 2014. Finally after much research and time, I had someone who could handcarry the parts and saved me some $'s on shipping it. So, I got my hands on this..

The kit comprises of the following:

• Piston Kit

67mm piston - High compression piston

pin

clips

rings

• BBR Camshaft (with a 1.8mm Lift \m/)

• Heavy Duty Valve Springs (\m/)

• Head and base gaskets

& Requires professional boring of your stock cylinder. I replaced the inlet and exhaust valves, the rockers for the cam and a whole bunch of things that I want to abstain from writing about. With the momentum, My friend and I designed a exhaust shield for our custom made exhaust and some modifications to our "ADV" luggage carrier to hold upto 10 lts of fuel in 2 auxiliary cans, 5 lts each. 

I even managed to order a windscreen of a harley davidson that was a straight fit. Double wammy !

I felt all cool and epic that day, that moment of triumph ... spending all your money on a dirtbike, sometimes I wish I can get all that money back, to buy more stuff for the dirt bike ..

Even bigger Motorcycle Adventure

Road trippin season began a while ago. The mountain roads and passes are open to cherish the mighty Himalayas again.  Very obviously on a motorcycle. With the church and kitchen sink tied to your ride, or as I would like to call her, my "steed".

I quit my (fake) job earlier this year. Now I had all the time in the world to do something epic and take a break..during my break. when I tell people about the change I call it a sabbatical, so that its easy to comprehend and I don't have to explain why I do this.

I realised that I had very little time in hand, in life. Life to too short for any full time job, and its just a matter of time. There is this great quote.. "There is never enough time to do all the nothing you want" ...well said Bill ( Bill Watterson is this epic guy who writes comics for a livelihood, he authored Calvin and Hobbes ), cant agree more. Earlier this year, I told myself "For the love of life, please quit this fake thing thats paying you money to do shit that you probably wouldn't do", and people like me hate the desk, The obnoxious office coffee, sitting in long point-less meetings and this concept of "work late hours". So, one fine day,  I resigned. To my surprise, I found myself happy every day after I quit and today superseded yesterdays happiness. How awesome is that ?

So, back to adventure. It had to be an even bigger motorcycle adventure this time. I made a promise (to myself) that I would go back to the mountains next riding season and thats exactly what I did. For the first time, ever, there were no expectations or schemes or plans. In fact, I didn't even tell my folks where I was going till the actual day of departure.

It was simple this time. I already had a ride. All I had to do was to get there. However,  I wanted to prepare for a nuclear holocaust and carry an apocalypse kit. So, lets have some fun I guess ?