First long bike drive

nats

Last weekend I did a super tour to Kasauli on bikes. I was on a Pulsar 180 and my friend on the Comet. I am not an old bike enthusiast. I began biking only end 2004 in France, to be able to manage to go to work in Delhi, just as a commuter, since I learnt that it is cheaper and faster to travel in the slow moving office hours. And when I started driving regularly in New Delhi in Feb 2005, I started discovering the pleasures and the feeling of freedom of bike riding. I have been riding a Pulsar 180. Recently my friend bought a Comet and when he was out of town, I was driving it to office to break it in.

Last week we decided to go out on our respective bikes, to give me my first experience on long highway driving and also to have the pleasure of driving in the mountains.

Saturday morning the weather looked menacing. I had checked Yahoo weather and it was not encouraging. We left nonetheless. I had just got my bike serviced, oil change and all, and I put in 97 Octane, wow did it feel good. Getting out of Delhi we were not in a hurry; my friend in his Comet was still in his last legs of the breaking in period. So we were taking it easy. 2hours on the road and it started raining. Fifteen minutes, half an hour, an hour, it kept raining, relentlessly. It did not show any sign of letting up. And we kept driving.

We were not too well equipped I guess, we were drenched to the bone. And with the breeze and the driving, we were cold, the skin on the fingers shriveled and the finger joints completely jammed. But we continued without stopping like brave warriors. Stopping in the rain would not get us anywhere. What an ordeal.

Finally, after a clear two hours in the rain, and over 110 kms, the rain stopped. And I stopped too, to go take a pee. I was frozen to the bone, actually shivering with my teeth chattering away after 2 hours of driving in the cold rain.

And then we continued. While going to the hills on this way, we are used to stopping at a dhaba near a milk booth called milk time. We stopped at the same place to have lunch. It was early afternoon. To warm myself, I went and hugged the warm “patila” of dal fry to warm myself. It did me a lot of good as I got back feeling in my fingers. My friend ordered cheese tomato and dal makhani, and it was delicious and we started looking at the map and calculating the time we had in hand to reach Kasauli and the distance to be covered while we kept looking at the skies. They looked to be on our side for the moment.

After lunch we started on our way. Here I must say that it is quite a bit of a problem, in fact quite a pain in India to drive for a two-wheeler driver if the median strip does not exist. The bus drivers respect nothing and no one. The bus overtakes another bus with other vehicles coming in front. They have no regard for bike drivers or cyclists simply bullying them off the road.

The road at Kalka was horrible as usual. Very crowded, uneven tarmac and little or no place to overtake, specially for me who was just in my 8th month of driving bikes, with hardly 5000 kms to my credit. That is where I lost my friend who slipped through the traffic and went ahead. I tried to keep up. But the traffic was bad and so were the roads and I lost him. I caught up with him half an hour later where he was waiting for me up in the hills.

And I started realizing the pleasures of motorcycle driving in the hills. The winding roads, the greenery, the mountains, the fabulous gorges, the ravines, the waterfalls. It was a great drive; we stopped regularly to take pics. And at Dharampur we left the NH for the climb to Kasauli on the left.

This drive was nice too, but the road leaves much to be desired, nothing compared to the NH on which we were driving.

Arriving at Kasauli, we had not reserved a hotel. We had checked some of the sites but had not decided which hotel to go to. We crossed Kasauli Resort on the way. Arriving at the main town, a guard said that they do not let two wheelers in. Cars were fine. This something I do not understand in India. If you have a car, you have access everywhere. If you had a bike, you are treated as an outcaste. And my friend driving the Comet did not want to park his bike in a public parking and go walking looking for a hotel 2kms away. So we drove down, back to Kasauli Resorts and managed to get rooms, rather expensive, but after the two hour drive in the rain, the hot sauna, hammam, and the Jacuzzi proved a treat. The room had a balcony with a great view and we put our feet up.

Next two days it rained quite a bit and my friend was quite frustrated of not being able to drive around in the mountains, one of the reasons of coming to the hills on bikes. Another annoying thing I find in this country everywhere, people fiddle around with other people’s bikes. The Comet choke was pulled, the mirrors readjusted, the headlamp and kill switch fiddled with, the gears engaged, it is a real pain. So we moved our bikes and parked in a place visible from the reception.

We moved out on the third day on our way back to Delhi. In fifteen minutes time it started raining yet again. My friend was in a bad mood, he got wet, it was pretty cool, the hill roads were wet. We stopped for the rain to subside a bit. And then continued again. The rain stopped, we took a few photographs, shot a short video, and continued towards the plains.

A point to make. On the way back down the mountains, I found myself more at ease, driving fluently, cornering easily, negotiating traffic comfortably and when my friend remarked me on this, I was really pleased. The drive down was a real pleasure and I started enjoying it more and more. Pity it did not last very long as soon we reached Kalka and hit the plains.

Stopped at the dhaba next to Milk Time. I faced the same problems of the Haryana roadways buses who overtake and drive with utter recklessness with no regard for anyone around. Once we were on the main highway, my friend suggested that I try the Comet. I drove for a 30kms, and I can tell you, it was a pleasure driving the bike. It had been smoothly broken into. I was doing an easy 110 km/h. It rolled on easy. The rear shocks is a bit stiff, though. But that is what gives the stability to the bike I happened to learn. My friend was driving my Pulsar and he was having difficulty keeping up. There is just one thing. The Comet had a vibration zone between 5000 and 6000 Rpm. At 6000 Rpm, she smoothens out. I wanted to share this experience.

somnath

Nice post, nats . Thanks for sharing your experience. If possible please share some photographs of the trip.

Thanks,
Somnath

nats

I am trying to upload some pix taken with my canon digital. If I am unable to do it, some hints pl...!!! thanx.

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Styler

Great Post,

It must have been a memorable experience if not a very good one due to the rains. You'll enjoy more as you go on.
I own a Yamaha RD350, and have travelled a lot in the hills.

The raindrops feel like pin pricks if youre riding a bike without gloves.

Kasauli is a nice slow place if you want to just relax and unwind and do nothing. A good place to stay in Kasauli is the Annexe of Hotel Ross Common, and you can book rooms on the net for it.

I completely agree that on the highways in India the trafic does not have any respect for the Bikes.
If a bus is overtaking another bus in the opposite side, they will not abort the overtake evan if they see a bike coming from the other side. It's the bike rider who has to move off the road.
So the best way to enjoy bike rides is to go to places where there is not much traffic.

I hope you'll become a regular in these forums.

somnath

Hi nats,
So this is you and other two members (Comet and Pulsar ). And perfect uploading!!!! Thanks for sharing. I missed the post, thanks to Styler .
Just curious, how you guys concentrate on riding while traveling through a beautiful trail or how you enjoy the scenic beauty while taking a hairpin turn? Don’t tell me ”we do both at the same time ”.

- Somnath

nats

Hi Styler,

yes it is difficult to drive in traffic like that. A bit scary, so as a beginner I dont take too many chances. My friend on the Comet takes it faster. He has been driving for 20 years now!! But I really enjoyed driving on the highway and double the pleasure in the hills.

Yes Somnath, it is not a question of doing both, cornering a hairpin bend and appreciating the mountains at the same time. I dont know how to explain it. You see there is this enhanced exhilerating feeling of driving in the mountains. Why do I say enhanced... I have been to the Himalayas before, and on all the previous occasions, I have driven a car, 104 Bhp, quite powerful, always liked the drives and driven relatively slow to be able to appreciate the beauty as well. On a bike, it is completely different. It is a unique feeling, a feeling of pleasure, a freedom that is not felt elsewhere, and for the moment I can at best liken it to the feeling of long distance skiing (personally). And on the good stretches, the beauty simply hits you and you slow down, stop maybe, watch, unwind, take pix, make a small video clip with the clouds climbing and then continue and find more as you go along.

Styler, I agree, without gloves driving even at 70km, the rain hits hard on the hand. And two hours of it for over 110 kms... what kind of gloves do you wear here do drive in the warmer months? And where do you get them? Thanks.

crimsonriver

Gud goin.. I just did a 3800 Km ride to Ladakh, Zanskar and Kashmir valley on my 150cc Honda Unicorn..

__________________
Look around and chose your own ground
For long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be...

Last ride : Bhutan, Arunachal, Sikkim.. (Where do I ride next?)
My Travel Journal...
http://the-never-ending-road.blogspot.com

nats

Hey crimsonriver, could we have some pix pl. Some details, roads, the drive, the difficulties, did the bike stall, tech support on the way, cold starts in the morning, battery performance, engine misfiring at high altitude and so on... thanks pal. Keep it rolling!

crimsonriver

Posted some pics.. on my journal..
http://the-never-ending-road.blogspot.com/

more pics and the trip log coming up soon...

nats

saw your pix on the site, they were great and inspiring. Trekked in Ladakh last year, but not bike, pity.
Some more pix of the roadie to Kasauli.

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crimsonriver

And I missed on treks due to time constraints... but the mountains beckon.. yet again.. hopefully will go again next year..
will be uploadin more pics and the trip details.. in the comin dayz..

somnath

Crimsonriver, nice photographs. Thanks for sharing. Waiting for the next lot.

- Somnath

crimsonriver

thnx somnath

shubho

very engrossing account, nice pics, tho i wish they were bigger. what's a comet? i'm not really into motorbikes, more into cycles... am thinking of getting a bike to commute to work and do an occasional weekend trip to the hills. (Live and work in Delhi.) can you recommend a low maintenance bike that's not too expensive? (i'd rather spend the money on cycles.) thanks.

nats

For commuting, you can buy n number of bikes in the market. If you are cycle guy, bikes would not really interest you. But if you are looking for even a little bit of performance, low maintenance, take a look at the Pulsar 150 dtsi or the 180, more powerful, or the Honda Unicorn, or the Honda CBZ. They are cool easy bikes, low on maintenance. But the CBZ consumes on the higher side.

A Comet is a twin cylinder bike brought into India by Kinetic motors, you can go to the site and have a look. Cool bike.

Keep on rolling...