Thread Starter
#1
This is going to be a long travelogue with some crazy incidents of two best friends on two Enfields while conquering Ladakh.
A glimpse of what you will be enthralling upon
In the year 2011 during my class 11th exam I had a dream, A Dream of exploring the mecca of every traveler-The mighty ladakh. And I remember exploring every single travelogue over web every single day resulting awful results for my exams. It's 2017 and now I understand- It was a glimpse of what my destiny had in store for me. Lot of things have been changed in last 6 years- I moved to Noida, Automobile Engineering,still single, bought a Thunderbird Et cetera but one thing remained the same and that's my lust for Ladakh.
Coming to the story-
As every college student will know that it's the exams which reminds us how important "other things" are in our life, So during my 6th semester exam I decided I
needed a break and I really need to find a getaway from chaotic engineering life. What a stupid idea to discuss it with your best friend who is also a rider,who also
owns a thunderbird .
Meet Abhijeet-(R)
He's the guy I can totally rely on, I remember once I messed up with few guys in our college and he was the one to handle the situation there and more importantly he always stood by me. That's what friendship is all about right? May be that's why we are known as- Thunder Buddies in our college.
Coming to machines-
So more than exams it was our ride we were more concerned and nervous about. In between exam breaks we made numerous trips to karol bagh to make sure our rides are ready for all the torture they need to handle in the coming week. We opted for Ladakh carriers for 1700/- each, as per my calculation saddle bag were on the higher side for our budget ( yes we students need to save a lot for such trips). And we decided not to invest on riding shoe, biggest mistake I would call it instead we bought Rs.100 gum boots for carrying the duty at water crossings.
Vital ingredients to get Leh'd were-
More than preparation and planning the most important thing was to convince our family to let their some 20s kids to go on a crazy bike trip to remotest place of India for 2 weeks where we don't even have mobile network at some places forget about internet.
My Home-
Me- Papa, wo mere exams acche jaa rhe hai!
Dad- what do you want now?
Me- I was thinking of going to ladakh after my exams.... In bike( fingers crossed).
Dad- okay, make sure you go with your biking group.
Me- Papa, this time it will be just me and Abhijeet.
Dad- Are you kidding me?
Me- Papa going in group is not good all the time you don't have your own space blah blah blah.... Don't worry few riders would be joining us in Jammu blah blah blah...
So after some 20 minutes of explanation and some buttering and some emotional dialogues my stars worked out at the end. I got the green signal from my home.
Abhijeet's parents-
Here just a phone call is not going to work( Army personnel you know) so we prepared a proper ppt presentation with all the itinerary, planning, maps, routes, emergency contacts, weather forecasting and lot of permutations and combinations.
Voila ! It worked. Now no one can stop us from being Leh'd
D-Day
21st May
D-1
Plan-cover as mush as distance possible from Greater noida towards Mecca.
As planned I went to bed early in the evening with all the packing done and alarm set for 2 AM as our scheduled departure was 3 AM to beat the Delhi's traffic but as usual I got late due to adjustments required for my luggage as I was mounting my trekking & trolley bag for the first time.
Finally at 3.30 AM I left home and buddy was supposed to meet me outside my society but he was nowhere to be found then finally at 3.40 I saw him coming and after our customary fist punch two wanderers left for their destination. 10 minutes in to the ride I got all comfortable cruising at 80kmph on the beautiful tarmac of Noida expressway and I saw Abhijeet all happy riding by my side.
Oh wait! He's wearing his knee guards and why am I not wearing one. Comes 1st break of the journey Mr. Patra needs to go back to his apartment to get knee guards on. So finally at 4.00 AM we left Greater Noida with astounding excitement of conquering Ladakh and the dream I had six years ago is being turned in to reality.
God! I'm so lucky.
50 minutes on to the ride with some good average speed and light traffic we reached Sonipat and had our 1st fuel break.
We had our major breakfast break at Ludhiana, we were filling our stomachs on sumptuous paranthas meanwhile our bags were soaking in water, it started raining heavily and we immediately rushed to our bikes to rescue our bags from getting drenched so we covered 'em with the large poly bags we were carrying so after good 90 minutes of gearing up we started again and the next stop was 40 kms before Jammu for tea and fuel.
When we started riding again I realized my bull was making thud sound from the rear wheel, after 10 minutes of inspection the culprit was found to be the chain set.
So there was no point in continuing the journey with rattling chain so tried finding some good mechanic along the highway but no luck so we decided to continue
to Jammu then figure out a solution. Jammu has a authorized royal enfield service center and as 21st being Sunday it was closed so we decided we'll call it a
day at Jammu. We entered city at 3.00 PM and it took us 1 hour to find a cheap stay near bus stand for Rs. 6oo/day. After freshening up we had dinner at nearby market and called it a day.
Distance covered- 675 kms
Travel Time (Including all breaks)- 13 hours
Fuel break- 1. Sonipat Rs880 @65 per-litre odo-35110
2. outskirt of Jammu Rs900 @70.3 per-litre odo-35590
A glimpse of what you will be enthralling upon
In the year 2011 during my class 11th exam I had a dream, A Dream of exploring the mecca of every traveler-The mighty ladakh. And I remember exploring every single travelogue over web every single day resulting awful results for my exams. It's 2017 and now I understand- It was a glimpse of what my destiny had in store for me. Lot of things have been changed in last 6 years- I moved to Noida, Automobile Engineering,still single, bought a Thunderbird Et cetera but one thing remained the same and that's my lust for Ladakh.
Coming to the story-
As every college student will know that it's the exams which reminds us how important "other things" are in our life, So during my 6th semester exam I decided I
needed a break and I really need to find a getaway from chaotic engineering life. What a stupid idea to discuss it with your best friend who is also a rider,who also
owns a thunderbird .
Meet Abhijeet-(R)
He's the guy I can totally rely on, I remember once I messed up with few guys in our college and he was the one to handle the situation there and more importantly he always stood by me. That's what friendship is all about right? May be that's why we are known as- Thunder Buddies in our college.
Coming to machines-
- Abhijeet's bike- Thunderbird 350 Marine blue December-2015 with 9k on the odo.
- My ride- pet name Bullu TB350 Flicker(Black) December-2013 with 35k on the odo.
So more than exams it was our ride we were more concerned and nervous about. In between exam breaks we made numerous trips to karol bagh to make sure our rides are ready for all the torture they need to handle in the coming week. We opted for Ladakh carriers for 1700/- each, as per my calculation saddle bag were on the higher side for our budget ( yes we students need to save a lot for such trips). And we decided not to invest on riding shoe, biggest mistake I would call it instead we bought Rs.100 gum boots for carrying the duty at water crossings.
Vital ingredients to get Leh'd were-
- Carrier
- New tires
- Spare-fuses,tubes,air filter,clutch & accelerator cable, chain locks, engine oil, key etc.
- All the hathiyaar- wrench,plier,puncture repair kit,pump,araldite etc
- Chain lube
- Medicines
- Thermals
- Cuppa noodles
- snickers
- gloves(winter & everyday)
- Heavy duty Bungee cables
- XXL size polythene bags to cover luggage
- BSNL postpaid sim
- Rain coat
- Riding gears
- And lot of patience
More than preparation and planning the most important thing was to convince our family to let their some 20s kids to go on a crazy bike trip to remotest place of India for 2 weeks where we don't even have mobile network at some places forget about internet.
My Home-
Me- Papa, wo mere exams acche jaa rhe hai!
Dad- what do you want now?
Me- I was thinking of going to ladakh after my exams.... In bike( fingers crossed).
Dad- okay, make sure you go with your biking group.
Me- Papa, this time it will be just me and Abhijeet.
Dad- Are you kidding me?
Me- Papa going in group is not good all the time you don't have your own space blah blah blah.... Don't worry few riders would be joining us in Jammu blah blah blah...
So after some 20 minutes of explanation and some buttering and some emotional dialogues my stars worked out at the end. I got the green signal from my home.
Abhijeet's parents-
Here just a phone call is not going to work( Army personnel you know) so we prepared a proper ppt presentation with all the itinerary, planning, maps, routes, emergency contacts, weather forecasting and lot of permutations and combinations.
Voila ! It worked. Now no one can stop us from being Leh'd
D-Day
21st May
D-1
Plan-cover as mush as distance possible from Greater noida towards Mecca.
As planned I went to bed early in the evening with all the packing done and alarm set for 2 AM as our scheduled departure was 3 AM to beat the Delhi's traffic but as usual I got late due to adjustments required for my luggage as I was mounting my trekking & trolley bag for the first time.
Finally at 3.30 AM I left home and buddy was supposed to meet me outside my society but he was nowhere to be found then finally at 3.40 I saw him coming and after our customary fist punch two wanderers left for their destination. 10 minutes in to the ride I got all comfortable cruising at 80kmph on the beautiful tarmac of Noida expressway and I saw Abhijeet all happy riding by my side.
Oh wait! He's wearing his knee guards and why am I not wearing one. Comes 1st break of the journey Mr. Patra needs to go back to his apartment to get knee guards on. So finally at 4.00 AM we left Greater Noida with astounding excitement of conquering Ladakh and the dream I had six years ago is being turned in to reality.
God! I'm so lucky.
50 minutes on to the ride with some good average speed and light traffic we reached Sonipat and had our 1st fuel break.
We had our major breakfast break at Ludhiana, we were filling our stomachs on sumptuous paranthas meanwhile our bags were soaking in water, it started raining heavily and we immediately rushed to our bikes to rescue our bags from getting drenched so we covered 'em with the large poly bags we were carrying so after good 90 minutes of gearing up we started again and the next stop was 40 kms before Jammu for tea and fuel.
When we started riding again I realized my bull was making thud sound from the rear wheel, after 10 minutes of inspection the culprit was found to be the chain set.
So there was no point in continuing the journey with rattling chain so tried finding some good mechanic along the highway but no luck so we decided to continue
to Jammu then figure out a solution. Jammu has a authorized royal enfield service center and as 21st being Sunday it was closed so we decided we'll call it a
day at Jammu. We entered city at 3.00 PM and it took us 1 hour to find a cheap stay near bus stand for Rs. 6oo/day. After freshening up we had dinner at nearby market and called it a day.
Distance covered- 675 kms
Travel Time (Including all breaks)- 13 hours
Fuel break- 1. Sonipat Rs880 @65 per-litre odo-35110
2. outskirt of Jammu Rs900 @70.3 per-litre odo-35590