21 Days on 2 Wheels from Mumbai - Ladakh - Mumbai

This blog is dedicated to my dream lifetime ride I had in June 2009.. On bike from Mumbai - Leh - Mumbai We four (Me, Gopi, Winzee & Prasad) conquered the worlds 3 highest motorable roads on the smallest vehicle on the Road- The MotorCycle

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Initial Struggle to be a part of this Dream Journey

Its been quiet a while this trip log was pending. Its taking time to remember, re-arrange the pix which are in 1000's. Afterall this was a journey of 21 days on 2 wheels, need time to recollect each moments we spent each day. While on the journey I could say the dialogue "I live my life Quarter Mile A Time.!" So am trying to re-collect the moments & pen down this trip log from my point of view. Here I would like to let you know about how easy/difficult it was for me to get ready for this mammoth journey. I will never forget what it took for me to convince my near ones & how the unplanned plans where planned.
This all started suddenly, we four riders joined in without any expectations. I met Prasad through one of my friend, as even Prasad was a tourer & insane about bikes & hence my friend thought of introducing us as we both shared the same passion & belong to same species "Biker". On first meet, he said he was planning for a ride to Ladakh. Hearing this & getting excited without a second thought & without knowing the real feasibility I gave my confirmation for this ride. To which he counted on me. Later I mentioned on xBHP thread & ride that am planning to go Leh this year. All of a sudden I get a private message from Mr. Gopi (aka RazorBlades) saying even hes interested for this ride. I met gopi on a xBHP Ganpatipule ride & interacted offline on xBHP. I never took this plan that seriously & the things started shaping up. All thanks to Prasad for taking this initiative & keeping the journey plan alive, he started working hard & making plans, itinerary collecting info & mailing us. There was also one of my friend (Lucky) who showed an initial interest for this Dream Journey, now this forth guy. So tentatively we four riders where suppose to start this journey if at all it happens. The days started nearing, things where getting real serious. The forth Guy due to some problems dropped off. Now the journey was on three of us. Making my parents understand was an extremely difficult task. But somewhere I had a faith am not gonna miss this lifetime ride. The main reason behind my parents denial was, Once on discovery channel they where showing a Journey to Leh, the host was in a SUV & his narration where "Look at this road, all ice everywhere, my vehicle is not able to get a grip at all on the roads, I may fall anytime, this mountain are very vulnerable for land slides. I cannot breath now, I need oxygen. Its very dangerous here". This things made my parents firm for not sending me to this place called "Ladakh". Damn.. I hate that bloody anchor. To make my situation more worst, just 15 days before the journey I met with a serious bad accident. Had some deep cuts & worst bruises. I left hopes, so did the other two (Prasad & Gopi). Days passed by, my wounds where not completed healed but on the verge of. I gave my fellow riders & myself a hope of trying one more attempt of making my near-ones understand about how important this journey is for me. The day came, when I dared to re-ask my parents for this journey & they straight away said a big NO, lot of emotional stuff & swears where given. I had to do lot of acts & various roles ;) (courtesy : Hindi Films), like not eating food, being depressed (which I really was watching my dreams getting shattered). One day dont know what happend I just went with Gopi to buy some things for this journey. I got Saddle Bag, Sleeping Bag, Knee Pads & rest of the stuff I already had. The evening I bought this things home, my dad was badly pissed off, he didnt even let me watch MotoGP as bikes where shown up. I said them, "Alright, am not going for this journey but henceforth no-one will question me for what I do or where I go & tears rolled down." Later due to gods grace even they understood how important this ride is for me & can give up anything for this. They started getting affirmitive & having confidence on what am doing & finally they agreed (Thanks Mom, Dad). Infact they started taking interests in the preparations, making the checklist, dad helped in getting things & ensuring everything is in place & am not missing anything. Packed up my bags with all the required things like Clothes, Bike Spares, Medicines, etc.. I promised my parents & my better half "Just have a faith & let me go, I wont let you down & I Promise will return in the same way am going, Nothings gonna happen to me, I swear." I informed about this good news to my friends & fellow riders & everyone was damn happy about it. Again my dream became alive & then I knew "Am soon gonna meet my destiny.. Just have a faith, Believe in Yourself..!" This developed an anormous confident in myself.
Just 2 days before the ride day, I get a call from Razor telling me even Winzee (Fellow xBHP member) is also seriously ready for this ride. I was like WTF.? How a person can get ready for this massive journey in mere 2 days. (FYI, hes just 22 & completed his T.Y exam). But somehow he did manage to get ready for this ride & completed our checklist for the journey. Lots of xBHP members helped him out sharing some stuff to him & last moment everything was final now. We four riders where going to get LEH'd very soon. Finally, the "Big Day" was here. None of us could sleep the entire pre-journey night. Lots of mix feelings where going on, excited, nervous, afraid, happy, curious. Razor called me up the previous night to know if I was sleeping, even I wasnt sleepy at all. Tried many times to close my eyes, but cannot get that feeling & curiosity out of me. Just we all where too anxious & waiting for the Big Day to arise..!

Info :
Riders & Rides
Rachit (Myself) (Karizma)
Prasad (Royal Enfield, Electra)
Gopi aka Razor (Apache RTR 160)
Winzee (Pulsar 150 Dts)

The Big Day , Journey Starts.,..

Next : Day 1 to Day 4 (6th June - 9 June 2009)