Plan & Route

FIRST NEWS

It was a lazy Sunday morning during late winters (Feb 2013) when a phone call came to germinate an idea. I got a call from an acquaintance asking if I would like to accompany him and some other guys (a group of more than five bikers) on a biking trip from India to UK (London) along the 'Silk Route'.

Sunday Morning in Delhi

I was amazed at plan, Delhi to London on a motorcycle. Rekha (my wife) motivated me and reminded me that these kind of opportunities come once in a life time. However, I asked for a week to think over and get permission of absence from my office.

Well the decision was made in the first instance only but after procrastinating over the proposal finally decided to take the plunge. Informed people concerned that I am all for the trip. How I feel that I should have thought over thoroughly and decided to choose people accompanying on the trip properly, well as they say, hindsight is always 6 by 6.

TRIP PLANNING

After confirmation and approvals from office for the trip came the part of trip planning. By end of February 2013 it was clear that all others had dropped out (or maybe there were no others and I was misled by this guy) and only me and one more guy from Gujrat were going strong for the trip. I decided to go ahead come what may even if I had to go alone. I could sense that this guy had no idea of long distance trips. 

I had got leave of absence for 70 days and had to complete my trip within this time period come what may. You will see that I do not name this guy, as my intention is to keep him at arms length thus no specifics; just my experience with advice for future riders.

This guy informed me that he had done most of the work of trip planning but on review I realized that it was vague planning and I still needed to get involved for identifying complete route planning, reading experience of bikers who had done long distance, reading about the cities, road conditions, weather conditions, availability of gas, permission of host countries and so on. So I made my list for identifying about the ride and route as such......

a - First identify the route you plan to take.

b - Next identify borders to be crossed and places must see for halt.

c - Identify time period and keep spare days up your sleeves.

d - Read blogs of riders and travelers who have crossed these places.

e - Read official web pages of these countries. Identify expected road blocks in permissions, road conditions, weather, traffic and mechanics.

f - Process your bike papers for carnet (details later).

g - Get visa and ride on......

First Hurdle.    The first hurdle in my planning was China. They have peculiar rules of specific crossings, specific travelling route and distance and compulsion of hiring guides. The compulsory trip to cross China was 18 days with cost nearly US $ 10,000/- per biker. There also was issue of visa to me. I being from government service, visa were not forthcoming at all and decided to skip China. My decision was informed to this other guy and I also offered him to meet up in Kyrgyzstan, however, even he was not sure of this route and decided to follow my route only. Bells rang in my head but were overlooked. I finally took a decision to drop China and then started working out transportation of bikes to Kyrgyzstan or Russia. The summary of requirements for crossing China are as below:-

-You need to have visa and carnet for yourself.

-One needs to contact specific travel agents dealing in crossing China by road.

-Best route is from Nepal to Kyrgyzstan.

-There is a specific route through which you can go. A guide will accompany each group from border to border and has to be paid for.

-Halts and break locations are also specified. Larger the group lower per person cost. If on two wheeler, you have to pay for car of the guide.

-Designated route for our party required 18 days to cross China.

-If group is bigger than 10 the cost is about USD 1500, lesser than that would cost each rider about USD 8000 (too frigging much).

-Generally riders wait around on borders of China, combine into a group of 10 and then cross. Cost effective but time consuming (time of which I was short).

Initial Route Plan

Trip Plan.  After deciding on skipping China, I decided to have the route from Bishkek-Osh (Kyrgyzstan) to Uzbekistan (Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva, Nukus) to Kazakstan (Neybue, Atyrau) to Russia (Astrakhan, Volgograd) to Ukraine (Kiev, Lviv) to Poland to Czech to Austria to Italy to Switzerland to France to Belgium and finally on to UK. The planned route was over 12,000 Kms and required intensive riding over two months. The stretches in Uzbekistan were long and arduous. However, I decided to stick to this route and commenced all my planning and preparation accordingly. The detailed route will be described subsequently.

Obtaining Visas.   As per our planning I had to get visas of following countries UK, Schengen, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. The visas have to be taken backwards that means the final destination first and you work your way backwards to your start point. I realised the massive problems of obtaining visas with an Indian passport at the first instance. Read separate posts for visas for full details, suffice is to say that you need massive time and lot of paper work to get visas. Keep lot of additional days for obtaining visas.

The Second Hurdle.   Ukraine refused visa to us. No tourist visa was being given to single Indian males as per embassy officials. You can apply for business visa ( not applicable) for us or tourist visa with family. That left us four other options of entering Europe by road. 

Through Georgia - Extremely bad roads passing through high mountains which are closed most of the times as per my survey.

Through Belarus - Similar problems as Ukraine with bad roads.

through Latvia or through Finland. 

I decided to change my route and move through Scandinavia. This would provide me an opportunity to move through old Silk Route and also through less traveled Scandinavian Countries. This other guy continued to change his route based on my decisions, latching onto all my decisions.

Final Route.   Finally I homed on to my final route as Kyrgyzstan - Uzbekistan - Kazakhstan - Russia - Finland - Sweden - Denmark - Germany - Netherlands - Belgium - France and finally to UK a distance of about 12,000 Kms.

Route Details.    The route decided by me involved skipping China and transporting the bike to Bishkek by air, sea or land. This involved massive logistics issues of finding someone to take it and cost for same. Finally got through Breeze Ltd (Jyotsna) who assured me of transportation by air though the cost would be nearly double the bike cost. Cheapest is by sea but takes longest time.

Had me thinking whether to send bike or buy a new one there only. I gave option to these two guys to ride on land route through China and I would join them in Kyrgyzstan. They could have taken my bike also, however, these two guys did not want to travel on their own and decided to stick to my route and planning.

The final planning boiled to my planned route as : Kyrgyzstan (Bishkek-Osh) - Uzbekistan (Tashkent-Samarkand-Bukhara-Khiva-Nukus) - Kazakhstan (Beynue-Aytrau) - Russia (Astrakhan-Volgograd-Moscow-St Petersberg) - Finland (Helsinki-Touro) - Sweden (Stockholm-Varnamo) - Denmark (Copenhagen) - Germany (Hamburg) - Netherlands (Amsterdam) - Belgium (Brussels) - France (Paris-Brittany) - London. I expect to stay minimum a day in each location with a few extra days in good cities. The total distance would be about 12000 Kms. Due to visa issues I had postponed my start by two weeks and now would start on 16th June 2013.

My journey would be by flight to Kyrgyzstan, then along with one more biker from Gujrat and his mechanic riding on our bikes along the identified route. My wife, Rekha, would join me midway in Helsinki, Finland.

Basic route as identified through 'Google' were saved in my mobile phone and are shared below.

First Leg - Bishkek to Osh (Kyrgyzstan)

Osh (Kyrgyzstan) to Tashkent (Uzbekistan)

Tashkent to Samarkand (Uzbekistan)

Samarkand to Bukhara (Uzbekistan)

Bukhara to Nukus (Uzbekistan)

Nukus (Uzbekistan) to Beyneu (Kazakhstan)

Beyneu (Kazakhstan) to Astrakhan (Russia)

Astrakhan to Moscow (Russia)

Moscow (Russia) to Helsinki (Finland)

Helsinki (Finland) to Stockholm (Sweden)

Stockholm (Sweden) to Copenhagen (Denmark) to Hamburg (Germany)

Hamburg (Germany) to Amsterdam (Netherlands)

Amsterdam (Netherlands) to Brussels (Belgium)

Brussels (Belgium) to Paris (France)

Paris (France) to London (UK)

Afterthought - How different the actual ride went to the planned one taught me the lesson of flexibility in all plans. Finally this was the planned route with no certain halts or pit stops. I decided to take the journey as it would come and not stick to any mode less the final date of reaching London by 16 Aug 2013.

Visa and Carnet

Visa

The biggest requirement for any international traveler (especially from India) is getting visas in time. Its a huge ask with truck loads of documents and time requirement. The time was extra for us as we were crossing more than 15 countries and it involved lot of logistics.

The requirement of visa has to commence with final destination country, in our case United Kingdom. UK visa is one of the most efficient process I encountered. It's been outsourced to VFS and is an online process. Though the time required for clearance is one of the maximum due to numbers involved. The documents required range from identity to status to business to your exact wealth identification. Interview is compulsory and appointment has to be taken online. After form submission everyone has to go through bio metric and then wait. In my case I got the visa in 10 working days but overall our group got delayed due to rejection of one visa due to poor planning by these guys. It took nearly a month for getting their visa through.

The requirements for getting visas kept us amazed throughout. Every country had bucketful of requirements while our friends having European or US passports need barely move their fingers and visas are granted. Getting UK visa also has it's advantages of not requiring bio metric in any of the other nations on our route. I took assistance of internet and went to each country embassy site for collating our document requirements.

Getting Schengen visa was again a challenge. I went to their counter before submitting to ask the requirement and called our guys from Baroda for submission. On the day of submission they was discussion among the counter people to identify where is Vadodra (official name of Baroda). On my offering them help by informing that it's in Gujrat, we were amazed when the next question was where is Gujrat. This to from Indians and not from guys from far of countries. I had to take their geography class and also gave them a lecture of 'Be Indian and Know India'. All of them would have known counties of USA or UK but no Gujrat. I was afraid to name few places of NE and embarrass myself. My visa was accepted but these guys  had to move to Mumbai office for applying. Actually the whole issue was because these guys wanted every thing done by me. It was now troublesome for them to process their documents themselves. Anyway, Schengen saved our pain as it reduces need for number of visas and is a boon for travelers.

Again one of these guys got Schengen visa with reduced dates due to their not handling documents carefully and they were forced to re-apply for correct duration thus involving time penalty. By this time I was jittery and decided to postponed my trip by two weeks. Where earlier I had planned to kick off on 2nd June, I decided to start my journey on 16th June. I informed my decision to these guys and sure enough they followed suit and also requested me to change their flight tickets also.

After UK and Schengen visas in my passport, I confidently marched on for Ukraine visa and got the biggest surprise. Ukraine had stopped giving tourism visa to Indian males without their family in retaliation to India stopping visa for unaccompanied Ukraine females. Probably the logic that if you don't want them here you will not be allowed opportunity in their state. But what about guys not wanting it here or there......

This was major setback and forced me to decide on different route to enter Europe. Besides Ukraine I had options of Georgia - very bad roads, Belarus - visa issues again, Latvia or Scandinavia.

I homed on to Scandinavia and changed my visa requirements accordingly. As all Scandinavian countries are covered in Schengen visa, it saved lot of time. These two guys decided to stick along and changed their route also. 

Getting visas for Central Asian Countries including Russia requires a 'Letter of Invitation' and voluminous forms in Russian. These letters of invitation are issued by authorised travel agents for tourists and are time consuming and costly. Meanwhile I got a life saver of a guy (Travel Agent in Delhi) who for a price offered us visas for all the Stans and Russia. To ensure timely visas I decided to pay extra thus increasing the already rocketing budget and gave him a go ahead. Finally, based on verbal request, I ended up paying for visa and processing fee for these two guys also. A decision which I would later regret, as they say, hindsight is always six by six. Though this travel agent proved true to his words and got me visas as promised within three weeks. His details are 'Shalimar Travels', (Sambhav - +91-9810372981) (shalitravel@yahoo.com)

Finally on 10 June we had following visas with us - Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Schengen and UK. With my earlier travel there is option for only three more blank pages before I need to apply for fresh passport.

Kazhak Visa looks something like this......

Visas in hand - Journey planned - HERE I START.........oops wait on man....what about permission for your machine....

Carnet

Well not yet....there is requirement for permission for the bike, this is called 'Carnet'. It's something akin to visa for your vehicle. Also known as 'Carnet De Passages En Douane', its an understanding between partner countries of allowing personal vehicles holding this document within their country without taxes. It entails depositing of collateral amounting to thrice the cost of your vehicle. This collateral is returned once you return back with your vehicle. This ensures that you do not sell your vehicle outside India/ parent country without paying taxes. In India it is issued by Automobile Associations depending on your home town. They charged me ten thousand rupees. Carnet looks like this......

One needs to have passport, visas and be a member of any of the automobile association. I got it from WIAA (Western Indian Automobile Association) based in Mumbai. Carnet booklet has many pages, each with three perforated portions having details of your vehicle. You need to get it stamped at every country exit and entry as proof . One portion is taken by customs at entry point, one portion by customs at exit point and one portion remains as your proof. 

While exiting India, first page is filled and stamped and one portion torn off. Now the second portion of this page would be required only on return. Its essential to get this stamped at every country to ensure that subsequent countries allow your vehicle. Its like a proof of your journey.

Visa in passports, Carnet in bag......Here I Come.....

Bike Transportation : India to Kyrgyzstan

Bike Transportation

As I had to commence our ride from Bishkek, the toughest challenge was to take our bikes to Bishkek. Initially I had planned to ride from India to UK but owing to time constraints and difficulties in crossing China, I had decided to start my ride from Kyrgyzstan (Bishkek). 

The options available to me was sea, land or air route. Kyrgyzstan being land locked country, sea route would have bikes going to a designated port (Iran or China) and then by road or train. This would be cheaper option but would require more time and booking of full container. LCL (loose container load) option is available but is not safe with minimum assurance from transporters. movement completely by road is time consuming and has problems of no assured time slot for delivery. By air is the tougher option with first identifying a carrier and then negotiating a decent price.

Finally I homed onto two companies which showed a bit of interest in transporting our bikes from India to Bishkek. I decided on the Delhi based company which I found better in rates and more confident in my dealings. Jyotsna was very helpful and decided to help in our transportation just for the thrill of the expedition.

Bubble Wrap on the Bike

The whole deal works with another trunk load of paperwork. Indian bureaucracy at it's best. I now believe my British friend who told me 'We invented bureaucracy but you guys have perfected it'.

The bikes would be booked based on volume of the complete package. Bikes were taken for pelleting (crating) and packed for travel.

Wooden Crates for Individual Bikes

Approvals were sought from customs with our bike papers, registration certificates, Carnet (passport and visa of bike) obtained from automobile federation of India. They needed certificates as to why we are going and for what purpose. Not ready to believe that Indians can also go for bike rides for just fun. It took a personal visit from me to meet the customs guys to explain the ride and getting the file cleared. The custom guys were ready to release my bike but refused to approve bike of this civilian from Gujrat. I had to take the matter to higher up and finally assisted in getting approval for this civilian guy from Baroda also. It took me nearly a week with five trips to custom office and a lot of cajoling.

After custom clearance and inspection the bike was packed and handed over to air cargo company for fumigation and x-ray. Again a few certificates including basic reason for travelling, battery and fuel queries were required. Everything costs money to include, packing of bikes, to wooden crates, to transporting the crates to airport hold, to fumigation, to x-ray to money for using machinery for lifting these crates.

Finally, after missing three flights, the bikes in their respective pellets were handed over to airline on night of 15th June 2013 for transportation personally by me. The bikes were to fly by Korean Airline from Delhi in India to Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan via Navoi in Uzbekistan.

I visited the company office and paid my balance of amount, another bomb for my bike. I started my journey on 16th June 2013 with assurance from Jyotsna that bikes would be in Bishkek latest by 17th June 2013.

Let's hope for the best.....

First Long Distance Practice

Long Practice Ride

After getting back to biking regularly again, I decided to have a long distance run. By this time the temperatures in India had shot up and it was hot.

I planned to bike more than 2000 Kms with more than 600 Kms on a particular day. During our trip we would not be driving more than 600 Kms on a day ever and I wanted to do more than that in practice for obvious reasons. After lot of options finally settled on Delhi-Baroda-Delhi a distance of 2140 Kms.

This would also ensure my meeting few so called friends (actually bikers going along on the ride) and coordinating final issues of the trip. I also decided that Rekha, my wife, would accompany as pillion to get her practice also. As per rough plan she would join me in the trip mid way, depending on my final route and my daughters examinations.

For this practice run a God send long weekend came in from 19 April to 24 April with only two working days in between. Leave applied and granted I was all set for the drive.

Planning for Drive - I decided to bike down in my recently purchased protective jacket and pants and did slight modifications on the bike. I bought Royal Enfield protective pants (Rs 5500) and Cramster protective jacket (Rs 7100). The jacket and my new saddle bags I bought from Meandoring Store (+91-11-26898955). Got my bandana, my googles, hydra pack, gloves and tank bags all from this store. An excellent biking and camping gear store run by fellow biking enthusiast, Rajiv Thapa (+91-9810168402), in Vasant Kunj opposite B-8 Gate 2. He has excellent stuff at reasonable price and special informative advise for bikers. A must visit place for bikers in Delhi.

Bike Modifications - I did not want any thing fancy and just got my wind shield tightened, got luggage carriers put with new seats installed. My seat has back rest for both biker and the pillion now.

Backrest for Riding : Seat Modification

NH 8 Route from New Delhi to Udaipur

Day 1 (Delhi-Jaipur-Ajmer-Udaipur) - I decided to drive from Delhi to Udaipur a distance of 700 Kms on day one. We planned to leave by five in morning and managed to be only 20 minutes late. The cool breeze on my face, manageable traffic on highway, company of my wife all reminded me why biking has to be continues part of our lives. As they say, If you don't drive; You don't know. The planned route was from New Delhi to Jaipur to Ajmer to Udaipur all along the National Highway 8.

Fauji Dhaba : Eatery on Delhi-Jaipur Highway

First break was after covering more than 100 Kms in 90 minutes for early morning tea and snacks. This was in a dhaba (Indian road side eatery) I had seen during my previous rides. Short break and we continued on. The traffic and heat kept on increasing till we crossed Jaipur. The best part of NH 8 started and so did the heat. Me with my full protective gear with temperatures hitting 40 degrees centigrade and fumes of trucks. It still felt closer to God than sitting on desk pushing files. We continued along the highway even in afternoon. I started taking water sips every 5 minutes to remain hydrated and we had covered our faces with buffs. Driving gets you de-hydrated without you coming to know as the wind takes off the sweat. I remember telling wifey that my undies are dripping. We also met fellow Royal Enfielder's zooming off. The drill of Bullet wave and exchange of nod for each other continued.

Indian Innovation : Towing a Friend

We crossed biker (transport category) being towed by another biker with Indian innovation of his pagri (Indian head gear). In dead heat of Nasirabad decided to give bike a rest and had lunch in a dhaba in middle of nowhere. 

Dhaba near Nasirabad

The temperature below the thatched roof was at least 5 degrees less. With heat came my loosies and use of dhaba toilet was bliss. Had fresh and good food which Rekha shared with their dog and after break of 45 minutes started again. We had re stocked our water and got few energy drinks also.

Phantom Cave

Continued driving on the lovely Rajasthan roads till we crossed the Phantom Cave with Lion or Walrus (as you imagine) sitting on top of cliff, amazing rock formations. Finally by 5 in the evening it started cooling off and we entered city of Udaipur by around 7 in the evening. Both of us were coming to Udaipur after nearly 17 years. Reached our rooms by 8 after continuous biking of nearly 15 hours. My speedometer showed 702 Kms on the first day. The biggest surprise was that my friend with whom we were staying in Udaipur had his marriage anniversary party and in our biking gear we attended the party and finally hit the bed after shower at 11:30 in the night. Both of us fully tired but satisfied with our efforts.

Walrus/ Lion Guarding his Area

Starting from Udaipur : Pichola Lake in Background

Day 2 (Udaipur-Shamla ji-Godhra-Baroda) - had decided to get up late and after leisurely breakfast started our ride by 09:15 in the morning. Udaipur is as beautiful as I remembered it to be but has gone crowded like other cities. Weather and winds are still good and we had morning tea with peacocks dancing around. Gave a good wipe to my bike "Redbird" first thing in the morning. There were clouds today and drive was beautiful. However, strain on long drive a day prior and lack of sleep forced me to take frequent breaks. We had decided to go to Ahmedabad but after 100 Kms from Udaipur at Shamla Ji we saw a wide highway with marking of Baroda. After confirmation from local drivers took this route. This was State Highway 5 of Gujrat. The beauty of driving is realised on entering Gujrat. The roads are extremely good. This highway went through Godhra and we were witness to progress of Gujrat every where around. We reached Baroda by 3:00 in the afternoon after driving for 370 Kms.

Udaipur to Vadodra

Day 3 & 4 We halted in Vadodra in one guys place and got my bike serviced. It was too hot to move around but had final discussions regarding my main trip. This guys we stayed with was the one with whom I was going on the trip and the treatment and attitude sowed some seeds of doubts in our mind. My wife told me to modify my plans and go alone but somehow did not take her advice and decided to continue to move with this guy. Sometimes for familiarity and safety one takes bad decisions......

Early Morning Sun - Promises to be a scorcher

Meadoring through Marble Belt

Day 5 (Vadodra - Udaipur - Ajmer) Having learnt our lessons of driving in heat, we decided to start our journey early and kicked off at 0500 hours in the morning. It was still dark and by the time dawn came we had covered more than 100 kms. The sun rise was beautiful and reminded us of simple pleasures of life. Though moving early morning on Indian highways also reminds you that we lack basic toilet facilities in our villages (or perhaps pull of crapping in open is too high). We had to be careful where we took our breaks. We generally followed same route as the one we came from, however, before entering Udaipur we were guided to the bye pass road. We decided to take it as it was already nearly 10 in the morning and I wanted to avoid traffic. What a shambles of a bye pass with narrow broken road, no sign posting and mis-managed traffic. It took us more time to cross Udaipur and we finally found our selves on old NH-8, the old highway, passing through lovely places of Marbel belt with temples and old forts all along. The drive was amazing with the rising sun our breaks started getting longer. I was boiling in my riding jacket and pants and was waiting for an opportunity to take them off. Finally under a tree on the highway changed my gear at 1400 hours and continued driving. The route took us longer but was more enjoyable as it was passing through towns and villages. We finally reached Ajmer by 6 in the evening nearly 13 hours on the road. Ajmer was confusing, it was our first time in the town and it took us nearly two hours to reach our rooms after asking nearly 10 guys for directions. Had a shower and we were off to bed after simple dinner.

Rekha, Bike and the HIGHWAY

Day 6 (Ajmer - Jaipur - New Delhi) We continued our journey without breakfast and took off at morning 0530 hours. By now our bums were numb and seats were feeling uncomfortable. The journey was relentless; sun over the tarmac of highway with bike constantly above 100 kms. Stopped for a quick breakfast (I had Rekha's paranthas also) and continued plowing onwards. Outskirts of Jaipur started the real test of bike and us; HEAT, pollution, no winds and traffic. Took off my jacket also. Applied massive amount of sunscreen on my hands and continued on our return leg. Only consolation was that home awaits us. We finally reached back at nearly 3 in the noon after covering more than 2100 Kms in four days.

Well deserved break

Back home after more than 2100 Kms

Preparation and Modifications

In this part I would cover, preparation of myself, my bike, modifications to bike, and packing lists.

Preparation

Though I had done my fair bit of biking but since last few years had not done serious riding. The first thing I started was practice bike runs during weekends. Every weekend I would take the bike during the hottest period for a ride of 250 to 300 Kms on various highways around Delhi. This got me to a few pointers......

I needed better and comfortable seats. The seat had to be wider (as per configuration of my butt), softer and must to have a back support.

I needed protective riding gear (NO brainer actually). The gear should be used often before the main ride so that you are comfortable wearing it for long rides.

Some modifications are required in the bike. Some for safety and some for efficiency and some for fun.

In Indian roads, come what may, a biker is not given his due respect. I had to be extra careful. A few of practice runs were.....

Delhi-Jaipur Highway.   NH 8 used to be the best road around for driving some ten years back. Now probably it's the worst stretch due to construction and widening work in progress. The main practice can only commence after the toll gate, however, for bikers you have to either go below the first flyover or take two U turns to get on the main highway. Once on highway, the ride is satisfactory till next toll gate. The battle commences after second toll gate near Manesar. There are numerous flyovers being constructed since last many years and traffic is forced to move through narrow side lanes. The trucks are another story. Why is it only in India, that trucks are also in race with each other flouting all traffic rules. There are times when all lanes are covered by trucks competing to overtake each other though at slow pace due to overload of weight. This forces already erratic car drivers to zig zag on the highway leaving biking akin to video games of yester years. Over and above all this is the persistent road crosser. They are the guys who have pedestrian bridge blindness. Some have night blindness, some are colour blind but these guys just can not see pedestrian crossing bridges or places. They stand smilingly on side of road or on the central divider and hop across the highway between traffic. If you hit God save you or your bike with pedestrian fury and the police. The general trend with Indian police is that mistake is of the bigger vehicle, so with pedestrian it would be the bike.

Bikes in India are not a passion but mode of transport in general for guys not yet graduated to a car due to financial constraints. Real bikers are available but far and few. These 'Transport Bikers' (they use bikes for transportation) are worst of the lot. They use their bikes for going to office, work, job and all mundane tasks but with intent of driving on a traffic dare devil stunt ride. You can find them squeezing between cars, zipping across the lanes and trying to be off the block on red lights. They can materialise from any where, any time and have no protection on them. Only protection they have is that they are never wrong and there exists a unity among this clan. Let one of them be hit or in a fracas and you would have all two wheelers coming to halt around that four wheeler.

Practice on Jaipur highway has it's gains. It polishes the jaded reflexes I would need on long drives and gives you an experience of worst. You can be prepared for the worst by biking along the Delhi-Jaipur highway during peak traffic hours. Best time to ride on this highway is either when it's essential or after completion of flyovers :))

Delhi-Gurgaon-Alwar Road. This highway takes off from the Delhi-Jaipur highway from exit 10 along the Sohna Road. Once you cross the heavily populated areas in initial 40 Kms it's two way road with less traffic during afternoons and relatively pleasant drive. The road passes through lot of small villages (where speed has to be checked) but overall a good ride. Through like all Indian roads it does not have barricades on sides and danger of animals or humans crossing the road exists. best time to ride on this highway is late afternoons.

Delhi-Chandigarh Highway. Exiting from Delhi towards this highway would take it's time depending where you are starting from. Once you enter the highway it is a good ride with normal Indian dangers existing along. It has some very good eateries (dhabas) along, though the highway crosses one town to next constantly. Many flyovers have been constructed resulting in our car riders confusing it with Formula 1 track. This stretch has one of the maximum vehicle crashes. Best time to ride on this highway is during early hours but not on a foggy day. Fog is legendary on this stretch. 

Delhi-Rohtak-Hissar Highway. This is amazingly an interesting Indian road drive through heartland of Jats (Indian Texans). It again involves ride through traffic till 60 Kms out of Delhi. After crossing Rohtak the highway becomes a bit drivable for bikers. However, if planning to practice speed riding; forget it. The is no way one can go beyond 80 kms per hour and survive. Besides erratic drivers you would encounter bullock carts, tractors, cyclists and animals. Cows and buffaloes make the highway their home.

Delhi-Meerut and beyond. Option was available but never tried the road. Feedback was not very encouraging owing to traffic.

Delhi-Agra Express Highway. This is a toll road constructed for decreasing driving time from Delhi to Agra for easing the time lag for tourists. Its eight lane high quality highway of international standards. One has to cross Delhi and then Noida to enter this highway and thereafter it is a dream run for next 200 Kms. Though beware, it might be international standard highway but guys driving vehicles are Indians and one needs to be alert and ensure bike is within control speed. There have been many bike accidents in recent times due to over speeding.

Bike Modifications

This was the first time I was attempting biking for such a long distance in a limited time frame. Decided to modify my bike for the trip to ensure efficiency as well as comfort. My modification concept based on safety, ease and looks in that order.

I decided against any modification for the engine. My basic modification would range from luggage compartments, lights and seats.

Initially got carriers placed and changed my seats to have back rest for both riders. Got a big leg guard and rear view mirrors on my handle bars. Tried the bike for 2000 Kms and decided on final modifications. All my modifications I did with different guys from Karol Bagh area in Delhi after identifying good guys for various jobs.

My Final Modifications....

Bottle holders on my leg guard (one for water bottle and other for fire extinguisher).

Exhaust pipe wrap (to reduce heat on my right leg during long driving times).This is also supposed to increase kick (power) of the bike.

Exhaust Cover to reduce heat on my legs

Wind Shield in front with additional fog lights. This wind shield I choose was after many trials and was of highest quality. The aerodynamics of these wind shield are important to ensure stability and movement over long distances in heavy wind conditions.

Changed my head lights with reflector light of Maruti Omni Van (more powerful lights). Got this idea from Bhavishya, another biking enthusiast. The power of head light went up tremendously.

Complete Wiring Redone

Reinforced the carriers at it's weak points and extended the carrier by two inches.

LED lights on carrier connected to side signal and brake lights for safety and more visibility.

Additional LED lights in Rear

Changed my seats to the best in category available at Khajanchi, Karol Bagh. Back rest for rider and back rest with arms rest for co-rider. Amazing material of seat for comfort. Though he charged a bomb, I think it is worth it.

Got complete wiring checked and changed where required. All my electrical issues of the bike was done by two amazing guys Simpi (+91-9810770235) and Javed.

Got all worn parts of bike engine changed with new ones. Basically hubs, nuts, chain links, spokes and bearings. Got my bike fully checked from 'Bawa Bullet Engineer, Karol Bagh' (+91-9810674823)

Got new tyres for both front and rear. Though my tyres had about 6000 Kms left I decided to take fresh tyre and tubes for the trip.

Tried the bike with all modifications and was satisfied after at least five trips to Karol Bagh for changes. I feel it is essential to try out all your modifications before main ride.

For helmets I had to buy DOT (Department of Transport, US) approved ones as ISI approved are not valid in Europe. I bought these from Gaurav (Chopra Helmets +91-9212728848) in Karol Bagh and also fitted them with communicators. Communicators are for talking with each other as well as it connects to FM radio and takes mobile calls. The ones I had bought were not up to my standards and finally bought expensive ones four days before departure.

Got names stickers made with blood group for my helmets, tool boxes for my spares and bike was ready to go.

All these modifications and safety gear was keeping in mind that my wife would join me mid way.....

I feel that modifications to one's bike should be done keeping safety, comfort and ride requirements in view......

I had a to waste a lot of my time as this guy from Baroda came with his old bike, one check by Bawa and he declared it unfit to go even to Agra, what about many thousands miles. Cajoled thisguy to get his bike repaired to ensure less trouble during travel.

Packing List

It was a constant battle between desire and space. I desired to take lot of my things including luxury items one has got used to in life as the journey was for nearly 70 days but was restricted due to space in terms of volume and weight.

Read through at least 15-20 packing lists available on net and dug in deep on my experience of trekking and biking in India to come up with my own packing list for this trip.

Bike Related

Spares nearly 35 kgs worth 30 grands (Guys do not do this mistake and carry only spares which you think will not be available on the trip. I got influenced by these other guys and ended up carrying massive dead load, all of which came back and is lying in my garage).

Tools

Puncture kit

Spare tubes

Disk lock

Tyre lock

Chain lock

Helmet

Communicator for helmet

Poncho Raincoat (this should be the best quality one. We got stuck in massive rains and finally had to buy high quality leak proof top & trouser in Moscow).

Personal Kit

Riding jacket

Riding pants

Riding shoes

Soft shoes one pair

Jeans one

Shorts one

Cargoes one

Dry fit T shirts three

Night wear two sets

Buffs

Gloves (should be water proof for all types of trips)

Thermal inner

One fleece top

Socks

Scarf

Comb

Tooth brush with small paste

Soap

Toilet kit (scissors, tweezers and nail cutter)

No shaving as had decided to grow my beard

Miscellaneous Items

Goggles

Cap

Book

iPad

Mobile phone

Swiss knife

Sunscreen lotion

Chapstick

Debit and credit cards

Forex cards

Passport

National Driving licence

International driving licence

Bike registration card

Hotel bookings sheet

Carnet

Water bottle

Packing Stuff

One ruck sack

One tank bag

One waist bag

On final packing realised even this is long and heavy list but had to be on road for 70 days and needed some spares.

Initially I had decided to carry camping gear but then dropped it at last minute due to massive overload on bike.

Will keep updating of utility of items and what should have been brought along.