Ride Report: The India Ride Expedition
- Thread starter Ryan Pyle
- Start date
Day 01: Colin and Ryan in front of the India Gate at 630am on Saturday September 1st 2012. The India Ride has begun. On Day 01 the team road 405km from New Delhi to Shimla. It was an intense day of riding and the roads were very challenging. But at least now we are up in the mountains and enjoying some much cooler air.
Day 02: Today it started at 930am in misty (almost raining) Shimla. The 267km journey from Shimla to Manali took us a staggering ten hours to complete (Highway 88 and Highway 21). After weeks of rain, the mountain roads around Manali were luckily dry but debris of previous landslides did pose some challenges. The highlights of the day were the exceptional weather we've been receiving and the great time we made on the twisty narrow roads from Mandi to Manli. The photo caption: "Colin Pyle (gray + blue jacket) hangs back while Ryan Pyle (gray + red jacket) gets a face full of exhaust from a bus on Highway 21 near Manali"
Day 03: Today was the first day that we enjoyed an "off the bike" filming day where we were scheduled to learn a little more about Manali. Today was also the first day we witnessed northern India's torrential rains, which are very intense but short in length. And lastly, today was the first that all members of the India Ride team enjoyed the adventure sport of Paragliding. Manali is considered the adventure sport capital of India. You can go helicopter skiing, white water rafting, mountain climbing, hiking and paragliding. While all the other activities are very time consuming, and we have a television show to produce, we thought we would opt-in for a quick 10 minutes of sheer adrenaline by running off a mountain and gliding down to the valley below.
We are very excited to offer you this new "Live Tracking" feature for our friends. This new live tracking feature offers anyone to track Colin Pyle and Ryan Pyle online and in real time. This service and technology has been brought to the India Ride by our motorcycle helmet partners HALO. Check it out, assuming the time zones differences are not too great, this should provide you with a fantastic tool to keep track of the distances and the various locations that Colin and Ryan will be covering on a daily basis.
LINK: http://eventeagle.com/Map.aspx?EventName=theindiaride
LINK: http://eventeagle.com/Map.aspx?EventName=theindiaride
As you can imagine, due to the lack of updates, we’ve had an intense few days in the remote Northwestern Himachal Pradesh. We’ve gone 48 hours without mobile phone service and internet access and we’ve fully succeed in going “off the grid” in search of unexplored regions and some truly challenging adventure motorcycle riding.
Today we started our day riding in light rain heading North from Manali, eventually climbing in heavy rain up the Rohtang Pass, at around 4,000m above sea level. The Rohtang Pass, has a name that translates in to “pile of dead bodies”, a name given to the pass in memory of all the travelers who had frozen to death while attempting to make the cross. Our adventure was not that extreme, but the roads were slick, in the early stages which eventually gave way to thick and heavy mud, road construction and some of the most challenging motorcycle riding conditions our team has ever faced.
From the Rohtang Pass we dropped down in the valley and finally left National Highway 21, by heading west on National Highway 26 into the remote and visually stunning Pattan Valley. As cattle grazed and families worked their fields our team cruised along dirt roads covering 50km in about 3 hours and eventually making it to Udaipur at dusk.
The team covered a very very challenging 165km in about 10 hours of riding and were left physically and mentally exhausted, and yet spirits were very high as we thoroughly enjoyed the riding through the Pattan Valley.
Today we started our day riding in light rain heading North from Manali, eventually climbing in heavy rain up the Rohtang Pass, at around 4,000m above sea level. The Rohtang Pass, has a name that translates in to “pile of dead bodies”, a name given to the pass in memory of all the travelers who had frozen to death while attempting to make the cross. Our adventure was not that extreme, but the roads were slick, in the early stages which eventually gave way to thick and heavy mud, road construction and some of the most challenging motorcycle riding conditions our team has ever faced.
From the Rohtang Pass we dropped down in the valley and finally left National Highway 21, by heading west on National Highway 26 into the remote and visually stunning Pattan Valley. As cattle grazed and families worked their fields our team cruised along dirt roads covering 50km in about 3 hours and eventually making it to Udaipur at dusk.
The team covered a very very challenging 165km in about 10 hours of riding and were left physically and mentally exhausted, and yet spirits were very high as we thoroughly enjoyed the riding through the Pattan Valley.
As you can imagine, due to the lack of updates, we’ve had an intense few days in the remote Northwestern Himachal Pradesh. We’ve gone 48 hours without mobile phone service and internet access and we’ve fully succeed in going “off the grid” in search of unexplored regions and some truly challenging adventure motorcycle riding.
Today we started our day riding in light rain heading North from Manali, eventually climbing in heavy rain up the Rohtang Pass, at around 4,000m above sea level. The Rohtang Pass, has a name that translates in to “pile of dead bodies”, a name given to the pass in memory of all the travelers who had frozen to death while attempting to make the cross. Our adventure was not that extreme, but the roads were slick, in the early stages which eventually gave way to thick and heavy mud, road construction and some of the most challenging motorcycle riding conditions our team has ever faced.
From the Rohtang Pass we dropped down in the valley and finally left National Highway 21, by heading west on National Highway 26 into the remote and visually stunning Pattan Valley. As cattle grazed and families worked their fields our team cruised along dirt roads covering 50km in about 3 hours and eventually making it to Udaipur at dusk.
The team covered a very very challenging 165km in about 10 hours of riding and were left physically and mentally exhausted, and yet spirits were very high as we thoroughly enjoyed the riding through the Pattan Valley.
Today we started our day riding in light rain heading North from Manali, eventually climbing in heavy rain up the Rohtang Pass, at around 4,000m above sea level. The Rohtang Pass, has a name that translates in to “pile of dead bodies”, a name given to the pass in memory of all the travelers who had frozen to death while attempting to make the cross. Our adventure was not that extreme, but the roads were slick, in the early stages which eventually gave way to thick and heavy mud, road construction and some of the most challenging motorcycle riding conditions our team has ever faced.
From the Rohtang Pass we dropped down in the valley and finally left National Highway 21, by heading west on National Highway 26 into the remote and visually stunning Pattan Valley. As cattle grazed and families worked their fields our team cruised along dirt roads covering 50km in about 3 hours and eventually making it to Udaipur at dusk.
The team covered a very very challenging 165km in about 10 hours of riding and were left physically and mentally exhausted, and yet spirits were very high as we thoroughly enjoyed the riding through the Pattan Valley.
Day 05: We’ve just gone our second day without internet access and mobile phone reception as we head deeper in to the Pattan Valley and further Northwest into the diverse and exceptionally beautiful province of Himachal Pradesh. After a restful night in Udaipur we were up early and on the road at 7am as we head Northwest on National Highway 26 towards Killar. The plan today was to reach Killar before noon and then make our attempt at the Sach Pass (4,500m above sea level) and then cruise in to Chamba for dinner. Sadly, nothing like that happened. Coming out of Udaipur the road deteriorated rapidly and entire roads were either washed out by rivers or perched so high on the mountainside that the blind corners left our entire team with the chills. With the roads in rough condition our schedule for the day was quickly unattainable, and we were lucky to reach Killar (only 86km away from Udaipur) after an entire day of riding. The average speed of our team today was little over 10km per hour, and we never saw a paved road. With our bodies bruised and battered our spirits have remained high as tomorrow we are looking to be rested in our attempt to climb over the Sach Pass and down in the culturally vibrant Chamba Valley. From there, we should be back in the land of mobile phone reception and internet access and we hope to begin making regular updates again.
Day 06: Today was a most remarkable day. After utter disappointment yesterday, with such a short distance covered on nearly impossible terrain, the India Ride Team managed to successfully cross the Saach Pass (4,500m above sea level) in remote northwest Himachal Pradesh. We were up early and attacked the pass with vigor. Starting in Killar we climbed narrow unpaved switch backs for over four hours coving roughly 45km before finally summited the Saach Pass in freezing rain and completely clouded in. Some days just don't work out like you think they well, but yet we must persevere and carry on; and that's exactly what the India Ride team did. Once we crossed the pass we descended quickly down narrow, mud covered, switch backs until we exited the clouds and arrived in the stunning Chamba Valley.With it's warm weather, it's lush green hillsides, and it's PAVED ROADS, our team had their spirits lifted as we finally felt like we were on the move again. We rested in Chamba, the regional capital of the Chamba Valley. Nearly out of the mountains and nearly back with in mobile phone reception range.
Day 07: We are back! That's right, we've made it out of the mountains and covered 268km today and we are currently in Amritsar, Punjab province. Our incredibly challenging days of riding through remote H.P. province are past us and we are back on good roads as we pass though the farming communities of western Punjab. It's been an incredible adventure up until now as today we mark our 7th day on the motorcycles and what a week it has been. In the last 7 days we've covered Delhi - Shimla - Manali - Rohtang Pass - Udaipur - Killar - Saach Pass - Chamba - Amritsar. Tomorrow we are heading out to visit the Golden Temple and then we delve deep in the Rajasthan next week. Wish us luck, and we hope you are enjoying these updates.
Day 08: We've enjoyed another "off the bike" filming day here in Amritsar, Punjab. It's been an exciting day as we visited the Golden Temple as well as the Wagah crossing on the India and Pakistan border. While this was far from a rest day, it did allow the team to get off the motorcycles and walk around and stretch out after an intense week of riding in the mountains. The Golden Temple, built in 1764, is a fantastic place to visit and learn about the Sikh faith. We spent hours there speaking with people about their faith and what kind of importance the Golden Temple plays in their lives. Many people travel from all corners of India to visit the Golden Temple in order to pray there and bath in the lagoon that surrounds the temple. Needless to say it was a stunning morning and more enlightening than any day on a motorcycle. This afternoon was incredibly different. After enjoying a morning learning about the Sikh faith and it's promotion of community, harmony and connectivity among all people, we visit the Wagah border crossing between India and Pakistan and learn about boot stomping nationalism, and the pride of India. It was a fantastic display of military might; the intensity of the soliders and their pride for their respective countries was a powerful experience, and it all existed in a strange carnival like atmosphere with a crowd of over 30,000 people.
NightShadow
Well-known member
Great stuff - Post a few more pics
sid_for_speed
Well-known member
Good luck on the Rajasthan tour....It's gonna be hot there coming down from the mountains....from here on in going down south gets hot!
How are your bikes holding up?
More pics coming soon - check out our facebook page for a lot of them: http://www.facebook.com/TheIndiaRide
You couldn't be more right - it's already getting hot and tomorrow we're off through the real desert - I love our Rev'it gear but sometimes you just want to go local
Unbelievable well actually - I'm shocked to be honest, but they keep on going, i wouldn't say they are very high performance but the do the job and to be honest in India you don't really want to be going very fast anyways. We had a flat tire today which was the first bike related event thus far.
Day 09: While the morning flew by swimmingly, trouble did strike mid-afternoon when Ryan hit a large pothole in the road and managed to blow out his back tire. As he rolled the bike slowly to a halt, he was never in any danger, Colin quickly noticed that the back tire was completely flat. At this stage it's important to note that all of this happened at a point during a rain storm that could have easily been considered biblical. Colin and Ryan decided that the tire was flat but that it was raining too hard to fix the tire under the current weather conditions so they pumped up the tire and rode the bike slowly in to the next village about 5km away, named Doda. In Doda we were able to quickly find a tire repair man who assisted with the tire repair, by this time the rains had stopped, and the crew were back on the road and finished off their day just outside of Hanumangarth, Rajasthan. The team completed 323km today on what was their biggest day on the bikes since day 1 of the journey.
mindactivated
Well-known member
Awesome!!
I'm flying to India next week for a 4 week trip... heading to Leh & the Ladakh region for a 19 day trek, and one of the things we want to do in Leh is to rent a couple of motorcycles and go for a scoot - much farther north than Manali. I couldn't imagine driving up all the way to Leh from what you describe!! I'll definitely be checking this out, stay safe on the trip!!
By the way, not sure if it's too late, but you should swing by Pushkar, it looks like it's going to be on your way: http://goo.gl/maps/Ch7bS
It's a beautiful little town with a lake, and they have some of the best mango lassi there.
I'm flying to India next week for a 4 week trip... heading to Leh & the Ladakh region for a 19 day trek, and one of the things we want to do in Leh is to rent a couple of motorcycles and go for a scoot - much farther north than Manali. I couldn't imagine driving up all the way to Leh from what you describe!! I'll definitely be checking this out, stay safe on the trip!!
By the way, not sure if it's too late, but you should swing by Pushkar, it looks like it's going to be on your way: http://goo.gl/maps/Ch7bS
It's a beautiful little town with a lake, and they have some of the best mango lassi there.
