Ride Report: The India Ride Expedition

[Ryan Pyle]

Day 36: I wish we could say that the heat has broke, it hasn't. I wish we could say that the riding has gotten much easier, but it hasn't. As we push and grind our way up the eastern coastline of India many things have become apparent, the key one is that India has challenged our team to the very core of their being. While the rewards of a journey like this are brilliant and world class, it's the constant push of spending 10 hours a day on the roads, that is slowly wearing the team down. After a 36 days on the road our bodies are not as strong as they were during week one, and our minds are not as sharp. And yet the incredible psychological and physical battles remain as our team still has a long way to go, and much to see, before returning to Delhi in around three weeks time. Today the India Ride team covered an epic 576km from Ongole to Visakhapatnam on the eastern coast of India.

 

[Ryan Pyle]

Day 37: Spirits were very high today as the India Ride team covered a solid 442km from Visakhapatnam Beach to Bhubaneswar in eastern India. We had a good nights rest, a great breakfast and we woke up to fantastic roads and little traffic. Perhaps more importantly than all of that, the searing heat that had crippled our efforts during the previous few days has lifted and there was a lovely cool breeze that powered our adventurers throughout the day. For those of you who have been counting, our last 3 days of riding have been distances of: 486km, 576km and 442km. In Iowa or Indiana that would be pretty easy fare. In India that is some insanely long riding and some very very long days. But yet we prevail. Upwards and onwards.

 

[Ryan Pyle]

Day 38: It's been an exciting Monday to say the least. Today our road weary team enjoyed an "off the bike" day and visited the Chandka Elephant Sanctuary - and what a stunning day we had. Our "off the bike" days are crucial for our team to rest and recover from the hazards of long days on the roads, but more importantly they allow our team to connect with aspects of life in India. Whether we are connecting with friends and partners, villages, temples, religious sites or animal parks, these days mark very important stops on our trip and are crucial aspects of our television production. Today's visit was a chance for Colin and Ryan to get up close and personal with some of our earth's most massive mammals, the elephant. These amazing creators are huge, and at first very intimidating, but after spending over an hour interacting with some elephants our team was comfortable enough to hand feed them coconuts.

 

[Ryan Pyle]

Day 39: Is anyone out there getting tired of us yet? Well, I hope not because every day we are giving it our all to make our way around India ........... on two wheels. Today marks the end of something special, for the last two weeks our team has been riding along Indian coastlines: first the western side and more recently the eastern side. Today however we said goodbye to the Bay of Bengal and headed inland for Kolkata. For the remaining two weeks of our journey, we are on schedule to return to Delhi on Oct.24, we'll be making the journey to Darjeeling before entering the home stretch through Varanasi, Lucknow and Agra.

 

[Ryan Pyle]

Day 40: Today our team enjoyed an "off the bike" day and we took time to connect with our international charity partners, The SEVA Foundation. SEVA is a US based foundation that helps serve the underserved, by working through local partners around the globe. The SEVA partner in eastern India is The Vivekananda Mission Asram, in Chaitanyaopur just south of Kolkata. The Vivekananda Mission Asram was established in 1961 as just a small hut in a small village that tried to offer assistance to those in need. Today, the Vivekananda Mission Asram is home to a school for the blind as well as a bustling eye care hospital that serves 184,000 patients and complete over 18,000 surgies per year; of those surgies some 60% are free and funded by the remaining paying 40%. The hospital is an excellent example of Compassion in Action and they've been partnered with SEVA since 2008 and continue to be leaders in their field of their goal of ending needless blindness.

 

[Ryan Pyle]

Day 41: Today our journey entered a new phase, as we passed north of Kolkata, and begin our journey to Darjeeling and back in to northern India. We are very excited to be leaving the hot and humid east coast and traveling to cooler air and mountain breezes in northern West Bengal province. But before we get too excited about our journey to Darjeeling, we need to remember that on The India Ride only one thing matters......The Quality of the Roads. It's the roads of India that determine just about everything that happens to our India Ride Team while we are traveling around this incredibly diverse country. The roads determine if we can travel at 20km/hr or 50km/hr or 80km/hr. The roads will ultimately determine our safety and success of our journey, and they will also be a key ingredient in setting our mood for the day.

 

[Ryan Pyle]

Just in case you thought The India Ride is all "smoke and mirrors", here is an image of Colin after doing 300km+ in Central West Bengal province on Day 41 of The India Ride. This journey is physically gruelling and this is what the guys look like most nights when they finish their ride for the day.

 

[Ryan Pyle]

Day 42: The roads in India are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going get. But seriously, today our team spent a total of 11.5hrs on the road, and at one stage we only managed to cover 80km in 4 hours as we got stuck in a one hour traffic jam where we hardly moved in the mid-day heat. Then later in the day the roads opened up and we found ourselves on a modern expressway traveling 80km/hr enroute to our destination for the night. Each morning when our team awakes and has our breakfast meeting about where we are traveling and what kind of footage we are looking to capture we always have the same question asked: "So what are the roads going to be like today?". On paper if we have 200km to complete in one day that could take only 3 hours on good roads or 12 hours on challenging roads, we just have no idea as we set out each morning. But this uncertainty is absolutely part of the adventure, and surprisingly our production is on schedule with just 12 days remaining.

 

[Ryan Pyle]

Day 43: As our team worked our way through the winding mountain roads that surround Darjeeling, we've finally reached a major milestone in our journey around India. Since our first day, we've always had some excitement and anticipation about arriving in Darjeeling, that cool mountain air finally offering us some respite after 37 days straight of feeling overheated from India's late summer weather.


The unique experience of the day had to be waking up at 8am in Siliguri with only 60km to reach Darjeeling, and having the journey last the entire day; as we arrived at our hotel in Darjeeling at 515pm. Originally, we had thought we might arrive by lunch, but it was foolish thinking. As we have learned on this trip, whenever you think you'll have an easy day, the Indian Roads will knock some sense back in to you. Today that "knocking of sense" was Ryan getting a flat tyre with about 20km to go to Darjeeling. Ryan's had two flat tyres on this trip so far. Colin still has a clean sheet.


But beyond brotherly competition about holding up our team, Darjeeling is a special place for sure, and we are proud to have arrived here on Day 43 of our epic journey around India. Nestled between Nepal and Bhutan we are now very close to completing our journey around this magnificent country. We'll be spending a few days here in Darjeeling for some "off the bike" activities before we begin the final leg of our journey: the western route back to Delhi.

 

[Ryan Pyle]

Day 44: Today our team enjoyed a much needed "off the bike" day and explored how tea is made in the mountains around Darjeeling. To help facilitate that process, Colin and Ryan visited the Makaibari Tea Estates to investigate the tea estate that has been turning out some of the world's best tea since 1857. Needless to say, we were all incredibly impressed with their personal touch and passion for tea making.


Our journey north from Kolkata has been very challenging and it was wonderful to let our bodies relax and heal and also take in a tour of one of India's most storied tea estates. The tour included everything from the art of picking tea leaves to the processing, cooking, and eventually the sorting of the leaves. It was one of our most interesting "off the bike" experiences of the journey around India so far and we thoroughly enjoyed the experience.


Tomorrow we'll also be spending the day in Darjeeling to rest and recover. On Tuesday we are back on the road and we'll begin our final stretch back to Delhi.

 

[Ryan Pyle]

In India, much like China, nice hotels hate motorcycles and always try to stop motorcycles from pulling up to the front entrance. Here is a great screen shot of Colin and Ryan pulling in to a hotel to check in and being chased down by security.

 

[Ryan Pyle]

Colin and Ryan taking a break on the side of the road.

Colin and Ryan stuck in traffic on what appears to be one of the better roads in India.

Colin and Ryan riding through a mountain village.

Some beautiful mountain twisties.

Ryan getting caught behind some truck exhaust.

Taking a break in the beautiful mountains.

Some beautiful green rolling hills.

A rainy, cold and twisty ride down the Saach pass.

Colin and Ryan love taking breaks in remote mountain areas. Fresh air and no people, which is almost impossible in India.

Colin just realized that he had this kid in his pannier bag since Delhi - Just joking for the child advocates viewing, no children have been harmed in the making of the India Ride; yet, let's hope it stays that way

Colin and Ryan are very happy they brought some rain gear on this trip. Thank you Rev'It

Ryan getting frustrated in traffic.

 

[Ryan Pyle]

The guys finish a quick stop for some cold drinks.

A wrong turn and ended up in the forest.

A rare but beautiful ocean road.

Enjoying another great ride along the coast.

Colin successfully riding through some deep water under a railway.

Navigating some dangerous roads in Darjeeling

Enjoying some speed on one of the best roads in India.

The guys saying hello to locals that wanted to watch two foreigners try and get through a huge puddle, they may have enjoyed it more if one of them bailed, I guess they'll just have to wait

Traffic jam at night, Ryan contemplating getting his traffic jacket on, which he eventually did and helped clear the jam.

 

[Ryan Pyle]

Day 45: The team laid very very low today in Darjeeling. After 45 days on the roads of India the body and mind has become weakened and exhausted, but our spirit and our focus remains very high as we still have much to see and much to accomplish before our grand finale in Delhi on October 24th.


With nine days remaining on our epic motorcycle expedition and television production in India, there is no time to relax and rest on our laurels. As we will spend the next week moving out of the eastern mountains and entering the heartland of India taking in the sights of Bodhgaya, Varanasi and Arga along the way. We hope you've been enjoying the updates, it has been pleasure keep everyone updated during this incredible adventure.

 

[Ryan Pyle]

Day 46: Today was a moving day, and our India Ride Team had heavy hearts leaving the hill top mountain retreat of Darjeeling. The scenic views, the clean mountain air and the abundance of tea plantations give the region and relaxing and timeless quality. We enjoyed our time there as we learned about tea making, soaked up some mountain sun and got some much needed laundry done.


After suffering through the four hour traffic jam to get from Darjeeling back down to Siliguri, a tough way to start any morning, our team made brief work of the 327km to Bhagalpur, Bihar province. The journey today brought us back in to touch with "Real India" as our relaxing mountain retreat was replaced with the hustle, the bustle and the traffic of life in Bihar province.


Tomorrow we'll be back on the bikes and making our way to western Bihar province, as we continue our journey back to Delhi. Can you believe we left the India Gate exactly 46 days ago? We've seen so much and traveled so far that we'll actually need to review all our HD footage just to remember the bulk of our journey, far too many highlights to try and recall by memory alone.

 

[Rotten_Ronnie]

The pictures make this come alive.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Ryan Pyle]

Day 47: The journey continues, but alas we are in to our last week of our great adventure around India. As the countdown begins to our return to Delhi I must admit, I had no idea what we were up for when we began planning this journey over one year ago. And as the weeks turn to days, our completion of our journey nears and our entire team is able to hold our heads high. We set ourselves an incredible task: To circumnavigate India by motorcycle and share our experience with the wider world. We are now only 6 days and 1,100km away from completing our goals.


And today, we inched a little closer to our goal of returning to the India Gate in Delhi on Oct.24. With Bihar province having a questionable reputation as a bit of a "wild west" we were told by numerous people in India to stick to the main roads and avoid riding at night; well, those instructions have been tough to follow. Instead of sticking to the main expressways we had a brilliant day traversing southwest from Bhagalpur to Bodhgaya riding mostly on small country backroads which brought us in to contact with numerous colourful villages and farming communities. What Bihar province lacks in reputation, it makes up for in stunning landscape and good roads.

 

[Ryan Pyle]

Day 48: After 48 days on the road, our team finally found enlightenment. This morning we took a tour of the Mahabodhi Temple, the place where Buddha gained enlightenment. It's a pretty special spot and the plethora of followers, many whom had traveled long distances, to pray and worship on the site only added to the ambiance of the moment. After so many days on the road, and so much struggle, our arrival in Bodhgaya has rejuvenated the energy of our team and we are now pumped up for our remaining 1,100km journey from central India back to Delhi.


With our team enlightenment coming before lunch, we opted for meditation training in the afternoon and the results were mixed. Many jokes have been made within our team about Ryan's "intensity" he carries with him on a daily basis, and we thought some meditation training would help "chill" him out a little bit. So we organized a meditation training session at the Vipassana Meditation training center in Bodhgaya and got their chief instructor to offer some insight in to the fine art of meditation. Needless to say both Colin and Ryan struggled with the concept of sitting still, and they failed miserably with the most basic task of focusing on your breathing. Perhaps meditation is not for motorcycle adventure riders.

 

[Ryan Pyle]

Day 49: Colin and Ryan, and our entire team, have had an Incredible Time in Incredible India. And we thought: what would be the best way to show our appreciation to the people of India and perhaps even inspire two individuals to get out and explore their surroundings on two-wheels? The answer was obvious. We are going to give away our motorcycles to two lucky competition winners.


http://www.facebook.com/mountaindewindia

 

[Ryan Pyle]

Day 50: We've reach another milestone in our journey around India, Day 50. Sure, we've always known we would reach Day 50 and it's been planned since the beginning of our journey; but there is something so satisfying about knowing that we've been on the road exploring India for the last 50 days. And it's been magical journey to date. This morning, at sunrise, we took the opportunity to walk the shores of the Ganges in the ancient town of Varanasi. Also known as the cultural capital of India, Varanasi is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in all of India, and the town is very special. Whether walking along the banks of the Ganges or exploring the narrow streets in the old town, Varanasi's long history can be felt with every step. We hope you like our imagery from the day.