Out Of The Wild

Day 14 : Trip 1880 km

Panipat - Delhi ; 19.09.08

Nobody woke up early this day, tired as we were from the hard ride the previous day. Even Gyan got up at 1000 hrs thereby dashing any hopes of making it to his office on time. Shrugging mildly, he just took another day off. The rest also got up fashionably late at 1130 hrs. I and Gyan went downstairs to check on my bike, and there I found that my rear tyre was acting up again. It was bizarre , we just couldn't pinpoint the source of leak. Gyan had already given his bike to the local mechanic for repairs and I told him I also had to get my chain checked and get the tyre fixed for good. So I submitted my bike too for the repairs and also for a wash. The wash created some problems with the starting as water had seeped into the CDI and my bike's rear tyre was running totally flat now. We somehow made it to Gyan's garage and the mechanic located and repaired the tiny puncture.

At around 1700 hrs we were all set to leave for Delhi but the weather had been damp the whole day and barely had we refilled at the COCO petrol pump, it started raining cats and dogs. It was as if the heavens were waiting for us to come out with our bikes and then turn on the tap! No use waiting for the rain to subside , we thought , and thundered along the highway to Delhi making brisk pace till Murthal, where we stopped at Kenny's favourite No 1 Ahuja dhaba for some paranthas and dal. It was already 1900 hrs when we arrived there, the 50 km ride taking double the time as a ride in the sun. It was a boring ride to Delhi, made much more unbearable by the rain and the inevitable humongous traffic from the border on. Our ride had turned into a crawl, us trying to move on with whatever path we could find between the heavy trucks and cars.

Just as we entered Delhi, near Majnu-ka-Tilla, the rains suddenly got worse and we were pelted with huge drops of water that came down on us at terminal velocity. Initially we had planned to hold a post-trip party on this day itself, but it was plain that we could not do it today. So Gyan moved on to Malviya Nagar, I and Jill to Lajpat Nagar, Anshu and Kenny to their respective homes after dropping the carabin rentals at South Ext. We all made a plan to meet at Anshu's place the next day for the celebrations of a trip well traversed. It was exactly 2200 hrs when we entered Jill's place, exactly 14 days after we flagged off from that place itself. Our bikes bore the signs of a hard trip - one of the LED rows of my tail lamps went kaput, while my front shockers have started emitting a constant squeak. But never a let down, even from my rear tyre. And like Kenny has rightly said, it was a complete experience : Sunshine, wind, rain , snow. Highways, state roads, no roads. Camp-outs, budget hotels, luxury hotels.

We have already started discussing our winter trip of the Indian west coast, and hope that similar comrades will be part of it -comrades who have stuck thick and thin throughout. Of course, outcasts like Nawab are declared impotent and disgraceful for bike rides EVER!!

more pics of the trip at:

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/nilu.hazarika/SprightlySpiti

and

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/viks2mots/BOPEnduroMotoToLahulSpitiAndZanskar

Read another version of the trip at:

http://butcheredsoul.blogspot.com/2008/09/spiti-september.html