2 Weeks had passed since my last attempt to do a Leh Ride. A lot had happened in those 2 weeks. First and foremost, my family was pleasantly surprised that I had returned early. I was massively disappointed to not be able to join my friends on our journey. To cheer me up my family took me to a motoring picnic of sorts through the hills of Maharashtra. My biker buddies were worried about my well being since it is not often that someone returns on the first day of a multi-day ride without a medical / technical reason. The bike made a trip to the service center for a general check-up. Sumit, Aniruddha, Sanjay and Anuradha, my *couldn’t be* co-riders met with a setback which meant even they were also delayed, but only by 2.5 days, at the beginning of their journey in Jammu itself (Read their triplog here)!! And most important of all, I got the time to re-think the ride in my mind and then decide whether I could do it on my own.
The repercussions of my decision were bigger than just losing 2 weeks. The entire dynamics of the ride had changed. The ride had changed from a partial-group-ride to a entirely solo ride. I was about to venturing into the most inhospitable of climates without any backup of people who would be able to pull me out of a pickle (if I happened to get into one). I had to prepare myself for the biggest motorcycling challenge of my life. There was so much that could go wrong and could leave me stranded in the middle of nowhere, hundreds of km from any kind of help, thousands of km away from home. To make sure that I didn’t kill myself somewhere en route, I would need to be much more careful about each and every detail now. I needed to be better prepared and I needed to avoid the mistakes I made the last time around.
So, I chalked out the entire detailed route including alternate routes from Nasik, all the way till Leh. Confirmed road conditions with whatever sources I had at the time. (Special thanks to HVK Facebook group) Re-confirmed road conditions with my aforementioned friends who were still to return from their journey. And decided that I would start my journey, not in the middle of the night like last time, but during the day after being properly rested. It was also decided that I would avoid riding after sundown as much as possible since, as soon as the sun sets, it becomes increasingly difficult to navigate and to find accommodation for the night halt. This is especially true when riding solo. The biggest thing which was decided was that I wouldn’t be having any deadlines for myself. There won’t be any time bound action plans or any such fancy things. Since I was on my own, I could do things at a pace I am comfortable with, without worrying about meeting anyone and keeping up with anyone on the road. This doesn’t mean that I would be riding slower :D. It only means that there won’t be any pressure to reach a certain location or all my plans ‘risk going haywire’. I wanted to ride like the proverbial *Man without a plan*. If such is the approach, I am never late and never behind schedule for anything. I am always relaxed, and always *on time* :D. Isn’t that what a vacation is supposed to be??
Since I was already pretty much prepared with most spares and tools for the previous ride itself, no such effort was required to get prepared again. It was all in the mind and the mind was now set on the goal.
The D-Day was decided to be August 4th 2012, i.e. the day my bike turned 3. The time of departure was decided to be 4PM, i.e. the exact time when I first took my bike out of the Wasan Bajaj showroom in Nasik for the very first time. This ride, since the beginning, was always meant to be a birthday gift for my bike. As fate would have it, I managed to re-start it on its birthday :D.
The restart comes after the break..
Antz Travelz !! 