BIKERS TRAVELOGUES

Ladakh Map in Details

Road Map of Ladakh

Know all about the route, altitude, places to be etc on this map.

View Original Article

PART I

The Genesis

Before arriving at Redmond, WA, USA, I was in touch with Mr. Ron Mathewson from New Jersey. Two years back we had met on flickr.com via a riding group. Over time we became great net friends.
Ron offered to fly out from New Jersey to Seattle and ride with me with his wife Jennifer. June 01, 2008 was decided as the date for us to ride together.
I therefore became imperative for me to become familiar with the Harley Davidson bike before they arrived.

Hiring the HD Sportster

May 24th 2008….the day dawned …Ambarish; my son (Microsoft) drove me to the East Side, Harley Davidson, at Bellevue, for renting out a Bike.

East Side Harley Davidson, Bellevue

I made an honest declaration to Mr. Alex.
I informed him “I am nearly 57 years old. This is my son Ambarish, he works here and I am visiting Redmond from India. Though I have plenty of riding experience in India, I had never ridden a bike more than 350 cc. Secondly; I have no experience of riding on USA roads at all. I need a light bike much below 1400 cc that I see here in your showroom……..”

Having said that, I saw a grave expression on Alex’s face…Had had I blown it up? Will he rent me a bike?

Alex ignored me completely and spoke direct to Ambarish.

“Listen, I am glad you are here. Your Dad, he does not care for paper work. He wanna JUST RIDE…so you and I we take care of the papers and let him just ride…OK?”

Alex, a big Harley Man from Eastside HD, handed over the a brand new Harley Davidson Sportster (880 cc) to me. A quick Safety Briefing followed and very gingerly I rode her around the Harley Davidson building, 4 times…she looked like a bike after my own heart… my heart was pounding like a 24 year old, when I brought my first Jawa 250 cc bike, second or third hand. Was this really happening or was it just a dream?

I have this old habit of making my dreams come true…

Alex warned me “Do not under estimate this bike…she has only 889 cc motor but she is very very fast…..” That was (889-350) 539ccs more than an Indian RE T Bird…WoW!!!!

Back drop

Before coming to USA, I had discussed the issue of renting bikes in USA with Dr Arnob Gupta (Limca book of World Records, Dr Arn has 2 entries maybe more). He told me to ride a light bike preferably a Japanese 400 cc bike…there were none here in Bellevue. Just as well coz in America tis Harley all the way…tis bout Patriotism, Pride, the American Flag, Harley Davidson…. They killed the Indian Chief, but Harley…NEVER….Can’ happen….

SUZIE Q and the Solitary Rider

I followed Ambarish back to Redmond; some 12 miles to our home….the ride was fine…
Had a hot cup of coffee at home, calmed my nerves. Loaded my back pack with my camera and I headed out to rural less traveled roads of Duval. Here the traffic is thin, roads are twisties and flats. Keeping to the right side of the road was an issue. I made a few mistakes, but got that right eventually. As for the Bike, she rode much like our RE Thunder Bird. No problems there except vibrations. I gradually found the sweet spot of each gear down to the fifth to reduce the vibes to a minimum. I could feel the Rhythm Devine of this bike up my spine. The sheer freedom of riding in Paradise dawned on me. Practiced breaking front and rear, gear shifts, throttle, turns and twists, steering and counter steering. These are the things I learned from BikeNomads and Rubber Smoking Angels. I have always been a good student except in School.
I stopped the bike for a butt break. Smoked Camels, took a few pics…
And promptly name the bike….SUZIE Q…….

Q for the big Question…can I ride a Harley in USA? I had to find the answer; the hidden laws of probability were always against me.

The dice had been thrown, I had gambled before in Casinos…..won some lost some…I had dealt the Jack of Diamonds…the rest of the cards were with the House……..I knew I had to play the INNER GAME and win. That was my only hope…I had done that before and Won when all odds were neatly stacked against Me. I had to do this again.

In retrospect riding a mo bike in America is the easiest thing, provided you follow the rules of the road. But on Day One, I was shitting bricks. Just as well, overconfidence can KILL.

Tis the age of DESTRUCTION……Suicide toxins run in my blood.

I got back on Suzie Q….this time I had to ride her at 70 MPH on a flat….was easy. Suzie’s sweet spot on the fifth gear was around 65 MPH. I had Suzie Q reasonably under control.

Then while heading home on a left turn, I followed the road on the LEFT, like in India, on a crazy uphill twisty and saw a car running down at me….I hit the barrier at slow speed and stopped. Let pass a few more bewildered confused cars and got back on the road. …tis in my muscle memory riding on the left side of the road…..I was shaken….

Rode up to Starbucks, for a cuppa hot coffee. The pretty ladies at the service bar were very nice to me…after all I was wearing a Harley Jacket, a helmet in hand and a close cropped head….a goatee beard. Perfect Harley Man……

They were surprised to learn that I was from India AND riding a Harley. We got talking a lot of this and that….of course I did most of the talking and saw them stare wide eyed at me……Grand Father, India, Harley, Nikon 80 D round mah neck..….this Matrix was a winner all they way.

It was then that I decided that I WILL SHOCK THE SYSTEM!!!!

I had the Weapons to do that…and the key weapon that I had was the Riders ultimate weapon ….HUMILITY…Ashwini Khanna of 60kph.com taught me that.

The next two days were nice and easy rides on the same roads….some 300 miles…

I was thoroughly familiarized with Suzie Q

I returned Suzie Q to HD and asked Alex to rent her to me on June 01, 2008…..he did..

I had been to such Himalayan terrains several times and as per experts who had covered these terrains before had advised on their blogs and forums to use only rich mix as the bike would require loads of power. It really didn’t make sense to me but I always had rich mix on carburetor. This time around I adjusted the carburetor without any hesitation. My experiment was to see how it really works, my Pulsar 180 is the first model that came out in the market and I always treated her with loads of respect.

This time I cut the air filter cabinet a little to get most air flowing into the filter. It worked like a charm, then I adjusted the fuel mix knob to leaner mix, this would be according to me an ideal mix for my bike. The entire tour of Ladakh, it struggled only when attempting Marsamik La pass and no where else. Basically at higher altitude you would have less oxygen molecules which in turn would not burn all the petrol which is flowing though the carburetor, when the flow of petrol is reduced and air flow is increased the mix of higher volume of air would have more oxygen and less fuel to burn works out to be perfect for higher altitude riding. With the bike in stock condition, only mods are custom adjustable handle bar and regular pulsar alloy wheels. Neither exhaust modification nor any engine mods, the bike had no power lose and gave a mileage of over 65 kmpl in higher altitude and 48 kmpl on plains at a higher speeds.

All those who have Pulsar 180 or 150 classic, can try this. It works like a charm

Longest most of the Tourers would have attempted would be around 600 kilometers or may be 800 kilometers. But Do 400 + kilometers in twisty hilly terrain and 500 + kilometers on plains in a single day. I guess not many would have even thought of it.

Wonderful Ladakh tour:
Once we crossed into Kashmir, the heat, not much to see terrain and packed traffic made it a perfect mix to return home. From Udhampur to Amritsar and then Delhi in a single day was due to the fact that I grew increasingly frustrated with the Traffic and terrain. More the roads smoothened heavier the traffic was. I really wanted to get the hell out of there, left Udhampur by 6am and rode on never turning back or even bothering to stop. Heat, Humidity and rain when blended into one hilly location no one would want to stay there. I reached Amritsar by 1pm but then the humidity factor simply clotted my feelings and didn’t bother even spending a few minutes there.

Once I hit the four lane highway, I did not even have enough time to watch my rear view mirror. Bad to worst, a crazy Australian on a KTM rode past me and then tries showing off some stupid stunts. Just before I entered Panipat this guy fully loaded over takes me from the left and then pulls right, blocking my bike. I was doing 80kmph and felt so irritated at that time, then started a race that lasted all the way to NH 8. In the middle of rush hour he was racing against me at breakneck speeds. He often touched over 160kmph and I always fell behind as Pulsars really cannot do much against a 900cc adventure machine. Once the traffic blocked the Australian Rider & I catch up and over take him. I never had any intention to Race him but he would basically drag me into it again and again. I wanted to show him that I was not racing so I stoped and again in the traffic I came across him in few kilometers.

After entering Delhi roads, I slowed down my pace and got to the city condition riding. The Australian Rider rode on at same pace just to collide with a cycle crossing the road just before NH 8 started near the airport turn. The guy riding cycle almost claimed to be UFO for a moment and Australian skidded off the tarmac on to gravel and finally crashing into a parked Taxi. I immediately stopped and helped the cycle guy stand on his feet. He was fine with some broses. When I ran towards the Australian to help him, he got up with anger and slapped the poor cycle guy without any remorse. This aggression outraged every one who witnessed this hideous act and it was time for the Australian to run. I some how managed to control the situation and just asked the Australian to go. I had nothing to say but to give him the Look.

Over 900 kilometers of ride which lasted over 16 hours and finally ends with a race and disaster.

- Faiyaz Sultan