Ride Report: The India Ride Expedition

**ryanjpyle** · 10-11-2012, 04:17 PM

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.

**ryanjpyle** · 10-13-2012, 02:32 AM

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.

**ryanjpyle** · 10-13-2012, 02:40 AM

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.

**ryanjpyle** · 10-13-2012, 04:12 PM

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.

**ryanjpyle** · 10-14-2012, 12:48 PM

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.

**ryanjpyle** · 10-15-2012, 05:23 AM

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.

**ryanjpyle** · 10-15-2012, 10:03 AM

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.

**ryanjpyle** · 10-15-2012, 02:32 PM

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.

**ryanjpyle** · 10-15-2012, 04:40 PM

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.

**ryanjpyle** · 10-19-2012, 09:47 AM

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.