Ride Report: The India Ride Expedition

**milton** · 09-08-2012, 05:16 AM

Wow, what a week it must have been. Unpaved roads are usually rougher than how they appear in photos and your photos look plenty challenging already.

Look forward to more of your adventure.

Keep the rubber side down. Cheers!

**ryanjpyle** · 09-08-2012, 05:11 PM

Day 08: We've enjoyed another "off the bike" filming day here in Amritsar, Punjab. It's been an exciting day as we visited the Golden Temple as well as the Wagah crossing on the India and Pakistan border. While this was far from a rest day, it did allow the team to get off the motorcycles and walk around and stretch out after an intense week of riding in the mountains. The Golden Temple, built in 1764, is a fantastic place to visit and learn about the Sikh faith. We spent hours there speaking with people about their faith and what kind of importance the Golden Temple plays in their lives. Many people travel from all corners of India to visit the Golden Temple in order to pray there and bath in the lagoon that surrounds the temple. Needless to say it was a stunning morning and more enlightening than any day on a motorcycle. This afternoon was incredibly different. After enjoying a morning learning about the Sikh faith and it's promotion of community, harmony and connectivity among all people, we visit the Wagah border crossing between India and Pakistan and learn about boot stomping nationalism, and the pride of India. It was a fantastic display of military might; the intensity of the soliders and their pride for their respective countries was a powerful experience, and it all existed in a strange carnival like atmosphere with a crowd of over 30,000 people.

**ryanjpyle** · 09-09-2012, 04:51 PM

Day 09: While the morning flew by swimmingly, trouble did strike mid-afternoon when Ryan hit a large pothole in the road and managed to blow out his back tire. As he rolled the bike slowly to a halt, he was never in any danger, Colin quickly noticed that the back tire was completely flat. At this stage it's important to note that all of this happened at a point during a rain storm that could have easily been considered biblical. Colin and Ryan decided that the tire was flat but that it was raining too hard to fix the tire under the current weather conditions so they pumped up the tire and rode the bike slowly in to the next village about 5km away, named Doda. In Doda we were able to quickly find a tire repair man who assisted with the tire repair, by this time the rains had stopped, and the crew were back on the road and finished off their day just outside of Hanumangarth, Rajasthan. The team completed 323km today on what was their biggest day on the bikes since day 1 of the journey.

**ryanjpyle** · 09-11-2012, 01:43 AM

Day 10: Today our team passed through beautifully raw and rugged desert landscapes, and while their day started off normally, on their arrival to Bikaner things began to get a little bit weird. Upon arriving to Bikaner the team proceed south to Deshnoke and visited the Karni Mata Temple, also known as "The Rat Temple". If you have a phobia of rats it's best that you stop reading this email now and move on with your other work, but if you are curious to see what one sect of Hinduism looks like, then please carry on. This sect of Hinduism believes that humans, when they die, are reincarnated in to rats, and vise versa. So hundreds of worshipers per day visit this temple and feed the rats, pray to the rats, and touch the rats. While we try our best not to judge, we must conclude that this was a very strange place indeed, that made for some excellent television.

**ryanjpyle** · 09-12-2012, 01:37 AM

Day 11: After traveling about 152km from Bikaner south on Highway 89 our Mahindra vehicle stopped registering gears and was completely immobile by 1145am. Sure this was some bad news for our team, but the good news was we were just 10km outside of Nagaur and after making a few calls to our friends at Mahindra we had a truck come out and tow us within 60 minutes of making our initial call. After being picked up and towed in to town we were taken to the Mahindra dealership and they immediately had 8 people working on our car and had us back on the road in just under 3 hours. Within 5 hours of being stranded on the road The India Ride team was back on track with a new clutch and our spirits were very high.

**ryanjpyle** · 09-13-2012, 01:00 PM

Day 12: After making quick repairs to our Mahindra yesterday we were back on the road today in spectacular fashion covering a massive 400km between Nagaur and Udaipur. The journey consisted of everything from one lane roads through farming villages to brand new expressways. It offered our team an exciting look at both new India and traditional India as we drifted between larger urban centres and traditional agricultural communities. We had to push hard today to make up lost time with our breakdown yesterday and we are very pleased to say that Udaipur is a stunning location and one of the more exciting stops on our journey.

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**ryanjpyle** · 09-14-2012, 03:07 AM

Day 13: After traveling over 2,500km in our first 12 days on the India Ride, our team took a much needed rest day today. Today was a chance to reflect on the amazing journey we've had until this point in our adventure; and today was a opportunity to refocus and re-energize on the challenges and rewards that lay ahead of us. I've attached a shot from one of most beautiful days of riding: We had just crossed over the Rohtang Pass and we were heading north, the landscape changed from high-altitude alpine rocks and slate and lush green mountains and lakes. India continues to pleasantly surprise our team on a daily basis, and after our brief rest, we are getting ourselves ready to begin the remaining portion of our adventure around India.

**ryanjpyle** · 09-14-2012, 06:45 AM

A great typical Indian breakfast on Day 1 just North of Delhi.

A shot from the top Rohtang Pass after a long 50km and 4 hours battling tough roads, traffic and weather.

A shot from the other side of the Rohtang Pass. Some very happy riders to see this on the other side.

The team road into Udaipur, HP after a very long day. They arrived just before sunset and the village was winding down the day all around them.

A great scenic shot of the picturesque villages on the mountain in the Chamba Valley.

An Indian border guard with a great mustache and sunglasses at the Wagah border. The border ceremony was amazing!!

Some local kids checking us out as we stopped for a drink of water.

As the team entered the desserts of Rajasthan, camels became a very common way for people and cargo to get around.

The team try and figure out what to do with a burnt clutch in 38 degree heat.

Some local school kids helped us pass the time while we waited to get our Mahindra support vehicle to be towed.

I think the team found a future Bullet rider!!!

The view just before the team jumped off a cliff in Manali.

Some road construction on the side of a mountain on the way up the Saach pass.

A great scenic view with some snow in the distance as the team climbed their way up the Saach pass.

A man in traditional Sikh attire standing in front of the Golden Temple.

The Wagah border crossing ceremony had a special spot for foreigners :)

A shot of some intense border guards during the Wagah border ceremony.

The lineup to pray int the main temple at the Karni Mata (Rat Temple)

Our great Mahindra support vehicle cooking in the dessert sun while waiting for help on it's burnt clutch.

The team recruited some kids to help push the car into shade while it waited for a tow. It was hot very hot.

**euphonius** · 09-14-2012, 08:25 AM

Thanks for the big upload of pictures! Fantastic stuff!

cheers

**ryanjpyle** · 09-16-2012, 01:15 AM

Day 15: After a much needed hiatus in Udaipur the India Ride Team is back on the road, where we belong. Today the team traveled an epic 380km on National Highway #8, heading straight south from Udaipur to Vadodara, Gujarat. The roads were wonderful in the early mornings coming out of Udaipur but they deteriorated later in the day as the traffic increased, the road quality decreased and the temperature went through the roof!!! Today was also notable because Colin managed to get food poisoning at some stage along the journey and today he was suffering for pretty much the entire day of riding. To be riding in India is one thing, to be riding with symptoms of food poisoning is something completely different. He is putting in a fantastic effort and we'll have to wait until morning to see how far we'll be able to aim for tomorrow. We've got plenty of meds and he just requires a bit of rest. We'll update on this situation tomorrow.