Where Eagles Dare

Got caged

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 18:35:14 PST

My dodge intrepid
Some pics and specs
2004 Dodge intrepid SE
V6 2.7 ltrs DOHC engine
Power :200 bhp@5.8k rpm
Torque:258 NM@4.8k rpm
Transmission:Auto
Weight:1574 kg
Fuel efficiency: Dont care much atleast for now
Tyres:P225/60R/16(If you care for snow chains which I already have and can reuse)
Brakes: Disc

The day we ruled the streets(Mumbai-Jaisalmer in a day)

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 16:06:22 PDT

Do it or do not,there is no try-Yoda

This is a old triplog of ride done in Jan 2010....

Prologue

I had attempted this trip last year,trying mumbai to Jaisalmer in one day.I was not exactly in correct state of mind , physically and mentally I found myself turning back myself from disha-dhanera route back to Disha and checking into a hotel.Next day I again gave a half hearted attempt but my bikes fuses got bust just a few kilometers from the start.I parked my bike and realised I was standing at the same place where I had turned back the night before....i had to dhakka start my P200 and ride it back some 700-750 kms back to mumbai.

I somehow started associating this ride wid the mess in my personal life during that point of time and finishing it off was important.....

The Plan:

This ride was in making for last year or so and I was just waiting for another oppurtunity to have a go.The ride wasnt gonna be easy.....somehow DJ (Dhanjay aka trojanrocks) joined in.We planned to start at around 4:30,ride at 85-90s to reach jaisalmer at midnight....The night before DJ called me up and said lets ride at 70-75s,ill tell you why tommorow morning....i wondered why?

The start:
I woke up at around 3:00.DJ would be coming all the way from Vashi so checked if he is awake.We agreed to met under Jog Flyover.I reached the spot and kept and eye for 220 with HID projector coming from the highway.I could see a bike coming with a biker in gear but it wasnt 220.It was DJ on 150...what the f***.He told me that P220's block-piston developed serious issues on the night before and he had to get his old pulsar 150...knowing him as a good and fast enuf rider I didnt see any issues with 150.We started at a decent pace......crossed outskirts of mumbai and Manor in no time.

The crash:
We were riding at brisk pace 80--85 s the road being lit by our 55 w bulbs.NH-8 immediately after mumbai is mostly a six lane road and as a habit I ride on right most lane of the road which is for faster vehicles,to avoid troubles of gravel,stones left behind by parked trucks.It was still dark and I was pretty much on the right most lane and got blinded by incoming vehicle.By the time I could see clearly I saw myself riding straight into divider.Well Im not that bad a rider to crash into a divider ill let the diagram do the talking....i think such exits are called truck bye lanes

I slid for almost a very long distance.Me on one side of the divider and bike on the other side for a good 25-30 feet.Thanks to my riding gear and guardian angels I didnt spill blood on the street.Got up in no time.DJ who was riding close behind me in parallel lane to me did watch the whole show with horrified eyes.He stopped his bike.Luckily there werent any incoming vehicles to hit the fallen bike.My saddlebags and all were thrown.We picked up the bike and parked it across the street.

Quickly collected saddle bags and rest of the spilled stufffrom the road.It was still pretty dark.removed my gear to check for injuries...actually to my surprise there were none...knee seemed to be have a paint like a minor bruise.....

Well the crash almost seemed to have fcked up what would have been a long weekend.
"Thats a bad way to start a ride" I said,"Did you know I attempted it last year and stopped twice at the same place".DJ gave me a look.

DJ said "I had put new tires and prepared 220 for this ride and it broke down yesterday"

"Bohot panwati ride hai(Its jinxed),wapis chalna hai kya tereko".I didnt know what to do.

By this time I had realised my watch was no longer on my jacket....damn...it broke away...DJ started looking in the same side of divider as my bike was and I told him I slid on the other side...took us some time to find the main dial...it appeared to be working.I

couldnt find the strap though.We decided to wait until there was daylight so that we could find the rest of my watch

Meanwhile I was shaken up,didnt climb the bike.Bike was badly scratched and asked DJ to ride and check it for damages so that rather than returning home we could ride someplace(Velavar park or something) since Jaisalmer would have been difficult

coming up(how we finished this in style)........................

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PART 2:

DJ rode the bike for a while and reported that it seemed okay apart from twisted handle.By this time there was little bit of light and we managed to find rest of the pieces of my watch.
Still shaken and dazed I climbed my bike to check it for myself.A push of throttle and instinct took over and I felt comfortable riding it again......

My scratched helmet and torn jacket

"I am sorry I wouldnt be able to keep up the speed with twisted handle".I said knowing how fast DJ rides....."Dont worry I wouldnt mind even if you ride at 20 kph"....somehow I felt I had chosen a correct guy to ride with.

We crossed the street and set off.Sometime later we crossed the gujrat border and we took a break(DJ wanted to click a pic of a truck).It was completely bright by now and I was feeling much better and Jaisalmer was back in my mind.

Getting the bike fixed:

We didnt take lot of long breaks just one major one somwhere after Baroda to have lunch which we had brought packed(to save time).I was able to do speed of 70-75s with twisted handle and we reached outskirts of ahmedabad by 4:00pm and saw a bajaj service center close to ring road

In rolled the bike and we got the handle replaced and DJ got his oil changed.Took about an hour or so to get the whole thing done and we were on road again.

Reaching palanpur:

Getting the handlebar replaced pumped in a new life into the bike.Took the ring road and travelled for a good 40 kms on ring road to reach the road for mehasana.It was getting dark by now and we had to drop down our speeds wary of what happened early in the morning...we reached Palanpur.Since I had been on this road an year back,Palanpur was the last place where you would get ample choice of restaurants since its on touristy amdavad-abu road.While I had a couple of sandwiches for dinner DJ returned from washroom and said he was feeling better,almost like he a rebirth(He took a dump)

....to be continued
__________________

It was starting to get cold at palanpur....i tucked in my sweater underneath the jacket...and DJ put on stuff underneath.Post dinner tipped the watchman of the restaurant 10 bucks for watching our saddlebags.

Seeing the first jaisalmer distance board on the trip
We proceeded cautiously towards Deesha.Palanpur-Deesha is 26 kms of 100+ highway.Yet somehow we rode at 70-75 ish (cold and cautious we were).

Took a right diversion from deesha towards dhanera.This is 25 kms of small road which is infested with pot holes and lot of truck convoys take this road.This is a small strech of road where I turned back twice on last trip.We had to cut down on speeds since it was getting bitter cold as the night grew and I had to make it sure that nothing went wrong this time....nothing did and we reached dhanera.

A small break later we took another right to sanchor.Deesha sanchor was a deslote road and riding it at almost mid night gave a very creepy feeling.A few kms away from jaisalmer we saw a signboard jaisalmer 303 kms and we gave each other thumbs up sign...we had almost made it and would ride all into the night to make it to our destination.

It was getting real cold and we pulled into a dhaba to enjoy a cup of tea.

We pulled into almost one of every five dhaba we saw since they were so few of them and dhaba breaks were a real extended ones on the bizarrely creepy and empty road with almost no towns/villages or dhabas on the way

It was past midnight I was tired and both of us were shivering now.Given his bigger size I put on two more tshirts from DJ's bag and we rode to sanchor.

_____________________________________________________________________

The cold Night:
And we reached sanchor we found some cops on sanchor/NH-15 intersection...we at least found someone to ask for directions.The said go right...we got lost and roamed on the empty streets with no one to ask for directions.Tuned back and hit a road which looked like some highway...Stopped at a dhaba and asked for direction....go straight to reach barmer...again go staight and you will reach jaisalmer.

Well we set off and kept riding....It was cold so more breaks at dbaha for tea after every 30-45 minutes.....It was a big highway but lonely desolate with few dhabas and with villages spread at 40-50 kms from each other....we saw a deer on the road staring into headlights but we were riding at a distance from each other and going fast so didnt stop....

DJ cursed me later for it for not stopping to click a pic.It was shivering cold and we stopped at dhaba for some tea......while leaving couple of truck drivers who had just arrived at the dhaba came and told DJ..."Sir aap bohot overtake kar rahe ho".....turned to me"Aur aap bhi unke piche piche chala rahe ho"....lol....people riding motorcycles on remote highway at 2:00 in the night are so less...let alone two measly bikes honking and harrasing truckies to make way for their bikes on the road and riding as if they owned the night and the highway......

We looked at each other and smiled at them and they smiled back and we carried on riding into the night rowards barmer

_______________________________________________________________
Barmer:

We were speeding to Barmer and DJ was riding in front of me.I could see him slow at what looked like pieces of plastic on the road.A few seconds later a Qualis was visible which has run off the road and some people crowded near it.We went ahead and stopped at a dhaba a hundered meters or so from the stop.While I waited and watched the bikes DJ went back to investigate.I informed him I had a big first aid kit in my saddle bags.

I told guys about at the dhaba about the accident he said that there was a loud noise about 10 minutes before we arrived but no one was hurt in the accident.

DJ came back about 10 minutes later and informed that I went there everyone was drunk.He had to tell them to remove the plastic pieces from the road to avoid another accident....

Dhaba wala who was making tea for us told us that druken accidents were common on this stretch at night....well that freaked us out.DJ argued with me was it really worth riding into the night."You want to see for yourself if you can make it to the destination,well we almost did it and both you and I know we can make it till morning"."We are riding fast on dangerous road....lets stop and pull into the first hotel and finish off the stretch in the daylight,It would be less cold too"....he made a lot of sense and I nodded in agreement.

We rode away and kept going till we reached Barmer in about 3 in the morning and started looking for hotels.We reached a hotel with disintersted people which said 1600 bucks.1600 bucks for 3 hours of sleep didnt make any sense

I fished out lonely planet and tried calling up the only hotel listed there.No response....we decide to go to station and check if there are any hotels there...luckily we found a boy on the street who took us there.....

Well all of the hotels were charging more than 1500 bucks....One of the hotel rooms said only superdelux room is available for 1600 bucks...I checked out the room and it was shitty shower.

Well we almost wasted an hour trying every hotel and decided to keep riding to jaisalmer.It was almost 4:00 now and we were on saddle for 24 hours now.

Didnt click lot of pics that day coz my mind was fixated on finishing off the ride.

While we were leaving the godforsaken town we saw a hotel and decided to give it a try....400 bucks....oh wow!!We checked in and slept peacefully at about 4:30 in the morning...Jaisalmer was 150 kms away but we had rode extremely well to cover a huge distance of almost 950-1000 kms during the day.

What a memorable day it was!!!!!We went to sleep in no time.

______________________________________________________________

And Jaisalmer finally:

Well there was a knock on the door at 7:00 am to ask for chai and I cursed the person who knocked.DJ was awake and I asked him for half an hour more time...He finished his chores and I was awake at 7:30 am too.

I noticed for the first time that our hotel room had an AC.

Started at abt 8:00 and we had about 150 kms to cover and we figured out that we should be there till about 11:00 am.The road was butter smooth and we had an absolute three digit rip fest occasionally slowing down to 80s we thought we would reach earlier.

DJ was still cursing me at the missed oppoturnity of clicking the deer.

But today we saw a peacock crossing the street and I slammed brakes,fished out my zoom lens and tried following it...well it was elusive as usual.

Well further down the road we found an entire peacock family and again...

And again we saw lotsa birds and we stopped often but didnt mind slowing down for debate on what bird it is and odd click(we had three complete days at hand to reach the destination)

Further down the road,we didnt stop for any more peacocks since they were regular occurance.

But one funny incidence..I was riding ahead and DJ following close to me...saw a peacock on the street getting ready to fly scross the street....I didnt stop....maybe peacock saw 150 following chucked and underestimated DJs speed thought he could fly faster

The end result was peacock flying and hitting head into with DJ's joe rockets.DJ was shaken up(a big bird that it is) and I could see him slow down in my RVM.He rode upto me and narrated the whole event and I thought WTF!!!!!We have dog hits,cattle hits maybe this is a first peacock hit while riding

We rode back to check see if there were any signs of peacock injured around,there were none.Satisfied we kept riding....stopped at dhaba and texted abt the incident to our bird man vaibhav who would have loved taking pictures of so many peacocks.Well I later realised that it was he was in middle of his engagement when he had sent a reply sneaking away from all the footage he was getting that day

__________________

Finally Jaisalmer:

We finally reached jaisalmer at around 11 am and while we were on outskirts of the town and I was looking into places to stay at Jaisalmer into Lonely Planet a scruffy looking man on motorcycle rode upto us and asked if we needed any rooms....."How much" I asked expecting something overpriced."400 bucks,its inside the castle and you can see the whole city" he said.....cool we followed and he took us to Desert Boys which is inside the Jaisalmer fort.

I waited outside while DJ went to check the rooms and I mentioned him to bargain in marathi....when DJ came out I asked "How much"...."lets stay in 800 bucks wala room" he said "Its amazing"........

We checked into the hotel and room we got for 800 bucks was simply one of the most VFM room I had stayed in.....

The dust of snow

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 10:02:53 PDT

I am logging in and posting after a really long time.I had been busy with my work.I would be temporarily relocating to San Francisco in couple of weeks time and wouldnt be riding for atleast another 6 months.

Just some time back I was reading up some of the Robert Frost's poems and this one touched my heart

The way a crow
Shook down on me

The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart
A change of mood

And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.

When Eagles from mumbai land up in Spiti

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 21:40:32 PDT

The route:

Mumbai-Ahmedabad-Udaipur-Jaipur-Rewari-Rothak-Ambala-Shimla-Rampur-Kaza-Manali-Chandigarh-Rothak-Jaipur-Udaipur-Ahmedabad-Mumbai

Distance:

4500 kms+

Days:

29th May-9th June(11 days)

*ing Riders:

Dhananjay Ambekar aka DJ aka trojanrocks on P150

Amit Patil aka darth_lucifer on P200

Triplog to be finished asap...so stay tuned:twisted:

more coming up.....

_____________________________________________________________________________

Day 1:Mumbai-Ahmedabad-Himmatnagar :approx 600 kms

We had planned to leave on saturday morning.Couldnt sleep on thursday night before the ride.Anxiety was eating me up.We had planned to leave on saturday early morning.If I couldnt sleep on friday nite too it was trouble during the ride.Friday evening checked with DJ if he was okay to start at midnight so that we could cover some ground.He was okay to start early.

Left home at 11:30 pm on friday night.

Informed karthik,vaibhav,gaurav and gopi who were online at that time.

They came to see us off at short time @ hub mall in goregaon.

Stopped at a dhaba for some tea.A qualis pulled up at the same time.We had agreed to tell people that we were riding till Delhi incase anyone asked us.Qualis wala asked where we were head and we told him Delhi.

He said "Kisko bewakoof bana rahe ho"

We told him you asked ,we told,we never said anything ourselves,belive it else dont believe it is not our problem

Passed the bylane and divider where I had the little incident on jaisalmer ride

Covered some 150-200 kms and rode till 4:00 am and tiredness started catching up.Decided to sleep at dhaba.It had room with some cots where I decided to sleep.Still coulnt sleep

Got up and it was 4:45 and was getting little brigther.While I prepared DJ suggested I try out Red Bull from dhaba fridge.It did a good job in making me feel good.

Reached ahmedabad and Himmatnagar at around 1-2 pm and the sun was in going in full glory..

Checked into Landmark hotel at himmatnagar which is VFM where I had stayed earlier during my 2009 leh ride.

Ordered food.Watched TV.Now that the ride had started instinct took over nerves were eased and I could finally sleep at around 9:00 pm.

Done this route zillion of times so hardly any photos were clicked

_______________________________________________________________________________

Day 2:Himmatnagar-udaipur-chittaur-Jaipur-Shahapura: Approx 650 kms

Woke up at 3:00 am to some hissing sound and DJ was already getting ready.I am a light sleeper and cant sleep with someone else moving around in the room.Had no choice but wake up and start myself.

Was feeling better however today.Took a shave and all.

Started at around 4:30 am and had to ride for an hour with HID before daylight broke completely.

Stopped at a restaurant at start of kishengarh jaipur expressway at around 1:00 pm and decided to wait there till 3:00 pm when sun was out in full glory

Reached "Hotel Highway king INN" on delhi-jaipur highway again by evening where I had stayed earlier.Somehow I liked my stay to be predictable this time.

DJ and struck a good bargain and came back.

Went window shopping into Adidas and Reebok showrooms downstairs.

Drank some beer.

Slept peacefully that night and things were perfectly going on according to plan.
___________________________________________________________________________________

Day 3:Shahpura-some turning after Behroad-Rewari-Jhaajar-Rothak-Panipat-Karnal-Kurukshetra(Approx 400 kms)

We started a bit late.And after some riding were on pretty nasty roads till Rothak.

Was dying to hit the GT karnal road and after long tiring ride reached panipat.By now the sun was completely up and two days of riding in heat started taking a toll and I started having a wee bit of headache.

Crossed Karnal and soon I realised that DJ was not seen in my RVM.I parked in shade and in couple of minutes he came up with another rider on P220.

Target for the day was chandigarh but with fatigue/heat and slight headache I had flashes of TV programs I had seen on heat stroke and sun stroke and started having doubts if I was gonna suffer one myself.Decided didnt want to take any chances and asked DJ if we stop for the day with chandigarh less than 75-100 kms away.

He said he was okay.....DJ was always open to change of plans...always....almost

Well the person DJ was riding with was a local lad and biking entu(Dharamveer was his name)

He had a probiking showroom somewhere near GT road and said there were good hotels in Kurushetra.We rode till Kurushetra and the lad helped us get into a decent hotel.

Ate some good hotel in the hotel which the lad recommended.

Later had a shower.Poured shampoo from my bottle.It was lying in top compartment of my haversack and it was frigging hot from all the heat.....Never had applied such hot shampoo on head....we both discussed that and came up with a theory that the cerebral fluid must have been superheated and hence we both had headaches

Started both the AC and fan and spent remaining of day watching TV and sleeping
____________________________________________________________________________________

Suffering from blackberry fever already!!!!

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:50:34 PST

Well yesterday I just ordered my first smartphone since my N73....an unlocked blackberry 8830 from ebay for 10k bucks..It will be shipped on monday and it would reach me this week.Am already eagarly awaiting it arrival.

Meanwhile the blackberry fever has caught up with me.Am desperately looking out for best blackberry plans.I am using BPL mobile for past 6 years and am not changing my cellnumber for obvious reasons.With mobile number portability postponed to April 2010 ill still have to put up with Loop mobile.Might go in for a second connection from Airtel just to explore my blackberry potential.Spent the whole day yesterday reading abt how cool my new cellphone is.

I currently used Nokia 5030 which I had got for 2k and for past 6 months it was an object of mockery amongst friends,office colleagues and even my boss not to mention the poort reception quality.

Well thats it from me until my new cellphone arrives.

Kille Raigad and back

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:26:53 PST

I was desperate to get back on the road.Had called up rest of the guys but every one was tied up,but Vishal agreed.Destination wasnt decided,but it was supposed to be a one day ride.

We agreed to meet up at 5:00@Center One mall.Got up at 4:00 and left home by 4:30 am.Reached center one at 5:10 am and Vishal was already waiting for me for half and hour now,but he announced he had to get back home due to some personal reasons.Once again I had to ride solo.Destination was still not decided maybe it was mahabaleshwar,maybe somewhere else.Decided to take NH-17.
Took palm beach road, there JNPT road and was at panvel in no time.Was still pretty dark and I found myself riding on NH-17.After a while it started getting brighter and of course I could enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Soon the sun came out and boy it was beautiful.

A few kms more and the fog started

fog eclipsed the sun and it started looking like the moon.

well the destination was still not decided I was pondering over harishareshwar to spot dolphins or maybe mahabaleshwar

more coming up......................

In search of valley of flowers(Kaas,Satara)

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:28:46 PST

Riders:
Me,Razorblades,Winzee,Ambidexterous and pulsarider and ChiragV(Till lonavala).

We had decide to meetup very early in the morning.
Had called up everyone 5:00 am and everyone was awake before.Good so there would be no late comers.Started early and reched powai at 5:45.
Winzee was already there.Five minutes later ambidexterous calls up and informs he would be little late as he has lost his keys.Meanwhile Razorblades shows up and we were joined a while later by ChiragV.
Ambidexterous shows up after 10 minute.A round of introduction later we are all set to ride.

Half a kilometer into the ride I slam my brakes.Front disk locks and bike starts fishtailing like crazy and I go skidding into the gravel.My brake settings are incorrect since its straight out of a mechanics place.Good I realised it on a small road then on a highway.Fell downPick up my bike mostly by myself,ambidexetous giving me a hand.Though I have done it often picking up bike at almost 6:00 in morning with me half alsleep and the sudden jerk I gave caused me a sprain in the back and I had to ride with a hurting back for rest of the day

Met up vaibhav at 6:15 ish at center one in Vashi and I adjusted my brakes while rest of the gang was chit chatting.Filled up near dattas while rest of gang had sutta etc.
Sunday morning so there were tons of bikers there.Spotted a R1 flying past on the road and Gopi and Winzee said they spotted a face inside the helmet and it seemed like a chic was riding it
Rode to RKs in lonavala and stopped there for breakfast.......

From left to right:
Pulsarider(Vaibhav),ChiragV,Gopi(Razorblades),Winz ee,Ambidexetous

Had called up Roamer and he was already ahead of us(They had taken the mumbai-pune expressway).......so rather than randevous point at dehu road they had already passed lonavala and we decided to meet in satara.

Dehu Road to satara:
Alrite so finished all this yummy idli-vada sambar and rode to dehu road and from there to sataraWell there isnt
much to write abt this except we rode slow at times..add to it there was some traffic.
Took a couple of stops in between.We finally stopped abt 40 kms from satara where
we met a uncle riding his pulsar from mumbai.He showed us his new seat and expalined that difference is like a seat in volvo bus and ordinary bus
Met another local and we inquired abt our destination
Local:What is there in kass?
Us:flowers
Local:Flowers are all gone.If you want to see flowers you should go to himalayas
Local:You should see badrinath,kedarnath there(maybe wanted to say I have been there)and there are flowers at one place.
Us:Tell us the directions to kass and we will check out
Local gives directions

Bad attitude locals in central and south India have at times.Why the fck was he marketing himalayas when we
had come to his home town?
Just a flashback to my hampi ride I can recollect the cop who we bumped into bang outside the ruins asking me and Navin ,
"What have you come to see here?"."What have you come to visit here????This place ofcourse".
Indian youngsters visiting "Hampi ruins" didnt seem convincing reason.
You should learn a thing or two from people in Rajasthan :P

Call up roamer and learn that he has already reached satara and are planning to leave for Kas.

Reach satara and take old pune satara highway and I was sweeping following ambidexterous and others rode ahead
in the traffic and we got split.Called up Vaibhav and informed that we were waiting at Rajawadi chowk.Well we waited
this guys didnt show up.Suddenly glances on across the chowk and spotted them.Apparently some thulli(Lady thulla) was
speaking to the guys.I crossed the street and joined them.
Razor and Winzee were quite and apparently had no clue of ongoings or what they were charged for(i am sure they still hav no clue)
,with vaibhav and me the only person who understood marathi

I dont see any one way or dividers.
Apparently for a city where all the bikers were helmetless,three people ride on one bike,these guys were being charged
for riding on the wrong side of the lane.Well there was no divider either...... Apparenly a street lamp serves as a
divider and anyone who exits the road on the wrong side of the lamp is fined for riding on the wrong side.

Vaibhav's pocket got a lighter by 100 bucks and the righteous cop stopped us and asked us to collect
the reciept(Must be a fake one)

It was getting late(Must be 1:30 or something)We then rode to Kass which was only 25 kilometers now

some pics........................

'the secret levitation lessons' that we practised:P

Dam close to our destination

.........................more later

....more later

Dhabosa Ride

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:49:45 PST

I got some backlog I gotta finish so posting some of the old rides:

This ride happened a year ago with Vishal Joshi(Fiero) and Vinod Mehtar(P180)

It was a lazy 400 kms ride.

Took the NH-3 which I somehow hate very much and took a diversion towards Jawahar at Kasara.
Its a small road which does thru all the little hamlets and all..

this is the board where you gotta take turn:

there were some mouthwatering twisties that followed:)

We reached Jawahar Lake and stopped to click some pics

Dhabosa waterfall is short distance from jawahar:

We reached waterfall.For a supposedly 300 foot waterfall I was disappointed to find there wasnt much of water:

We decided to climb down to the base of the fall.The walk is a wee bit steep.Me and Vishal in yellow jacket:

After spending some time at the base of the fall.Didnt have any spare clothes to dive into the pics.So I happily clicked pics from the shore.

Climbed up back to the road.The climb back was exhausting(Maybe Im getting old :D)

Had a nice lunch of bhakri(Local bread /form of roti) and dal fry.

Rode back from NH-8 via charoti and back to mumbai

mumbai-kasara ghat(NH-3)-jawahar-dhabosa-jawahar-charoti(NH-8)-Mumbai

Distance:400 kms

Mumbai-Leh-09 solo (Part 2)

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:53:41 PST

Read first part of the story here :)

http://whereeaglesdare2007.blogspot.com/2009/10/leh-solo-09.html

Leh-diskit:

Started early and went to see my new friends.They were painstakingly washing thier bikes.I joined them
and gave my bike a much deserved bath

Started for nubra

Road from south pullu to north pullu was entirely screwed up.

A mandatory poser shot for bikes worlds 'highest' road

Got down at nubra valley and marvelled at beautiful vistas over there.

Reached diskit..........stayed in a house with a beautiful garden

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iskit-nubra-panamik-leh

after clicking some macros which were out of focus we proceeded to see nubra desert

Syok river

went to panamik.....i was expecting some gyser types hot water fountain....we saw a water flowing from a small hole.....sulphur deposit made sides look yellow and it looked more or less like dirty sh**h**e.I am sorry for the description........I had never seen hot water springs was expecting something I had seen in discovery channel......couldnt help being dissapointedI clicked photos of it and deleted it coz closeup shots of the same looked like what was described earlier.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Leh-Pangong-Tso:

Started riding towards pangong.Road was awesome spare top five kms on either side of chang -la.Reached pangong in jiffy.Eagarness and excitement of rest of the team on reaching pangong and seeing it for the first time was worth remembering

Pagal nallah now is almost non-existent and there is a bridge construction going there,so it would be gone next year

Checked into barracks at lukang.Was charged at 350 bucks for barracks.Last time I was quoted 1000 bucks and 400 bucks for tent.I guess the price varies according to season.Last time was august or maybe some one made a real 'chaman' of me back then.

Explored the lake.We had skipped lunched and enjoyed some french fries made by the aunty and her son.

We to Pulsies:Are you ready to take on marsimik-la tommorow morning??
Pulsars (Glowing their pilot lamps):"No fear".
I love this "No fear" pic,wish it was much sharper.
|
V

Went back and we ate more oily french fries.....

After dinner we we went to click some night shots:

Eeirie.........Notice how only leg is visible

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The D-Day:Pangong- M-la- Leh:

We had no trouble waking up early.Everyone was charged up to take on toughest pass around...

Did take some early morning shots of pangong-tso:

Were greeting by a frozen mini-nallah.

Not knowing what lied ahead we rode on....
initially it wasnt much and we thought it was just an overrated pass:

At times the gradient got steep ,we got stuck in loose soil at times some of the bikes had pushed,dragged at time

Finally we made it top.....

BAL P200/P220 lineup with various colors

__________________

time for some pojing:
Pranay:

The stylebhai poje

Returned to Leh and all of us had a gr8 dinner.Tommorow Praful,Pranay and Veda would go back from manali route and I would do some time pass in leh and head back via srinagar the day after.

Group pic:

left to right:
Pranoy,Veda,Me and Praful:

A group photo at K-top

My short trip log doesnt give you an idea of gr8 and memorable time I had with these guys for four days.....

Leh-Kargil:

Did a easy leasure ride to Kargil.Plan was to reach drass and visit the war memorial on the way. But drass had no nice places to stay apart from tourism bungalow many places to eat were shabby looking more of a truckie stop then a proper city.

I need photostat of my vehicle documents to courier it the next day and I would prefer doing it at a shop inbetween.When I saw decent looking hotel at Kargil I found myself riding inside gates.The cost was exorbitant at 800 bucks a day....hahaha .....this is not delhi u are charging so much I wanted to say..........argued that I had to stop only for night and would be leaving at 5 am.....the owner told me people arrive at night and stay for only two hours but pay the same....i didnt argue....place had decent parking,hot water,clean toilets ,TV with english movie channels to keep me entertained till next day.

Hotel was apparently one of the good ones with lot of gora goris,some desi travellers and plenty desi families on vacation(chitchatting abt kargil war and leh vacation spot)I was happy I didnt alone have to stay in hellish "Hill View" hotel at drass.

Hotels name was "Hotel Siachen" and its on right hand side on the highway near taxi stand at Kargil if you are driving to srinagar.Kargil is a curious town again with plenty of salons and photostudios.Wonder how does economy of place work if most of the people do the same work

There was a restaurant but no room service and I didnt have to step out of hotel.Bought shampoo sachet had a hot water bath,had a early dinner,settled into bed in front of TV bought some haldiram namkeen and cold drinks to finish off my contingeny himalayan surival kit

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kargil-srinagar: Reached drass and was at the war memorial site: Names of heros at kargil:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Rode off to Kargil.Zozilla was in bad shape as the praful and company had said.I had two days to spare.Planned to stop at sonmarg,but heck there cellphone want working.I had just 80-90 kms to go to finish off my marathon ride so I carried on till srinagar.
Checked into hotel new Muskhaan next to nathu sweets on boulevard road as my new friends had recommended for 600 bucks.The hotel one floor below was 1500 bucks with the same view and same room types

Spent couple of days packing my bike home,resting and on 4th october caught a flight back to mumbai.

Tololing range in the backdrop ...

Tiger hills(Straight and Pointed mountain on right hand side of the road) where a pitched battle of control was faught by Indian army in 1999

Sonmarg

_______________________THE END___________________________

List of goodies I carried:

FOR BIKE
4 set of spare keys......i tend to lose them easily
smart card
PUC
insurance
tax reciept
10 amp fuse*2
some jumper wires
tubless repair kit
engine oil(Stopped using motul)
funnel
90 number truck oil in small bottle for lubing chain
clutch cable
clutch lever
used clutch plates(for m-top)...planning to replace them and carry old ones for emergency
brake lever
chain lock
NGK spark plug*1
small plastic tube to suck fuel out of other bikes or trucks
fix spanners 8 to 22
ring spanner(available one)12-13,14-15,20-22
two good pliers
screw driver set
washers
battery plugs
electric tape
bungee cords
allan keys 4 mm and 5 mm
footpump
tube for rear tyre???michellin...unsure now

--------------------------------------------------------

PHOTOGRAPHY
camera
lenses(18-55mm & 70-300mm)
lens filters& neck strap
battery charger
tripod
gorilla pod
spare SD cards 8+2 GB

TRAVEL
watch
led headlamp
cellphone
mapbook
photocopied parts of LP India

MEDICINES
old monk(to be bought at dalhousie/manali) in case of hypothermia
personal medicines
first aid box
norflox-TZ
flaygl
crocin
avil 25
mox-500(15 tablets)
electral packets
glucon-D box
chocalates+glucose biscuits(to be bought locally)+roasted chic peas(I have switched from dry fruits to chic peas...recession)
brufen(I dont take these tablets but they help during swellings after falls)
diamox(to be bought at manali/dalhousie)

PERSONAL STUFF
cash money for trip+return shipping+cards incase of emergency
pepper spray(if I get hold of one)
few undies
pan card/employer id card...pesky id checks in shrinagar
driving license
airticket printout
1 tissue roll
2-3 sweat shirts
I tee(will wear)
2 track pants+1 jeans(wear)
1 towel
shaving kit(to look good while posing)
spare shoes
deo spray(if you have space)
couple of pair of socks
one pair of shoes+ one pair of riding shoes(will wear)
tooth brush+tooth paste
sunscreen(if I can find one lying around in house)
2-3 baraclavas...they start stinking if u keep wearing the same
muffler
hippo waist pouch
riding jacket
inner liner for jacket
gloves+winter gloves
woolean cap
knee guards
pen+small book
helmet
woollen lowers to be worn under jeans
religious stuff & charms

Added later on:
swiss army knife
climbing rope
caribineer
4 boxes of matches
candles
cold cream

Mumbai-leh-solo-09(Part 1)

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:49:13 PST

Disclaimer:Had tried manual focussing for the first time with my camera for all the pics and it did not work very well. :(
So don't get disappointed by the pics

Itch for leh had started immediately after I finished my Bhutan trip.
I was tied up in work for past year which gave me little time to ride.Leh was something
I was looked forward to when I thought abt riding and it kept me going.

"Why Leh again?","Did you fall in love with some girl in ladakh you are going again....you had been there just two years ago?"..
all sorts questions were asked at home.

Marsimik-la ," the unfinished business" was the reason I had used to justify my ride to
friends,family members who have no clue why bikers ride to leh again.

Having my own prejudices abt riding in a big group I had decided to ride with just one more
rider.Unfortunately he ran into some work related commitments and couldnt make it.
Since it was too late in the season to replan the thing again and convince someone else
I decided to go solo.Leh I could make it solo since I had already done that,I wasnt sure abt
doing marsimik-la solo.I hoped I could find some company at leh or pangong-tso for m-la and how right I was

Day 1:Mumbai-HimmatNagar:

Plain jane riding on NH-8.Stopped at himmatnagar.Reached my destination at 4:30 pm.checked into hotel Lnadmark which was the
best looking hotel in the town.Wanted to stay for the remainder day in AC room.Changed my engine oil at bajaj service center in town

PICS:

Day 2: HimmatNagar-Jaipur-delhi highway

Roads were excellent and covered the distance till udaipur in no time.Took the chittaurgarh
route between udaipur -jaipur(Its concerete racetrack).Reached jaipur very early.Unfortunately was not able to spot
any goodlooking AC types hotels on road.I had to bypass delhi via rothak the next day.So decided to ride a little further ahead on jaip[ur-delhi road.
A few kms later I spotted hotel "Highway Inn/Highway king".Looked good.This place had a big shopping mall too so might have good restaurants.
Checked in to that place.What luck the restaurant had a bar too.Relaxed and enjoyed some KF.

PICS:

Day 3:Jaipur-dehi road-Chandigarh

I had to start somewhere between jaipur /delhi.I had already decided to take bypass via rothak to Panipat on GT road.
I took a diversion at place called bawar(sdomewhere after behroad) to rothak.Route was absolutely horrible.After cruising on
NH-8 for two days I thought I would regret this descion.Thankfully I reached rothak after sometime and route till Panipat
was good.Somewhere in between I lost my gloves.
I had decided to meet Akshay at chandigarh but since it was a holiday he saidhe would meet me in Ambala.We met in Ambala.He had brought his brother and cousin
and later Dhairya and tanmoy who were coming back from Chansal joined us and bakar continued for couple of hours more.
I had forgotten to pack my undies and fortunately I could buy them from the mall we had stopped at
Akshay offered to arrange gloves for me at chandigarh but later I thought it wouldnt be of much use since I would be wearing winter gloves manali onwards.

PICS:

Day 4:Chandigarh-Manali:

Crossed in himachal early in the morning and I was doing my 6th state in less tan 3 and half days.
I made a note that I would have enjoyed being a truck driver if not my current profession.Apparently business is so bad in non season days that they send people on bikes to pitch for their hotels
at place where you pay your green tax.Agreed to a deal which gave me hotel at mall road with hot water,TV and parking for 200 bucks.
Reached manali and checked into the hotel.Bought survial kit for himalayas and some wollens.

PICS:

Himalayan survial kit:

Day 5:manali to keylong:

Started early in the morning to avoid traffic on rothang.Road was all messed up

Stopped at Sagu cafe at Marhi for some piping hot parathas and chai:

Made some fans at Sagu cafe who were surprised to find that I had reached all the way there in little over four days.They wished me good luck.Couple of taxi drivers were curious abt my shoes were asking the price and all.
Continued journey up with more bad roads

Finally reached the top.It was 14 degrees celcius and I had removed my jacket and was roaming around.Found people in snow gear/cold weather gear and all.There was no snow apart from some "Cheete" here and there which tourists were passing around to each other.Taxi drivers did take them for a ride

Rothang top board is no longer there since there is two laning going on.Not missing an opportunity to pose:

Got down and had breakfast at koksar.Saw some people yapping on cellphone.BSNL only

Got myself a nice and comfy room with a view at keylong

Bought another quarter of OMR at Keylong since I was gonna use my contingency rations and relax for rest of the evening.

A hard days ride,cool weather,a room with a view and OMR...what else would you want!!

__________________

Day 6:
Keylong-Pang:

Next days ride had plenty of good vistas......

Was dissappointed to find very little water in suraj Tal.

The presence tent camps in sarchu was almost non existant....most of the people had packed up for the season
Had lunch at Sarchu at one of the tents

Reached Gata loops...

Reached one of the loops where there is small temple types where people make offering for some dead boy.
People had made offering of water bottles,empty beer bottle,cigarrates
This time I had got a chocalate bar to make it.I peeked inside it and was shocked to find a human skull
at the little altar made.....Alrighty the story of someone dying from dehydration over there is true then.

Reached Pang.

Surprisingly it was almost empty of tourists.Went into tent camp.
One of the caretakers commented I was very tough to walk around just in a light sweater and riding solo.........kya kare majburi hai,people drop out.....Jeez Im a social retard and maybe I like it that way For a minute I felt good and I imagined myself pushing my bike to bike to m-la top all by myself

Had almost 12 hours to kill.
Fished out a novel I had brought along with me and kept reading it till it was daylight.

__________________

Pang-Leh:
Got up early from my bed early at around 5.I had to get permits fast...
I didnt have much of AMS.I am fast becoming a himalayan mutant
Started the bike but she wont respond.The lady at dhaba suggested I should wait until sun
is shining bright.Waited and kept checking starting my bike at regular intervals.

There were little bonfires lit.There were not many tourists and I thought might need some dhakka start
I befriended a friendly types guy besides a bonfire who I thought was a tent owner and I kept chittchatting with him.
He had khakhi trousers and a sweater later I learnt he was a cop
posted at Pang to note down truck numbers.

Thankfully sun was out at around 7 am and temperature was crawling back to zero.

It was above zero soon but bike wouldnt budge .Had to park it diagonally till sun warmed up the engine and clutch case metal.

Minus 1.8 and steadily rising....

I decided to check starting my bike again.Yipee it started........

Reached Leh in jiffy.................

Went to DC office and got permits.Checked into a cheap 300 rupee room where I had stayed earlier in 2007.
Slipped on a tshirt and went to take a stroll.
Surfed the internet,had a burger and took a walk in market to get permits photocopied.Photostat is 3 rupee per copy in leh and I initially went to lot of shops to bargain for the prices since I had to make 15 photocopies....I had nothing else to do in life that day
One of the shops had a pretty looking lady and I decided to walk in and finally get my xeroxes ...Meanwhile a guy walked in.He had alpinestar jacket and AGV helmet...bikers are plenty
but someone with good riding gear generally is a serious tourers.I was dressed in casual tee shirt and jeans and my bike was parked at hotel.He broke the Ice first and asked
"This is all you need to get xeroxed".I nodded.I asked him if he was with a riding club.He said XBHP.

I said I was over there too but I wasnt a active tourer these days.I told him my id and gave me his id.He was Darth Veda...
He said," I know you ,You are the other sith lord around "
He took me to introduce me to Praful Tripathy standing outside.
These guys were gonna do nubra,pangong and marsimik la....same as me.What a stroke of luck!!!!!
I had company for most difficult parts of the ride.I later got introduced to Pranay.
For next four days I had fantastic company of good riders.

leh itinerary

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:19:51 PDT

My last post abt this topic got accidentally deleted.Sorry abt the lost comments.

Update is my three week leave has been shortened to two week leave and am supposed to be in a training on 5th October.So ill be flying back from shrinagar by Go Air
The post once again from a draft lying around
Riders:
Me and vaibhav gokhale:

Here is the tentative itinerary for two week vacation:

Date	Day	Stat	Dest	Distance
19th sept	Saturday	Mumbai	Surat	250
20th sept	Sunday	Surat	Amdavad	300
		Amdavad	Udaipur	200
		Udaipur	Chittaurgarh	200
21st sept	Monday	Chittaurgarh	Japiur	250
		Jaipur	Gurgoan	250
22nd sept	Tuesday	Gurgoan	Chandigarh	300
23th sept	wedneday	Chandigarh	Dalhousie/manali
		Dalhousie	Chamba

24th sept	Thursday	Chamba/manali	Sach	100
		Sach	Keylong	180

25th sept	Friday	keylong	pang	300

26th sept	Saturday	pang	leh+use remaining day for permits	150

27th sept	Sunday	bufferday

28th sept	Monday	leh,k-top+hemis	if permits not available on Saturday

29th sept	Tuesday	leh	pangong	150

30th sept	Wednesday	pangong	leh	150

1st oct	thursday	buffer day(could b used for mtop attempt)
2nd oct	Friday	leh	kargil/drass

		Vaibhav/Amit on 2 week vcation

3rd oct	Saturday	kargil	shrinagar+packup
4th oct	Sunday	vaibhav flies home
5th oct	Monday
6th oct	Tuesday

Here is the list of things ill carry:

BIKE
4 set of spare keys......i tend to lose them easily :)
smart card
PUC
insurance
tax reciept
10 amp fuse*2
some jumper wires
tubless repair kit
engine oil(Stopped using motul)
funnel
90 number truck oil in small bottle for lubing chain
clutch cable
clutch lever
used clutch plates(for m-top)...planning to replace them and carry old ones for emergency
brake lever
chain lock
NGK spark plug*1

small plastic tube to suck fuel out of other bikes or trucks:)
fix spanners 8 to 22
ring spanner(available one)12-13,14-15,20-22
two good pliers
screw driver set
washers
saddle bag
tank bag

battery plugs
electric tape
bungee cords

allan keys 4 mm and 5 mm
footpump
tube for rear tyre???michellin...unsure now

--------------------------------------------------------

PHOTOGRAPHY
camera
lenses(18-55mm & 70-300mm)
lens filters& neck strap
battery charger
tripod
gorilla pod
spare SD cards 2*2 GB

TRAVEL
watch
led headlamp
cellphone
mapbook
photocopied parts of LP India

MEDICINES
old monk(to be bought at dalhousie/manali) in case of hypothermia
personal medicines
first aid box
norflox-TZ
flaygl
crocin
avil 25
mox-500(15 tablets)
electral packets
glucon-D box
chocalates+glucose biscuits(to be bought locally)+roasted chic peas(I have switched from dry fruits to chic peas...recession)
brufen(I dont take these tablets but they help during swellings after falls)
diamox(to be bought at manali/dalhousie)

PERSONAL STUFF
cash money for trip+return shipping+cards incase of emergency
pepper spray(if I get hold of one)
few undies
pan card/employer id card...pesky id checks in shrinagar
driving license
airticket printout
1 tissue roll
2-3 sweat shirts
I tee(will wear)
2 track pants+1 jeans(wear)
1 towel
shaving kit(to look good while posing)
spare shoes
deo spray(if you have space)
couple of pair of socks
one pair of shoes(will wear)
tooth brush+tooth paste
sunscreen(if I can find one lying around in house)
2-3 baraclavas...they start stinking if u keep wearing the same
muffler
hippo waist pouch
riding jacket
inner liner for jacket
gloves+winter gloves
knee gurads
riding shoes
pen+small book
helmet
woollen lowers to be worn under jeans
religious stuff & charms :)

The apartment

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 04:56:31 PDT

Recently I spent a night out with some of my friends.Regular daru and chicken fare.Stayed for the night in their rented apartment on top floor of a highrise on outskirts of mumbai.
Since then there has been 'this intense buring desire' to move out of my parents house and own my 'own house'.
Yes I am 28 and I need to move out.Mom comes up with suggestions of getting a house in neighbourhood.
But no thank you.I have been living in andheri ever since I remember and things have gotten worse in terms of
pollution.It chokes the hell out of me.If I sleep with the windows open I start every morning sneezing.

So would you my dream house to be?On the top floor of a highrise with lush green mountains in the backdrop.
Where in mumbai would I find such a place.Like every mumbaikar my dream ends like it starts with a voice in back
of my head "You need moolah first".Yeah before I even think abt house hunting I need to
get even with my credit card bills first.Damn my lousy pay check!!!!

To be or not to be

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 00:02:56 PDT

Actually there isnt much of dilemma since everything is pretty much already decided.

Maybe my first day where I have posted more than two posts in a day.Woke up with a runny nose today and suddenly remembered there was an swine flu going around.Used that excuse to take a day off from the office.My boss chuckled when I told him I told him I am unwell and need some rest.Mom had cooked some promfrets and surmai and I ate them to my hearts content in the noon and for dinner.

Mom and Dad are back from US and it means a stop to all the wild things I did for three months while I was alone*wicked laugh* They have got a tent along with them that I am supposed to take for my next ride but I doubt it would take the himalayan breeze ....lets see

Took time off and updated my resume.My office pals had called up to inform they would be handing out appraisal letters tomorrow.Can predict I would be getting L2 though thats atleast something I would be looking forward to it.Appraisal doesnt mean increment .Lets see what the throw at me tomorrow although a job change seems imminent post leh ride.
Why do I need money so badly.Alrite bad question....here is the next one.So when is the switch due??Answer is same as we got when we questioned the management abt the timeframe of the pay hikes "At the earliest opportunity."

Shimla vacation on new years eve

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 00:21:09 PDT

Sorry for the delayed post these pics are of my family trip to shimla on new years eve almost 8 months ago.Was too lazy to post pics of it.Now that Im sitting at home with a coldhoping that its not the swine flu(Just a running nose nothing serious :-)) i finally got time to post them.

Been there hoping to catch some skiing at kufri.However the snow evaded us till the final day.No skiing however.
Caught a flight to Delhi and volvo to Delhi from ISBT at .Was put up in sarkaari guest house thanks to dad which saved me lot of money.

During spare time used to go to mall road which used to be crowded by chics

My mom and dad

Rajmachi Ride

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 02:12:26 PDT

Riders:
Me,Parimal,Deepak,Glen,Khaleel,Arjun and Ravel.Didnt carry my cam since i was expecting slush.The ride was some adventure.

Link to Deepak's picassa photo gallery for the ride
http://picasaweb.google.com/pulsurge/GroupOffroadingToRajmachi#

A couple of videos again complied and uploaded by Deepak.

Malshej ride pics

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 01:52:26 PDT

Ride done by me with Vishal Joshi

Attached Images

Enjoy some more

Attached Images

__________________

Route was mumbai-kalyan-murbad-malshej.
Had lunch at MTDC restaurant at top of ghat and turned our way around and rode back

Random Ramblings

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 09:47:41 PDT

Rains are here since today morning, looks like the mess in life is clearing itself up and I would be riding soon.

Some updates about work and life in general.
We are done with a certain milestone for my workplace project and the QA work is all set to start and looks like the date for shipping the product is on target.So its just bug fixing and adding new ones now onwards :D and what this means is I am leaving for the mountains in september as planned.

There was a daru party thrown in for the project at office yesterday.Managed to give it the slip since I am tired of being around with people from office.Instead went up to the Oberio mall and met with a old friend at CCD in the mall and spent hours chit chatting abt the good old days.Made me feel a lot better.We agreed to go on trek next month and am looking forward to it.

Am at home on saturday after a very long time.Was dying to go back there so visted the Gym first thing today morning.Had picked up a 'Winner Stands alone' and 'The Afghan' from crosswords last month and spent the day reading them.

Mom and dad would be coming back home next month end from my brothers place and I am looking forward to Ghar ka Khana after a long time.
Got a call from Vaibhav Gokhale last week and apparently he is joining me for Ladakh roadtrip in September 09(Tentative date is September 12 09).I was planning to go solo but Vaibhav is an exceptionally cooperative rider and he is generally the first person I call up when I plan any ride.Well I am literally counting days backwards now.Got my DSLR out of the cupboard today:D

Mmmm........What else did I do to make myself feel better?
Amongst the things I can put up on this blog I tried some shopping therapy......my birthday is next month.Got myself a Casio Protrek watch already for 28th birthday.Since I lost my watch in US I was without one for about almost a year now.Wanted to buy a G-Shock but this thingy caught on my attention.Its got tons of things like digital compass,altimeter,thermometer.And yeah baby its all titanium :D.Its solar powered needs to be uncovered so I get a reason to flaunt it out of shirt cuffs to show it off these days.If I keep yapping abt it the next time we meet try to show that you are interested in listening to it :D

I am going to Tirupati next month for Balaji Darshan to ask for blessing during my birthday and also to wash away some of my sins :Would be going train to save money and am dreading travelling by sleeper class.

Oil and spoon

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Sun, 24 May 2009 00:47:54 PDT

Since there isnt much travel these days to blog about and I am very much tired of/dislike seeing my previous post on my blog front page ....read one of my favorite passage from "The Alchemist"........copy pasted by me obviously :)

A certain shopkeeper sent his son to learn about the secret of happiness from the wisest man in the world. The lad wandered through the desert for forty days, and finally came upon a beautiful castle, high atop a mountain. It was there that the wise man lived.
Rather than finding a saintly man, though, our hero, on entering the main room of the castle, saw a hive of activity: tradesmen came and went, people were conversing in the corners, a small orchestra was playing soft music, and there was a table covered with platters of the most delicious food in that part of the world. The wise man conversed with everyone, and the boy had to wait for two hours before it was his turn to be given the man's attention.
The wise man listened attentively to the boy's explanation of why he had come, but told him that he didn't have time just then to explain the secret of happiness. He suggested that the boy look around the palace and return in two hours.
"Meanwhile, I want to ask you to do something," said the wise man, handing the boy a teaspoon that held two drops of oil. "As you wander around, carry this spoon with you without allowing the oil to spill."
The boy began climbing and descending the many stairways of the palace, keeping his eyes fixed on the spoon. After two hours, he returned to the room where the wise man was.
"Well," asked the wise man, "did you see the Persian tapestries that are hanging in my dining hall? Did you see the garden that it took the master gardener ten years to create? Did you notice the beautiful parchments in my library?"
The boy was embarrassed, and confessed that he had observed nothing. His only concern had been not to spill the oil that the wise man had entrusted to him.
"Then go back and observe the marvels of my world," said the wise man. "You cannot trust a man if you don't know his house."
"Relieved, the boy picked up the spoon and returned to his exploration of the palace, this time observing all of the works of art on the ceilings and the walls. He saw the gardens, the mountains all around him, the beauty of the flowers, and the taste with which everything had been selected. Upon returning to the wise man, he related in detail everything he had seen.
"But where are the drops of oil I entrusted to you?" asked the wise man.
Looking down at the spoon he held, the boy saw that the oil was gone.
"Well, there is only one piece of advice I can give you," said the wisest of wise man. "The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon."

Himalayan Ride to come

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 09:09:11 PDT

Long time no post no rides.

Arent you riding these days dude?Nope.
Quit it??Nope.Never
Then why?Reason:Financial crunch :((no I havent got laid off yet),work load, my terrible mood these days and most importantly its bloody hot out there and its just April with May and June to go.

My next ride would be to far reaches reaches of himalayas and am trying to get into shape for it.As of now there are no weekend rides since I am in no mood to ride anywhere close to home :).Watch out for that next post close to August 09.Its gonna be real special ride and a solo one.

Mumbai-jaisalmer in a day-failed attempt

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 08:22:32 PDT

Prelouge:Wanted to this ride for a long time.A long weekend for this specific ride was particularly awaited.I was

planning this ride for some time now and this would be my ride after a period of two-three months.Plan was to

ride from mumbai-jaisalmer in one day and visit the sam dunes and ride bak home all in three days time.Well this

one was specifically very ambitious and I wanted to give it a try.Since people had pulled out of the ride I had

to make it solo...

June 21:Ate some sandwiches but didnt have heart to pack them up.I was too anxious to get back on the saddle and

see if I can make it.Started at 6:00 am in a gusto.I am greeted by long line of trucks outside mumbai and I lose

lot of precious time crossing them.Eventually it occurs to me I had made a wrong choice of time to start.Well to

reach jaisalmer I would have to ride for more than 18 hours.I think my HIDs would drain out the battery in 9 hrs+

of continous use which means I could be standed in middle of night with no headlights.I am riding solo too.

Plan was to get good sleep before riding but ir doesnt work out well.I should put my HID as auxillary and have a

60 watt bulb which can go all day long else for a 24 hour ride I should start at 12:00 midnight so that I get 6

hours of headlamp+12 hours of day light to charge the battery+6 hours more of night ride.its better than 12 hours

daylight+12 hours of darkness.

I zip across towns and thru gujrat.Somewhere in between I stopped for pee and water break and some boiled corn@10

bucks.I navigate thru trucks and bad road.

Area close to surat is under construction.However the strech between

surat and vadodara is almost complete and in better shape than it was one year back spare some 20-30 kms

kilometers near vadodara.A year from now it would be fun ripping on this road.I reach ahmedabad some 525 kms from

my place at around 3:00.
I took a long petrol break at a petrol pump near sardar patel ring road.

Took the ring road and turned towards mehsana.Ahmedabad mehsana road is quite unique in

the way its the only place I had to pay toll as a bike out of 11 states I have ridden thru.There is a toll road

and there is a non toll road where you can go without paying toll.The road was pretty much fun and I reached

mehsana in a jiffy.Moved to palanpur and stopped some 20 kms away from palanpur at a small town near a bakery

which looked too good for the small town.
Since I prefer veg while travelling,I asked "What all is veg?"."Everything is veg.You wont find anything which is non

veg here" came a prompt reply.Maybe gujrat is a veggie's delight.I ate veg puffs.They were really delicious.At 7 bucks a piece and piping hot I had plenty of them.

I enquired abt the road ahead wondering if it was four lane."Yeah its better than this one.Military uses it" came the reply.I was happy and ripped thru planapur and reached deesha.palanpur-deesha is an absoulte fabulous road and ripping thru it was real fun.Somewhere while I was doing 3 figures a old guy on cycle with agriculture produce crosses the street.The typical way....."If you dont see the vehicle coming and close your eyes it wont hit you"I do an emergency brake and stop in time.Somewhere I feel the hint that my bike which is very very very steady even at high speeds is wobbling while slowing down.I reach deesha by the time it was getting dark.Deesha is a big town than I expected.

After deesha I take the route to a place called (Tharad).Its getting dark now and the road gets bad.After crossing some 15 kms on deesha-tharad road I meet some localites who inform me that I should take take deesha-dhanera road to join NH-15 which would be much much small.I have missed the shorter route on my map.I ride back to deesha and take route to dhanera.By now the area surrounding the road is becoming like a desert and I see sand on the road.i hit a pot hole and my bike wobbles voilently and I diagonose a bent fork.By now its abt 8:00 pm and I am damn tired after riding continuously for some 750-800 kms.I dont know how the road ahead would be and definately with possibility of sand infilrating the road its not good to have an unsteady bike.I have tons of more fast riding to do if I have to make it back home before tuesday.i had an important meeting in office on tuesday and was required.I give up,maybe I was tired .That isnt usual me but perhaps I was not in right state of mind and wasnt 100% fit for this ride so decide to head back.I will ride back comfortably and come back another day.So I head back towards deesha.I find a hotel and watch some tv and go to sleep.

Distance covered: abt 800 kms in abt 14 hours

Sunday June 22,2008:I wake up and start late at around 7:30 am.I still have some bitterness abt giving up last night and have a relatively easy distance to cover in 2 days.I head back to palanpur.I see mount abu board and have a thought of going back.Now road between deesha and palanpur is again good and once I glance upto the speedo to see me doing 110+.Maybe I was really tired last night thats why I gave up and I should give Jaisalmer another shot.Jaisalmer was abt 300-350 kms and I could maybe still do it and head back to this very town at the end of the day and make it back home on monday night.Well i take a u-turn and head back to deesha and take deesha-dhanera route again.I notice my horn isnt working.Half way thru I decide to stop and check my horn.I press the engine kill switch to stop the bike and to my horror I find the display on my console dissapear.I try turning off and on the ignition key for self check and console display no response!!!!!!I try checking the fuse and it seems in place.I am struck half way to dhanera in a small town and am all alone and bike is absolutely dead.

Sorry for the delay in last part.
Well the story ends with me dhakka starting the bike everytime it shut down.Well i didnt kill the engine from deesha to surat.It stalled once or twice.I tanked up my bike using the spare key
Stopped at surat on way back home for the nite .Rode back four hours again non-stop to mumbai.

There was some problem with my battery circuits which was later fixed by my mechanic.The bearings near the cone were crushed and was later fixed.The chainset in rear wheel were replaced since they werent n good shape either and was causing all the wobbly feeling.

HID is dismountable auxillary now(would mount it on rides only) and with avy 200 coil plate and 60 watt headlamp I can ride for 12 hours in darkness(dusk to dawn) without danger of being stranded on highway with a drained battery.

Now just waiting for the right time and mood to finish this unfinished business

Kryptonite

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 08:30:52 PDT

Random Lyrics:

My Kryptonite(Three doors down)..

I took a walk around the world to
Ease my troubled mind
I left my body laying somewhere
In the sands of time
I watched the world float to the dark
Side of the moon
I feel there is nothing I can do, yeah

I watched the world float to the
Dark side of the moon
After all I knew it had to be something
To do with you
I really don't mind what happens now and then
As long as you'll be my friend at the end

If I go crazy then will you still
Call me Superman
If I'm alive and well, will you be
There holding my hand
I'll keep you by my side with
My superhuman might
Kryptonite..........................................................................

Art of survival #6:Quicksand

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 06:26:52 PST

Compiled info from various internet sources and tv shows:

Quicksand:

Can you get sink in quicksand:
Answer:very difficult to sink in quicksand.Real quicksand is certainly hard to get out of, but it doesn't suck people under the way it always seems to in the movies.

Why is it dangerous??
Answer:Getting caught in quicksand isnt generally fatal unless you fall head first.But getting caught in quicksand near the sea, which is generally where quicksand is found can get you in trouble.
When the high tide comes in, you could drown. Else you might die out of thirst and starvation if you are alone.

The density of quicksand, at 2 grams per cubic centimetre, is twice the density of a human (1 gram per cubic centimetre), so stuck you might be, but drowned you wouldn’t!

Do you ask your friends to throw in a rope and pull you out???

Answer:No.force needed for someone to pull their foot out of quicksand at a speed of a centimeter a second would be the equivalent of that required to lift a medium-size car.Quite likely you will end up injuring yourself.

way to free yourself.

Answer:The way to do it is to wriggle your legs around. This creates a space between the legs and the quicksand through which water can flow down to dilate the sand.You can get out using this technique, if you do it slowly and progressively.

A video demo found on youtube how do free yourself:

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=xjSYzT3CUnA

Heros of the day:A compilation of stories of 26/11

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 00:06:05 PST

This is a relative different subject in my blog but perhaps something of a very significant important.I would be compiling stories of heros who helped put an end to dastardly terrorist attacks in mumbai on 26th November 2008.The links for the stories in no particular order.Incase you have more to add please write to me at amitpatil888[at]gmail[dot]com.

How tukaram omble armed with courage and only a lathi subdued a terrorist with AK-47

'How we caught the fidayeen alive'

The first thing you notice as you enter D B Marg police station in south Mumbai is the photograph of Tukaram G Omble, who died battling terrorists early on the morning of November 27.

The assistant police sub-inspector had grabbed a terrorist's AK-47 and did not let go even as six bullets ripped through him. Omble knew that if he let go his comrades would also die. His heroic action helped his colleagues kill one terrorist and nab the other -- Ajmal Qasab.

Senior Inspector Nagappa R Mahale is the man in charge of the D B Marg police station. He was on duty when he heard that terrorists had attacked south Mumbai. "The first thing I did was put up nakabandi (police blockades) at two places. There were the two roads that led from south Mumbai to our area."

"When we heard that a Skoda car was heading with two armed terrorists towards Girgaum Chowpatty, I immediately told my men to seal the road and put up two barricades. I did not want them to try and crash through."

"At 0015 am we got the message that the Skoda had entered Marine Drive and was coming towards us. At 0030 the Skoda stopped 50 feet away from our barricades. They knew that they could not go through."

'We know we are brave'

They sprayed water on the windshield, started the wipers and put on the headlights on high beam. Two of our inspectors, Bhaskar Kadam and Hemant Bhoundhankar, fired at the driver and killed him," says Senior Inspector Mahale.

"On the other side, the other terrorist lay down on the road as if in surrender. Omble, who was closest to him, tried to disarm him, by grabbing his gun. But the man fired. Omble did not let go. He was killed, but he saved his colleagues."

"As the terrorist tried to shake off Omble, the rest of the policemen leapt on him. One grabbed his gun while another took out his revolver. The rest hit him with lathi (batons) till he fainted."

"We took the terrorists to the Nair Hospital and our men to the Harkissandas Hospital. Another colleague, Sanjay Govilkar, also had a bullet injury. Omble died in hospital, but Sanjay survived."

"We filed the FIR (First Information Report) and conducted the primary investigation before the Crime Branch took over."

Mahale has been a policeman for 30 years. He has seen the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, riots, blasts in taxis, blasts on trains, and now these attacks. "It has made every Mumbai cop proud. We know we are brave. We know what we are capable of, when the occasion demands."

He presides over 160 policemen and officers, most wielding lathis.

'We fired three shots at the terrorist'

Bhaskar Kadam is an assistant sub-inspector. He joined the force in 1991. He was on duty that night when Inspector Mahale told him to man the Chowpatty check post. He is the main detective at the D B Marg police station and has six detectives reporting to him. Kadam and his men were in mufti when they arrived at Girgaum Chowpatty.

"I was standing on the other side of the divider with ASI Bhoundhankar, who was already there as this was his beat. We were both carrying pistols. We were there from 10 pm. We were getting the news on our wireless of all the happenings in south Mumbai. Our men were behind the barricade."

"Traffic was thinning as time passed. Finally, there were no vehicles on Marine Drive. We had checked every vehicle since 10 pm. Now there were none."

"At 0016 we heard that the terrorists had hijacked a Skoda car. There was a strong possibility that they would come here. On the wireless we got confirmation that they had entered Marine Drive. At 0030 the silver Skoda stopped 50 feet away from our barrier."

"They turned on the wipers and headlights. We shouted, "Headlights off, surrender, get down." For 90 seconds they stood still, then then tried a 'U' turn."

"The road divider obstructed the 'U' turn. I was near the divider. The driver fired two rounds with his left hand. I fired three shots from my pistol. Bhoundhankar also fired three shots. The driver was seriously injured (he died later)."

"My people rushed forward and took his AK-47, and car keys."

"On the other side, the terrorist opened the door and lay down on the road. His gun was still in his hand. The policemen behind the barricade ran towards him. Omble dived on him and tried to take away the gun. The terrorist fired. Omble took six bullets, but did not let go."

"The other policemen then beat the terrorists with their lathis. They took away his AK-47 and a pistol from his pocket. He fainted from the blows. He also had bullet wounds."

'I realised I was shot after we subdued the terrorist'

Sanjay Govilkar rejoined duty on Monday, December 8. He was in civilian clothes. This is because the doctor told him that the police belt, which is very wide, would hurt his bullet wound.

"I was just behind Omble when he jumped on the terrorist, we all did. After we subdued the terrorist I realised that there was a burning sensation in my back. Only then did I realise that I was bleeding badly."

"The bullet had grazed my back. I survived, but my colleague Omble did not."

Sanjay drew a small diagram to explain what had happened that night. "We had put up the barricade in such a way that they could not take a right turn. The blockade was below the bridge. They couldn't go anywhere."

"We knew that the Skoda was coming, so we were all alert. We had taken positions in three different places. We attacked the terrorists from three directions."

"When that terrorist was on the road, policemen were approaching him from the front, from behind the barricade. We were approaching from the back. And two sub-inspectors were just across the divider."

"Omble reached him first, then everyone attacked him with vigour. When we saw that Omble was not letting go of the terrorist's gun, we knew we could not let his sacrifice go in vain. He held on and we completed his unfinished task."

Source:http://www.daijiworld.com/chan/exclusive_arch.asp?ex_id=999

Ordinary bus driver performing extraordinary service for the nation

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/dec/26mumterror-braveheart-bus-driver-looks-back.htm

Dhabosa ride

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 00:01:17 PST

log Coming up...placeholder

If dreams were made up of stones

amitpatil888@gmail.com — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:41:25 PST

Triplogue as narrated by navin
----------------------
4 days of holidays in the office meant a ride was emminent. But work load leading to the holidays meant that there wasn't time for planning. I'd called Darth and asked him his plans. Since i had only 2 days for tripping (had to spend the other 2 with family, the trip had to be short. That was one reason why we'd chucked out Hampi from the plan. The other reason was that i had another friend joining the ride who wasn't much of a rider in terms of experience (his bike was less than 800 kms old), so Hampi would be overkill for him. But the last minute ditchoo happened and he bucked out due to some reasons. Now it was just me and Darth for the ride. The plan was highly volatile at Saturday night... we reach kolhapur and decide whether to go to Bijapur or Hampi. But secretly enough, the Hampi bug had bitten both of us It was an untold determination between us to reach Hampi (we realized later)

We met at Panvel 6:45 am. This was our first ride together. We weren't aware of each other's riding styles.. but that wasn't going to be a problem. We had breakfast at Lonavala, and proceeded further on the NH4. Breaks had to be scarce... we used to take one at an interval of about 100 kms.

The road was minblowing! All 4 laned upto about Hubli. Both of us were having fun ripping through the stretch, especially Amit after (allegedly) having rode through Bhutan at slower speeds My odo's pointer arm had (surprisingly) broken somewhere on the way, so the only thing i could monitor for the rest of the trip was the rpm.

Had our lunch break at an McD at Kolhapur at about 1.30 pm. Folks in Kolhapur seem to have advanced a lot.. first it was the surprise of spotting an McD at the place and second.. the ladies there.. especially their dressing style (Darth probably knows what i mean )

We were at Hubli by 6.30 pm. Henceforth it was only about 160 odd kms, but it was going to be riding in the dark, and relatively bad patches of roads. So it took a lot of time. We reached the gates of Hampi by about 11:30 pm.

It was all dark inside.. we were hoping to get a hotel to stay inside, but that was not to be. We rode on and reached the outside of Hampi from the other side.

We checked into Karnataka tourism hotel and retired for the night. The staff in the hotel was very lame, but we dd not have the guts to search for another hotel at this time in the night. Our attempts of getting beer were in vain as it was already 1.00 am.

Next day we were up by 7.00 am and out by 8.00 am. The aim was to do the sight seeing till about 1.00 pm, have lunch, and start the return journey by 2.00 pm.

Finally we started the return journey at 2.00 pm. The night we halted at Belgaum. And started next day for mumbai at 8.00 am, were home by 5.00 pm

All in all, this was an excellent trip, and a trip of many firsts for us. Longest single day ride of 750 kms, first time on the GQ, some endurance riding....

Total distance covered? about 1550 kms

Some pics of hampi ride: