Rajasthan Trip: Day 2

It was 6 a.m or 7 a.m we leave our hotel at Ajmer and start our journey towards Udaipur. Now first time we feel the cold of December as the road to reach the highway from Ajmer was from a village and small hills. After touching the hiway thankfully we found a small tea stall.

[caption id="attachment_140" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Rajasthan Trip: Tea stall"][/caption]

We take 2-3 cups of hot tea & biscuits to make ourselves hot and waiting for sunrise.

[caption id="attachment_141" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Rajasthan Trip: Sunrise at Ajmer"][/caption]

Then start again. What I have found that the roads here are amazing and ideal for biking.

[caption id="attachment_142" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Rajasthan Trip: Amazing Roads of Rajasthan"][/caption]

After reaching Udaipur bypass we found a milestone where Jaisalmer was 315 K.M. As our plan was to see sunset & sand dunes on desert at Jaisalmer, it will be very late if we go to Udaipur.

[caption id="attachment_143" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Rajasthan Trip: At Udaipur bypass (Mikhail taking pose)"][/caption]

We moved our bikes towards Pokhran - Jaisalmer. Here are some pic ...

[caption id="attachment_144" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Rajasthan Trip: Towards Pokhran"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_145" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Rajasthan Trip: Small break for photography"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_146" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Rajasthan Trip: Way to Pokhran-Jaisalmer"][/caption]

Now it was boring same kind of road same scenery. We were just waiting for Jaisalmer to come. Finally we reach Jaisalmer. Oh! yes I must mention our lunch at Pokhran. It is a small village kind of place but the food was very teasty.

[caption id="attachment_147" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Rajasthan Trip: Jaisalmer fort"][/caption]

After reaching in front of Jaisalmer fort heard sand dunes neary 45k.m. from there. We decided to go to Sam (Desert village) where we can see sunset and sand dunes.

[caption id="attachment_148" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Rajasthan Trip: Mikhail posing with camel"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_149" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Rajasthan Trip: Me posing on Camel"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_150" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Rajasthan Trip: Sunset at Sam"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_151" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Rajasthan Trip: My creative shot"][/caption]

I must say it was not a very good experience of desert due to huge rush in a small place. One can see more people than sand dunes there.

Sun was already down and we moved towards jaisalmer to find out a hotel. We reach Jaisalmer following the backlights of other cars. Hotel were very costly in Jaisalmer compairing to other places of Rajasthan.

We manage ourselves in a decent hotel where generally foreigners stay.

Rajasthan Trip: Day1

We started our journey on 25th December at 12noon. After crossing heavy crossing on Delhi and Gurgaon we stopped somewhere on the Jaipur Highway.

[caption id="attachment_132" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Mikhail posing for his best shot"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_133" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Rajasthan Trip: Me also tried to take shot"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_134" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Rajasthan Trip: On the way"][/caption]

The road was amazing to ride bike. We touched our max speed several times and enjoyed the ride. As the journey was not according to our plan some how we reached Ajmer nearly 7 p.m or 8 p.m.

There was nothing to much at night so we just refuel our tanks and take a walk on the galis of Ajmer.

Rajasthan Trip on X-Mas 2008

It was Thusday on 25th December and 27th and 28th was Saturday and Sunday. So you need a leave on 26th. Right now I don't have remember it was an another holiday or I applied for a leave. But it was our (Me and Mikhail) trip to Rajasthan from 25th to 28th December.

[caption id="attachment_97" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Rajasthan Trip: Sunset in Desert"][/caption]

It was my longest trip on bike till now. We traveled nearly 2000km in 4 days. But it was not according to our plan. What we plan was to start our journey in the morning but it was 12 noon when we were able to start our journey to wards Rajasthan via Delhi- Gurgaon.

[caption id="attachment_98" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Rajasthan Trip: Our fisrt stop after crossing Gurgaon"][/caption]

First Day we stopped at Ajmer. On the second Day we traveled up to Jaisalmer. Third day we stopped at Bikaner and on the last day from Bikaner to Noida via Rohtak-Bahadurgarh.

Here are some picture of that trip....

[caption id="attachment_99" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Rajasthan Trip: Break towards Jaisalmer"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_113" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Rajasthan Trip:Jaisalmer Fort"][/caption]

How to ride bike on ice

[caption id="attachment_74" align="alignnone" width="800" caption="Subrata's bike under snow cover"][/caption]

There are as many different techniques for riding on ice and snow as there are varieties of snow. I have gain some experience in my last rohtang ride.There are certain common techniques that seem to be useful in many instances. One of main thing to remember is use your breaks care fully. New fallen snow presents problems for bikers due to the extra effort need to get through it. Six inches of really light powder is tireing and slow, but you can go for long distances. Its very little worse than riding against a good stiff wind. Even a foot of powder is manageable as long as you get there first, before someone else makes a mess of it. You will find it much easier to travel in totally undisturbed snow than to follow car tracks, or even another bike. If you are the first vehicle along the route your biggest problem is the extra effort needed to push through the snow. If you are following others you also have to contend with their ruts and the front wheel diversions these cause. On open road ways, watch for small bumps in the snow which appear without any apparent cause. These can signal debris in the road, or potholes under the snow. You will find that things happen slowly in heavy snow. Falls take a fair bit of time to happen, and you will find that most are avoidable by quick bike handling. Sharp turns that would only exacerbate a fall on ice are quite viable recovery techniques. By a "sharp turn" I mean turning the handlebar in large increments, and fairly large lean angles. You may feel you front wheel slip sideways. Don't over react. The snow will supply resistance to this sideways slip, but it takes time to kick in (your tire has to compact a couple inches of snow as it slips before there is real resistance). Maintain forward motion, wait for the tire to catch. More often than not, the side slip will simply cease with you still in the saddle. If you dab, you dab. No big deal.

Ride to Rohtang - Day-2

Total Distance traveled:1194 K.M

Height Reached: 13051 ft
Road map: Noida -> Delhi -> Ambala-> Chandigarh-> Mohali-> Bilaspur-> Mandi-> Kullu-> Manli-> Rohtang

Day2: We were already late. We move on towards Manali, take some photographs on the way and reached Manali at nearly 10:15 A.M.
Do our heavy breakfast there with some Paratha, Puri, Bhature and tea. Then making our tank full we moved on towards Rohtang. Here comes the real beauty on the way. Take a lot of photo graphs with some tea break.

It was 52 K.M ride to Rohtang from Manali. After few kilometers we were feeling that snow is very near to us and it was making us excited. But again the obstacles. Land slide and huge traffic.
After crossing Marhi it was nearly 10-11 K.M ride to Rohtang but the condition was very bad and it took to much time to reach our destination.
Oh finally we reached Rohtang. But what is this???? A lot of people cars and mud... We decide to move on. Oh yes we finally get some fresh snow covered hill and scenic beauty.

And of course again take a lot of pictures with different poses.
Now the time for snow. It was nearly 3:30 P.M and we started cheering joy.
Then it is a different story.

Subrata,
http://www.subrotodas.com/

Ride to Rohtang - Day-1

Total Distance traveled:1194 K.M
Height Reached: 13051 ft
Road map: Noida -> Delhi -> Ambala-> Chandigarh-> Mohali-> Bilaspur-> Mandi-> Kullu-> Manli-> Rohtang

Day 1: After getting 9 miss call from Mitra I get up at 3:35 A.M and we leave the hot weather of Noida at 4 A.M in the morning. We got some traffic on the NH1 and we take our first break after Panipath at nearly 6 A.M. Then we reached Ambala nearly 9 A.M take some oily food from Ambala bus stand and pickup Mitra,s brother in law as my pillion.



When we are just going to cross Chandigarh chain of bike roaring like a shit. I just check it with a mechanic shop there and then move on towards Ropar. At that time we we were fighting with heat and just waiting for hilly ways to come.

After a small break for nimbu pani we move on again and got some hilly area but no sign of cool weather.
Fortunately we got a river on the way and make ourselves cool wit it water.



When we were just behind few kilometers from Mandi I found my rear tire is punctured. Fortunately there was a mechanic shop there but they take nearly 1:30 hrs to repair it. As the mechanic first time repairing a Zma bike.



Finally we got some rain there and make ourselves cool.We were expecting some rain but but it was above our expectation and we were feeling very cold at that time and fortunately find a cave way to take a break. At that moment we were planning to stay at Kullu but the bad weather telling us you can not reach Kullu.



After sometime we move on again and finally able to reach Kullu at 9P.M.

Subrata,
www.subrotodas.com