Bulls on Parade to Lansdowne

The Lansdowne Lionhearts - 15 - 17 May 2009

Another great naming from Nishant Jha. He's on a roll. The destination had been in our sights for long. But given the short distance, it was skipped for longer rides. So, on 15th May, we paid a worthy visit to this small hill town(hardly a town) in Uttarakhand with a large number of participants.

Nishant - Royal Enfield Electra 4S - The Tour Operator

Divakaran - Royal Enfield Thunderbird - The Kicked-Ass

Jagmeet - Royal Enfield Electra 5S - The Kick-Ass

Saran - Royal Enfield Standard - The Darth Vader

James - Royal Enfield Standard - The Well-dressed Gentleman

Ravi - Royal Enfield Electra 5S - The Responsible Rider

Pravin - Royal Enfield Standard - The Slumberer

Tarun - Royal Enfield Standard - The Natural Guy

Sandeep - Royal Enfield Standard - The "Sweet" Person

Nilu - Bajaj Pulsar 200 - The Abstainer

Gyan - Hero Honda Karizma - The Fall Guy

Vihans - Yamaha FZ16 - The Bucket Lister

Myself - Royal Enfield Electra 4S - The Narrator

15th May 2009

The time was set for 4 AM in front of Nalli's at South Ex. When Nilu and I reached there at 3:55 AM, Vihans was already there. Nishant and Saran soon joined. They had left together from Gurgaon. We taunted them for not sticking together and wondering how the 13 of us will do so in the next 260 kms.

Surprisingly, the rest also reached on time, except Gyan. Knowing his 'down to earth' nature, we worried if he had had another fall. But, he reached quickly without a scratch.

It was still dark as we set off. We were riding together with Nishant taking the lead and myself in trail. But Bulls On Parade can hardly manage that for long. As soon as we reached Ashram, Jagmeet took the DND flyway. We honked at him to come back, but he rode on. James went ahead to catch him while we waited after Akshardham temple to let the two join. This took some time as due to some stupid BoP rule, we follow all road rules. So, Jagmeet rode all the way to the Toll plaza to take the U-turn and join us at Akshardham. This was the first mis-navigation of the trip.

We re-grouped near Shipra Mall and moved forward to take the turn for Meerut. The going is always so easy through this route early in the morning. We took advantage of the light traffic and picked up speed. We cruised through Muradnagar and Modinagar with no hassle. It was a bit nostalgic for Nishant, Sandeep and me as we had undertaken our first trip together on this route while going to Rishikesh. We crossed Meerut at 6:30 AM. At that time the traffic consisted of only school-going children in autos and bicycles. Our motorcade gained much attention. I sure hope we became a role-model for at least some of these kids.

We took the NH-119 after crossing Meerut Cantt. towards Bijnor. Surprisingly, the road conditions were excellent save for a small patch of about 10 kms. But that gave an exciting offroad opportunity. By now, empty bellies demanded attention. But there was no dhaba in sight. Our stomach were growling as loud as our engines. For a brief respite, we stopped at a small tea stall at Ramraj, 40 kms before Bijnor. We had a traditional tea and ParleG here.

After riding another 9 kms, after crossing Meerapur, we finally found a dhaba to relieve our senses. The order of the day was aloo parathas with dal. Although, it did not taste as good as what is served in Hayanavi dhabas, it did serve its purpose.

The May season was showing its colours now. It was getting hot. As we started to leave, I looked at Nishant and he understood what that meant. We had to get some fluids inside us quickly. He promised to pit-stop within 50 kms. And truly, he stopped at Kiratpur, 42 kms later to have 'videshi madira'. Theres nothing like child-beer running down the walls of one's parched throat. I feel pity for those who do not drink beer.

Meanwhile, Vihans had crossed that point and we sent our fastest fetcher, Divakaran to bring him back. Now, Divakaran is a very intelligent person. So, he chose to sit out with Vihans among the trees besides a milestone and waited for us to catch up. To save time, we picked up a beer for Vihans and caught up with him. There was some more bakchodi here and some more ass-kicking of Divakaran.

As temperature rose further, we stopped for a sugarcane-juice break. The terrain turned hilly now. I had had enough of trailing and moved forward in line. The road between Kotdwara and Lansdowne was fantastic, the curvy kind. Although one has to be cautious here given that there's harldy any straight between two curves. The weather was also cooler now. Nishant made his customary video here.

After much swaying and swinging, we reached Lansdowne at 1:30 PM.

This was a first for Bulls on Parade as we had never reached our destination before dark. It was a small town, hardly 5 kms wide. We dumped our little luggage at GMVNL guest house and immediately returned to Hotel Mayur to have lunch. And what a lunch it was. Our crowd of hungry mongrels occupied the whole basement of the hotel. Orders contained cuisine from all over India. The hotel offered everything. But the best part was gulabjamuns.

As soon as one plate arrived, we reordered for more plates. The waiter must have got pissed from running up and down though that didn't reflect in the least in his hospitality. He kept a good pace and fed us adequately without keeping us waiting too much. The lassi and mango shake was fantastic. We were shocked on seeing the bill. Even after filling ourselves to the hilt, the amount had just crossed Rs 100 per head.

We filled our supplies from the nearest theka as the next day was going to be a dry day owing to votecounting. Saran volunteered to carry the crate of Superior 5000 beer in his hands all the way to the hotel. Maybe it was to prove his power-lifting abilites. As we returned to the hotel, we had a good look at the rooms. They were large and well ventilated. At that price, it looked like a steal. We had 2 family rooms and 2 economic rooms. Soon, everybody settled down to rest. We couldn't figure out when we went to sleep. Jagmeet, Ravi, James and Divakaran stayed awake throughout while the rest had a fitful 3 hours sleep.

Nishant started to wake everyone since it was close to dinnertime. This meal turned out to be fantastic too. The gravies of the two chickens was delicious. I felt pity for the veggies. After stuffing ourselves thoroughly, we gathered up for the evening council meeting where we discuss important agendas. Everyone came into the large family room for the meeting. As bottles and buckets opened, the discussions picked up with IPL acting as the backdrop. I believe Divakaran enjoyed the most. Time took a backseat. The discussion lasted till we were not able to stay awake any longer.

16th May 2009

I woke up late to find out that the rest of the gang had been awake for long. Pravin and Tarun had already toured the place once. They had been unable to sleep for long being night-shift employees and had been exploring the place since 4 AM. As we regrouped at Hotel Mayur for breakfast they told us about their sightings. They had seen the Saturday morning military parade, the regimental mess, the lake, the church and what not, all while we were sleeping. We had a bunch more of gulabjamuns at the hotel.

After breakfast, we set off for Tip in Top. Theres a nice viewpoint here. Nishant was bored here having seen so many hilly viewpoints.

We clicked a number of pics here before visiting Bhulla Tal. It was a small lake being manned by Army personnel. Half of the guys took pleasure in boating while the rest cheered for them from the sides.

We decided on going for a ride towards Pauri as the next event. Picking up a few supplies, all of us set off on our respective machines. The ride was enjoyed as we crossed Ghumkal and made halfway to Satpuli. Nishant went around on his dumping business here. Vihans and Nilu discovered a nice spot to have council meeting atop a small hillock. So began another round of discussions solving world's problems.

Ravi was the victim of a gag here as we hid the key to his new, beloved Bullet. I regret that now as I myself wouldn't appreciate such a gag played with my darling Bull.

Shortly, we returned to Lansdowne to have a few snacks at Hotel Mayur again. A dhol was being played outside to celebrate Congress' victory. This prompted Vihans and Saran to do a little bhangra. Ravi also joined in. I joined briefly doing the 10Rs note swing thing. Nishant skipped the beat owing to his BJP's inclination.

We also interacted with another group of 5 riders coming from Delhi. Its always a pleasure linking up with fellow motorcyclists.

Returning to our guest house, some of the guys engaged in playing cards. IPL was on again. Being our last night in Lansdowne, we stretched on the night as long as we could also considering that we had to wake up early next day for our return journey.

17th May 2009

Punctuality is getting to everybody. We were ready to leave Lansdowne by 7:30 AM. The ride was a pleasure the way back too. Sadly it was only 40 kms of curves. A couple of hours later, the slopes disappeared and temperature started rising. We worried on what conditions would welcome us on reaching Delhi.

At Najibabad, the group split into two because of messy signboards. 5 of us took the byepass while the rest went through the city. We regrouped at Vinay Aggarwal Dhaba at Kiratpur at 11:20 AM. By now, the rest of the gang had fed and drank themselves. Now it was our turn. The heat was getting unbearable now. So, fluids were necessary. Sensing that this would take time, the slower riders took off. This again split up the group.

Four of us were interested in having some more essential fluids. So, we picked up some beer from Ramraj and stopped at a mango orchard some 5 kms later on to refresh ourselves. The orchard presented an interesting background for pics. All this happened as the rest of the group had a watermelon break.

We caught up with Pravin and Saran at a petrol pump in Meerut. The point in Pravin's Bullet had been misset and it was consuming so much petrol that it had run out. As he filled up, I heard a crash behind me. Turning back, I found Gyan lying on the floor with his Karizma in a horizontal position. He had assumed his side stand to be in place when it had been not and suffered a fall. He became a subject of much ridicule for Nilu and me.

We arrived at Modinagar at 3 PM to find a clear run. This is a rare sight indeed as this place is pathetically packed in the evenings with all the vacationers and transporters heading towards Delhi. It was a pleasure cruising through this road at 60 kph. But now, the group was in tatters, or maybe, I was. I was riding alone now. With the heat ever-increasing, it was impossible to stop at some place and wait for others. In Gaziabad, it felt as if I was inside a furnace. This continued all the way to Delhi. I was able to catch up with Nilu, Gyan and Vihans only after Ashram. The Gurgaon party had reached their homes by this time.

It was a ride with the maximum number of riders we have had till date. Dare I also say that we had the maximum bakchodi on this ride till date. This has also been preceded by the maximum number of e-mails discussing any ride. Here's looking forward to many more such records.

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