We ( Ira and Sophia by car, devin, myles, rohit and 3 others on bikes) on the 23rd to Chota, close to gangotri, about 220km from Rishikesh, where we began. We started at 6am, and on the road by 7, it took about 12 hours of riding with frequent stops. I was by far the slowest rider, but luckily traveling with a bike tour guide many people had advice and help during my frequent stall outs. I had only driven an enfield the week before, (one of which Myles bought) but the experience of an older bike with a 4 speed gearbox took a little getting used to (new models are 5 speed) the bike Myles got is nice to ride, but I am happy with what I found last minute,
The bike is a beast, with a good sounding and running engine, but almost everything else on it needed care. I had never ridden before in the Himalayan mountains, which begins at rishikesh roughly. My previous long ride 170km each direction was from Gokarna to Mudeswhar in february where the second largest shiva statue is. We (Brooke, Fabio, and I) rode in one day on 2 scooters, I drove part of the way there, and the whole way back, solo, which was way more intense as far as traffic goes (we were on busy highways the whole time). The scooter feels and is way less stable and is not comfortable for long distances due to the high frequency vibration and shitty suspension, similar to a lightweight cycle like the honda hero 100cc we had in goa.
On our ride we went from Rishikesh ( laxmenjhula) through devprag, rudraprayag, then Chota for a total of 220km on day one. Road Conditions are mostly great, with a couple dozen rough destroyed sections, we were blocked for 10 minutes as a bulldozer cleared a landslide. The roads are beautiful to drive on, and compared to filling rattling rides in a bus or cab we can set our own pace.
The bike has great power to pass, and is actually very comfortable, which when riding 6-12 hours a day for weeks is important. Acceleration is generous, allowing safe passing on strait sections. I purchased a small basic toolkit which has already been handy for removing the warped rack that came with my bike, fixing devins horn, putting on my mirrors, and adjusting our brakes. I downloaded a repair manual so I can begin to start learning about working on it more seriously. the bike are well known for being easy to work on, and the manual is excellent and detailed.
Riding is both fun and addictive. Here in India, and much of the world, bikes are used by many people as a primary vehicle. Every day you will see 3-4 people on a motorcycle or scooter, often whole families (mom dad and 2 young children is a common sight. ) Driving in India is horn dependent, before a blind turn everyone honks to let them know your coming, if you hear a horn make space and honk back before they see you. I have seen buses and trucks just honk and drive strait through 4 way intersections without slowing down, one after the other. There don't appear to be any actual traffic regulations, and the few seen are often ignored, such as no passing zones in blind areas. Somehow though traffic smoothly flows, it almost never stops they way traffic can hold up for hours in America, unless the road is physically obstructed. The hierarchy of driving in India is cows come first (hit one and get killed by a mob or if your lucky life in prison.), then Tata trucks and buses, then jeeps and taxi, followed by enfields, then smaller bikes and scooters, lastly is pedestrians.
The road conditions are up here are mostly great, wide enough for 2 easily, and a good surface, with frequent washed out parts where landslides destroyed the road. The road was pretty good with little traffic. Once we got really high in the mountains the last 20km to Chota; the temperature dropped, traffic ended entirely, and road conditions became excellent.
Views of the Himalayan peaks and valleys are awe inspiring and beautiful, and the forest we entered has a certain diversity and beauty not seen before, owing to the strong legal protections in this region. It is cold here, I am glad I brought every bit of warm clothes I did, including the waterproof hard shell, which is indispensable riding in these high mountain roads. Tungnath is the highest of the panch (5) Kedars at 3700m, after climbing to tungnath we continued another 1km and 300m climb to the peak of Chandrashila at 4000m, or 13000~ft., which was unclimbable on the path due to ice and snow, requiring hugging the knife edge cliff to summit. Views were overcast but still amazing, and the feeling of being up in the clouds was
Stayed the first night in a camp in Chota, then a small house down the road, than further down the road in a nicer hotel in ukhimath, where the badrinath diety is kept during the winter months. As badrinath has not opened yet, the diety is here in ukhimath. We went to the temple to receive darshan and see the diety, which is quite small, around 8 inches tall. Like all temple diety's, photography is forbidden. We went to deoria tal lake, which was the most picturesque lake any of us had ever seen. 2 pics are included in this post of the lake, HDR panos were shot with the 5D mk2 but need patching.
Gas is 70- rupees a liter, and milage is approximately 35 kilometers / liter. Our total trip to Pokhara, Nepal is 1800 km round trip, making our fuel cost 4600 rupees or under $85USD. road taxes are
We have until may 11th to leave India and renew our visas (we have 10 year visa's, but you can only stay 6 months at a time) Devin is planning to return to Rishikesh and return his bike, and we are going to meet him in Nepal over the next few weeks. Devin will take trains and buses, while Myles and I will be on our Enfield's. Rohit rode with us until we reached the Nepal border on the 7th.
On myles birthday (5/6) we went from Munsiari to Pithoragarh in 6 hours, where we found an authorized enfield dealer and mechanic, and spent all day from 1 to 6 working on our bikes, but mostly mine as it was never checked or serviced after I bought it.
I got a complete rebuild of front and rear shocks including seals and oil, new bearings for the rear shock pivot arm, timing adjustments, new rear brake shoes, new front and rear wheel bearings, new clutch plates, cleaning and oil for the gearbox, adjustments and tightening all over on spots I had no tool for or couldn't reach, did a weld on my center stand to keep it from leaning too far (making the bike difficult to get off the stand), tightened my rotating ignition keyswitch, and probably some other things, all for 2030 rupees, or less than $40usd. Myles got a bearing in his front wheel for 250 rupees (5$) and his rear brake pad inspected than roughened. Rohit got his front left shock seal changed, the kickstand replaced, and a wheel bearing changed. We also picked up a spare spark plug, a spare brake, throttle and clutch cable for each bike, a spare headlight, and a liter of engine oil. Neither my bike nor Myles' has a working speedometer or odometer, and my bike has no functioning blinkers. We bought Rohit's air pump, now all we need is a spare inner tube, a patch kit, and 2 tire irons. Rohit gave me an upgrade air filter which is cleanable and reusable, and should give me better mileage and pickup, but I need to find a few parts to attach it (a rubber hose and pipe clamps.)
Pithoragarh is a military town, with many Enfield's, many set up by the military with custom racks and cases that look very retro. Not much to do here other then fix our bikes, but we did score some nice stuff as a gift from a chaiwalla.
The enfield mechanic (Sai automotives) was thorough and professional, and seemed much better equipped with a great stock of parts on site unlike mechanics we met in Almora or Rishikesh. Our fears that there would be no mechanic at all in Pithoragarh were unwarranted. We are now free to explore Nepal without fear of breaking down. Western Nepal is a remote region, much of which only opened in 1992 to foreigners.
We crossed the border into Nepal on the 7th, and stayed the night in a town called Mahendranagar 7km from the border. Entry fees and taxes for a 15 day visa were pretty expensive, costing about 2000 rupees each. We need to get a new visa in Kathmandu if we want to stay longer, for a maximum of 90 days.
Last night we stayed in a town called Banke on the highway after driving around 200km from Mahindranagar.
I broke my chain today about 60km from Butwal, and it took myles about 2 hours to find someone to fix it and get the parts, while I waited with the bike. No damage to the bike except the chain guard got wrecked, and a few spokes broke. Hopefully the wheel can be trued in Pokhera, as I now have 6 broken spokes in the rear wheel. Cost for the repair was 500 Nepal rupees, the part cost 250 for a link, and we decided to give him 250 for riding with Myles for an hour to find the part and doing the work.
We are now in a town called Butwal, Where we split off to the Siddhartha highway towards Pokhera in the morning. Estimated arrival in Pokhera is tommorow evening, if all goes Well. We have 240km of winding mountain roads, with a serious climb, unlike the strait flat highways we have been riding in Nepal. In the mountains the average speed is more like 35km/hour max.
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