Himalayas 3 - Breaking in the riders

So the run out day was a breeze. Well a gusty breeze anyway.

First test the gear.
Alex had greeted us with gifts and goodies. We were logo'ed up with new Nomadic Knights stickers for our helmets, a Nomadic Knights neck protector (Made in Italy!) that is stretchy and can be a hood and a hat and just about anything else for the shoulders up. Plus we had a superb guide book with the routes and destinations for each day.


Michael prompted me into getting one of the two electric start bikes which was such a good idea after the challenges of the kick start last year. In southern India my bike had been a challenge. I was inexperienced, had ended up with the lemon and was totally incapable of handling its’ idiosyncrasies. After a week of frustration and salty language, Abi had diagnosed the battery needed replacing. So an electric start was the answer, if the battery was the problem it wouldn’t start in the first place!
The Bullet Boys t-shirt is hidden under the body armour. It was on because two of us were riding.


The armour and shin pads all looked too Teutonic, especially when Alex found Abhi's tin hat completed the image!

Alex gave the morning briefing. An essential part of the day he pointed out how riding in India is completely different. Everyone uses the horn to signal that they are on the road. It’s not aggressive it’s just a signal.
Indicators are occasionally used. Driving on the left in India is not a challenge, especially for Brits. But when a car is happy for you to overtake they put on the right hand blinker. Then you can pass. Of course the car could also be preparing to turn right, which means overtaking would be injurious to your health. The right hand indicator is blinking. You decide.
Buses believe they rule the road. The drivers are paid by passenger kilometre and like to be paid a lot. Since they are bigger than most other vehicles, and especially much bigger than bikes, they overtake when they want, on corners, on blind corners, in villages and on gravel. They can also overtake a car that is overtaking a cow. This leaves you with the strip at the side of the road, if there is one.
So Alex walks us through ways to stay safe. Maximise the line of sight. Always be ready for on-coming traffic, know that anyone can do anything and since you cannot change any of this, go with it.

We mounted up and revved and checked the horns and the lights, the indicators and the brakes. The mechanics had done really well. Presumably they completely stripped and rebuilt the bikes after each tour, but after the massive adventure there must have been some serious work. Ashraf certainly seemed to strip some of the bikes each night while on tour. Luckily we got on as he is part of the Indian multi-cultural melting pot and is very happy being greeted with 'Salaam Aleykum'.

So the ride went really well till the end of the hotel drive when my bike stalled and wouldn't restart.

Ashraf took out a fuse and hot-wired it, which was fine. Of course the group had stopped on the far side of the road, turning left. But they had gone by the time the bike was repaired, so I crossed the road and carried on. This seemed normal for a continental, but in India you drive on the left. So the oncoming car driven by an elderly gentleman was confused and we both slowed to walking pace. I signalled him on, trying to indicate that I was not going to do anything any more dangerous than merely bumbling up the verge on the wrong side of the road, which he seemed to accept. Once past him I switched to the left side and off we went. Of course Abi the Guardian Angel was there sweeping me up into the mainstream, again.

With those errors out of the way it took half an hour or so to get more of a feel for the bike.
It is quirky and was kicked into neutral by every pothole, which made the acceleration interesting. But we got the hang of that fairly soon.
An hour or so later the horn started sounding strange and a few minutes later the bike stalled and wouldn’t restart.

That was another wait with the wonderful Abi until Ashraf the bike mechanic, i.e. a mechanic on a bike, rode up and inserted a new fuse so off we could go again.

Michael had waited for me, being a buddy and we steadily caught up with the rest. Since he wasn’t wearing coattails I had to get used to the bike!
Soon it was fun. I made an error of judgement overtaking a lorry that slowed really suddenly only to be faced with a hairpin, but I had space and nothing was coming the other way so no emergency panic and no harm done. Just a lesson learnt.
Lunch was a Sprite and an ice cream, well plus a cheroot, and we wended our way back up the valley road.

We had started of wondering about fleeces and wet weather gear, but in the valley bottom it was 31^oC.

 We climbed back up the mountain a different way and stopped to take photos of blobs on the hillside which looked like childish paintings of sheep in completely the wrong proportion but which turned out to be netting covering several square km of apple trees, to protect them from monsoon hailstones.
You can imagine the scene in the local shop; I need netting for my apple trees please -
Certainly how much would you like - Oh about 4 square km should do....

Near the top Alex missed a turning, probably deliberately since we were all riding well, so we came a long but interesting way back.
It was fun riding faster than I had in south India and more within my comfort zone. Michael felt the same. Despite the rough roads and tricky bits with sand and wet and rocks and things we felt OK.
Finally back at the hotel where we stayed last night a whip round ensured beer would be available for the evening.
Everyone was tired and dirty and smelly, so I volunteered to pillion with Abi to get it.
Of course it was two cases of beer. One sat on the fuel tank and other I held in front of me trying not to bump Abi with it every time we braked, accelerated or hit some rough ground.
But Abi is such a good rider, he could even cope with me as pillion bashing him on the head with a case of beer for several kilometres of bumpy road.
So we got back with both cases intact.

A shower and a cup of tea later and we were ready to find the hotel wi-fi. That was a forlorn hope. The good part was that we met up with Paul and shared a beer and some life stories.
It is so interesting seeing where people have come from, to get here, biking the Himalayas. It really is an adventure.
Andy wandered up and we all gave up on the wifi and set up a campfire zone, stealing wood and one of the hotel employee’s job for the evening. Still they weren't there and we wanted a fire.
Once the fire was going we carried on the discovery process.

A gang of bikers from Bangalore were also staying the night, so there was some crossover biker talk, cylinder cam piston speed, or something, which all went straight over my head.
Supper was again superb and as an afterthought Alex ordered spicy chicken but the rest of us were too full. So he doggie bagged it.

We found a broken chair near the pile of wood and knew how to make Chris Everard happy. In memory of his sterling furniture burning effort in south India, on it went!

Well after a lot more chat, the bottle of Jura that Michael had bought for Alex as a present, failed to survive the night.
Whether Alex will be allowed to eat his spicy chicken in the room will remain to be seen.