Leisure & Travel

Himalayan odyssey of Team 456A daily log of motorcycle enthusiasts who took off on an exhilarating ten-day roller coaster ride on the Manali-Leh road to traverse the highest motorable roads in the worldWith the annual countrywide sales of automotive two-wheelers having risen from 430,000 in 1991-92 to 7 million in 2005-06 (79.19 percent of all automobile sales), the national passion for zippy bikes (scooters are passƒ©) has spawned a new genre of easy riders on country roads and new multi-laned highways: holiday bikers. Increasingly representatives of the contemporary world‚s youngest population are strapping up saddlebags and heading for cross-country destinations ranging from the freezing heights of the Himalayas to the golden beaches of the Indian Ocean. Savvy mobike marketers who dominate the television air waves have been quick to cash in on this national passion and have vigorously promoted motorcycle clubs across the country. With trendy names such as Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club, Bangalore; Inde Thumpers, Pune; Madras Bulls, Chennai; The Royal Beasts, Delhi, these riders‚ clubs are attracting members like honey attracts bees. And to this list add another name: Team 456 ‚ The Ultimate Biking Experience, Delhi. Team 456 is a non-profit association of motorcycle enthusiasts founded by software engineers and postgrad students K. Venugopal, Vinod Kumar, Parmesh Kumar and Sreejit R in 2003, and has over 50 riding members.Hitting the highways comes naturally to Team 456 riders, since it‚s the club‚s raison d‚etre. Equipped with a can-do philosophical outlook and sturdy, powerful motorcycles fitted with puncture-resistant tyres, large capacity fuel tanks, saddlebags and designer seats, a four-member fraternity from Team 456 took off on a two-week trip from Delhi to Ladakh via Manali and return via Srinagar ‚ a distance of 2,500 km ‚ last summer. Given below is the motorcycle diary of this expedition as logged by Parmesh Kumar. Every experienced biker knows that road trips without proper planning usually end in disaster and recrimination. The internet, books and magazines, and regular bikers are great sources of information relating to terrain, route, dangers and possible obstacles. Our bikes (two Hero Honda Ambitions, and one Honda Unicorn) are finely tuned and ready for the long road ahead. July 13. It‚s imperative to get off to an early start to avoid city traffic in Delhi. Although the monsoon was in full cry and riding conditions were dangerous, we started out on time at 3.00 a.m, riding bunched together maintaining a moderate controllable speed of 40-50 km ph. Our luggage was packed in tarpaulin sheets to keep it dry. The four-lane National Highway-1 (NH-1) which links Delhi to Attari, the Indo-Pak border town near Amritsar, is pothole free and we reached Nalagarh (305 km) at 11:00 a.m after a 30-minute stop for breakfast in Chandigarh. From Nalagarh to Bilaspur, the starting point of the Himalayan foothills is another three-hour (100 km) ride and we made there in time for lunch at 2 p.m. We finally ended the day at Kullu at 11.00 p.m after another seven-hour (217 km) ride.…