73 replies to this topic

[rahul_rn]

^^^^ +1..
Ladakh really requires one to have a iron butt and a iron back.. My trip can never be anywhere close to it..

[nav75]

Riding to Ladakh is over hyped, I had views like yours until I went there for the first time.

All you need is time and money(just like touring to any destination), to visit Ladakh. Yes, there are mountains to be crossed and roads aren't in the best conditions (at places) and then the high altitude. But, when one is riding at a relaxed pace, all these hardly matter.

What is challenging is when you want to ride there against time (just like riding against time is challenging on the best piece of tarmac as well). That hardly 0.01% of people going there do.

Edit: Or you want to "explore" some unknown trails (rarely read someone on a motorcycle having doing that).

[arn]

You missed one bit Nav.

When the weather decides to screw you. Little you can do about it. Unlike anywhere else, a bad turn of weather and luck can kill you. Some of my friends faced that this year. The locals even refused to shelter them. "Go down else if you stay here in this weather you could die" was what they said.

When the weather is good and the roads are Ok, it's a piece of cake.

[rahul_rn]

Finally back in pune..

[nav75]

@Arnob: Yes weather there is an issue but unless you really want to fight against it, you get enough warning to turn back. In my all visits, I encountered bad weather in all of them (2007: Heavy rains in Susu Suru valley, 2008: Snowfall at Tanglang La, 2009: Snow fall at Rohtang & Chang La, 2010: Snowed out Khardung La, Chang La and closed Leh-Manali road, 2011: Bad weather from Rohtang onwards & hence trip was aborted).
While in 2011 we decide to turn back as the road condition at Rohtang was really bad plus bad weather ahead (and I am still blamed for chickening out for that by one co-rider). This year it was really bad as per the weather goes even in the otherwise not so bad month of Aug.
In other times I/we got enough warning sign to either stop while its not so bad/turn back.
Like in 2009, I started to rain + slow snowfall at the base of Chang La (from Pangong side) and we immediately stopped at a army camp and only when the weather cleared we head out. One extra brave local in his M800 thought he has seen and conquered all such stuff so he carried on. When we were a few km's to top, we saw him struggling with the snowed out road and was waiting to be towed by another vehicle. Now these are examples of crossing over the line from bravery side to foolishness.

Edit: Corrected the name of Suru valley.

[pulsurge]

Susu Valley....LOL!

[Silver Phantom]

pulsurge, on 31 October 2011 - 02:28 PM, said:

Susu Valley....LOL!

That too with Heavy Rains.. What are the Odds of that

[satyenpoojary]

Heavy rains in a valley like that Why am I not surprised... is there a legend for that


Were you cornering somewhere @ lavasa this weekend?

[Silver Phantom]

satyenpoojary, on 01 November 2011 - 06:21 PM, said:

Were you cornering somewhere @ lavasa this weekend?

If the above koshun is pointed at me, then no, but i was cornering thru the Amby Valley, road, and did 2 circuits of the Khopoli ghat from Khandala-Khopoli-khandala-khopoli-khandala on the 23rd... there was a big meet of friends, some Motoroids + BN guys breakfast meet at Kamats.

Some Photos from Rider-Sachin Mehtas Private FB album
https://www.facebook...21704309&type=1

Enjoy

[nav75]

satyenpoojary, on 01 November 2011 - 06:21 PM, said:

Heavy rains in a valley like that Why am I not surprised... is there a legend for that


Were you cornering somewhere @ lavasa this weekend?

It has been ages since I went to Lavasa
This weekend, Sat was busy taking care of lots of pending items and Sunday was spend doing some wrenching. Why, what was special at Lavasa?

[rahul_rn]

Guys anyone here has any idea of this route..??
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Mahabaleshwar-Sawantwadi further part i know..
I am planning this next month, again will be a solo ride.. I want something different from the GQ from my last time so thought of this one though no idea about road condition and whether any help will be available in case of some emergency..
And can i get some better views plus fun ride then on GQ..??
What you think guys..?? doc, satyen bhai, others any idea plz do drop your inputs..

[satyenpoojary]

Did it a few weekends back. Its good fun to ride on NH17.
If belgaum is your destination
- NH4 is the fastest and safest route unless you decide to ride like a jack arse
- NH17 is pretty fun but slower because of dual carriage way
- Its better to avoid Amboli during nights. It has lot of twists and a lot of eerieness for a new solo rider.

[rahul_rn]

Well satyen bhai i have ridden Amboli in the evening and reached home by night so that is not a problem..
And i just wanted to know whether the road from Mahabaleshwar to Sawantwadi is rideable (i.e. solo) and fun too.. I know ill be bored on NH4..

[Silver Phantom]

rahul_rn, on 09 April 2012 - 02:24 PM, said:

Well satyen bhai i have ridden Amboli in the evening and reached home by night so that is not a problem..
And i just wanted to know whether the road from Mahabaleshwar to Sawantwadi is rideable (i.e. solo) and fun too.. I know ill be bored on NH4..

Pune - NH4 - Wai - Mahabaleshwar:
Good Roads and good ghats. nice Tarmac. no hassles.

Mahabaleshwar - Poladpur - NH17- Chiplun:
while riding from Mhaby towards NH17, around 40kms before till poladpur, expect roads in various states of disrepair, and repair. even after so many years doing that route, i always find those 30-40kms in various states of Govt. Apathy.

Chiplun - Sawantwadi:
my guess is that it is Makkhan.. Although all over NH17 you need to excersize immense caution, because it is only dual-carrigeway (as Sat10 said). Mechanical, Biological, Static, and Dynamic speed-brakers are available in large quantities.

Sawantwadi - destination:
last time i did that route was around 3yrs ago, and that too during the rains. the roads were good, and views scenic. although as we were tired, we had to do a lot of stopping, and Local GPS enquiries. If you know the route, then the surface can be tackled easily.

Another option is to take the Chiplun - NH4 route and then head south towards hubli / belgaun...

[rahul_rn]

Silver Phantom, on 09 April 2012 - 02:48 PM, said:

Pune - NH4 - Wai - Mahabaleshwar:
Good Roads and good ghats. nice Tarmac. no hassles.

Yep this part is good no doubts with that..

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Mahabaleshwar - Poladpur - NH17- Chiplun:
while riding from Mhaby towards NH17, around 40kms before till poladpur, expect roads in various states of disrepair, and repair. even after so many years doing that route, i always find those 30-40kms in various states of Govt. Apathy.

Seems like this 40 kms is what i have to tackle..

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Chiplun - Sawantwadi:
my guess is that it is Makkhan.. Although all over NH17 you need to excersize immense caution, because it is only dual-carrigeway (as Sat10 said). Mechanical, Biological, Static, and Dynamic speed-brakers are available in large quantities.

That i am guessing will take the fun out of it.. as one cannot have fun with so many speed breakers around.. and making me think whether i should be doing this or no..

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Sawantwadi - destination:
last time i did that route was around 3yrs ago, and that too during the rains. the roads were good, and views scenic. although as we were tired, we had to do a lot of stopping, and Local GPS enquiries. If you know the route, then the surface can be tackled easily.

Well heading home isn't much of a problem from there, there is atleast 200m road (or i should say no road as there was a huge eriosion which was piled up over 10's of feet couple of years back, although the rocks and mud have been cleared the road for that part is still something that looks right out of ladakh..) other then that no issue's..

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Another option is to take the Chiplun - NH4 route and then head south towards hubli / belgaun...

If it was NH4 itself then i would have not asked the question in the first place..