Chapter 19_The Endurance Ride

Chapter 19

The Endurance Ride

“No…”

I replied, as the train chugged out of the station. As I walked back to the dreaded room - the cloak room - on platform number one, I met the railway officer who had helped us in the morning. I narrated to him the unfortunate turn of events. He then accompanied me to the office of the arrogant guy, to enquire about it. After a brief conversation with the arrogant guy, the officer assured me that Mahesh’s bike would be sent home on the next train, the following week.

I walked to the godown. My bike was still there. And what would be its fate? I would know in another couple of hours. With very little energy left and a terribly aching head, I walked to the ‘waiting room’. At around 8:45 PM, my train came to the platform – platform number three. I ran to the godown. Luckily the porters who had packed my bike in the morning were there. They were busy loading stuff onto a trolley. I asked one of them whether he could load the bike onto the train. He ignored my question, as well as my presence. I asked again. This time, without looking at me, he replied: “we asked you guys to pay us in the morning; you didn’t; why do you come to us now?” So that was it. You either bribe 100% or you don’t bribe at all and face the consequences. 99.9% bribing is as good as not bribing. I pleaded and he said that I would have to pay 200 bucks for it. I readily agreed.

The bike was taken from the godown to platform number three. The luggage van was already open and other stuff were being loaded into it. Batman too was loaded. I breathed. I paid the porter his money and thanked him. I clicked a couple of pictures of Batman inside the luggage van. Getting him to the Himalayas or the Zero Point was an achievement; but getting him inside this coach was an even greater one!

Batman inside the luggage compartment…

I walked to my coach. It was adjacent to the luggage van. I had a side lower berth to myself. I stuffed my belongings below the seat and sat down to remove my shoes. Right across, through the window, I could see the luggage office. The train started on time – at 9 PM. The luggage office slid out of my view and I prayed that I would never have to see that place again.

Adios New Jalpaiguri Luggage Office –never again!

I ate the snacks that I had bought for dinner and went off to sleep. And this was what I would be doing for the next few days – eat, sleep, repeat.

Khan and Thorappan halted at Malhar in Madhya Pradesh on day 2. After the terrible roads of Patna, an expressway welcomed them as they entered MP. They rode another 150 kilometers on that highway to reach Malhar. While the Himalayan roads had ‘water crossings’ intermittently, the plain roads had ‘cattle crossings’ once in a while. They got a decent hotel to stay in Malhar. It had a secure garage and the boys left their luggage on the bikes itself for the night.

After a tough ride (day 2) …

The destination for day 3 was Nagpur. After a quick breakfast from a roadside dhaba, they cruised along the highway. It drizzled once in a while, but the roads were too good for Goddess Rain to cause any trouble. But for those water breaks and fuel stops, they rode continuously during the day. When they had just around 60 kilometers to Nagpur, things took a turn. Of course, no day on the road has ended without a twist in the ‘tail’. There was a block on the main highway and they had to take a deviation, adding an extra 60 kilometers to Nagpur – 120 in all. This alternate route was a ghat road. Khan’s Himalayan had been facing some issues for a while and was due for service. Apparently, when the chains were tightened in Gangtok, it was done disproportionately, which meant that the rear tire wobbled. As Thorappan arched a curve, he saw Khan sitting on the road, with the bike lying a little away from him. The back tire had slid and they had gone down. Luckily, he had been riding slowly and the fall hadn’t caused much damage. The knuckle guard and the center stand had broken. They continued to ride and got the damages repaired at a road side workshop.

The roadside dhaba where our guys had breakfast on day 3…

As they entered outer Nagpur, there was a Madhya Pradesh-Maharashtra integrated police check post. For the first time on this trip, the police wanted to check the luggage and Khan and Thorappan had a tough time untying the luggage for the police.

At around 4 PM, the boys reached Nagpur city. The revised plan was to get the bikes serviced and ride for another 100 kilometers or so before they called it a day. They received a warm welcome at the Royal Enfield service center. The manager of the place himself took care of the proceedings and Khan’s bike was given a priority service. They didn’t even want the luggage to be removed from the vehicle during the service. The riders returning from Sikkim were being treated royally!

Entering Nagpur…

As the bike was being serviced, Khan and Thorappan refilled their tummies with the local delicacy ‘chole batture’. The welcome was no different at the Duke service center. In a matter of two hours, both the bikes had been serviced. Both of them had to get their brake pads replaced. They resumed their ride at 6:30 PM and took the Hyderabad road. After riding almost 150 kilometers, their bodies were low on battery and they stopped at a highway hotel. However, as always, the first hotel is not our hotel. This one was too expensive. A stranger approached them and told them that he knew a hotel that was affordable and decent. The boys followed him and true to his word, the hotel was indeed a good one. They were in Pandharkawada, Maharashtra, at the end of day 3.

The hotel owner’s son was a member of the local ‘Avenger Riders Group’. This meant that Khan and Thorappan couldn’t sleep until they heard out all his adventure stories. Two other riders from Karnataka, who were on their way to Ladakh, too stayed the night in that hotel. One of them rode a Duke 390, while the other an Apache 200. Khan, who had already done Ladakh a couple of years back, gave them some useful tips. When they woke up the next morning, the guys had already left.

The plan for day 4 was a bit ambitious, to the extent that there wasn’t a day 5 in the plan! They decided to ride the remaining 985 kilometers to Bangalore in a single day – an endurance ride.

(to be continued…)