[//M]

Three of us did a trail ride to Damdama Lake this morning from Baliyawas (Gurgaon - Faridabad Road) and we rode back via the same route.

En route, I had a close encounter with what was possibly a leopard !

We were gunning down the trail and suddenly I found a nice spot to click a picture of my motorcycle, so I stopped for a quick click and asked other two guys to proceed. After I was done clicking the picture, I heard a subdued growl from the nearby bushes. It was definitely an animal, I thought it must be a wild dog or maybe even a camel yawning (as we had seen a few camels in this trail during our past rides), so I just shrugged it off and left.

Joined other two guys and I totally forgot telling this incident to them. On our way back, we stopped exactly at the same spot for a breather when two shepherds came in and asked us to leave immediately as a leopard was spotted around by locals and that it even killed a cow last night.

I told him that approximately 30 mins back I heard a growl at this very spot. Hearing this, he himself left hurriedly and asked us to do so as well.

There have been multiple leopard sightings in these dry forests in the past and I'm not really sure if the growl was actually of a leopard, but we were damn scared at that point of time so left from that spot in a haste.

Here are a few pictures clicked today,

[//M]

Some pics of Bagheera clicked by a friend this morning.

[//M]

I had picked up a pair of Alpinestars Toucan goretex riding boots few weeks back from Bikegear. The website was recommended to me by fellow bhpian Rohan Dheman.

Now that I have done a couple of short rides wearing these boots, I can say that these do feel extremely sturdy and the build quality is excellent. However it might be too early to comment on the comfort levels yet, as these are yet to break-in appropriately.

I shall share more updates regarding the boots as I cover some more miles.

Some pictures of the boots,

[Red Liner]

Congrats. How much were they?

Do squats, lunges with the boots on at home. They will break in quickly once creases form on the leather where you flex.

Standard issue for mx boots, though this is an adv boot.

[//M]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Congrats. How much were they?

Thank You Red Liner.

I picked these up at 32 K from Bikegear. The boots were readily available at the Alpinestars store in Gurgaon as well as Pathpavers Delhi, however the price was steep at 45-46 K. There were a couple of websites in which I saw the boots listed for 40 K approximately but I was not able to ascertain the reliability factor of these websites/sellers. Bikegear was cheapest at 34 K. After some research work, bhpian Rohan Dheman assured me that Bikegear was reliable as he had bought some products from them. By the time I could make the payment, my size was out of stock. So I called up the Bikegear guys and they assured me that they will get Toucans in my size but they would need 5-7 weeks to get it shipped. I was fine with the timeline and to make the deal even more sweet, these guys were gave me another 2 K off the price so the effective price was 32 K. At the end of 5 weeks, I finally received the boots.

One friend had picked up a pair of Toucans from Germany at a closeout deal for just 16 K INR. Quite a steal deal !

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Do squats, lunges with the boots on at home. They will break in quickly once creases form on the leather where you flex.

Standard issue for mx boots, though this is an adv boot.

Thanks for the advise, will try to do some of these activities. For the lazy bum that I am, even the thought of doing squats and lunges is provoking a sense of restlessness inside me.

[Red Liner]

Good... 34k. Now i feel better about what i paid for my Sidi

[//M]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Good... 34k. Now i feel better about what i paid for my Sidi

Sidi x3 Enduro looks and feels fabulous !

[//M]

I did a short solo ride from Gurgaon to Chanshal Pass over the weekend and came back mighty impressed with the Tiger's abilities.

Some teasers.

[//M]

At the start of my ride to Chanshal Pass, somewhere around Panipat, I hit the 20000 km milestone.



Slow but steady, the odo at present is just 3 km short of the 21000 km mark.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by //M

I did a short solo ride from Gurgaon to Chanshal Pass over the weekend and came back mighty impressed with the Tiger's abilities.

Tell us more chief - this looks like the ride caused no back or wrist pain in the slightest!

I had to take 4 physiotherapy sessions to relieve the stress caused in those 3 days of hectic riding!

[//M]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Tell us more chief - this looks like the ride caused no back or wrist pain in the slightest!

I had to take 4 physiotherapy sessions to relieve the stress caused in those 3 days of hectic riding!

Thank you for your inputs, they really helped me during this trip. I took the Ambala - Shimla - Kharapathar - Rohru route and avoided the Uttarakhand route.

Barring the NCR - Panipat stretch which is forever under construction and full of diversions, traffic, pollution etc, this road all the way to Rohru is in good shape. It really is enjoyable once I branched off the main Shimla - Narkanda route from Theog.

Some corners in the Theog to Rohru had plastered a wide grin on my face. Post Rohru, it gets bad and narrow. Once past Chirgaon, it is really bad. As you rightly mentioned, it never was a "road" in the first place. However, luckily during my travel dates, the apple season had almost come to an end so traffic was almost non-existent. I did not encounter a single vehicle between Larot and Chanshal Pass. However the gravel and stones on the road made it an unnerving ride. The Tiger felt at home though, so that gave me a lot of confidence in gunning down the motorcycle in that patch.

Roads till Rohru










Roads beyond Rohru










Chanshal Pass was deserted and windy. It was extremely windy so I didn't spend much time at the pass, I rode down a few kms on the Dodra side and stopped there for a breather. I rode back, crossed Chanshal Pass and again stopped for a breather in the meadows. Although, altitude wise Chanshal Pass isn't really high as some of the other passes in Himachal Pradesh, but a ride to Chanshal is always elusive and tiring due to the infrastructure.

My itinerary during this trip :

Day 1 : Gurgaon - Karnal - Ambala - Solan - Shimla bypass - Theog - Kotkhai - Kharapathar

Day 2 : Kharapathar - Rohru - Chanshal Pass - Rohru - Kharapathar

Day 3 : Kharapathar - Kotkhai - Theog - Shimla - Solan - Ambala - Karnal - Gurgaon

I stayed at HPTDC Kharapathar on both the nights. Since Kharapathar is the highest town altitude-wise in this region (it is even higher than Narkanda), the weather was a little chilly throughout the evenings and night. Rooms were usual HPTDC fair, basic but spacious and had lovely views of the valley from the balcony.

On all 3 days, I didn't ride beyond 2 PM. I used to start early at 5 AM, and reach the destination for the day by 1:30-2 PM so that gave me enough time to unwind and rest. However, the last stretch from Panipat to Gurgaon was super crowded and the innumerable diversions really tired me out. Also, due to the stubble burning and pollution, my eyes were literally burning throughout this stretch. Luckily it was just a 100 odd kms stretch so I somehow managed to get home well in time but this was surely tiring and hectic.

[androdev]

^ Stunning location and pics. A visual treat for folks like me in the South - I need to figure out the logistics to explore this part of our beautiful country.

[//M]

Originally Posted by androdev

^ Stunning location and pics. A visual treat for folks like me in the South - I need to figure out the logistics to explore this part of our beautiful country.

Thank you androdev.

I myself ventured out in this part of the country for the very first time and loved every bit of the experience. I have been on the usual Shimla - Narkanda road multiple times now, but never branched off to see what lies towards the eastern parts of the Shimla district.

There are plenty of hikes that start from Dodra / Kwar villages beyond Chanshal Pass and goes through ridges and snow capped mountains into Uttarakhand and Kinnaur District.

Dodra to Sangla Valley is also accessible on foot. Must be one picturesque and lesser known hike, Rupin Pass being the most popular trekking route in that region.

[//M]

Just a small update - Completed three years with the Tiger today, covering 23500 kms so far. The journey has been really memorable and I do foresee keeping it for another 2-3 years at the bare minimum. Triumph aftersales support has so far been good. I got the third year servicing done from One Triumph Gurgaon recently, costed me 9000₹ approximately.

A longish ride to the hills is in the pipeline soon, probably sometime around the end of this month, before the brutal summer season sets in. I had initially planned to ride to Sikkim but with the West Bengal elections scheduled around the same time, I might skip Sikkim and ride somewhere else instead. Will keep this thread updated.

One click of the Birthday Boy

[//M]

Not much riding happened in 2021 primarily due to massive work pressure and covid second wave which had plenty of collateral damage everywhere. Another reason was the gruesome summers which restricted riding to a great extent.

With the weather in NCR getting better now, hope to do more trail riding in the coming months now.

Meanwhile, I did a short ride to Tilyar Lake in one of the rainy evenings with a friend. We enjoyed sailing through water logged streets of Old Gurgaon and Farukh Nagar, while most vehicles struggled to judge the depth of the water and cross through the water logged sections.

We took the Gurgaon - Farukh Nagar - Jhajjar - Rohtak - Sampla - Western Peripheral Expressway - Panchgaon - Gurgaon route and the ride from Farukh Nagar till Rohtak was in extremely heavy rains with compromised visibility. However, since we both were doing a short outstation ride after a long long while, we embraced the monsoons and thoroughly enjoyed the ride !

Here's one pic from the Tilyar Lake ride -



Last week got a chance to take the Tiger on a longer ride, shall share a separate post with plenty of pictures.