[BikerKeeda]

Typically, when planning a group trip, the number of people who commit often drops by at least half on the actual day. Surprisingly, our initial plan involved 5 bikes and 5 riders, but it ended up with 6 bikes, 4 cars, and a total of 15 people.

Here's the breakdown of vehicles:

Himalayans: 6
Thar: 2
Scorpio: 1
Bolero Neo: 1

The Bolero exceeded my expectations on this trip, giving me the confidence that exploring the country with the Neo will be a breeze.

Over the course of 18 days, we covered a distance of 5123.4 kilometers.


Planning:

1: How did we end up planning the trip with Bikes and Cars? Is it a good idea for Bikes and Cars to go together as a group?

Let's find out.

My group was planning this trip and I spontaneously committed to pitch in as a 5th rider. When I went back home, I realized I got married recently and wifey would not be happy if I tell her that I am planning trip alone so I told here WE are going SPITI on bike. She is not used to travel as pillion on the bike so she was concerned for which we did a trial ride for her to Bhimashankar. It was a night ride and conclusion was we can not go to SPITI on bike as I was riding these many years solo and it would be challenging for her as well as me to ride in difficult terrains. So we dropped the plan however, the urge was not settling in and we asked our friends if it is okay with them if I join with my newly purchased Bolero Neo? With a lot of discussions, listing down pros and cons we all agreed that I can act as a backup vehicle for the group and it will be an advantage for us.

Then I casually called my friend asking him if he and his wife wants to join me in Bolero, he said I will call you tomorrow and cut the call. I was sure there is going to be a negative reply but the other day he called and said Yes We are joining but with my Thar. And then another friend came to know about the plan so he also pitched in with his Thar and one of the biker who was already in the plan asked his kids if they want to join, they said yes and then came the Scorpio. So we ended up with 6 Bikes and 4 Cars.

We all were concerned about going as a group because the terrain was difficult and going as a group means you also have to stay together as a group. However, cars were not going to keep up with the bikes in the mountains so we decided that we will treat this trip as 2 groups going together. Bikes and Cars will go as individual groups and will coordinate during the journey. We laid down some ground rules.

1: NO MAN LEFT BEHIND
2: Both groups will decide the location we want to meet at the end of the day and will meet there.
3: No rush. It is okay to spend more time on fewer spots than rushing through the itinerary.

With a leap of faith in our friendship we decided let's give it a try, it will be a fun experience.

2: What was the itinerary?

One of our rider Sharath (@Sharath_Chandra) was planning for this since 2 years and the route he had planned, had some scenic and challenging routes. It was amazing. Attaching the original excel file here for reference.

Attachment 2548787

3: Things to carry

I did some work to gather details about all the prerequisites which includes
- Car Spares
- Documents
- Medicines
- Other things to carry.

Group was instructed to print 2 copies of the document, use 1 while shopping for all the stuff, and tick with a pen so nothing will be missed. And another printout will help while packing the stuff so there will be a double check.

Attaching the file for reference.

[ATTACH=SPITI 2023.xlsx - Checklist to Print.pdf]2548790[/ATTACH]


4: How did we co-ordinate during journey?

Bikers were connected over SENA mesh and we car guys decided to procure the Walkie Talkies. Getting walkies turned out to be THE BEST decision of the trip. It helped us save a lot of time during travel, with just a click of a button we could coordinate with the group.

Mistake: We bought the walkies which can change frequencies not knowing that we need license to operate those, however, with a lot of research we found the government documentation about the citizen band which citizens can use without license. Refer page 78 on following link.
https://dot.gov.in/sites/default/fil...ifications.pdf

Citizen band: 446.0 - 446.2 MHz

We got a cable which will help us charge the walkies inside car while travelling.

Journey

Meeting point was decided as Chandigarh. Bikes were being transported and cars were going to travel by road.

Day1: Cars started from Pune at 5:05 am with aim of reaching Jaipur by eod.
Maintaining 100-110 we managed to reach Kota by eod covering 950 kms.
Could not reach Jaipur as we started 2 hours late than a planned start time and we faced some traffic near Ujjain.

Route: Pune-Nashik-Dhule-Ujjain-Kota

Before reaching Kota, we booked our rooms and had dinner at the hotel. After celebrating friends birthday we called it a day at 1 am and went to sleep.

Day2: We started the day 2 towards the meeting point i.e. Chandigarh.
Reached Chandigarh by evening.

Route: Kota-Deoli-Jaipur-Narnaul-Ambala-Chandigarh

Experience of driving on Trance Haryana Express Way was amazing and extremely challenging. We had to be extra attentive and cautious while traveling there. You tend to get bored and there is always a risk of falling asleep because of the boredom and if you manage to stay awake, then there is always a risk of highway hypnosis.
Walkies helped us be awake as we were messing with each other to keep the brains active.

Tip: one of the best practice I personally follow in my 500+ km journeys on bike as well as car, is while checking the rear view mirror, instead of just moving pupils and looking at the mirror, I move my head and neck, and I turn towards the mirror. I have been practicing this for past 12+ years and has helped me a lot.
Pic from the Trans Haryana Express Way


Size comparison of Thar with grandpa Commander :P


By the end of 2nd day we grouped up with the bikers in Chandigarh and on day 3 we started our journey to Shimla, which was our first stop where we were going to stay for a day and give ourselves time to acclimatize.

Day 3: With few challenges like all big journeys have, but we were prepared for them so we managed to move ahead with slight delays.

Group picture while starting our trip.



Some of the challenges we face during trip are:

1- Rear disc pads worn our due to dead peddling during off-road patch. We had spare break pads and changed them ourselves.
2- Blocked fuel filter due to low fuel quality in BS6 Himalayan. We opened the tank to access the fuel filter and clean it on the go.
3- DPF issues in Thar got solved with excellent service by Mahindra service centers.
4- Rim of one Himalayan was bent due to hard impact was repaired and brought to a ridable condition with the help of a hammer in KAZA.
5- Heavy rain and car repairs caused delay and split the group into 2 but for one night only.

Day 3 onwards, it was an experience which can not be put into words hence I am attaching few pictures at the end of this post to share few of the unlimited moments we lived together.

Memorable Experiences:
- 950 kms & 800 kms drive
- Minus 9 Degrees at KAZA
- Journey to KunZum pass via Jungle, 2 hours driving uphill on 1st gear through slush
- Snowfall at Giu Monastery
- Spotting Mountain Deer's and Yaks

Few tips:
-Plan a trip in advance with good research
-Distribute the responsibilities amongst group members
-Prepare physically before you go in the mountains
-Drink plenty of fluids in the mountains
-Eat light and take frequent breaks during long highway journeys
-Get to know basics of your car/bike. At least you should be able to change tires, change break pads, clutch/accelerator cable, bleed breaks
-When you learn above things, make sure you try them once before starting the journey.
-Get a dashcam, a basic dashcam would also do.
-Click a lot of pictures but don't get lost into camera. Enjoy the beauty through your eyes first then focus on capturing moments.

Roads till KAZA are butter smooth. Once you enter the SPITI valley, the roads are even better than the highways we get nationwide, BRO has done fantastic job. Only Kaza to Manali is the patch where you have to do off-roading and this is the patch for which you go there.

You get water crossings, snow on the road, snow walls, punctured vehicles and what not.

The real adventure is hidden in this last patch. If you find anyone in need of help, please take a stop and help them. You might fall behind by couple of hours in your plan but you might help save some real problems.

Let's browse through the memory lane.

Halo at Dhankar Monastery


Bolero With Halo


SPITI Roads at their best


Mandatory I Love SPITI pic


Somewhere on the road, Neo enjoying the protection by 2 THARs


Snow walls on the way to Kunzum pass.


Snow walls on the way to Manali from Kaza.


Riding through these walls is an amazing experience in itself. You have to keep check of the water on the road while going through walls, they are deep and have mid size rocks at times. If you don't ditch them, they can damage the underbody.

Size comparison with Scorpio


Picture of group when we entered SPITI Valley.


I went off the route to see if I can find a good place to click a picture and found one. #DryDesert


Somewhere between Kaza and Manali, I clicked this when we had a regroup stop. I have a printout of this picture on my office desk.


We drove through beautiful snow covered mountains, but did not get to drive on the Snow.


Regroup stop after NAKO


Refreshing stop where we enjoyed the cold water of the river.


Just another Snap


Mahindra's


Himalayan's


Picture perfect


The Lineup


The incredible journey we had with lifelong friends holds moments we'd love to experience over and over again.

[Roark]

Originally Posted by BikerKeeda

Typically, when planning a group trip, the number of people who commit often drops by at least half on the actual day. Surprisingly, our initial plan involved 5 bikes and 5 riders, but it ended up with 6 bikes, 4 cars, and a total of 15 people.

Amazing. Am planning one from Mumbai in May 2024, depends on what date the GE2024 is in Mumbai. Anyways, could you please add the complete itinerary, if you don't mind?
The biggest ask in such trips to north is reaching Chandigarh with minimum pit-stops in between.
I guess post NE4, it should be a breeze. Thanks

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Travelogues section. Thanks for sharing!

Going to our homepage tomorrow

[BikerKeeda]

Originally Posted by Roark

could you please add the complete itinerary, if you don't mind?

Here you go Spiti Grit Plan.xlsx

We took 2 days to reach Chandigarh, but it's a marathon. You have to cover 1700 kms in 2 days; however with a little planning, you can easily reach Chandigarh on time as planned.

[.sushilkumar]

Originally Posted by BikerKeeda

Mistake: We bought the walkies which can change frequencies not knowing that we need license to operate those.

Nice travelogue .

Could you help with details of walkie talkie please. I assume folks stayed in public band to avoid any issues with police. What is the real world range and if these walkies work across line of sight only. How was their performance in hills.

Most imp- where did you ordered and hit on pocket.

[BikerKeeda]

Originally Posted by .sushilkumar

Nice travelogue .

Could you help with details of walkie talkie please. I assume folks stayed in public band to avoid any issues with police. What is the real world range and if these walkies work across line of sight only. How was their performance in hills.

Most imp- where did you ordered and hit on pocket.

Make: Baofeng
Model: UV-5r
Range in line of sight : 1-2 kms
In the Hills : We can't measure in terms of distance but manageable. We did not face any challenges in hills.

Surprisingly, in Kaza, we were on the mountain and the distance by road till our hotel was 20 kms and our friends sitting in hotel could listen to our conversation.

How much? In April 23, 3500/- a pair for UV-5r, which can be tuned into different frequencies, however the once which are not able to do so i.e. Baofeng Bf 888s was quoted at 1700/- a pair plus the courier charges.

I got in touch with one of the members of S.O.U.L who had sourced walkies from this guy, he is from Delhi. I can share the contact number on DM.

On some research I came to know that the Bf 888s has a flimsy built quality,, earlier the seller mentioned this and one café owner who was using walkie to communicate with the staff also confirmed that he had 888s and it broke even with the smallest of the falls.

[wbd8779]

Originally Posted by BikerKeeda

Here you go Attachment 2549512

We took 2 days to reach Chandigarh, but it's a marathon. You have to cover 1700 kms in 2 days; however with a little planning, you can easily reach Chandigarh on time as planned.

Hello

Nice travelogue , is your Neo the N10 or the N10 (O) with the MLD .

[BikerKeeda]

Originally Posted by wbd8779

Hello

Nice travelogue , is your Neo the N10 or the N10 (O) with the MLD .

Optional with MLD.

I think MLD is like an insurance, it can come handy in difficult situations, and I know I was going to go into the mountains do a lot of off-road drives locally, so I decided to pay extra and get optional model.

[na_agrawal]

Hi,

I live in Pune and want to join groups/people specially from TBHP who plan and go on such long trips. The kind of friend circle I am in, they will tag along but they are not capable of driving such distances. Do we have some groups in Pune/Mumbai?

We can collectively plan something of this sorts in 2024.

Cheers,
NA

[BikerKeeda]

Originally Posted by na_agrawal

We can collectively plan something of this sorts in 2024.
NA

I am fortunate enough to have friends who are as mad as me

I would also love to meet fellow BHPians who are interested in long trips and off-road drives.