7 June, day one of this bright idea........
Todays route Dehli to Amritsar .....check it out
It doesn't take a wise man to be uncomfortable.......
I wish I could put into words how painful today was.....in a good way I guess. 12 hours to cover 300 hundred miles. We arrived in one pieces at the holy city of Amritsar, Punjab, India. After taking 30 minutes to find the motorcycle shop (2KM) from our hotel, in the dark, with the hotel cab driver, we were out the door on the bikes at 6.........one hour fashionably late. Made it out of Dehli around 7:00 and on the road north for twelve hours of madness, heat and adventure as usual. Everybody we talked to said we wouldn't make it.....bad traffic....in India??????, ya don't say, mechanical issues, the standard crap. Most of the route I would have to say wasn't bad until showing up inside the walls of the Golden Temple, that is where our hotel is. Our days of hot water ended at 4am this morning. The cold ass water did wonders for my body temperature which I'm sure was close to the outside air temperature.......117 bills.....Is there like a heat wind bake factor? Ya got wind chill in winter! If you look at the link above from Google earth it looks green........green my ass.......it was three hundred miles of scorched earth and 25 mile an hour winds. Enough bitching, I'm on vacation right? Down with the facts!
Loving life, despite my Royal Enfield Hoopty sounding like 79 Honda Civic with collapsed lifters and the engine knocking like the main bearing is about the drop out the side of the case, thing runs pretty good. Lotta torque, peoples machine......hauls ass to 70.....kilometers dude, that's like 45 miles an hour right Ivan?
Two and half hours into the next three weeks of my life, feeling slightly overconfident, my Canadian wing man decides to blow out his rear tire to see what effects the heat has on us changing it with zero shade.......you know there's ZERO freaking shade in the country right? The little Dhabas on the side of the road that serve food, they didn't get the memo......20 year old tarps don't block the sun, they radiate heat......crazy. We pull over on the shoulder.....or is that the passing lane?....look over to the left.....you know we are driving on the wrong side of the road right?..... and..... BOOM, looks like the prayers, incense and sweets paid off. World, meet Alli Ging (pronounced Zing)....the dudes putting a clutch in this big ass diesel tractor.
Me and Canuck Numero Uno have the rear wheel Nascar'd off in five minutes and Alli sends his young apprentice to the puncture joint across the highway for a little old school patch job. I missed the picture of Winston with the tire in one hand and holding on for dear life as this dude rally's out of their shop. Thirty minutes we are back on the road living the dream.
We ride fifteen minutes and stop to get more water and get gas.....these dudes were cool. The Punjab's are very proud and despite the filth in the air and the dirt everywhere, they are very well kept. They never ask for tips......which is rampant in Dehli and they are just really genuine people. I tried to give the little kid in the picture 50 large......a buck 'Murrrican..... and he wouldn't take it. He didn't even look over at his boss for permission. He was really smart with these digital air machines here, ya punch in the numbers and it auto fills to that pressure.....except the craps in in/kg.....which I couldn't figure out.....Over to Ivan again on that one.
That ain't dirty hand prints on a brand new Dri-Fit shirt, it's road grime and dirt in the air. Ya should see my toofs! Don't be alarmed, that is Winston's actual look. He calls them "throw aways." Wears them for three or four days and shit cans them.
Now we drone for two more hours......so side note.... I'm not a big fast food guy, but we decided to stop at the usual western poison establishments to.....ya know, like do a taste test comparison....and of course to sit in the A/C. First stop, KFC for a Pepsi and some waters. What the hell is Veg chicken strip. Is it Veg or Chicken?.....Its Veg with the chicken strip coating stuff on the outside. Next stop at 3 pm, Mickey Mother Scratch'n D's.......best decision of the day. I just had water.......four dudes roll up on Enfields.....we start talking and one of the dudes is a helo pilot in the Indian Airforce.......CO, been in sixteen years. We exchange digits and emails.....gonna try and do dinner in Dehli 24 June. They were pretty cool guys and I invited him and his family back to the hood to do some riding next summer. This stuff seems to just fall in my lap.
I am declaring victory and powering down.
Todays route Dehli to Amritsar .....check it out
It doesn't take a wise man to be uncomfortable.......
I wish I could put into words how painful today was.....in a good way I guess. 12 hours to cover 300 hundred miles. We arrived in one pieces at the holy city of Amritsar, Punjab, India. After taking 30 minutes to find the motorcycle shop (2KM) from our hotel, in the dark, with the hotel cab driver, we were out the door on the bikes at 6.........one hour fashionably late. Made it out of Dehli around 7:00 and on the road north for twelve hours of madness, heat and adventure as usual. Everybody we talked to said we wouldn't make it.....bad traffic....in India??????, ya don't say, mechanical issues, the standard crap. Most of the route I would have to say wasn't bad until showing up inside the walls of the Golden Temple, that is where our hotel is. Our days of hot water ended at 4am this morning. The cold ass water did wonders for my body temperature which I'm sure was close to the outside air temperature.......117 bills.....Is there like a heat wind bake factor? Ya got wind chill in winter! If you look at the link above from Google earth it looks green........green my ass.......it was three hundred miles of scorched earth and 25 mile an hour winds. Enough bitching, I'm on vacation right? Down with the facts!
Loving life, despite my Royal Enfield Hoopty sounding like 79 Honda Civic with collapsed lifters and the engine knocking like the main bearing is about the drop out the side of the case, thing runs pretty good. Lotta torque, peoples machine......hauls ass to 70.....kilometers dude, that's like 45 miles an hour right Ivan?
Two and half hours into the next three weeks of my life, feeling slightly overconfident, my Canadian wing man decides to blow out his rear tire to see what effects the heat has on us changing it with zero shade.......you know there's ZERO freaking shade in the country right? The little Dhabas on the side of the road that serve food, they didn't get the memo......20 year old tarps don't block the sun, they radiate heat......crazy. We pull over on the shoulder.....or is that the passing lane?....look over to the left.....you know we are driving on the wrong side of the road right?..... and..... BOOM, looks like the prayers, incense and sweets paid off. World, meet Alli Ging (pronounced Zing)....the dudes putting a clutch in this big ass diesel tractor.
 |
| Booooo...... |
Me and Canuck Numero Uno have the rear wheel Nascar'd off in five minutes and Alli sends his young apprentice to the puncture joint across the highway for a little old school patch job. I missed the picture of Winston with the tire in one hand and holding on for dear life as this dude rally's out of their shop. Thirty minutes we are back on the road living the dream.
We ride fifteen minutes and stop to get more water and get gas.....these dudes were cool. The Punjab's are very proud and despite the filth in the air and the dirt everywhere, they are very well kept. They never ask for tips......which is rampant in Dehli and they are just really genuine people. I tried to give the little kid in the picture 50 large......a buck 'Murrrican..... and he wouldn't take it. He didn't even look over at his boss for permission. He was really smart with these digital air machines here, ya punch in the numbers and it auto fills to that pressure.....except the craps in in/kg.....which I couldn't figure out.....Over to Ivan again on that one.
That ain't dirty hand prints on a brand new Dri-Fit shirt, it's road grime and dirt in the air. Ya should see my toofs! Don't be alarmed, that is Winston's actual look. He calls them "throw aways." Wears them for three or four days and shit cans them.
 |
| Wazzzup? |
Now we drone for two more hours......so side note.... I'm not a big fast food guy, but we decided to stop at the usual western poison establishments to.....ya know, like do a taste test comparison....and of course to sit in the A/C. First stop, KFC for a Pepsi and some waters. What the hell is Veg chicken strip. Is it Veg or Chicken?.....Its Veg with the chicken strip coating stuff on the outside. Next stop at 3 pm, Mickey Mother Scratch'n D's.......best decision of the day. I just had water.......four dudes roll up on Enfields.....we start talking and one of the dudes is a helo pilot in the Indian Airforce.......CO, been in sixteen years. We exchange digits and emails.....gonna try and do dinner in Dehli 24 June. They were pretty cool guys and I invited him and his family back to the hood to do some riding next summer. This stuff seems to just fall in my lap.
