DAY-1: Delhi-Dehradun-Mussoorie-Delhi ride.

Introduction and Prologue : Click Here!

DAY-1:

At 6:30 a.m., Ashish called me and told me that he will meet me @ Madhuban Chowk @ 7:00. Reached there at 7:15 and found him waiting for me. Shaked hands, confirmed about whether we will ride to the pre-planned destinations or some other place, and started ripping towards NH-1. We started rolling on the mighty 8-lane National Highway-1 with butter-smooth tarmac, ripping furiously around 100-110kmph with the cold breeze of early morning peeping inside our head lids through each and every possible way to pinch our faces with needle-like sleek blasts of coldness. But we, atleast I, enjoy such conditions as long as it doesn't get real creepy ;-)... Enjoying the initial moments of a much awaited(still surprising) ride with almost the whole body covered under layers of clothes, we kept on zipping fast through the metal cages (read four-wheelers) on the road. Being the smallest vehicle on the huge peice of tar-covered land, getting way past the lorries with due respect from the truckers is what encourages you to ride long, hard, safe and sensible :-)

Let me share some lines which I read somewhere on xBhp and the trip reminded me all those one-by-one as I faced the similar situations and experienced those beautiful lines which made a place in my heart from the day I read them. Will keep on sharing them throughout the log wherever I found them applicable :-)

Special thanks to OldFox sir, LP and Sachin Rao (all from xBhp) for penning down the ultimate feelings of a biker... The Pleasures of Motorcycling :-)

• The pleasure is in doing three-digit speeds for hours on end when most consider 60 as dangerous and 80 as fatal!!
• The pleasure is starting your bike's engine for a long-distance ride on a cold morning and listening to its steady comforting idle while you prepare for the ride.
• The pleasure is in watching a bunch of gleaming bikes knifing together through fast highway traffic. 
• The pleasure is in knowing a split second before the car in front panic-brakes. You were more focused than the driver of that car. You survive and smile!!
• The pleasure is in smelling spilled diesel on the road before your tyre hits it. 
• The pleasure is in watching other road users gawking wide-eyed as the group does three-digit speeds together in formation. 
• The pleasure is when your motorcycle and you move as one single united form. Whatever shape the road takes, whichever end of the compass it leads to.
• The pleasure is when you use your hands, arms, thighs, knees and feet to steer.
• The pleasure is when your rear wheel slides, and you bring it back, when the front wheel lifts, and you take your time bringing it back.
• The pleasure is when you cut through air, at 50 kph or 100.
• The pleasure is when you reach a place you’ve never been before, and someone you’ve never seen before asks you for a ride. And comes back grinning.
• The pleasure is when you wave to village kids, and they wave back.
• The pleasure is when you almost, almost fall. But don’t.
• The pleasure is when you get up that narrow path for the view you’ll never forget.
• The pleasure is when you view the world at an angle.
• The pleasure is when you look at a dust-streaked face in the mirror after a 12-hour ride, and don’t want to wash up.
• The pleasure is when you leave four-wheeler traffic standing in a jam.
• The pleasure is when you aren’t lulled by an air-conditioner.
• The pleasure is when you are free. Open. Independent. Liberated.
• The pleasure is when you spot that tiny loose bolt on the surface, swerve, & smile.
• The pleasure when you ignore a beautiful chick passing-by, being proud of being a Biker & keep riding, though checking her out in the Rear-View-Mirrors for a fraction of second when she passes-by :D

Coming back to the log :p, riding around 50 odd kms. on NH-1, we stopped at the famous Sukhdev Da Dhaba as Ashish was curious about it. We had some paranthas with desi makkhan and hot tea... a bliss on winter morning rides ;-). Enjoyed the meal and got on the tarmac again with bellies filled more than enough. :D

• The pleasure is in riding with a bug splattered visor for long, trying to look from between the squashed mosquitoes.
• The pleasure is in cleaning the visor at a tea stop and seeing the world clearer through it as it had never been before. 
• The pleasure is when you take off your riding jacket for a break, and feel the breeze dry your sweat.

Reached the first Toll Plaza @ Panipat, stopped for a minute, clicked some frames and resumed rolling all the way to Bir Pipli.

Some shots at Panipat Toll Plaza...

Yours truely :)

Ashish on his Hunk...

From Bir Pipli, we had to bid a bye to the silky-smooth National Highway and take a left turn on a State Highway which connects Bir Pipli to Yamunanagar. The road is kinda "okay" with some real bad patches which could toss you high in the air, make you lick the dust down the ground.

Anyways, riding down to Yamunanagar cruising @ mixed speeds ranging from 30kmph to 90kmph, got into the familiar roads of the city where a rude policemen (hawaldar actually) asked us to park our bikes at the roadside @ a signal. Finding everything in place, with a fused facial expression, called his senior who was much polite even being younger than him. The officer let us go with a smile :-). Headed towards Paonta Sahib from Yamunanagar, we surprisingly noticed a board which read as 'National Park', just less than a second before we crossed it and entered the  Kalesar National Park . Riding through it was a great experience. Forests on both sides of a well laden silent and cool road with a lot of twisties was real great. Frankly speaking, both of us were riding at the right corner of our lane on the road as a precautionary measure so as to avoid the chances of being grabbed by the N numbers of monkeys sitting on both sides of the road as if they are guarding the forest from the road users or vice-versa. :-P

A few Shots at the ending point of the road through National Park.

After that, riding all the way from [COLOR="blue"][B]Paonta Sahib to Dehradun[/B][/COLOR] is not much to tell, just a plain ride with many small things to see like lakes, drains and all parallel to the road. Took a stop for lunch @ Dehradun after around 6 hours of riding.

Some pics enroute...

• The pleasure is when you ride for long hours straight, and u can't feel your butt when finally stopping.

Had Shahi paneer, Navratan korma, some naans and all there and asked the restaurant owner about Shahastra Dhara. He told us that there's not much to see there at this time of year, generally people go there to have bath in summer days, and recommended us to ride up to the Queen of Hills, Mussoorie...

There starts some good uphilling and serious twisties which we were experiencing for the first time on bikes. A great experience for both of us. Ofcourse, we wished if Abhinav could have came with us but somewhere down the line we were thinking that its good to ride single if you want to enjoy the hilly rides :p, atleast for the first time ;-)

• The pleasure is in tooting a salute to truckers who safely wave you past on a blind mountain curve.
• The pleasure is when you are the only soul on the road in a torrential downpour, when even the cagers have taken cover. You continue to ride 'cos you have to reach a destination. And then, you stop on a long bridge to experience nature's fury.
• The pleasure is when you realise that the contact patch of your throne with the Earth is lesser than the surface area of the sole of a pair of shoes.

Some pics on the curves.

Reached Mussoorie, started a hunt for a good and economical hotel. Unknowingly, I entered in a govt. guest house where only govt. high officials are allowed to stay but that ended our search for room in some other way. The guy was helpful and recommended us two of the hotels which were around half a km. away where we could get room at reasonable price. We checked-in in Hotel Evergreen. The room was nice and view from our room was...

• The pleasure is in being treated as special because you are on a bike, something that would never happen if you arrive in a car.
• The pleasure is when you finish your day’s ride, and reach in one piece. You’re the smallest vehicle on the road, and you’ve survived.
• The pleasure is when you take off your wristwatch, and see a band of untanned skin.
• The pleasure is when you can feel the cool morning and the hot afternoon, the light rain and the damp fog.

Had a small chit-chat with the hotel guys who suggested us to visit Laal Tibba in the evening as it was hardly around 5-10kms. from there and was in the opposite direction from the rest of the places of interest and told that we could roam-around @ Mall Road while coming back which was around half a km. from our hotel ;-)

Took some rest, got freshened-up and headed towards Laal Tibba in the evening. The way to Laal Tibba was quite interesting :p, riding uphill in small streets was good and we enjoyed it, especially Verma ji :D... ripping his Hunk in the hilly streets :-P hehe.

Reaching Laal Tibba, we were surprised as well as amazed to see snow there. And, the view of Himalyas was also a surprise to us, we didn't expect anything like this from Mussoorie trip.

Some pics @ Laal Tibba

Naked Eye view from Laal Tibba... spot the Himalayan Range ;-) 

Telescope view of Himalayas from Laal Tibba... implemented the whole ray optics physics and mathematics we knew to get it... succeeded after 15-20 mins of struggle... lol

Headed back towards Mall Road, roamed-around, checked-out the "maal" there ;-) :P, had dinner and rolled back to the hotel. Asked the hotel guys to park our beasts inside the hotel premises (locked), sat inside blanket, switched on the TV with placing an order for a hot cup of tea. Called it night :-)

Click here to read Day-2 Log