Once I made my mind to do k2k, I decided the dates in January 2014 but was not aware that Rohtang Pass will be closed at that time and it opens only after May. The only option left was that I will have to go to Srinagar and back, but I wanted to go to Leh through Manali otherwise what’s point of doing it. I had to delay my trip by 5 months. In those 5 months spent lots of time just thinking about my dream ride. I didn’t own any bike at that time and was always confused which bike I should go for. RE TB is one of my favorite which I always dream of owning but due to budget constraints had to go for Bajaj Avenger. When I bought Bajaj Avenger, many riders said are you serious you going to do your such a big expedition on Avenger? It’s not a good bike for such kind of terrain, it skids very easily because of long wheelbase. I would not deny this fact completely (I myself skidded 2 times but it happened only when i was riding off-road), they are absolutely right but you can minimize skidding paying more attention to your riding (even RE falls and skids). When you talk about the performance of Avenger blindly you can go for it, there is absolutely no doubt in that.
After deciding the bike, I gathered more information about route, about the precautions I should take. About all the gears, food to eat, what to drink, how to maintain my fitness level, how to design my facebook page, when to announce about my ride, from where to buy gears, which Helmet I should go for. One of the main hurdle in my plan coming was about the route.As many riders were saying don't take Jhansi,Gwalior route as it is very risky people get kidnapped and robbed there and moreover you are a girl. But i decided to go through that route only i believe people are good everywhere based on region or area you can not judge people.I talked to few experienced fellow bikers about the long trips just to gather some information.Watched few videos about the ride and when I saw Manali-Leh I got really scared and little unconfident that would I really be able to do it? Alone is far away, to ride in a group also it looked difficult? But "there is will ,there is a way".
Two important concern of my ride was, first to convince my parents and second very frequent asked question by everyone “what have you thought about your safety as a girl”.
To convince my parents was not so easy, they said strictly no specially my mother.I kept trying daily for many days. And at the end they said yes, they had no other option ;) ;)And about safety as a girl, I don’t feel it is that risky. With few precautions, alertness, presence of mind and confidence you can minimize the risk. In my opinion people are not bad, mostly rape cases are situational and those are not done by strangers. These incidents happen within known people, neighbors and relatives. I was carrying a pepper spray, safety pin and a knife with me for the worst case preparation (though I never needed any of them ;))
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| Pepper spray |
Finally after all this preparation I decided the date i.e. June first week. But I came across one post in Himalayan club that because of heavy snow fall this year Rohtang Pass will be open in the end of June. I had to delay my trip by 3 more weeks. I got more time to prepare J
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| logo |
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| Facebook page |
To buy all biking gears one of my friend Shashi helped me, facebook design and logo was done by Jnanesha and Jiju David such a creative and beautiful design J One after the other everything happened. But now what I was confused was about the servicing of my bike. Should I give it at authorized service center or local? I checked with some of my fellow bikers. Then one rider from xbhp Bangalore Suvrajit told me about one local mechanic I was little unsure but then he assured that he is a very good mechanic. Mr. Naveed Kormangala (his shop is near to shanti Sagar before Sony world signal). After 2 days I got my bike back and I went for a trial run as suggested by Kaleem sir(Very strict mentor ;)). On trial run everything was alright except rear brake were loose that was tightened before the trip anyways.
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| Bike Trial run before parcel :) |
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| Bike parcel to Nagarcoil |
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| Me,Kaleem sir and Roshan in bus to Nagarcoil |