August 10, 2017
We started off from Mumbai a little later than we had planned.
We had thought of leaving at 4:00 am but none of us woke up early!
That's because it was 4:00 am by the time we slept. :P
Finally we ended up getting ready by 9:30 am from Chembur, Mumbai.
Denzil, I and Manu (From Top to Bottom) lead by Mr. Stanley Rose (Denzil's dad)
Setting everything up for the ride!
All the family members had gathered to send us off.
Denzil's dad is a biker himself.
He has done two big rides:
- The Trans-American Adventure 1990 - covering America and Canada.
- The Australian Adventure 1994 - covering most of Australia on his Yezdi.
and a lot of rides around India.
He flagged us off from their place in Mumbai.
It was an proud moment for us to be flagged off by a legend.
Our ride reminded him of his days he said.
He had given us a lot of tips for the ride the previous night from his experience.
GPS
Our next destination was supposed to be Ahmedabad, which was around 432 kilometers from Mumbai.
We pushed towards Gujarat and stopped on the way for lunch in Chilhar, MH.
We ordered Thali.
Post lunch we crossed the toll gate and entered Gujarat.
We stopped for a picture.
Just as we were admiring Gujarat roads, Denzil asks me to stop over the intercom.
Then I realize that he was not to be seen in my rear view mirror.
Royal Enfield had stopped moving ahead. This was the first breakdown.
We checked everything, but couldn't figure out a way to make it move forward.
I did the only thing that flashed my mind.
I asked Denzil to take out the rope and tied the Royal Enfield to my KTM.
Then we towed it to the nearest garage which was a few minutes away. (around 2 km)
It was a garage which had opened recently.
The owner Mr Jigar Naik was very friendly and started with the repairs soon.
They had to empty the fuel tank and remove it out to check the issue.
Finally they found the problem and they changed the fuel switch.
We had to reach Ahmedabad but it would take us 6 and a half hours according to Google Maps.
It would be midnight by the time we reached.
So we were suggested to halt in Vadodara by the locals.
We did the same.
We booked a hotel in Vadodara and called it a day.
It had rained the whole day and I didn't have my riding boots back then.
I was wearing sneakers and it was drenched in water.
This was the state of our foot when we finally removed our shoes in the hotel.
After we got freshened up we had dinner and took some rest.
To be continued...
