DAY 8 Shimoga to Kalasa, Silent Valley Resort 180km

Sent to my family in the UK:

DAY 8

Herbie, Terry, Cliff and Andy

I LOVE INDIA. The sights and sounds here are amazing. The countryside is so lush. Remembering back to pictures of farming in India as a child and thinking even then it looked as it would 100 years ago, here nearly 50 years on it is still the same. Today was only 180km which is less than the distance of the last two days but around 100km was off-road or on roads so bad that the depth and width of a pothole was big enough to bury an average size dog. We also now have to avoid monkeys and chickens as well as the cows and dogs. We were warned today that there are usually a lot of 'offs' (crashes) on this route due to the terrain. They were not wrong..... The ride was beautiful through lush farmland with crop field’s rich green in colour. There was a climb up a mountain with drops beside the road edge. Terry managed to miss judge a left hand bend and managed a sort of jump off the bike followed by a somersault. Alan who we roomed with on the first two nights tried to overtake an ambulance but the ambulance had to avoid a rock. Alan went over the edge, after about 20ft the foot peg dragged in the dirt and a large shrub stopped him and the bike. Colin pulled the bike off him and it took 8 guys to get the bike back up on to the road. A big crowbar straightened out the foot pegs. Joe the American firefighter ended up with his arm in a sling and one guy took a smack to his body armour in the chest and they thought he was having a heart attack. Luck had it that a cardiac specialist on the Enduro was close by and went to hospital with him. He is now OK. There were numerous other offs which made it a very long day. We reached Silent valley at dusk. Tonight I share a dorm with 18 other guys we each have a two inch thick mattress on the floor. Just one loo and one shower. I decide not to even bother taking my kit off and go to drink and eat. With any luck the beer will kill the pain of the day and help me sleep. I stayed out until most were in 'bed'. I took a sleeping pill and pain killers and jumped into my sleeping bag liner with my pillow. I passed out real quick. I have lost  my voice today due to dust inhalation and my ribs are thought to be cracked/broken following my "off" 2 days ago.  Up at 5am, another night of 4 hours sleep and 250km ahead of me. The funniest story of today’s ride was about a guy who rode through a town where there was a cow with a long rope around its neck. The cow had wandered over the road and the guy had rode over the rope without realizing it was attached to a cow and that it was caught on the bike and he was dragging a very reluctant cow down the main street. He noticed an old farmer looking very angry with a big stick (weapon of choice in India) chasing him when he looked in his mirror but had still not realized about the cow there was no way he was going to stop...someday this rally is like a moving circus. The most touching moments of this trip is seeing the children, they don't have much at all but are smart and clean for school, always smiling and exciting. Another very small girl blew me a kiss today, I blew one back and she went shy. This time I shed a tear........

thank you for all recent donations, very much appreciated :D

DAY 7- Murudashvar to Shimoga 200km

DAY 7

Murdashvar to Shimoga

Another early start, we seem to be riding around ten hours a day so far. Well we finally managed to keep the four of us together today. It was a 200km ride but an easy one. We saw jog falls which is the highest waterfall in India. We stopped for lunch there in an old quadrangle building of very small shops. An Indian lady cooked us two banana pancakes and an omelet that with three cokes and a good tip came to 90p. Local guys kept wanting their pictures taken with us while we were there.

 Every time we ride the locals are lovely they wave at us in every village and if we stop the kids crowd around. They want to shake hands and have their photo taken. They are fascinated with our body armour and keep touching it to see how hard it is. We were told that Shimoga is never visited by white people so we are of great interest to the locals; they probably think all whites dress like we do!!

When we arrived at the hotel the staff came to take our bags to the rooms, every one of them barefoot! The room was awful with sheets dirty from the previous 'x' number off guests, towels so grubby you would think twice before cleaning a floor with them. I left Andy in the room and went back to the reception. One of the organizer girls was at reception. I asked her to tell the guy behind the counter sheets & towels in the room were filthy. They sent up new (still grubby) but I slept in my sleeping bag liner with a travel pillow and used my 'emergency' travel towel.

Leaving town the next day was like driving though an earthquake zone or Beirut during the troubles there, except dirtier, unbelievable. Stories from people going out in the evening ranged from shops with no electric, just small Honda generators to people defecating in the street! The place was time warped.

thank you for all the recent donation, very much appreciated

Day 6!!!!!

DAY 6 - 29-31st

After my episode yesterday I kept the sweepers bike and felt good as new by morning. We had the morning brief, there are always three awards and you get passed the t-shirt of the award and must wear it over your kit all day. There is 'spirit' for good riding or doing things right, 'skid' for a spectacular crash and 'dick of the day' for stupidity. The presentations are hilarious as the antics are described prior to presentation. I won't go into all for each day but today’s skid was for a guy who had to ride a rut during dodging the trucks, he was going quite fast and before he could get out of the rut he hit a large rock and somersaulted the bike and himself. He was being patched up when I was in the evening surgery they have with Doc each day.

Rather than nicking our fuel today the local scallies decided to pinch one guys riding boots, another’s trousers, a girls body armour and Andy' swimming shorts! Mind you it's a bit silly leaving your kit on the balcony of your shack. Not sure if the original owners all left sign with kit saying please take but they might as well have done!! One of the mechanics lent the girl his body armour and got the spirit award for doing so. Someone found an old pair of boots in the road for the other guy. Joe wore his thermal longjohns to ride and Andy has been swimming in underpants every since!!

Today’s run started uneventfully riding though various villages it had been a very early start, up at five thirty and riding by seven thirty. We were to suffer the trucks again today and by the time we got to the start of a 21km line in both directions the temp was well into the 30's. I had thought since the start of the day that Andy, Terry and Herbie were in front of me and rode fast to find them. I was riding solo through the narrow gap between the trucks with at times only six inches spare on each side of the bars. 12km into the jam my clutch would no longer work and the lever was just flopping around. I got the bike onto the dirt at the side of the road. I had been riding the clutch to get through the trucks and on these bikes that happens in very hot conditions but the clutch cable had stretched as well. A sweeper arrived and radioed for a mechanic. Soon Terry and Herbie arrived with Terry's clutch also bust.

 It was 10.05 when he arrived and we were fixed and riding one hot, dusty and diesel dirty hour later. As we rode on any trucks that pushed in had their cabs bashed with big sticks by guys trying to control the lines. One driver punched a guy in the face who had tried to hit the driver through his cab window with a big stick! He went away holding his eye and then came back with a couple of mates who also had big sticks. Chaos broke out, it was hilarious. There was a great off road section, all uphill, with dirt, gravel, rocks and ruts. I stood on the pegs and blasted around the sharp bends overtaking all in front of me. As I came down the other side the going was tough and I knew that I would not make the next turn. I had a choice of an area covered in rocks or one with dirt and less rocks, I chose the later. I crashed with the bike trapping my left leg and a rock finding me ribs at the side, the only chink in my armour. The guys following pulled the bike off me. No real damage to the bike and I am only bruised. I just got too cocky. What everybody must realize is that you will crash on an Enduro. Riders have to come to terms with that and not be frightened. You always pray it will just be a few bumps and no breaks which would put you out of the rally.

We rode through small villages where kids waved and held out their hands to slap ours as we rode past. It is a big event when over 100 bikes and support ride through town. When we reached our destination at Murudashvar we were greeted by the sight of an 18 storie ornate temple and the largest Shiva statue in the word. The whole area had a mystic beauty about it. The hotel was clean, Andy and I were in an a/c room with a bed each complete with clean sheets!.... Today, while riding, a little girl with pigtails and glasses blew me a kiss. That little girl touched my heart.

thank you to everybody who has kindly donated recently, much appreciated

My 3rd Day

Sent to my family in the UK:

25th January

I slept well and awoke to see a red sun rise over the Gateway to India. Spent ages repacking my bags as they had to weigh 35kg in total on the next flight from Mumbai to Goa. Ended up with 38.5 after filling my carry on backpack. Guess I will have to take my chances with excess baggage charges as it is unlikely that charm will work. Another hair raising trip of near misses to the airport.

The rest of the riders had arrived on the overnight from London by the time I arrived, and due to the number of us some had already caught the earlier flight to Goa. At the check in counter a baggage handler insisted on putting my bags on the belt and insisted my crash helmet go on as well. I told him that would definitely not happen. And stood my ground. Due to this distraction the bags went on with no mention of excess charge. I left the counter with him glaring at me...one small victory!!! I meet a couple of other riders in the lounge and soon boarded the flight for the short hop to Goa. All bags turned up which was a relief for all as everyone had all their boots and bodyarmour entrusted to the airline. Packed onto a very old a decrepit bus the trip of over an hour to our first overnight hotel was not too comfortable although the scenery was great and somewhat similar to coastal trips I have taken in Jamaica.

We eventually arrived after stopping more than once so the driver could spray his brakes with water as they were too hot to work correctly! As we dragged our bags down a dusty lane we saw the bikes for the first time, over 100 Royal Enfield Bullet 350's in neat rows. We waited in line to be allocated our rooms which would be for the next two nights. In almost all cases it was three to a room. I stood next to a guy called Alan who by coincidence was to be one of my roommates. As we entered the room I was not surprised that it bore no resemblance to the pictures we had downloaded to this blog from their website. There was a double bed and a double mattress on the floor, we both looked at each other and immediately decided to discuss sleeping arrangements later! We eventually found the 'third man', Andy, in the bar. We joined the table of guys he was with.

The ages of riders range up to age 71 with most of us being over 40. A spirit of camaraderie did not take long. We had a welcome meeting and were allocated our teams for the trip as well as a team leader from the orgainising road crew. The timings to start on the first day were to be staggered from 8am onwards with my 'Team Purple' scheduled for a 10.30 start. After a buffet style dinner we all sat around talking and drinking before retiring to our rooms.

I would also like to say a huge thank-you to everybody who has donated recently towards the charities, much appreciated.