Wassup guys? Hope your preparations for Christmas are on track? For me however, Christmas came early; much thanks to Royal Enfield. I am privileged to be on this tour organized by them to one of my favourite destinations. Maaro Rangeelo Rajasthan.
So, I reached Jaipur yesterday at 12 noon. The sessions began with inspection of bikes, documents and the riding gears the riders were carrying. Then, followed by pretty important sessions on First Aid and emergency situations. At the end, we got our briefing about the itinerary of the next 8 days of ride plus the dos and don’ts, the yes & no of riding. Thanks Rajath and Shawn – you guys were thoroughly detailed. We were told that a breakdown van, a luggage van and a guide jeep will be accompanying us along. This thing in particular is quite assuring. I shared the room with a thorough gentleman named Shiv Bhattacharya who is a 54 year young chap who got back to riding motorcycles after his retirement. Thanks to him, he was kind enough to share his cigarettes and also guide me on how to use the shower in a 3 star hotel, which only means I am going to have a great company for the next few days to come.
Today our day started at 6.30 am. I exchanged my Thunderbird for The Himalayan and the bike simply amazed me with it's perfect balance. Royal Enfield has now upped their technology in this bike with the least vibrations, the best ergonomics and stability.The 24 odd horsepower delivered at every twist of the wrist, blew my mind. The destination for today was Mahansar, a beautiful village in Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan - approximately 230 kms from Jaipur. I’d definitely mention the amazing coordination done by the organizing team. Every single rider was kept in the loop, taking care not to miss out on anyone no matter how slow or fast he or she was. We took enough stops every 60 odd kms. It was
We had a small stop at Sikar, where the 4 laned highway ended. Now was the real deal – the 2 lane highways. From Sikar we rode further 58kms to take another lunch stop at the town where PK (Amir Khan’s goofy alien) had landed – Mandawa. Moving on the roads got narrower, the civilization started getting lesser but it was inversely proportional to the beauty of rugged gold brown sand and mud. Small villages popped up on route where villagers stared at us, kids waved at us, & scared toddlers ran inside their houses remembering their own versions of Boogeyman.
We reached Mahansar at 4 where we put up in a historic heritage castle fort called Narayan Nivas. Riding inside a heritage monument was somewhat amusing and exciting. But the real amusement was riding the trail of sand. The Himalayan took the cake again on the sand as it is built for that purpose.
So now we are back at the Haveli, the cooks here have made some special dishes for us to hog on. A burning bonfire and conversation under this bright moonlit night wraps up this amazing day.
Good bye and good night to you folks, as I said my Christmas has just begun.
