Beckoned by the bike

Fast trip

There are bikers and then there are bikers who accept challenges and finish them. Ankit Gandhi, a senior specialist with HCL Technologies, took up one such challenge called Saddle Sore and finished around 1690 kms in 21 hours on his beloved bike — Pearl! Though he had met with an accident in 2010 and had refrained from biking for a while, his love for it was so much that he restarted in 2011. “I was completely out of biking after the accident but decided to return to it and bought an Avenger.”

The Saddle Sore 1000+ miles challenges he took up entails a biker to cover 1610 kms in less than 24 hrs. Speaking more about it, he says, “There is a group called the Iron Butt Association in the United States of America which inspired me. They have a series of challenges and Saddle Sore 1000+ miles is one of them,” he explains. “I had heard of many bikers who had done this and thought I should do it too. But I didn’t have much idea about it. Then, one day, someone in our club inquired about it. On the support and encouragement of a good friend, I decided to go ahead with it in November last year,” he notes.

Since speed had never been his real strength or passion, he was still unsure. “I am more of a biker who can ride at 80 kmph or at the most 90 kmph. But then that’s what this ride does to you — makes you aware of your strengths and weaknesses as a rider,” he notes. “My strength was that I could ride for a long duration without many breaks at a decent pace,” he explains. 

So as part of the challenge, the active member of the Bajaj Avengers Club rode to Maharashtra from Bengaluru in 24 hours. “It was actually a trial run. I was supposed to just go to Hubballi. So from Bengaluru, I started off to Hubballi. But once I reached, I ended up riding to Belagavi, Kolhapur, Pune and back,” he recalls. However, all wasn’t as rosy as it sounds as Ankit faced a number of challenges. “Firstly, the GPS I had installed in my bike came out. Then the speedometer also stopped working. But somehow, it was a memorable experience,” he recalls.  One of the advantages that he had was that he was familiar with the route. “I have travelled from Bengaluru to Hubballi a couple of times and knew the road conditions pretty well. And I was in for a pleasant surprise when I saw that some repair work had been completed and the road was super smooth,” he exclaims. So his advice to other bikers going on long journeys also is to be aware of the route. “Also be geared up completely before going on a ride,” he notes. “It’s also important to let your club members know where you are. In my case too, there were people tracking me at all times,” he sums up.

The biker goes on one short ride a month, which usually spans 200 to 300 kms. And also a few long rides regularly which are more than one or two days.