Dog's Tail, Carol's Garden

• 26th of August
• Rishikesh - Haridwar - Roorkee - Muzaffarnagar Bypass - Khatauli - Meerut Bypass - New Delhi
• 230km

Rishikesh town across the Ganga. The suspension bridge in the distance is Laxman Jhula.

We started early from Rishikesh to beat any traffic, but it was rather futile. As we get closer to Delhi, the traffic just seems to explode. Initially, Prashi and I maintained 100kmph. Poor Sandy seized his engine twice keeping to that speed, so we dropped our pace to about 80kmph. Damn Madaan’s 535’s. The way it was rattling, it sounded more like a dishwasher than a bullet.

Sandy and Ganga - Courtesy Prashi

Along the way, people were amazed to see us. Everybody has seen bullets and riders touring with a huge load of luggage. For a change, there was somebody touring on a rundown looking Rajdoot, and keeping up comfortably with Bullets, no less. My favourite (for obvious reasons) incident of the day was a trio of guys on a LML Freedom who caught up with Sandy, pointed to my bike and asked, "Boss, woh bijli kya thi ?" ("Boss, what was that bolt of lightning ?")

Sandy and I take a chai break. This was the last day the three of us rode together on this ride - Courtesy Prashi

We reached Delhi early in the afternoon, and rode straight into Naiwallan in Karol Bagh. Sandy was really struggling to keep the bike going by then. It stalled in the oddest places and handled very poorly. We reached Madaan’s, returned the bike and checked into the nearest hotel. Sandy was very glad to see the last of that red beast.

Ranga from Madbulls and Karan & Karthik from Royal Beasts met us at our hotel. Ranga was riding with us on the second leg, and was just putting the finishing touches on his bike. Chaithra’s flight from Bangalore was delayed heavily, and when he finally reached the hotel, it was almost almost 2AM.