We leave the beauty of Mudumallai behind and head off up the mountain of Ooty, once there we tackle one of the most amazing rides in India, another secret road that Enduro India have special permission to ride. This ‘road’ doesn’t appear on any maps and certain stages have been closed to foreigners since the 1960′s. Riding this rode and its 100 hairpin bends is one of the most amazing and challenging stages in the rally. We end at Kodaikanal – which was the only American hill station under British rule and still remains a strong international presence. There are many Tibetan immigrants here and the road from Palani to Kodai is one of the most memorable on earth.

 In my 17 years of riding bikes, today was the best day riding I have ever had. Period!

We pulled out of the Jungle Hut at 7am and before long, we found ourselves cruising through the most spectacular coffee and tea plantations. As we rode, we saw tea pickers working in the fields picking green tea leaves off the plants and throwing them in bags they carry on their backs.

 The tea fields are a magical place, not only because the greenery is so striking, but because they seem to exude a tranquility I have not often experienced.

As we climbed a mountain pass with over 100 hairpin bends, in true form, I raced to the top like a bull released from captivity. Hairpin bends are biker’s favorite thing. The thrill that comes from cornering at high speed is intoxicating to me. As I ride, I know that my life is always on the line, so I focus with such intensity, that the rest of the world just disappears. It’s being present in it’s purest form and it is completely addictive. This is why there are so many adrenaline junkies in the world. I believe that being completely present is being enlightened. Anyway, don’t let me get started on philosophy, although India is the perfect place to explore these things.

Adele rode incredibly well today. Her riding has improved leaps and bounds each day. She had a lesson from Gordon the crazy Scotsman last night on hairpin bends and the position of the bike on the road, which made her look like a pro on the road.

 By the time we had descended the mountain however, Adele had started to feel weak, so we pulled off the road to get her some Coke, at which point she almost collapsed. She was shaking and her face looked pale. Perhaps it was the 42 degree heat or her blood sugar levels bottoming out, but she was in no state to ride.

Within minutes a group of curious locals had gathered around us to see what was going on. Most want to help, but they end up interfereing more than helping, so we kept them at bay by propping Adele up on somebody’s front wall in the shade.

 I called the ambulance from the 2 way radio in the mechanic’s truck and within 15 minutes, the Enduro India medics had arrived. Amazing service. The medics looked after Adele for 2 hours while a mechanic rode her bike for her until she was feeling strong enough to ride again.

 In the meantime, with Adele in the Ambulance, I hooked up with Toby and Dave, the tour’s comic characters and we raced our bikes along the long stretches of highway (the equivalent of a single track road in the UK) through the small Indian villages, stopping to play the fool with the locals.

 A few hours passed and I found Adele on the side of the road waiting for a mechanic to bring her bike to her. She had been there 45 minutes, so when I arrived, she was relived to see me and jumped on my bike as a pillion instead.

 Together, we climbed the most scenic mountain pass I have ever seen. It was like being in The Lord Of The Rings… lakes, mountains, palm tree forests… The riding itsself was just as amazing and Adele hung on to me for dear life as I threw the bike into the corners, trying to impress her with my biking skills.

She obviously learned something about cornering while sitting pillion with me, because when she got back onto her bike half way up the mountain, she was riding faster than ever before. I gave her a 3 minute head start and it took me 20 minutes to catch her!

 We arrived in Kodai at another beautiful resort, ate dinner and fell asleep by 9pm.

Today, I will never forget. The best riding of my life. I am told that tomorrow’s riding is even better, so watch this space.

Today, I sat around the pool reading my book, chatting with my fellow bikers and resting. Oh what a relief. 6 Days of continuous biking has really taken something.

Later that afternoon, we went on a safari hoping to see Tigers, but the animals were shy and we only saw Peacocks, Bison and Deer…

Tomorrow, we are off to Kodaikanal…

A short days riding for all… heading off at 10:30am as opposed to our usual wake up call of 6am – Fraser and Delli were relieved as they had a late night last night partying with the others. We ride through dense tiger reserves, huge wild elephant populations and friendly villagers. The Jungle hut is nestled in the Mudumallai tiger reserve and the scenery and wildlife are out of this world. 

We set off on Day 6 after a wonderful sleep in a comfortable bed in our 5 star hotel. Bliss…

Within 5 minutes, our first drama of the day occurred when one of the riders, Al, hit a cow on the side of the road. In India, cows are sacred animals and also the livelihood of the locals. Killing a cow is considered as severe a killing a human being.

I arrived at the scene of the crime to see a large cow lying on it’s side in the middle of the road and our very nervous Al standing next to it. The locals had already surrounded him and us riders, preparing for the worst, stopped on the side of the road to support our fellow rider.

The cow was clearly going to die and the locals were clearly going to make sure that Al did not leave the scene without paying up for the cow either in money or blood. Simon, Enduro India’s organizer, managed to get Al in the ambulance without being lynched and then proceeded to negotiate with the owner of the cow, who was now wielding a machette to make sure he got paid.

Initially, the owner demanded 20000 Rupees payment for killing his cow. Simon offered him 7000 at which point the owner took his machette and slit the cow’s throat in front of him, causing the cow to convulse and shake as it died in the road. Simon, fearing for his life, counter offered 10000 Rupees, which the cow owner accepted.

Simon paid up and got the hell out of there! The moral of the story? If you kill a cow by accident in India, just keep on going, or face being killed by the locals… The irony is that Al is a dairy farmer!!! We all laughed hard the next day when Al won the ‘Dick Of The Day’ award.

 The rest of our ride to the Jungle Hut was fun. Adele and I washed our clothes in a river on the side of the road with some locals. We beat our clothes on the rocks, scrubbed soap in with brush and rinsed out for that just washed mud effect. The locals thought we were nuts and chuckled at us… Mad foreigners!

We eventually left Karnataka and rode on into Tamil Nadu. Bill Gates once commented that Karnataka was the most impressive Indian state he had ever seen with probably the highest literacy rate in the world. A good demonstration of this was seeing a local walking out of a shack with no teeth, barefeet, wearing only loincloth clutching his Thermodynamics textbook!

As we hit Tamil Nadu, we rode through Bangipur nature reserve where we spotted monkeys, deer and could feel the watchful eyes of tigers, leopards and elephants on us. It was the one time I could safely say that no matter how much Delli needed to go the the loo, she somehow held on with no complaint for an extra hour for fear of wild creatures biting her ass.

We were greeted at our destination by a thunderous monsoon shower. I promptly passed out from exhaustion and slept for 5 hours while Adele played in the mud with the boys… There was an inordinate amount of mud and apparently Delli, Toby and Dave proceeded to turn into 5 year old mud wrestling champs much to the joy of 135 cheering bikers. There was mud in every orifice as they dragged 3 others into their fun and games. Joe, our Scottish American, tore off all his body armour and joined in wearing only his birthday suit. Upon this new intrusion, everyone ran out of the mud. The film crew caught the entire event on film and interviewed them afterwards. Later, it was revealed that the exact place they chose to wallow like piggies was also a cess pool! The medics gave the 3 a lecture about health and safety in India and doused them with iodine and betadine wash. The 3 grinned like naughty schoolkids as they were told off by their surrogate Indian “parents”.

 Jungle Hut is located in the middle of the reserve and in the middle of the annual Tamil festival. The deity being honoured by the festival is Manomundrin – the fertility goddess. The locals come from everywhere and give praise to the goddess by dancing, chanting, drumming, holding pots of fire, piercing their tongues and cheeks with spears and chewing a plant that makes their teeth red and sends them into a trance.

Delli found herself in the MIDDLE of this procession (I’d expect nothing less from her) dancing with the holy men… She lost the plot and emerged an hour later with 3 people holding her hands, ash all over her body, high on whatever smoke was happening around her, stroking her head and inviting her into their homes for holy supper afterwards. There was a circus with tightrope-walking goats, dogs who climb ladders and all kinds of fun.

Dinner was tasty and after getting in a jeep and heading off to another resort to continue the party, we finally flopped into bed at around 2am.

Another day… Tomorrow is rest day. Can’t wait.

An early wake up call was tough for those with aches and pains of the last few days start to take hold. Today is another long and demanding day as we make our way to Mysore, ancient summer seat of the Raj. Mysore is a city much more used to tourists due to its regal status, proud history and beautiful buldings. Pulling up at the traffic lights with a bull elephant to the right is a feeling we can never get used to. 

 We left the Silent Valley resort in a thick mist. In fact, Gorillas In The Mist came to mind as we were riding. With all our protective gear, we don’t look much different from Gorillas or teenage mutant ninja turtles!

For the first 30 minutes, I was constantly wiping my visor to keep it clear from misting up. Seems that this was a prelude to more wiping later in the day…

 Although we were warned that today was not so scenic and was a transit day to Mysore, the views for the first 2 hours were spectacular as we emerged from the mist at the summit of the mountain we were crossing. We rode through coffee plantations with the fantastic roads giving us some magnificent riding.

It seems that despite my solid stomach, ‘Deli Belly’ has set in and it seemed like I spent the rest of the day riding from bathroom to bathroom wiping my ass… All part of the Indian experience! Not only that, but my ass is killing me from sitting in the saddle for so long. I feel like I need ass replacement surgery.

Adele seems intent on cramming 5 years of biking experience into 5 days… Today she had her first blowout. Her rear tyre burst at 80km/h and she managed to stop the bike without falling off, which is no small feat, especially for a novice rider. I can’t call her a beginner anymore because she isn’t one. She has found herself on her Bullet and I just stand in awe watching her handle this big bike the way she does. Again, she got straight back on her bike after a tyre replacement and realignment and promptly RACED Rachel to Mysore. Those 2 are honestly becoming crazy biker chicks.

I am writing this from our 5 star hotel in Mysore. What a relief to have a night in luxury. I feel blessed!

 We caught a TukTuk to go see the Palace in Mysore. OMG, what a crazy experience! The driver almost had 4 accidents during the 5 minute trip to the Palace. That’s not because he was a bad driver, but because that’s how one drives in India…

Adele, Fraser, Rachel, Alex. Toby, Kevin and THE OTHERS got a little liquored in the evening and had WAY too much fun – but was probably well deserved after the exhaustion of the day.

 Today was great fun and I am warming to India. The last 5 days have been an assault on all my senses and I have been emotionally tired, struggling to leave Designer Life in London. Today, I feel like I am settling in at last.

Tomorrow we ride to the Jungle Hut – a Tiger reserve. More then…

If there was an awards programme for one of the most beautiful toughest roads on earth, this would be it: we biked up roads that hadn’t seen traffic for years. Day 4 is known as the KILLER day. At some stages they send in a chainsaw gang in before we could tackle the road as nature had taken its hold so firmly. We end the day in the beautiful resort of Silent Valley near the famous Kudremukh National Park. 

There are 3 kinds of bikers on Enduro India – those at the front, those in the middle and the stragglers at the back.

The bikers at the front are experienced riders – some ex-racers and I believe they come to Enduro India for the riding more than the scenery. The stragglers at the back are often the beginner riders and as such, they have bigger hurdles to overcome. These are the real heroes of the trip – the ones who face their demons head on and conquer them. One such rider is my courageous wife, Adele.

Adele only passed her motorcycle test 3 weeks ago!!! Today’s ride was possibly the toughest day of the entire trip. We traveled through India’s beautiful countryside on roads not fit for 4×4’s. We then climbed an entire mountain on dirt roads, which is the nastiest terrain for a road bike like the Bullet.

By the time Adele got to the top of the mountain, she was dehydrated and hypoglycemic. Her hands were shaking from lack of sugar in her blood and from the fear of riding on these treacherous dirt roads.

I got her some sweeties from some of the other riders which seemed to stop the shaking a bit and then she hauled her tired and bruised body (from her accident yesterday) back on the Bullet for the downhill stretch. This is where her true colors shone.

 Half way down the mountain Adele crashed again. She was going around a dirt road hairpin bend at 5km/h – probably a bit too slow. She touched the front brake a tad too hard and bam – she was lying in the dirt with the bike on top of her. I jumped off my bike and a mechanic and I pulled her bike off her. The bike had landed on her bruised knee, which by now was aching. Adele was in tears, completely terrified of riding off the steep edge of the cliff and terrified of the dirt roads. 

I could see the terror in her eyes as tears flowed down her cheeks. Despite her terror, Adele was determined to complete the ride. Everyone told her to get in the jeep but she wouldn’t hear of it. I was not sure that this was the best move for her, but I knew she could do it, so I encouraged her to go on. She did, and although it took her another hour to reach the bottom of the mountain at 5km/h, she made it!

What a victory!!! I am so proud of her as is she. This is the stuff heroes are made of! The heroes at the back!

This was the hardest 220km day of the trip and I am now exhausted. Also today, a mad Scottish rider flew himself and his bike off a cliff and landed 10m below with the bike on top of him. The guy behind him almost had a heart-attack to see Collin fly off the cliff but when they looked down below at the bike lying on top of him, apparently he just halled the 180kg bike off himself and WALKED back up the cliff whilst they sent some guys to lift the bike back up. He was fine, but the bike was battered! Again, tough as nails, he got on another bike 20 minutes later and continued his ride.

We arrived at Silent Valley resort, after an inproptu swim in a local river, to a warm reception of roses and dancers. Food was good and we slept like babies.

Till tomorrow…

 Today we start off with a short stretch of highway, which by Indian standards is very quiet, we then take some beautiful winding roads up the mountains stopping for lunch at India’s highest waterfall: Jog Falls. Once refreshed, we crack on to Shimoga which sees no tourists whatsoever so we see a city totally unaffected by tourism. Totally refreshing and amazing and possibly the only place on earth where the owner of the petrol station invites you in for a coffee! 

I pulled out of Om Beach at 8am after several clothing changes after spilling curry all over myself at breakfast! Yes, curry does seem to be standard fare for breakfast here!

 As we were leaving the town, a beautiful young photographer ran up to me and asked for a lift so that she could take photos of the bikes. She ended up on the back of my bike for the entire day. We would take photos of all the bikes going past and then scream up to the front of the pack and take more photos. Being an amateur photographer myself, this was so much fun because I got to see India through a professionals ‘lens’ so to speak.

Today’s riding was fast and furious with the most amazing corners and bends to throw the Bullet into. I am falling in love with my Enfield Bullet. It is an amazing machine. The design is from 1930 and it remains only in production in India. 

Watching the mechanics fix the bike is hilarious. They kick it, hammer it, bash it and tape it up – all to coax the bike into completing the day. Then they get up the following morning at 3am to continue ‘fixing’ the bikes and getting them ready for the day’s riding ahead. These men are heroes as much as the Bullet is a hero. 

 Today we passed India’s highest waterfall and were swamped by school kids on tour. These kids are the most inquisitive and loving children I have ever met. They asked for our autographs and all wanted to know where we were from. Adorable…

I had my first Thali today – an Indian curry like meal. Delicious.  My ass is beginning to ache from all the hours in the saddle.

I finished last today. Enduro India is not a race and it was great to take the time to see India rather than just blast through.

Adele had her first accident today. As she was driving into a town, a scooter did a U-turn right in front of her, forcing her to slam on her brakes. She locked up the front wheel and dropped the bike, leaving 16 metres of skid on the road as she slid to a halt. Fortunately, her protective gear kept her relatively uninjured and she managed to get up with only a big black bruise on her ass and a swollen knee. Her bike sustained a shmangled headlight and took the whole clutch cable off with her helmet taking alot of the tar with it. Mechanics were on the scene within minutes to give her a new bike! She got straight back on the bike and rode home. She is fine and a little shaken up, but learning her limits on her Bullet. The film crew on the trip (making a movie of the trip narrated by Charlie Boorman and Ewan McGregor) love Adele because she is a brand new rider doing this Enduro and were interviewing her even before the dust settled on the road. This would be the first of many many interviews…

I am so proud of the way she handled it. No tears, just fearce anger at the guy who made her crash and who drove off! I call it a miss and run…

Tomorrow promises to be even bumpier, so I am preparing myself mentally for the ass breaking ride! Till then – may The Force be with us.

Today was longer than yesterday and more demanding too. Quite simply, mindblowing riding. Tonight’s stop is in a truly secret cove, overlooking the Arabian sea.

Adele and have been waking at 5am each morning to meditate, swim and watch the sun rise. This morning was no different and the sunrise was spectacular from my vantage point floating in the warm Indian ocean.

At 8am, we all pulled out of the bike park and began our 210km journey towards Om Beach, a famous beach named because it looks like an Om symbol when viewed from the air. We began with some fast open road riding, but quickly we found ourselves flying through spectacular country lanes on roads that most tourists will never see. I could tell by the bewildered looks on the local’s faces as we rode past that western people were definately not an everyday sight. Their faces looked like they had just seen a spaceship land an aliens emerge from it! Funny…

 Today, I chose not to ride with Adele. I sensed that she needed to find her feet on her own and build her confidence as a rider without feeling self conscious about having me around. This proved to be a good move for me too because Frazer and I rode at the front of the pack, tearing up the Indian countryside with our Royal Enfield Bullets.

At midday, we found ourselves riding the most gruelling mountain pass on a dirt road. This stretch tested my skills as a rider and there were times where my wheels were spinning in wet mud and I thought I was goind to taste some dirt. I barely managed to stay upright and then my thoughts turned to Adele…I have been riding motorcycles for 17 years. Adele has been riding for 3 weeks! How on earth was she going to make it over this mountain pass in one piece? Massive boulders needed to be negotiated and the stones would give way as you ride over them. Today was trecherous as several bikers came off with a few landing in hospital with punctured lungs and some aweful injuries.

The next piece of riding tested our focus even more. I call it the Highway To Hell. As we left the beauty of the mountains, we emerged onto a highway that surely was not designed for motorcycles. The road was literally falling to pieces and inhabited solely by huge trucks, busses and lorries all looking to kill someone. Warren our inhouse moto GP expert almost legged it straight back to his home country saying that it was possibly the most dangerous roads he had ever encountered in his life.

Regularly, these slow brutes will overtake each other on a blind rise almost taunting death with their courageous stupidity. Several times today I thought I was going to be flattened as I turned a bend only to be faced with 2 enormous trucks bearing down on me, taking up the entire highway. The only option is to ride into the ditch on the  side of the road or face imminent death! I am not exaggerating… Indian road rules read something like this… The bigger you are, the better as you have right of way.

As a motorcyclist on a freeway inhabited with monster trucks, this felt like playing an arcade game where I was on my last life before game over!

Anyway, Fraser and I made it to out hotel in 1 piece and I waited for Adele, feeling concered that she was either no longer alive or would definately want to go home after such a gruelling 10 hours in the saddle. She pulled in with a smile so wide, it lit up India. She had absolutely LOVED the day and had been hanging out with some sort of gang of girl power (2 other girls) – they arrived with one of them shouting ‘can I hear a HOO-HAH’ with them responding in some GI Jane coded chorus ‘HOO-HAH’. I suddenly realised that my work was done and some sort of marine core girl thing had taken over. I at this point sincerely hoped that no shaving of heads or additional tattoos were going to appear but Adele is clearly elated and addicted to this biking thing.

All is well in Om Beach, Gokarna and at 7pm I am asleep…See you tomorrow…

Today is designed to break us all in gently, this rally sees us tackle a beautiful  and demanding stretch of the Western Ghat mountain range on our way to Palolem, our first night’s destination. Palolem is one of India’s most beautiful beach resorts. During the riding we encountered mountains every bit as spectacular as the Himalayas, jus with lots and lots of forest and no snow peaks, due to the reduced altitude.

Having watched the sun rise while floating in the most fantastically warm Adriatic sea, Adele and I were ready to rumble. Bearing in mind that Adele only passed her bike test 3 weeks ago, nobody could blame her for being nervous. However, in true style, she pulled out the bike lot with the 150 of us flawlessly, and has been riding like a champion ever since!

Today we rode 180km in 8 hours. For the first 2 hours, we were negotiating Indian traffic for the first time. There seem to be no traffic rules here. All you need to know in order to pass your driving test is how to use your horn! Seriously though, without a horn, I would have been in an accident within 10 minutes of hitting the road!

Here are some IDEAS about what to expect in Indian traffic. Around any corner could be one of a few possible options:

1. Car overtaking car overtaking lorry
2. Lorry overtaking car overtaking tuk-tuk
3. Lorry overtaking cow overtaking goat lying in middle of road
4. Tuk-Tuk overtaking dog avoiding bullfight in middle of road
5. Motorcyclist overtaking lorry overtaking Tuk-tuk overtaking car which has stalled in middle of road
6. Herd of goats/sheep/cows/dogs/people/procession or festival of some sort
7. Lorry overtaking lorry overtaking lorry overtaking lorry etc. (you get the picture)
8. Combination of any of the above – i.e. use your imagination

The day’s ride was a ‘gentle’ introduction to Indian roads with the odd dirt road section. The Indian roads are in terrible condition with potholes everywhere. In my mind, even riding on the tar roads here qualifies as offroad riding…

The day ended with a spectacular surprise as we pulled in Palolem Beach, where we spent the night in a beach hut. Mindblowingly beautiful. We spent the evening getting to know just some of the enormous legendary characters on the trip: Kev, Alex, Toby, Dave, Tim, Rachel, Joe, Colin, Vicky etc…

ARRIVAL

After a long journey from Heathrow, we arrived in Colombo, Sri Lanka at 3am for a 3 hour layover before we caught another plane to Goa. Imagine 40 bikers in an airport bar, having just met each other for the first time at 3am. The party that ensued was fun.

As we landed in Goa, India at 8am, I was struck by the humidity and heat. It’s going to be hot as Africa here.

Arriving at Goa airport, we clambered into a bus, after being chased by ‘porters’, who hijack your trolley and push it for you. Of course, this is not a random act of kindness. A tip is always required. So far, I have been in this amazing country for 2 hours and have been asked to buy something at least 10 times already… I am practicing saying NO firmly so that people get it! It’s kinda fun!

We arrived at our resort hotel in Goa to be met by a group of smiling faces and bearing gifts of floral wreaths. Our hotel is one minute from the beach. Opposite the hotel are 140 gleaming new Royal Enfield motorcycles lined up, each one numbered and with our name on it! What a joyous sight. These bikes are a 1950′s design, but still in production only in India.

Adele participated in an ritual ceremony blessing the bikes for our trip. She has been loving the shopping here. Everything is dirt cheap.

We had an orientation evening with great Indian curry for dinner and then we flopped into bed, jetlagged and excited.

Tomorrow, we learn to ride our Royal Enfield Bullets…

With love from India,

Bruce

On the 18th Feb 2007, Adele and I are flying to Goa, India to spend two weeks riding motorcycles around India to raise money for three Indian Charities. I will be posting updates of our progress on this blog as soon as we find an internet connection in India. If you want to donate and help hundreds of Indian orphans, please visit our site at http://www.enduroindia.muzikinvestments.com.

Adele and I wil be updating the the EnduroIndia page of this Blog as often as we can while we are on our trip, so please check back often. If you want to be notified of when we update the EnduroIndia page of this Blog, click here.