Every year, I know summer is around the corner when I start looking through my collection of dog-eared road maps looking for that elusive, yet-unridden road that promises motorcycling nirvana. I know it’s summer because my craving is stirring much like a lethargic grizzly in its den, suddenly realizing that it hasn’t eaten in five months. Ladakh always beckons, like a flame to a moth, but it’s too early for the
Hill country: (clockwise from top) Icy Jalori; crossing the Tirthan by trolley; cottage at Goshaini.
ice-bound mountain passes to have been hacked clear by the Border Roads Organisation, and anyway, I am saving that ride for later in the year when my purpose-built Royal Enfield 500 with its tricked-out suspension and Enduro styling will be ready in a couple of months’ time. (Watch this space).
A few days ago, it dawned on me: I need a quick fix to reacquaint myself with the rhythm of the road on two wheels. As always, I am drawn to Himachal Pradesh, less than a day’s ride from Delhi where you can leave behind the monotonous super-slab “hurry up and get there” highways for the state’s fabulous network of back roads with its many magnificent curves for a motorcycle, narrow gravel roads and frequent overlook spots perfect for a ride that sloughs off your anxieties. As I am firming up the route, I get an email from my friend Paul Grace, a fellow Bullet rider in the UK, saying he’s racked up enough free miles on Virgin to fly to India, so let’s go ride! Now, Paul is a handy chap to have around as he races a home-built Royal Enfield in England in the pre-1965 class motocross and has written a book on it. The ever-helpful chaps at Royal Enfield agree to loan us two 500cc lean burn Machismos for our week-long ride at our start-off point in Delhi.
The first day’s ride of about 270km from Delhi to Dehradun is flat and tedious, done at a leisurely pace to get Paul used to the cut and thrust of riding on Indian roads, but still, at the end of the day he is a little ashen-faced from his first encounter with traffic on Indian highways. Dehradun is the perfect jump-off point to head into the hills, with Mussoorie just 35km away, and we get an early start the next morning. Traffic is thin and the tarmac is smooth, allowing me to get my groove on in the flowing corners — slow in, fast out — picking out a rhythm that picks up pace rapidly as I get comfortable with the road and the bike as we climb higher up.