Bangalore to Spiti: Last ride on my Kawasaki Versys before goodbye

My Versys made me do something which I thought was beyond my motorcycling skill.

BHPian anshumandun recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Do we buy cars/motorcycles to go places? Or do we go places because we have a vehicle in the garage that should be taking us places?

In my case, it was the Versys 650 in the garage that was just dying to take me across India and to the roof of the world: The Himalayas! I could not say "NO" so there we were, on the Bangalore-Hyderabad highway as she warmed up galloping 550 kms with a grin on her face. She was happier than usual as she had her previous year's Leh road trip friends for company: Mean Green and Matt Black.

Next morning, as she tore across the Maharashtra highway with her torquey mid-range, I just sat cocooned in utmost comfort and in awe of her best asset: Suspension. The Showa Separate Functions Forks setup on the Versys is just outstanding!

And then came MP, where we were reminded that nothing in life is free, not even sitting without purpose.

Finally, the marathon day arrived. I tried to tell her that we'll take it easy but she had a different plan. Jhansi came and went. Gwalior came and went. Agra came and went. Delhi came and I said "Enough"! But the Agra Expressway had unleashed her inner monster that made her unstoppable and she broke her record of 1000 kms plus in a single day and we ended up in Chandigarh.

2500 kms away from home, now the actual trip began. Dark, Windy, Rain and Thunderstorm: a perfect welcome to the Himalayas.

After spending the night in Narkanda, we rode to Chitkul amidst scenic snow-capped mountains. Hailing from Bangalore, she was not used to the bitter cold of the mountains and the night took a toll on her. Frozen water on the wiring shorted some connections and her horns went blaring in the middle of the night and woke up everyone in the tents. I had to crawl out in freezing temperatures and pull-off the horn wiring connections to calm her down.

The mountains mesmerized us as we rode through Pooh, Nako, Tabo, Pin Valley, Dhankar, Hikkim, Langza and Kaza. It was the magic of the place that took our bond to a different level and I felt 'one with the machine' and I think she felt the same.

And then it happened! Fork seal oil leak and that too one day before the Kaza-Manali ride. With no doctor in town with skills to help her out, I had no option but to trust her to make it through.

The D day arrived. The 10 hours of 200 kms off-roading threw everything possible at us: snow walls, melting glaciers, slush, innumerable water-crossings, falling stones. Finally, we entered Manali by evening and I've never felt happier to see a tar road in my life.

In hindsight, I would never have attempted this ride had I known what I was getting into. But I am so grateful that this ride happened to us because this day has been etched in our memory forever. My Versys made me do something which I thought was beyond my motorcycling skill.

As they say, you retire at your peak. I felt like this was the peak for me. And so we decided to part ways. I hope she has moved on because I have not. I will find a replacement soon because she was just a machine, but with a SOUL

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