Motorcycle group ride to Spiti: Road trip on a KTM 390 Adventure

Apart from the KTMs, we also had a Yezdi and 3 Royal Enfield Himalayan bikes in the riding group.

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I have a personal philosophy to try a new thing every year, this keeps the clock ticking and helps in building new memories to replace some old ones which one needs to let go.

Skippable Background

I was doing too many Google searches on KTM vs Interceptor 650, once I found that my Bullet Std 350 CI though a sweet thumper is not anymore a mile muncher in the highways. Sure she can do 600-650 kms rides, but it's always filled with more exhaustion, than relaxation due to the sluggish nature of the ride.

I really liked the KTM adv and the Interceptor 650, but was leaning more towards the KTM. Eventually, I decided that the 5 km test ride is not enough to plonk lakhs of rupees into a bike which will be stuck with me for the next 15 years (possibly). Browsing through the KTM sites and internet I came across a group ride with KTM bikes for spiti/leh. This will give me enough "test-ride" to make a solid decision.

In between I also had the most irritating task of searching a new house for rent. The dates for the Spiti trips were all set for June and I had to vacate my house in June too. Thus my frantic house search began which consisted of 100 kms minimum of travel in my bullet and finalized one dwelling. In between I was juggling office work, FC renewal of my bullet, personal issues and zillions of miscellaneous items. I booked the trip with the company for the June 1st week slot and started getting ready for the trip.

Gearing Up

I had a 10 yrs old Dsg Nero jacket which is clearly not at all capable for Himalayan adventure anymore. So I went to the Rynox showroom and got hold of a stealth Evo3 jacket, a couple of bungee cords, rain liners for the jacket and rain pants. Also, I got a tank pouch from Guardian Gears for a princely sum of 600/- which I think is a good accessory that could possibly free up your pockets from bulging up and cheap enough to let it stick to the bike unattended.

Trip Plan

The trip was planned as below.

• Day 1: BLR to Chandigarh arrival and bike assignment
• Day 2: Ride from Chandigarh to Narkanda
• Day 3: Narkanda to Chitkul
• Day 4: Chitkul to Nako
• Day 5: Nako to Kaza
• Day 6: Kaza and nearby places
• Day 7: Kaza to Batal
• Day 8: Batal to Manali
• Day 9: Manali to Chandigarh
• Day 10: Chandigarh to BLR

There were some concerns about not being able to explore Chandratal due to ice on the roads, but for me, I was oblivious to where I go, for me going was the destination in itself, where it didn't matter. Sometimes life sets you up with pieces you can't really play, those times it's important to just play for the sake of it, win or lose doesn't matter. If not this then the next game will be better, but for that to happen you need to get along and play the current one.

Day 1: Red eye flight to Chandigarh

Being of middle-class disposition it was always paramount that I will save a few thousand bucks over the comfort of good sleep, so not as a surprise to myself I ended up clicking on the 4.45 am flight and doomed myself to a sleepless night for catching the flight. 2 days back I had already check listed my things to carry and dumped everything in my 70L trekking rucksack.

For the riding gear, I planned to carry them in my hand-baggage as losing them was not an option. Other clothes I will get in Chandigarh too. So I dismantled all the armor inserts from the Jackets and Pants and stowed them precisely in the hand baggage. Whose weight came out to be 6.5 kgs and thus within the carrying limit.

Got a cab at 12 am reached the airport by 1 am and finishing off the baggage drop and security check I prepared myself for the long wait for boarding. I had carried "A Life over Two Beers" by Sanjeev Sanyal which is a light read, so delved into the book and a few of the songs from my mobile.

Slowly the time crept up and I got into the flight for an amazing view of the morning sun.

The Chandigarh Airport is shared with IAF so multiple Antonovs were sighted when the flight landed. As is the norm with us Indian fliers, before even the gates were open passengers started jostling with their luggage as if all the windows will turn doors. I admire their zeal to get off the plane even knowing that they will anyways have to wait in the baggage belt for their luggage. Ignoring all the hustle I read a page more of the book and once the queue started moving I got my gears and got my luggage and headed out for the "Airport Pre Paid Taxi", Which is a scam of 800/- vs 450/- as shown by OLA/UBER apps. Based on the trip coordinator's suggestion and against my better judgement I opted for the scammy pre-paid and headed towards the hotel near the Chandigarh railway station.

Somehow managed to get an early check-in, then freshened up and restored my riding gear with the armor inserts and got it ready. Slowly more riders/pillions started joining in and we started cussing the trip coordinator en masse upon the location of the hotel. The hotel staff and interiors were nice but the location was of serious concern for all.

As being a diligent foodie I had already prepared a list of places to cover and the first of them was Pal dhaba. So I and a bunch of other fellow riders and pillions headed towards the shop and ordered a jumbo serving of tandoori chickens, butter chicken, naan and tandoori roti apart from malai lassi. Butter chicken was okay but not up to the mark but the rest of the stuff was quite good. Lassi was awesome though and we had a second glass too.

In the evening we got introduced to our rides. I did a customary check and picked up a bike which I felt was decent enough. The not being able to flat-foot the ground hit me immediately as to turn the bike's orientation it was difficult from the saddle as I was not getting enough traction from the ground. So as would be the norm in future, I would get down and would steer the vehicle off the saddle. The first ride itself was off-road and I was a bit anxious about a fall, this was bound to happen but today was not the day.

I took the bike out and got the tank filled and fumbled with the tank cap when closing (riding a new bike comes with its own challenges as I was faithful to my bullet all these years, and these simple operations seemed like piloting a fighter jet ).

Then took the bike for LS2 shopping as the accompanying helmet was like a papad. So got it from the famed helmet shoppe in sector 21/22. After that returned back to hotel chatted and made acquaintances with many of the riders/pillions while sitting on the hotel terrace. At night we had a sumptuous dinner. Discussed the next day's plan with the ride captain. And then headed back to our rooms for rest.

Day 2: Chandigarh to Narkanda - Jam jam jammy

I woke up early as I am used to, finished off my chores and then headed out for a cup of tea, which in the location was difficult to find and was a bit of a walk away. Returned back and slowly everyone started getting ready. There were KTMs, a yezdi, and 3 Himalayans, out of which 1 each of KTM, yezdi and Himalayan were personal vehicles of the riders. The riders were from all over India - Maharashtra, Gujrat, West Bengal, Odisha, Rajasthan. But namma Bengaluru was over-represented

As usual in a group, there is bound to be a delay and thus we were waiting on our bikes and sweating in the typical Chandigarh heat. Finally, the time had come and we started the ride after fueling up. Chandigarh being in the foothills, we didn't take much time to reach the hilly sections of the highway towards Solang. The roads were excellent and we started to get into the lap of the Himalayas.

Feeling upbeat about the ride we were all happily cruising on our mighty 390 Advs, I was still getting used to the mirrored controls in every aspect of gear and rear brake operations but it was a smooth-shifting motorcycle with immense pickup on the road. Overtaking of larger vehicles was just with a slight twist of the wrist. It was a totally different experience than the bullet, and I was loving it.

But all good things come to an end and so did the smooth rides as we entered Shimla. It had already started raining and on top of that the miles-long traffic jams were a car driver's nightmare. We being on bikes made faster progress but here I realised that the tank pouch was unable to help me navigate easily as via the helmet the mobile was not easily visible. I started missing my bobo holder, which I forgot to bring to the trip. Every time I lost my way I would stop the bike, check the map on the mobile and remember the next turns to take and ride again, which was quite a tedious process.

After getting out of Shimla, we headed out for Narkanda and on the way we stopped at an eatery to have simple dal-rice. With Shimla in our rear view now, the roads were quite less congested and we again started enjoying the ride. Riding in a group has its disadvantages as you don't get to stop where you want to take a pic and you have to stop and stop for longer when you don't want to. So a few pics which I managed to get on the way to our camp at Narkanda.

We had already made good acquaintances with our fellow riders and pillions by this time, all were friendly and nice people including the ride captain and the support staff in the backup vehicle. It was a friendly journey together and I was enjoying my time riding.

Finally, after a few hours of riding, I had my first real experience of off-roading when we took a steep gravelled downhill path to the camp stay at Narkanda. To top it off I was not using the rear brake as it was confusing enough to operate the mirrored gear controls so had to handle the gravel path by using only the front brake (Which is not advisable on turns, but it was too confusing to use the rear brake for my 4-speed RS brain ). In a tall bike where you don't have the guarantee to reach the ground, I negotiated a bit carefully to not make a mistake.

A Note to Self: need to learn to manage tall bikes in uneven terrain. Due to not being flexible/aware enough I had 2-3 parking falls in the trip. More on that later.

The views from the campsite were gorgeous.

As the night started settling in, the cold started hitting us fast. Being in the heat of Chandigarh, the first bite of the Himalayan chill was starting to register. I sat a while near the campfire after dinner and as the crowd there started dissolving I headed downstairs where the party had just begun with torches as disco lights and whatnot. It was a fun time there sitting there and enjoying the songs and the vibe.

Continue reading masterChief007's road trip experience for BHPian comments, insights and more information.