CHENNAI: Covering 16,000kms in 52 days may sound a tall order. But if you are riding on these mean machines with buddies riding by, impossible, perhaps, is nothing.Six brave men began their journey from New Delhi on March 11. That was part of the Grand Indian Road Trip powered by Castrol Power 1. Riding across the rugged hills, valleys and many a dusty road, through sunrises and sunsets, the six pack has reached Chennai.So far, they have clocked 9,000kms, leaving them to cover a few more thousands of kilometres by April 28. Sundeep Gajjar, who goes with his biker name Sunny, summarised: “The Grand Indian Road Trip is all about connecting with other bikers from all parts of India. In the process, we share, inspire each other and give everyone a chance to be part of the pan Indian biking community.”Sunny, who in 2002 founded Xbhp, a magazine and a portal for the biking community with 50,000 members nationwide, is the team lead. They don’t ride alone. Rather, they seek partnerships with local biking clubs. “We invite local biker communities to ride with us. So, wherever we are, some 50-60 riders from the local clubs ride with us for about 100-150kms to mark our partnership.” The partnership is now 24 clubs strong.“Throughout the trip, we promote safe riding through the Castrol Power1 Helmet of change signed by the biker communities who rode with us. As part of this campaign, the bikers take a pledge to endorse safety and commit themselves to safe riding,” remarked Sunny.At the end of the trip, they plan to have leather jackets made bearing the logos of every biking club that rode with them. The jacket would be gifted to the president of each biking club as an honour keepsake.A crowd scoured book, a compilation of voices of the bikers on what biking meant to them, is on the anvil. Those who want to share their views could do so online. Like all communities, they too have a Facebook page, a blog and are on Twitter. A DVD containing a series of photographs of this trip is on the cards.Though this time it was an all men team, Castrol Power 1 also supports a forum for women bikers called as the ‘Bickernis’.Over here, their visit to the Royal Enfield factory set the tone for their Chennai stop over. On Sunday, they plan to do a 60km drive on the ECR with a Chennai group called the ‘Roaring riders’ and the ‘Madras Bulls’.The team includes Old Fox aka Sandeep Goswami, a rider with 25 years of experience, Sunil Gupta, a veteran pan-Indian rider and a visual artist, Himanshu Gupta, otherwise called the ‘Rambo Guy’, Abhishek Bhatt, who has a penchant for the unknown, and Shivanshu Singh, the Geek who loves his bike. Sundeep, the leader, is as much at home with his camera as with bike.
Comments
0 comment