Trading the roads less travelled

What do a pharmaceutical professional, a businessman and an erstwhile royal from the state have in common? If they are named Ramakrishnan, Kaustubh Mishra and Prithvisinhji Desai respectively, then it is the love for traversing the roughest landscapes in Gujarat on their specialised machines that binds them.

They are three of the hundreds of off-road driving enthusiasts from the city, who literally take the road less, nay, never travelled.

Off-road driving/riding is fast picking up as a weekend activity. Many here have been bitten by the OTR (off-the-road) bug over the past five years. Their preferred OTR destinations include Kotarpur, Jambughoda (Panchmahals), Pindarda (Gandhinagar), Jhanjari (Sabarkantha) and the ever-popular Rann of Kutch among others.

Background no bar
Ramakrishnan, or Ramky as he prefers to be called, is the 54-year-old vice-president of training and development at a global pharmaceuticals firm in the city. His is a story of rediscovering a forgotten passion.

“I used to rally professionally in the 1980s, driving and navigating a Gypsy as well as riding my Yezdi Roadking motorcycle in Kerala. After marriage, my wife asked me to vow to never participate in the sport again and I gave her my word.
After nearly 20 years, and with her concurrence, I decided to take up off-roading as a leisure activity,” he recalls.

Ramky purchased a Mahindra jeep in 2010, and has never looked back since. He was even designated marshall for a rally event held in the state recently.

Desai, 22, hails from the royal family of Patdi in Surendranagar district. On weekdays, he works as managing director at his chemicals firm. On weekends, he points his 1994 Mahindra Classic 4x4 to one of the OTR trails on the outskirts of the city.

He inherited the vehicle from his father in 2009. “The jeep had been gathering dust for eight years, before I restored it,” he said.

For Aditya Rathore, ‘jeeping’ has been a childhood passion. “My father used to take me off-roading in his Willys GPW, and later a Land Rover when I was a kid. Three years ago, when I could afford to keep a jeep of my own, I began going to various trails with fellow members of a popular online automotive forum,” he said. His is no regular jeep. It was modified to house a 3.5-litre DCM Toyota engine, which is otherwise found doing duty on medium-sized trucks.

From four wheels to two
While the treads may be lesser than a jeep, motorcycle riders’ zeal for off-roading remains unchanged. Mishra, MD of a motorcycle dealership and convenor of a riders’ group, takes an average of 100 bikers to one-day off-road trails in the state and outside thrice a month.

The IIM-Lucknow alumnus, who began riding off-road in 2000, gets to choose between his Royal Enfield Electra or Classic 500 motorcycles when he goes out on rides.

Abhishek Dwivedi, 29, owner of a design firm in the city said, “I used to dream of riding dirt tracks since childhood, and it finally reached fruition as member of a Delhi-based riders’ club.” On the other end of the spectrum is Dr Dushyant Pawar, 27, a general surgeon from the city. He began off-roading two years ago, after he acquired his RE Electra motorcycle.

Take-away from getaways
“You learn about and respect your and the bike’s capabilities, and that optimum performance will get you to places no one has been. So keep yourself and your machine in shape,” Dwivedi explained. It also teaches one to keep trying, he added.

“Off-roading, like any passion, requires a lot of attention; almost like a girlfriend. But it offers an unparalleled sense of adventure, teaches teamwork and taking calculated risks. Since there are no roads, you get to explore the unexplored,” Ramky explained.

For Desai, safety, precaution and patience are important lessons learnt from OTR experiences. While for Vikram Sharma, proprietor of a car audio & performance store, his first experience was an eye-opener. “Going down a steep gradient you have to hold on to dear life, but what a rush!” he recalled.

The Means
Meet people: There are members from various online enthusiasts’ forums and groups in every city. Contact one of these groups for membership and learn the ropes before you decide to take the plunge.

Find a machine: If kept in good condition, used jeeps cost Rs3.5 lakh upwards, which you can buy and modify to your preference and need; in case of motorcycles, good ground clearance and bottom-end torque are a must.

Preferences can range from used Yamaha RX-100 to new Royal Enfields
No ‘fakes’: Jeeps are also show-off items, especially ones from Mayapuri. These are done up as show vehicles and not go-anywhere ones, warn experienced hands. Similar is the case with modified bikes.

Jeeper Essentials
Good team: Nothing beats a group with good rapport as understanding team members can prove life-savers in emergency situations.

Special tyres: Stock tyres tend to have negligible traction in extreme conditions, so good all-terrain (AT) or mud-terrain (MT) tyres with deeper treads and different compounds will do a better job.

Tow straps: Connect between two jeeps to pull out a stuck vehicle, and tow-hooks to facilitate the straps.

Air pump: To increase traction in no-road conditions, tyre air pressure is reduced. The pump restores pressure to original when returning to normal roads.