Rupesh Bhadula from Roorkee Uttarakhand, who owns a bike accessories and modification store in Roorkee, Uttarakhand known as Speedstrikers Customs and his teammate Vimlendu Bhatt have created a new national record. The duo accomplished the fastest Char Dham ride in 6 days and 11 hours.
Along with Rupesh and Vimlendu, Akshay Saini was also riding, on his Hero Impulse. But due to issues with his motorcycle, he was not able to go all along with the other two. Astride KTM Duke 390 (Rupesh), and Bajaj Dominar 400 (Vimlendu) travelled from Badrinath Uttarakhand to Roorkee and covered a total of 1,455 kms by bike and 80 kms trekking to accomplish this feat.
Their day wise itinerary included a 254 km stretch from Roorkee to Yamunotri on Day 1. They stayed overnight at Yamunotri and travelled on to Gangotri on Day 2 covering a distance of 260 kms. Day 3 saw the trio travel from Gangotri to Gaumukh over a distance of 36 kgs going on to Gaurikund on Day 4, around 354 kms ahead. They rested the night at Gaurikund and set off early next morning on Day 5 for Kedarnath and from then on to Badrinath over a distance of 236 kms and finally on Day 7 back to Roorkee having travelled a distance of 350 kms.
This journey was a feat accomplished and record broken but was not without hurdles and difficulties along the route. The trio had to face glaciers at Gaumukh, winds of sub freezing temperatures, dangers of wild animals and rough and rugged terrain. The winter season also sees darkness spread across the northern region of India by 6 pm leaving the bikers to halt their onward journey earlier.
They also got stopped by the Forest Department at Chidwasa as visitors are not allowed to trek back in that region after 7.00pm due to fear of darkness and wild animals. The however, managed to get the necessary permission and trekked back to Gangotri, reaching at 11.00 at night.
Below is the account in their own words
DAY WISE ITENERARY
Day 1- Roorkee to Yamunotri 254kms, including trekking of 12kms (same day), night stay at Yamunotri.
Day 2- Yamunotri to Gangotri 260kms, night stay at Gangotri.
Day 3- Gangotri to Gaumukh 36kms trek (to&fro), night stay at Gangotri.
Day 4- Gangotri to Gaurikund 354kms, night stay at Gaurikund.
Day 5- Gaurikund to Kedarnath 32kms trek (to & fro), night stay Gaurikund.
Day 6- Gaurikund to Badrinath 236kms.
Day 7- Badrinath to Roorkee 350kms.
Total KMs Done: 1,455 kms by bike and 80 kms trekking.
Difficulties during the attempt:
The most difficult part of this attempt was trekking part, during our Gangotri to Gaumukh 36kms trek (to&fro). We started early morning 4:00 am from Gangotri and reached Gaumukh at 3:30 pm in afternoon and that moment of time when we are at Gaumukh glacier, (The terminus of the Gangotri Glacier is said to resemble a cow’s mouth, and the place is called Gomukh or Gaumukh) the wind was extremely cold and freezing our body like hell but somehow we manage to keep moving back towards bhojwasa ,bhojwasa was 5 kms from gaumukh glacier.
One needs to trek from Gangotri till Gaumukh, passing Devgadh, Chirbhasa, Bhojwasa en route, so it was the only place to get some hot tea.
And finally we reached Bhojwasa by 5:00 pm and halted for 15 minutes, then we have to trek 13 kms more from Bhojwasa to Gangotri.
After 6:00 pm the light was dim and the weather was extremely cold, and we are trekking with the help of torch. And Then around 7:00 pm stopped by forest department in Chidwasa because visitors are not allowed to trek back from chidwasa after 7:00 pm because of dark night and wild animals. Somehow we are able to get permission from forest officer to trek back to Gangotri and reached Gangotri by 11:00 pm by night.
So that was a exhausted day for us because of 19 hours of continues trekking.
Day 6 Fuel shortage at Joshimath petrol pump. We have wasted for 3 hours in Joshimath, we reached Joshimath by 2:00 pm and got to know that there’s no fuel at fuel station. Fuel station man said that fuel truck is on the way and probably reach in 30 mins. After waiting 45 mins truck finally arrived. Then it takes 1 hour to transfer fuel from truck to fuel station storage. After all this thing humko nayi khabar sunne ko milti hai ki bhai fuel machine hi kharab ho gyi. Then hum logo ne local kuch jugaad kiya and black mai 100? litre k hisab se 20 litres fuel liya.
The trio were sponsored by Golden Rider, 100kmph, Chopra Helmets, Bolt Chargers and Motul India.
