Boot Camp

Details:
This was a journey termed as 'Great Indian Ride' organized by Mahindra & Mahindra in association with Indiabikers.com .

There was an online contest where over 20,000 bikers applied from all over india. This was called as 'Best Job in India'.
Tons of article floating on the web. For example about the details, please refer. I pull out one article from many from the web : http://www.indiaprwire.com/pressrelease/auto/2010091562167.htm
They selected 20 bikers from the applicants based on certain criterias for this ride. 17 guys & 3 girls. Fortunately I made through & got selected & was stunned to find other xbhpians too, i.e. Urvashi from Pune & Ashish Pandey from Delhi.
This ride was basically to promote their first & new motorcycle - 'Stallio' a 110cc bike. Motive was to test its potential, prove it by this endurance rally that this can be used beyond just 'commute'.

About the BootCamp:
Before starting for this ride, we had a Boot Camp training in Pune. They prepared us for this endurance journey. Boot camp was to motivate our confidence, test out potentials, facing situations, team work, discipline. Made us do rock climbing, rappelling, early morning Mountain climb, mid-night jungle venture, staying in tents in middle of forest, hurdle sports, etc.

20 Bikers will be divided in four teams of North, East, West & South.

Manali in the North, Goa in the West, Gangtok in the East and Kanyakumari in the South. We had two service vans with us. Mahindra Zylo & Tempo Traveller. Crew with us consisting of a Team Leader (taking care of everything), Service Engineer Head & Sales Officer
of Respective areas where we are riding that time, a Paramedic, Professional Camera Guy to shoot our entire journey with a Direction person, a mechanic & all possible spares with us.
I got selected for the West Zone. Me & Urvashi along with other 3 riders where in this team. We covered a distance of over 7000kms, riding for a month through - Starting from Goa, Maharashtra-Gujarat-MadhyaPradesh-Maharashtra. We had to give a visit to Mahindra 2 Wheeler Dealers in various places, they welcomed us in a very big way. This came to an end in Nagpur (Zero Mile of India), where all the zones came together after a month. The finale was grand, had ramp walks, press conference followed by a big party.

Some links on net :

http://business.ezinemark.com/mahindra-stallio-great-indian-ride-culminates-in-nagpur-mahindra-stallio-riders-spread-message-of-safety-in-unique-pan-india-rally-17230901ced.html

My Experience:
This journey was a huge experience in itself. Initially, thought touring & riding for month for 7000kms will be a huge challenge on a mere 110cc basic commuting bike, without discs. But later we started getting so use to with this steed. And must say the kind of terrains we rode on, it stood wonderfully. The suspensions where really superb. We rode 40% of our ride on gravel, rocks, no-roads. The team was superb, couldnt forget the days we spent together venturing this beautiful part of India.
We been to places where a person wont 'decide' intentionally to visit them. As there are no fascinating & popular things to see. But still they are 'naturally' to beautiful. Enjoyed each day. New Day, New people, new places, New terrains, new food.. And everything on a Bike.... Just awesome!!! Indeed was a best job :)

Writing detail log is impossible for me of each day, so I summarized it all here. Videos are been uploaded regularly by them on Indiabikers.com or Youtube.com/Indiabikers . Our videos specifically our of West Zone.
Will upload lots of pix over the next days.......

For now.. BootCamp Pix :

We had our accommodation in this hotel of Pune - The Corinthians