Himalayas India Special Featuring the Royal Mavericks of Delhi

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
unknown (00:00):
Adding a little something to this month's sales
contest.
As you all know, first prize isa Cadillac, El Dorado.
Anybody want to see secondprize?
Second prize a set of steakknives.
Third prize is your fun.

(04:33):
Where we discussed all things ontwo wheels, the adventure bike
cannonball, and othermotorcycle-related nonsense.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
Season four, episode two.
Welcome to Adventure CannonballPodcast.
I am your host, Taylor Lawson,and today I am joined by someone
who absolutely knows how toorder the appropriate amount of
sushi and food for an awardsbanquet.
He is better known to you asAaron Puffall.
Welcome to the show.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Wow, high praise.
Thank you, sir.
Thanks for having me.
I appreciate you doing this.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
I just gotta say a caveat on the uh or sort of a
backstory on the first bit isthat when you and I went to
another rally, we will notdiscuss which one it was.
The food was gone after thefirst, I don't know, 15 people
went through, and there was awhole room full of people who
didn't get to eat.
I'm kidding.
It was probably more like thefirst 20 people who went
through.
But I know that you didn't getto eat.

(05:36):
As a result, I had to buy youcopious amounts of rum and cokes
that evening.
But I don't think thatcompensated for the lack of
food.
And you have made up for itduly in this event.
Well done.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
Thanks.
I think maybe I overdid it.
I was so concerned aboutrunning out of food that at the
end of the night there was, youknow, I think three, four
platters of sushi left and allthese chicken wings and stuff.
And thankfully the staff alltook it home.
So uh it none of it was wasted.
And as a matter of fact, I justI'm just signing the contract
with the uh Hilton in Monterey.

(06:06):
And uh I think they think I'mcrazy because I'm like, we gotta
have enough food.
I'm not really sure many peopleare coming yet, but you know,
we need to make sure thateveryone's covered.
Are you sure this is enough?
Please ask the chef for someadvice.
So, anyways, yeah, it kind ofmaybe left the uh PTSD as far as
uh food goes.
But I today, speaking of fooduh and drinking too much, I have

(06:27):
in front of me a Main Streetbrewing from Victoria, British
Columbia.
It's called a naked fox WestCoast IPA, 6.8%, an IBU of 55.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
Oh yeah.
Very nice.
Thank you.
I like it.
I um I've gone back to theapocalyptic thunder juice.
So great.
New England IPA.
What a great name.
It's got great graphics on ittoo.
It's like a totem pole.
Nice.
Enjoy, sir.
You deserve it.
Hang on.
Let me let me let me try toopen this without getting it all

(07:01):
over the uh the keyboard.
Hang on.
Successful.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
Nice.
Uh while while you're enjoyinga sip of that, we started the
episode with some music aboutthe 2025 cannonball.
And we will, before theoutroll, we'll roll some music
about the 2026 event.
And today we're gonna coverIndia and we're gonna cover the
Royal Mavericks.
We're gonna cover an interviewwith Fajish, our photographer

(07:29):
from India, and some ADVcannonball news.
So it's a big one, but I'll putsome uh chapter markers in for
people if they want to skipahead.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah, nice.
Yeah, it's we got a lot tocover.
Um, that said, let me ask you,how was it getting to India for
you?

Speaker 2 (07:44):
Yeah, it was a bit of a trip.
Um, but I had arranged astopover in Japan because I
thought I'm gonna go take somephotography and rent a
motorcycle.
So once I got there, it wasclearly apparent that it was
hot.
It was hotter than than hell,and it was hot in the middle of
the night.
It's easy to get around, that'sfor sure.

(08:05):
But the photography, you know,dream went out the window.
I took two pictures and Istopped.
But I had some important advicefor people about renting a
motorcycle in Japan.
Taylor, have you been to Japanbefore?

Speaker 1 (08:18):
I have, but I was there, yeah, I was there.
Um, partly on business, partfor fun.
But either way, I did not getmy hands on a motorcycle when I
was there.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
So there is a company called rental819.com.
It's not sponsored, and this isthe company that you want to
use, but you have to, have to,have to fill out your account
two or three days before youdecide that you want to rent.
And don't make the same mistakethat I did.
Your actual internationaldriving permit, you have to have

(08:49):
it issued within one year ofattempting to use it.
It doesn't say on the frontthat it expires in one year, it
says it in the back somewhere.
But I had arranged to rent thismotorcycle.
I was all excited, and I got anemail from them saying that my
IDP was expired.
And then I went down a rabbithole of, well, I can just get

(09:09):
one online.
And no, no, this is Japan.
So they are not going to allowyou to use some hokey uh IDP
from you know Nigeria.
You have to have one from, youknow, like AAA or CAA, one of
these actual, you know,reputable people who issue these
driver's permits.

Speaker 1 (09:29):
Um, on that, I got one before an international
driver's permit IDP before Iwent to India.
It was never asked for, but hadit been asked for, I would have
had it.
But it's interesting, there'stwo different types.
There's one that lasts for oneyear and one that lasts for two
years.
And depending on the whateverthat country subscribes to, or
whatever convention that it waswritten under that that country

(09:50):
signed on to, it either is oneyear or two years.
And in and I did mine onlinethrough a car club in Sweden,
and it was 40 US dollars, itarrived in four days.
And they said for India, it wasa one year only, but some
countries are two.
But as you say, like Japanobviously was a one year.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, just make sure that the convention that your
IDP is being written to uhconform to, make sure that this
company, the rental 819, you areconforming to whatever you know
guidelines they have.
It's very strict, but it is,you know, it's a high trust
society.
So I actually went to therental place where I was going

(10:31):
to pick up my motorcycle justbecause just because it had
nothing to do.
And I went there and I I lookedat the bike I was gonna rent
and I dreamed of ripping aroundthe countryside.
And you literally just show up,you scan a QR code, and a guy
goes, There's your motorcycle,have a nice day.
And it is it is great tofunction in a high trust
society.
And even getting over there, Iflew on um a Japanese airline,

(10:56):
and what an experience, man.
I walked up every time beforeboarding.
I said, I'm flying alone.
Could you check for an emptyseat somewhere that I can sit
next to?
Three out of the four flights,they put me in a seat.
I was flying coach, of course,uh, and they put me in a seat
with an empty seat next to me.
It was fantastic.
The staff was great, all theclientele was great.

(11:17):
People boarded the plane in acivilized manner.
Everyone just sat down untiltheir group was called.
I'm telling you, I am sold.
If I ever get a chance to flyanywhere on a Japanese airline,
that's what I'm doing.

Speaker 1 (11:29):
Are you sure you didn't get the preferential
treatment because you had thelittle card on your neck?

Speaker 2 (11:34):
No, listen, I'm special, okay?
And that's just what the cardI'm gonna use.
Okay, no, but in all in allseriousness, it was a great
experience.
And uh, you know, and I alsowant to mention I stayed in a
capsule hotel because, you know,I watch too much YouTube and
I'm gonna stay in a capsulehotel because that's what you
do.
Don't stay in a capsule hotel.

(11:55):
Well, asterisk, stay in acapsule hotel if you sleep like
the dead, because in the middleof the night, you know, you're
obviously gonna be jet lagged.
Some drunk salary man comes inwho's living his best life.
Hats off to you, bro.
But, you know, he's obviouslypissed.
It's two o'clock in themorning.
He starts eating, other peopleare snoring, dropping stuff in

(12:15):
the middle of the night.
People's alarms are going offbecause they got to go catch a
flight in like an hour.
It was a nightmare.
It was civilized because, youknow, in the bath the bathroom
area, it's quite nice.
The toilets are, you know,dreamy.
But listen, unless you are uh aheavy sleeper, do not try for a
capsule hotel, is my advice.

Speaker 1 (12:36):
So basically, if I back it up there and you say it
was a nightmare, a nightmareactually would have been an
upgrade from what you hadbecause you didn't actually get
to sleep.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
It was terrible.
But, anyways, like most things,I've done it, I've checked it
off on my to-do list.
It was a it was an experience,uh, but you know, hashtag never
again.
But you had a never again, andthank goodness you went through
this because I don't know how Ihow I would have survived it.
But when you showed up inSrinagar, you had reserved a

(13:04):
houseboat through booking.com.
And what did you see when youarrived on this nightmare of a
houseboat?

Speaker 1 (13:10):
Yeah, well, let me first say that when you shared
your tran your travel detailswith me, I missed the plus two,
which meant you were showing uptwo days after you had left.
And I just read the date and Iwas like, boom, well, I'll show
up then.
So I added my day on the on thefront end, and I got there two
days ahead of you.
And um and when I got there, Ijust I was first of all, you you

(13:31):
come from the airport, you gotabout a half an hour ride into
town, and then you go and theyand the the taxi cab drops you
at a dock, and then there's allof these long skinny boats tied
up.
These are called Shakaras, andthey're paddled around or
they're motored by you know, twohorsepower, whatever, Yamaha.
And they paddle me over to theboat, and I get on the boat, and

(13:54):
I'm like, I walk in and and Ihad booked a room with two beds
in it, so I could share a roomwith Aaron, and it had one bed,
and I was like, nah, this isn'twhat I had planned, but we can
fix that.
And then I was like, dude, I'vebeen traveling for 36 hours.
Can I please just use a toilet,maybe have a shower?
So I go into the bathroom,there's a curtain as opposed to

(14:14):
a door, and then I turn on thewater and it's brown and it
smells like eggs.
It's like out of a well, itsmelled really, really bad.
I thought it was directly fromthe river that I was in, which
was would have been worse.
So the water was brown.
I said, Can I get some hotwater on a shower?
And there were spiderseverywhere, it's really nasty in
the bathroom.
And they said, Oh, hot water,hot water in um when power is

(14:39):
back on.
And I said, When's the powercoming on?
They're like, in an hour.
And I said, And then how longuntil hot water?
And they said, half an hour.
And I was like, What about airconditioning?
It was like it was like 85, youknow, probably 90% humidity.
And I was like, What about airconditioning?
They're like, No, no, we don'thave power.
And I was like, Well, how aboutinternet?
He said, We don't haveinternet, and I was like, I'm

(14:59):
just gonna take a nap.
I'm just gonna, I'm just gonnalet me just I'm just gonna just
go to the bath go to the go tothe toilet first.
So I I go into the bathroom andI I come back out and I say,
Can I can I get some toiletpaper?
And the guy goes, Oh yeah.
So he goes and he comes backand he hands me a roll of toilet
paper that has human feces onthe end of the roll.
Oh, I'm out of there.
That's it.

(15:19):
I'm out.
I was like, okay, okay, allright, this I booked this, I'm
here, you know.
And at this point I couldn'tremember if I had paid for it or
not.
And I was like, all right, I'mjust gonna, I said, I'm just
gonna, maybe it'll be better.
I'm just gonna take a short napand I'll wake up and then I'll
be refreshed and I'll have afresh perspective on things.
So I pulled the sheets back andsomeone had clearly used those

(15:42):
sheets before I got there, and Iwas like, okay, that's it.
So I said to the guy, I waslike, turn on your phone and
hotspot.
And he goes, No, I can't dothat.
And I was like, turn on yourphone and hotspot it.
Anyway, after I said that a fewtimes and stepped, you know,
kept getting a little bit closerto him.
Um, there's already like nopersonal space, but I got really

(16:03):
close to him, and I said, Turnon your phone, and he goes,
Hotspot now.
So then I called our fixer,Urvashi, whom we spoke about in
the at the live live at the fromthe Himalayas, and she put me
in touch with a guy who was inactually that group, the bad
houseboat, new heritage group ofhouseboats in Dal Lake,
D-A-H-L.
Do not ever book new heritagegroup of houseboats.

(16:27):
It used to be called Aminagroup of houseboats, and um,
don't ever do that.
Anyway, I got in touch with aguy named Maksud.
I was on a conference call, andthen this guy says, This is
Maksud.
And I was like, hello.
And he says, I will take youout of the hole and fix this.
I was like, cool.
So I got back in a shakar, wentto the talks to the dock.
I had no money either.
And I said, I don't have anymoney.

(16:48):
He goes, No problem.
Again, as you said earlier,Japan's a very high trust
society.
This part of India, which is95% Muslim, super high trust
society.
And anyway, the end of thestory is that I got to this
house boat, I got a I got on theon this uh tuk-tuk, and he took
me around in the Shakar rideover.
No money, no money, no money.
I finally got there and they'relike, we took care of

(17:09):
everything.
I got there on the boat, and itwas the one you came and joined
me on.
So two days later, when you gotthere, we already had some of
these major things worked out,i.e., we had a we had we had the
nicest houseboat actually inthat entire city.

Speaker 2 (17:23):
Yeah, it was strange because they have just gone
through that terrorist attack.
So there was no customers,there was no tourism happening
in this whole area.
And we should give some traveladvice here.
This is important.
If you're going to Srinagar,uh, this is a military area.
It is, especially after theterrorist attacks.

(17:44):
Your phone, now I have a verygood international roaming phone
left over from my old job.
And this is the only placewhere the roaming has not turned
on.
And I'm talking, I've been tosome like little islands in the
middle of nowhere.
I have been to the Middle East,I've been to you, you name it.
I've been there with my phone,it has worked.
It did not work there.
So that's why you had to askfor the hotspot.

(18:04):
So my first bit of advice is beprepared for not having any
cell phone signal once youarrive.
The next bit of advice is yourbank cards probably won't work.
And there's nothing worse thangetting to a place and not uh
and not having cash.
So my advice is I would travelwith a thousand bucks US.

(18:26):
And because it's a high trustsociety, I was able to walk into
a money exchanger.
And of course, there's going tobe a little bit of they have to
make some money, but I'mtelling you, they probably made
like 10 bucks and they handed mea stack.
I'm talking like a like like astack of cash.
And that lasted us quite awhile.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
Yeah, I mean, the stack it was about a three-inch
stack of cash.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
So that's my advice.
Be prepared for no cell phonesignal.
Uh, you can get a SIM cardlocally in eSIM, but that's
going to be a bit of a journey.
And don't think that anythingis going to work on anything but
cash.
And my second bit of adviceabout cash is get small money.
So when you stop on the side ofthe road with your motorbike
and you just want to grab, youknow, an energy drink or grab

(19:12):
some food, make sure that youget small money when you can.
And whenever you get smallmoney, just make sure you have,
you know, 20 or 100 or 200rupees in your pocket for buying
small things like that.

Speaker 1 (19:24):
Well, I just want to name the name of the houseboat,
which was really good.
And that was the new JacquelineHeritage Houseboats in Nigin
Lake.
And that's where we spent time.
Um and by the time, by the timeactually you uh you got there,
we had some things nailed down.
And then by the time Chris Joband by the time Chris Watson

(19:45):
showed up, we only had theystayed one night, we all stayed
one more night.
So they came in Thursday.
By the time those boys gotthere, we had it.
They they both took a napbecause they just came in from
uh traveling from the west.
And then by the time they gotthere, we had in this 95% Muslim
town that was dry for the mostpart.
You couldn't go, like we wentto the nicest restaurant there,
and we couldn't get, you know,nothing to drink, right?

(20:06):
Because it's Muslim.
They don't drink.
Um, but there was one liquorstore that you found, Aaron.

Speaker 2 (20:12):
And by the time, you know, then it was every night
we're like, woo-hoo, we got acocktail cruise, we got a
shakar, we're gonna go out andhave a sunset cruise and go
paddle around the lake and anddrink.
Fly drones, do all the stuffyou're not supposed to do.
Oh, yeah.
Let's talk about the drones.
You cannot have a drone in thismilitary area, they are not
messing around.
I have never seen so after soafter we leave Srinagar, we go

(20:34):
off into the mountains uh on themotorcycles.
But even in Srinagar, it is amilitary installation.
And we have some videos up onInstagram that shows us getting
stopped by, you know, thesedubious military guys.
But, anyways, I had anexperience when I was leaving uh
and I did some research.
You cannot have a drone.

(20:54):
We had drones, but we shouldnot have had drones.
And I had my Garmin in Reachsatellite communication device,
and I was going through securityinto international departures
in Delhi.
And one of the guys, you know,asked me, he goes, What is this?
And I said, Well, it's just foremergency.
He goes, This is awalkie-talkie, isn't it?

(21:17):
And gave me the eye.
And I'm like, You're right.
This is a walkie-talkie.
He goes, Don't take this out inthe airport until you get home,
or it'll be confiscated andyou'll be arrested.
Do you understand?
I go, Yes, sir, I fullyunderstand.
And I put him, I put it away.
And of course I wouldn't takeit out anyways.
But there were stories and notjust stories, actual media
reports of YouTubers and stuffbeing arrested and deported

(21:39):
because they were in theHimalayas area uh with drones
and satellite communicationsdevices.
So you cannot have them.
So don't pack them, don't bringthem.
It's just not worth it.
Nonetheless, we had two drones.
Well, yeah, but it's just notworth it, right?
And it's not worth thesatellite communication device.

(22:00):
It's it's it's just not worthit.
And you're not gonna go.
Let's just let's just let'sjust describe how you do a
Himalayan uh trip.
Our suggestion, I think you'llback me up in this, is go with a
reputable tour company and gowith a tour company that has a
fixed uh uh group of fixers thatare that are experienced in

(22:21):
this area.
You don't wanna have to worry,you're not gonna save a dollar
by by not having a fixer, by nothaving a tour company.
Just go with the group.
You can have a private group,that's fine, but you need the
people there who know how todeal with the local customs, who
know how to handle safety,security, who knew how know how
to deal with police checkpoints,military checkpoints, who know

(22:43):
how to have the perm the specialpermits and visas in place.
This is not an area to betrifled with.
Uh, but it's rewarding and it'samazing, but just don't try to
do it on your own.
That's the that's the advice.

Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, and if you think about, I mean, the whole
area, like from start to finish,by the time we flew in, other
than when we flew back to Delhi,that whole area that we were in
is militarily controlled.
So, I mean, there was a partwhere we went by where, like,
you know, people like, don'tbreak out the cameras, and no
one had it, you know, the peoplewho were checking us didn't
understand that the you know,GoPros are running the whole

(23:15):
time.
You know, turn the light offand GoPros are like, oh, cameras
off.
But we got pictures of peoplewho were um like the nuclear
weapons are rolling out of theside of the mountain, and the
other, you know, the mountain onone side of the lake is India,
and the mountain on the otherside of the lake is China.
So, I mean, we're right thereon that front line.
So most borders betweencountries are either rivers or

(23:36):
bodies of water, or they'remountain ranges.
So we were riding the mountainrange across all the passes,
across the top of the Himalayas,and on in the beginning of it,
on one side there was Pakistan,and then as we continued on, the
other side was China.
So we rode that range.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
Yeah, and I've been, you know, to war zones, I've
been to zero lines, and I havenever, and this is not an
understatement, I have neverseen so much military equipment
over such a vast area in mylife, and I probably never will.
You would just be riding alongand you look into a little, a
little uh uh valley, and thereis a massive military

(24:13):
installation.
You look up on a mountainrange, and there are two holes
in the mountain, clearly for atruck-mounted, you know, missile
to be to be wheeled out, uh,and then when it's not being
used, it'll be wheeled back in.
We passed uh radarinstallations with active radar
spinning.
And then a few miles later, itwas clearly the air defense

(24:35):
system for that radarinstallation.
And it was on and on and on.
I have never seen so muchmilitary equipment over such a
vast area in my life.
It was it was really, reallyamazing.
And it was very cool to ridethrough all that because the
riding was awesome, which we'llwhich we'll start to get to now.
Also, it was kind of cool to beuh in the mix with these

(24:56):
military operators.

Speaker 1 (24:58):
But what's interesting is on our final day
when we rode from Hanle back toLeh, where we flew out of back
when we then everyone just sortof this the trip ended in Leh.
Um, when we flew, we drove backthere, we drove past uh an area
that was this big open, like adesert area, a big desert basin.
And they were building anairstrip in there.

(25:18):
So there's tons and tons ofmoney dumping into here.
So India's annual militaryspending for the fiscal year of
25 to 26 is approximately 81.4billion USD, which represents a
nine almost a 10% increase fromthe previous year.
And it makes uh uh militarIndia one of the top military
spenders globally, and it'sranked fourth or fifth.

(25:41):
Those numbers are staggering,and there's still only less than
two percent of their GDP.

Speaker 2 (25:47):
I think we just talked about it off-air, and the
conclusion, because we're suchmilitary experts, of course.
So you can take this as takethis to the bank, is that
because they're investing inconventional weapons and
installations, the amount ofmoney, let's say, the US spends
on one nuclear submarine or oneaircraft carrier is literally,

(26:09):
you know, 20 of thoseinstallations.
So uh it's a little more inyour face and a little more
observable and quantifiable,whereas a modern military
operation spread across a globeis very hard to say, wow, that's
impressive.
Well, this was, you know,really, really impressive.
But maybe we should just kindof describe the uh our trip.
So we hung out in Srinagar forthree, four days.

(26:31):
We got acclimated.
We started taking our diamocks,which we'll get into a second,
and then we spent three or fouror five days uh riding higher
altitudes in through Leh withthe end goal of going to Umling
La.
And uh our base for that finalascent was Hanleh.
And then after Hanle, we wentback to uh Lei and we flew out

(26:53):
of there, which is a militarytown, to be sure.
That airport is a militaryairport, just getting in and out
of there is uh is its ownadventure.
That was kind of the the10,000-foot plan that we had,
and it went off uh really,really well.
We had the uh 450 Himalayanmotorcycles, which we beat the
crap out of.

(27:13):
And I posted some videoyesterday of you just to go up
the mountain, you're just wideopen all the time, or when
you're going across the opendesert, we spend a couple of
days in the open desert andyou're just wide open, and the
most you can get out of it islike 80, 90 kilometers an hour.
But it was really cool to be ona small motorcycle and just
flogging it like a Red Hat as astepchild.
It was it was fun.

(27:34):
Too much.

Speaker 1 (27:40):
I think that's okay.
I think I think that'llresonate more with some with
it'll re it'll have a bit of amore of a resonation with some
than others, shall we say?

Speaker 2 (27:49):
Well, we can always edit it, right?
So it's all good.
Yeah, but no, no, leave it in.
The bikes were fun, and thewhole the whole time you
thought, well, if I dump thebike, I'll just pick it up.
So any group you go with, youwant to have a minimum of one
chase van.
And they these guys are insane,like they're they're skilled
drivers, but you want to have avan that carries all your

(28:10):
equipment.
You want a bike with nothing onit.
The 450 Himalayan is notexciting for to be sure as a
motorcycle, but it gets the jobdone.
It's got that big 21-inch frontwheel, you got nothing on it
except for some water and uh ina and a little tail bag.
Uh, but that's what you want.
And you want to have the fixersin place that have handled all

(28:32):
the uh all the ins and outs.
And if something comes up,they're they're able to uh to
handle a shore side.

Speaker 1 (28:39):
Yeah.
Um we did so much.
I mean, the riding was soagain, you put a bunch of you
can see on the um on ADVcannibal, you can see a lot of
the the footage of what we did.
And you just put up a videothat was what did you put the
one up for 26 minutes you justput up that you edited?
Is that up there?

Speaker 2 (28:53):
That's just uh it's more of like a music video, uh,
but it just gives you uh a broadview of the desert riding to
the broken roads with themilitary trucks weaving it out
of it, to the beautiful singlelane.
You you wouldn't, it'll it'llblow your mind.
Single lane roads for miles andmiles and days and days of you

(29:14):
know, there's no cops anywhere.
It's the one of the lastbastions of true freedom is that
you can spend the whole daygoing as fast as your adult
heart wants to go, and you candrive off the sound of the
mountain, and you know, that'syour own problem, right?
So it's one of the last uh uhplaces of true freedom on a

(29:34):
motorcycle that is inspiring toride in.
The the single-lane roads tothe deserts, to you name it, was
just amazing, really special.

Speaker 1 (29:43):
Yeah, I was looking at videos, I was just chatting
with a friend, and I was like,Um, if you look at that video,
it seems like I was after I wasjust after watching that 26, 30
minute video that you put up.
Um, and I was like, was thatbecause in that filming, like
you and I rode together.
A lot.
So look at that, and I waslike, is that really me and that
you know bright orange helmet?

(30:04):
And and I was like, it seemslike it was it's just very
surreal.
The whole thing is supersurreal to come back and realize
that was only what six, sevenweeks ago that we were there.

Speaker 2 (30:13):
Yeah, I always try to film with someone in front of
me, otherwise, there's no pointof reference, right?
And you can't miss that helmet,that's for sure.
But uh Yeah, thanks.
Which, you know, culturally wasinteresting because if we were
going through like Srinagar andyou had your bright helmet on
and your and your fancy jacket,and you pulled up next to some

(30:34):
cars, which you did, you justfiltered through everything and
just fought your way throughtraffic.
That's just that's just theculture.
You're not you're not being adouchebag.
You're just you're just goingthrough traffic.
When they saw that, they kindof paused and kind of let you
through.
Like, you know, you had somesort of, well, in Arabic you
call it Wasta.
You had some sort of status andand they kind of let you

(30:54):
through.
So I think having the brighthelmet and the nice, you know,
climb jackets, uh, you know,kind of kind of helped a bit.
And there's that whole culture.
Maybe you can explain the thehorn culture in in Srinagar.

Speaker 1 (31:07):
The horn is a whole language of communicating.
And and it's so there's there'sdifferent types of horn usage.
So there's a tutu, which islike, hey, I'm here.
Like if you're passing a car, atutuot could mean, hey, I'm
over here.
And again, you're passing onthe on the right hand side of
the car because everyone'sdriving on the left.
And if someone is going to comeacross you, then you could

(31:30):
tutuze and then they would you'dbe like, Yeah, it's okay to
come here.
Um, but if you're passing a carand you tutute and then they
continue to come over, then youlean on the horn.
You just keep it, you just keepit in.
You're it's a steady, it's asteady in.
And then they're like, oh,they're not stopping.
They're still coming through.
And then they move over.
So it depends on how you tootleyour horn melodiously, you will

(31:51):
end up getting a differentresponse from the other drivers
because there is a languagewithin that.
The use of lights.
Remember, the use of lights.
What does that mean, Aaron?
When you see somebody oncomingwhen they pop their lights, what
does that mean?

Speaker 2 (32:01):
That means I am coming through, bro, and you
better get out of my way.
That means I have fullcommitment to coming through.
So within a few minutes, you'relike, flashing the lights
usually means go ahead or likecops ahead.
No, no, it means I'm comingthrough, bucko.
You better get out of the way.
And then you on the motorcyclebetter get out of the way.
Right.

Speaker 1 (32:16):
Because on a motorcycle, you are
insignificant.
And it it seems like there'sthere's a lot of chaos.
But what I, by the time it wasover, you know, we're riding
down a highway, we're doingwell, flat out, whatever these
bikes should do, but it got tolower altitude.
And I say lower altitude, Imean, you know, still above
street line, you know, 14 14.7.
We're riding at lower altitudesbefore you can breathe.
And um, you'd ride down thehighway and there'd be like,

(32:39):
there's a car in front of you,and then there's a car coming on
coming, it's you know, one lanein each direction, and then you
go, Yeah, it's not a bus, it'snot a military truck.
There's enough room in there,and there's no Karen's out
there.
Everyone's just like, Yeah, thetraffic just keeps moving.
So you split them, you're doingmaybe what 70, 60, 70 miles an
hour, you're doing what 80, 90clicks, uh kilometers an hour.

(33:02):
And the other car just movesover and no one has a fit.
No one, there's no Karen's outthere.
It's so easy to to to gobecause everyone realizes that
if we just keep moving our cars,even in traffic jams, everyone
just keeps moving their car alittle bit, a little bit, a
little bit.
You all get around each otherand everybody, it just works.
It's up like there's no onestanding up and getting out of
their car and taking a pictureof your license tag and putting

(33:24):
it on Facebook and going, uh inthe local community, wherever
this douchebag is.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
Yeah.
And even the military.
So I have a bunch of videos ofus, you know, going between
military trucks on broken dirtroads on switchbacks, and you're
just ripping past militarytrucks.
And then they will actually, ifit's a single-lane road and
it's kind of dangerous, and theyknow you're behind them because
you're just eating dust andyou're just eating exhaust, they

(33:53):
will signal sometime saying, Ithink you can probably squeeze
past.
This is a guy like, you know,with a 50 cal on the roof and
like some sort of missile systemin the back.
And he's like, Yeah, bro, Ithink you can go by here.
Sorry for holding you up,right?
And there's a bunch of videosof us, you know, squeezing
through, you know, rows and rowsof military trucks, whether

(34:13):
they're troop carriers or or orradar installations, you name
it, and they're just wanting youto go by.
They're like, everyone justwants you to get to where you're
going.
And, you know, you've made itpast the military checkpoint.
You're one of the good guys.
Go have fun and go be an adult.
And if you want to, you know,squeeze through here, hey,
that's your business becausewe're not stopping.

Speaker 1 (34:32):
Yeah.
It's interesting.
When you mentioned that whenwhen when I when we got back,
someone sent me something thatsaid, I saw that you I think one
of the first videos you postedwas me ripping around.
I passed one military truck andthen around another one, and it
was a super tight squeeze.
I got between two trucks, whichI have to say isn't favorable,
but it was my first day out.
Give me a break.
It was India close.
It was India close.

(34:53):
You know, if I had had extrapaint on that bike, it wouldn't
have made it.
Um, but somebody just gave meand they said, by the way, you
know, it says right here inblack and white that you should
not pass military convoysbecause they get upset about it.
And I was like, well, not themilitary convoys.
We passed, and we passed.
I don't know, we'd pay wepassed what?
Would you say it's fair to saywe passed three, four hundred
trucks?

Speaker 2 (35:12):
At least, yeah.
And uh no one had any issues.
As a matter of fact, it's kindof like I think it was that time
I was in Finland and I was Iwas stopped in a in a traffic
jam and uh and uh and a cop cameup beside me and says, you
know, I was reprimanded for fornot filtering.
He goes, What are you doingsitting here on your motorcycle
idling in traffic?
You're part of the problem.

(35:32):
Just go.
So um I think once you get outof you know, Western society uh
and people are you know morepractical about it, I'm like,
just just you know, don't be adouchebag and just go to where
you need to go and don't be partof the problem.
And it it is it is moredangerous just to sit behind one
of these um these big militaryconvoys.

(35:53):
And one of the things that Iwould change is that I would
filter my air.
I would have some sort of abandana or something over my
mouth every time I went throughthe off-road sections or the
switchback sections, is Isuffered a lot uh the whole trip
of basically inhaling, youknow, road road grime.

(36:15):
And I'm no sensitive Sally, butI noticed that, you know, it
was rough on my on myrespiratory system.
Uh so one of the pieces ofadvice I I would give to people
is, you know, try to filter yourair when you're when you're
driving through those dustyareas.

Speaker 1 (36:30):
Yeah, it's a good point.
Um, yeah, and if we can upsetyour delicate sensibilities, you
know it's gonna be bad.

Speaker 2 (36:36):
Yeah.
I think that uh our our fixersgot the point pretty quick when
uh all we wanted was no mice inthe hotels.
I didn't really care about thefood.
Like I'll I'll eat anything.
And all the food was good, bythe way.
Many times it was very basic,but it was it was great.
Just give me uh a piece ofwhatever kind of local bread

(36:59):
there is, which was a journey ononto itself and whatever kind
of doll they have or or curryI'm I'm uh happy with.
Or in some places, it was veryChinese.
So in in through the um areasthat bordered China, it was
like, you know, fast food fromuh from a Chinese restaurant.
But anyways, the fixturesfinally figured it out that at
the end of the day, the onlything we needed was give us a

(37:21):
couple of cans of Godfather andsomewhere to recharge our
phones, and as long as there'sno mice in the in the hotels,
you know, we're all set.
But they were really upset thatwe were drinking beers and
taking Diamox, but you know, wewere we were fine.
The people who didn't takeDiamox had the problems, and
maybe you can tell us about theinterview we have here with
Fajij.
Yeah.
So first of all, let's say whatDiamox is.

(37:43):
So do you have the technicalbackground on that?
Or it is a prophylactic, it isnot a treatment.
And I will link an article fromthe Indiana University uh of
Bloomington.
And what Fajij says in thisinterview is wrong.
And as a matter of fact, someof our fixers were wrong.
It is a prophylactic.
It is not for treating thesymptoms of AMS, it is to

(38:06):
prepare you for it.
And the only side effects I hadwere going pee a lot.
And the solution to everythingin high altitude is drink more
water, anyways.
Um, but it simply prepares thebody for dealing with high
altitude uh sickness, uh AMS,acute mountain sickness.
And that's really the best wayto describe it.

(38:27):
It prepares the body and youcontinue to take it, follow your
doctor's directions, but don'ttake it when you start to feel
sick.
It's too late.
The only solution, the onlyremedy for serious AMS is
getting down.
Uh, once you start to get thoseuh acute uh symptoms, there is
no treatment for acute symptomsexcept for going to the

(38:49):
hospital.
Uh, and no one wants to do thatin the middle of nowhere
because there is no hospital.
There's no hospital in Hanley,there's nothing.
There's there's goat farmersand maybe a really bad hotel
with mice in it.
There's no one going to helpyou.
So uh yeah, I will uh I willhand it off to you to talk about
the Fajij interview.

Speaker 1 (39:07):
But the information that I got before the trip was
that we should start takingDiamox at a lower altitude, and
that came from our handlers.
So they said, start taking itnow.
It is a prophylactic.
And they didn't say they saidthere are side effects.
I remember we read through thelist of side effects.
We're like, oh my god, there'sa possibility of going crazy.
And we're like, we're alreadythere, baby.

Speaker 2 (39:24):
How bad can it be?
More crazy, sign me up.
More crazy.
There we go.
Podcast, more interesting.
Right.
This will make for greatcontent.
Yeah, hold the number twoposition, baby.
Um, we're not number two fornothing.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
It'll get there for nothing.
Um, so uh Fajish, he is a uh hewas our I'll just read here's a
bit of a bio on here.
So Fajish um Palapat, he's acafe owner, the founder of
Maximus Studios.
He's an Indian filmmaker, andhe's known for his work in as a
director and a producer onprojects such as Indian Idol,

(39:57):
India's Got Talent, in additionto other Bollywood cinematic
accomplishments.
So we had the pleasure ofhaving him and Rohit with us for
the duration of our trip.
And these guys would do likethey they'd pop the back end of
this tailgate of this littleToyota, and they would do these
like rolling shots of us.
It was just um it wasfantastic.

(40:18):
The tons and tons of uh offootage.
Um I need to go back and lookat those.
I haven't looked at that.
They gave us that folder.
Have you gone back and lookedin that folder of the content?

Speaker 2 (40:28):
It there probably there's no there was no time
because I did the India trip.
I came home for 24 hours, thenI did the rally, and now I'm
home doing media.
I'm leaving on Friday to go getthe van.
There just hasn't been thetime.
You know, if we could justbuild a finally build that time
machine, we would all be betterfor it.

Speaker 1 (40:43):
Yeah, just work that out.
Okay, before the next contest,please.
Yeah, I know you're not busy.
Yeah, good.
So Fajish, he was um, he's he'she's he is amazingly funny.
He is he is so uh positive andso upbeat, and uh he's just fun.
He's just fun to be around.
And a bit like us, he's a bitnuts.
So anyway, I asked him abouthis battle with the uh AMS acute

(41:05):
mountainous sickness over thepast few days.
In a previous episode, I teedup the fact that he had gotten
somebody in our group had gottenit and uh had gotten, had had
the effect of um of thealtitude.
So we can uh roll that shortinterview.
Adventure, endurance, glory.

unknown (41:23):
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and machine.
The ADV Cannonball Rallychallenges you to ride from
ghost to ghost, navigatingcheckpoint to checkpoint by GPS
and pushing past your limits.
Take on every off-road stage,and you'll earn bragging rights
and a coveted Rough RiderTrophy.

(41:45):
Own the twisty tarmac andyou'll claim the checkpoint
crusher award.
Every mile counts, every choicematters.
Rack up the points, and yourname could be etched forever on
the winner's cup.
This year the routes areharder, the mileage is longer,
the glory is greater, the ADPCannonball Rally is open for

(42:05):
registration.
Fortune favors the bold.
Sign up today.
So uh I was uh I was very uhwell aware of uh AMS uh and I

(42:27):
was uh being briefed about howto go about it.
Uh and the first point theytold me is like take good rest
when you land in Ley.
Uh but they also told me ifyou're climbing up to Ley, it
should be fine.
And they also said Dymox is atablet which you usually take.
That's uh that's uh basicallywhat it does is it thins down
your blood, which I didn't know.

(42:49):
Uh but uh my doctor said takeit only if it is required.
And uh even the team said,yeah, if you really feel a dizzy
and nauseating effect, then youstart taking uh the tablet.
Uh what happened to me is I Ifrom Srinagar, we reached Leh
and I got pretty excited.
We were uh because uh for mealso it's the first time in Leh.

(43:11):
Yeah, and I always wanted tocome here.
And what best can happen to begoing with these 10 amazing
riders across the world?
Oh, and uh yeah, so I I didn'ttake rest.
I got into action immediatelythat night.
Yeah, and um we went out fordinner.
We reached the evening,somewhere around four or five
o'clock, and we started settingup our cameras, our uh gears,

(43:36):
and all the clothing, and thenwe went out for dinner.
I had my beer, I ate a lot, alot more than I usually eat.
Yeah, and smoking.

Speaker 12 (43:49):
Or are you smoking?

unknown (43:50):
I am a I'm a um I would say I smoke.
I smoke my own tobacco uhrolled, I roll my tobacco and
smoke.

Speaker 1 (43:56):
You roll a filter in there?

unknown (43:57):
Yes, I do.
All right, it's not gonna help.
So uh you know how it is.
So I thought I'm good enough.
Uh like I was fine.
I did have slight uh breathingproblem.
I was feeling like okay, I canfeel the lack of oxygen.
I'll do good.
After dinner, we settledeverything.
We went I went to sleep.

(44:19):
I I started getting a mildheadache, so I wanted to sleep
early.
I went off to sleep.
By around 2 30, I woke up witha very bad tummy ache.
And I rushed to the washroom.
Don't mind my word, but I tooklong dumb and it wasn't
stopping.
Then I came out of thewashroom, I tried to sleep,

(44:39):
nothing happening.
I started getting enusiatingeffect.
Then I wanted to throw up,rushed back in, threw up a lot,
came back, took a dump again,then came back, threw up again.
It went on till like 4 30.
5 30, I got a slight break.
I didn't want to wake anyoneup.
No.
Seven o'clock, I saw ourcoordinator Uruishi outside.

(45:01):
I told her, dude, I need to goto the hospital.
I guess I'm not feeling sogood.

Speaker 12 (45:06):
Immediately they took me to the hospital.
So was there anything else thatyou did to your body the night
before which may have put thatalong the right path there?
Okay.
I I hope I'm not going to getinto trouble.

unknown (45:20):
There's no trouble happening here.
Okay.
We have several.
So I'm uh I I smoke weed.
Uh so I'm from Bombay.
I'm uh I'm a sea level boy.
Yeah.
My pressure level is there.

Speaker 2 (45:30):
Yeah, good.

unknown (45:31):
And I smoke weed there.
You know, we need to take abreak from busy living.
Uh so uh weed is somethingwhich we smoke in the plains.
It keeps your body cooler.
Up in the mountains, likeplaces like Leh and Majal, they
smoke uh hashish, which is uhcrushed uh juice version of the

(45:54):
beer.
Yeah, it's much more stronger.
So that when you smoke hashish,the body warms you up.
That's what it does naturally.
So this is this is a practicewhich has been going on for
years.
So I came down here, I figuredout some uh uh through my
friends uh one joint of hashishand I smoked that and I had
beer.

(46:14):
But I'm not really sure if thatis the one which actually it's
just one of the one it was oneof the reasons.
So I did a couple of thingswhich I wasn't supposed to do.
One, I didn't take a rest.
I ate a lot, I had a chilledbeer, and uh yeah, I smoked
hashish.
There you go.
The next day was bad.
They took me to the hospital,they gave me one hour of oxygen,

(46:37):
pure oxygen.
Yeah, they gave me aninjection, I have no clue what
that injection was, and thenthey asked me to take uh Dymox,
one in the morning and one inthe evening for the next three
days.
Uh that pretty much sorted meout, but I was feeling
breathless for a very long time,at least for the next three
days.
Uh I would get tired after afew steps.
So, my strong recommendation islike if you if you're reaching

(47:00):
Leh, if you're coming to Leh,you need really good rest for at
least a day or more.
You settle down, then step outof your hotel or wherever you
are and start exploring.
Do not jump into action thevery day you reach.
The thing with uh people likeus, I would say, is like when

(47:20):
this is not work, even though itis work, I'm getting paid for
it.
It's more uh this is a passionwhen videography, photography,
and biking comes together on topof the mountain, you forget the
world.
You forget how much your bodycan take, you forget the logic.
So it was a bit of an immatureapproach from my end.

(47:42):
Uh, I learned my lesson thehard way.

Speaker 1 (47:54):
And we are back.
Yeah, he's a riot.
Yeah, he's he's funny.
Um, yeah, that was at the uhwe're sitting outside the the
restaurant the second that wehad been back to that restaurant
in uh in Leh.
That was fun.

Speaker 2 (48:05):
Yeah, Le's uh Ley's a great place.
So Leh you could actually do uhyou could do a week out of Leh.
So you could fly into Leh,which is a really civilized,
like kind of you know, Tibetkind of feel place, and you
could do day trips out of Lehfor a week.
It's a great place.

Speaker 1 (48:20):
And just a walking distance from where the hotel we
sit in, there was like a uh uha motocross track.

Speaker 2 (48:26):
That's right.
Yeah, there was like an enduromotocross track built into the
side of the side of themountain, which was which was
fun.
But I was not gonna take uhtake a uh a loner uh royal
infield out there and destroyit.

Speaker 1 (48:38):
Yeah, had we had more time, I probably would have
just just so you know.
Fair enough.
Fair enough.
All right.
So let's just talk about whatthe let's see, it's the Indiana
University Bloomington says.
Here's what they say formedical advice about uh Diamox.
It says, take one 125milligreen milligram tablet
twice a day, begin this medicine24 hours before arriving at

(49:00):
high altitude and continue for48 hours while at high altitude.
You may continue taking Diamoxup to 48 hours longer if your
symptoms indicate that you needfor additional pills.
So, in the interview, manypeople say they take Diamox if
you show symptoms, and that isnot necessarily my advice.
Um, it is a prophylactic, it isnot a treatment.

(49:22):
So the point is that you and Itook it, I we started taking it
three or four days before wewent up.
And then the night that youflew out, and I was gonna fly,
actually, we both flew out oflay.
And then the night before that,we had been at 19,024 feet.
We had done the high day, andthen that night I was like,
okay, I'm tired of peeing.

(49:43):
Every time I look at a glass ofwater, I'm not gonna do that
anymore.
And I stopped taking it.
And I remember that night, youhad your bag open.
I had my bags like ready to go.
You left at 3 a.m.
I left at 6 a.m.
And I got up at night and Icouldn't breathe.
And I had stopped taking thatpill before, and I went and I
got it out of, I was I looked inyour bag because your bag was
open and I took a diamox out ofyour bag.
I owe you one.

(50:04):
And um, and I chewed it up, andI, you know, I was just like
gobble, gobble, gobble, and Igot it into my system as quickly
as I could.
There are quicker ways I know,but I just shoot it.
And um, within 15 minutes, Iwas feeling better.
I but I felt the pressure onme.
But I just keep taking it thewhole time.
And but we took one tablet.
We didn't take two tablets aday.

Speaker 2 (50:23):
Yeah, we took one until we got above 14,000 feet,
and then I started taking two.
The only mistake that I made isthat uh I wasn't eating
breakfast.
So I'm on Ozempic, I'm on thefat shot, and I just don't eat
breakfast anymore.
One day, one of the passes waslike a 14,000, 15,000 foot pass.
I was feeling a littlelightheaded, I wasn't feeling

(50:43):
myself.
I got down out of the altitudepretty quick, and then I had
realized that I hadn't eatenanything all day.
So my advice is go have somebreakfast.
There's breakfast at everyhotel.
Even if you just get a uh apiece of whatever local bread
there is in some doll orsomething, just eat something.
Uh, that's the only mistakethat I made.

Speaker 1 (51:02):
Yeah, and then once you started doing that, then you
know it was uh happy days.

Speaker 2 (51:06):
Yeah, we would even, because we had the support
truck, we would even ride for afew hours, and there's always a
pass in the middle of the day.
We would stop and have uhcoffee, and I would always grab
a protein bar out of the vanwith my coffee.
And I always made sure, nomatter how much I wasn't hungry,
that I would shove some food inmy pie hole just so I was
prepared for the higheraltitude, and of course, drink

(51:27):
lots of water and minimize theamount of beer the night before.
But after I started eatingproperly, I had no issues at
all, except for going pee.
But it is not to be trifledwith.
If indeed you're going thathigh, get some doctor's advice,
eat correctly, drink lots ofwater.

Speaker 1 (51:40):
Yeah, and when we say drink lots of water, like you
know, it's always like, oh, youshould drink this many, you
know, cups of water a day,whatever it is.
I've never done that my wholelife.
I'm alive.
Um, but when we were up there,I drank probably two gallons of
water a day at least.

Speaker 2 (51:56):
Yeah, and it still wasn't enough.
So I, of course, didn't haveany sunscreen, and there is no
atmosphere that high.
So you need the water intake tokeep your lips from destroying
themselves.
So wear some sunscreen on yournose and on your lips because
it's it's coming in through thehelmet.
And my lips were so badlychapped.
I remember waking up on theairplane from my my last flight

(52:19):
from Japan to uh I don't knowwhere I went to from, Japan to
North America.
And I woke up and it was bloodrunning down my beard uh because
my lips were so badly destroyedfrom not drinking enough water
and not having enough sunscreen.
So sunscreen, drink lots ofwater.
Not a good look.
No, it was dead sex.
Yeah, I had to beat the womenoff me.

(52:40):
You know, I was very manly andvery uh very strong and
powerful.
And obviously, you know, I wasuh immensely masculine having
the blood dripping down my face.
But anyways, lesson learned.
It looked like a like a trueViking.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:54):
Um one more one more interesting thing happened, and
we'll touch a bit some at theend of the podcast, we'll touch
a bit on some of the otherlittle finer nuance and detail
things like you just mentionedabout um covering, about uh
making sure you have dustcontrol, things like that.
But one interesting thinghappened is that a friend of
mine, so several people droppedout of this um out of this

(53:15):
event, and our commitment was tothe organizers to have a
certain number of people in.
So every time somebody droppedout, we asked somebody else to
come in.
We had people who wereinterested.
And I reached out and I justhad a contact with a buddy of
mine that I met when I was in myearly 20s um near Washington,
D.C.
And I said, Hey, Carrie, areyou interested in doing this
trip?
Are you still riding?

(53:35):
He said, Yeah, I just got backfrom doing a trip on the West
Coast, and I said, Do you wantto go to India?
And he got back to me two dayslater and he said, There's
there's really no way I I cansay no to this.
And so he went.
And he was a rock star.
And he was he was one of theboys from the moment he showed
up to the moment he left untileveryone left and he couldn't
leave because he He lost hispassport.

(53:58):
No, yeah.
He had his passport in a in auh a pocket that wasn't zipped,
and uh it was on the roadsomewhere on our last day, and
that last day we covered a hugethat was our biggest travel day.
So it was a a long time before.
He looked at his last photo hehad taken.
It was a long time before.
So anyway, he um I won't gointo any more of that story.

(54:19):
I'll just uh I'll let him takeit and we will roll the
interview.
Carrie Moore, welcome toAdventure Cannibal Podcast.
Nice to have you.

Speaker 9 (54:30):
Hey, Taylor, good to hear from you.

Speaker 1 (54:32):
Yeah, man.
We are uh where are you sittingright now?
I am in my little home officein Arlington, Virginia.
Very nice.
I am sitting in Stockholm.
Hmm.
So one of the reasons I wantedto chat with you today is that
um, you know, you did do thisIndia trip with us.
And um, at the outset, I justwant to say like our commitment,
we'd have a certain number ofpeople stay in the group.

(54:53):
And we had a very latecancellation, and you and I just
happened to have a chat, and Iwas like, Carrie rides.
I'm just gonna ask Carrie if hewants to take that spot.
It was all within a matter ofminutes.
And I was like, Carrie, youstill ride and you were like,
Yup.
And I said, and I gave you somedetails on this.
I said, Are you interested indoing this trip?
And you said, I said, uh, yeah.

(55:15):
Fantastic.
Well, it was really nice tohave you on the trip.
So there's some um there's aparticular reason that I wanted
to chat with you about this, andum, we'll we'll eventually get
there.
But initially I wanted to askyou when I when I sent that
message to you, I know you haddone a you had done a trip um
down A1A in California and youhad done a trip, uh, a few other
bike trips, but how much likehad you done a bunch of riding

(55:36):
or had you done very littleriding in in since since um in
the past eight, 10 years?

Speaker 9 (55:40):
Yeah, I would say very little riding, almost like
zero.
I ride bikes, obviously.
I have um I rode my bicycle,God, since I was, you know, itty
bitty.
So I've been riding bikes for along time, but yeah, the last
time I had a motorcycleregularly was when I was about
20 years old in college.
And yeah, and then you'reright.

(56:01):
I just rented a big 950 rodedown the the uh Pacific Coast
Highway.
And then ahead of this trip, Idid also rent a uh a Himalaya
450.
Somebody had one on uh therider's share, and I did rent
that for yeah, two weekends.
So a lot of it was a good thingtoo, because we we were on the
bike for what 250 kilometers,280 kilometers in one day.

(56:23):
Yeah, one day was 270.

Speaker 1 (56:25):
The last day was 270, it was a big day.

Speaker 9 (56:27):
Yeah, yeah.
So I mean, fortunately for me,it was all roads.
I had a little bit of off-road,but just a little bit.

Speaker 1 (56:34):
It's interesting you talk about mileage.
Um, when I got back from thistrip, and whenever I end up
talking about it, which is yeah,it's super exciting, I still
talk about it.
Um, and people quite often theysay, So how many bikes were
there?
How many kilometers did youride?
And of those kilometers, werethere any mishaps?
Then I say, Well, it was it wasa 1500 kilometers, just over

(56:58):
900 miles, which you know, percannibal standard is nothing.
These boys were knocking out750 miles in a day.
So essentially, we, you know,we did these twisty-windy
off-road sections um for themost part.
They were twisty-windyoff-roads, uh, and yeah, and
on-road, but definitely roads inIndia, period.
So not comparable to ridingslab in the US.

(57:19):
Um, so I say, yes, we did havea couple of mishaps.
And I know that there was onecircumstance where someone in
front of you dropped a bike.
And who was that?
Uh that might have been you,Taylor.
Oh, right.
Yes, that that was me.
Right.
So I I Chris, one of theChris's stopped in front of me.
He got a nice op.
I was just following tooclosely, and then I got on the

(57:39):
brake, and then I I uh I Ilowsided and washed out and
tumbled away.
We were going.
So I like to display thatpeople say, What was the
scenario you were riding?
And I was like, Well, you know,there's switchbacks down the
side of a mountain, and there'salways not always, but quite
often there's a road that justgoes straight down the mountain
and crosses all the switchbacks,and they go, Well, who would go
on that?
And I go, Well, that's what wewere on.
So it was straight down thehill, extremely steep grade.

(58:01):
And then maybe I'll hand itover to you.

Speaker 9 (58:03):
Yeah.
So I'm sitting there fromobviously I'm up the hill from
you.
We, we, uh, we took turns goingdown.
Obviously, the the lesson is,you know, you want to make sure
that there's at least enoughdistance in front of the person
so that, you know, that's nothindering your riding, but then
also you're not going to uhcause any issues on them.
So I was hanging back,obviously, and um you see this
big puff of smoke, uh, dustactually.

(58:26):
And and uh and yeah, so thenI'm coming across down that hill
and I look and there's Taylorlike you know on the on the
ground.
And so it was sort of like abig U, you know, basically there
was a there's a high pots onhigh high sides on both both uh
sides of this, I guess you couldsay, just trail going down the

(58:46):
yeah, the hillside.
And so obviously it was veryloose.
I was riding up on theleft-hand side uh to avoid you
and off also not crash.
And I sort of ran um into theback, not run into, but I I I
went as far as I could withouthitting them up to Chris and
Aaron.
And uh and and so then therecovery crew came and got you,

(59:08):
helped you get all situated backon your bike.
But yeah, the way they had yourbike oriented was pointing
towards where I was.
So yeah, and and then whathappened?
So so um Aaron, obviously, lookuh because he's looking out for
you, said, Hey, uh Carrie, canyou come up?
Come you come up.
And so I couldn't go past Chrisor Aaron because they're like

(59:31):
right in front of me.
So I put my handlebars to theto just turn around them to the
right and then put it, you know,in gear and and took off.
And as soon as I did that, thehill and the sand just took my
front wheel and and cast it downinto the ditch.
And then it started to go upthe other side, and of course,

(59:51):
the bike fell over to my left.
So as I'm jumping off the bike,it kind of like um the yeah,
the the tank caught my heel.

Speaker 1 (59:59):
Yeah.
Yeah, lucky you had some goodboots on.
I know that was that we talkedabout getting boots.
You're like, what do I reallyneed for gear?
And I was like, you need to getsome good riding boots.
So well done.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 9 (01:00:08):
No, that's good.
It was more than I wanted tospend, but obviously it was a
very, very smart purchase.
Yeah, no, no, no injuries atall.
That was a good thing.

Speaker 1 (01:00:18):
Yeah, that's fantastic.
Um, so during the uh beyondthat, um, and for those who are
listening in the descriptionhere, I guess but there's a
video as well, which um I don'tI think I think I think out of
respect for you not necessarily,you know, casting the putting
that information anywhere outthere, we um but basically you
got sideways on the hill andthen high-sided down the hill.

(01:00:41):
So is what happened.
But um anyway, I'm glad you'reokay from that one.
And and in motorcycle parlance,right?
Exactly.
That happens, yeah.
Um so during the trip you hadan issue with a
government-issued document.
Can you maybe talk about whatthat document was and and what
happened from there?

Speaker 9 (01:00:56):
Yeah, so I'll give a little lead up to that as well,
because um, you know, we'retraveling through a
military-controlled area.
The Himalayas, they havemilitary checkpoints all over
the place.
So you had to keep yourpassport on you in a in a
flexible place.
I mean, uh a convenient placethat you could retrieve it.
So for the whole ride,basically, I had my passport in

(01:01:16):
my right hand pocket, um,basically to zip up everything
and my wallet and myeverything's were in my left
pocket.
Yeah.
So on the last day, Google Mapsdidn't go through.
So I would usually have myphone in the holder on the
handlebars just so I could likewatch the um the maps go by.
And this particular one, themap wasn't good because Google

(01:01:39):
Maps didn't carry the roadthrough.
It was basically either likeclosed or not on the chart or
whatever.
It just didn't appear.

Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 9 (01:01:46):
So basically it was worthless.
So I could put the phone in mypocket.
And so I now have my phone andmy passport in the same pocket.
Uh oh.
So on the yeah.
So um, so that's why I didn'thave my passport, like, you
know, in a nice, cozy place withthe luggage or anywhere else.
Um, yeah.

(01:02:07):
So um we also made stops.
And so um, this is sort of afunny story.
My sons had introduced me tothis um Instagram account.
It's called Scenic Peas, right?
So this guy takes pictures ofhim, like you know, the what
he's looking at while he'staking a pea.

(01:02:28):
Scenic peas.
Okay, scenic peas, as inurination.
Yes, exactly.
Yes.
And so um we're staying,there's this really beautiful
river side, and we're just likein the middle of nowhere, and
it's really beautiful.
There's like a mountain on theother side that rises up, and
it's two like uh a confluence oftwo sort of separation creeks

(01:02:49):
around this one little island.
And I look at it and I'm like,wow, that's really cool.
This is like a real scenic pea.
And then I was like, oh, I cango back and get my my portable
camera, which would I've beenusing the whole trip.
I'm like, oh, but I have myphone right here in my pocket.
Right.
So I take my phone out of apocket and take a picture of my
scenic pea location.

(01:03:10):
I guess at that point um iswhere my passport must have um
vacated my pocket.
So I guess the long story shorthere, I think it's interesting,
but the long story short herewas that I lost my passport at
that location.
While peeing.
While peeing.
Well, post-peeing, but yes.

Speaker 1 (01:03:32):
All right.
So I'm gonna do some rapid firequestions here, and you let me
know if you have the answer.
So, how many days did you,since you lost your passport and
you couldn't get the exit visa,how many days were you stuck in
Delhi?

Speaker 9 (01:03:45):
I was stuck in Delhi from Monday, basically Sunday
night, to uh to Fridayafternoon.

Speaker 1 (01:03:51):
So five days.
And how much money did youspend in Delhi since you didn't
fly out on your initiallyplanned departure?

Speaker 9 (01:03:59):
Roughly $1,500.
So that includes like the mealsand the duck-tucks and all
sorts of things.
The hotel was probably thebiggest expense.
That's because you were hangingout with Aaron.
Just that one night, right?
So that uh the first night whenwe flow into Delhi, um, Aaron
suggested we stay at theImperial, which I did and you
know, joined the two Chris'sthere as well.
We had a nice, um, beautifulmeal.

(01:04:22):
One of the Chris's wives hadshown up there too.
Um, beautiful meal, gooddrinks, everything, great time.
The hotel is fabulous.
If anybody is ever goes toDelhi, I would highly recommend
the Imperial.
It's from like the Britishdays, it's just one of the most
beautiful hotels I've everstayed in.

Speaker 1 (01:04:39):
Um, Aaron said that uh he said he has to credit that
phenomenal night out as aresult of you losing your
passport.
So he gives you full credit forthat night to know.

Speaker 9 (01:04:49):
That's great.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No.
And I think I mean, justanother part of the interesting
story, though, is when you don'thave a passport, you were in a
military-controlled area.
So we were in lay, right?
And we had to get on a plane toget into Delhi so I could get
to the embassy the next day.
So I was seriously scared thatthey would not let me on the
plane out of lay to get toDelhi.

(01:05:12):
Because all and so fortunately,we had uh uh one of the other
riders was with us who wasIndian, and he was basically the
two military people were there.
They asked questions.
I had a uh print of mypassport, I had a print of my
visa, and I had a driver'slicense.
And they asked a couplequestions, and then they were

(01:05:34):
like back and forth between thetwo military people, and then
they said, uh, yeah, okay.
Wow.
Because I I could see himnegotiating with the younger uh
soldier, basically suggestingthat if I didn't get on that
plane, I wasn't going to be ableto get to the embassy.
I I would have been stuck, Iwouldn't know what to do.
So I think they took pity on meand let me in.

Speaker 1 (01:05:54):
And it's good that you did because another one of
our riders stayed there and hewent back into lay a couple days
later, and it had all hell hadbroken loose with civil unrest
within India, and it was aroundthe um political parties,
basically.
So it wasn't like challengeswith uh Pakistan or with China,
it was skirmishes within theirthe own government.

(01:06:15):
So the town that we were in wasbasically, I mean, there was
there was bombing, there werepolice shot five people, four
died.
Um, the entire place was shutdown and cordoned off and and um
and roadblocked everywhere.
So we got out, and you did aswell, just in time.
Yeah, very true.
A couple more quick questions.
Yeah.
Um, how many times did you gowhen you were in Delhi?

(01:06:36):
How many times did you go tothe immigration bureau?

Speaker 9 (01:06:38):
Um, I went every morning.
So I guess to get your umemergency passport, it was about
three hours.
So they had some issue with theprinting.
Um, those of you who don'treally read all the um uh
instructions, like I didn't,your your your passport photo
has to be two by two.
Um, I went into one of thephotographers there and they

(01:06:59):
gave me something that was justbarely over like an inch by
inch.
So so it was it was it was alittle troublesome for them to
work with, but they did fix it.
They did give me the emergencypassport.
It took me about three hoursfor them to do it.
Um at that point, you then haveto fill out basically a new
visa application.

Speaker 1 (01:07:16):
You kept coming back and then they just kept saying
not to, you know, not today.
And then on Thursday, I had achat with you.
I think we actually spoke onthe phone or and you said they
told me I should probably planon being here over the weekend.
And I said, You need to get afixer.
You finally did.
How long after you contactedthe right fixer?

(01:07:38):
And the fixer made the phonecall, how long until you got
permission and stamped and readyto go?

Speaker 9 (01:07:42):
Yeah, it took probably about like three hours.
Yeah, then you yeah, you caughtback and you're like, I'm on
the next flight out.
Yeah, literally, there was oneit left at 11:30 American
Airlines out of Delhi, and I wason that plane.

Speaker 1 (01:07:54):
Fantastic.
So if you think back about thistrip, now those were
challenging days.
I know when we talked about it,you're like, I said, I want to
talk to you in the podcast.
You're like, Taylor, I don'tknow that I want to relive that.
It's been a while.
We've been back a couple ofmonths now.
It doesn't seem like that long,does it?
Um, but it's been, you know,it's been a while.
So if you think back about thatand when you reflect back upon

(01:08:16):
the trip, what are your what areyour memories?
What are your thoughts?

Speaker 9 (01:08:19):
Oh yeah, I don't really think about that time in
Delhi at all.
You know, I think about theImperial, that was a great
moment with uh, you know, thefellas.
And but otherwise, yeah, it wasjust the epic riding.
I mean, the the the tour itselfwas just so well put together.
I think, you know, there's likeum everything was taken care
of, everything was thoughtthrough.
All the hotels were wereperfect for where they were at.

(01:08:40):
Um the food was always good,uh, the logistics were all well
taken care of.
Um, you know, of course, themechanics didn't maybe
necessarily have all the partsthat you needed, but um, you
know, it did uh I was superimpressed.
And the scenery is just insane.
And it was all that differentriding too.
You go from like an urban, likewhere you don't even have

(01:09:01):
traffic lights and everybody'scrisscrossing, like
intermingling as everything withuh any you know, breathing
that's on those roads, too.
Cows, horses, dogs, donkeys,um, you know, basically anything
can walk or is on those roads.
Uh, kids, yeah, four or fivekids, and entire family's on
scooters.
On one scooter.

(01:09:21):
You know, they got the littlekid on the front, the dad,
another kid in the middle, onesitting on the mom's lap who's
sitting sideways on the scooter,and they're just riding like
it's uh a normal day.
Those are the things that Iremember.
I mean, I remember just likeall the switchback roads.
I remember a few of the passes,like some of I remember that
tunnel that we rode through likeon the first day.

(01:09:42):
I mean, just the scenery wasfantastic.
And I think also because youwere kind of like the main link,
everybody got along.
Super surprising, right?
You know, we we were all justone degree of separation of
Taylor, and everybody clicked.
Everybody, you know, there waswe were joking with each other
like from the very first day.

(01:10:03):
So I think, you know, it it wasa it was a fantastic trip in
all those ways.

Speaker 1 (01:10:07):
Yeah, thanks for that.
Nice reflection.
Um, well, I'm really happy tohave had you on that trip.
It was nice to um to rekindlethe friendship with you after so
many years, and um, it wasreally great to uh to get a
chance to to ride with you.
So thanks for coming.

Speaker 9 (01:10:20):
Yeah, no, it was a great time.
Really appreciate you askingme, and I'm so glad that uh I
could say yes.

Speaker 2 (01:10:35):
And we are back.
Yeah, that's great to hear hisinsight.
And people always think thatwhen you lose your passport,
that's the full problem.
The full problem when you'reother places is you need the
visa.
So it was great to hear aboutthat journey of him getting his
visa put back in his passport.
And I also wanted to mentionthat when I heard that Carrie
was coming to Delhi, I had kindof taken over the situation and

(01:10:58):
I had arranged for a great bigparty, which you you weren't at.
Sorry you missed out on thatone.
It was at the Imperial Hotel,and the two Carries came and uh
not two carries, the two Chris'scame.
Chris's Carrie and one of theChris's uh wife came and we had
a great big blowout party at theImperial Hotel in uh in a
private bar, and uh, and thatwas really fantastic.

(01:11:20):
So we had a we had a greattime.
Carrie had a nightmare, but uhwe we had a great time with
Carrie anyways.

Speaker 1 (01:11:27):
Yeah, but he had a nightmare in terms of like he
had issues about potentially youknow the nervousness about the
fact that he wasn't sure what hewas gonna leave India.
And um it was a good excuse fora party, Aaron.
And I know that quite often youdon't need an excuse.

Speaker 2 (01:11:39):
That's right, man.
I'm gonna make an excuse for aparty, but that is one of my
favorite hotels, the Imperial.
It's the last uh uh lastremnants of the uh the British
colonial movement in uhmovements not fair, but you
know, disaster that that was.
But uh it was uh it was uh funto dip your toe into that kind
of culture.
And I also wanted to mentionwhen I was in Delhi, um I

(01:12:02):
stopped and talked for the wholeday with the people from the
Royal Mavericks.
The Royal Mavericks is the onlyRoyal Infield endorsed
motorcycle club in Delhi.
And they spent the whole daywith me.
And I'm I got some audio fromthat.
And we're gonna give them afull episode, but I wanted to
include some of that uh here inthat episode.

Speaker 1 (01:12:25):
So when you when you stopped there, you met with
Tariq, and he's the founder andpresident of the Royal
Mavericks, and it's a RoyalEnfield Motorcycle Club.
And to be clear, we were onRoyal Enfield Motorcycles when
we actually did the trip.
So that's the way the clipwhere he introduces his club,
which I think he does a greatjob there.
Let's roll that clip.

Speaker 12 (01:12:49):
It's been a very long journey.
It was somewhere around in 2012when I shifted from Mumbai to
Delhi and I bought a Royal Fieldmotorcycle.
It was a very unique colorwhich caught my fancy.
It was a Desert Storm 500, anduh I started riding.
And that time there was notmuch seen of motorcycling and

(01:13:10):
clubs in India.
I ventured out with somegroups, and I found that uh
there is a lot more which needsto be done when you take
responsibility for making 40-50bikes, you know, ride with you,
then there is a lot more thanjust one you need to do.
You have to be a little moresensitive towards things.
So initially it started withjust a thought, and uh we have

(01:13:34):
done rides with 300 plus rollingfields on a breakfast ride, and
uh.
We are the only group in Indiawhich is recognized by the
government of India, which isrecognized by Rollin Field as a
company.
They have uh hosted uh theyhave published uh an article for

(01:13:54):
us.
We are the only group in Indiawith whom BBC has done a
documentary, we are the onlygroup in India with whom
Discovery has done a shoot,Discovery Channel.
And we are the only group inIndia which has made
company-fitted silencercompulsory because of the noise
pollution.
It's getting crazy these daysin India because of these
aftermarkets exhaust.

Speaker 2 (01:14:20):
Yeah, and then Tariq told me about some of their
rides, which include reallymassive events.
He does it for some of India'smandatory holidays.
They do some greatdistinguished gentleman rides,
and uh, I got some audio hereabout their next big overland
trip, and it was very muchsimilar to the one that we just

(01:14:41):
finished.
So let's go ahead and roll thataudio.

Speaker 12 (01:14:48):
So every year we do a long-distance ride, which
generally happens close to theShara holidays, and it's
generally a 10 to 12 days trip.
In the past, we have doneMustang twice, we have done
Bhutan, we have done Lehmultiple times, we have done
Spiti multiple times.
We had plans of Vietnam thisyear, but somehow the team
members we take a collectivedecision.
They wanted to explorenortheast.

(01:15:10):
So, as while I'm recording anduh my bags are ready, my
motorcycle is about to bereaching Gohati in as a matter
of time while we speak.
So, after two days, we are allwe all are flying to Gohati.
It's a group of around 10-15bikes.
I'm really looking forward.
That's a territory which uhthis group, Royal Mavericks,

(01:15:31):
have never explored before, anduh the kind of uh intel we are
getting from there from theother bikers.
We are connected with all thebiking groups in India and uh
going to be breathtaking, andI'm really looking forward to
it.
In fact, everybody who iscoming to on this trip is look
really looking forward to it.

Speaker 1 (01:15:51):
So, on the back end of that, I just want to say that
the distinguished gentleman'sride, is that something you
think maybe you and I would getinvited to?

Speaker 2 (01:15:58):
I I don't think we're allowed near anything that is
either distinguished orgentlemanly like.
I think uh I think I will uh Iwill bow out gracefully of being
invited to one of those.

Speaker 1 (01:16:10):
Well, fair enough.
So there's a bunch of people inIndia, so it's easy to get lost
both literally andfiguratively.
I've always believed that theclubs and rallies can give many
of us a little bit of a purpose,a direction, and a human
connection.
So when you were there, youasked Tariq if it's been a
meaningful impact on themembers' lives.

Speaker 12 (01:16:34):
Aaron, you have touched upon such a sensitive
topic which is very close to myheart.
It is a long journey that Ihave done, and uh I've seen
people coming alone.
I have seen coming them andintroducing their partner as a
colleague or as a friend.
Then I have seen them coming asan engaged couple, then I've

(01:16:56):
seen them coming on breakfastrides as a married couple, then
I have seen them coming with asmall toddler.
It's a big journey I've beenthrough, and I think it's just
because of the Royal Infield.
And yes, there are so manystories.
I don't have one, but yes,there are so many stories that
people have met the love oftheir life because of Royal
Infield.
And I'm sorry, I I somehow,like you know, I got a bit

(01:17:20):
emotional, and I this is a longjourney which I've seen
happening within the group, andI'm pretty sure it must be
happening in every group.
And yes, there have beenstories that people have found
their love because of RoyalInfield.

Speaker 2 (01:17:34):
And I had the opportunity to talk to one of
the members, uh, a young lady,she's a school teacher.
Uh, she's got a great lastname.
Her last name is Warmin.
How awesome is that! And sherides this for India, a
ridiculously big motorcycle.
She has a 500cc Royal Infield,and this is, I think it's the
largest bike that uh RoyalInfield makes.

(01:17:57):
And it's it's kind of comicalwhen she brings it in for
service.
Uh, they're like, this isn'tyour bike, right?
Anyways, let me roll that audiofrom that chat with uh Miss
Warman.

Speaker 9 (01:18:14):
A few years ago, if I remember, it's uh it was my
first year when I started to beon a two-wheels.
So I learned, and uh I cameacross this chromos like Royal
Mavericks, everything sparkledlike the about the group, about
the people, everything.
So there was a ride happening,and I said, I'll go.

(01:18:36):
And I didn't have any writinggears, and uh I was just I just
started to write.
And I said, Okay, let me go.
And I went there, this wholegroup was there at the assembly
point.
Uh, I was waddling because Iwas new, and uh one of the group

(01:18:57):
members, the team members camein and they saw that okay,
there's somebody who needs help,and they helped me pull the
bike and everything.
That very first um experience,I would say, with the group has
been so warm that uh I I hadcontinued something in there.
They welcomed me with bighearts and big hugs.

(01:19:21):
Uh, we'd had an introduction atuh our point where we went and
uh had a breakfast.
So uh we had that introductionsession, and it just uh took me
to his right that hey, this is agroup that I want to be part
with, like I want to beinclusive of this group that uh

(01:19:44):
the way they it's like a family.
I mean, that's how they treateverybody in that same group.
And Tariq on the very firstday, that was my first day of
ride with them, and he said, I'mdone with numbers now.
I am with a group who is veryclosely knit, uh, who takes care

(01:20:05):
of each other, and it's allabout brotherhood.

Speaker 2 (01:20:12):
And finally, I talked to Vidushi, and she rides a 450
Himalayan, and I asked her whatwas her introduction into the
Royal Infield Club, the RoyalMavericks.

Speaker 4 (01:20:26):
I took a long break from riding, and this was when I
got back to riding, it wasthanks to the Royal Mavericks.
I was not going through a verygreat phase in life, and I
wanted to get back to riding,and I found the Royal Mavericks
for uh similar reasons as youwere sharing before.
That I read about them onlineand I liked that they followed a
certain, you know, certainrules, and they, you know, they

(01:20:49):
were gentlemen riders, and Iliked all of that.
And I started, um, I showed upfor one of their rides, bought
myself a motorcycle, and thenshowed up for one of their
rides.
And the thing is that from dayone, neither did anyone say, Oh,
you can't do it, oh come on,let me help you.
The from day one, they justaccepted me like that in their
fold, and they said, Okay, youhad a fault, pick up your own

(01:21:11):
motorcycle.
Okay, you don't know this,learn it on your own.
At the same time, we are here,we are here, and you need
anything, we are right here.
So, as a as a rule, we we leaveno one behind.
So, man, woman, no one.
So, no man left behind.
They're always there, we alwaysride as a pack, but they give
you that confidence that you cando this on your own.
And uh, like you said, yes,that is a very special story.

(01:21:34):
So, there is a lot ofencouragement when it comes to
new riders.
I have never ever seen anyone,you know, mock someone because
they've just started riding,especially women riding, because
that tends to be the easieststatement to make.
Oh, she's a woman driver, ohshe's a woman rider.
On the contrary, we have donesome of the toughest terrains,
toughest off-roads.

(01:21:54):
Some of them are more difficultto do, but never once has
anyone told me, Oh, you can't dothis, or you can't do this
terrain, or you will not be ableto ride here or drive here.
They've only been they justthrow the key and say, Okay, go
ahead, figure it out.
So, yes, that kind ofconfidence, um, they have always
shown to not just me, but everynew rider who walks into the

(01:22:16):
group.

Speaker 2 (01:22:20):
And in this final clip, I wanted to ask her what
it meant to her to be a memberof the Royal Mavericks Club.

Speaker 4 (01:22:31):
I don't I don't know exactly how to describe my
relationship with the RoyalMavericks, but I think they are
uh more than family to me.
Everyone who's now the coregroup, like all of us, are very,
very close, very, very thick.
And how it all started wasbecause of our Royal Enfields,

(01:22:52):
because that is what we allride.
So yeah, I think uh it'sfamily, it's brotherhood, it's
camaraderie, it's all of thatput together and the love of
being on two wheels andoff-roading together.
So, yeah, in short.

Speaker 2 (01:23:09):
And I just wanted to say thanks to Tariq and all the
members of the Royal Mavericksfor spending the day with me.
I had to go back to the hoteland meet the rest of our group
that evening.
And I was only awake for acouple of hours, but I crashed
out pretty hard.
But uh I want to say thank youvery much uh to the Royal

(01:23:29):
Mavericks for hosting me inDelhi.

Speaker 1 (01:23:31):
That was great.
Yeah, it's nice.
It's really nice.
It's a win-win, right?
You get to meet people, you getto travel around, and this
podcast gives us the opportunityto really have an excuse to ask
questions about people's lives.
So it's really it's a it's awonderful thing to do.

Speaker 2 (01:23:44):
Yeah, and I'm looking forward to see where it takes
us in the future.

Speaker 1 (01:23:47):
Dear listeners, so this little number two podcast
has never asked you foranything, but today we have a
request.
If we are ever gonna make it tonumber one, this is one of the
ways we're gonna get there.
So here's a request.
Please forward this podcast tosomeone you think might enjoy
it, or at a minimum, someone whoenjoys IPA as much as we do.

Speaker 2 (01:24:10):
Absolutely.
Um, and if you can do it, leavea five-star review on any
platform that would help us out.
And maybe one day we'll get anumber one award.
Um, I also wanted to mentionthat looking at trips in the
future, uh, Japan like kind ofreally made an impact on me.
And there will be a cannonballin uh sorry, in Japan.
There will be maybe scoutingtours.

(01:24:33):
I'm using air quotes, dearlistener.
Uh so there'll be stuff in thefuture with Japan for sure.
And uh Japan, South Korea,Taiwan, that is on my radar.
It may not happen in the nextfew years, but it is definitely
on my radar.
And I hope you all come on thatjourney with us.

Speaker 1 (01:24:50):
Yeah, so true.
So true.
Um, yeah, we've got a fewthings uh in the works.
There's one more thing I seehere.
There's a note.
When I actually had a moment tosit down in India and actually
compose something, this mightjust kind of wrap up the um the
part about the the India aspectof it, unless you want to drop
in a bit more.
But here's my post that Iwrote.

(01:25:10):
Srinagar.
Like most places like mostplaces in India, one can always
count on an overwhelming levelof sensory input, colors,
flavors, smells, chaotictraffic, to the end the genuine
kindness of people.
There's an amazing differencebetween the busy city center and
the tranquility on the westside of Nigguin of Niggin Lake.

(01:25:30):
Again, away from all the chaos.
The new Jacqueline HeritageHouseboat is charming, ornate,
clean, and comfortable.
So it really boils down to theidea that make sure you follow
the advice.
By the way, this houseboat wasad was recommended for us to
have booked by our fixer in thebeginning.
And I was like, I'm gonna go.

(01:25:51):
That's West like that's superexpensive.
It indeed was the mostexpensive houseboat on the lake,
but because we didn't paybooking.com and we didn't pay
for whatever their commissionspace were, we paid cash.
There's all kinds of benefitsthat we got.
So it was significantly lowerin price, but just go with the
recommendations.
Don't try to be smarter.
I did it and I, you know, I hadto fix it.

Speaker 2 (01:26:13):
Yeah, for sure.
Um, anytime I go anywhere, Ialways just it's like going to a
great restaurant.
Whatever's on the tasting menu,just do it.
If you're going to a restaurantwith someone you've never been
to, just let them order.
If you're going to whateverplace, go to the hotel that is
that is recommended.
And uh it usually pans outreally well.
Um, can I get to some uhcannonball news?

Speaker 1 (01:26:35):
Yeah, man, let's roll.
Hey, before we jump on cannibalnews, it just reminded me when
we were in LA, when the nightthat, or maybe the night before
we left, um, yeah, I think itwas the night before we left, we
went to the sushi bar, and init was perfect.
It's exactly what you said.
And there was like, you couldhave trust me menu one, trust me
menu two, or trust me menuthree.

Speaker 2 (01:26:54):
And it was just the difference was price, and they
were like, Yeah, I just trustyou, Bring it.
It's exactly what you said.
We did that, it was great.
Oh, always do the tasting menu.
Um, I want to mention in 2026,I'm only making a few
improvements to the scoring appand the public leaderboard.
So all that really, reallyworked out well.
I got some feedback from someuh contestants, contestants,

(01:27:18):
some competitors and somepodcast listeners.
So we'll try to do a dailypodcast during the rallies.
So look for that.
It'll be a bit debaucherous,it'll be a bit raw and unedited,
but people like the fieldnotes.
So we're gonna try to do apodcast at the end of every
single day before we have toomany IPAs.
And important news for 2026competitors, if anyone's

(01:27:41):
listening at this point, isdon't book any hotels on your
own.
Firstly, there's a few minorchanges due to some events that
are happening in these towns.
And also don't book without thegroup codes because you're
going to pay full price.
So please don't book anything.
So, you know, end of November,December 1st, if you don't have

(01:28:02):
group links by then, reach outto me via the email or on the
website.

Speaker 1 (01:28:07):
You should have it by then.
I wanted to say um for thepodcast, so so many people come
back like every single dayduring this rally.
Basically, everyoneparticipating had a great story
to tell.
But if you are have a greatstory to tell for your day or
something you want to share, orsomething, some some camaraderie
or some kind of friendlycompetition that happened, um,

(01:28:28):
come over and find me or findAaron at the end and then tell
your story.
And you too will be on thisamazing number two podcast.

Speaker 2 (01:28:36):
Number two podcast.
And speaking of number two,maybe of stories, uh, we just
got the links to the privatepreview of Robert's movie.
And I need to have a bunch ofIPAs before I watch that because
you know I'm a weirdo.
But uh I I I'm excited andnervous to see that movie.
But, anyways, let's go to uhnew sign-up.
So uh we have some newcomers.

(01:28:58):
We have Brian.
Brian is from California andhe's on a 1300 GSA.
Welcome to the rally.
Uh number six from 2025, SeanRoss from Flat Rock, North
Carolina.
He is back and he is bringinguh he he's threatening to bring
an 890 rally, but I think he'llhe'll default back to the 1250

(01:29:20):
GSA.
That would be myrecommendation, unless he wants
to really blast through the theoff-road sections.
And he has requested number 33,and that has been assigned.
Kevin, Kevin is from Utah, andhe's not sure what bike he's
bringish, uh bringing, but hejust finished the scooter
cannonball.
So welcome to the uh to the ADVcannonball.

(01:29:41):
And lastly, we have Nick.
Nick is from Jackson Hole,Wyoming.
Great place, and he is on aDucati Desert X.
Welcome to the newcomers.

Speaker 1 (01:29:50):
And to the newcomers, I want to say to uh to Brian
Honeycutt who is on the 1300GSA.
Shout out to you, Mark.
Just to be clear, this one'snot totaled.

Speaker 2 (01:30:01):
Yeah, so Mark's uh number 12 from 2025.
He he got into an accident.
Not accident, he he dropped hisbike, and surprisingly, he
brought it into the dealershipand it's a write-off.
So um, anyways, there uh we'renot sure if he'll he'll fix that
up or he'll get a brand newone.
I'm not sure, but um he is uhhe's a tough cookie.
We call him Iron Man, so uhinteresting stories uh every

(01:30:24):
year.

Speaker 1 (01:30:25):
There's been some some chat in the uh in in the
group chat, like hmm, maybe I'llbuy that one.
Maybe I'll maybe I'll buy yourI'll trade you this for that,
right?

Speaker 2 (01:30:33):
Yeah, there's some friendly, friendly prodding uh
to be sure.

Speaker 1 (01:30:38):
I'll trade you my DR650 for the uh for the for the
Red 1300.
Yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:30:44):
Hey, listen, I think that's it.
Uh let's roll some music androll the outro.

unknown (01:30:49):
Second prize, a set of state maps.
Engines roar the morning days,right as I know the room day
from Plymouth Rock to WesternFlame.
No bagging down a test to play.
Stealing smoke in the risingsun, not the beast, the chosen

(01:31:19):
ones Backrooms, mud and mountaincuts, rise for glory, not for
luck.
Firm unchilled a smoky spine,no comfort zones, no cash prize
Throttle wide hearts full offire, gas and grid, we never
tire We ride through hell andrain, through dust and blood,

(01:31:42):
casting all day, late takeswhite the mouths don't lie, only
the stones survive the ride.
No weeds lower below the skiesopen, low and battle dries, can
all rally across the land,switch the throttle take off,
and dirty Colorado frost, Kansaswind trying to knock us off.

(01:32:05):
Use a red rocky like rage.
Every mile another stage.
Sleep winter, not today.
Riding wild through burningblaze.
Cut past the cold and stone.
Every ride a ride zone.

(01:32:26):
Death belly heat, bites likesand, but we don't quit, we dig
back in.
Thousand yards, scares,blood-shot eyes.
Run through the road for mile tomile, through hell to find, we
ride with style.
We ride through hell in therain, through dust and bloody,

(01:32:49):
can all pain, eight days why themouth don't lie.
Only the stones survive theride.
No wings don't burst in nodisguise.
Open load and battle price.
Can it go rally across theland?
Twist the throttle, take yourstep.
Bakers feel some monarchy.
Engine scream at break of day.

(01:33:11):
Octane and steal the finishline.
Riders forged and grit inside.
To those still rollin' andthose gone dead.
Riders bown in dust and mud.
Catin ball cheeks, we ride inblood.
We rotate through dust and racethrough dust and blood.

(01:33:34):
Only the stones survived theride.
No easy, no we think.

(01:33:56):
We ride We Ride! Ladies andgentlemen, can I please have
your attention?
I've just been handed an urgentand horrifying news story.
And I need all of you to stopwhat you're doing and listen!

(01:34:20):
Hey cannonballers, thanks forsubscribing to our podcast.
We appreciate it.
If you're not a cheap Canadianand want to buy us a coffee,
head on over tobuymeacoffee.com.
Or better yet, buy us a case ofsweet ass craft IPA.com.
Links are in the show notes.

(01:34:40):
Now, back to the rivetingpodcast in progress.
Thanks for listening to the ADVCannonball Podcast.
Please give us a five-starreview on your preferred podcast
platform.
That really helps us with thealgorithm gods.
All hail the algorithm gods.

(01:35:00):
You can buy us a coffee onbuymecoffee.com slash
advcannonball.
Or directly help save thissinking ship for the price of a
pint at patreon.com slashadvcannonball.
Follow us on all the socialswith the handle at
advcannonball.
If you'd like to send us aquestion or comment for the air,
or if you are a musical artistand want your royalty-free music

(01:35:23):
played on our podcast, or ifyou'd like to contact us for
advertising opportunities, emailus at podcast at
advcannonball.com.
Thanks for listening.
And remember, don't be an ADVweenie.
Keep your right hand crankedand your feet on the fence.

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