Jack Powis

My name is Surendra Karnataka from India and I am an avid motorcycle enthusiast with an ambition to promote long distance endurance riding in India.

I have completed 8 Full Throttle rides, one King of the Road, and 2 Easy Rider designations on less than 500 cc motorcycles.  In a single calendar year in India, I completed 7 Full Throttle (5 on Duke 390 and 2 on Bajaj Avenger 220 CC, which was less than a Quarter liter Motorcycle), 1 King of the Road (on Duke 390) and 1 Easy Rider (Bajaj Avenger 220 CC).  I was also successful in attempting 3 Full throttles in 3 weeks with 3 different start times, one at early morning, one at noon and one in the night.

I credit my good friends  – Jyothish Babu, who gave me the start by organizing the biggest endurance ride in India with the BAPUBA Rally.  Apart from this, Jyothish has been the key support behind most of the rides that I accomplished, taking his time out of his busy schedule to support me at the start of every ride, updating me with key information on weather and distance during the ride and also was there at the end point to celebrate the success.  Sudeep from the IBA India, who is a motivation by himself, who himself had set the record for maximum Saddlesore rides by an individual in India. Special thanks go to – Vepavi Calicut Choppers, Nithin Nair, Mohammed Salman, Jasil Roshan, Sriraj Basavaraju, Pramod and Swamy Narasimhaiah.  Last, but not the least, my wholehearted credit to 2 of my motorcycles, both of which have always ensured that I complete the rides, without much fuss, with no breakdowns and much ahead on time.

While many in India have a strong apprehension about long distance endurance rides, I would say that it is very easy to complete one, if you do it right.  You should give equal importance to documentation of the ride, ensuring proper witness, evidences, tracking of the entire ride etc.   Be patient.  Always ensure the safety of yourself and the safety of the public and traffic around you during the course of the ride. There will always be another day to complete the ride for certification if road conditions or traffic do not allow your first attempt. I am happy for the certifications that I have accomplished and for the camaraderie among my fellow riders in India.

I am an IT System Analyst and currently own a Honda Shadow 1100 ACE.

I used to ride with my wife more than 20 years ago, until our sons were born.  Now our sons are growing older so we can ride together again.  I like to ride in summer, winter, with sun or in the cold.  Every season has its magic.

There are two trips I have on my wish list.  North Cape in Norway and the biker meeting Elefantentreffen in Germany.  I moved to Spain from Argentina some years ago, so I see these trips closer than before.

I believe the motorcyclist world is amazing; thanks to it, I have friends in many countries.

I am Andrey Ermolaev and my motorbike is a Yamaha Drag Star 400 Custom.

I was born in 1973 in Siberia, Russia. As a teenager I had a motorbike Sunrise 3M and in those days there were no motor associations so we were driving ourselves. Later I sold the bike.

I worked 15 years as a trucker and during this time I have covered a large part of the Russian territory. In the last 6 years I have been working in an office as a leader of an auto park but the desire to travel has intensified.

Tired of waiting the sunset of my life in the office, 2 years ago I bought a Yamaha Drag Star. The summer in Siberia is very short and traveling far from here seems to be quite impossible for me; so I and the Baikot Motor Club attend every motor festival which takes place in Siberia during the summer. There is a bike house in our city and there are lots of motor riders who often come from different countries and continents. Unfortunately, we cannot always speak in our customers’ languages, but somehow we always understand each other. We are very happy seeing cyclists traveling through our city Biysk, and we will always be happy to provide them with any assistance needed. The motorcyclists are brothers everywhere.

This year I participated in the Russian normative called “The Russian Distance” where I covered 1123km in 12h and 53 minutes. The second normative of this year was 1744km in 22h, and for the next year I plan to ride 1500 miles. In Siberia it is considered as a very serious endeavor to achieve.

Sebasti Arul Christopher Vasanth (SAC Vasanth) is a magician, illusionist and laser show artist, who performs shows globally. He was titled, “Master Magician” by Star One television in 2010.

Vasanth attended CMS Arts & Science College in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.  He spent a few years as a lecturer, then switched to becoming a full-time magician, an art he has practiced since childhood.

He has appeared on many television shows including Fox History and Entertainment in BBC and Comedy Circus ka Jadoo with Sony Entertainment Television in India.  Some awards and honors have been the Global Leadership Awards for Excellence in the Art of Illusion and the Best Innovative Magician Award to name a few.

Below, in his own words, is a recap of his “King of the Road” experience.

Coimbatore, 1 June 2016

“India’s Magic Star” Illusionist – S.A.C Vasanth

Will I ever do a 2520 Km ride in 35hrs Endurance Ride – Again?

It all started when my friend Premnath Kashinath induced me on an early morning cycle ride with a conversation about endurance and torchere and mentioned the Long Distance Riders club.  From that day, I wanted to do the “Long Distance Rider” challenge and test my endurance with my “Harley Davidson Fat Bob 2014 FXDF”.  Days passed by and this ride was getting delayed.

One day on our regular Sunday ride when my fellow bikers invited me for Mr. Naren Rajan’s Memorial ride to Kotagiri and on the way back a friend, R.Uday Kumar and myself stopped for a coffee.   Uday came up with a question on my interest to do the LDR ride . I expressed my thoughts and was glad to know, that we were on the same page. We decided that if it has to happen – we have to talk less and get to work and do this ASAP. We fixed a meeting with the man who we know and had already done such rides with IBA – Mr. Sankar SG.  After a valuable discussion, we posted a date in the LDR & IBA Facebook page and contacted Mr. Jyothish Babu who gave us valuable tips on GPS tracking and apps along with maintaining Bills & Records required as evidence to obtain membership.

But, the ride got postponed for the 2nd time and then again a new date, with too many advises and confusions with the new route plan which was – “Coimbatore > Pune > Coimbatore” for an attempt in completion of FULL THROTTLE 1000 miles and “KING OF THE ROAD” 1500 miles together.  As Prem was not in town, Uday and I decided that – if we postpone the date again .. We will not attempt ever – Which actually gave us the fire to start on 07/05/2016, 04:00am.  The fire was so high that even the first rain of the season could not stop us or our journey.

Taking up this challenge – is the challenge.

The Ride:  The determination to complete is the key.  Safety was the first and foremost point.  We knew that the roads will be tough and new to us. Friends suggested to have breakfast bars & energy drinks along the way, but , I preferred music and it worked . After all it is a matter of choice and preferences.  My Machine cooperated so well, in all moments of my ride. “I actually felt the connect that day”. We developed communication and it was a great feeling .

Uday’s bike tank was 1/2 of my tank, so every fuel stop was the relax point . We took some extra time in relaxing our body and mind.  Updating Mr.Avinash at every fuel station was done at that time.  The irony is that, I had hard times, with sun burns and rashes, especially in my hand between the gloves and armour .  1 inch of my hand was so dark that it was obviously seen more than my natural dark colour, ( lol ).  Hubli road was risky being a single track road with no dividers in between.  A fresh country style nimbu pani near Pune refreshed my mind and helped me keep going.

When we reached Pune we got stuck in the worst traffic and rain and wasted and lost 2.5hrs, which gave us the clue to sacrifice our sleeping time during our forth coming night stay @ Hubli.

We reached Hubli late in the night with many detours. We closed the Full Throttle 1000 miles odometer reading in a bunk a bit away from our hotel took some pics and got the witnesses signed in the hotel. We checked in at 2.45am.  A power nap, 30 ins of cold shower and bam .. I was ready and waked up.   Uday and I were out of the hotel at 4:30am and started our completion to King of the Road 1500 miles.

This part of the ride was not as easy as we thought.  Our bikes were moving slow. I was slightly skeptic … And Surprise !… one phone call from Mr.Sankar SG at the right time and his motivating words to push hard as he monitored the drop down in speed – pepped up the whole mood and then we actually started covering the average speed as we came to know we were doing multiple recognition rides.

As Uday had mentioned in his write up – he was almost drained after Bengaluru and riding for that 300 kms was like 3000 kms. Thanks to our blue tooth headset – Sena20s which kept us connected during our tough times. We reached Coimbatore on 08/05/2016 at 3:00 pm after lots of breaks and was happy to see our witness Mr. Ramoo, waiting to endorse the completion of our King of the Road -1500 miles in 35 hours.  I was so happy to see my Wife and my Son awaiting with love and respect, and their eyes saw me as a Hero.

Thanks to Long Distance Riders , Mr. Jack & his team for founding such an initiative and making every Long Distance Rider a Hero among their families and friends.

After all WOLO – We Only Live Once!

My Sincere thanks to:

The Inducer: Mr. Premnath Kashinath – CEO, PPTS Coimbatore

My Co Rider: Mr. Udaya Kumar – CEO, Emperor Traveline, Coimbatore.

My Witnesses:

• Mr. Sankar SG – Business man & Hardcore Biker.
• Mr. Rashad AR – Chapter Manager Harely Davidson – Coimbatore.
• Mr. Ramoo – Business man & Hardcore Biker.

My Facebook LDR guide: Mr. Joythish Babu – LDR Facebook administrator

My Biking Friends:

• Mr.Mohan, Founder Cotton City Throttle
• Mr. Varun, Businessman & Biker ,Coimbatore. Member IBA
• Mr. Guruprasad, Businessman & Biker. Coimbatore . Member IBA.

My Sincere thanks to the Service team at Coimbatore HD, Mr. Praveen & his Team.

My wife Geethavasanth & my son Geevanth for allowing me to do this heroic yet crazy ride 😉