Souvig Sarkar  kms to Nagaon

4,116 km in 107 hours : Souvig Sarkar Creates New East – West Landspeed Record For India

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If you were a 90’s kid, you would realise how the internet has changed our perspective towards life. Those fancy social media posts with mesmerizing images make almost all of us pull out the duffel bags or motorcycle saddles bags and create an album of our own. But only a few among us manage to move past our desktops and actually do all those things.

One of the people to have managed to break out of their daily routines is Souvig Sarkar who recently took upon a mammoth task to measure the width of the country, as he rode his prized possession — a KTM 390 Duke — from Tezu, Arunachal Pradesh to Koteshwar, Gujarat. Not only did he undertake the 4,116 km road trip successfully, he did so in a record breaking time of 107.15 hrs, managing a spot in the Limca Book of Records. The earlier record was held by Motoroids team member Dr. Arnob Gupta of 115 hrs.

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His dream was aided by National Insurance, RTG Trackers and SOL Helmets. Sarkar shares a detailed itinerary of his epic road trip. Let’s first check out his equipment.

Equipment Used

  • Bike used : KTM 390 Duke
  • Tail bag : Viaterra Raptor
  • Camera used: Garmin Virb Elite
  • Aux Lights used : 4 lights (Cree led powered)
  • Headlight : HID
  • Tyres used : Michelin Pilot Sport
  • GPS used : RTG Tracker GPS
  • Charger used : Aukey 2.0 (Qualcom vertified Quick charge 2.0)
  • Powerbank used : Aukey 2.0 , 2 units 10000 mah ( Qualcom vertified Quick charge 2.0)

Riding Gear Used

  • Helmet used : Sol
  • Riding Jacket used : Cramster
  • Riding Gloves used : Rynox
  • Knee guards used : Mad boy
  • Aux Fuel Tank : 9 liters custom made metal tank
  • Smartphones used for maps and routes : Sony xperia Z3+ Dual and Le tv 1s
  • Bluetooth Used: Sony Sbh 20 and Sbh 50

Sponsors:

  • National Insurance
  • RTG Trackers
  • SOL Helmets

List of documents attached:

  • LBR complete Details. ( Compiled description of the journey)
  • LBR Statistical Data. ( Brief analysis for each day)
  • GPS Data. (RTG Vehicle tracking systems generated online data )
  • Mail confirmation from Limca Book of Records

Here’s what he has to say

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A short story about vehicle:

The KTM 390 Duke was fitted with four auxiliary lights, a Viaterra tail bag which also had a specially designed inbuilt fuel tank of 9 litres. The added fuel could further increase the range of the bike for next 180 kms. The bike was also fitted with Michelin sport tyres to tread all types of terrain. The motorcycle was also installed with two USB charging sockets, one of which was placed next to the speedometer while the other was under the seat as a backup. Vehicle was also fitted with the RTG tracker GPS to track the whole journey.

Journey description: Total time 107.15 hrs.

Reached Tezu 12 hrs before the journey because I travelled from Kolkata to Tezu just to start the journey.

Day 1: 7th March 2016

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The journey started from Tezu (Arunachal Pradesh) Police station at 4 am on March 7, 2016. The second stop was at the fuel station at the (Namsai) Arunachal Pradesh after covering 130 kms. It was drizzling in the morning after a heavy storm a night before the journey. So I decided to start at 4am in the morning with a little drizzle. Overall, the weather was pleasant.

Almost 11 hrs later, I reached a petrol pump at Zorabat, Meghalaya where I stopped for refuelling and ate some dry fruits, chocolates and hydrated myself with few energy drinks. All this activity took me 15 minutes.

Shock moment :

At 8 in the evening, approximately 10 kms away from Domohani, Jalpaiguri, West Bengal (RadhaGobind fuel station) I broke my rear rim as I entered a series of potholes which felt like craters. From there I had to drag my bike on flat wheels to the fuel station, where I had to fit a tube in the wheel to reach the nearest KTM Service center about 180 kms away. In the mean time I had my dinner at a dhaba just across the road. The food felt like heaven after dragging the bike for 10 kms. At this point of time, my average speed was 40-50 kmph as it was fitted with a tube 110/R17 instead of 150/R17. Kudos to the KTM Service centre owner who, by the time I reached Siliguri at midnight, had already arranged the rear rim.

Day 2: 8th march 2016

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After checking into a hotel at 1.37 AM and after 5 hrs of sound sleep, I was feeling fresh and was making further strategies to compensate the loss of time. Then after having my breakfast, I directly went to the KTM Service Center for servicing my bike. The bike was ready to go by 11 AM and the weather was damn hot. I pushed myself to start the journey and reached Katihar (Bihar) at 2.30 PM covering around 1,410 kms by now.

KTM service center Siliguri

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Unfortunately incident was when I had to make a 30 km extra round trip to pick up the forgotten knee guards at the service center.

While refuling at Swagat Fuel Outlet, Katihar (Bihar), I had my quick snacks and hydrated myself as much as I could because the temperature here was almost 40 degree centigrade. Managed to reach Patna and had a night halt covering approx. 1,610 kms by now.

Day 3: 9th March 2016

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After having tea and couple of biscuits, started my journey back around 8 AM in the morning. I felt that after my setback on the first day’s night, my risk taking ability went for a toss which clearly reflected by the distance covered on Day 2. At around 4 PM, I had few dry fruits, energy bar and energy drink during refuelling.

Reached Varanasi KTM Service Center at 7 PM where I topped-up my engine oil and did chain tightening and lubrication. Special thanks to Rohit Singh from KTM Service Center for making my visit to Varanasi a memorable one. After having a dinner at McDonalds Varanasi, I took a night halt where my trip meter reading was approximately 2,095 kms.

Day 4: 10th march 2016

After 4 hrs sleep, started my day at 5.30 AM from Varanasi. Weather was hot and it was very difficult to cover long distance without taking continuous break to keep myself hydrated.

By the end of the day, I managed to reach Indore at around 9 PM. Now I had to put two new auxiliary lights as my present one was not working as planned. I had to ride at night time without any halt and the road conditions were not in my favour. By now I had covered approx 3,027 Kms. I knew that I had wasted a lot of time throughout the journey and to recover the loss, I had to sacrifice my precious night sleep.

Day 5: 11th March 2016

Reached Rajgadh (M.P.) at 1.10 AM for refuelling and headed towards Gujarat. Around 5 AM, I was already in Gujarat. At that time, I could almost sense the fatigue and my eyes were drowning down with sleep. The early morning cold winds made me slower than expected.

Reached Ahmedabad at around 7.30 AM and had covered approximately 3,543 kms. Finally I reached the finishing point Koteshwar (Narayan Sarovar, Gujarat) at 3.14 PM with the total journey distance of 4,116 kms covered. After completing, I just went to sleep and got up the next day.

Nicest feeling of the trip was meeting so many people whom I met for the first time but they still made me feel as their family.

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