VASCO: The 48-year-old Goan biker, Raees Khan successfully completed the Raid De Himalaya in the 850cc to 1200cc moto adventure category in the toughest motorsport event in the country earlier this month.
He completed the ride on a BMW R 1200 GS adventure bike that has the right answers to every challenge whether it is off-road, rocks, snow, ice or sand.
The participants had to face extreme conditions across Kargil, Zanskar and Ladakh over a span of four days.
He won the third place in the moto adventure class which is India’s toughest and deadliest biking championship. While Hindu Naik from Bengaluru finished first and Haresh Bathija from Pune second. A total of 20 participants enrolled from across India but only 14 participated in the race.
“I feel on top of the world on completing the track on my new bike I bought six months ago. I have not trained myself for any adventure track or off-roading. Riding through the Himalaya hills was the biggest challenge. My main aim was to complete the raid as i was doing it for the first time,” told the Goan rider who stood third in the 2018 edition of Raid de Himalaya.
Raees has been riding since the age of 18-years-old and has covered over 10 lakh kms till date on bikesranging from 100cc to 1200cc bikes. He has been riding superbikes for the last 15 years such as Honda, Suzuki, Ducati, BMW and Yamaha.
He goes on to explain what pushed him to participate in the event. As he was chatting with his friends in Pune they told him that they are participating in a motorsport event. “I applied for the competition after the entry date had passed. I called up Himalayan Motorsports Association and spoke to Vijay Parmar and requested him to enter my name in place of one rider who backed out last minute due to health issues. Very thankful to him for giving me the opportunity,” informed Raees.
The biggest challenge for the bikers was fighting against the extreme climate with low oxygen levels, deadly terrains and temperature dropping to minus 16 degrees. Four days of riding in the terrains of Leh 8000 ft to 17000 ft which was the toughest and deadliest terrain. The roads are deserted, had no habitation, no houses and at some places we didn’t come across villages as well.
“The entire road was very dangerous as it had snow on both the sides apart from black ice at many points, wind blast, deadly terrain, hairpin bends at 45 degree slopes filled with pebbles and stones. Riding a 1200cc BMW bike weighing 350 kg and my weight of 100 kg was a challenge to ride in the world’s highest motorable battlefield arena. We used to ride minimum of 250 kms per day in total isolation and a slightest mistake could,” told Raees.
The temperature on the first day of the race to Pang via Tanglangla was minus 16 degrees and by the time he climbed 17,300 ft his body gave up. His hands were stiff, fingers frozen and he almost quit the race until one of the crew member motivated him not to give up. The everyday schedule of riding was a challenge as the bikers has to wake up at 4.00 am and line up for the race before 5.30 am to avoid disqualification.
“My mentor and Ex-motorcross Champion winner, Sanjay Gondkar refused to give up and wrapped my hands and chest with bubble wrap. He also created a shield on the handle bar of bubble wrap for wind deflection. After this I gained confidence and rode till Pang and had four cups of tea and three bowls of noodles,” he uttered.
The bikers had to follow the road book or GPS track on the trail. Being a Time Speed Distance (TSD) format it was important to maintain the same. On a normal road they had a speed limit of 19 km/hr whereas on the mud and ice clayed roads they had to limit to 45 km/hr. There were time checkers who would be hiding in unknown places and suddenly appear to check the speed limit. If they reached early or late they were fined.
Raees has never participated in a riding championship before and this was his first attempt which he took as the biggest challenge in his life.
