Early morning route huddle in Rishkesh overlooking the river Ganges
Today we headed for Rudraprayag. No idea how to pronounce it. I had a work related issue at midnight last night and my mind started racing. So couldn’t sleep. Got up before 6:00am. I hate when that happens.
Anyway decided to partake in the famous Yoga at 7am in the hotel. Lovely setting looking at the Ganges River, from the Aloha on the Ganges. Interesting place. The Beatles came here in the sixties as a retreat and this inspired their album. (I think Sargent Pepper)
The place hasn’t changed since then.
Yoga was fun, surprisingly I was the only woman, the class was small. At the end we received a glass of lemon juice. I guess a cleanser of sorts.
Tony went out to play with the lights to see if he could figure out what’s wrong. Later in the day we got some much needed advice back from friends. We will try their suggestions out when we get some down time.
Today’s order for the start changed. The new cars start first so we will leave at the end. Much better for us although I don’t like being at the back of the pack. We were parked in.
Off we headed through a city that truly looked like a throw back to the 60’s lots of lost hippies and the hotel hasn’t changed much.
Our rooms last night had adjoining doors to Bill and Jacqui so we couldn’t leave without telling each other. We had to share a main key to keep electricity on. When we arrived last night we all were covered in soot and mud. You see Bill and Jacqui now have the oldest Bentley in the race and although they sit high they are way more exposed than us. They become even muddier than us. Jacque tries the shower first. It is only ice water. We learn quit quickly that you must turn the boiler switch on and wait 20 minutes for hot water. Reminds me of my days as a child in Britain. Paying for the water and only getting a certain amount of hot water. Unfortunately We muddied the hotel towels as a result.
Off we drove through the humanity which is India. Horns honking cars driving every which way. The throng is a little overwhelming at times but we seem albeit slowly to get through it and out the other end.
Today we have a Regulatory 14 km out of town. Our route takes us across an unused bridge of the Ganges and up the small hillside road.
The requirement is 5 km at 35kph then 40 kph for 4 then 5 again at 35kph. It was tough. These speeds on potholed roads with streams we had to Ford and people we had to dodge was difficult. We bounced along at 35 OK again for the first 5km. We had one van slow us down so Tony had to race on. Then we hit the patch for 40km. We missed a turn and had to circle back. Going even faster. We had to make time up in this section. It was difficult. We bounced and skidded along. this was our first words in the race. For anyone who knows us we are competitive so doing this brings out sometimes the worst in us. I can barely read the Monit and the stopwatch due to bouncing and Tony accuses me of writing the wrong speeds down. He says “there is no way we should have to do 40km on this roads killing the car”. I knew I was right as I had checked twice. I said the car was more important to save so slow down.
Unfortunately he was further goaded on, by us then catching the car car in front of us. He said “you can’t be right”. I said “ I had checked twice”.
On we went, silence as you might say was deafening. I called out the numbers and we speeded on. Round another two corners back to 35kph and I tried to figure out the speed to time as best I could.
We drove right past the finish without seeing it. We later found out that other cars blocked it and so did people who stopped to gawk.
Further ahead we realized and drove back. Seeing other cars going slowly the other way and them waving at us. Later I found out many considered turning around thinking we were right.
Back to the race- we passed car 12 and pulled up on car 13. I could see Tony was furious as we all start 1 minute apart.
Motorbikes and cars wanted photos and tried to block our way. Tony wanted to just get on as he felt we would be so penalized that we might loose our gold Status ( making every section) and have a terrible result.
On we drove. We had a near miss with a car a few kilometres on a very dusty road when Tony refused to allow the driver to cut in front of us just to take our photo. We smiled but as we were so far behind the group due to our turn around we needed to get going. The driver was persistent and tried to push us off the road. A huge drainage ditch was on the side. Tony had to manoeuvre around. We hit really hard on the left back end. I pushed the horn very hard and Tony had to slam on brakes to avoid an accident. I pushed hard on the horn. The driver thought it was funny. I wish I had the wherewithal to write his number down. He sped off, leaving us to assess the impact on our suspension. Thankfully the car was not hurt.
It settled us down a little although still upset by what had occurred.
When we reached the PC we were informed we appeared to be leaking oil. Tony pulled off and we assessed the damage. We couldn’t find any. We think the Oneshot oiling system may have left drips in the protect underneath Tray that Andy and the Priory had fashioned and with all the jolting the oil left a puddle.. we would sort it out at the finish as for not all levels in the car seem tip top and nothing else was leaking.
On we drove. Through construction, narrow passes high up then low down. The distances are not that great today it is only 200km but at speeds as slow at 10kpm it can take all day.
About 30 km we came across massive dump trucks and men working furiously to remove the debris from a recent slide. When we heard the sound and rumblings of a new slide. A little unnerving but thankfully it was small.
Hard, broken roads means lots of fix’n at end of day…outside hotel lobby !!
Evening settles over the Ganges valley - Hotel is basic but hospitable
On we went arriving quite late at our rural hotel. No alcohol or meat. Meat has been scarce, most meals are vegetarian and tonight is no exception. The kitchen looked a bit sketchy but although simple the meal was quite delicious. Knowing we had no alcohol a few had stocked up and Monty decided to get Indian Scotch. What followed was fun and a great time, but first the good news. It seems through all our trials and tribulations and sharp words we actually had. Done much better than expected. We were closer to the mark than most in the trial. We certainly ended on a high note. Someone brought a little boom box and we started singing along with some oldie but Goldie’s. It became a huge party. We sang and danced and generally had a great time. We all crashed early about 10:00.
Nuts and Bolts:
It was a hard and very broken road for much of the day, even the test/speed section was along a fractured tarmac and we had trouble keeping pace whilst trying to preserve the car. With these events car preservation and careful pacing is critical. There is no joy if you can’t make it across the finish!! We have another 1 or 2 out with mechanical problems and the strong Polish crew look to be having overheating problems. The scuteneers and some of the other teams noted that we were trailing oil !! After checking the sump levels I took apart the floor pans and checked the gearbox oil and all looked to be OK. The differential is a bit wet with a small drool of oil from the seal but could not find anthing major amiss. I expect it it likely the one-shot lubrication that is pooling in the skid-plate and pouring over once we get underway….at least I hope that is answer!!!
