Background

Many moons ago I wanted to go to India when I went round the world. As a collective vote was required for where to go on that trip it didn't happen.

A few years later friends of mine we're mulling over some charity bike ride round India. The general premise was you raised £4000 for charity and then you'd be taken on a guided tour round southern India on Royal Enfields.

As a side note, I couldn't understand then why she wasn't interested in learning to ride a bike and ride herself but was instead happy to ride pillion. As it turns out she has since learned to ride a bike and has become some completely obsessed bike nut, riding the best part of 30,000 miles per year. Way more than me and I travel to the ends [*] of the earth.

Anyway, the whole guided-tour-leads-to-looming-group-angst, Enfields are crap (despite what my friends from the subcontinent believe) and pious "look what I did for chari-tee" thing put me off.

However, riding a bike round India still appealed and not any crummy local offering but a decent modern bike, ie. my own (or at least one I would buy for such a trip). But how do you get your bike to India?

Why, you ride it there, of course.