theguide PEOPLE JULY 31, 2011. SUNDAYMiD DAY14

AKSHATA SHETTYakshata.shetty@mid-day.com

FOR Urvashi Patolia to beamong the top 20 contendersfor the the Biker of the Year2011 is not unexpected. Afterall, the 23 year-old motorcyleenthusiast founded the coun-try’s all-women motorcyclistassociation of India, TheBikerni, in January. TheBikerni members go on bikingexpeditions across the coun-try, collaborate on dirt racingand stunts and get together toshare notes on their passion.

Patolia, a resident ofAundh in Pune, entered thecontest three weeks ago aftergetting to know about it viaExtra Breaking Horsepower(XBHP), an online motoringforum that she is a member of.The Biker of the Year 2011 isan initiative by CEAT BikeTyres along with other spon-sors to honour the men andwomen who ride themachines that hog the lime-light the rest of the time.Prizes include a custom edi-tion of the Ceat Pulsar 220, aswell as an Asus laptop. Thewinner will be announced onAugust 7.

“I began biking six yearsago. My family always encour-aged adventure. My mom is apolo champion and my fatherhas always been into motorcy-cles,” she says. Interestingly,her sporty parents only discov-ered her love for bikes whenshe broke her first bone whilepractising stunts on a friend’smotorcycle two years ago, she

laughs. Her journey beganwhen her dad gifted her herfirst bike, the Bajaj Exceed125, in 2006. “He told me thatmore than owning a bike witha large capacity engine it wasimportant to first perfect theriding technique,” she says.

Patolia, speaks passionate-ly about empowering women.“Women have a lot of poten-tial to do things — and I’m notjust talking about biking,” shesays.

Quick to dismiss any sug-gestions that seek tostereotype her as a tomboy,she says, “People think of meas someone who is manly andonly into stuff that interestsguys. But that’s not true. I alsolove to dress up and put onmake-up as other girls of myage do.”

At the moment, the fire inher belly comes from theanticipation of the 20-dayLeh-Ladakh tour she will beundertaking in August withher friends from The Bikerni,through which they want toenter the Limca Book ofRecords for being part of thefirst all-female motorcyclingexpedition in India.

Before she signs off shesays, “Do not go for a high-endbike just because it looks cool.Buy one that you can handlecomfortably. Also buy an ISI-marked helmet that fits youproperly. That is crucial.”

Log on to www.bikeroftheyear.into find out if Urvashi made it to

the top six contestants on Aug 2.

PIC / KRUNAL GOSAVI

DHAMINI RATNAMdhamini.ratnam@mid-day.com

JAYESH Shikarkhane, SangramsinghSalvi and Yogesh Desai have knowneach other long enough to indulge insome Bollywood bonding along thelines of Dil Chahta Hai, or even themore recent Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.The former college mates (junior col-lege, mind you) may have branched outto pursue different things in life, but theone thing that bound them was theirshared love for adventure.

Which is why, whenTheadventurists(.com) threw open theenrollment of the Rickshaw Run 2011,all Shikarkhane did was tell Desai, a 28year-old engineer and Salvi, a 26 year-old post graduate of chemicalengineering, currently preparing for hisUPSC examination, to come up with1,095 pounds as their registration fees.

Desai wired his third across, Salvitook a loan from his dad and 27 year-old Shikarkhane, an ad filmmaker andadventure sport enthusiast, robbed abank, as he puts it, to submit their fee.

“As far as we are concerned, themost difficult part of the process isover,” says Shikarkhane, who has beentrying to enrol for the Rickshaw Run,organised by UK based company TheLeague of Adventurists InternationalLtd, since the past two years.

The Rickshaw Run will be held fromSeptember 10 to 24, 2011, and partici-pating teams will be required to ride anauto rickshaw from Shillong inMeghalaya to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan.They can chart their own route, and thetrio are keen to take their three-wheel-er through Bhutan and Nepal.

Shikarkhane speaks from experi-ence. In 2009, he and Desai went on athree-day survival trip to the beaches of

Goa and Gokarna. “We decided to con-duct an experiment to test how well wecan survive without money. We stayedin tents and ate only what we caughtfrom the sea. The first day we wenthungry and panicked. The second day,we fared better — we caught crabs, andpomfret fish that we cooked on a fire.By the third day, we caught a swordfish,” says Shikarkhane.

“If either one of us had bailed then,the whole trip would have failed,” addsDesai.

The trip did more than just puttingthem in touch with their survivalinstinct and teaching them self-reliance — it showed them howimportant teamwork is.

Salvi may not have been part of thatlife-changing trip, but he’s done a 21-day backpacking journey with Desai in2006 — in Kashmir.

“We were caught in the middle of across fire between soldiers and youth,and we also saw unbelievable beauty.No one can remain untouched after anexperience like that,” says Desai.

The trio are banking on their teamspirit to take them through. However,there is also a touch of daring to theirendeavour, evidenced in the way thethree are keen to chart their route onlycloser to the journey date.

“We don’t want to plan our routenow,” says Shikarkhane. He adds thatthey won’t learn how to ride a rickshawtill the journey begins either.

“There are close to 70 other teamscoming for this trip from around theworld and they will be given only twodays to master riding a rickshaw. Wedon’t want to give ourselves an unfairadvantage,” says Shikarkhane.

Sounds noble, but Desai alreadyknows how to repair a rickshaw — hetook a week-long workshop while

employed as a service engineer in alarge auto company — and Salvi hasalready ridden one thanks to a neigh-bour back in his village in Ratnagiri.

“It’s not easy,” says Salvi. “The rick-shaw is a tripod after all, and can easilytip over if you don’t turn at the rightspeed.”

The ride will raise money for twocharities — the Adventurists offersthem a list of 50 to choose from. Thetrio are aiming to raise at least 1,000pounds for Frank Water Projects andthe Wildlife Protection Society of India.But they’re intent to have the ride oftheir lives while they’re at it.

At present, they have raised 385pounds. Want to sponsor them? Visittheir website www.teentigaadu.comfor contact details

Yogesh Desai, a trained service engineer,can repair a three-wheeler because of aworkshop he took 2 years ago

THE2-STROKEROADTRIP

Stunt biker Urvashi Patole, one the top 20contenders for the first Biker of the Yearaward, loves make-up and respects rules

THEGIRL INBIKERBOOTS

SangramSingh (standing)

and Jayesh Shikarkhanewon’t take lessons in

riding a rickshaw till twodays before the Rickshaw

Run that starts onSeptember 10.PIC/ ATUL KAMBLE

A trio of friends willembark on their journey ofa lifetime — 3,000 kmfrom Shillong to Jaisalmer— in September. But,instead of a convertible,they’re making the tripin a humble autorickshaw