KTM India has steadily been working on building its adventure community, and things have gone a long way since the first-gen 390 Adventure was launched six years ago. With Bajaj now owning KTM outright, the company felt that it was time to bring the famed annual KTM Adventure Rally to India for the first time, and Goa made for the perfect destination.
Spread over three days, the idea behind the KTM Adventure Rally was to create a fun and thoroughly challenging environment for the participants, but not for it to be a torture fest. This was not a competition, and it was more of a learning experience where we’d get to ride with some highly skilled coaches and learn to deal with all sorts of off-road challenges.
Day 1 began with a road ride up to the Arambol plateau in North Goa. The actual off-road riding began once we approached the steep climb to the plateau. This was our first taste of Goa’s uniquely skittish off-road terrain that comprises a sheet of fairly large pebbles over a hard pack surface.
The result is an unnerving feeling that takes some time to get used to. After a rather slithery and ungraceful climb to the top on the 390 Adventure R that I’d been entrusted with for the event, it became clear that it was time to drop the pressures.
With the Mitas Enduro Trail+ biting much nicer at 25PSI, the KTM and I were all set for what lay in store. Day 1 had three separate off-road obstacles set up, and each one would involve a different set of skills. The first two were on a fast and flowing off-road track that spanned 3-4km and were all about how fast you were willing to go – fun, but an equal test of bravery as well as skill. The third challenge was easily my favourite of the day – perhaps the whole rally – and it involved us riding down into an unused quarry.
The quarry was all about steep climbs and descents, slow speeds and some tricky loose surfaces. The biggest challenge by far was a scarily steep climb at the end to get out of the quarry, and this led to some spectacular falls. It was at this stage where the encouragement and guidance from KTM’s master trainers proved to be so beneficial.
In hindsight, it’s easy for me to say that I got through the quarry stage just fine and attempted it multiple times, but there were some real nerves involved in the first run. If I’d encountered that terrain on my own, I probably would have just ridden around it. But when you have experts guiding you on what to do, it not only helps you figure it out, but also gives you the confidence of knowing that you’re capable of doing it.
Day 2 took a very different approach, starting off with a long but surprisingly enjoyable road ride down to Netravali in the South, with a flowing cruise through some lovely forest roads. This would be a slower day with a lot of waiting, mostly because the challenges were short but demanding, so when one rider fell or got stuck, the others would have to wait. Everything about the terrain was different as well, with soft and dry mud replacing the billions of ball bearings from day one and some tricky water crossings to master as well. It was a long day, but with some memorable challenges.
The third day was all about the kind of riding ADV enthusiasts look forward to – a fast, loose and long rocky hill climb. The destination for the day was the Pargad fort in Maharashtra, just off the Goa border. This was kilometres of fast and exciting riding, where the riders got to practise the skills they learned in the previous days and were rewarded with a spectacular view when they finally got to the top.
The KTM Adventure Rally was priced at Rs 46,000 and attracted about 100 customers. The company intends to bring an event of this type back on a yearly basis, and it would be nice to see it evolve into a travelling format to provide that more authentic ‘touring rally’ feeling. Nevertheless, it was impressive to see just how enthusiastic the riders were and how almost all of them pushed their comfort levels in the quest of learning something new and having fun at it. This was a clear sign that the Indian ADV community is coming of age, and KTM appears all set to be the leading player in this space.
Star Of the Show
Riding with Chris Birch was the highlight
We’ve all marvelled at Chris Birch’s awesome skills on a big Adventure bike for the last decade, but despite being an absolute superstar in the motorcycling world, he couldn’t be more down to earth in person. Every single person had about a dozen questions for him (myself very much included!), and he had the time to patiently answer them all, often in great detail and with incredible insight. What we all discovered over the course of the Rally is that Chris Birch is an exceptional teacher who conveys riding skill lessons with great simplicity, but in an absolutely riveting manner.
Getting 100 excitable motorcyclists to stop riding and listen with a 100 percent focus is no mean feat! Chris even rode side-by-side with me just to show me what a good off-road standing position looks like in real time and on the move. The opportunity to ride with him for three days will be the highlight of this event for most, if not everyone, who attended it.
Ved Janve
Vishal Venugopal
Azaman Chothia
