18th June 2010
Day 0
All the bikers have got together for the first time. Some new faces and some I could recognise but could not recollect the names. Its 6:00 am and all the bikers are at Nehru Park for their fitness test.
The fitness test did involve a tedious 5 km run and at the end of it one was to complete 50 push ups. There were some riders who I suspected would not even qualify but they beat my prediction and knocked me cold by completing the 50 push ups. The fitness test was probably the most difficult thing till now. We were then directed to the Vishwa Yuvak Kendra at 8:30 am. Exhausted after the fitness test, everyone binged on the breakfast so much so that the caterers had to tell us to calm down and inform us that everyone will get their fair share.
The day was charted as follows:
11:00 am - 1:00 pm was the medical test
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm the rest of the riders got their bike, riding gear and paper scrutiny done.
4:00 pm we were asked to assemble at the conference room for the first briefing session.
We were given T-shirts, I-cards and we discussed the flag-off session, general rules, instructions and tips. We were asked to disperse at 7:00 pm and we packed our luggage, filled fuel in our respective rides and went back to our accommodation. The next day was going to be an early one and one where we would embark a long awaited and a once in a lifetime journey.