Biker travels across India: South to North on an MV Augusta F4 RC

Harish Rossi, like some sort of long-distance Valentino, has just concluded a record-scoring trip from Kanyakumari to Khardhung La. 

He travelled from the most Southern city of India up to the most Northern motorable access point - covering more than 6,000 kilometers.

Harish, who rides nearly every day, wanted to do something special on his much-beloved MV F4 - which he has owned for two years, riding over 20,000 km.  

Unlike many European and American riding conquests, riding across India consists of a lot of off-road riding, which isn’t exactly the F4’s forte... 

Rossi’s trip began in his hometown of Chennai to the official start in Kanyakumari, with the record attempt starting at 40-44° C temperatures and ending at -4° C in the top highlands of India. 

Covering an average of 800 km per day, Rossi admits “It was really a great challenge”.

He rode the distance from Kanyakumari to Bangalore in a single day, traveling by night for about 800km.

After just seven hours rest and he left for Mumbai, covering 900 km with a few stops to recharge his body and refuel the bike. 

From Mumbai to Jammu: the hardest part is coming.

Until here, the roads are phenomenal. And Rossi took his time to explore the beautiful city of Jaipur far and wide.

From Jaipur onwards, the roads become older and less comfortable, and he was forced to spend two days in Jaipur because of some small technical issues. And on the third day, he decided to leave at any cost in order, not to delay any further.

From Jammu to Khardhung La: wasn’t it a road trip?

From here on, the hardest part of the trip started. Landslides 140 km from Jammu forced him to stop as all the roads were closed. 

The roads finally opened a 1.50AM the next day, and the grand journey continued, with Rossi Riding the MV F4 down narrow country tracks in 5° C temperatures, traction control at level 8 and rain mode selected. No doubt an extreme challenge. 

Finally, he reached Kargil from where he was greeted with the majestic Himalayan mountains. 

Getting to the final destination: Khardhung La

At these altitudes, the oxygen thins out, and the MV did experience a bit of a "hiccup" in power distribution. Also fuel was not optimal because it’s nearly impossible to get 97 octane petrol (using mostly 91 and 93 octane).

From Sringar comes the difficult part: the road is called Zojila Pass and it's the most challenging and dangerous road in India. 

Regardless, with the rigours of the rough terrain and altitude affecting his body, Rossi had to stop several times to calm down and breath.

In the end, he reached the final destination of The World’s highest motorable point, at an altitude of 18.231 ft. 

It took Harish Rossi nine days to complete this incredible journey and he said: “I’m glad I accomplished this successfully and safe, and also because I did this with my bike.”

Now, he just needs to get the bike back home… Round two?!