Ashish Raorane hails from the demanding sport of cross-country rallying and he’s one of the few rallyists who have gone on to represent India on the world stage.

Ashish Raorane played cricket and table tennis at the state level. Later on, he wanted get to get back into sports and realised that motorcycling is the perfect fit. He used to steal his father’s Yezdi back when he was in college. Ashish did research on the toughest rallies in India and learned about Raid de Himalaya so he attempted a cross country rally.

The Indian National Rally Championship circuit, a single day rally, was coincidentally close to where Ashish lived, in Nashik. Ashish talks about the maturity, determination and patience required to compete in a cross country rally. Later on he realised that endurance is the key factor in order to take himself to the next level.

Ashish highlights that you get better by learning from every race, event and even in training. He says the major difference is navigation when it comes to cross country rallies. The rider needs to navigate by reading from the book since there is no GPS feature.

Ashish’s wife, whom he met at a Formula One event, is a biker herself; she understands and loves the sport which has been a big help for him. She attends all the rallies that Ashish competes in and as he says, plays the role of his unofficial team manager..