Condensed version / executive summary
- Woke up
- Rode alone
- Met biker, rode
- Reached ooty
- Slept
- Woke up
- Reached venue
- Partied and enjoyed
- Slept
- Woke up
- Partied, enjoyed and partied, enjoyed some more
- Slept
- Woke up 3 hours late
- Rode Solo
- Met Bra, Gunfight, Rode
- Reached
- Slept
Done – end of story.
:-)
Slightly more detailed version as below:
Ok here goes:
Thursday Jan 22, 0900 hrs
- Boss still in town, not sure when am leaving, praying that he leaves early.
- Boss man asks me about RM as I usually take leave, I say its dependant on when he leaves..
- He is surprised I have not told him yet. Have not as have taken on a senior role so need to do be here when he comes
- He decides to leave early since I have to go to RM – wow!
- Allegedly plan to leave at 2300 for a night ride(I work best at nights! Now now Bobby – don’t get all antsy on me!)
Friday Jan 23, 0000
- Leave work only at 0000
- Meet Bobby for Chai
- Contact vinod535 thro gunfight
- Plan(Har har har) to meet up enroute. Caveat based on work that had to be completed
- Plan (Har har har again) to meet Indro and take him along – yah right!
- Finish work from home at 0200
- Call Indro – he does not pick up
- Decide to pack up and leave
- Leave at 0400 after searching for gear, tools, etc
- Fill up at BP bunk in Butt Road
- Draw money from ICICI at Porur
- Hit the road
- Solo ride, good ride, fast ride.
- 0630 – Vaniyambadi for tea break
- Heading via Bangalore so call Dosai to update – (forgot about Base contact!!)
- Instructions given, keep riding
- Run out of petrol in Hosur (Har Har Har)
- Thankfully am able to coast into a bunk with about 50 metres of running and jumping on!(Phew!)
- Fill up, thankfully Credit cards accepted and Speed available.
- Reach outskirts of Bangalore
- Ask instructions and am given directions contrary to what Dosai told me
- Directed on to “Nice Road”
- Perfect road – ripping it
- Suddenly – no road! Damn thing is not completed
- Follow another bulleteer (not RM related, but like me lost)
- Finally wind up on Mysore Road at 1000 Hrs
- Break
Friday, Jan 23, 1030
- See a bullet with pillion rip past, good riding, perfect cutting of gear when he came across an obstacle(later found out it was Poo from RTMC)
- Waited 15 minutes for me to wake up properly, then left
- Did good speeds as was trying to catch up with pillion rider as above
- See bike parked on highway
- Stop.
- Dickso from RTMC, with electrical issues
- Assist and move on together
- Again rip, roaring away
- Reach outskirts of Mysore meet batch of RTMC
- Tea
- Dickso and I leave as dominic and co are apparently 45 minutes ahead
- Take photos and talk about how Bangalore boys don’t see the need to, while we do – when was the last time saw a full lake of water with birds!
- Reach Gundulpet
- Tank up
- Bad stretch till Bandipur
- Stop at Pugmarks restaurant assuming others are there. No one else
- Decide to halt for lunch
Friday Jan 23, 1300
- Relaxed brunch
- Bikes rumbling past without stopping
- Soon trooper turns up (lost without a group!)
- Followed by chenthil, freya, freyas brother, Poo and Mouna?
- Leave with group
- Roads much better now
- Chenthil on F650
- Trooper and me ride fast and hard
- Apparently take a oneway – but enjoyed it
- Overtake Chenthil(well he let us go)
- Fast.
- Roads in TN good, depressions in road at periodic intervals cause us to fly high
- See 2 elephants
- Hit the ghats
- Stop a few hundred yards into it for photos
- Another group joins us
- Trooper and me take off
- Good ride with alternate leading by both of us
- Dickso trailing us
- One more photo opportunity
- Dickso ahead of us
- We finally reach ooty
- Get lost trying to find the place but eventually got there at 1600 hrs
Friday Jan 23, 1630
- Sleep till 1830
- Wake up and freezing
- Go buy thermals
- Eat parotta and chicken at Irani café
- Beverages
- Have dinner
- Around 2300 meet up with Abhi(RTMC) who is part of Crisis team on rounds
- Hithc ride with him back to various venues and the main venue
- Meet the boys from RTMC, offer tips, suggestions, and consultancy! No charge of course!
- Get ride back to youth hostel
- Beverage with Vinod 535
- Sleep
Saturday Jan 24, 0830
Following are just various thoughts as too much happened to write down so only important parts!:-)
- Meet all members as we assemble here
- Briefing the club
- Ride out to venue
- Assist in moving registrations along
- Go to rooms
- Have a bath! (gasp! – yes yes)
- Meet Brijesh and Smitha
- Wander and loiter and beverage!
- Do crisis management with another club at another venue
- Come back
- Party – chill out
- Take care of a particular person in the crisis team! (who was shall we say in a crisis himself!!!)
- Meet up with RTMC folks – Rakshas, Nisha, baby, Kavitha, ABHI, Mouna, Poo
- Head back to room
- Room hijacked!!!
- Sleep on floor
Sunday Jan 25, 0200
- Cold in night
- Manage
- Wake up and bathe again (Come on – I don’t know what I was thinking)
- Breakfast
- Give Brij my bike (He came by car – shoddy fellow)
- Jump on to Prashis bike as pillion
- Take few photos
- Good ride, good photos, nice temperature
- Get back to venue
- Beverages, loiter and more wandering
- Attend press meet
- Get ready for evening party
- Starting to feel feverish! Not good
- Go to party
- Enjoy the presentations, etc
- Enjoy the camaraderie
- Dinner
- Byes and see you next year’s…
Monday Jan 26, 0200
- Head back to room
- Get heater working – yay!!
- Sleep after taking a couple of meds
- Wake up in night freezing
- Heater not working
- No current
- Heater has tripped a fuse
- Un trip
- Heater still not working
- Freeze and sleep
- 0545 – wake up to Dom calling me to meet him at park place
- 0600 ranga, Maya confirm (apparently) that I have no fever
- Too tired, and sick to move
- Tell the others to leave
- Vps and sreejith give me a bed(thank you gentlemen) with 4 blankets
- Wake up at 0830
- Chill in bed for some time
- Breakfast
- Pack up and leave alone after gunfight have left around 0945
- Take the satyamangalam route
- Ride alone
- Reach metupalayam and Hari
- Hear about doms group and aim for it
- Overtake VPS and the RERAM riders and Kanakku
- Overtake one more group
- Take photos
- Get lost and go to Bhavani
- Take a 20 off KM detour
- Reach the highway(the real one – woo hoo!)
- Rip and catch up with Doms group leaving dhaba – can remember Jeep raj, and a few others
- Swap stories, they leave
- I crash on the string bed at least an hour
- Wake up to Bra and Gunfight thundering in
- They lunch, I sleep at least an hour
- Water, electoral, crocin and wake up
- Leave around 1600
- Peaceful cruising at 100
- Stop for gas and oil
- Keep riding
- Stop at vellore, meet my dad on highway
- Continue riding
- Meet one group on the way, have chai
- Ride in and reach home safe at 2100
Phew.
- That’s it.
- Thanks for reading.
- Bye for now
- Sleep!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
To Heaven and Back - Aug 2003
To Heaven and Back.
Aug 30, 2003 loomed large and clear as I prepared to undertake a nice relaxed ride – for a change – when Saru, yet another Mad Bull and I would undertake a trip to Gods own country.
We had done our planning in the previous week and said that Saturday would be a good day to start off. I had to be in Trivandrum on Thursday the 4th for a wedding and hence said we would do all our travelling before that.
The flexible route we decided was:
Chennai – Trichy – Kodaikanal – Munnar – Thekkady – Trivandrum- Nagercoil – Kanyakumari – Trichy – Pondy – Chennai.
This was to be a really flexible route and we would decide along the way and make necessary additions / deletions based on the speed and distance we covered – not leaving out the road conditions.
Day 1:
30/08, Saturday – odo reading: 31159
Chennai - Trichy
Saru and I met at 0830 at the Le Meridien and after a few last minute checks we headed out. First stop was about 40 Km out of Chennai where we had a good continental breakfast at one of the Hotel Management institutes restaurant.
Left around 1100 after a nice leisurely breakfast and proceeded to Trichy. I did some good speeds and so did Saru – it was Saru’s first long ride and I was filling him with tips all along the way.
Reached Trichy and stayed in my uncles place for the night. We did some riding in the night just for the heck of it.
Day 2:
31/08, Sunday
Trichy - Kodaikanal
Left Trichy for Kodaikanal around 0900 hours.
The route to Dindugal is pretty good except for a few stretches. It is also very windy. We had to stop the bikes at one stretch, as the bikes were very unstable in the wind. Just before Dindigul took off on the bye-pass to Kodaikanal.
Stopped at the base of the hills to give Saru some tips on Ghat riding and also to let the bikes cool down and then we took off. The ride was really good and as the views were spectacular we were stopping pretty often. Saru caught on to the technique of using the clutch and gears as brakes and was coping really well.
Started getting dark as a mist was coming in and finally reached around 0700. The last bit was exciting with a cool wind in our faces and the bikes doing really well. Found a decent hotel, picked up some um…refreshments and ordered some good food from Room service and crashed out.
Day 3:
01/09, Monday
Kodaikanal – Munnar
We had heard of the Berijam route via Top Station being closed off but being the Mad Bulls that we were we decided to give it a try anyway. First we went to the Forest office where we were told outright that there would be no way we could get there! Not wanting to give up so easily we rode on till the check post and were denied entry there as well!! - Apparently the road does not exist for over 12 kilometres and no amount of cajoling and “adjusting” would make the Forest Officer let us through.
So dejected we rode back and down the hills then onto Munnar through Theni.
The ghat ride up to the border was excellent – really not too steep and absolutely no traffic at all – oh yes the occasional Mahindra packed with people and bursting at the seams but apart form this not much at all.
The surroundings on the Tamil Nadu side are really very dull and brown and dry. The moment you cross the border into Kerala the forests and greenery start all around – the roads are surprisingly good and the best is the fact that it’s all downhill from here.
Had a lovely ride in the hills. Nice waterfalls and excellent views all around. Started getting dark and had to ride slowly as the visibility was really poor. Rode into town and finally met up with Solo aka Solomon –who had been waiting for us for over 2 hours. Ironically we went to the same booth that he had called us from while waiting and the booth operator put 2 and 2 together and informed us that Solomon had indeed arrived in Munnar and was searching for us. Talk about coincidence.
Went to the Hotel Hill top – couldn’t see any hill or a top either, had some refreshment and spent most of the night catching up on news in the bulleting industry.
Day 4
02/09, Tuesday.
Munnar – Thekkady - Kanjirapalli
The day started off with us deciding to ride on to Kanjirapalli instead of Thekkady as the distance was really less – only 80 KM. Also – in Kerala the normal time and distance equation does not work due to the Ghats, Roads and traffic. So we decided to ride on to Kanjirapalli where Solo had arranged some accommodation for us. We also decided to take the road less travelled which was to be only around 30 Kilometres more but in reality we kind of went all over the place and reached Thekkady only at around 5:00, it was here that my coil conked out and we had to get this fixed and that further delayed us by an hour or so.
Solo was pillion on Saru's bike for a while and was showing him the ropes and then for some time they swapped and Saru literally shivered while Solo rode! Solo was amazing on the ghats – almost as good as I am on the 500!!!! – but after all what can you expect from a 350!!!!!(Cool it guys – I used to have a 350 as well remember??!)
As it was late, Solo took over and Saru was pillion with me and we did some amazing riding – like poetry in motion. It started raining badly and we kept going on and on and on....
The rains were so bad the roads were washed off and we had to go through water flowing across the road and taking most of it with it as well! It kind of reminded me of the countless water crossing the RTMC, 60Kph and other groups went through in Kashmir.
OK OK – its nowhere as close!!!! – but it kind of reminded me that’s all!
Reached Kanjirapalli and stayed in a quaint Government guesthouse. Lot of refreshments sponsored by Solo and his cousins.
Day 4
03/09, Wednesday
Kanjirapalli – Trivandrum
Had a nice breakfast at Solos cousins place and headed out to Trivandrum, had a couple of shocks on the way with people saying the distance on the route we had taken was a lot more than we expected, did some good distances and finally hit the NH and was in Trivandrum much earlier than expected. Solo and Saru then split up to get a “massage” and I left for the wedding place.
Day 5.
04/09, Thursday
Trivandrum – Nagercoil
Not much riding except for the 75 kilometres from Trivandrum to Nagercoil that took us 3 hours due to Traffic!
Day 6.
05/09, Friday
Nagercoil.
Saru and Solo decided to split here and head off back together to Coimbatore as something had cropped up and Saru had to leave urgently.
They got lost on the way and eventually reached Coimbatore on Saturday morning.
I chilled out on my friend’s coconut estate and had a ball at a private beach.
Day 7.
06/09, Saturday
Nagercoil – Kanyakumari – Pondicherry.
Woke up early and rode 25 km solo to see the sun rise at KK. Left KK at around 8:00 and had to stop by on the way to see the scores and scores of windmills that were on the way.
On the way – my fuel pipe broke – so took the one from the air filter and replaced it and all seemed to be well, till my clutch cable snapped in a few minutes. Changed it using the spare I had and continued on. Reached Tirunelveli and spent an hour on breakfast.
Rode on thro Madurai to Trichy and had reached Trichy much earlier that I expected. Met up with my sister and decided to carry on, as I was in the mood and doing really well.
Rode on till Pondy and decided to stay the night as it was 7:00 and I had been riding the whole day. I could have done Chennai, but did not have a reason to and so chilled out in Pondy.
Day 8.
07/09, Sunday –
Pondy to Chennai.
Woke up late and left Pondy at around 10:30 and was in Chennai 1t 12:30. Realised that I keep pushing the bike much more than normal when I get onto a good road, hence made it a point to stop not once an hour as I normally do but stop once in every 45 minutes.
All in all a really good ride.
The bikes – both Saru’s and mine performed well on all occasions. There were no major problems and at the end of the day, Saru has become a good rider now, a person I can sit behind and trust knowing that he would be as responsible as I on the road. Normally this is something I find really difficult to do.
Final Odo reading: 33202
Total Distance covered: 2043Km
Number of days: 9.
Lessons learnt:
1. Always carry Cash – Cards don’t always help you – both ATM and Credit! – Learnt it the hard way in Pondicherry when the ATM network was down
2. During the night, if in a pair stick as close together as possible in Staggered formation, lighting up the way for both of you. (Day 4 – riding in the rain in the night)
3. During Night riding rather than stick to the centre and keep moving out into the wrong lane to check and see if you can overtake, look below the bigger vehicle in front of you and see the reflection on the roads.
4. Solo Night riding – Tail a bigger vehicle and keep a safe distance from it all the way rather than taken unnecessary risks.
5. Tie luggage well, and test ride it before starting of as if this is done improperly it will cause major wobbling.
6. If you start losing pickup and pulling power, cool the engine for a while and take off again.
7. Always keep a common contact as home base. Mobiles do not always work.
8. And finally take time to see the place after all for a true biker the journey is the destination.
Aug 30, 2003 loomed large and clear as I prepared to undertake a nice relaxed ride – for a change – when Saru, yet another Mad Bull and I would undertake a trip to Gods own country.
We had done our planning in the previous week and said that Saturday would be a good day to start off. I had to be in Trivandrum on Thursday the 4th for a wedding and hence said we would do all our travelling before that.
The flexible route we decided was:
Chennai – Trichy – Kodaikanal – Munnar – Thekkady – Trivandrum- Nagercoil – Kanyakumari – Trichy – Pondy – Chennai.
This was to be a really flexible route and we would decide along the way and make necessary additions / deletions based on the speed and distance we covered – not leaving out the road conditions.
Day 1:
30/08, Saturday – odo reading: 31159
Chennai - Trichy
Saru and I met at 0830 at the Le Meridien and after a few last minute checks we headed out. First stop was about 40 Km out of Chennai where we had a good continental breakfast at one of the Hotel Management institutes restaurant.
Left around 1100 after a nice leisurely breakfast and proceeded to Trichy. I did some good speeds and so did Saru – it was Saru’s first long ride and I was filling him with tips all along the way.
Reached Trichy and stayed in my uncles place for the night. We did some riding in the night just for the heck of it.
Day 2:
31/08, Sunday
Trichy - Kodaikanal
Left Trichy for Kodaikanal around 0900 hours.
The route to Dindugal is pretty good except for a few stretches. It is also very windy. We had to stop the bikes at one stretch, as the bikes were very unstable in the wind. Just before Dindigul took off on the bye-pass to Kodaikanal.
Stopped at the base of the hills to give Saru some tips on Ghat riding and also to let the bikes cool down and then we took off. The ride was really good and as the views were spectacular we were stopping pretty often. Saru caught on to the technique of using the clutch and gears as brakes and was coping really well.
Started getting dark as a mist was coming in and finally reached around 0700. The last bit was exciting with a cool wind in our faces and the bikes doing really well. Found a decent hotel, picked up some um…refreshments and ordered some good food from Room service and crashed out.
Day 3:
01/09, Monday
Kodaikanal – Munnar
We had heard of the Berijam route via Top Station being closed off but being the Mad Bulls that we were we decided to give it a try anyway. First we went to the Forest office where we were told outright that there would be no way we could get there! Not wanting to give up so easily we rode on till the check post and were denied entry there as well!! - Apparently the road does not exist for over 12 kilometres and no amount of cajoling and “adjusting” would make the Forest Officer let us through.
So dejected we rode back and down the hills then onto Munnar through Theni.
The ghat ride up to the border was excellent – really not too steep and absolutely no traffic at all – oh yes the occasional Mahindra packed with people and bursting at the seams but apart form this not much at all.
The surroundings on the Tamil Nadu side are really very dull and brown and dry. The moment you cross the border into Kerala the forests and greenery start all around – the roads are surprisingly good and the best is the fact that it’s all downhill from here.
Had a lovely ride in the hills. Nice waterfalls and excellent views all around. Started getting dark and had to ride slowly as the visibility was really poor. Rode into town and finally met up with Solo aka Solomon –who had been waiting for us for over 2 hours. Ironically we went to the same booth that he had called us from while waiting and the booth operator put 2 and 2 together and informed us that Solomon had indeed arrived in Munnar and was searching for us. Talk about coincidence.
Went to the Hotel Hill top – couldn’t see any hill or a top either, had some refreshment and spent most of the night catching up on news in the bulleting industry.
Day 4
02/09, Tuesday.
Munnar – Thekkady - Kanjirapalli
The day started off with us deciding to ride on to Kanjirapalli instead of Thekkady as the distance was really less – only 80 KM. Also – in Kerala the normal time and distance equation does not work due to the Ghats, Roads and traffic. So we decided to ride on to Kanjirapalli where Solo had arranged some accommodation for us. We also decided to take the road less travelled which was to be only around 30 Kilometres more but in reality we kind of went all over the place and reached Thekkady only at around 5:00, it was here that my coil conked out and we had to get this fixed and that further delayed us by an hour or so.
Solo was pillion on Saru's bike for a while and was showing him the ropes and then for some time they swapped and Saru literally shivered while Solo rode! Solo was amazing on the ghats – almost as good as I am on the 500!!!! – but after all what can you expect from a 350!!!!!(Cool it guys – I used to have a 350 as well remember??!)
As it was late, Solo took over and Saru was pillion with me and we did some amazing riding – like poetry in motion. It started raining badly and we kept going on and on and on....
The rains were so bad the roads were washed off and we had to go through water flowing across the road and taking most of it with it as well! It kind of reminded me of the countless water crossing the RTMC, 60Kph and other groups went through in Kashmir.
OK OK – its nowhere as close!!!! – but it kind of reminded me that’s all!
Reached Kanjirapalli and stayed in a quaint Government guesthouse. Lot of refreshments sponsored by Solo and his cousins.
Day 4
03/09, Wednesday
Kanjirapalli – Trivandrum
Had a nice breakfast at Solos cousins place and headed out to Trivandrum, had a couple of shocks on the way with people saying the distance on the route we had taken was a lot more than we expected, did some good distances and finally hit the NH and was in Trivandrum much earlier than expected. Solo and Saru then split up to get a “massage” and I left for the wedding place.
Day 5.
04/09, Thursday
Trivandrum – Nagercoil
Not much riding except for the 75 kilometres from Trivandrum to Nagercoil that took us 3 hours due to Traffic!
Day 6.
05/09, Friday
Nagercoil.
Saru and Solo decided to split here and head off back together to Coimbatore as something had cropped up and Saru had to leave urgently.
They got lost on the way and eventually reached Coimbatore on Saturday morning.
I chilled out on my friend’s coconut estate and had a ball at a private beach.
Day 7.
06/09, Saturday
Nagercoil – Kanyakumari – Pondicherry.
Woke up early and rode 25 km solo to see the sun rise at KK. Left KK at around 8:00 and had to stop by on the way to see the scores and scores of windmills that were on the way.
On the way – my fuel pipe broke – so took the one from the air filter and replaced it and all seemed to be well, till my clutch cable snapped in a few minutes. Changed it using the spare I had and continued on. Reached Tirunelveli and spent an hour on breakfast.
Rode on thro Madurai to Trichy and had reached Trichy much earlier that I expected. Met up with my sister and decided to carry on, as I was in the mood and doing really well.
Rode on till Pondy and decided to stay the night as it was 7:00 and I had been riding the whole day. I could have done Chennai, but did not have a reason to and so chilled out in Pondy.
Day 8.
07/09, Sunday –
Pondy to Chennai.
Woke up late and left Pondy at around 10:30 and was in Chennai 1t 12:30. Realised that I keep pushing the bike much more than normal when I get onto a good road, hence made it a point to stop not once an hour as I normally do but stop once in every 45 minutes.
All in all a really good ride.
The bikes – both Saru’s and mine performed well on all occasions. There were no major problems and at the end of the day, Saru has become a good rider now, a person I can sit behind and trust knowing that he would be as responsible as I on the road. Normally this is something I find really difficult to do.
Final Odo reading: 33202
Total Distance covered: 2043Km
Number of days: 9.
Lessons learnt:
1. Always carry Cash – Cards don’t always help you – both ATM and Credit! – Learnt it the hard way in Pondicherry when the ATM network was down
2. During the night, if in a pair stick as close together as possible in Staggered formation, lighting up the way for both of you. (Day 4 – riding in the rain in the night)
3. During Night riding rather than stick to the centre and keep moving out into the wrong lane to check and see if you can overtake, look below the bigger vehicle in front of you and see the reflection on the roads.
4. Solo Night riding – Tail a bigger vehicle and keep a safe distance from it all the way rather than taken unnecessary risks.
5. Tie luggage well, and test ride it before starting of as if this is done improperly it will cause major wobbling.
6. If you start losing pickup and pulling power, cool the engine for a while and take off again.
7. Always keep a common contact as home base. Mobiles do not always work.
8. And finally take time to see the place after all for a true biker the journey is the destination.
The Meetings of the Bulls - Aug 2003
The Meeting of the Bulls
Aug 19, 2003
This August 15th was a day that I badly wanted to ride. It was exactly one year since I had gone on my first long ride as a group – with my club The Madras Bulls. We had gone to Coorg last year. Unfortunately this year I was unable to get off from work and had to spend a dreary day at WORK – waiting for the day to end.
The Madras Bulls had decided to ride over to Yercaud for the weekend and I was miserable that I could not join them. Anyway I heard that the Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club (Bullet club – Bangalore) were riding down to Yelagiri – around 220 kilometres from here and hence decided to join them – I at least would then spend some time with others who share a common passion –the Bullet!
Checked up with the guys and was a little confused on the route they were taking, and anyway decided to join up with them at a place called Gudiyatham, around 160 kilometres from Madras and 40 km from my house in Vellore. Was ideal as I could see my family for a short time and then proceed on the ride.
Sometime in the night, I got a call from Harsh – one of the Madras Bulls that they too had decided to leave Yercaud on 16th morning and reach Yelagiri, as Yercaud seemed a disappointment. Fully enthused with the idea of getting both the clubs together, I tried to get a good nights rest. Unfortunately this was not to be, I had some urgent work that came at around 3 am and managed to finish it all by 5 am. Not wanting to sleep as I would definitely over sleep, I went for a jog and then came back refreshed and left for Vellore at around 8 am.
As I was running in my bike, I did a slow ride with 2 stops along the way and was in Vellore by 11 am. My initial plan was to reach Gudiyatham by 1300 and it looked possible. Unfortunately the Bangalore guys had been delayed and so I left Vellore only at around 1200. Reached Gudiyatham and found a place to eat and gave the bike a wash after it had cooled down and also tightened my tappets a bit as they were real noisy.
After Lunch at around 1430 I decided to head out on the route the Bangalore guys were taking as Yelagiri was no where near Gudiyatham. Rode for a while and finalised the route to be taken after meeting up the guys and finally bumped into them on a small ghat section on the border of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
It was good to see these guys, all Thunder Birds except for Pravin who incidentally rides a 1996 - 500 as I do. Decided to head out straight to Ambur on a National Highway, as the trip would then be faster. Heard from Brijesh of the Madras Bulls that they had reached Yelagiri and were waiting for us.
On the way from Pernambet to Ambur there was a small mishap that was taken care of by the guys and we were at Ambur tanking ourselves with some chicken fried rice and chilly chicken. Let thereafter to Yelagiri and about 4 km from the hills, it started raining. All of us donned what little gear we had and headed out.
The ride up was really good and Karthick and KJ of the Bangalore group and I had a good quick ride and finally managed to find the hotel where the Madras Bulls were staying. There was no place for the others so we managed to get them accommodated in one of the other resorts there.
Had a wash and then we went over to where the Bangalore boys were staying and had a late night of fun with a campfire et al and Karthick pitching his newly purchased tent and then dismantling it up fast as it was raining!
Woke up on the 17th pretty late and eventually managed to get both the clubs to leave around 12:30. Reached Vaniyambadi – had some good biriyani and then bid adieu to the other club as it was time to head out to our homes to look forward to yet another week of fun-filled….ugh...work?
The Madrasi’s did some excellent group riding for about an hour and then stopped for a small break where a few guys tanked up on gas. I was bringing up the rear as I was running in my bike and finally took over just before Vellore as I had intimate knowledge of the roads. Took the guys on an alternate route bypassing the main Vellore - Ranipet highway as it is in a real bad condition.
It was a good 20 km of nice country roads till Wallajah where we met up with the main highway. The entire group was doing some good riding and managed to maintain nice speeds. Stopped a couple of times for breaks and finally reached Poonamalee at around 7 pm where we all went our separate ways.
All in all a rather good ride with no major breakdowns or problems.
Lessons Learnt:
1. Be prepared for the worst weather - always.
2. Go slow on the ghats and enjoy the scenery as well.
3. If in groups - have a contact at base city who will be a point of contact
in case of any problems. (Mobile phones DO NOT ALWAYS WORK!)
4. Take lots of plastic bags.
The Riders:
Madras Bulls
Bips (RE 500), Nish (T-Bird), Ranga (T-Bird), Bijesh (Campus), Harsh (STD 350), Varun (STD 350), Brijesh (A350), Dodo (RE 500)
RTMC (Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club)
Rocky and Pallavi (T-Bird), Bumboo a.k.a. Karthikeyan (T-Bird), Praveen (RE 500), Sathish (T-Bird), Keerti a.k.a. KJ (T-Bird).
Aug 19, 2003
This August 15th was a day that I badly wanted to ride. It was exactly one year since I had gone on my first long ride as a group – with my club The Madras Bulls. We had gone to Coorg last year. Unfortunately this year I was unable to get off from work and had to spend a dreary day at WORK – waiting for the day to end.
The Madras Bulls had decided to ride over to Yercaud for the weekend and I was miserable that I could not join them. Anyway I heard that the Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club (Bullet club – Bangalore) were riding down to Yelagiri – around 220 kilometres from here and hence decided to join them – I at least would then spend some time with others who share a common passion –the Bullet!
Checked up with the guys and was a little confused on the route they were taking, and anyway decided to join up with them at a place called Gudiyatham, around 160 kilometres from Madras and 40 km from my house in Vellore. Was ideal as I could see my family for a short time and then proceed on the ride.
Sometime in the night, I got a call from Harsh – one of the Madras Bulls that they too had decided to leave Yercaud on 16th morning and reach Yelagiri, as Yercaud seemed a disappointment. Fully enthused with the idea of getting both the clubs together, I tried to get a good nights rest. Unfortunately this was not to be, I had some urgent work that came at around 3 am and managed to finish it all by 5 am. Not wanting to sleep as I would definitely over sleep, I went for a jog and then came back refreshed and left for Vellore at around 8 am.
As I was running in my bike, I did a slow ride with 2 stops along the way and was in Vellore by 11 am. My initial plan was to reach Gudiyatham by 1300 and it looked possible. Unfortunately the Bangalore guys had been delayed and so I left Vellore only at around 1200. Reached Gudiyatham and found a place to eat and gave the bike a wash after it had cooled down and also tightened my tappets a bit as they were real noisy.
After Lunch at around 1430 I decided to head out on the route the Bangalore guys were taking as Yelagiri was no where near Gudiyatham. Rode for a while and finalised the route to be taken after meeting up the guys and finally bumped into them on a small ghat section on the border of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
It was good to see these guys, all Thunder Birds except for Pravin who incidentally rides a 1996 - 500 as I do. Decided to head out straight to Ambur on a National Highway, as the trip would then be faster. Heard from Brijesh of the Madras Bulls that they had reached Yelagiri and were waiting for us.
On the way from Pernambet to Ambur there was a small mishap that was taken care of by the guys and we were at Ambur tanking ourselves with some chicken fried rice and chilly chicken. Let thereafter to Yelagiri and about 4 km from the hills, it started raining. All of us donned what little gear we had and headed out.
The ride up was really good and Karthick and KJ of the Bangalore group and I had a good quick ride and finally managed to find the hotel where the Madras Bulls were staying. There was no place for the others so we managed to get them accommodated in one of the other resorts there.
Had a wash and then we went over to where the Bangalore boys were staying and had a late night of fun with a campfire et al and Karthick pitching his newly purchased tent and then dismantling it up fast as it was raining!
Woke up on the 17th pretty late and eventually managed to get both the clubs to leave around 12:30. Reached Vaniyambadi – had some good biriyani and then bid adieu to the other club as it was time to head out to our homes to look forward to yet another week of fun-filled….ugh...work?
The Madrasi’s did some excellent group riding for about an hour and then stopped for a small break where a few guys tanked up on gas. I was bringing up the rear as I was running in my bike and finally took over just before Vellore as I had intimate knowledge of the roads. Took the guys on an alternate route bypassing the main Vellore - Ranipet highway as it is in a real bad condition.
It was a good 20 km of nice country roads till Wallajah where we met up with the main highway. The entire group was doing some good riding and managed to maintain nice speeds. Stopped a couple of times for breaks and finally reached Poonamalee at around 7 pm where we all went our separate ways.
All in all a rather good ride with no major breakdowns or problems.
Lessons Learnt:
1. Be prepared for the worst weather - always.
2. Go slow on the ghats and enjoy the scenery as well.
3. If in groups - have a contact at base city who will be a point of contact
in case of any problems. (Mobile phones DO NOT ALWAYS WORK!)
4. Take lots of plastic bags.
The Riders:
Madras Bulls
Bips (RE 500), Nish (T-Bird), Ranga (T-Bird), Bijesh (Campus), Harsh (STD 350), Varun (STD 350), Brijesh (A350), Dodo (RE 500)
RTMC (Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club)
Rocky and Pallavi (T-Bird), Bumboo a.k.a. Karthikeyan (T-Bird), Praveen (RE 500), Sathish (T-Bird), Keerti a.k.a. KJ (T-Bird).
History in the making!!
The first Rider Mania - EVER!
Rider Mania is the annual gathering of Riders of the Bullet (Royal Enfield) from various clubs across India.
It has been going on for a few years now and this is the write up leading to the first one...the one of many!
PS - realised I had written it all but not completed it - cos it was toooo long! :) but a decent amount of writing here so its better for it to remain!
========================================
History in the Making, - Part 1
Thursday, 09/01/2003, 0300AM
I had just got back from a long day at the office - I had had to finish a lot of work before I left for Rider Mania in Goa. I was supposed to stay with Vernon, but got so delayed at work, that I decided to stay at home and then proceed to the Meridien on my own - called Vernon and informed him that I would meet him at the Meridien in the morning and asked him to wake me up at 0430. Reached home and packed my stuff - papers, jackets, riding gear bungee's etc and finally decided to take a short nap - I had hardly put my head down and Vernon called - he too had been awake and decided to start early.
So I went down and started her up, though it was fairly chill, she started in one gentle kick and I managed to wake up a couple of neighbours who came out to wish me luck. My own roommates were sound asleep - under the influence - of course! Anyway reached the Meridien and Mohammed, Roopesh, Rajesh along with the three B's - Bips and Bijesh, and Brijesh. Sathish then rumbled in along followed by Madhu and then finally Shamsher came. A quick check of the bikes and we were ready to rock!!
We eventually left at around 6:00 and Vernon had been delayed a bit and set out to Goa. Stopped twice in the first 15 minutes for Gas and Money from an ATM –
Observation: I think all of these have to be done earlier as this is a waste of time for the first part of the day, What should happen is that we all fill up, tank up and get moolah all ready as early as possible and not inconvenience others...anyway - its all the ride!
Our first major stop was Sri Perumbudur where we stopped for 5 minutes as Rajesh had to get his luggage packed as he had had a pillion till here. He came and we then proceeded on. Our next stop was around 9:30 Near Ranipet, where we decided to stop for a while as we had managed to get past the bad stretch of road and were all feeling rather Hungry, so we stopped of at a decent hotel and all had some nice heavy breakfast.
Observation: Our breaks are too long - we need to all be brisk about everything and try not to have long breaks as this ruins the trip as we always become out of schedule and have to hurry up in the end.
We left after breakfast and our first delay came here, all except Vernon and Roopesh carried on and then we realized that these 2 were not with us, so I went back and found that Roopesh's bike had blown a fuse and they had changed it and were just starting ff when Roopesh's fuse went again – must have been some short circuit someplace. Anyway got them back on and this time it did not stop. We carried on till the Vellore bypass where my dad had come with a few sandwiches and the First Aid Kits, We had 3 of them and these were distributed accordingly.
We carried on riding and it was good to see the new boys slowly picking up the finesse of riding in a group.
Observation - most groups tend to start slowing down because one guy slows down, we need to all be able to keep up with the lead rider, as his speed is the final decision on the ride. What was happening with us was that the lead rider was going a normal pace and as the second and following riders were slowing down the leader had to also slow down to get the rest of the group in shape.
Anyway, after a stop near Mulbagal, where the above mentioned concept was explained to them, the bikes were doing well and an average speed of around 70 was maintained. We were nearing Kolar at around 12:00 Noon, when disaster struck! - Vernon was in the lead followed by Rajesh and Sathish, Mohammed, Shamsher, myself and Roopi was bringing up the rear. The first three had been separated as we were going through a small town and hence traffic split us up.
Observation: In this case there is nothing we can do and the first group has to slow down after the town for the others to catch up. There is absolutely no sense in us moving through the town together if traffic is high; it only makes things more difficult.
Anyway, we were doing around 90 and Mohammed's tire had a puncture - apparently a bolt had gone through and he just had an awfully big puncture with a lil finger sized hole in his tire that eventually reached his tube in a matter of 1 nanosecond!! - I know as I was there. I was behind him with Roopi and Shamsher - YES Roopi and me were coming slow as we were the sweepers. I must say Mohammed did a good job of trying to control the bike; he managed to control it on 2 skids but lost it on the third! - his tire slipped off the rim.
Anyway Shamsher, Roopi and I stopped and ran to him and we lifted him up and he was badly shaken - I feared the worst, as it was a bad fall. But thankfully there were no face cuts - he was wearing a helmet. His right hand index finger was cut along the length of the finger and was bleeding profusely, we tried to stem the flow but it was a bad cut...anyway he was ok and probably in shock so no screaming etc We spoke to him and he was able to understand what we were trying to say, so with the help of a few locals we got him to a nearby hospital - that was like 100 metres away and I stayed with the bikes.
I then called the others and told them to come back and then In the meanwhile Shamsher and I picked the bike up and started it - guess what it started in one kick!!! - there was no major damage apart from the fact of the rear tire being off the rim, and the wheel a bit misaligned, so I kicked the wheel and sort of brought it back to shape - tightened all the nuts in the front and then when the others came back we got the tire repaired – we had to put a patch -, and used a spare tube that I had.
Moe had to have 6 stitches and his pant cut up! - he was really upset about that, as it's not easy to get his size. Anyway we called the Bangalore guys, who we were supposed to meet at around 2:00 Pm and then chill out till 4:00 Pm and then leave for our night halt at Chitradurg. And they were very cool and said they would wait for us regardless of when we landed up.
Observations: Unforeseen incidents can happen on the way and the best part of is it that the true challenge comes in overcoming these in our own way with the available resources and...going on!
Mohammed came back and was willing to ride till Bangalore where he said he would decide on what had to be done - So we all left at around 4:30 PM and went on towards Bangalore. Rajesh's bike then gave us some problems, There was petrol but it was not entering the carb, so Roopi sucked and cleared the air in the tube and cleaned the tap and all was A-OK,
We reached Bangalore and had some trouble reaching the Coffee Day on Lavelle Road - where the Bangalore boys were as no one knew where we were heading except Vernon and traffic was really bad.
Finally reached the coffee shop at around 7:00 PM and all the riders who were coming with us were there. All set and geared up to go. It was an amazing sight, seeing the clubs met each other and generally chat on the various aspects of ....everything. We were making new friends and seeing new bikes and basically going bonkers! The Madbulls then went in and had something to eat and drink and we were ready to go.
Moe the big man, decided to go all the way - being the true bulletteers that we are! That was not very surprising! - so we left at 7:30 PM and he was pillion - on his bike - maybe that's where we made the mistake – damaged bike, pillion and also new rider who is not familiar with this bike,
Traffic in Bangalore was heavy and we reached the outskirts around 8:30PM. During the ride out the groups split up and there was no more Madras Bulls or Rolling Thunder. We were all riders. United by the passion we share for this lovely single cylinder thumper. The road was beckoning and we were going out in style. Heading to make history in the first ever Rider meet in India,
Around 9:00 PM the group that had assembled near a dhaba for something to refresh our parched throats and empty stomachs decided to carry on as the others were regrouping elsewhere. Here is where I split up from the Madras bulls completely. I started riding with Adrian and Sukesh on their Machismo A350 and was riding with them. After a point I realized that we were doing pretty amazing speeds of 120+(both our speedos were showing the same so I don't think I was wrong!) Anyway, we did some really hard riding and I was amazed that my bike was doing extremely well. We stopped at one place and went around to examine each others bikes and I was about to complement Adrian on his excellent 350 and he was going to do the same when we both realized that his was an A350 and mine was a 500 :-)
We continued riding and it was amazing, really like poetry in motion, I could only think of the ECR Express, Mysore express and Trichy Express – for those of you new ones - these are the names for Solomon, Roopesh and Narren - the fastest riders in the Madras Bulls. - I think its time for another express ;-). There was one stretch on the highway which is exactly like ECR except its 4 laned and me and my baby just went overboard here. I stopped off at around 12:00 Midnight to call up a friend who was celebrating a birthday and had a small break. It was really amazing standing there out on the highway, all dressed up in fluorescent and having a bullet packed with luggage and all these truckers eyeing me as if I was from out of space! (I had my Samsung R220 torchlight on as well!)
Finally reached Chitradurg around 12:15 AM to realize that there were only 3 others who had reached, Adrian, Sukesh and Ranjith - all guys from the rolling Thunder. We waited and waited and finally a few of us left for the place we were going to be staying. Due to the varying speeds, it was around 3:00AM that guys actually came in, Some of the Bangalore guys were ready to carry on as it was around 4:00 AM anyway, so we decided that we would not stand in anybody's way, if they wanted to carry on they were willing to do so. So finally most of the Bangalore guys left and then we faced a problem, the lodge owner assuming that we had all left, closed up and slept and could not be woken up. So we decided to "adjust:" and were all settling down to sleep in the reception when we heard a few guys come back. They had all gone into reserve and could not find a bunk, so decided to leave with us all the next morning. So eventually went to sleep around 5:00 AM
I think that's it for now, will complete it tomorrow and get you all to have two mails as this is turning out to be longer than I expected.
Watch this space.
History in the Making, - Part 2
After the Bangalore guys came back we had a few discussions on what exactly to do - some of us thought we should stay here for the night and some thought we should ride till we see a dhaba and then crash out for the night. Thankfully Commonsense prevailed and we kind of managed to get some rooms and finally all slept, it was around 5:00 AM!!! - The Madbulls had been on the road for around 24 hours! - we were all totally zapped.
At around 7:00 AM, we had Vernon and Sukesh come in to the room where Sats, Supreeth and I were staying and "tried" to wake us up. I think I was oblivious to them and they gave up and carried on waking the others. Around 8:00 AM I was awakened to a loud shouting from Sukesh, stating that we were the ones delaying the group. Thinking it was his usual tall tale to get us out, I stumbled along to the balcony to see everyone all set and ready to go. I immediately woke the others and we had a quick wash, and were down faster than you can say supercalyfagilisticespialadocious,
Went down and had a couple of teas and a lot of smokes to clear the woozy head and we were ready to ride. We were given instructions as to where we had to regroup so we all proceeded out of Chitradurg around 8:30 AM, Friday. As usual, Roopesh, Adrian and Suks on an A350 and myself, literally took off like our asses were on fire and had a good morning ride. It was here that I noticed that my bike was having a few problems, it would do really well in 3rd and the moment I changed to fourth, it would slow down tremendously. This was so much that I found it difficult to keep up with the leaders.
(Please note that I only found it difficult to keep up and not that I did not keep up!:-))
After around an hour of top class riding we decided to stop at a dhaba and have some tea. The tea was absolutely delicious as it was made like fresh and was truly amazing. During this period, the rest of the guys went past and so we took off after them. In around 15 minutes we saw them all at yet another dhaba, where they had rudely awakened the dhaba owner and asked him to make 40 Aloo Parathas! The curds(which I don't have:-( and the sugar and the parathas were really nice to our craving stomachs, and we all ate – I must note that Vernon ate a lot, he was cleaning up on us :-) Observation - Breakfast was too long as it was a big group and as usual people started to take it easy, we need to really do something about this! After breakfast, I decided to do a slow ride for some time as I was low on gas and engine oil, and I needed to refill, my bike as well us get some "liquid" diet arranged for myself.
So I was among the last riders and I decided I would do this till Hubli where our next regroup was planned. I filled up, both my bike and I and decided to do a nice slow ride, keeping up with Supreeth and Vernon, who were going slow. On the way we passed a few of us bikers, who once again passed us and went on by.
Was coming slow with Ranjith, who was having a bit of starting problems and got caught by a railway gate. Ranjith and I had just missed the last of the group. So we chilled out, swapped stories and then carried on. We came across Vernon and Supreeth again and I told Ranjith to take off, as I would keep these guys company. So we were cruising along at around 70 and the monotony was getting to all of us. Vernon started feeling sleepy, so we decided to stop at - yes you guessed it - the next dhaba and had some tea and washed our faces. Vernon decided to take a "power nap" and so this time Supreeth and I swapped stories. After 10 minutes, we woke Vernon up and then proceeded to the next rendezvous with the gang.
When we reached there around 2:00PM, all the guys were anxious and worried as we had been a while and had a quick laugh when they heard the reason for our delay. We decided to not waste anymore time and carried on. This time all the guys had been well run in as had their bikes and we were doing some good speeds. Vernon and Supreeth were in the lead! Followed by the others. After travelling for around 15 kilometres, Ranjith's bike just stopped and refused to start. Adrian, Sukesh and I had stopped for him. While we were waiting for the engine to cool down, we got a call that Sandeep had had a fall and that we were to go back. I was a little scared as it sounded serious and Big Moe was on Sandeep's bike, or actually Sandeep was riding Big Moe's bike and Big Moe was pillion. So we sent Adrian back to check and I started to remove the plug from Ranjith's bike, to start the diagnostic search for good health. While I was doing that I could hear some hissing sound and tried to look for the source but could not.
Suddenly Suks who was nearby on the ground pointed at something and yelled FIRE!
I Shat!
I could not see it but if it was anywhere near the fuel tank, KA BOOM!! – so we immediately took off the battery cover and it was something behind the battery that was melting away. In this process of removing the battery, some hot melted plastic fell down and the dry grass we were standing on also caught fire. We put out the fire and disconnected the battery and then realized that the ground wire had completely melted out. Not being electrical experts ourselves, we decided to tow it back to the nearest town or the guys - whichever was earlier- ok - so I have been reading the manual too many times!!
Sukesh said that it would be difficult to tow Ranjith, so he would get on Ranjith's bike so I agreed to it. We turned around and then came the question from Sukesh that had me in splits -"where was the rope"??. I simply laughed and then proceeded to show these boys the classic Madras Bull method of towing - So in keeping up with tradition, and the spirit of Solo and Narren (these are the regular "towers" of the Madras Bulls) I towed them.
For those who came in late, I will try and explain Ranjith grabbed my backpack and sat on my bike. Sukesh sat on Ranjith's bike and I told him to push it a little and start moving, once that was done, I stretched out my right leg and rested it on Ranjith's bikes left rear footrest and locked my knees! - that's it - we were off and it was a lil difficult at first as Sukesh was not used to this but soon he picked up the knack and we were doing a moderate speed of around 60, overtaking et al and my 500 was doing really really well. I love my baby. This has already inspired Ranjith to start looking for a 500. To Quote" after riding ur 500 i also have decided to get a 500 and will get it soon....." unquote, and to quote again" that's when i realise how powerful a 500cc bull is.. his bike was cruising at 60kmph overtaking truks etc with me(as pillion), Sukesh(on my bike), my bike and our huge luggage and of course Dodo himself.(Total of almost 80+70+110+168+20=448 kgs)" Unquote.
I love my bike!
Anyway, we reached a small settlement and got a truck mechanic to take a look, during this time we heard from Adrian that the other fall was not very serious and that both riders and bike were on road again. The rest of the others caught up and after some time all the bikes were ready to rock. We were supposed to meet one group at a dhaba, where we decided to have a small break and psyche ourselves for the trip, after the small problems we had.
This time Sukesh took over Big Moe's bike and the others redistributed themselves and we proceeded, Sukesh was going slow as this was the bike with 2 falls and soon we lost track of the others as we did not stop as we could not find the others.
The road from Hubli to Karwar is AMAZING, it truly is, the road is not rubberised but nice gravel, that offers good traction to the tires and we were having a ball. I would see these lovely long stretches and zoom off and then wait for Suks to catch up and then ride slowly again and .... I love the road. I will recommend it with my eyes closed to anyone. At one point we realized that we were leading as we had crossed everyone, and then suddenly we had these two thunderbirds whizzing past us, it was Narendar and Prakash- I think - I am already losing names. So we let them go and then Sukesh started to slowly test Big Moe's bike and soon we were also doing speeds of 80. At one point, I could not take it any further, my bike was itching to go and I think Suks also understood that so he said just go! Thanks Suks.
That was it, the next I saw him was in Goa!
I knew these two thunderbirds were in front and we were entering a Ghat section so I decided to let my baby show me the road and the way, I was literally flying. I soon crossed Prakash and then also Narendar and I knew it - my 500 was the best!! (No offence meant to anyone!) My rear brakes started smoking, so I went easy on them - basically did not slow down! I just kept going on and on and on and on....finally reached Karwar and knew the guys would be way behind and so decided to proceed to Goa. On the way met a firang, who was pushing his bullet as he had run out of gas, so I loaned him some and explained what the reserve was, He has been riding for the past 3 months and did not know what Main and what reserve was.
Anyway the rest of the journey was a slow relaxed ride going through some of the longest bridges I have been on. Finally reached Margao and then found my way to the resort. I had barely reached there when the Roadshakers rumbled in. Anyway finally met up with Vernon and Sukesh who had continued on as there was a lot of work that Vernon had to do.
My next adventure started after I had a wash and will continue it soon.
Keep Watching.
History in the Making, - Part 3
Friday Evening, 11:00 PM
Had a quick but refreshing wash and came out and was told that we had to fend for dinner and some liquid refreshment if needed. So Supreeth who had reached earlier had actually done some good research and knew where to get some - "cheap" - drinks and food. So I trusted him and we took a short walk along the beach and we came to these shacks, which were right on the shore. It looked nice and the atmosphere was amazing, quiet and only the roar of the waves to keep us company.
Met 2 others from the Bangalore club - these were the dudes who had ridden off into the hills at 3 AM in the morning from Chitradurg. Anyway, had a look at the prices and the Bangalore boys said that they were outrageous. Being from a place where a ¼ of Monkeys Blood costs Rs 65/- I was not the one to decide oh and for those of you who aren't into lingo as I am Monkeys Blood is our favourite Old monk!!
So we decided to just have one drink and then explore - I mean we were in Goa weren't we??? - This was the place they said that flowed with Booze and Honey(s) - yes I can spell ;-)) So we went back to the Resort - nice place I must say, a little too posh for me, but who cares, I was in for the fun and I was in it for good, I had been struck by the bullet and I was not complaining,
We took the bikes and my baby started like a bomb all in one smooth caress of the lever. I must tell you that she never ever did that - she'll usually kick me back and then proceed to act like the baby that she is. Well it must have been the sight of all the other bikes, she probably did not want to make a fool of herself!. We left and roamed along the streets near our resort and everything seemed closed...well obviously not everything - if it was everything, I would have been sleeping right?? - well we heard this nice music coming from this place called Hot Lips! - I was a bit dubious to enter a place like this - I had heard a lot of strange things happening to ye, once ye enter these hallowed places.
There were a couple of friendly number plates outside (KA XX) so we decided to take the risk, went in and saw a few of the others from the Bangalore first group and went and found a table there. I saw the bar and literally fell...hey all you others out there I come from Chennai where choice is limited and this place was like paradise. I did not want to leave! – and then I really fell - I saw the prices and I knew it - I had died and gone to heaven!
Anyway, started slow and the guys at this place apparently had some connections with the Commissioner and hence could be open later than normal - Thank god for connections! - Slowly heard the night rumbling like thunder and saw bike after bike roar past us toward the resort. And as news got around that this place was the only one open. Surround sound happened – we had riders from all over converging to Hot lips! - all of the guys who shared more than just love for the bike landed up and soon there was a noisy and loud fun party happening,
The food also was great and being a connoisseur of good food and drink, I must have overshot my budget that day itself. To be honest I was too far-gone to do accounts and hence I have just written it off as "suspense account"!!
Anyway around 4:30 AM, the owner came up to us and politely said that he must sleep as he had miles to go before he sleeps and basically had to wake up to come again the next day, so with a lot of sighing and complaining we left. I think it was Supreeth who took me back to the resort - I don't remember, whoever it was - Thanks.
I wont go into the official activities, as I was involved in registration and all and think that someone else can cover that. And will proceed from waking up at 10:00 AM with no blanket - as Supreeth and Roopesh had decided that I don't deserve one to around 4:00 PM when I went out to Margao, to the dealer - Saini Motors. If you remember I had some problems with my bike and it was now starting to ping like crazy and also started to backfire a bit.
Took it to the dealer and as I had reached late, I was among the last to get the bike fixed, anyway the guy had a ride and said it was the timing - duh! - I knew that much anyway on a hunch I told him to check the clutch plates and was right, they were burned out. Thankfully spares were available at dealer prices!- but it was Hobson's choice for me, so got them changed and she was as good as new. Adrian had to get his head removed- I mean the bikes - to remove the silencer, it was the first time his bike was being tampered with so that was disheartening to see- a grown man almost cried. I must say that he had apparently had run in his bike for close to 6000 Kilometres and hence never had any problems. Kudos for patience. Roopesh had a few problems and got them done as well.
Observation: It seemed that only people who really knew the bike were in for these minor tweakings. Maybe we should all get to know the bike better.
Went back and the Royal Enfield night was on and in full swing - some of the boys decided to cut it short and head for North Goa -where parties happen all nightlong on Saturday, Sadly I was not in the first group that went as I was not in the mood...yet!
After some dinner, headed back to Hot Lips and had a couple of drinks and was then persuaded to head out to North Goa for a night ride and so decided to do the same, It would help me get the bike sorted out and check the Clutch et al.
So it came to pass that Ranjith, Mahendra, Sukesh and Jude, Adrian, Roopesh and one other person -sadly - names are only a vague memory to me now - faces and rides will be in my heart but names - well those things come and go! I think it was Prakash??
We decided to proceed and so had a nice chilling ride - not many of us were chill as we were nice and warm on the inside -come on guys - read between the lines! And had to make a small detour as it was night and no one but Jude knew where we were headed so we just followed him. We got separated once as Roopesh and I had to fill some gas but eventually managed to catch up and our first stop was when Sukesh decided that he needed a break, he was finding it difficult to control his brain and basically try to stop it from shutting down for the evening. His legs would automatically reach for the road and so Jude decided to get Sukesh to feel the road with his own feet. It was here that Ranjith was smitten like so many others before him by the love for a 500. He stands true witness to the glory of my baby. Ranjith – I will drink to your health.
Supreeth then decided to head back as it had started to drizzle and he was not feeling quite up to it anyway. We the bad boys decided to head on. MISTAKE! At one stretch, Mahendra's pillion - my friend ol'whatsisname decided to jump on to my bike as they felt that the Tbird was skidding a lot. Little did we realize that all of ours were doing exactly the same thing. With the added weight my bike was a bit more stable and I was not exactly worried.
Riding on quietly, suddenly I see 2 bikes down and Roopesh also just getting up and telling me to slow down, as the road was REALLY SLIPPERY. I did not brake and realized my bike was slip sliding away as well. Thankfully both my good friend - damn -I am really sorry I don't remember you name dude – you were a good sensible pillion - well both of us put our legs down and stabilized the bike before we brought it to rest by the side of the road. I looked ahead to see Jude's bike, and Adrian and Sukesh and Ranjith all on the road. Thinking it was something serious - oh by the way there was some puny 50cc TVS also along the road someplace - who cares! - ran to the boys to see them in splits of laughter. To cut a long story short and to quote Adrian," I was riding at around 50 and the bike just went one side, so I went one side and Ranjith also decided to go another side" There was something in the road - oil grease something - I don't believe it was only rain and hence all these guys just took a toss as the road just did not offer any sort of traction. While I was getting my camera out, we saw an RX coming and I said I must catch him as he falls and before I even said it - those dudes fell - ran and told them to slow down as they picked them up and they did not heed my advice till they very gloriously fell again! Man it was hilarious.
Anyway after a couple of smokes we pushed the bikes a certain distance and from then on it was a edgy slow ride till we reached the location where Jude's friends were supposed to meet us. They came after some time – during which Sukesh decided to go and get something to eat and then we basically roamed all around the beaches there till we found this place that gave us a crate of beer and allowed us to use the benches opposite his place till we decided to leave.
We drank till the wee hours of the morning and then decided to head back though some of us wanted to stay on. Adrian was a blast here. He refused to wake up and we spent around one hour just trying to wake him up. Finally he just woke up to the sound of 6 bullets revving up at 6:00 AM. The ride back was uneventful and we reached around 9:00 AM - went in and crashed and woke only at around 13:00.
See you tomorrow.
Watch this space - there may be only one more edition,
-------------------------------
And there it ends.... :)
Rider Mania is the annual gathering of Riders of the Bullet (Royal Enfield) from various clubs across India.
It has been going on for a few years now and this is the write up leading to the first one...the one of many!
PS - realised I had written it all but not completed it - cos it was toooo long! :) but a decent amount of writing here so its better for it to remain!
========================================
History in the Making, - Part 1
Thursday, 09/01/2003, 0300AM
I had just got back from a long day at the office - I had had to finish a lot of work before I left for Rider Mania in Goa. I was supposed to stay with Vernon, but got so delayed at work, that I decided to stay at home and then proceed to the Meridien on my own - called Vernon and informed him that I would meet him at the Meridien in the morning and asked him to wake me up at 0430. Reached home and packed my stuff - papers, jackets, riding gear bungee's etc and finally decided to take a short nap - I had hardly put my head down and Vernon called - he too had been awake and decided to start early.
So I went down and started her up, though it was fairly chill, she started in one gentle kick and I managed to wake up a couple of neighbours who came out to wish me luck. My own roommates were sound asleep - under the influence - of course! Anyway reached the Meridien and Mohammed, Roopesh, Rajesh along with the three B's - Bips and Bijesh, and Brijesh. Sathish then rumbled in along followed by Madhu and then finally Shamsher came. A quick check of the bikes and we were ready to rock!!
We eventually left at around 6:00 and Vernon had been delayed a bit and set out to Goa. Stopped twice in the first 15 minutes for Gas and Money from an ATM –
Observation: I think all of these have to be done earlier as this is a waste of time for the first part of the day, What should happen is that we all fill up, tank up and get moolah all ready as early as possible and not inconvenience others...anyway - its all the ride!
Our first major stop was Sri Perumbudur where we stopped for 5 minutes as Rajesh had to get his luggage packed as he had had a pillion till here. He came and we then proceeded on. Our next stop was around 9:30 Near Ranipet, where we decided to stop for a while as we had managed to get past the bad stretch of road and were all feeling rather Hungry, so we stopped of at a decent hotel and all had some nice heavy breakfast.
Observation: Our breaks are too long - we need to all be brisk about everything and try not to have long breaks as this ruins the trip as we always become out of schedule and have to hurry up in the end.
We left after breakfast and our first delay came here, all except Vernon and Roopesh carried on and then we realized that these 2 were not with us, so I went back and found that Roopesh's bike had blown a fuse and they had changed it and were just starting ff when Roopesh's fuse went again – must have been some short circuit someplace. Anyway got them back on and this time it did not stop. We carried on till the Vellore bypass where my dad had come with a few sandwiches and the First Aid Kits, We had 3 of them and these were distributed accordingly.
We carried on riding and it was good to see the new boys slowly picking up the finesse of riding in a group.
Observation - most groups tend to start slowing down because one guy slows down, we need to all be able to keep up with the lead rider, as his speed is the final decision on the ride. What was happening with us was that the lead rider was going a normal pace and as the second and following riders were slowing down the leader had to also slow down to get the rest of the group in shape.
Anyway, after a stop near Mulbagal, where the above mentioned concept was explained to them, the bikes were doing well and an average speed of around 70 was maintained. We were nearing Kolar at around 12:00 Noon, when disaster struck! - Vernon was in the lead followed by Rajesh and Sathish, Mohammed, Shamsher, myself and Roopi was bringing up the rear. The first three had been separated as we were going through a small town and hence traffic split us up.
Observation: In this case there is nothing we can do and the first group has to slow down after the town for the others to catch up. There is absolutely no sense in us moving through the town together if traffic is high; it only makes things more difficult.
Anyway, we were doing around 90 and Mohammed's tire had a puncture - apparently a bolt had gone through and he just had an awfully big puncture with a lil finger sized hole in his tire that eventually reached his tube in a matter of 1 nanosecond!! - I know as I was there. I was behind him with Roopi and Shamsher - YES Roopi and me were coming slow as we were the sweepers. I must say Mohammed did a good job of trying to control the bike; he managed to control it on 2 skids but lost it on the third! - his tire slipped off the rim.
Anyway Shamsher, Roopi and I stopped and ran to him and we lifted him up and he was badly shaken - I feared the worst, as it was a bad fall. But thankfully there were no face cuts - he was wearing a helmet. His right hand index finger was cut along the length of the finger and was bleeding profusely, we tried to stem the flow but it was a bad cut...anyway he was ok and probably in shock so no screaming etc We spoke to him and he was able to understand what we were trying to say, so with the help of a few locals we got him to a nearby hospital - that was like 100 metres away and I stayed with the bikes.
I then called the others and told them to come back and then In the meanwhile Shamsher and I picked the bike up and started it - guess what it started in one kick!!! - there was no major damage apart from the fact of the rear tire being off the rim, and the wheel a bit misaligned, so I kicked the wheel and sort of brought it back to shape - tightened all the nuts in the front and then when the others came back we got the tire repaired – we had to put a patch -, and used a spare tube that I had.
Moe had to have 6 stitches and his pant cut up! - he was really upset about that, as it's not easy to get his size. Anyway we called the Bangalore guys, who we were supposed to meet at around 2:00 Pm and then chill out till 4:00 Pm and then leave for our night halt at Chitradurg. And they were very cool and said they would wait for us regardless of when we landed up.
Observations: Unforeseen incidents can happen on the way and the best part of is it that the true challenge comes in overcoming these in our own way with the available resources and...going on!
Mohammed came back and was willing to ride till Bangalore where he said he would decide on what had to be done - So we all left at around 4:30 PM and went on towards Bangalore. Rajesh's bike then gave us some problems, There was petrol but it was not entering the carb, so Roopi sucked and cleared the air in the tube and cleaned the tap and all was A-OK,
We reached Bangalore and had some trouble reaching the Coffee Day on Lavelle Road - where the Bangalore boys were as no one knew where we were heading except Vernon and traffic was really bad.
Finally reached the coffee shop at around 7:00 PM and all the riders who were coming with us were there. All set and geared up to go. It was an amazing sight, seeing the clubs met each other and generally chat on the various aspects of ....everything. We were making new friends and seeing new bikes and basically going bonkers! The Madbulls then went in and had something to eat and drink and we were ready to go.
Moe the big man, decided to go all the way - being the true bulletteers that we are! That was not very surprising! - so we left at 7:30 PM and he was pillion - on his bike - maybe that's where we made the mistake – damaged bike, pillion and also new rider who is not familiar with this bike,
Traffic in Bangalore was heavy and we reached the outskirts around 8:30PM. During the ride out the groups split up and there was no more Madras Bulls or Rolling Thunder. We were all riders. United by the passion we share for this lovely single cylinder thumper. The road was beckoning and we were going out in style. Heading to make history in the first ever Rider meet in India,
Around 9:00 PM the group that had assembled near a dhaba for something to refresh our parched throats and empty stomachs decided to carry on as the others were regrouping elsewhere. Here is where I split up from the Madras bulls completely. I started riding with Adrian and Sukesh on their Machismo A350 and was riding with them. After a point I realized that we were doing pretty amazing speeds of 120+(both our speedos were showing the same so I don't think I was wrong!) Anyway, we did some really hard riding and I was amazed that my bike was doing extremely well. We stopped at one place and went around to examine each others bikes and I was about to complement Adrian on his excellent 350 and he was going to do the same when we both realized that his was an A350 and mine was a 500 :-)
We continued riding and it was amazing, really like poetry in motion, I could only think of the ECR Express, Mysore express and Trichy Express – for those of you new ones - these are the names for Solomon, Roopesh and Narren - the fastest riders in the Madras Bulls. - I think its time for another express ;-). There was one stretch on the highway which is exactly like ECR except its 4 laned and me and my baby just went overboard here. I stopped off at around 12:00 Midnight to call up a friend who was celebrating a birthday and had a small break. It was really amazing standing there out on the highway, all dressed up in fluorescent and having a bullet packed with luggage and all these truckers eyeing me as if I was from out of space! (I had my Samsung R220 torchlight on as well!)
Finally reached Chitradurg around 12:15 AM to realize that there were only 3 others who had reached, Adrian, Sukesh and Ranjith - all guys from the rolling Thunder. We waited and waited and finally a few of us left for the place we were going to be staying. Due to the varying speeds, it was around 3:00AM that guys actually came in, Some of the Bangalore guys were ready to carry on as it was around 4:00 AM anyway, so we decided that we would not stand in anybody's way, if they wanted to carry on they were willing to do so. So finally most of the Bangalore guys left and then we faced a problem, the lodge owner assuming that we had all left, closed up and slept and could not be woken up. So we decided to "adjust:" and were all settling down to sleep in the reception when we heard a few guys come back. They had all gone into reserve and could not find a bunk, so decided to leave with us all the next morning. So eventually went to sleep around 5:00 AM
I think that's it for now, will complete it tomorrow and get you all to have two mails as this is turning out to be longer than I expected.
Watch this space.
History in the Making, - Part 2
After the Bangalore guys came back we had a few discussions on what exactly to do - some of us thought we should stay here for the night and some thought we should ride till we see a dhaba and then crash out for the night. Thankfully Commonsense prevailed and we kind of managed to get some rooms and finally all slept, it was around 5:00 AM!!! - The Madbulls had been on the road for around 24 hours! - we were all totally zapped.
At around 7:00 AM, we had Vernon and Sukesh come in to the room where Sats, Supreeth and I were staying and "tried" to wake us up. I think I was oblivious to them and they gave up and carried on waking the others. Around 8:00 AM I was awakened to a loud shouting from Sukesh, stating that we were the ones delaying the group. Thinking it was his usual tall tale to get us out, I stumbled along to the balcony to see everyone all set and ready to go. I immediately woke the others and we had a quick wash, and were down faster than you can say supercalyfagilisticespialadocious,
Went down and had a couple of teas and a lot of smokes to clear the woozy head and we were ready to ride. We were given instructions as to where we had to regroup so we all proceeded out of Chitradurg around 8:30 AM, Friday. As usual, Roopesh, Adrian and Suks on an A350 and myself, literally took off like our asses were on fire and had a good morning ride. It was here that I noticed that my bike was having a few problems, it would do really well in 3rd and the moment I changed to fourth, it would slow down tremendously. This was so much that I found it difficult to keep up with the leaders.
(Please note that I only found it difficult to keep up and not that I did not keep up!:-))
After around an hour of top class riding we decided to stop at a dhaba and have some tea. The tea was absolutely delicious as it was made like fresh and was truly amazing. During this period, the rest of the guys went past and so we took off after them. In around 15 minutes we saw them all at yet another dhaba, where they had rudely awakened the dhaba owner and asked him to make 40 Aloo Parathas! The curds(which I don't have:-( and the sugar and the parathas were really nice to our craving stomachs, and we all ate – I must note that Vernon ate a lot, he was cleaning up on us :-) Observation - Breakfast was too long as it was a big group and as usual people started to take it easy, we need to really do something about this! After breakfast, I decided to do a slow ride for some time as I was low on gas and engine oil, and I needed to refill, my bike as well us get some "liquid" diet arranged for myself.
So I was among the last riders and I decided I would do this till Hubli where our next regroup was planned. I filled up, both my bike and I and decided to do a nice slow ride, keeping up with Supreeth and Vernon, who were going slow. On the way we passed a few of us bikers, who once again passed us and went on by.
Was coming slow with Ranjith, who was having a bit of starting problems and got caught by a railway gate. Ranjith and I had just missed the last of the group. So we chilled out, swapped stories and then carried on. We came across Vernon and Supreeth again and I told Ranjith to take off, as I would keep these guys company. So we were cruising along at around 70 and the monotony was getting to all of us. Vernon started feeling sleepy, so we decided to stop at - yes you guessed it - the next dhaba and had some tea and washed our faces. Vernon decided to take a "power nap" and so this time Supreeth and I swapped stories. After 10 minutes, we woke Vernon up and then proceeded to the next rendezvous with the gang.
When we reached there around 2:00PM, all the guys were anxious and worried as we had been a while and had a quick laugh when they heard the reason for our delay. We decided to not waste anymore time and carried on. This time all the guys had been well run in as had their bikes and we were doing some good speeds. Vernon and Supreeth were in the lead! Followed by the others. After travelling for around 15 kilometres, Ranjith's bike just stopped and refused to start. Adrian, Sukesh and I had stopped for him. While we were waiting for the engine to cool down, we got a call that Sandeep had had a fall and that we were to go back. I was a little scared as it sounded serious and Big Moe was on Sandeep's bike, or actually Sandeep was riding Big Moe's bike and Big Moe was pillion. So we sent Adrian back to check and I started to remove the plug from Ranjith's bike, to start the diagnostic search for good health. While I was doing that I could hear some hissing sound and tried to look for the source but could not.
Suddenly Suks who was nearby on the ground pointed at something and yelled FIRE!
I Shat!
I could not see it but if it was anywhere near the fuel tank, KA BOOM!! – so we immediately took off the battery cover and it was something behind the battery that was melting away. In this process of removing the battery, some hot melted plastic fell down and the dry grass we were standing on also caught fire. We put out the fire and disconnected the battery and then realized that the ground wire had completely melted out. Not being electrical experts ourselves, we decided to tow it back to the nearest town or the guys - whichever was earlier- ok - so I have been reading the manual too many times!!
Sukesh said that it would be difficult to tow Ranjith, so he would get on Ranjith's bike so I agreed to it. We turned around and then came the question from Sukesh that had me in splits -"where was the rope"??. I simply laughed and then proceeded to show these boys the classic Madras Bull method of towing - So in keeping up with tradition, and the spirit of Solo and Narren (these are the regular "towers" of the Madras Bulls) I towed them.
For those who came in late, I will try and explain Ranjith grabbed my backpack and sat on my bike. Sukesh sat on Ranjith's bike and I told him to push it a little and start moving, once that was done, I stretched out my right leg and rested it on Ranjith's bikes left rear footrest and locked my knees! - that's it - we were off and it was a lil difficult at first as Sukesh was not used to this but soon he picked up the knack and we were doing a moderate speed of around 60, overtaking et al and my 500 was doing really really well. I love my baby. This has already inspired Ranjith to start looking for a 500. To Quote" after riding ur 500 i also have decided to get a 500 and will get it soon....." unquote, and to quote again" that's when i realise how powerful a 500cc bull is.. his bike was cruising at 60kmph overtaking truks etc with me(as pillion), Sukesh(on my bike), my bike and our huge luggage and of course Dodo himself.(Total of almost 80+70+110+168+20=448 kgs)" Unquote.
I love my bike!
Anyway, we reached a small settlement and got a truck mechanic to take a look, during this time we heard from Adrian that the other fall was not very serious and that both riders and bike were on road again. The rest of the others caught up and after some time all the bikes were ready to rock. We were supposed to meet one group at a dhaba, where we decided to have a small break and psyche ourselves for the trip, after the small problems we had.
This time Sukesh took over Big Moe's bike and the others redistributed themselves and we proceeded, Sukesh was going slow as this was the bike with 2 falls and soon we lost track of the others as we did not stop as we could not find the others.
The road from Hubli to Karwar is AMAZING, it truly is, the road is not rubberised but nice gravel, that offers good traction to the tires and we were having a ball. I would see these lovely long stretches and zoom off and then wait for Suks to catch up and then ride slowly again and .... I love the road. I will recommend it with my eyes closed to anyone. At one point we realized that we were leading as we had crossed everyone, and then suddenly we had these two thunderbirds whizzing past us, it was Narendar and Prakash- I think - I am already losing names. So we let them go and then Sukesh started to slowly test Big Moe's bike and soon we were also doing speeds of 80. At one point, I could not take it any further, my bike was itching to go and I think Suks also understood that so he said just go! Thanks Suks.
That was it, the next I saw him was in Goa!
I knew these two thunderbirds were in front and we were entering a Ghat section so I decided to let my baby show me the road and the way, I was literally flying. I soon crossed Prakash and then also Narendar and I knew it - my 500 was the best!! (No offence meant to anyone!) My rear brakes started smoking, so I went easy on them - basically did not slow down! I just kept going on and on and on and on....finally reached Karwar and knew the guys would be way behind and so decided to proceed to Goa. On the way met a firang, who was pushing his bullet as he had run out of gas, so I loaned him some and explained what the reserve was, He has been riding for the past 3 months and did not know what Main and what reserve was.
Anyway the rest of the journey was a slow relaxed ride going through some of the longest bridges I have been on. Finally reached Margao and then found my way to the resort. I had barely reached there when the Roadshakers rumbled in. Anyway finally met up with Vernon and Sukesh who had continued on as there was a lot of work that Vernon had to do.
My next adventure started after I had a wash and will continue it soon.
Keep Watching.
History in the Making, - Part 3
Friday Evening, 11:00 PM
Had a quick but refreshing wash and came out and was told that we had to fend for dinner and some liquid refreshment if needed. So Supreeth who had reached earlier had actually done some good research and knew where to get some - "cheap" - drinks and food. So I trusted him and we took a short walk along the beach and we came to these shacks, which were right on the shore. It looked nice and the atmosphere was amazing, quiet and only the roar of the waves to keep us company.
Met 2 others from the Bangalore club - these were the dudes who had ridden off into the hills at 3 AM in the morning from Chitradurg. Anyway, had a look at the prices and the Bangalore boys said that they were outrageous. Being from a place where a ¼ of Monkeys Blood costs Rs 65/- I was not the one to decide oh and for those of you who aren't into lingo as I am Monkeys Blood is our favourite Old monk!!
So we decided to just have one drink and then explore - I mean we were in Goa weren't we??? - This was the place they said that flowed with Booze and Honey(s) - yes I can spell ;-)) So we went back to the Resort - nice place I must say, a little too posh for me, but who cares, I was in for the fun and I was in it for good, I had been struck by the bullet and I was not complaining,
We took the bikes and my baby started like a bomb all in one smooth caress of the lever. I must tell you that she never ever did that - she'll usually kick me back and then proceed to act like the baby that she is. Well it must have been the sight of all the other bikes, she probably did not want to make a fool of herself!. We left and roamed along the streets near our resort and everything seemed closed...well obviously not everything - if it was everything, I would have been sleeping right?? - well we heard this nice music coming from this place called Hot Lips! - I was a bit dubious to enter a place like this - I had heard a lot of strange things happening to ye, once ye enter these hallowed places.
There were a couple of friendly number plates outside (KA XX) so we decided to take the risk, went in and saw a few of the others from the Bangalore first group and went and found a table there. I saw the bar and literally fell...hey all you others out there I come from Chennai where choice is limited and this place was like paradise. I did not want to leave! – and then I really fell - I saw the prices and I knew it - I had died and gone to heaven!
Anyway, started slow and the guys at this place apparently had some connections with the Commissioner and hence could be open later than normal - Thank god for connections! - Slowly heard the night rumbling like thunder and saw bike after bike roar past us toward the resort. And as news got around that this place was the only one open. Surround sound happened – we had riders from all over converging to Hot lips! - all of the guys who shared more than just love for the bike landed up and soon there was a noisy and loud fun party happening,
The food also was great and being a connoisseur of good food and drink, I must have overshot my budget that day itself. To be honest I was too far-gone to do accounts and hence I have just written it off as "suspense account"!!
Anyway around 4:30 AM, the owner came up to us and politely said that he must sleep as he had miles to go before he sleeps and basically had to wake up to come again the next day, so with a lot of sighing and complaining we left. I think it was Supreeth who took me back to the resort - I don't remember, whoever it was - Thanks.
I wont go into the official activities, as I was involved in registration and all and think that someone else can cover that. And will proceed from waking up at 10:00 AM with no blanket - as Supreeth and Roopesh had decided that I don't deserve one to around 4:00 PM when I went out to Margao, to the dealer - Saini Motors. If you remember I had some problems with my bike and it was now starting to ping like crazy and also started to backfire a bit.
Took it to the dealer and as I had reached late, I was among the last to get the bike fixed, anyway the guy had a ride and said it was the timing - duh! - I knew that much anyway on a hunch I told him to check the clutch plates and was right, they were burned out. Thankfully spares were available at dealer prices!- but it was Hobson's choice for me, so got them changed and she was as good as new. Adrian had to get his head removed- I mean the bikes - to remove the silencer, it was the first time his bike was being tampered with so that was disheartening to see- a grown man almost cried. I must say that he had apparently had run in his bike for close to 6000 Kilometres and hence never had any problems. Kudos for patience. Roopesh had a few problems and got them done as well.
Observation: It seemed that only people who really knew the bike were in for these minor tweakings. Maybe we should all get to know the bike better.
Went back and the Royal Enfield night was on and in full swing - some of the boys decided to cut it short and head for North Goa -where parties happen all nightlong on Saturday, Sadly I was not in the first group that went as I was not in the mood...yet!
After some dinner, headed back to Hot Lips and had a couple of drinks and was then persuaded to head out to North Goa for a night ride and so decided to do the same, It would help me get the bike sorted out and check the Clutch et al.
So it came to pass that Ranjith, Mahendra, Sukesh and Jude, Adrian, Roopesh and one other person -sadly - names are only a vague memory to me now - faces and rides will be in my heart but names - well those things come and go! I think it was Prakash??
We decided to proceed and so had a nice chilling ride - not many of us were chill as we were nice and warm on the inside -come on guys - read between the lines! And had to make a small detour as it was night and no one but Jude knew where we were headed so we just followed him. We got separated once as Roopesh and I had to fill some gas but eventually managed to catch up and our first stop was when Sukesh decided that he needed a break, he was finding it difficult to control his brain and basically try to stop it from shutting down for the evening. His legs would automatically reach for the road and so Jude decided to get Sukesh to feel the road with his own feet. It was here that Ranjith was smitten like so many others before him by the love for a 500. He stands true witness to the glory of my baby. Ranjith – I will drink to your health.
Supreeth then decided to head back as it had started to drizzle and he was not feeling quite up to it anyway. We the bad boys decided to head on. MISTAKE! At one stretch, Mahendra's pillion - my friend ol'whatsisname decided to jump on to my bike as they felt that the Tbird was skidding a lot. Little did we realize that all of ours were doing exactly the same thing. With the added weight my bike was a bit more stable and I was not exactly worried.
Riding on quietly, suddenly I see 2 bikes down and Roopesh also just getting up and telling me to slow down, as the road was REALLY SLIPPERY. I did not brake and realized my bike was slip sliding away as well. Thankfully both my good friend - damn -I am really sorry I don't remember you name dude – you were a good sensible pillion - well both of us put our legs down and stabilized the bike before we brought it to rest by the side of the road. I looked ahead to see Jude's bike, and Adrian and Sukesh and Ranjith all on the road. Thinking it was something serious - oh by the way there was some puny 50cc TVS also along the road someplace - who cares! - ran to the boys to see them in splits of laughter. To cut a long story short and to quote Adrian," I was riding at around 50 and the bike just went one side, so I went one side and Ranjith also decided to go another side" There was something in the road - oil grease something - I don't believe it was only rain and hence all these guys just took a toss as the road just did not offer any sort of traction. While I was getting my camera out, we saw an RX coming and I said I must catch him as he falls and before I even said it - those dudes fell - ran and told them to slow down as they picked them up and they did not heed my advice till they very gloriously fell again! Man it was hilarious.
Anyway after a couple of smokes we pushed the bikes a certain distance and from then on it was a edgy slow ride till we reached the location where Jude's friends were supposed to meet us. They came after some time – during which Sukesh decided to go and get something to eat and then we basically roamed all around the beaches there till we found this place that gave us a crate of beer and allowed us to use the benches opposite his place till we decided to leave.
We drank till the wee hours of the morning and then decided to head back though some of us wanted to stay on. Adrian was a blast here. He refused to wake up and we spent around one hour just trying to wake him up. Finally he just woke up to the sound of 6 bullets revving up at 6:00 AM. The ride back was uneventful and we reached around 9:00 AM - went in and crashed and woke only at around 13:00.
See you tomorrow.
Watch this space - there may be only one more edition,
-------------------------------
And there it ends.... :)
Independance Day 2002
Damn - i tried for chronology but then I found one that was older than most....2002 - wow~
===================================================================
Independence Day
Aug, 15, 2002, India celebrates its Independence day. It also happened to be the day the Mad Bulls undertook the first of the many long trips to come. The Madbulls were riding to Coorg.
Coorg was a long way off for the Madrasis and yet we were ready to endure the travails of long distance riding, we would go where the roads would lead and beyond. We were prepared to ride beyond the furthest of our imagination, and ‘make our own roads’.
Some of us, Narren, Solo, Roopi and I had started the ‘trip’ early, knowing that we could not sleep easy, we all stayed in Vernon’s place on the 14th. We rode at around 2 AM of the 15th to get Narren's camera, to ensure that we could remember our independence in the days to come.
Aug 15th – 5AM, Solo and I who did not sleep (mad bulls that we were) woke up Vernon and the others and we all left after a quick wash to the Meridien, our meeting point on the outskirts of Madras, to rendezvous with the others. We reached the Meridien, full of excitement and trepidation to see that we were the last of the finest. The others had already reached and were waiting to blast off.
We were joined by Navneeth, Bips on his new rebuilt bike, Brijesh and Madhu who was pillioning along, Swami (Ashwin) and yet another Ashwin who unfortunately could not come and had come to wish us luck.
After a quick check of the bikes, we moved.
We rode out of the city, 8 bullets and all of us raring to go, we had reached the actual highway which we were to take rather fast ands then simultaneously in one motion let 'er rip….we rode along the main NH4 connecting Chennai and Bangalore, in single file, cruising along at a steady 80KPH, one after another in what can be best described as poetry in motion. Any person who has ridden in a group will understand what I mean when I say that we were all part of one body, moving as one unit and not as separate units.
Heads turned and eyes widened in amazement as people – school kids, traffic policemen, drivers and pedestrians alike - all along our journey. There were some looks of fright with a couple of bikes backfiring, it even made us riders turn heads to see whose it was that was backfiring!!
We stopped outside Ranipet for a smoke and to just take a break, and let the bikes cool down. Our next stop was about 6 Km from my house where we were due to stop for breakfast. We moved away from the main highway and took off into some really narrow village roads that were twisting and turning all the way, the city riders learnt that there were things more powerful than bikes and cars, cows, sheep and chickens mooing, bleating and clucking across with a ruffle of feathers as we rode along these roads.
We finally reached Karigiri, the Hospital enroute where I stayed at around 10:30 (1 hr behind schedule!), after a quick ride around the Hospital ground in front of an overawed crowd of students, doctors and patients who had gathered for the Flag Hoisting Ceremony, we went to my place where we had a really sumptuous breakfast.
After breakfast and a couple of photographs, we decided to press on, not before splitting. This was the place where a few of us would head back, Bips, Navneeth and Brijesh with Madhu would be heading back to Madras where other priorities beckoned. The rest of us would still continue on…in our search for freedom.
Roopesh, Vernon, Ashwin on their 500’s Solo on his A350 and me on my Machismo and Narren would proceed to ride as fast as possible to Kolar where we were to meet up for lunch with the Bangalore Bullet Club – aka Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club (RTMC)
The ride was swift and silent, with a few stops for changing riders and pillions and of course the inevitable chai and biskoot. We eventually reached Kolar at around 3:00 PM – (still 1 hr late!!) and had a delightful time, making friends and discussing bikes with the RTMCers. After a solid lunch at a roadside dhaba with some nice cold….um...drinks, we decided to head out to Bangalore and proceed as we had planned.
The next bit of the ride was really great as we had more than 15 bullets and all of us were riding as fast as we could go. All of us respected the bullets and the road and rode safe and quick. On the outskirts of Bangalore, it started to drizzle and due to traffic we found ourselves in different groups. We eventually reached Brigades road at around 7:30 PM (this time not one but 2 hours late!!) and regrouped.
As a few of us needed to buy some gear for the bikes and for the fact that it was raining, after much heated discussion it was decided that we would break Journey ahead of schedule and spend the night in Bangalore as compared to riding another 130 Km in the night traffic on the notorious Bangalore Mysore highway.
We went to Vernon’s office and after a quick dinner we all crashed out to the sound of planes taking off in the distance, a welcome sound not unlike the steady thump thump off our bikes and our hearts.
Next morning, after some confusion on how to get out of the city, we finally got out and headed off to Mysore. The road to Mysore was very crowded and we lost all formation points quite quickly and were demoted (!) to riding individually with a few places where we could regroup. Stopped halfway there took some photos and had fun sitting on a milestone! And trying not to fall off. Some bits of the road were good and we all freaked out on the bikes.
Reached Mysore, where we went to Roopesh’s house, met his family, and had a quick lunch there. The afternoon and evening was spent in Mysore, meeting up people and gathering some of Roopeshs friends for the ride as well.
We left Mysore at around 4 PM and headed towards Madikeri. The road to Madikeri was simply amazing, nice long stretches, with gentle curves and lovely scenery along the way. Some really nice undulating stretches as well, which was good fun, racing to the top and coasting to the bottom of the next hillock. Started drizzling along the way, and we stopped for a while had chai and continued on in the light drizzle.
At the foothills, we somehow all split up and Solo and I found ourselves together, this was the best part for me. It was already getting a bit dark, and so we had to use the lights and this is where Solo and I found and perfected out technique for going up the hills – basically one was on low beam and the other on high beam and bikes were pretty close to each other, this meant that the amount of light available was more for both of us. In addition, whenever we took turns in the ghats, one person would point to the outermost point until the other rider could go and then follow the other rider’s trail.
It was good fun and a great experience, one that we still use whenever we ride together, to say we were in total sync would be an understatement – it was as if we both knew exactly what the other was thinking – a kind of feeling that comes only after riding together for a long time. Thanks Solo. Finally reached the top, and eventually made it to a hotel that someone had booked. Fairly cheap but decent place – hot water and whisky to keep us warm. We were soaking wet, so we made a bonfire and started drying up.
Next morning, we woke up and went over to Tom’s place, Tom was one of Roopesh’s friends, who used to be a Rally car driver and time was spent looking over his estate and chatting about rallying and racing, finally decided to finish up with a good Coorgi Lunch – with the famous pork!!…mmmmm!! can still taste it! And then decided to leave from there.
The ride back to Mysore was uneventful, and we reached pretty late, around 9PM and so Narren and I decided to head on to Bangalore as we both wanted to meet some friends on the way. Narren drove at breakneck speeds and at times, I was really shit scared, so much that I offered to get a bus and he could take my bike on!!!! Anyway, it was a good ride and eventually reached Bangalore in a little over 3 hours from Mysore – in the night!!
Stayed in Bangalore in a hotel and then met up with the guys the next day, at Kolar and continued on from there. The journey was uneventful for a certain distance, but then my bike started giving me problems and the rain was also playing havoc with us. Had many backfiring and missing problems and even though we adjusted the timing, this continued and we could not start the bike by kicking it, we had to push start the bike and finally it gave up its ghost at Kanchipuram.
Solo and Narren took it on them and they both towed the bike from Kanchipuram onwards and we had an amazing journey from there – with Vernon and Roopesh in front, blazing the way with horns and lights, Narren and Solo towing the bike and finally me bringing up the rear!
It was great fun and we reached Chennai at around 10 in the night, I was dropped off and the bike found its way to Southern for the night
All in all a good independence ride – a ride that taught me many things on riding, riding in a group, riding with friends and most of all to respect the machine and the road. A truly mindblowing experience for me – one of my first long rides – ever – and I hope there are many more to come.
Ride Safe all.
===================================================================
Independence Day
Aug, 15, 2002, India celebrates its Independence day. It also happened to be the day the Mad Bulls undertook the first of the many long trips to come. The Madbulls were riding to Coorg.
Coorg was a long way off for the Madrasis and yet we were ready to endure the travails of long distance riding, we would go where the roads would lead and beyond. We were prepared to ride beyond the furthest of our imagination, and ‘make our own roads’.
Some of us, Narren, Solo, Roopi and I had started the ‘trip’ early, knowing that we could not sleep easy, we all stayed in Vernon’s place on the 14th. We rode at around 2 AM of the 15th to get Narren's camera, to ensure that we could remember our independence in the days to come.
Aug 15th – 5AM, Solo and I who did not sleep (mad bulls that we were) woke up Vernon and the others and we all left after a quick wash to the Meridien, our meeting point on the outskirts of Madras, to rendezvous with the others. We reached the Meridien, full of excitement and trepidation to see that we were the last of the finest. The others had already reached and were waiting to blast off.
We were joined by Navneeth, Bips on his new rebuilt bike, Brijesh and Madhu who was pillioning along, Swami (Ashwin) and yet another Ashwin who unfortunately could not come and had come to wish us luck.
After a quick check of the bikes, we moved.
We rode out of the city, 8 bullets and all of us raring to go, we had reached the actual highway which we were to take rather fast ands then simultaneously in one motion let 'er rip….we rode along the main NH4 connecting Chennai and Bangalore, in single file, cruising along at a steady 80KPH, one after another in what can be best described as poetry in motion. Any person who has ridden in a group will understand what I mean when I say that we were all part of one body, moving as one unit and not as separate units.
Heads turned and eyes widened in amazement as people – school kids, traffic policemen, drivers and pedestrians alike - all along our journey. There were some looks of fright with a couple of bikes backfiring, it even made us riders turn heads to see whose it was that was backfiring!!
We stopped outside Ranipet for a smoke and to just take a break, and let the bikes cool down. Our next stop was about 6 Km from my house where we were due to stop for breakfast. We moved away from the main highway and took off into some really narrow village roads that were twisting and turning all the way, the city riders learnt that there were things more powerful than bikes and cars, cows, sheep and chickens mooing, bleating and clucking across with a ruffle of feathers as we rode along these roads.
We finally reached Karigiri, the Hospital enroute where I stayed at around 10:30 (1 hr behind schedule!), after a quick ride around the Hospital ground in front of an overawed crowd of students, doctors and patients who had gathered for the Flag Hoisting Ceremony, we went to my place where we had a really sumptuous breakfast.
After breakfast and a couple of photographs, we decided to press on, not before splitting. This was the place where a few of us would head back, Bips, Navneeth and Brijesh with Madhu would be heading back to Madras where other priorities beckoned. The rest of us would still continue on…in our search for freedom.
Roopesh, Vernon, Ashwin on their 500’s Solo on his A350 and me on my Machismo and Narren would proceed to ride as fast as possible to Kolar where we were to meet up for lunch with the Bangalore Bullet Club – aka Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club (RTMC)
The ride was swift and silent, with a few stops for changing riders and pillions and of course the inevitable chai and biskoot. We eventually reached Kolar at around 3:00 PM – (still 1 hr late!!) and had a delightful time, making friends and discussing bikes with the RTMCers. After a solid lunch at a roadside dhaba with some nice cold….um...drinks, we decided to head out to Bangalore and proceed as we had planned.
The next bit of the ride was really great as we had more than 15 bullets and all of us were riding as fast as we could go. All of us respected the bullets and the road and rode safe and quick. On the outskirts of Bangalore, it started to drizzle and due to traffic we found ourselves in different groups. We eventually reached Brigades road at around 7:30 PM (this time not one but 2 hours late!!) and regrouped.
As a few of us needed to buy some gear for the bikes and for the fact that it was raining, after much heated discussion it was decided that we would break Journey ahead of schedule and spend the night in Bangalore as compared to riding another 130 Km in the night traffic on the notorious Bangalore Mysore highway.
We went to Vernon’s office and after a quick dinner we all crashed out to the sound of planes taking off in the distance, a welcome sound not unlike the steady thump thump off our bikes and our hearts.
Next morning, after some confusion on how to get out of the city, we finally got out and headed off to Mysore. The road to Mysore was very crowded and we lost all formation points quite quickly and were demoted (!) to riding individually with a few places where we could regroup. Stopped halfway there took some photos and had fun sitting on a milestone! And trying not to fall off. Some bits of the road were good and we all freaked out on the bikes.
Reached Mysore, where we went to Roopesh’s house, met his family, and had a quick lunch there. The afternoon and evening was spent in Mysore, meeting up people and gathering some of Roopeshs friends for the ride as well.
We left Mysore at around 4 PM and headed towards Madikeri. The road to Madikeri was simply amazing, nice long stretches, with gentle curves and lovely scenery along the way. Some really nice undulating stretches as well, which was good fun, racing to the top and coasting to the bottom of the next hillock. Started drizzling along the way, and we stopped for a while had chai and continued on in the light drizzle.
At the foothills, we somehow all split up and Solo and I found ourselves together, this was the best part for me. It was already getting a bit dark, and so we had to use the lights and this is where Solo and I found and perfected out technique for going up the hills – basically one was on low beam and the other on high beam and bikes were pretty close to each other, this meant that the amount of light available was more for both of us. In addition, whenever we took turns in the ghats, one person would point to the outermost point until the other rider could go and then follow the other rider’s trail.
It was good fun and a great experience, one that we still use whenever we ride together, to say we were in total sync would be an understatement – it was as if we both knew exactly what the other was thinking – a kind of feeling that comes only after riding together for a long time. Thanks Solo. Finally reached the top, and eventually made it to a hotel that someone had booked. Fairly cheap but decent place – hot water and whisky to keep us warm. We were soaking wet, so we made a bonfire and started drying up.
Next morning, we woke up and went over to Tom’s place, Tom was one of Roopesh’s friends, who used to be a Rally car driver and time was spent looking over his estate and chatting about rallying and racing, finally decided to finish up with a good Coorgi Lunch – with the famous pork!!…mmmmm!! can still taste it! And then decided to leave from there.
The ride back to Mysore was uneventful, and we reached pretty late, around 9PM and so Narren and I decided to head on to Bangalore as we both wanted to meet some friends on the way. Narren drove at breakneck speeds and at times, I was really shit scared, so much that I offered to get a bus and he could take my bike on!!!! Anyway, it was a good ride and eventually reached Bangalore in a little over 3 hours from Mysore – in the night!!
Stayed in Bangalore in a hotel and then met up with the guys the next day, at Kolar and continued on from there. The journey was uneventful for a certain distance, but then my bike started giving me problems and the rain was also playing havoc with us. Had many backfiring and missing problems and even though we adjusted the timing, this continued and we could not start the bike by kicking it, we had to push start the bike and finally it gave up its ghost at Kanchipuram.
Solo and Narren took it on them and they both towed the bike from Kanchipuram onwards and we had an amazing journey from there – with Vernon and Roopesh in front, blazing the way with horns and lights, Narren and Solo towing the bike and finally me bringing up the rear!
It was great fun and we reached Chennai at around 10 in the night, I was dropped off and the bike found its way to Southern for the night
All in all a good independence ride – a ride that taught me many things on riding, riding in a group, riding with friends and most of all to respect the machine and the road. A truly mindblowing experience for me – one of my first long rides – ever – and I hope there are many more to come.
Ride Safe all.
The Ultimate 'Trip'
Ok - here goes..first of many.... I think this is the first write up I ever wrote.... I'll try to post in as choronological order as I can.....
Feb 7, 2003.
To ride, out in the open highway, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, cruising along with the wind in my face, the sun shining on me and doing a cool 90 on my old trusty bike is really an experience that one has to go through to truly appreciate the beauty of this thing we call the Bullet.
I learnt riding on a bullet, with my dad owning one and me at the tender age of 16, being 5 foot 10, and weighing a cool 75 Kilos, this did not seem like a very huge task. Under the able guidance of my dad who had been brought up with Army discipline, I learnt to ride the all-powerful, 18bhp, 350cc monster.
Since then onwards, it has been one ride after another that itself is so exciting that it makes me want to do it again and again and… yet again. My true long distance riding started when I was in college in Vellore, a couple of friends and I decided to go to Trichy and so we went by bike (amidst a lot of probing questions and agitation at home as to how I had managed to lose my mind!!) but we went and that long 8 hr journey has been the spark that got the flame going!
I stay in a place called Vellore about 130 Kilometres from Chennai and after college and since I started working, this has become a routine ride for me; I used to finish work at 11Pm and leave immediately to Vellore. What used to take me 3 – 4 hours now can be accomplished in a cool 2 ½ primarily because I can say I have become a lot more mature (in terms of my riding at least!!) and have realized that the bullet is no ordinary bike, it is something that has a life of its own. A life that one must learn to recognize and therefore treat in a special way. This is something that does not come easy, but loving one’s bike is the first step to attaining harmony with your bike.
I then had the opportunity to meet up with a bunch of motley young riders who call themselves the Madras Bulls – the bullet club of Madras and with these guys, my riding has moved to another stage completely. We discuss the technical, business and social (yes there are social!!) aspects of the bike as well. Apart from all talk we also ride a lot, Pondicherry and Mahabalipuram are now almost like evening rides for us. We have done Bangalore many times and are seeking newer roads, newer places to visit and basically ride to have a helluva time.
One of our recent long rides was when a few of us from the club decided to go to Coorg. This was one of our longest as a group and I must say that riding, as a group is a totally different experience from riding alone. In a group, one has to take into effect the riders behind and ahead of you, one has to realize that you are no more 5 or 6 individual entities but one unit, moving together at high speeds all concentrating on keeping formation and moving through the cities as one. We reached Mysore and from then the weather was against us, I could no longer have the sun in my face, rather we had rain and fog and poor visibility, but then again to be able to ride up the hills and finally reach our destination still riding and feeling your heart beat so loudly due to the extra adrenaline involved is amazing. From then on it has been ride after ride and a lot more planned for the days to come. I know that as long as my mind and my body can do it I will ride (albeit pocket willing!) The Bullet – my trusty steed has let me down at times as well - life aint all that good! – But she always comes back, more rejuvenated than ever to give me more… I was so enthralled by the power involved in a 500cc recently that within 4 days I had made and executed a purchase decision. But the thrill of riding a 350 is matched by nothing else than a 500.
Here’s to all you riding enthusiasts who like me have found something unique in your steed.
Cheers
----------------------------------------
Feb 7, 2003.
To ride, out in the open highway, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, cruising along with the wind in my face, the sun shining on me and doing a cool 90 on my old trusty bike is really an experience that one has to go through to truly appreciate the beauty of this thing we call the Bullet.
I learnt riding on a bullet, with my dad owning one and me at the tender age of 16, being 5 foot 10, and weighing a cool 75 Kilos, this did not seem like a very huge task. Under the able guidance of my dad who had been brought up with Army discipline, I learnt to ride the all-powerful, 18bhp, 350cc monster.
Since then onwards, it has been one ride after another that itself is so exciting that it makes me want to do it again and again and… yet again. My true long distance riding started when I was in college in Vellore, a couple of friends and I decided to go to Trichy and so we went by bike (amidst a lot of probing questions and agitation at home as to how I had managed to lose my mind!!) but we went and that long 8 hr journey has been the spark that got the flame going!
I stay in a place called Vellore about 130 Kilometres from Chennai and after college and since I started working, this has become a routine ride for me; I used to finish work at 11Pm and leave immediately to Vellore. What used to take me 3 – 4 hours now can be accomplished in a cool 2 ½ primarily because I can say I have become a lot more mature (in terms of my riding at least!!) and have realized that the bullet is no ordinary bike, it is something that has a life of its own. A life that one must learn to recognize and therefore treat in a special way. This is something that does not come easy, but loving one’s bike is the first step to attaining harmony with your bike.
I then had the opportunity to meet up with a bunch of motley young riders who call themselves the Madras Bulls – the bullet club of Madras and with these guys, my riding has moved to another stage completely. We discuss the technical, business and social (yes there are social!!) aspects of the bike as well. Apart from all talk we also ride a lot, Pondicherry and Mahabalipuram are now almost like evening rides for us. We have done Bangalore many times and are seeking newer roads, newer places to visit and basically ride to have a helluva time.
One of our recent long rides was when a few of us from the club decided to go to Coorg. This was one of our longest as a group and I must say that riding, as a group is a totally different experience from riding alone. In a group, one has to take into effect the riders behind and ahead of you, one has to realize that you are no more 5 or 6 individual entities but one unit, moving together at high speeds all concentrating on keeping formation and moving through the cities as one. We reached Mysore and from then the weather was against us, I could no longer have the sun in my face, rather we had rain and fog and poor visibility, but then again to be able to ride up the hills and finally reach our destination still riding and feeling your heart beat so loudly due to the extra adrenaline involved is amazing. From then on it has been ride after ride and a lot more planned for the days to come. I know that as long as my mind and my body can do it I will ride (albeit pocket willing!) The Bullet – my trusty steed has let me down at times as well - life aint all that good! – But she always comes back, more rejuvenated than ever to give me more… I was so enthralled by the power involved in a 500cc recently that within 4 days I had made and executed a purchase decision. But the thrill of riding a 350 is matched by nothing else than a 500.
Here’s to all you riding enthusiasts who like me have found something unique in your steed.
Cheers
----------------------------------------
Inception...
Wow!
My first post on my blog. Been wanting to do this a long long time and even signed up for a blogspot place and / but never got around to. And worst part is now that I managed to link everything up and find everything - I now have no idea on what to write! Damn!
I think I will use the musings of a biker blog to keep track of all my bike rides - and anything related to bikes. At least that way straightaway - I have a few posts on the various writeups I have done over the past with my various bike and related activities!
Lets see what happens!
Hope this one will continue to grow as I do have (quite) a few things to say.
Must say thanks to Smitha, cos i finally read her blog and suffice to say that though there are not many posts on it - at least she is doing it!
My first post on my blog. Been wanting to do this a long long time and even signed up for a blogspot place and / but never got around to. And worst part is now that I managed to link everything up and find everything - I now have no idea on what to write! Damn!
I think I will use the musings of a biker blog to keep track of all my bike rides - and anything related to bikes. At least that way straightaway - I have a few posts on the various writeups I have done over the past with my various bike and related activities!
Lets see what happens!
Hope this one will continue to grow as I do have (quite) a few things to say.
Must say thanks to Smitha, cos i finally read her blog and suffice to say that though there are not many posts on it - at least she is doing it!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)