Disclaimer: This is a long one
HISTORY |
Rider Mania (RM) is an event hosted by the Enfield Motorcycle Riding Community in India between January 23 and January 26, every year. This is an annual pilgrimage for all the Royal Enfield freaks during which the clubs from all over the country celebrate the past trips, bike customizations, various competitions which test the rider and the ride. The event was kick-started in 2003 to commemorate the spirit of motorcycling. Riders Biking Clubs across the country gather in vibrant numbers for the 3 day fest. If your are interested to read more about the synopsis of the previous RM’s held, please follow the URL : http://www.easternbulls.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=4&Itemid=14 Am penning down about my 9 day experience to and fro Calcutta, which was spent mostly on the road. The talk about rider mania struck me in August during my first ride with Madbulls at Yercaud. The very thought, had many more things rolling through my head, as how many days would it take for the trip, how much will be the budget, with whom will I be riding and all ambiguity whether am really fit for the ride. And at last I gave it away, and thought it’s not my cup of tea. Eventually in the further rides that I did with the club induced a strong urge in me to ride all the way to Calcutta. After my Dhanushkodi ride, when everyone asked “Where to next ???” I would reply “Calcutta!!!” But even then i was not sure of riding. By this time I had quite a group of friends who wanted to go. That’s It!!! Got myself registered for RM 2011. Would talk about RM plans with Rajith, Prat n Sailesh almost once in every two days and finally started a thread to discuss the same. Ideas flew in, and the plan was finalized. Day 1: Chennai – Vizag(900kms). Day 2: Vizag – Chilka(300kms) Day 3: Chilika – Calcutta (Regroup stay with other members of the club who will return from the North East tour)(600kms). The return was as exciting as it could get, so you will have to read through all the crap I have written to get to it. So the RM fever was on and everyone of us started servicing our bikes, and getting stuff which will be useful on the trip. Got new saddles and boots and spares. During weekends, Rajith and me would wander around Pudupet for getting spares, fixing electrical, seats in Pudupet. Got a custom made stay for preventing my saddles from rubbing my tires. So all set and just one week before the ride, plans changed due to unprecedented personal loss for Unni. So Rajith and Unni stayed back and planned to do Calcutta in two days. The total count as of now was 11 from Chennai. The group Shantanu (lead), Amith, Ashok, Prat, Deepak, Vivek, Sailesh, Lakshmi (CBZ), Amar (sweep), Rusty and myself. “D – Day” Day 1 - 19th January 2011 Plan was to ride out @ 4 in the morning since we had to cover 800 kms on day one. I had packed everything the previous night and shifted to my friends place to get some sleep. The day of the Third ODI between SA and India. Damn, could not sleep, ride fever or excitement, whatever. Switched on the TV to find India fight back to win the match. The time was 2 Am. I had to sleep atleast for an Hour. So finally dozed off at 2 and got up at 3.15 when Prat called me to inform he has started from Chengalpet. I cant force more sleep, so freshened up and saddled up for the my longest ride till date, 1800 kms. Kicked her and she started, and then started the thud. Prat was waiting in Vadapalani, had chai and gave him the spare flag I had and assembled @ Koyambedu @ 4.15.  Guys were trickling in and finally got the count correct by 4.30 Am. Ride out instructions were given by Shantanu (the lead). Amar was the Sweep. Started rolling and there was enough fog to keep us down to around 50 kmph for an hour and there were diversions which kept everyone awake. Stopped over near Nellore for chai and rode on to for another 100kms for breakfast. Then stopped @ Vijayawada for lunch around 3PM. Had a good lunch and started riding again. Made frequent stops for every 100 kms for chai. Tanked up my bike and started rolling. Nothing eventful happened as most of us were game to reach Vishakhapatnam (Vizag) and this being the first day everyone was in the right spirits and all the Enfields and the lone CBZ were doing great. Don’t know how everyone of us were on the right lane with a car tailing us for about 2 kms. That was bad driving. Shan zipped ahead and pulled everyone over and told this is not the way to ride and asked everyone to keep to the left lane. By this time it was dark and found that Sailesh head lamp was down. So needed to tail him to make sure he is safe without the eyes in the night. Then Shan took over to lead Sailesh and I was tailing him. It was tough to tail him because he dint want to overdo his STD 500 over 70 kmph, mine being a new TBTS wanted to zip around @ 80 kmph. There were times when I was unable to hold the bike @ 70 and felt sleepy. The rest of the group went ahead leaving behind Shan, Sailesh and I. Then after drooling our bikes for more than 150 kms we reached Rajamundry, and the time was 7 Pm. We needed to do another 150 kms to reach Vizag and my butt was already on fire. Needed to shift my seating position frequently as to allow air flow to put out the flames in the butt and needed a break badly. My butts luck, we found our guys who went forward waiting for a regroup and then started speeding up with them and Sailesh was kept within the main group which was doing a constant 80 and he was never allowed to fall back as Amar went back to sweep. Things were great and we reached Vizag @ 11 Pm. The group of 11 had by then done nearly 900 kms in 18hrs. That indeed was a boost. The rest of the distance seemed much easier now. Thanks to the guys from Vizag Viceroys, an Enfield club in Vizag, to have booked our stay. The stay was neat and the next thing was food. All restaurants were closed and Ashok had gone out to hunt for food with some Viceroy’s and found briyani @190rs. Never mind, we ordered 6 but eventually dint have any plated to dish them out. Started digging in the foil and had couple of beers rounding about. The next day’s ride plan was discussed and we dropped Chilka and decided to reach Bhubaneswar for crashing. I had already made an advance for a dorm in Chilka, which would be wasted. Anyways, Day 1 was satisfying in terms of the distance covered and we had another 900kms for two days, which means we had a relaxed ride ahead. Day 2 – 20th January 2011 Everyone had a good night’s sleep and woke up @ 8 and planned to ride oout @9am. Guys had their showers and finished their breakfast and started saddling up. All assembled and the thudding started. There were eager onlookers seeing us and were kinda wearing the weird looks, thanks to the Riding jackets, knee guards, the balaclavas and the saddles in each Enfield.   Guys shunted across for refills and I had an easy half tank, which means I can do another 300 with no extra fuel. As we all had breakfast, we were planning to do 100 km per break and have lunch late in the afternoon to avoid inviting the sleep.    To have early lunch and to drive is very very very sleepy and dangerous too. After frequent chai stops, we entered the Orissa border and found some 300 trucks waiting for permission to enter Orissa from Andhra. So took the other side of the highway and crossed the big traffic with ease. I had to tank up by now and entered a bunk and astonishingly found petrol sold @ 58 rs, can u believe that??? it was 63 in Chennai at that time. I was still not convinced that I had put petrol. So the bunk had a good dhaba adjacent to it. And we saw Inddie Thumpers stopping in the dhaba and we decided to pull over for lunch.  We even met Simi and Aditya, our club mates who were doing the distance in Innova due to physical and personal constraints. So we did lunch there, The prawns were yummy and I remember Amar ordering extra rottis for the prawns we had. So rottis were the side dish to prawns. When I told the guys that petrol was cheap here, they started pulling my leg and eventually brought me to the brink that I had tanked up premium diesel instead of petrol. WTF!!! Then I read the sign board which said Petrol 58.xx, relieved. Shan and Prat buggers pulled my leg big time there. Then you know what happens after the lunch, sluggish pace. We caught up with Inddie Thumper, around 25 of them in staggered formation and riding as a group, which we were trying to do the time we started from Chennai. We crossed them and there was a welcome to Orissa highways, big dent in the road, as if a meteor had hit early morning and had a huge cavity, there started the traffic and everyone slowed down to 40 kmph. The group was broken up as we sent Deepak, who had some oil leaks, and Sailesh, with no head lights, and Ashok ahead so that they can cover up maximum distance during daylight. Amith and Vivek had crossed over our stop for lunch so they were on their own. We had another 200 kms to do for Bhubaneswar. Shan, Prat, Amar, Lakshmi and I were now a group. While Shan and me zipped ahead, Prat was left behind with traffic and he had a near miss to his visit to heaven/ hell as he dodged a big truck with a small hit to his back during an overtake. Forgot to mention that we were fighting with the trucks in one way traffic for the past 75kms and had another 75 to reach Bhu. We almost caught up with Sailesh, Ashok and Deepak, but pulled over to break and regroup and we were sure that we still had 50kms of bad roads. Then came Balguaon, and I went ahead of the group and rode into a big dent, which managed to get my saddles off the seat, pulled over to correct it, and by this time my visor was full of bugs, so had to drive with an open visor. Suddenly a bug went right inside the ear area, and had to pull over again to put off with it. Then decided to cross the bad roads as soon as possible and wait for the guys to regroup. Got up into good roads and pulled over @ a bunk and had again had curious onlookers there. The problem this time is I am alone and dint know Hindi. The questions where “Kaha chaltha thoo”, I reply “Calcutta” and the next question was “Kyoon???” and I could not explain them with the minimal Hindi I know about RM. So was scratching my head and they shoot the next one “goomne ke liye???” I reply “haan”. Had a small conversation and there came the group, and we rode forward to Bhu which was arnd 50kms from that place. Meanwhile had asked the group ahead of us, which took no breaks and reached Bhu, to search for a place to crash and finally found a decent place to get some sleep. We reached there by around 10 with booze stacked up. Ordered dinner and sat together as a group for the first time to discuss what everyone do for living and their experiences. Nice discussion which made us feel closer as a group. Went to bed @ 12 and planned to ride out @ 9. End of day 2 and we had crossed three states by now. TN, AP & OR. We had one more state to be crossed, which seemed like a piece of cake from then on. Boring to read uh??? Go on…. Day 3 – 21st January 2011 It was cold outside and we had a school opposite to the lodge and a NCC drill was on. Savdhan & Vishram, reminded me of my school days @ PSBB when I was doing the NCC drills for the A – Certificate. Went ahead and took a shower and as usual business, saddle up.   Stopped for tank up and planned to have breakfast after 50 kms. Exactly we found a road side dhaba and drove right in. I had 6 Idlis and a dosa for 25 rs.   There was no compromise on quality. Perfect. Had chai and made sure we don stop for the next 100. I decided to stay back with Sailesh and tail him, it was bleddy tough to tail him @ 60. Wanted to zoom ahead but thought about how Amar would have felt for the past two days sweeping. So decided to have patience and stayed right in his tail, and around 50 km from the place, I could see guys pulled over but Sailesh rode past the group, so had to stop him and brought him back. This is where Deepak had rammed into a cow, which came dancing into the highway from the media. Prat had a near miss, but Deepak had to take the hit. He was in a bad shape, the bike had a small leak and his footrest was bent. Prat and Shan made sure the ride was in ok condition at least till the next stop. Deepak had some lotions applied but still felt the pain in his right shoulder. Hail Deepak! as he rode from there on to Calcutta.  We reached some 60kms to Calcutta and some 20kms before the regroup point where we met all our club members who rode to Calcutta from the north east tour. Too much of traffic slowed us down and finally after roaming into some bazaars and fly overs, we reached the place of stay. Guys from north east joined us soon and everyone settled in their rooms for some booze and sleep. Had booze with Sailesh, Prat and as usual Ashok who was a silent spectator. Planned to sleep but Rajith had called around 2am on Saturday and he would reach the place around 3. Sailesh and me had a walk upto the main road to receive them. The floodlight confirmed it was Rajith, we had few chai’s and left for sleep. Day 4 & 5 – 22nd and 23rd January 2011 – The event days It’s a custom for most of the clubs during RM to give a grand entry to the event, to tell people we are there finally. So in the morning we had our small meeting where Ajit and Dodo explained the do’s and don’t in the event. By this time we had around 40 bikes gathered from Madbulls. Deepak sat pillion with me as his shoulders were sour from the previous days fall.   All of us tanked up and started ride to the resort where the event was held and it was some 40kms from where we had previously stayed. This was the scene I wanted to be a part of even since I joined the club, the best ride with 40 odd bikers, thumping around. It was heights of awesomeness.  We again regrouped in a chai shop and the shop made business for the day. It was a grand entry that we had given, vroom vroom, honk honk…this was the rhythm, which was broken many a times. I had seen Madbull entry the previous RM and would definitely rank this lower than that. But it was my first RM entry with Madbulls and got goose bumps too. After the entry we parked the bikes, got ourselves registered and saddled down.  Guys, who had their bikes to be fixed had it done in the mech shop. Then we went to see the other clubs giving their grand entry. Inddie Thumpers, RTMC, Road Beasters etc. Most of them doing the burn outs. Time to grab some beer, all had one blue tin each thanks to KF Blue. Lots of events happened, but Madbull won none. Boss, we were there to ride and we will be there forever with our rides. If you think we are not competent enough, am sorry you got us wrong. We were just giving chance to other clubs :P. We dint feel bad about not winning but we enjoyed every bit of it. I dint participate on the first day. Then came the evening, the evening filled with booze and dance. Loved it, it was almost like celebrating the 1800kms ride that we had just completed. Everyone had their own reasons for celebrating. Dance, Dance, Dance….same steps for almost every song…lol. There was a saying “Dance like no one is seeing you”. That what followed strictly. Got high, spoke to many people whom I still dont remember. Hi am Harish from Madbulls and the person would say Hi am XXXX from YYYYY. Next day morning I could not resist smiling back at many of them and then started to remember to whom and all I shook hands with. Sunday also rolled forward and this time a lot of us took part. I was there with our moderator Hari (Vin Diesel) for bike towing. And was with Venkat (Motographer) for blind drive. Had lots of things to talk about RE’s and learnt something. The day went with superb lunch and again the evening came. Kids from North East rocked the evening with a wonderful start. Awesome I must day. Hats off!!! The last night for the event. Custom bikes were displayed and prizes were distributed. Then again the rock show, by this time I was half drunk. Got to know a lot of guys by now and most importantly got to know more about Ajith (Gunfight), who was my school mate. Wanted to go back and crash since we had to ride out in the morning. Guys dint wanna go, so stayed there and got fully drunk. Took a lot of snaps.    Then went to bed at around 12 PM. I know that’s not as late for a party, but for the ride out next day, I was pretty late. By this time all the guys from Madbulls had fallen into different teams and groups for the ride back. Some were planning to fly back due to official as well as personal constraints. But we had already decided to ride back all the way. But this time I was not as excited as I started off, because you are returning back home after the ride and moreover I gotto report to my boss on Thursday. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! Bid good byes to those flying out early and dozed off. Come tomoro, I will be on my way riding back 1800 kms without any sight seeing and nothing more eventful than onward ride. Day 6 – 25th January 2011 Got up in the morning with all plans made. Got extra tees from MAK. Of course I paid him. From then on all my plans changed. Riding 4000 kms without any sight seeing sounded bad. So thought of going into Calcutta for little shopping and then ride back straight, in 3 days. Sounded possible. Great!!! Saddled up and left the luggage in the reception and went pillion with Amith. Traffic was hectic as Republic day parades were rehearsed. Take dviversion, take diversion take diversion. WTH!!! Then got to the market, Ranganathan Street will lose the competition boss.    Buzzing on a Monday morning it was. This time the group was totally different. Navneeth, Daddy, Arun, Venky, Amith, Ashok and Me. Parked our bikes and started to look around. Married guys with us cant go empty handed, that too after the ride. So they picked up some stuff for their lady love. I picked up some stuff for my mom and went to get sweets from KC Das.  Got some tins for office and home. Calcutta was classic. I liked it a lot. Traffic, old buildings, trams. First time I saw them, took photos like it will be extinct soon. Hope It does not.   By this time it was around 1.30Pm. Decided to finish lunch and then push of to the hotel for saddling up and ride back. On the way back Daddy had some problems with his bike and was in no mood to ride it all the way back. So he decided to ship it and got a flight back for himself. Goodness, Gati made hellava money. Venky decided to stay back with another group and ride back leisurely. We were late by 2hrs according to our actual plan. The time was 4PM. Finally started riding without having the heart to return to Chennai or at least to office. The whole day I was wishing myself to quit my job, get some money out of it and start roaming with my ride. But reality stuck hard, mom was already worried, that she had even called my club mod and asked questions about the ride. The heights of anxiety she had was that she asked me if they would give any certificate for this so that I can use it @ work. MOM!!! Chill…Then I had to convince her that this was a leisure tour and not any achievement. If that was the case, the club’s stalwarts would have been placed in the Top 10 cos in the world and would have been on an officially funded world tour by this time. She was praying from the day I left home till the day I reached back home. Best time to introduce Hari and Shan. These two are the present club mods and two of the most freakiest guys on their own ways. Shan rides all the way north to meet his parents, SOLO. The other, Hari, best person to know about anyone’s RE. You cant see this guy in any of the malls or theatres or multiplexes in Chennai. The only places you can see him is in Cozee (beach Patrol), Maya Motors for club meetings, Pudupet for spares and mods and Chezian’s shop. 24*7 in his ride. Haaaan, now back to the story. By dusk we were outta Calcutta and were roaming up and down the highway to find which one leads to Chennai. Got the route and ripped off. Fixed our first stop to be 150 kms from there. Amith and me in the lead, and en route he pulled over for petrol without my knowledge. Now I was riding some 15 mins ahead of the rest and missed the left to a place called Balasore. Crossed 15 odd kms and found a board which read Mumbai 1800kms. Holy shit, wrong route that too when we had overshot our starting time. We had planned to reach Konark by 12pm. Then came a big circle with 5 roads joining. Messed it big time and I was in no mood to solve the puzzle. Took one of the roads and asked the people over there for the route to Balasore. Pity me, all were drunk, and each one facing each road, many thanks guys. Rode on to find a Mahindra showroom, so pulled over and got my helmet and Balaclava’s off and asked the Manager, who was kind enough to gimme good directions. Took a chai stop to relax and then rode on, found the turn and in the first dhaba, found my guys. It was like I found my family back after a disaster. Couldn’t express my happiness though, but was good to regroup. Had couple of chais and decided to stop after the next 150kms.  Good, ride on. All long the trip I dint snap the sign boards with read more than 1000kms. This time I dint wanna miss it. Snapped it and fell back from the sweep, Arun. Joined back in the group and the most unexpected thing happened, which I will not forget all that easily. Visibility dimmed and wasn’t able to see the roads clearly. Wiped my visor but still bad. Opened it and found not much dense fog. We dint stop and we rode on, it became worse as we went further. We have just completed 150 kms and still had 450 to go to Konark. For a min I thought we will stop and rest in the next town, no one stopped as there were no major towns anywhere. It was a tough ride. My first experience with fog and the cold weather was making it all the more worse. Balaclava was wet, my jeans were getting cold, it was uneasy for the first 20 kms and then it seemed okie, but not comfortable. Had to do with the situation. Rode on and finished our next leg of 150kms and stopped @ a Dhaba for lunch. By now we were into Orissa border. Had delicious dinner, which we should not have. By now it was 11 Pm. Another 300 in one hour needed something bigger and better visibility. So all were geared up for the night drive. Drove the whole night in damn fog. This was my best experience of the whole trip. Challenging drive it was. Wish I had fog lights then or Rajith’s flood lights there. We reached the next 150 kms which was 50 kms from Cuttack around 3 Pm and by this time, Ashok and Amith had gone way forward without stopping for the regroup. Tried calling them but no answer. Could not disturb the base control @ 3 in the morning. So decided to ride to Bhubaneswar and halt, hoping guys would be there. Another 60odd kms with heavy fog needed to be completed. Got a call from Amith when we were 20kms before Bhu. Rode on and a video was taken by Arun. Sexy drive, from there on. Got pumped up and found cars tailing us. Reached Bhubaneswar and spent the next half an hour to find Amith and Ashok. Regrouped at last and decided to reach Konark by morning and see the sunrise. Nothing struck us 5 as this much fog will eclipse the sun rise. We were too tired for any kinda thinking. Got back to the highway and road to Konark. By now the time was 5 and we missed a left to Konark and went further 20 kms which means we needed to reach Puri and drive back to Konark. God sensed he needed to add more pleasure to our ride. All 4 missed the left except for Arun. But he dint even tell us then thinking we were taking a shortcut. I slept off, and woke up after 5 secs to see my ride on the right lane, goodness me. Pulled over everyone and said I cant proceed further without chai. Then came to know everyone wanted to stop badly, chai again. Freshened us up.  I was in no mood to see the sun rise in Konark. All I wanted is to go and crash as we had much more distance to be covered the next day to Vizag. Nice going, we took lot of breaks and then finally reached Konark by 7 AM. Saddled down in the rooms booked by Dr. Ranga. Sailesh and Vivek were with him the previous day as they left without shopping in Calcutta. Slept off @ 8 AM, a much deserved sleep. Day 7 – 26th January 2011: Next thing I remember is Vivek waking me up @ 8.30 am for some tags. Felt like crying, got annoyed but nothing could be done as I was already awake. Gave him the tags and went back to sleep. Got up @ 10 and took bath and visited Konark sun temple.  By now Sailesh fell back to ride with us, so we were 6 people. Now is the time to abuse the guide. As per Amith’s request, we hired a guide for 200 bucks. Story tellin *#*%$$*. He would start all the lines with “About 750 years ago”. Everyone felt irritated and at one point when he started explaining we all broke of the group and he was explaining with no one around, he freaked out and that was it with Sun temple and the 750 years ago stories.    Took snaps and finished lunch and by the time we started back it was 3 Pm. Again running late by 2 hrs. Started to ride back to Bhu.  Enroute, a very nasty idea stuck me. To make the ride more memorable and to have a safe one too. But we had to forgo Thursday too. That will make it a 4 day ride and a visit to Chilka. As acco was already booked by me for onward, I wanted to use it while return. Interestingly, so as to favour my idea, Arun’s bike got a flat tire and Sailesh had electrical problems and Naveneeth had clutch issues. All three went into the city to fix the issues. Ashok, Amith and I were waiting in the outskirts of Bhu for them. So by this time it was 7pm and no one was interested for another full night ride. Told my plan to the guys and got approval. Chilka it was for the next day. Stacked up booze and prepared for another 100kms ride. Roads were bad there and reached Chilka by 10pm and checked in ordered food and started a small round of booze. Amith was down with high temperature and Arun slept as soon as we reached the hotel. So the rest of us had a little chat and slept by 1pm. Even thought we rode only 150 kms from afternoon we were contempt and crashed for a good nights sleep. Day 8 – 27th January 2011 Woke up in the morning by 8, took a shower and set out to Chilka lake. Stopped by a shop for breakfast where Ashok and Arun already tasted it. They joined us again for their second innings and gulped as many sweets as possible.     Boating started and we decided to pay the guys more for taking us around. Stopped near a kali temple and after finishing dharshan took off to a place no one new. The guy who drove the boat had no idea where he was heading to. We could not find land even after 30 mins. Slowest ride of the entire trip, bugger made us all sleep. All of us got a place to crash and after some 1 and a half hours we reached the main temple. Long queues meant we are not going in as we might be further late. Took some snaps and pushed off and reached the shore in 50 mins. All of us took a small nap. Amith stayed back in the hotel, so went back woke him up and saddled up. Next stop would be Rajamundry. Time was around 2 Pm. Late again. Crossed a small up hill from where Chilka was the scene. Took some snaps again.  Then rode on. Our next 150 kms stop was after we had rode into Andhra, and stopped for chai. All six were intact and no problems. Arun was worried about his bikes performance but always stayed back for sweep. Rode all the way to dinner and missed Amith, who went ahead of us. Had to wait an easy 30 mins for Arun to catch up. Had a good dinner and I wanted to sweep as Arun was lagging behind. Expect the unexpected, Arun’s bike refused to start. After some minutes of adjustment got her thumping but she was misfiring big time. We were still some 100 kms from Rajamundry. This time my ride went into reserve and I could not find any petrol bunks for the next 40 kms. With Arun in not so comfortable ride and me riding low on petrol meant disaster could strike anytime. Was waiting to find a bunk somewhere near, then found a IOC bunk log away but the sign itself brought life back. Ripped ahead of Arun, signaling him to go ahead as I tank up. Tanked up and drive forward to find Arun pulled over and dint wanna start. Again had to wait for few more mins till she started. This went on for another one hour and I almost slept. Pulled over and took a break. Time was 1 Am on Wednesday. Night drive again but it would not last more than an hour, was our assumption. Guys who went ahead were waiting for us to regroup some 2 kms away and I again took a break to fall back and ride fast to avoid sleep. Sent Sailesh, Navneeth and Arun in the front. By this time Amith had reached Rajamundry and crashed and we were some 50 km behind. Started to rip, to catch the guys, never mind, Arun had give up. Had approximately 40 kms to Rajamundry and the time was 2 PM. This time she refused to start, so had to toe her the rest of the distance. Arun’s saddles were shared between Ashok and me, and I started toeing the bike. Next 5 kms Arun slept as my rides thud in 30’s was a lullaby to him. Hope I had the megaphone to at least keep him awake. No way that he would stay awake and it got to its heights when he almost ran into a speeding Safex van. Thank god Arun woke up in the nick of the time. My heart was in my mouth for seconds. Then pulled over and gave Ashoks bike to Arun to reach Rajamundry. Little did I know that even Ashok was sleeping behind my back. Had to keep talking to him and managed to hit 60’s. I know this is nothing when compared with Dodo toeing Prats bike @ 90 during the entry day. Reached Rajamundry to find guys waiting for us. Found the hotel and crashed @ 5 in the morning. Lovely room. Dozed off in seconds. Day 9 – 28th January 2011: Got up @10. Had breakfast and all set to go. This time Hasan joined us. He was waiting in Rajamundry for us so that he can ride back with our group. Went to the shed where we had parked Arun’s bike and Hasan was on his work in fixing it. It was 11.30 by now and we dint want another night drive. Needed to reach Chennai asap and get some sleep before reporting to office the next day. Suddenly we saw two RE’s crossing us. Guess who, it was Shan and Amar. They were planning for a very relaxed ride but had to head back to Chennai by Thursday as Shan had an interview slated for Friday. They had to do it in two days. So all of us wanted to move ahead as the fix would take more time and planned to catch Hasan and Arun on the way. Amith had now moved into Shans group which meant we were 4 now. This is the day when I felt I had to reach home. Drove the toughest day ride, hot weather, barren lands and nothing eventful. Next 150 we reached Vijayawada and had to do with the city traffic. Navneeth fell back to visit his sister in Vijayawada and told he ll catch up with us soon. No one was in a mood to have anything. So darted across and made use of as much day light as possible. Ashok and me leading and Sailesh falling back. Within the next 150 I caught up with Shan, Amar and Amith. Took a break with them and Ashok joined us and by now Shan was leaving. So rode forward with Sailesh also catching up. Took a break in Ongole with Ashok and Sailesh. Had only chai. By this time we were sleepy and it was just 7pm and we were some 400 kms from Chennai. Sailesh refused to hit 80’s. So needed to wait for him and Ashok, who was tailing Sailesh. It was becoming tougher by now. Reached Nellore and had Dinner. By this time, Navneeth joined us after dinner and its 4 of us again. Planned to do 75 and 75. Reached 75 and took a break, the last break on the Highway. Time was 2AM Friday. Slogged the next 75 kms and reached Chennai.  The first Tamil sign boards welcomed us all back and suddenly got some vibe. The ride from Nellore to Chennai was tougher than the whole distance that we had all covered. Stopped @ Koyambedu, which was our staring point to bid adieu to each other. Felt like a small farewell with a cup of chai. We 4 had done the return ride mostly in night drives and that was hellava experience. Reached home early in the morning @ 4 and mom was there ready to let me in and rope me on to the pillars. Cannot hide my happiness. Thank god the internet was not working. So slept of as soon as I saddled down. Wonderful ride with lot of frenz and was upgraded to the main group. This will be the most memorable ride forever. The fog ride still tops the rest of the experiences. Loved it. Thanks to the guys who rode with me and special thanks to Chidambaram, Maggie and David for the wonderful help as base controls. Without U guys we would have not ve made it easily through the night drives. Thanks you all for reading through. I know this was really long, but I could not compromise the drive. Safe thumping all. dud du dud !!! So, where to next???? |
