Bikers - the brazen breed

 

Far far away from home on a lone bridge, on the freaky fazer, greeted by rising sun, i began to loose myself into moments just perfect. Such words walked right into my mind...

“Conquered mountains, trembling bridges,

amazing landscapes and some ‘smiles’ we left behind……

In memory, in hope, in an upcoming sunrise dope........

We are junkies now, of roads, rides, intangible binds...

we are high from adventure, from high altitude curvature...

full on in nature....empty in ledgers....

Breathe in some spirit....fill up some fuel, lets roll.....

Again there begins the duel between distances and I.....

                           Goodbye....."

                              

Biking, a part of me and i a part of it….forever

              

  .....My first encounter....

A hot, humid day in mid may, just another day. Behind my uncle on hero honda splendour.“Please uncle ..please...just once...just the handle...!!!”After hundreds of pleas and promises he leaves the handle for me.For a moment i was the one in charge, skipping a beat, over acting with the handle.Though a dramatic moment, a moment that began a new phase....one that's… alive.
Bikes and me, we go a long way back....well that would be a lie !!
but it just feels that way..
Getting to the point, it goes something like this.....

My first bike trip over 500 km , that too to Gangtok, Sikkim. calling it a road trip shall be much more appropriate, well at moments i liked to call it a kickass trip, for my ass must've grown muscles from the trademark indian road bumps.After a busy night of farewell to our seniors, with sleep deprived eyes but zeal filled spirits, of course late than planned, we set out on the mission.A mission to experience biking to its core, the part of the journey words shall fail to explain, part where paragraphs shall lose their paths. With backpacks and unavoidable safety gear we took off, the engine singing a song along, sharing the spirit with the sun, welcoming the whistle of the wind,i don't want to exaggerate, so i admit it’s not heaven riding long distances, it’s all about movements and moments, one for your body another for your mind.One end of swing being a pure adrenaline rush, sheer joy other being seconds of impatience.            
 Day 1 : Our day began pleasantly, but it was time of an adventure so things starting falling in place. Over pressure in the rear tire of fazer, a temporary puncture fix, a tube into a tubeless tire, consequently a change of tire, 6 hours staring at a hotel table, thunderous rain, and then falling asleep in a matchbox sized room. Such ended our first day, yet we were closer to our destination.

Day 2 : Starting from a place named Gazole, we rode north on some of the best newly laid roads in India, greenish yellow fields and lovely weather. A millimeter shave with a dog on NH – 34 at 90km/hr speed. After the slight hiccups, the straight roads welcomed us onto cloud 9 of bike riding and in a flash we were in Siliguri our pre-final destination, in a weather that  just backed us up. Up the hilly road to Gangtok was a step further in biking. With little to no experience in mountain riding we were a bit apprehensive, and to add some spice to the recipe it rained……it rained cats and dogs. Stones and mud sliding on to the roads. The moment of hope seemed past us when dramatically sun just came up and I swear there was a twinkle in the sky. The ride up was slow, steady and curvy; a couple of landslides got cleared on our way. Parallel to river Tista we rode to Gangtok, dripping wet and shivering from cold.Upon arrival we parked our bikes and set out to have a wonderful evening up in the hills. . After the tiresome ride, even Gorgeous Gangtok Girls couldn’t steal our attention from a delicious dinner and a good nights sleep.

Day 3 : Part of  day was dedicated to sight-seeing, frankly which was partially fun and partially obligatory as It wouldn’t sound sensible to lot of you if riding was put forward as the agenda. That evening we drove downhill, which turned out trickier than we thought and in dark was getting a bit off edge, with care and a little bit of dare we reached the planes  and called it a night.

Day 4: the last day of our trip was extraordinary in its nature, a clear sky and a day meant for riding and we just exploited it. Way back we touched our trips top speeds of 111km/hr on the Fazer and 107km/hr on Pulsar.  We had one thing in our minds, hosel……no our home, our beds in the hostel. That one day we drove more than 500 km, longest in a day for all of us I suppose, in traffic among goods carriers, and at moments fortunate enough on empty stretches, all in all it was the ultimate day of riding. Just 100km away from our college we took our last gift from nature, the cyclone effects led to thunderous windy rain. Again we were spared in an hour and through and through we drove, back into our dens.If still somebody asks me why I love bike riding……… i shall not waste energy trying to explain the unexplainable…… Just choke him till he runs out of breath and just say I feel about biking the way you feel about breathing now.

P.S. – Thanks a ton to Alok Shaurya,  Rajarshi Roy Choaudary, Rishabh Jha for sharing the trip with me. Also Khusnud Shahidi  for pestering me into writing this article

P.P.S – If am bored I might go on and post detailed articles on each day of he trip. 

P.P.P.S.- This post has been for Castrol Power 1 Blogging Contest. Have a look at Castrol Biking  www.facebook.com/CastrolBiking . If you have liked this entry, do vote.