And the road becomes my bride...
My first vehicle as a kid was a Chocolate brown BSA SLR. I used to love riding it. The longest I did was from Jayanagar 4th T Block to Madivala (which then for me was a whooping 7km ;-).
When I started doing my 11th, I inherited my Mom's blue color TVS 50 XL (God Bless its soul). I have always yearned to do rides. Since I now had a motorized ride, I started dreaming of and doing long and exciting trips too. Mind you! Do not undermine my TVS. I did a couple of unbelievable trips on it (of course as people in my “Circle of Trust” know that I walked more than rode on the Mekedaatu trip ;-).
When I joined Engineering, I got myself a Yezdi Roadking (Yeah right! Everyone calls it a doodhwaale ki gaddi, but ONLY till they ride it once. After that they just went ga ga over it). It was an amazing beast and did a couple of rides on it too. None too long, but quite a few exciting ones.
Then I got a job in Pune and had to leave my Roadking behind. While in Pune, since I did not have a bike of my own, I ended up borrowing bikes from friend and doing rides. In case you did not know, there are lots of places near Pune that are worth visiting and the best part is they are day trips. After one year in Pune, I had to go to the US. That was when my Roadking was sold. I was very bitter about not getting to take it to Pune with me and now this :-(
While in the US for 5 long years, I drove a Mitsubishi Montero Sport (American equivalent of the Pajero). While all other Indians ended up buying Sedans, I opted for an SUV. Why? I knew that I was going to do many a trip so decided that I might as well do it comfortably, even if it was a bit expensive. I was also interested in outdoors and if we needed to go camping, my car was the best one to carry all the luggage and still go comfortably. I did a lot of driving in the US (40,000 km in just under 3 years) but the one ride that takes the cake away would most definitely have to be the solo drive from Bloomington IL to Washington DC and back. (A whooping 1900 miles or 3050 kms)
After I saw the and experienced the American roads, I always wanted to buy and ride one of those amazing cruiser bikes. Let alone cruiser bikes, even the cheapest of sports bikes was too costly for me. Buying a used bike would cost me around the same amount I paid for my car + the fact of having to keep my bike locked up for almost 6 months a year during winter did not make too much sense to me.
After a hiatus of 5 years, I came back to Bangalore in July 2006. Bangalore was nothing like how I had left it. My first thought was to buy myself another Yezdi, but unfortunately they had stopped manufacturing them :-( A big loss for INDIA!!! (Did you know that Yezdi did make a limited edition of a 300cc variant that was supposed to be far better than the RD 350???). Well "Royal Enfield" was my next option. I fell for the Thunderbird at first sight and brought my birdie ,whom I named "THOR" (Norse/ Viking god of Thunder) home on the 20th July 2006. If you know me or have seen me, then you would agree that a Bullet was the bike for me ;-).
Ain't she a beauty???
Then there was no turning back. Patiently waited for the running in period to get over. The day it was done, I picked up a friend of mine and we were off to Mysore. Why? To celebrate the completion of my Birdie's runnning in period by hitting the highways. Went to Mysore, saw the palace, had a couple of beers with lunch and rode back.
Other rides that I did
1. One other small ride to Ranganathitu bird sanctuary and Bulmuri falls
2. The ride of my dreams "LADAKH" in June 2008
3. Ride to Wayanad with my office group
My next ride that is now being planned is a West Coast Ride (Daman to Kanyakumari and end in the RM09 Ooty)
After I came back to Bangalore from the US, I have not only been riding. I have also done many a drive with my gang to places like Nagarhole, Coorg, Goa etc and also visited Manali, Shimla and Dharamshala in 2007 with my family.
Read on to know more about my rides...
